caulfield12

Let me ask this then.... When is the last time we signed or traded for someone and trade evaluators commented "he has the ability to be a Gold Glove-level defender"? Rondon? Trayce Thompson...? When's the last time we've taken an average or below average fielder and he became close to great? Robin Ventura?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 11:06 AM) How is it Alexei Ramirez's fault that he'd old? And it's arguable whether or not Adam Eaton has the capability to succeed, I tend to think he overachieves based on his effort. Do you also blame Tyler Flowers, Gordon Beckham, and Conor Gillaspie for being bad at baseball? Are we allowed to place any blame at the feet of the people who brought these players in? Last night, there was miscommunication between him and Cabrera. Before that, Eaton and Alexei. I think he even got confused with the count, too. For all of his abundant energy, it's not nearly as focused or properly-directed this season. And, as far as Mike Matheny goes, I haven't seen scouts consistently describing their level of play as lackadaisical or embarrassing this year.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 11:48 AM) How do anyone of those teams continue to have money to sign all these international guys With the Dodgers, they have almost Yankees-like resources due to that regional t.v. rights deal, attendance and ratings/advertising and promotions that aren't tied into the aforementioned tv rights deal. With the Cubs, who knows? For the last 2-3 years, the stories have been about how financially-strapped they were...with ballpark renovations and buying out/lawyering up with the rooftops.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 08:06 AM) I think that they're going to announce more players today since they haven't issued a press release yet and I imagine that both Hahn and Paddy are in the DR and are going to introduce the players to the local media Not Buddy Bell? Does Hahn really have time to jet down there? Did he when we signed Adolfo? KW? Can't remember....

Great, more defensively-challenged players that will live and die based on instruction. Would be nice to hit on one of these "off the charts power" guys. Sounds like Adolfo's getting some competition to push him from below at least. The more talent injected into the lower levels....some of it has to pay off eventually.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/02/politics/con...ride/index.html Opinions on the Confederate flag....southern pride vs. racist symbol havent changed/evolved much over the years

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 2, 2015 -> 12:41 AM) Great win. The Sox have had some good wins this season, but the minute you say, "Hmmm, could they get to .500?" then do something wacky like get swept in a 4-game series. I'd expect Baltimore and Toronto will spank the Sox pretty good in the Cell. However, great win tonight. Looked like a big league team. Melky, Eaton, Flowers, 3 of the goats this season had good games to go with Q's masterpiece. You will have quite the dilemma if Sale's Sunday start gets pushed back for an extra day of rest to Monday.... World Armageddon. Buehrle vs. Sale. What happens when the legend of 2005 confronts the current Sox legend? It's like Mike Ditka vs. a sharknado!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/25/opinions/rhe...;iref=obnetwork Debate over what to do about US military bases named after Confederate generals (Bragg, Hood, Benning, etc.), Stone Mountain, the statues in Richmond, VA (Monument Avenue)...should they be relocated to museums? Private property vs. public parks, etc.?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/01/us/new-mexic...ting/index.html I remember the CNN anchor, Lynne Russell, quite well. Her husband (who also worked for CNN) is the one who shot the robber. Guess Motel 6 is not the place to be staying...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 07:22 PM) ? Post season rosters aren't set until August 31. What I should have said is that he would have to pass through waivers first (in August), which theoretically could be blocked....so there's no guarantee of getting him onto the post-season roster unless you trade for him before the deadline July 31st.

Just Jose's second win since May 13th... Talking about backing up Sale's next start by a day. Would pitch on Monday instead of Sunday because of heavy workload recently...would be Chris Sale vs. Mark Buehrle Monday.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../true/minpa/150 Just to make sure we don't get overly excited about Tyler's recent power binge. Great job pitching out of trouble by Jose Q. in this game. Bullpen was solid and shut the door, got some late offense to put this game to bed before we had to get nervous about Robertson with a one run lead on the road. First time all season that the Cards have lost two consecutive home games. Weird times when we're 7-1 against two first place teams in the Astros and Cardinals. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../true/minpa/150 And yay, Melky now has Ackley, Joyce and Gomes below him in LF ops.

Flowers is so damned streaky. Somehow, I have a feeling we won't have a Flowers "contract extension" thread quite yet. We've all been down this road before with guys like Tyler and Gordon. As Greg says, at the end of the year he'll be around 12-18 homers, and that's not terrible for a catcher in today's run-averse environment. On the other hand, I'm not sure he's as strong a leader as this clubhouse probably needs, either. But, then again, we can only go by perception. Year after year, people complained about Jon Garland's demeanor, yet he was one of the key cogs in that 2005 starting rotation.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 09:16 PM) Exactly, it's the guys on the roster that's the obvious problem. I just feel bad for the knee-jerk people that need somebody to pay for these atrocious sins of losing baseball. What's up with that attitude? It's the same type of person that actually uses their car horn and gets mad on the road for some weird reason. Impatience is one of the worst traits a man can have, bottom line. It does him no positive service. Rick Hahn and the FO have done a wonderful job transitioning from the 05 swan song tire-fire teams to this new young core. Give it a few more years folks. Recently read an article about common traits of millionaires. The author argued that the most important individual trait was decisiveness (not stubbornness). The article also argued that decisive "leaders" are very hesitant to change that decision (once made) and don't waver or waffle or reverse their decision until they've patiently and carefully weighed every possible factor that went into the original decision. If the front office is 100% behind Robin Ventura, then they should give him a contract extension and shut up the media and the blogosphere. From what little glimpses we've had from KW/Hahn on this topic, it seems to be the exact opposite of decisiveness.

There was a time when such a thing didn't seem possible. There were 398 players picked before Carpenter in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. He received a $1,000 signing bonus. That's because Carpenter had just finished his fifth year at TCU. He went undrafted as a junior after blowing out his elbow and undergoing Tommy John surgery. There were other issues as well. Some wondered about Carpenter's work ethic and commitment, a notion that seems hilarious now because, as La Russa learned, his will to be great is relentless, his demeanor serious. Back then, though, scouts had watched as Carpenter's weight ballooned to around 240 pounds at one point during his career at TCU, seemingly not all that serious about the whole thing. Looking back on it now, Carpenter simply was a college kid trying to balance school work, baseball and a social life. Just goes to show not every All-Star player comes from the first 10 picks of the first round... From Richard Justice at mlb.com

What's the latest with Eddy Julio Ramirez?

QUOTE (AJUribe @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 11:02 PM) This seems like a good "building block" series. Long season, royals are on top and l feel they're about to fold. This team and the tribe l think are about to go on a tear. Well, KC just got swept by the Astros and we went 5-1 against them. Unfortunately, you have to play well against the teams in your own division and play around .500 on the road, not 11-12 games under.

Garcia just doesn't have that first and second step quickness to be a very effective base stealer.

Quintana has done a very good job of pitching himself out of trouble tonight... Not much you can say about this offense. It is what it is (I am what I am, Popeye).

Ouch. No hitter gone after 8 2/3 and 2 strikes to Bishop. Kipnis might have had a shot if he was 5 inches taller. Indians had perfect games through 5 for three consecutive games this week against TB. Rookie Cody Anderson had one on Monday broken up by former Indian Grady Sizemore. Former Indians Asdrubal Cabrera and Sizemore reached there in that inning against Carrasco. Brandon Morrow also had a no-hitter broken up against TB broken up with one out to go as well. Indians' last no-hitter was Len Barker in 1981 still.

The White Sox are going to have the most god-awful schedule in the dog days of summer...will they have any off days after the All-Star break? Maybe 1 or 2 at most. Guess it's not SO bad....but if they make this game up July 20th (before StL returns for two games to Chicago), that only leaves August 6th/13th and September 10th/28th for 2 1/2 months.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 04:17 PM) Realized the other day that if none of our prospects turn into stars and none of our ex-prospects turn into stars, that just means we don't even get top talent to step foot into our system Yeah, Gio's probably the closest. Daniel Hudson until the injuries, and Hector Santiago has a 50/50 chance to make the All-Star team this year. Brandon McCarthy has had a decent career, when healthy (which hasn't been often). Definitely no superstars.

Tornado watches in western Missouri...and a band of rain stretching pretty much across the state all the way to KC from east-central MO.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 06:58 PM) Carlos Carrasco perfect through 6. 10 K's. Through 7 now. After Kluber, Bauer and Salazar, you could argue he's their 4th starter. (Of course, you could argue the same if Quintana/Samardzija/Rodon threw a no-hitter).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 1, 2015 -> 06:45 PM) Those 3 probably August. You'd have to think 50/50 Ramirez before July 31st if they want to have him on the post-season roster.