caulfield12

One would think that Jon Snow, Danys and the two Stark sisters are the true remaining protagonists at this point, and Theon/Tyrion/Jamie are all anti-heroes who could become heroes at some point in the not-so-distant future. To turn Danerys into another Mad Queen after so many books and building her "good" side up (ending slavery, attempts to be fair and just throughout the books) would seem to be pretty pointless from a narrative point of view.

Minnesota---trailed 4-0 Detroit---trailed 1-0 Cleveland---trailed 3-0 KCR---trailed 1-0, 2-1 KCR---trailed 3-0 Detroit---trailed 1-0, 2-1 Detroit---trailed 1-0, 3-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3 Milwaukee---trailed 1-0 Milwaukee---trailed 1-0 Oakland---trailed 4-2, 5-2, 6-2 Oakland---trailed 2-0 Oakland---trailed 2-1 Cleveland---trailed 1-0 Little known fact: The franchise was first known as the Sioux City Cornhuskers in 1893. Finally, how can the White Sox, after winning five in a row on the road, and having Kluber AND Sale on the mound, only draw 17,712 fans? What was wrong with the weather? Blackhawks again?

http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/05/18/hit-and-r...s-shelby-miller Chronicles the 7 managers in MLB history who ascended to the post without any playing experience (at least in the minors). Turner, John Boles (once a former White Sox front office guy with DD), Tosca and Trembley are the more recent examples. Their overall record is around a bit under .500, fwiw.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...sion-by-marlins Crasnick: Naming Dan Jennings Simply a crazy decision by the Marlins http://sports.yahoo.com/news/baseball-team...-172438377.html Passan criticizes the move from a bypassing minority candidates (against the Selig Rule) and hiring Mr. White Guy perspective. “It’s an awful candidate pool,” said one GM who in recent years hired a new manager. “Real stars get jobs fast.” When you think about it, Ventura, Ausmus, Matheny, Jennings, AJ Hinch and Counsell were all named managers with little or zero minor league experience. Even Sandberg has struggled with his six years and his lengthy major league resume. Of course, the irony is that the Marlins have had 3 Latino managers, and one of two African-American GM's. Also all the Ivy League GM "white guys" such as Epstein, Daniels and Friedman. Names Renteria and Bo Porter...says they should have still gone through a real/legit process and interviewed at least 3-5 guys to expand the pool of possibilies...some other names out there include Dave Martinez, Tony Perez, Eduardo Perez, Guillen, Manny Acta, Manuel, Sandy Alomar, Jr., etc.

USA Today reported the Marlins new bench coach will be Mike Goff, who was their advance scout and the former first base coach for the Mariners in 2005-2007. Mike Berger, the club's vice president and assistant GM, will assume Jennings' duties in the front office. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miam...l#storylink=cpy The bullpen has blown eight leads already. Mets two. Six game difference in the standings. Not sure how that's on Redmond, heck...he should be getting praised for having so much success with Dee Gordon. Then again, the Latos move has been a disaster for all intents and purposes. Most importantly, they don't have Jose Fernandez back pitching.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 18, 2015 -> 08:17 AM) Really though, from everything we have read about this, the guy who should truly have his neck on the line is Loria. His fingerprints are all over this team And you really think he's going to pull a Ted Turner? The fans might actually show up for that one, to see him fall flat on his face and dance on his grave.

Everyone's copying the White Sox now, lol. Matheny, Ausmus, Jennings...can't wait to see the national baseball media pick this one apart. Reminds me of when Larry Dierker (if I recall correctly) went from broadcaster to manager of the Astros. This will be one of the first managers (maybe the only one) without at least significant minor league playing experience. The next, inevitable step is an Ivy League/quant/sabes (love ya Gregaroo) guy directly going into managing. Jennings, a well-respected scout and executive, has no professional managerial experience and last coached a team when he was in charge of Davidson High School in Mobile, Alabama, almost 30 years ago. He has spent 13 years in the Marlins front office after first serving as a scout with the Reds and Mariners for seven years and then seven-plus seasons as the scouting director for the Tampa Bay Rays. Jennings played college baseball and was signed by the Yankees in 1984, but quickly left the organization. It's unknown if Jennings will still retain his title as general manager. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miam...l#storylink=cpy

QUOTE (Brian @ May 18, 2015 -> 03:49 AM) Not a dig on you caufield because you're not the only one I've seen it from, but I see no comparison of Ex Machina to Her, outside of it being a less action scifi movie. Eva and Samantha both being artificial intelligence is the only similarities and they had different motives, if Samantha had any motive at all. I guess maybe it does make for some kind of discussion after all. How are we to assume Samantha didn't have a motive, haha? Well it didn't really feel like an action piece along with lines of I, Robot or AI, which would be another one that comes to mind. Maybe the most recent Robocop remake has some of those elements. Transcendence, although that movie was complete and utter crap. It had that futuristic feel like Elysium, Oblivion (the cabin by the lake....lab by the lake in a remote region reachable only by helo). From another perspective, it was a classic game of cat and mouse. In the end, it's really hard to find an apt comparison. The best I can come up with is 2001: A Space Odyssey and HAL.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 18, 2015 -> 05:52 AM) Dan Jennings, manager of the Marlins. Isn't he a front office exec?

The "stuff" has filtered down, resulting in unprecedented productivity from Sox players. Ms. Moss Kanter’s prime example of what can be achieved through will and vision is a $1 billion tunnel beneath Biscayne Bay that allows trucks to reach the Port of Miami without clogging downtown streets. She credits, among others, Jose Abreu, a Cuban immigrant, civil engineer and state official who championed the project for decades. It started in the mid-1980s with an idea and a $4 million federal grant to study it. Some 30 years later, after myriad disputes, the tunnel was finally built by a public-private partnership drawing on money from a Paris-based infrastructure investment fund. http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-fill-th...oles-1431898378

It's going to take more than 6 weeks for Trey to pass a consensus Top 50-75 MILB prospect. More like mid 2016 before that happens.

Ex Machina is a much better version of HER (Joaquin Phoenix/Scarlett Johannson). It's a bit slow in developing, and there's very little action...but it's a captivating movie nonetheless. Jason Isaac is very good as the creepy techno-genius/billionaire version of Zuckerberg/Jobs/Larry Ellison, and you might recognize the lead of the movie from a recent time travel movie appropriately titled "About Time" with Rachel McAdams and the always-watchable Bill Nighy. The ending is a surprise on what you would expect, but follows logically with the plot. All things considered, there was a lot more to take from this film than Avengers 2 or Furious 7. It's the Snowpiercer of 2015 (so far)...a movie that will definitely have its share of critics but will undoubtedly belong in a discussion of the Top 10-15 films at the ends of the year.

Let's just see how they do against teams with very solid pitching (CLE) and a team some are ranking as high as 6th or 7th in their power ratings/rankings. Oakland's in such a terrible funk that it's very hard to draw any conclusions from that series....any more than you could draw them from KC and Minnesota sweeping us when we were playing terrible baseball. Statistically, we're only ahead of the Red Sox in the RS/RA allowed index. Oakland's still at -5. Statistically, the White Sox SHOULD be 14-20 and the A's 19-20. Obviously, that's why they play the games...and it matters more when you play a team, and also how you're playing at the time, than anything else. The main positive right now is the entire AL playoff picture is wide open. The Royals are having major difficulties with Ventura and Duffy, two of their rotation strengths entering the season. With both Shields AND Volquez, they'd be running away with the division...and Detroit just has a tremendously balanced offensive attack (but no lockdown starters like in years past). If not for the Kinsler/Fielder and Soria deals, the Rangers might actually have prevented the Tigers from being anything but a wild card contender.

He's also been much more effective holding runners on base since the change, FWIW. Faster delivery time to home plate.

Martinez, who trained with the International Prospect League in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, will work out for scouts Wednesday and Thursday (this was LAST week). It's unclear if the outfielder, who played two seasons for Las Tunas in Cuba, will sign during the current international signing period or wait until the next period that begins on July 2. There has been a flurry of movement on the Cuban market in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, top Cuban pitching prospect Vladimir Gutierrez, 19, established residency in Mexico and registered with Major League Baseball. The right-hander, who defected during Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico, will be subject to the international signing guidelines when he is declared a free agent by MLB. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/124052414/in...e-cuban-players

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 17, 2015 -> 08:39 PM) Hopefully Kluber isn't truly back. Stupid Francona, he should have sent him out for the 9th to set the strikeout record!!! There's always wishful thinking...

QUOTE (bmags @ May 17, 2015 -> 08:38 PM) Glad we are gathering great intelligence from Cleveland.com comments. I just thought it was funny...that many of the posters there believe there's a conspiracy in the local media to force fans to like the team and/or support it. We give Rongey a hard time, Merkin and Boyer...but I've never heard of a local writer being accused of trying to influence fans via bias in his writing to see Sox players more favorably. It's usually the likes of Mariotti and Cowley trying to turn you against the team/front office/ownership group.

We're definitely not going to see Carrasco, he pitched a complete game (8 IP, 5 ER) on Sunday. The moral of the story with the Indians this week is not letting the red-hot Kipnis, Murphy and Brantley (I'd add Santana to that list, unless he's on the DL) beat you. MON Kluber vs. Sale TUES Bauer vs. TBA (probably Q) WED TBA vs. Rodon/Noesi/Carroll THUR Salazar vs. Danks Twins have a huge (bullpen rest) advantage, two off-days this week, Monday and Thursday, with two game trip to PITT inbetween. We won't face Nolasco and Pelfrey. FRI Hughes vs. Samardzija SAT May vs. Sale SUN Gibson vs. Quintana What's next? Corey Kluber (1-5, 4.27), fresh off his 18-strikeout performance against the Cardinals, will face White Sox left-hander Chris Sale (3-1, 5.09) Monday night at 8:10 p.m. ET at U.S. Cellular Field as the two teams open a four-game series. Kluber, who allowed one hit in eight innings against St. Louis, is 0-1 against the White Sox this year. He's 4-3 in his career against Chicago. Sale will be making his second start since serving a five-game suspension for his part in a brawl with Kansas City. In his last start, he struck out 11 in eight innings against the Brewers. He is 3-4 with a 4.29 ERA in his career against the Indians. some fun reading from cleveland.com No passion to win. No passion on this team. The fans are beat tired in this town.... FlagShareLikeReply Rich Haney Rich Haney 34 minutes ago The Indians first three hitters in the batting order today had 4 hits and finished with batting averages of .340 for Kipnis, .315 for Murphy, and .348 for Brantley. After those three, the 4 and 5 hitters -- Chisenhall and Moss -- were 0-8 and couldn't even muster a weak grounder to score runs from 3rd with less than two outs. Chisenhall is now hitting .228 and Moss .229 and both are leaving a ton of runners on base. The highest batting average for the last six in the batting order was Swisher's .237. Perez at .164 and Ramirez at .168 are pathetic. To continue playing the hitters that were #4 through #9 today frustrates Cleveland fans because other teams are making moves and trying to win. Chisenhall and Moss should be traded or released. I am amazed how inept Moss is; he seems totally incapable most of the time to get a runner in from 3rd with a simple ground ball. Chisenhall has simply proven unworthy of his new contract. Lindor had three more hits today and his speed, glove, and bat are badly needed but he stays in Columbus at least till mid-June so as not to cost the Tribe a year on his arbitration rights. Big deal. The Indians should worry about five years from now right years from now. Tossing out 2015 is ridiculous. Wow...look at Hoynsie trying to spin Carrasco for his bosses. It isn't bad enough that the local media were trying to claim him as an ace. Zack was even going around trying to claim he had 10 dominant starts to end last season, which was inaccurate spin. This organization and their media goons are desperate to try to justify that Cliff Lee trade to this day... He did NOT deserve better, Hoynsie. He gave up 5 runs in 8 innings. He was inconsistent. Mediocre. He had a 5.62 ERA for that game. How does his performance deserve anything?

Nice to see Avi saved Robertson from having to go out there again. That will hopefully be huge in the coming week/s.

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miam...le21238959.html 7-8 managers (if you count Hyde for one game) in a span of just 13 years.

That's a pretty big gamble to take...and, if the system's going to be changed again in 2017, then every front office (especially the big pocket ones) has got to be thinking the same exact thing. Which won't work in favor of the White Sox. That said, we could use another talented outfielder. Eventually, maybe...one of them will make an impact at the major league level if we throw enough darts at the wall.

If Moncada wasn't, then it's unlikely that this guy is... http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...rusney-castillo Remember how much the Red Sox invested in this guy? Well, he's in AAA. Part of it was injury related...and the logjam in the major league outfield in Boston, but there haven't been many under 22-23 guys who just came into MLB and dominated. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/125039124/re...debut-on-monday And speaking of Moncada, he's going to debut Monday for the Greenville Drive (Sally League, Low A)

The White Sox basically beat the mirror image of themselves, at least the way they were playing for most of the first six weeks. The A's couldn't get out of their own way defensively...baserunning...execution, clutch hitting, etc. Now it's time to see where they're really at...like a test case, before the real challengers. Anything less than 4-3 would be a huge disappointment. 5-2 would obviously be better to put them multiple games over the .500 mark.

Seems that time when Abreu fell on his face and threw over the runner to get the force at 2nd base really loosened up the team...Garcia, in particular, came a long distance just to laugh at Jose.

Think the Cards are already regretting the Heyward deal?