caulfield12

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 06:29 PM) If your biggest FA signings have been Ben Wallace and Carlos Boozer, you suck at your job. Depends how good you are at drafting and development. And, with the salary cap, GM's are often handcuffed financially. If your gold standard is San Antonio, sure. Depends on one's expectations.

At least the Bulls consistently make the playoffs. They're almost like the Atlanta Braves of the NBA Eastern Conference...and Rose's injuries are analagous to the White Sox losing Chris Sale and his effectiveness upon return declining. You can't expect to beat the 2nd best player in NBA history, superteams (Heat w/ James), the Warriors or Spurs without an MVP level Rose. Another way of putting it...being a Bulls' fan now is like being a Cavs fan when the Celtics, then Pistons, then Bulls were so good, although in general the Eastern is a LOT softer than back in those days.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 05:59 PM) You are the one who said Cespedes wouldn't sign with the White Sox, and who would, unless they paid a significant premium. It is easy to understand you. Whatever the current White Sox rumor is, you take the other side. Dexter Fowler would be terrible, wouldn't be able to adjust to the AL, but he made perfect sense for Dayton Moore, who was going to copy KW but only much smarter. Where did I ever say sign Dexter Fowler? Not once. I said the only thing that makes sense is waiting into the season and not surrendering a draft pick. Since most don't believe Desmond or Fowler will get to Opening Day unsigned, that pretty much removes them from consideration...although I'm more on the fence about Desmond because he would be buying low compared to Fowler and is a nice rebound candidate. Still younger. I have said the last two weeks when the rates came down to more reasonable numbers they should go after Cespedes instead of lesser options who won't raise the bar enough. That's the opposite of what? The new philosophy never to give anyone over a three year contract? I thought that was all subterfuge and negotiating tactics, otherwise the only reason to be involved in the first place was some elusive marketing benefit that "at least we were trying."

Yay, Duke sucks again...

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 05:44 PM) Just read on rotoworld that Baltimore is still in on Cespedes if he will sign a short term deal. Just grow a pair and give him a 4 yr contract so the fans will finally enjoy a full season of baseball, not just the first month. We don't even usually get to enjoy the first month recently...just opening day.

Scott Walker was another candidate who seemingly got exposed intellectually...along with Rick Perry. Alan Keyes? Michelle Bachmann? Otoh, you won't find many Dems who believe Newt Gingrich isn't a supersmart guy, just a misguided one. Finally, I'm starting to wonder how Bobby Jindal can be almost as smart as Bill Clinton but almost the polar opposite in terms of political instincts...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 12:27 PM) Yes, Bernie has a chance. As of right now, he has a real good chance to win Iowa and New Hampshire he absolutely should win, it's his home turf. Winning both of those could provide a boost that carries him through the next few states. However, Hillary also has a strong organization in Iowa and it's incredibly difficult to accurately poll a caucus because the process isn't simple. It's a multiple hour commitment so anyone who has to work that day is excluded and people can talk and be convinced by activists on both sides. If Bernie Sanders wins the first 2 states, he still has an uphill battle because South Carolina and Nevada are up next and neither of those states are nearly as pale white as Iowa and New Hampshire and Bernie's strength is more among white voters. As of right now Hillary still remains a statistical favorite. It's usually 6:30-8:00 or 7:00-8:30 pm. Clinton and her husband alienated a lot of South Carolina voters and the Congressional Black Caucus in 2008. Still tough territory...maybe he can go to his more ambivalent gun stance there.

That's almost what a small market team has to do...maximize the contention window and then bottom out and rebuild with high draft picks for 3-5 years. It makes more sense than trying to spend your way into contention every season.

Tickets, parking and concessions count much closer to 20-25% for the typical team now than the previous 30-40% a decade or so ago. HOW THE CHRIS DAVIS DEAL GOT DONE MASNsports reporter Roch Kubatko says initial discussions were contentious but ultimately no other serious bidder emerged. Espn.com

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 12:17 PM) Hosmer and Moustakas are Boras clients correct? No way they'd be able to re-sign them if that's the case. Yep. Most KC fans feel Hosmer will leave because he will be near to Heyward's age at the time of free agency and that Moustakas has a very slight chance of sticking around and not wanting to be closer to the West Coast.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:22 AM) This contract makes literally no f***ing sense. Why not use that $70 million to try to lock up one of their stars (Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain, etc) rather than signing an aging NL pitcher? I don't get it, but more power to them. Cain just signed a two year extension but not into free agency because of his relatively older age. Boras will take both those guys into free agency no matter what...especially Hosmer since he will be Heyward's age.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:33 AM) Again you are just making up numbers I guess if the Post and Daily News are just making things up, too. I'm just following the three year nonsense we keep hearing over and over again.

Then the real competition is with Detroit, St. Louis and LAA for Fowler, assuming Upton to Texas.

Mets are offering three years and $60 million to Cespedes. The White Sox would have to offer at least $70-75 to get him to leave NY.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:18 AM) I know you love random pulled out of mid air made up percentages, sothat clubhouse convo guy said Vargas has about a .1 % chance of pitching for the Royals this season. They're certainly better off taking the insurance settlement and not pushing him to return at all this season.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:12 AM) Garcia was the starter last year, so why does Thompson matter? And Trayce got us what's projected to be the largest positional improvement in baseball. I have no idea what your angle is here. If they weren't going to upgrade the outfield, trading Thompson to a team that doesn't even need him made no sense. Fowler would have been measured against a 1.5 war in terms of upgrade rather than Avi. And, if the improvement's so great (Frazier vs. Saladino), then why are we content with that same player at SS?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:02 AM) Marginal improvement over Avi? It would actually be the biggest improvement in baseball from one former starter to the new one, only topping Frazier. Assuming Garcia was the starter and not Thompson...we can't be so sure about that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:52 AM) The farm system sucks now, everyone knows that. With that said, no idea how that was your response to what I posted Simple, Fowler signing means Samardzija's pick everyone obsessed over last year is sayonara for just a marginal improvement. With Fulmer and Anderson graduating, they'll be back to the 24th-26th farm system again.

Ventura Volquez Kennedy Medlen Young Duffy Jason Vargas (back at midseason from TJ) Zimmer Dillon Gee John Lannan The one thing they do have is some depth now...

Surely the White Sox will announce an extension with Danks in the coming weeks... Actually, he agreed not to take one of Hosmer or Moustakas into free agency in return for Kennnedy.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:41 AM) There's going to be quite the meltdown on here if he signs with the Tigers before Sox get Fowler, etc All the feel good stories about the farm system/renewed focus on development would be thrown out the window...

If they had signed Cespedes and Latos for much less than Davis, they would have done their fans an even bigger favor...a real chance to compete in the AL East.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:29 AM) The only reason was that the orioles threw him a bone to save face because they wanted davis back. All of the boras tatics of marketing him as a OF and waiting for months got him essentially nothing. In the end, the story will be he got the second best deal for a position player (higher aav even than Heyward despite being three years older) and Ian Kennedy double the contract many felt he would get because of the draft pick compensation attached and 16 homers given up in Petco last year.

http://www.royalsreview.com/2016/1/16/1077...ennedy#comments Royals fans pissed they didnt keep Zobrist or use that money on Latos (no draft pick lost) and another outfielder.

QUOTE (CyAcosta41 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:14 AM) I try to generally avoid paralysis through over-analysis and just keep things simple and REAL (there can be so much clutter and white noise) ... no matter the temporary real or staged stalemate on Davis, no matter the exact payment on the finalized deal and how it compared to the deal that had been on the table for months, that Boras was able to get that deal offered in the first place (on Chris effin Davis), that he and everyone could watch the position player/hitter market move as it did, that there could be no other serious landing spot for Davis, and that anything close to that original deal was still available later is classic Boras in every way. The dude is the evil magician. The lawyer in me loves him; the baseball and Sox fan in me detests him. Amazing that he could pull this off, but now that he's out of the way (just his foul air to still breathe), we'll have pretty quick resolutions on Cespedes, Upton, and Fowler. PS ... And Boras being Boras is why there is no effin doubt that the RH is already working on the best exit strategy for Carlos Rodon after getting a number of strong years out of him when the Sox hold all the cards. There's a reason MLB Network has banned his name being mentioned during draft broadcasts, not that every top 100 prospect and his parents doesn't know Evil Corp anyway.