caulfield12

Yes, positive results are possible, but I don’t say they’re probable. For one thing, we have a remarkably poor record in this country of seizing the opportunities that follow spectacular crimes of this sort. After the Aurora and Newtown shootings, there appeared to be a window for some modest degree of national gun regulation, perhaps a federal ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips. But in case you hadn’t noticed, our political system is paralyzed and dysfunctional, and the party with a House majority is held hostage by weapons manufacturers and a fanatical core of Second Amendment truthers. So that went nowhere, because Thomas Jefferson’s vision of the republic’s future evidently involved a lot of fat white guys in camo vests stockpiling action-movie arsenals. (The good news about the Obama-era explosion in gun ownership is that it hasn’t altered the general downward trend in crime. The bad news is that it probably means that the people who already had guns have bought more of them.) But that’s not actually my subject here, although we should stipulate that reasonable restrictions on firearm ownership would go a long way toward reducing the frequency, the body count and the media-friendly spectacle of incidents like the Isla Vista killings. Now, Elliot Rodger would presumably have been just as disturbed on the subject of male-female relations if he’d lived in England or Germany or any of the other major Western countries where it’s much more difficult to acquire guns (which would be, let’s see, all of them). What troubles me is the extent to which many men seek to ignore or deflect all conversation about the specific nature of Elliot Rodger’s pathology, along with the evident fact that many women see that pathology as a ubiquitous social and cultural problem. It’s one thing to conclude that access to guns and inadequate mental-health treatment were the most important factors in the toxic equation that fueled Rodger’s rampage, and that misogynistic ranting was the form of his crazy but not the substance. I don’t find that entirely persuasive, but it’s a reasonable position in itself. What I’ve encountered over and over again this past week on Twitter and comments forums and message boards is that opinion used as a weapon, angrily presented as an incontrovertible fact that should put an end to all this hysterical and irresponsible lady-talk. It’s a window-slammer, meant to terminate a conversation that threatens to stray into uncomfortable questions about misogyny, male entitlement and masculine identity. It’s another way of telling the girls to shut up. And fellas, we’ve done quite enough of that. http://www.salon.com/2014/05/31/elliot_rod..._point_for_men/

Rick Ankiel completely lost the strike zone, but it wasn't due to losing velocity. Not sure how much of this situation is physical and how much of it's psychological, but it seems the physical problems are leading to psychological ones in this case as he's going steadily downhill/backwards.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 04:49 AM) Now may be a good time to buy low on Dominic Brown. He's young lefthanded and has some power. Besides, he couldn't be any worse than running DeAza out there everyday. I'm not saying Alexei in a deal for him but you may be able to get him cheap. He's still young enough to turn it around and a change of scenery could help. Since they already have Rollins, they're not going to displace him for another veteran in Ramirez. So what young player do we have with any real upside that a team in transition/going into rebuilding would actually want that we don't? They might accept Viciedo for Brown, who's well under 600 OPS-wise at the moment. The irony is I'm pretty sure both guys are represented by Boras, which means you're essentially renting him, but we would have Brown under contract from 2015-2017, which is our hoped-for contention window (along with 2018). It would be an interesting trade for both teams. Brown gives the White Sox left-handed pop and he's a better fielder than Viciedo, but he has looked terrible this season. Viciedo has been very good until recently, but his future is also a bit cloudy in Chicago.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 04:49 AM) Now may be a good time to buy low on Dominic Brown. He's young lefthanded and has some power. Besides, he couldn't be any worse than running DeAza out there everyday. I'm not saying Alexei in a deal for him but you may be able to get him cheap. He's still young enough to turn it around and a change of scenery could help. Since they already have Rollins, they're not going to displace him for another veteran in Ramirez. So what young player do we have with any real upside that a team in transition/going into rebuilding would actually want that we don't? They might accept Viciedo for Brown, who's well under 600 OPS-wise at the moment. The irony is I'm pretty sure both guys are represented by Boras, which means you're essentially renting him, but we would have Brown under contract from 2015-2017, which is our hoped-for contention window (along with 2018). It would be an interesting trade for both teams. Brown gives the White Sox left-handed pop and he's a better fielder than Viciedo, but he has looked terrible this season. Viciedo has been very good until recently, but his future is also a bit uncertain in Chicago.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 09:48 PM) Nice. Bobby Abreu can f***ing hit Jose?

Unless the organization believes BOTH Semien and Sanchez are slated to be utility players in the Keppinger/McEwing/Oquendo/Grebeck mode long-term, they need to pick the best one (in their belief) and stick him at SS everyday. Saladino's no longer a prospect for everyday MLB time, so he will be the first one (and has been) to be moved all over the field. And Sanchez/Micah Johnson both can't play 2B at the same time, either.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 11:16 AM) What an absolutely bizarre thing to ask. Well, not necessarily. (And yes, there's no law that baseball teams have to be equitably mixed between 35-40% Latin American players, 60-65% white and 5-15% Asian/African-American). The most important element for modern baseball teams seems to be "chemistry." Nobody knows EXACTLY if chemistry breeds winning, or winning breeds chemistry, etc. It's like the chicken and the egg argument. You still need to have a mixture of different backgrounds in order for the sum to be greater than the total of all of the part...I firmly believe the fundamentals first/team-oriented play of Iguchi had a lot more to do with the 2005 championship than some give him credit for (there was a reverse correction against this idea, that it was all about homers and relief/starting pitching and not about Pods/Iguchi, but they set the tone the first 2-3 months).

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/tracy-...p;vkey=news_mlb Didn't realize the White Sox were one of five teams offering him a six-year contract (originally). Seems like the Sox have been in on nearly every Cuban who has made an impact, with the exception of Soler, who it was always a foregone conclusion was going to the Cubs. What would you give to him as a FA offer (assuming he plays the same or better the next 1 1/2 seasons)? Years/dollars? Is there such a thing as "too many Cubans" on one MLB team? Or would you consider bidding for a FA RH outfielder entering years 30-33 in his career (a little bit beyond his prime) too risky? Is he too similar to Avisail Garcia? Or the perfect complement to surround Eaton (assuming he's still around) with? Also, would anyone be interested in Billy Butler in USCF for 81 games if he became available on the cheap, despite his non left-handedness? Or too worried about his weight and age and downtrending performance curve? Or Colby Rasmus, since bringing in Melky Cabrera or Victor Martinez would be overpaying/buying too high based on their 2014 performance levels? Seth Smith? Adam Lind? LaRoche?

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/mock-...t-from-fiction/ Don't know what this means since I'm not an insider....shake up at the top supposedly? Gordon?

If you could combine Sanchez/Semien/Micah/Leury Garcia into one player, then you might have something. As it is, I wouldn't be surprised at all if only one of those guys was on the 2016 roster. We can hope all we want for 2-3, but history tells us to tamper down our expectations when it comes to our minor league hitting prospects. It's only when we find guys from other organizations (Quentin) or bring them in as international free agents (Ramirez, Viciedo and Abreu) that we've had any degree of success.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) I think you have to get a solid #4 as well in order to allow for the possibility that Sale is best utilized for around 30 starts a year during the regular season. Hopefully Johnson shows enough to make it as long man in the pen and he would be the fill in for the starts Sale misses. Rienzo, I think ultimately is a set up guy. If our best hope if for Johnson to be the long man in the bullpen and make 3-5 starts per year, we're going to have no choice but to go the FA agent route, get a collegiate arm with the 3 pick and/or find more waiver wire guys like Humber/Noesi/Carroll or McHugh with the Astros. And Danks has to look closer to a 3 than a 5/long man (aka Barry Zito) for the remainder of his contract.

The irony with Shields is that he's going to be the last dagger in Dayton Moore, even though both Shields and Wade Davis have been great for the Royals. Just like the White Sox in 2000-01, the Royals had a #1 farm system and 9 guys in the Top 100. (A further irony being the main contribution of that depth was to allow the acquisition of Garcia with Reed/Olivo/Morse). Right now, they pretty have nothing to show for it, other than Alex Gordon, who they will lose after next season, Shields after this season...and both Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura, who were more "under the radar" types who burst on the scene, rather than the pedigreed guys like Hosmer and Moustakas. Even Bubba Starling, a recent first round draft pick still hitting under .200 in the low minors is going back to what worked for him in high school. We thought Walker was bad, but the Royals have had five hitting coaches in less than 2 full seasons. All of this goes to show that even you if you have built a young core of position players, there are no guarantees...especially if you don't have the pitching to go with it.

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/31/50592...to-develop.html Lays out a pretty strong case for Dayton Moore getting canned sooner rather than later. The biggest problem, obviously, is the lack of development of any hitters other than Alex Gordon (and they almost gave up on him) and Salvador Perez, who's having a hard time remaining healthy. Meanwhile, fired hitting coach Kevin Seitzer (2012) seems to be delivering promised results in Toronto.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 07:20 AM) Just read an interesting report on players to avoid in first round. Gatewood, Toussaint, Fedde, Beede, Harrison, Kopeck. 5 days to go. Well, I would HOPE Fedde would be on the list, due to that TJ surgery.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 06:23 AM) I saw the play. Terrible effort. Announcers said nothing. It did not lead to any extra runs. The runner was going to score from 2nd...and the hitter was PROBABLY going to get a double regardless (when's the last time DeAza threw someone out from LF at second?), but the SD broadcasters both remarked and how surprised they were that the play didn't get made.

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/baseball-empl...GlkA1NNRTI4OF8x Jeff Passan article on SABR reaching the university community....huge online class with many aspirants hoping for a shot to work in major league front offices someday

I guess DeAza had yet another bad/questionable fielding play in the early innings, not cutting off a ball that got past him. He really looks like toast.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ May 31, 2014 -> 09:13 AM) If you've ever seen his swing it's always been hard to imagine him as a big leaguer. He cut it down some, not enough though. Buddy Bell still thinks he's going to win the Triple Crown though. IMO it's about time to trade Joe Borchard, Jr. for Matt Thornton, Jr. Great trade before, do it again now. Somewhere under that golden moon there is another Buddy Bell dreaming under it, only he's working for somebody else, and whatever Coop projects they have we need. Especially lefty ones because all ours blow. Borchard was 10X the prospect Mitchell ever was...let's not forget how much money they invested into him, his AA season, the fact that he actually received a decent amount of major league playing time and hit the longest homer in USCF history, etc.

Because it's not like we're not a week or so away from adding another 2-3 starting pitchers into the mix or anything for our contention window. Maybe they'll go after another collegiate closer in rounds 3-5, like a Reed, along with two starters (one collegiate, one high schooler).

Great article on George Springer, at least some of those five tool guys are panning out...so far. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/george-spring...-195233639.html It's a bit ironic, though, as Springer wasn't even drafted through the current regime's analytical/quant approach. Good try, Brandon, but Of Gods and Generals was your last big opportunity to make it in Hollywood with that look.

Hawkins has another walk, as well. 23 walks and 56 K's. Never would have thought Mike Trout would have more K's at this point in the season (apples and oranges, sure).

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 30, 2014 -> 12:01 PM) They are superior only in that they do not have much value to the Sox, and really probably less value anywhere else than in Chicago. If you want to receive top talent back, you need to give up top talent. Trading any of those guys will get you A ball lottery tickets while moving Q would likely net you high level talent. Again, you have to trade value to get value back, Danks has more value to the Sox than he does anyone else at this point. If you can turn Q into two SP's though, wouldn't that help you quicker than waiting to for someone to develop? If you deal him to the BJ's, Orioles, or Rockies and get an MLB ready arm back, a near MLB ready guy, and another prospect, it would fix the rotation more quickly than waiting for Danish to develop. I am not advocating the idea, just thought it would be a good discussion on a slow news day. Why not just sign Kazmir, Haren, Feldman, Tim Hudson, Phil Hughes, Paul Maholm, etc.? Or do like what we've done traditionally, getting Noesi/Humber/Carroll off the waiver wire? Same thing with the Astros and McHugh.

QUOTE (beautox @ May 29, 2014 -> 11:03 PM) A+ Alexei Ramirez - Best short stop in the AL right now, second best overall. Playing at an elite level on pace for a 5WAR season Chris Sale - I won't ding him for being hurt he has been the definition of an ACE Conor Gillaspie - In terms of what my expectations were and what he has actually produced I would be foolish not to list him as an A+, he has a higher wRC+ then Alexei at 136, I'm sure the home runs will come, and while his BABIP is sky high so are his line drive rate and his BB% & K% leave me very optimistic. With any luck he can continue his respectability against left handed pitching .281/.314/.344 wRC+ 78 and develop into that 2.5-3WAR player. A Jose Quintana - Everything is in line where it should be, very glad to have both him and sale with us for a long time. A- Jose Abreu - Power and hit tool as good as advertised, defense a pleasant surprise. As other posters have said he needs to take his walks. Tyler Flowers - Defense has been good, approach at the plate has been solid, if he can become Saltalamacchia-Lite, that will do wonders for this organization. B+ Ronald Belisario - Has been shaky as the closer, great as the set up man, terrible the first two weeks, Glad to have him in our pen he has electric stuff. Gordon Beckham - Hitting like its '09 all over again, I'm want to see him how he performs up till the trade deadline before Hahn makes a decision on his future with the Sox. I want to believe in him but I've been burned too many times. B Adrian Nieto - Defense is rough, but the fact that he is holding it together at the major league level is pretty awesome. I think as he matures at the major league level we've got ourselves a .5-1WAR backup catcher; hello Jesus Flores! Adam Dunn - This is what his decline phase was supposed to look like when we signed him. Zach Putnam - nice minor league pick up, isn't as good as his ERA would have you to believe but he is above average. B- Adam Eaton - I'm not going to knock him for health, looks to be the catalyst this team has desperately needed for a long time. Andre Rienzo - Has the stuff to stick at this level, the question is, will it be as a back end starter or a middle reliever. Dayan Viciedo - Defense isn't doing him any favors but I like his approach and walk rate, I don't think his value will take too much of a hit when he transitions to DH. C+ Hector Noesi - You can see why the mariners wanted him originally when they traded Pineda, has major league stuff but he is in the same boat as Rienzo. Jake Petricka - solid performance so far. C John Danks - Hes trending up, looks to be healthy and should settle into a 1.5WAR pitcher on this team, he still might provide some surplus value on his contract as it plays out but I'm sure he'll earn his paycheck. Daniel Webb - Needs to demonstrate that he is the late inning reliever many on this board myself included believe him to be. Marcus Semien - Love his plate discipline, his defense is slightly above average but he needs to lift the bat off his shoulder when he gets deeper in the count, still have high hopes for this kid. Moises Sierra - I like what he has done so far with the sox, solid pickup by Hahn. C- Matt Lindstrom - an ok reliever. Leury Garcia - an ok bench piece. Scott Carroll - He is getting the most out of his ability but he looks to be a long reliever at best. D+ Scott Downs - Against left handers he has been sub par but servicable, when he isn't walking them .194/.293/.278, Against right handed hitting he is horrible. Robin for some unknown reason thinks he is capable of more than being a LOOGY. Alejandro De Aza - His BABIP is way down to .277 vs his career of .322 his walk and strike out rates remain the same, even though he has appeared comically bad at stealing the bases he is still an above average base runner and his defense is above average as well even if it appears pensive at times. I'm confident he will turn it around and get back to his career norms. Erik Johnson - where did his fastball go? I hope he eventually finds it down at AAA, still think he is part of the future. F Paul Konerko - Love what this man did for the sox, but he is toast and a horrible waste of a roster spot. Felipe Paulino - Not every low risk high reward pays off. Jordan Danks - Even with his defense he has spot on this team going forward. Coaching Ventura - D, this team plays hard and doesn't give up but they win inspite of him not because. Cooper - A, Not every project pitcher can be fixed but he makes it happen more often than not. Stevenson - A+ breath of fresh air, the team has really bought in. INC: Avisail Garcia looked to be putting it together before he went down, still think he should be moved to LF in the very near future. Petricka deserves a lot higher than C+, IMO. And Putnam, overall, has to be at least an A-.

Will the real Gordon Beckham show his face? 2014 OPS 1.177 vs. lefties (30+ AB's), .655 vs. righties 2011-2013 .592 vs. lefties, .683 vs. righties 2009 .890 vs. lefties, .755 vs. righties The numbers against righties have stayed within a 100 point range/spectrum for most of his career, but the real dramatic fluctuations have always been against left-handers. Is it a troubling sign for him going forward his numbers against righties look so average/pedestrian? That's a huge differential between the two sets of numbers.

Not covering the murder/assailant will never happen because of the 1st Amendment... That's obvious. You could have an interesting debate, though about the cause and effect/correlation with "mass" killings around the world...if you were to break it down to which has the bigger impact, the media's incessant coverage of them (think John Hinckley's assassination attempt on Reagan to get noticed by Jodie Foster) or access to the weapons (be it knives, guns, chemical/biological, etc.) Here in China, there are no guns...so the most common "mass killing" is for Chinese men (often unemployed/uneducated or under-educated...frustrated they can't marry with 6 men for every 5 women, etc.) lashing out against schoolchildren by using knives to kill as many kids as quickly as possible. Or the Japanese subway attacks with chemical weapons, for example. Without guns...deranged people/groups/terrorists/cults will still carry out apocalyptic "days of retribution/annihilation/vengeance" regardless.