caulfield12

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Oct 13, 2015 -> 07:25 AM) Sorry, but you really can't make that statement as of today. Maybe after a series of shrewd offseason moves, perhaps, but not now. If you'll recall, we just finished third to last in the league, thanks to the miserably worst offense and almost as equally abysmal defense. There is nothing "solid" at all there at the moment, save Sale, Abreu, Q, Eaton, and Robertson. Fairly steep drop off after those fellas. Rodon, based on progression the second half...but still a work in progress. http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2...ml#incart_river I really believe a big part of the White Sox problem has been similar...veterans like Dunn, Shark, Rios, Peavy, LaRoche, Keppinger, Bonifacio, Downs, Cabrera, Ramirez, Beckham, etc., bringing down the atmosphere of the clubhouse. The Indians had to deal with Bourn, Swisher, Moss...didn't really turn the corner until those guys were jettisoned.

Have the Indians even given official permission yet for him to talk to the Sox?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 12, 2015 -> 09:53 PM) A few comments. ... • Down by four runs, the Royals were dead, I thought. KC fans on Twitter were all over Yost and Rios. • I will give Rios credit. He got the first of the six singles (one was not a single but error at ss but it took a funny hop on the certain DP). • Hosmer goes from s*** to stroking a key single then a huge HR for insurance? Pretty impressive. • Royals overcome the weird call at 3B on Gore? Impressive. I will say this. The Royals' comeback proves most fans complaints are just people blabbering at the mouth. All the Royals critics when the team was down four runs. One guy wrote Ned should be fired for not having a sense of urgency the last month. One guy was incensed that Ned was playing Rios. Many were mad at Rios. Some were furious about the Cueto trade, saying thanks Dayton, Cueto did nothing and now the Royals are out several young players. Blah blah blah ... it's like Al Davis said, "Just Win Baby." And when Roy Williams was at kansas he said: "The best/only way to shut everybody up is to win. Win and people have to shut their frickin mouths." Who else should they play? Gomes? Dyson? Paolo Orlando? Certainly not Gore, he's less of a hitter than Dyson even. It's hard to have a sense of urgency when you clinch early....look at the Dodgers, the Pirates, the Cardinals, etc. the fact is every team that wins in the playoffs gets a huge break or two. The White Sox must have had 5-6 in 2005, probably more. The Royals still have Zimmer, Almonte, Mondesi, Ashe Russell and Bubba Starling finally started to live up to his high billing as well. It's not like trading Odorizzi, W. Myers and Montgomery killed them. They'll have plenty of money coming off the books from Gordon and Guthrie's deal, although they're likely to pick up Medlen's $10 million 2016 option. And Roy Williams never won a title at KU. As far as the Cueto trade, and Zobrist, the A's made the exact same types of moves last season...and the best player that they traded away, Addison Russell, is going to be an everyday SS for a decade. It's hard to complain when they have the best overall combined record in the AL over the last three years.

Maybe they can hire Dan Jennings, haha.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Oct 12, 2015 -> 02:08 PM) Depends if you want to include the Leach coaching tree. Art Briles, Baylor Dana Holgorson, WVU Kliff Kingsbury, TTU Sonny Dykes, Cal Ruffin McNeil, ECU Others like Lincoln Riley, Sonny Combie, Seth Littrell, etc are OC's at BCS schools (OU, TCU, UNC) and will get head coaching opportunities soon. There's also Gundy, I forgot about him. Honestly, I'm not even sure what happened with Josh Heupel, he was an assistant at one point. Haven't followed the program as close this past decade since I started living abroad.

I don't know about $75 million, but it would be at least $50 million added to put them in a position to legitimately compete again next year. Let's say $20 million for Heyward/Cespedes/Upton, another $10-12 million for a starting pitcher (assuming you can't realistically hope to compete relying on Erik Johnson from the get-go)...I haven't looked at the contracts coming off the books (Keppinger/Shark/Bonifacio, etc.) enough to know the exact numbers, but we probably have automatic increases in enough contracts so that's another $5-7.5 million you have to account for. Already then, you're up $35-40 million or so, and still have at least one hole in the bullpen, 3B, SS (let's just assume in this scenario they keep Alexei one last year), 2B, C, RF and DH. Let's assume we have no choice but to keep LaRoche, so you still have big holes in RF, 2B, 3B and C offensively, defensively or both. You can't shore up all of those positions, but realistically you have a bigger impact guy at one (maybe you acquire Todd Frazier via trade, for example, and add his salary to the payroll) or split the money across 2 of the 4 remaining ones. Since we all agree Sanchez is fine as the 9th hitter at 2B, that leaves RF and C unaddressed, so you're still talking a terrible bottom of the order to go with a much-improved 1-6 and you've basically spent $45-50 million to get there. Maybe another $3-5 million or so goes to a veteran reliever (LH), and you've got to replace Beckham, Bonifacio and possibly Soto (Saladino will likely be one of the bench guys, along with Thompson/Shuck). $75 million is so far removed from reality, there's no point in discussing it. $50 million likely is too, unfortunately.

Apparently the governor of Texas sent out a premature (or someone in his office/staff) tweet and it ended up jinxing both the Astros and the Rangers at nearly the same time. Oh, it's McHugh vs. Cueto, not Kazmir. Cueto pretty much refused to go on 3 day's rest Monday, so he has all the pressure on him to finally perform on the big stage, even though in many ways the pressure is all on the Astros to not choke away the series after coming so close to having it won in their home park. Ten years since post-season baseball in Houston. I think we all vividly remember the last post-season play there...

Jim Thome was the last really positive veteran addition who made a big impact on the team...his loss surely cost Ozzie the post-season in 2010 (Kotsay/Jones fiasco, which followed the Erstad fiasco....actually, Andruw was fine for his role.)

It would be pretty hilarious if Game 5 was in Houston and creative fans could again try the Johnny Cueto taunt to rattle him...alas, not to be.

I'm not sure which comeback was crazier. Seemed the Royals were simply dead this year...last season, anything seemed possible the way they played the second half. Winning games like this can carry teams a long way like it did for that stretch until they ran into the Bumgarner buzzsaw in the World Series. The Royals are just lucky. Doing it two years in a row...? Hmmm...

And please don't bet the house on Cueto at home Wednesday, haha.

I hope you didn't bet that house, Greg. If you did, don't jump off the roof. Would be Davis' first two inning save of the year. Did it four times last year. Young players on the Astros coming unhinged, throwing equipment around out of frustration. This is where you need an experienced manager with a steady hand who doesn't flinch.

The crazy thing is going from making plans for flights/tickets to Toronto or Dallas one minute...the next, you're staring playoff elimination in the face with Cueto pitching at home versus Kazmir. KC will be more jacked up than Wrigley if that happens. Swinging from Houston/Texas grudge match to KC/StL possibilities for a World Series in a matter of less than thirty minutes. Royals' starters with a 6.27 era this series in four games.

Getting a six out save isn't going to be easy. HR hitters up and down the Astros' line-up. Pretty sure nine in double figures and two more with nine homers.

Hosmer scored the winning run last year from third...against the very same Luke Gregorson, pitching for the A's, last year, in the WC game, after Lester blew that same four run lead late in the game. Baseball is some crazy s---. Should have used Fields!!! KC has batted around this inning.

If the Astros do lose this game, not going to Josh Fields there will be questioned a lot.

Shades of Tony Graffanino ten years ago against the White Sox....

Shades of the comeback late in the wild card game last year. Pretty damned improbable. Sipp hadn't given up a hit in 3 1/3 ip before this game.

Greg's house...it gawn. Haha.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 12, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) The Royals need to settle down. If they remain this emotional powerderkeg it will do them no good. Personally Sox need to man up and just start beating them. Sox's starting rotation is so much better than KC's. Royals bullpen now blows. Their window has closed with Gordon gone and Zobrist gone. They gawn. Now can the Sox beat them head to head? Probly not. And they're not going to spend any money at all this offseason? As soon as they add Cespedes, Iwakuma, etc., everyone will be giving them the division. Gordon didn't even play for over half the season, remember? They had to use Dyson and Orlando a lot as well. In the end, moves like Cueto and Zobrist didn't guarantee anything...any more than the A's moves that seemingly guaranteed a World Series appearance last year failed in the end.

MLB with some really questionable calls from NyC this postseason...calling out Gore wasn't nearly as bad as the Tejada situation, but still not clear and convincing.

The next question is why didn't Greg bet his house...? That would have wiped out the whole rolling stop thread since he would have acquired thousands of dollars to pay off his tickets with...and make additional charitable/church/Ben Carson/Kirk Cameron movie studio contributions. In the end, the White Sox are going to be facing a highly-motivated, desperate to get back to the post-season Royals team next year.

Just goes to show how much losing one cog in their bullpen machine impacted the Royals. This is the year for teams arriving "ahead of schedule." So that means the Astros, Cubs, Mets and Rangers are advancing, haha. Shades of Andruw Jones there from Carlos Correa. Rasmus would have been a cheaper pick-up than Cabrera with more upside. Oh well.

But nobody has ever hit you from behind, right? Because that will always be their fault. You can't let other people intimidate you into driving illegal just because of the "people are always impatient" excuse.

Dubious replay call there at 3b...not that Rios was likely to drive in Gore there.