caulfield12

The Stoops coaching tree doesn't exactly measure up to Hayden Fry's. His brother, Brett Venables, Spurrier's son, Leach, Mark Mangino, Chuck Long.... Compared to Ferentz, Bill Snyder, the Stoops brothers, Jay Norvell, Bielema, Barry Avarez, Jim Leavitt, Dan McCarney, etc.

The first four aren't. Iwakuma was very good again at the end of the season after being a top ten guy in the AL for ERA last year. Then, switching to the NL? Fister, if healthy, is a very effective fourth starter and potentially better. Latos picked up his fb velocity again and was much better after the first couple of months. Let's not forget how awful Cueto was in KC, and Shark in Chicago. Conversely, leaving the AL makes a lot of these guys better, like Brett Anderson now with the Dodgers (someone everyone laughed at signing). Heck, Chris Young would be fine, compared to $200 million for Price. By the way, the Cubs also might trade for James Shields and give up nothing much of significance.

There are all those guys like Zimmermann, Iwakuma, Latos, Fister, Beachy, Bud Norris, Colon, Shark, Kennedy, Mark Guthrie....why would they give up talent like Baez when they don't need to? Far better to trade Castro, even if it's mostly a salary dump. Signing Price or Cueto isn't even all that necessary imo. They could bring in Zobrist, Cespedes or Gordon along with any pitcher not named Price and be in a really good position in terms of roster flexibility. Betting on Zobrist as the veteran added into the youthful mix.

Two years ago, Yasiel Puig would have brought back any player in baseball other than Trout and probably Harper. Today, the Cubs would hesitate at least a bit to trade Schwarber for him...having already experienced the Sammy Show. Things change so quickly now in baseball. Once in a generation hitters are guys like Pujols, Trout, Bonds, Miggy Cabrera, Gywnn, Boggs and Harper. He's going to be better than Jose Bautista, for example? Schwarber has two tools...but can't run, field or throw exceptionally well. The jury is still out on whether guys like Bryant and him can also be high average hitters as well.

But the fact that he's been bankrupt 3-4 times (used the system to his advantage) and still has the money he does is testament to someone who knows how to negotiate...therefore, logically, putting himself in a tremendous position to bully Assad, Putin and the latest Kim in N. Korea. He probably believes that on some level even.

We need to make a list of all the "bet the house" predictions since last year and tally up how many houses we've already lost...

Robin Ventura and/or the new bench coach's tactical skills will be questioned the first week of the season. Someone else will say you can't expect champagne performance on a beer budget...that we won't be able to accurately assess Robin until the end of 2017 at the earliest. You can bet the house on that.

Schwarber struggled quite a bit down the stretch, compared to his hot start. Pretty crazy to project him among the top 15-20 hitters in the game at this point. Heck, Gordon Beckham in 2009 was similarly projected. Advanced scouts and opposing pitchers will adjust. He will have to adjust back. Look at Rizzo's young career, for example.

Let's not overlook that Keuchel was 15-0 at home and the Cy Young winner. There's no guarantee the Blue Jays or Royals can't win two or three in a row. Lots of parity, other than when Keuchel, Greinke and Arrieta start a game. It has nothing to do with Alex Rios...or the absence of Aoki. The playoffs are simply a crapshoot and sometimes just one pitcher (Bumgarner) and a little offense can carry a team. The Royals don't deserve to advance if they can't beat McHugh and Kazmir. It's also true the Royals' momentum stalled the last 4-6 weeks because there was no competition in the Central, compared to the Cards/Pirates/Cubs pushing each other all season long. Guaranteeing Yordano Ventura will get ripped is pretty silly, imo.

Reminiscent of 2006 when the "core" of Konerko/Dye/Thome told KW they were "good" and didn't need to make any major changes. It's like asking the starting pitcher if he wants to come out of the game. You're never going to get an honest answer. Of course the players are not going to say that the only position players assured of starting jobs heading into 2016 should be Abreu, Eaton and Cabrera...and that they don't have enough talent at those other six spots to compete. I imagine if the Royals are bounced out of the playoffs, they're going to be in true double-down mode because 2016 is going to be their last/best chance in awhile, with Hosmer/Moustakas likely to move on as free agents before 2017, following Alex Gordon out the door. With a rotation of Ventura, Volquez, Duffy, Medlen and Kyle Zimmer/Miguel Almonte (or a FA addition like Zimmermann), they're not going to be an easy out because of the additional off-season additions they'll make. They won't have Holland next year, either, but losing guys like Gordon and Guthrie frees up some money for replacing Zobrist/Infante at 2B and finding someone like Cespedes for the OF. Since Capuano is the only pitcher in history with 10+ starts after two TJ surgeries, they're going to have to be ultra-careful with Medlen, but it's assumed nearly everywhere they're picking up his $10 million option.

Former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney got the axe at North Texas. He always figured out a way to get his undermanned teams up for the Iowa game, though...especially in Ames.

Probably Joe Maddon's Sunday breakfast caterer. Actually, it's a no-win situation for the White Sox. Name someone who is a threat to be named full-time manager, they're undermining Ventura or not showing enough confidence in him. Of course, maybe imposing a sense of "immediacy" will actually be helpful in this organization. On the other hand, a no-name guy immediate makes everyone think he's meant to be more of a "buddy" (Cora to Ozzie) and that the White Sox are basically content with their managerial situation and simply naming a Spanish-speaking candidate as a form of outreach to the Sox Latino players, as this was apparently an issue in the past couple of seasons (communication). Anyone taking the job has to know that if the White Sox get off to yet another terrible start, the job will probably be theirs for the taking.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 06:37 PM) Wait, now the Astros are getting Hanley? Zobrist or Valbuena is debatable. Personally, I'd rather have Valbuena due to reasons I've already mentioned but that's just me. As far as Hanley goes, I think Boston would have to eat more money than they are willing in order for the White Sox to be interested. If the Sox look at a deal where bad contracts are exchanged I'd rather look into Ethier since he does give a little pop from the left side, can still hit and best of all is not a mental basket case. LA has some decisions to make. How confident are they to trade Ethier and hope for rebounds from Puig, Pederson and Crawford at this point is what he is...a declining speed-based player with an ugly contract (not unlike their situation with Manny Ramirez, Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones five seasons ago). The problem is that they have less incentive to trade Ethier now...if not exactly an asset, he's not a huge liability either. The biggest problem is whether Hahn's ready to throw in the towel on Garcia (send him to the minors for one year and then move Cabrera to DH?)...do they honestly believe they can compete with Ethier, Eaton, Cabrera, LaRoche and Abreu as the offensive core? Maybe they do. Who knows?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 01:07 PM) Have you listened to him? Listen to the interview with Herman Cain. He's a businessman and like I said, if there are no good candidates, why not give Donny a shot? He isn't going to bring down the USA single handedly and his business tactics might help. The Republican Congress might pass his stuff. I mean seriously, Trump vs. Hilly, what would it hurt giving Trump a shot for 4 years? We know what we get with Hilly. Trump would be entertaining at worst; an economic hero at best. p.s. I did hear an interesting take on radio. Somebody said Trump doesn't stand a chance. The Republicans are going to find a way to doctor the numbers and ultimately get one of the traditional boring candidates in, even if they have to doctor the electronic voting illegally. They said Trump and Carson have no chance even if Bush numbers remain 5 percent and they are over 20, 30 percent. This guest said the system is totally corrupt and a scandal should, but won't ensue. 2012 disqualified Herman Cain from being someone with much credibility as far as I'm concerned.

Frequent Sox trade target Castro, despite five k's already in the series, with a huge go-ahead single. Chris Carter with two hits.

We will see, when you have Heyward and Gordon equally valued or moreso for defense and Zobrist for positional versatility.

Royals have the best combined record in the AL since the beginning of 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/magazine...pable.html?_r=0 In other news, Maddon and Yost aren't that different after all.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 09:51 AM) Why not? I'm not a Trump person, but that doesn't mean others cannot be...despite on a lot of "opinions" I see posted on this board disguised as fact, it's ok for others to like candidates even when you guys don't approve. Something about this mindset bothers me. I guess that while I can understand the "protest" mentalities undergirding support for the top 3 in the GOP now as well as Bernie Sanders or H.Ross Perot in 1992 (my father supported him instead of Bush Sr. when he broke the no new taxes pledge)...that doesn't mean at some point they won't be eaten up and spit out by the system, eventually. Perhaps believing the GOP or Dems could never nominate an "outsider" or non-establishment candidate should bother everyone. Maybe it's better to be naively idealistic about the system changing or evolving for the good of the country.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 09:17 AM) [/b] lol, wut? Can Ventura actually manage? I will ask again. Can Ventura actually manage after four years of OJT? It's certainly not a question that we know less about the answer than Opening Day, 2012. LaRussa fired by White Sox despite winning AL West in 1983...yet he didn't last two full seasons after that, whereas Ventura has gotten three plus now. Joe Torre with the Braves and Cards before the Yankees. Jim Leyland with the Rockies. Piniella and Baker couldn't win with the Cubs. Etc. All we keep hearing is that it's only about the players, and that Robin Ventura would likewise be on the same Hall of Fame track had he been given the Cardinals' job instead of Matheny, or Don Mattingly's Dodgers team. We did, after all, have a team that was expected to compete (and promoted as such) that had almost 100% health all year long. What are the odds of that repeating itself? Once again, there are no arguments actually FOR Robin Ventura, just intimations that he will be the next Tony LaRussa or Joe Torre if we fire him...well, just because.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 01:07 AM) I listened to Trump on the Herman Cain show tonight. Folks, if our choices remain crap, why not give a businessman a shot at it? He definitely has his opinions and he definitely wants to fix the economy which none of the traditional leaders have a rat's ass chance of doing. What harm can Trump do more than the traditional candidates who all suck? He actually sounded like he had a plan. Why not give Trump a shot? If he sucks at least it'll be funny as hell and I doubt one man can single handedly bring our country to its knees. How bout a Trump-Carson ticket and victory? Again, what harm can it do? If it's not them you seriously want Hillary-Biden to run the show? Boring.... Seriously?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 08:59 AM) The naming game with you is always amusing. Your dot connecting even more so None of these dots you have connected have anything to do with Hanley Ramirez. He was on a team two years removed from a World Series with a manager noted to be good at working with different personalities and making them work together. In short, it isn't the manager, it's the player. But please, continue to name all kinds of different sports and players and act like it is so easy to make it work because of a coach/manager. In comparison to John Farrell failing with this year's team and getting his GM, Don Orsillo and Larry Lucchino fired in the process...we have Robin Ventura, who MIGHT (according to KW) have been AL Manager of the Year in 2012 had they actually held off the Tigers. Basically, you're making a great case for dumping Hahn/KW. Why exactly would Ramirez play harder or better for Ventura when Robin hasn't earned the respect that comes from regularly getting your team to the post-season? At any rate, like Harbaugh in SF and Ozzie in 2011, Ventura lost the White Sox as well over the last three seasons. Can't understand why the fans are the only ones who can identify something that is broken.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 08:18 AM) Not one part of this has anything to do with Hanley Ramirez Sure it does. Ventura hasn't had much luck getting positive performances out of veterans. Connect the dots. It's not too hard. So you have someone who has worn out his welcome 3-4 times in different places...you have the White Sox recent history and then you have uncertainty over whether Ventura can actually help to maximize the performance of those players. Either Hahn really sucks identifying the right players or Ventura can't get them to play. Harbaugh has turned around Hoke's program in less than six months. Somehow, there has to be some positive impact from having a good manager outside the NFL and NBA. Would the Cubs be in this same exact position without Maddon?

http://nypost.com/2015/10/11/utley-is-abou...you-play-dirty/ NY media declares war on Utley. In other unsurprising news, Addison Reed still sucks.

Michigan, Utah, LSU and Florida are probably the top four right now. Then Clemson. Iowa basically has to win in Evanston and beat Minnesota and they go 12-0 and end up 10-15+ point underdogs against OSU, Michigan or MSU in the championship game. Honestly they're not close to the Brad Banks/Dallas Clark/Bob Sanders/Rob Gallery or even the 2009 team that played Ga Tech in a BCS bowl. That said, CJ Beathard has been a revelation and things are definitely looking up compared to 2011-2014. Hard to imagine MSU beating the Wolverines with the way the past month has gone. Finally, what happened to the Bob Stoops of 1999-2006?

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 07:36 AM) Maddon said something to the effect that the Cardinals are "overwhelmed" by the Cubs. And Cubs fans call the Cardinals pompus. Who is holding up the "Its Gonna Happen" signs everywhere? Carrying the dumb W flags to opposing parks? Who has all the World Series titles? GMAB It's almost as annoying as that "Go Cubs Go!" theme song.