caulfield12

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 06:47 AM) I feel strongly that, with extremely few exceptions, there should be a limit of two teams claiming any territory. I can see Racine/Kenosha counties in Wisconsin having Cubs/Sox/Brewers I can see most of Connecticut having Yankees/Mets/Red Sox I can see some parts of Southern California having Padres/Angels/Dodgers I can see some parts of Central California having A's/Giants/Angels/Dodgers Outside of those, I can't think of any other place that needs more than two teams. Maybe the folks in Iowa can weigh in on how many fans there are of teams other than the Cubs and Sox. Honestly, there are probably more Cardinals (eastern/southeastern) and Royals fans (west/southwestern, Omaha always has been Royals' AAA affiliate) than White Sox fans. Cubs, obviously #1. Then you have the Twins, and just a few Brewers' fans. So I would say Cubs, Cardinals, Royals/Sox (tie), Twins then Brewers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 06:39 AM) So I click expecting a piece on Abreu and 2/3 of it is about Yasiel Puig. It's also Sox-relevant because of the experiences the Astros and Dodgers are going through already. There's not necessarily a huge pot of gold waiting in 2019 for the White Sox. http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/...ss-on-lawsuits/ The Astros are short $27 million because of the RSN failure, which is huge for them. After months of failed negotiations,[12] DirecTV released the following statement: "Unfortunately, we have yet to be able to reach an agreement with the owners of CSN Houston that allows customers to choose whether they want to pay to see the games or not. We are ready and willing to have that discussion any time so we can begin providing this network. Until then, DirecTV customers can still see Astros games on FOX, TBS, MLB Network and especially ESPN or hear the games on Houston’s KTRH 740 AM, XM Radio and other regional radio carriers."[13] In response, CSN Houston placed this message on their website: “We remain committed to working out a deal with DirecTV. That said, this page of DirecTV’s website is very inconsistent with their own practices, as well as other pages on their site in which they call themselves “The Leader in Sports, Bar None.” We do not understand why they are pushing for CSN Houston to be the first and only RSN in the nation to be carried on a premium tier. We think that they should treat Houston fans the same way that they treat fans in other Top-10 markets, such as those in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington DC. Their current position on CSN Houston is also inconsistent with their practices in smaller markets such as San Diego, where they recently reached an agreement to carry a RSN that only features one San Diego-based professional team. CSN Houston features three professional Houston teams. We will continue to work with DirecTV, but feel that Houston fans deserve better than their current position.” [14] CSN Houston is also at a stalemate with Dish Network and the region's other major cable providers AT&T U-verse, Time Warner Cable and Suddenlink Communications.[12][15] Ratings have been competitive based on the total number of households with the channel, but overall have suffered due to the lack of availability in the Houston market. Through 15 games, Rockets games were averaging about a 0.95 Nielsen rating, which equals about 21,050 households. That is down from a 1.45 rating for the first 15 games on Fox Sports Houston, which was available on most providers in its market. CSN Houston President and GM Matt Hutchings had this to say; "I get it that everybody wants the channel. We want them to have it. We just have to find that right deal." [16] The current obstacle however to providing coverage on other providers is that CSN Houston, Rockets, and Astros signed a 10-year-deal with Comcast for exclusivity, with an opt-out date unknown to the public.[17] In total, only about 40% of Houston-area viewers have CSN Houston available to them.[12] source: wikipedia

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 06:39 AM) So I click expecting a piece on Abreu and 2/3 of it is about Yasiel Puig. It's also Sox-relevant because of the experiences the Astros and Dodgers are going through already. There's not necessarily a huge pot of gold waiting in 2019 for the White Sox.

http://www.lamag.com/features/2014/4/13/es...-dodgers/page/1 The best article I've ever seen written about Puig. (Passan references it in his latest column). You will either feel your dislike is confirmed or feel some sort of sympathy for his situation...but probably something in-between.

Bautista's OPS is 1.071 on account of his .446 on-base percentage. The 16 walks that led to that hefty number have been counterbalanced by just eight strikeouts, which, in 40 at-bats, is nothing worth bragging about, per se, but considering it's only the 33rd most among 95 hitters with 50 plate appearances, it's on the cusp of the game's upper-third. Slightly behind him is … 9. Jose Abreu in both home runs (one back) and strikeouts (three ahead), though both are numbers the White Sox will take. Abreumania went into full swing this week with his variety of home runs. He'll hook one down the line, pummel one out to right-center, hit it every which way in the ballpark, the latest Cuban whose salary sounded outlandish (six years, $68 million) and may prove an incredible bargain. Pitfalls remain. Scouts said they expect Abreu to hit a temporary wall when pitchers make adjustments to him, though that is a big presumption, one said, "because he doesn't have many big holes." At 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, Abreu lords over the strike zone like a monolith in "2001." He has rendered his supposed hole – inside, inside, inside, the rap went – useless with wrists quick enough to whip his bat around on a pitch close to them. And not only is Abreu the class of an overhauled White Sox team for whom new addition Adam Eaton is playing exemplary leadoff man, too, he has blended in remarkably well among Chicago's clubhouse. Veterans like him. Young players like him. The manager likes him. Management likes him. He has faced none of the complaints … 10. Yasiel Puig stomachs on what seems like a daily basis, from missing cutoff men to complaining about injuries to not hustling. The story on Puig has devolved into with-him or against-him camps, which is really too bad, because you can be with him by understanding the social adjustments he continues to make while being against rationalizing such adjustments as the root cause for all of his behavior, which he must understand demands remedies because of who he is and where he is. If he weren't Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodger, $42 million man – if he weren't in a crucible and the subject of immense scorn by a media machine that feeds on itself – the timeline wouldn't be so severe. Except he is all of those things, and the choice to sign with the Dodgers demanded a different set of rules, one similar to playing in New York, unfair though that may be. He went with the team that has an $8 billion TV deal, and being a face of that team has its drawbacks. One of them, actually, was rather unexpected. For as many people as there are lodging misguided complaints about Puig, the number would be even greater if people actually were watching the Dodgers. Huge swaths of fans do not get the team's new channel, SportsNet LA, because Time Warner is trying to recoup its investment by charging exorbitant monthly rates. Considering it's a Dodgers-only channel, DirecTV and others aren't willing to pay that and pass the cost along to their customers. It's the same issue Houston's failed Comcast station ran into and one that calls into question the long-term viability of these local TV contracts, especially when other tech products give users the freedom to choose. The modern consumer likes that. He does not like being forced to buy a bunch of things even though he wants just one, and she does not like being told what she can and cannot see. Baseball is doing all of these things. It's why some people in Vegas can't see Puig, why those in Iowa are robbed of Abreu, why those in Fort McMurray, Alberta, more than 1,000 miles from Seattle, are blacked out from King Felix. This is "the heart of the business." This is "fundamental." This is embarrassing treatment of fans baseball doesn't deserve. Full article by Passan, with a long discussion of territorial rights problems (like Las Vegas, where they can't watch any of the California teams, or Iowa fans watching the Cubs/White Sox) http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-mlb-s-bla...-055955588.html

Those of you who follow me on Twitter saw me voice my displeasure over NC State's usage of left-hander Carlos Rodon, the best college player in this year's draft class, on Friday night. Rodon, who has pitched with a 50- or 55-rated fastball all year, was going on short rest on Friday, but showed up (paradoxically) with more velocity, sitting at 92-94 mph and touching 96. NC State then decided to push Rodon to 134 pitches, sending him back out to start his final inning after he'd already thrown 118 pitches, an acceptable, if upper-bound, number for a 21-year-old pitcher. This was a clear example of a coaching staff putting their own interests over those of a pitcher, a perfect example of moral hazard at work in amateur baseball, one that calls for regulation by the NCAA. The Wolfpack, despite having two of the best college players in the country this year, are 5-11 in the ACC so far (19-14 overall) and in danger of missing the NCAA tournament, a result that would be devastating given their talent level. The potential cost of missing the tournament is so high that the coaching staff has the incentive to try to win at all costs, including asking players to do things that may not be in their own best interests, such as throwing 134 pitches in one outing. Only one MLB pitcher did that in all of 2013: Tim Lincecum, in his July 13 no-hitter. (In fact, since the start of the 2010 season, only four MLB pitchers have thrown 134 or more pitches. Three were no-hitters, one was Brandon Morrow's 17-strikeout one-hitter in 2010, and all four spread those pitches over nine innings rather than Rodon's 7 2/3 innings.) Keith Law, insider blog, espn.com/mlb

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 10:32 PM) Would you guys be interested in Nick Burdi with our 2nd round pick? Local kid who's having a great year at Louisville, just doesn't start, he's their closer. See Royce Ring and Aaron Poreda to a lesser extent. (Like the punter/kicker/special teams guy in the early rounds in the NFL.) However, Josh Fogg was drafted as a closer out of Florida and became a very decent 3/4 major league starter.

QUOTE (sammy esposito @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:47 PM) Loiza pitched well in 03 but was not on the 05 team. Someone said Paulino having a great or even good season wouldn't earn much back in return. Loaiza was a non-roster/spring training invite in 2003 and turned into Jose Contreras. The point being, sometimes in the right time and place (Contreras was struggling mightily in NY, especially against the Red Sox), you can pick up an extremely talented pitcher for next to nothing (in terms of your original investment). Likely? No. Possible? Sure. Even with a Phil Humber success, holding onto them too old instead of trading them leads to getting nothing back in return as well. Yet, at the time, Cooper/KW/Hahn didn't think Phil was completely going to fall off the map the following year or they surely would have traded him with that foresight.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 09:11 PM) Even if the guy is just a platoon player at best, being the left-handed partner in the platoon gets him anywhere between 65-75% of the starts. Finding someone capable of playing a little bit of third and hitting lefties isn't terribly hard. Unless you select Keppinger coming off a career season, haha. (Yes, yes, I know there are many things that Hahn has done quite well, this was the only real black mark so far on his regime).

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 05:50 PM) 3. Age is the player stat that matters most. Track record caps whatever trade value a player has. Paulino even if he had a good first half wasn't going to get you much do (due) to his track record. 4. of course there are many factors. As far as Fangraghs goes, it is their opinion that Viciedo swings at sh**ty pitches. I watch his AB's and have the same opinion. As far as Paulino goes, he was bad before he was signed. I'd rather have spent money on a capable Ml starter. Esteban Loiaza had a crappy career for 2-3 years before we gave him a spring training invite and he got us the best pitcher in baseball for 4-5 months and a World Series trophy.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) And thus, the Sox complete the Carl Everett circle of life. Or Bobby Howry. Or Chair Throwers' Anonymous (Bobby Knight, Pres.)

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 03:06 PM) I'd be shocked if Beckham had as much value as Jason Frazor even if he puts up decent numbers, which he isn't capable of putting up. Semien's nothing like Beckham. Semien looks ready despite some early struggles. Beckham wasn't rushed. Let's stop pretending he was. He's just a bad hitter and there is little to no hope he figures it out 2500 AB's into a pretty awful career. Or put it this way, if you had to choose from Dunn, Ramirez, DeAza, Viciedo and Beckham, which ones were the most likely to put up above average offensive seasons relative to their position in 2014, Gordon would be 4th or 5th, especially coming back from an oblique. I'd argue 5th, although others would go with DeAza or Dayan or Dunn at the back end.

Man, people all over the board in their assessments of Hoffman and Beede. Everyone's so worried about Rodon and picking apart his weaknesses, it starts to become more and more logical to think about taking him. You certainly don't take a pitcher at 3 who's more likely to be a 5 than a 1. Of course, a LOT of scouts believe Hoffman has the ability to be lot more than that with the proper coaching and mechanical tweaks.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 02:45 PM) What would you do to go back to this era Caulfield? Alas...the pitching wasn't there as the season ended, but that was one of my favorite teams to watch, especially after the brawl with the Tigers in late April. If you throw in Milkman Perry and eventually Charles Johnson at the end of the year, that team was loaded with 20+ homer guys up and down the line-up, other than Durham, who also had pop in his own right in terms of XB hits. That and watching all the youngsters in the late 80's all starting to play to their capabilities and challenging the A's in the last season of Old Comiskey. Finally, 2008 was also a lot of fun until the Quentin hamate injury.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) That makes him 5 for 34 (.147) against starting caliber pitching, and not great SP either based on the teams the Sox have played. Semien needs to go back down and get every day at bats, pushing him up to early will result in having the same conversation about him in three years that every one wants to have about Beckham. Beckham pretty much mirrored his breakout rookie season last season, minus the power, which is not unexpected given a hamate injury. Selling low on him is akin to the Indians giving up Brandon Phillips for a RP. You need to let it play out and see what you really have not that he appears to have his approach in order. You can really blame his second and third seasons on him being rushed and not learning to make appropriate adjustments in the minors, and the majors is not a forgiving place to learn how to adapt your approach, especially with lift and pull as your hitting coach. If Beckham were on any other team, fans would want to pick him up to see if we could get him to turn it around. There is no reason not to take a flier on him this season and see where it gets you. If he regresses, hes non-tendered, if he puts up similar numbers to last season and the power comes back you have a top 5 second basemen. Doubles power, that's one thing. If he goes into one of those hot homer spells, he might put up a 12-15 homer season...but then his overall swing will fall apart and he'll end up with another 625-650ish OPS as he gets pull happy and starts trying to cheat on pitches.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 11:18 AM) He's one of the free agent starters still out there. There are other's who, if desperate enough , could be signed as a reliever. Freddy Garcia (37) Jon Garland (34) Jair Jurrjens (28) Jeff Karstens (31) Jason Marquis (35) Jeff Niemann (31) Clayton Richard (30) Randy Wolf (37) Barry Zito (36) Again according to MLBtraderumors.com Wolf was recently signed to a minor league deal.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) We aren't trading for starting pitching (or a major position player) in-season. Players cost a premium from June to July and it would be incredibly short-sighted to pay that price in what should be considered a long-shot season at best. We should be saving our resources for the offseason and positioning ourselves for a real playoff run in 2015. Honestly, while this offense will come back to Earth at some point, Eaton, Semien, & Abreu all seem legit. We may be closer to being competitive that a lot of us originally thought. See 2000. Or 2008, if Abreu's a Top Five MVP pick, ala Quentin. Now there's a difference between Ordonez/Lee/Thomas/Konerko/Durham/Valentin, etc., and some of the offensive talent that we have...we're not THAT loaded with firepower by any stretch of the imagination...but it's not beyond the realm of possibility, either.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:52 AM) Nice, a guy who can't get anyone out who's only owed $46.2 million. Where do I sign up? $20 million.....those are CLUB options. If he pitches close to his ability/contract, then they would have him through the playoff contention window at a lesser rate (overall) than say, Jimenez, Garza or what they're paying Santana for one season in ATL.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:24 AM) Would probably be around $10 million left by the time he would be traded. The thinking is this would be after Beckham comes back and have Semien move to short. 12:$5M, 13:$7M, 14:$9.5M, 15:$10M, 16:$10M club option ($1M buyout) Well, at least $14-15 million, depending on May/June/July trade.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:18 AM) I saw Draft Day. The NFL Draft is my favorite event of the year. The movie was pretty bad but I love that they actually made a movie about the NFL Draft. I don't want to give too much away but some unrealistic things happen obviously and it was kind of thrown together. It was cool seeing the actual team facilities though in the movie and if you like the NFL Draft it is worth seeing. Just know what you are seeing ahead of time. I read in the reviews (not a spoiler really) that the big intellectual dilemma was trading the #1 pick for something like 4 second round picks. Well, that would never happen in a million years. Maybe two first rounder (depending on draft order) and two mid to high second rounders. And, of course, it would depend on who that #1 pick was actually going to be. Big difference between Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:16 AM) THere are still unsigned free agents. Closers Rafael Betancourt (39) Kevin Gregg (36) Joel Hanrahan (32) Ryan Madson (33) Right-Handed Relievers Francisco Cordero (39) Octavio Dotel (40) Frank Francisco (34) Cristhian Martinez (32) Brett Myers (33) Jon Rauch (35) Left-Handed Relievers Aaron Laffey (29) Jose Mijares (29) List from MLBtraderumors.com Mijares always killed us when he pitched for the Twins. That's weird, seeing him there. Francisco, Dotel and Myers were all Sox property, along with Rauch most (in)famously. Don't Betancourt, Hanrahan and Madson have injury issues? I'm pretty sure Madson does.

Do we really want to see a left to right of Gillaspie, Semien/Sanchez at SS/2B and Abreu at 1B? I think keeping Alexei as the veteran stabilizer in the infield is just what this team needs for some balance...otherwise, the team's going to be almost too young. Sanchez is nowhere close to being ready offensively, either. I guess they could move Semien to SS and leave Gordon at 2B (until a Beckham trade or someone pushes him out).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 08:03 AM) I agree that it's too early but I'd love to sell extremely high on Ramirez right now. They're not going to give a significant trade return bump based on just 13 games. And it's almost unheard of for a starting SS to be traded before the end of May. Sure, if someone is willing to grossly overpay to the point of outrageousness, but that's pretty doubtful. And Stephen Drew's still out there, as well.

at mid-season or sooner if we can buy him on the cheap and the D-Backs go into sell-off mode. http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/...odgers/7681701/ Would seem to be the perfect fit to "bridge" this rotation to the future one that features the #3 pick along with Sale/Quintana...sinkerballer's his best pitch, which would seem suited for USCF...and they're not locked into the contract after 2015 unless he performs well enough to earn his paycheck. 14:$7.7M, 15:$12M, 16:$13M club option ($0.3M buyout), 17:$13.5M club option ($0.5M buyout) 2017 option increases by $0.5M to $14M with top 2 finish in Cy Young vote any year 2011-16 Cahill may void 2016-17 options if he is traded and finishes in top 2 in Cy Young vote any year 2011-16 That said...90% of it depends on what happens with Paulino, Johnson, Beck and the overall position we're in heading into June. I wouldn't want to give away anything of significance, just taking on the financial commitment...but there's obviously a decent-sized risk he wouldn't turn things around, too.

QUOTE (beautox @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 12:07 AM) I would just like to add that if you take out Semien's first two games of the season this is his line .293/.383/.488 with a .384 BABIP 13% BB% 28% K% I think as he continues to progress at the major league level the K% will come down and the BB% will come up a bit. But I'm very encouraged by his ABs and am looking forward to our future of Eaton and Semien at the top of the order. If Micah Johnson develops into a Kenny Lofton type of hitter at the keystone and Marcus and be average to slightly below at SS watch out. 1-4 of Eaton, Semien, Johnson, Abreu really excites me. Johnson has to be a 1/2 or 8/9 guy unless he continues to hit in the 950ish OPS range. That will come down eventually, of course. The question is whether Semien can play SS and Johnson 2B at close to or slightly below league average...especially Johnson. Johnson has a lot less value to the White Sox in LF/DH, but he could still have a role potentially. The problem is that would put a lot of pressure on Garcia/Viciedo to provide the homers, with Eaton and Johnson being 8-12 homer guys probably.