caulfield12

The question right now is what is Reed worth on the trade market? Obviously, the White Sox would probably prefer one year grooming Webb in a set-up role, just like they did with Sergio Santos. Reed is one of the few that has been a closer almost his entire career in college and the pros.

PACIFIC RIM IS AWESOME. Loved it. Saw in 3D/IMAX. It's a combination of the best Godzilla movies, Real Steel and The Iron Giant. That's all I'm going to say. 1. Pacific Rim – $52 million Look, people. I know that tracking for this $190 million Guillermo del Toro-directed tentpole has been woefully weak — down in the $25 million to $35 million range. I know Warner Bros. has repeatedly said it only expects $30 million for it this weekend. I know that everyone on the Internet has already declared Pacific Rim a bomb. But I just don’t believe it. Fandango reports that over 60 percent of daily sales are for Pacific Rim and that the film is outselling World War Z, which opened with $66.4 million, at the same point in its pre-release cycle. Of course, Pacific Rim‘s core demographic of male geeks is exactly the type that would purchase online tickets en masse — but even so, those sorts of pre-sales do not suggest an embarrassing opening. Pacific Rim has surged on social media this week, which makes sense, since Warner Bros. saved most of its marketing budget for the release phase, and awareness is rising quickly. Plus, the film has earned strong reviews overall, which should lead to solid word-of-mouth. Though there are no bona fide movie stars in Pacific Rim‘s cast (the film has been advertised mostly with robots and monsters), the appeal of Del Toro may connect with film buffs. With 3-D and IMAX prices factored in — plus the groundswell of excitement for an original story — I think Pacific Rim could earn $52 million out of 3,275 theaters this weekend. I’m very aware that might be too high, but really, who knows where this film ends up? 2. Despicable Me 2 – $49 million 3. Grown-Ups 2 - $38 milion The Lone Ranger might not even finish in the Top 5, pretty dramatic fall for Johnny Depp, but 75% of it's the dated material. He's going to need the next Pirates movie to be successful, and the odds are that will disappoint as well. There's also a rumor flying around on the internet that one of the studios paid off the debt/mortgage for the operator of AINT IT COOL NEWS so that they would support it (PACIFIC RIM) with all positive reviews/media/PR support and lots of movie mentions. http://variety.com/2013/film/box-office/bo...rim-1200561579/ Variety.com is predicting Despicable Me 2, Grown-Ups and then Pacific Rim...if Grown-Ups beats Pacific Rim, I've given up having any hope and faith for the future of the movie industry.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 07:47 PM) Glad to see the more deserving and better player got in. NL one step closer to home field advantage!!! Better? That remains to be seen.

Hawkins 0 for 1. You guessed it...a strikeout. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?s...mp;ymd=20130711

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:55 PM) Micah's basestealing technique is so weird that I think the Sox just let him run like crazy and didn't care about his percentage. He had 80 stolen base attempts in 77 games with Kannapolis. So far he's only got 4 in 7 games with the Dash. Maybe they will make him be more selective from now on. I would guess he'd be down to 50-60 successful steals in a full season at W-S. And a success rate of about 60-70%.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:52 PM) We are only 13 games behind Detroit and have won 67% of our games against them with the current roster. Get aggressive, add 4 or 5 new bats to the lineup, and 14 out of the next 16 is possbile. That would leave us only 1 game to make up elsewhere and there's plenty of time to do it. Buy! Buy! Buy! No white flag trades in 2013!!! Until you look at their Bataan Death March schedule the next 30-45 games. The only team we will be favored to beat might be the Minnesota Twins (at home).

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:48 PM) He'd probably drop down to 13th if all the jerseys you bought weren't counted. Just one $29.99 replica jersey. Don't know if that counts or not, lol.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb...,0,390605.story Incredibly long but worthwhile article about the origin of the signing, how the Dodgers assessed him from a scouting perspective when he'd never faced live competition and there was only the Viciedo, Cespedes and Soler signings to go on, with the July 2nd signing deadline looming or the max for the contract would have been $2.9 million. Also illuminating in light of the Micker Zapata "Top 25 prospects" thread. The Dodgers had money. Months earlier, the Dodgers had been purchased for a record $2.15 billion, and the new owners were willing to dig deeper into their pockets. Team President Stan Kasten, a longtime baseball executive, was already on record saying the club needed to restock a depleted farm system. Paul Fryer, a high-level scout, was dispatched to Mexico City to watch the final two of Puig's workouts. Fryer has a knack for projecting how a player in an overseas or college league would transition to pro ball in the U.S. However, in other instances he always had the benefit of watching a player perform in games. The first thing Fryer noted about Puig: "He's pretty much a specimen, physically," he recalls. Then he saw Puig hit. "I've never seen the ball come off somebody's bat like that," Fryer says. He was also impressed with the mechanics of Puig's swing, leading him to believe Puig would be able to hit a top-level breaking ball. Fryer still had reservations. Baseballs traveled farther at Mexico City's high elevation. "You have to put your instincts on the line there," Fryer says. The Dodgers asked themselves, would a player of Puig's caliber be available to them in the 2013 draft? The answer was no. White and Fryer were also buoyed by how quickly other Cuban league stars such Oakland Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman had transitioned to American baseball. The Dodgers had less than a week to work out a deal, and not much to go on. They knew Cespedes, who was older and more established than Puig, had signed a four-year, $36-million deal with Oakland. They also knew Jorge Soler, a year younger and less polished than Puig, had received $30 million over nine years from the Chicago Cubs. What other teams might bid for Puig was unknown. So, as they had with their purchase of the Dodgers, ownership went bigger than ever, offering a record contract for a Cuban amateur. Fryer called Puig's signing "as unique an experience that any scout has ever been involved in." People involved in the situation insinuate — without explanation — that someone other than Puig and his agent decided which team won out. Says Fryer: "There's a lot of things I don't want to get into; how we had to find the real decision-maker." Puig was not only well-behaved in the clubhouse, he exceeded even the most optimistic of on-field projections. His .517 average led the Cactus League and his all-around game wowed teammates and rivals. Kemp, the Dodgers' star center fielder, compared Puig as an athlete to Bo Jackson, who played both professional baseball and football. Cespedes predicted Puig could do better than he had in 2012, when he was the runner-up in American League rookie-of-the-year voting. But there was nothing Puig could do to make the Dodgers' opening-day roster. In Kemp, Crawford and Andre Ethier, the Dodgers had three former All-Star outfielders who were earning a combined $53.5 million per season. Puig was sent to the Dodgers' double-A affiliate in Chattanooga, Tenn. "It really came down to him having to play the game," Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said. "He needed repetition, game repetition, situational repetition." In Tennessee, Puig sulked. He butted heads with coaches. He was arrested for driving 97 mph in a 50-mph zone. His behavior was enough of a concern that longtime coach Manny Mota, a mentor to many of the organization's Latin American players, was asked to speak with him. Puig never stopped hitting, though, and his attitude improved. So, on Monday, with the Dodgers in last place and Kemp and Crawford out with injuries, he was called up to the major leagues. Again, the Dodgers didn't know what to expect. While Puig's physical capabilities were never in doubt, his minor league experience in America was limited to 262 plate appearances over 63 games. When Angels star Mike Trout made his major league debut in 2011, he had played in 249 minor league games. Trout played in 14 major league games, hit .163, and was sent back to the minors before being recalled late in the season. He spent the early part of last season in the minor leagues, too, before being called up in late April and becoming the American League rookie of the year. With Puig nearing the completion of his first week in the major leagues, questions remain.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:36 PM) Harper absolutely has been called arrogant I would love to see these quotes where players from other teams are calling him out in less than 40 games of his big league debut though? Keep in mind, Bryce Harper was on the cover to SI at what age, 15 or 16? Everyone in the America knew who he was ... versus Puig, who has only been in the public eye for about a month now, except for hardcore baseball fans. By Andrew Gastelum July 11, 2013, 2:35 p.m. It seems the only thing Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig hasn’t been able to do in the last month is earn a spot in the All-Star game. Fans voted Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman into the final National League spot in the Tuesday game at Citi Field in New York. Freeman, a Fountain Valley native, entered Thursday's games batting .307 with nine home runs and 56 runs batted in. The El Modena High product finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2011 and hit a career high 23 home runs with 94 RBIs last year. Puig sat in second place heading into the final day of voting, which featured a frantic Twitter race that counted MLB-designated hashtags. In all, there were a record 79.2 million votes cast, according to Major League Baseball. Freeman won the NL balloting with a record 19.6 million votes.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:26 PM) Yes. It's definitely a collective strategy. Everyboy is definitely on the exact same page, and it ain't Ventura's page. If the upper brass wants some changes then they will instruct RV and staff to make said changes. The idea that RV is a rebelling reckloose openly defying management's wishes regarding Sale's pitch count is crazy. recluse...kind of like the JD Salinger of the AL, lol

Puig quickly earning the title of villain with some Bill Plaschke July 10, 2013, 11:55 p.m. PHOENIX — Just when the baseball world thought it had seen everything that Yasiel Puig could become, the Dodgers phenom has added yet another tool. It's not as overwhelming as his bat, or as strong as his arm, but it can be just as powerful — or powerfully destructive — as both. The hot young outfielder and hitter is also now officially a villain. It happened this week in Arizona, where the charging Dodgers swept through the first-place Diamondbacks against a backdrop of boos, accusations and rips. It wasn't Arizona hating on Los Angeles. It was Arizona hating on Puig. It was folks in both the Chase Field stands and home dugout jeering the Dodgers' 22-year-old magician for what they considered needless sleights of hand and crass tricks. They hated the way he tossed his bat after even the mildest of hits. They hated how he growled at the pitcher even after walks. They hated how seemingly every bit of hustle was accompanied by a glare. "He plays with a lot of arrogance," said Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy. They hated on him even though he had had no homers, no extra-base hits and no RBIs in the series. They hated on him because it's become obvious in the last 35 games that Puig is about a lot more than numbers. The kid is about an unbridled swagger that hasn't been seen around the Dodgers since Manny Ramirez, the kind of swagger that enrages fans and distracts opponents. It is an attitude jolt that, if backed by good play, can turn a complacent club into champions. It is also an attitude jolt that can tear that same club apart. The Dodgers, for now, are publicly looking on the bright side. "I don't mind a guy playing with a little attitude, honestly,'' said Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly before his team's 7-5 victory over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. ''I played with Rickey Henderson, he was a guy who irritated a lot of people, but he was a pretty good player." Mattingly, however, knows there's a line that kids should not cross, lines that separate villains from fools. Like everyone else on the Dodgers, they are holding their breath that Puig can successfully straddle that line. The Diamondbacks and their fans are already convinced he has crossed it. The crowds here spoke with boos every time Puig came near a ball or a bat. The players openly acknowledged it in the clubhouse, expressing feelings that are surely shared throughout the league, because very few baseball players ever speak alone. "If he's my teammate, I'm probably trying to help him not be hated in the major leagues…that's where he's going right now, creating a bad reputation throughout the league," said Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero. Montero was talking about, among other things, a play Tuesday night in which Puig foolishly tried to race home from first on a dropped fly ball in center field. He was easily thrown out, but not before he hit Montero with a forearm shiver and then glared at him as he left the field. "Does he have talent? Of course," said Montero. "It'd be really bad if he wasted it doing the stupid things he's doing.'' (Wow, good thing Montero hasn't watched either the White Sox this season or his own pathetic batting average and stat line, lol.) The Diamondbacks were also angry at Puig for a perceived snub of one of the franchise's legendary heroes, Luis Gonzalez. Before the series opener Monday, Gonzalez approached Puig behind the batting cage to introduce himself and talk about their shared Cuban roots. Puig had apparently never heard of Gonzalez, and paid him little attention until Dodgers coach Mark McGwire explained Gonzalez's game-winning hit in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series and his significance to the organization. Gonzalez then went on the local radio ripping Puig for showing bad manners, which is, face it, a little silly considering Puig has only been in the big leagues 35 days and can't be expected to know about players who starred when he was a child in information-controlled Cuba. But that is what happens when you are a villain. Every move is scrutinized. Every action can be a distraction. "You don't want him to be a distraction, and he doesn't want to be a distraction,'' said Mattingly. "If there's anything that is a behavior that you would watch out for, I think we'd talk about it." They will probably have a talk this weekend after Puig pulled a rather villainous move in the outfield. When running down a double into the right-center field gap by Paul Goldschmidt in the fifth inning Wednesday night, he stuck out his glove in ordering chasing center fielder Andre Ethier to halt. When is the last time you have seen such a bold public move by one teammate against another? The Dodgers would rather have Puig make the throw, but do they really want him showing up the steady Ethier to do it? Wouldn't the smart Ethier have relented anyway? It didn't help that, an inning later, Puig dropped a line drive by Chad Pennington for an error. "But he's a 22-year-old who loves playing ... playing with a flair.... I don't want to take that aggressiveness away from him," said Mattingly. Puig also has a defender in Diamondbacks Manager Kirk Gibson, who sees a little of himself as a young player. "He's kicking everybody's butt, some people are jealous and pop off on him," Gibson said. "I think the way he plays is awesome." Awesome or overboard, Puig's style of play has now become so noticeable, it is in the heads of opposing players and fans. After these recent years of Dodgers invisibility, that's probably not a bad place to be. [email protected] Did Mike Trout and Bryce Harper get called "arrogant" last year for having a lot of the same qualities as Puig does? One wonders whether Gonzalez was deliberately trying to provoke him and incite the DBacks fanbase...because, if I were in his position, the first thing I would do is tell all the world or tweet about something like this? Kind of weird, making a mountain out of a molehill, when the only memory Puig had of the DBacks was the fight he was involved in earlier in the season....when tensions were so high the following day that Mattingly deliberately left him out of the line-up to prevent a recurrence of hostilities leading to injuries to key players. Wonder why this kind of thing always seems to happen to minority/African-American/"foreigner" athletes (remember Usain Bolt being chastised for showboating in the Olympics the first time he was there and won gold by the IOC Commissioner?)

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:18 PM) 2 out of 3 against Detroit......lets make trades for a few big contributers and we can win 14 of the final 16 against them. The division can be ours, but we need to be more than buyers....we need to be smart buyers. Go get'em Hahn! Hi Hawk/Rongey!

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 05:12 PM) Phegley is super awesome. Except for his Barry Melrose-ish mullet.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 04:11 PM) They should all be banned for excessive talking Haha, yep. I got banned from that site for asking to be banned for lifetime. They had criticized something my best friend had written and I thought they were overreacting. Part of me felt guilty that I had invited him to the site myself and thought he would enjoy it, but he ended up getting "jumped" right away by a posse of about 3-5 for an unpopular opinion about something so seemingly unimportant. I think I was given a one or two week temporary suspension, but I sent a PM to one of the mods and said I no longer wanted to contribute in any way, shape or form and they should stick to patting each other on the back for their "united front" against anyone who dared to go against the status quo or popular group think-based opinion. And that was that. I checked about a month later and sure enough had the lifetime exile/ban.

QUOTE (Noonskadoodle @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) Freeman beat out Puig Delabar in for the AL Yep, just looked it up at twitter. Wonder about the odds of one of the NL outfielders mysterious suffering an injury in the last 4-5 days? And the #FinalVote winners are ... @FreddieFreeman5 and @SteveDelabar_50! Harper, Beltran, CarGo, McCutchen, Carlos Gomez, Dominic Brown, Michael Cuddyer.....7 OF's on the roster right now. Of course, Bochy could choose a DIFFERENT player or simply refuse to play Puig, which wouldn't surprise anyone around the game. He's definitely old school. It would make the Giants/Dodgers rivalry a bit more interesting.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) And yet, he is (or recently was) leading MiLB in triples. Was leading his league in the SAL for sure. Dude has 12 triples in about 360 PA. These speed measures are subjective anyway. Yes, home-first and other base-base times can be documented, but in small sample sizes, and when dealing in hundredths or even tenths of seconds, dudes with stopwatches are only so accurate. No doubt he has above average speed, certainly plus. Maybe plus-plus. Not as fast as Hamilton. But arguing 60 vs 70 speed is, I think, not so black and white. I am encouraged by the fact that he is not Hamilton-speed but still steals a ton of bases, at a somewhat decent rate, and clearly understands the dynamics involved in doing so. A lot of that has to do with the ballparks, too. Like the Torii Hunter triple today in DET that split Rios and DeAza and didn't even manage a throw (or slide) on a guy who's nearly 38 years old. Would be interesting to see how many of his triples were hit in the RCF gap and right down the line, and the park dimensions.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9469926/...lb-jersey-sales Puig now in the Top for best-selling MLB jerseys in 2013 despite missing the first two months of the season. The Top 20 1. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants 2. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees 3. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals 4. David Wright, New York Mets 5. Matt Harvey, New York Mets 6. Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals 7. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 8. Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles 9. Mike Trout, LA Angels of Anaheim 10. Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers 11. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers (Korean-American fanbase really kicking in, last year Ichiro was 3rd, Darvish also on the list) 12. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers 13. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox 14. Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers 15. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers 16. Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants 17. Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates 18. Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers 19. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants 20. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) Says who? Is 134 no different than 124 because it's only 10 pitches? 144 to 134? Cue Harrelson. "You know Stone Pony, Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Whitey Ford, Newcombe, Don Drysdale, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan never had pitch counts and they also never went on the DL. They were members of 4 man rotations and each had an additional 8 starts per season."

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) So they got D. Lee and Aramis out of that to go along with Zambrano and a few dominating years from Prior. Seems like the Cubs ALWAYS have problems with the hot corner. Gary Scott - Third Base Before Aramis Ramirez(notes) took over the hot corner in Chicago the Cubs had gone through a plethora of players trying to fill the void at third base left by the departure of Ron Santo. In 1991 however, the team thought they had found their 3B savior when Gary Scott lit up Spring Training. He was handed the Opening Day start at third in 1991, but faded quickly hitting only .165 before being demoted in early May. The following season was eerily similar as Scott again had a great spring and looked ready to become the Cubs everyday third baseman. He was once again given the Opening Day start only to hit a miserable .103 before being sent down at the end of April. Eventually Scott was traded to the Florida Marlins in November of 1992. He was traded several more times before retiring from baseball in 1996 having never returned to the Major League level. His career stats of a .160 average with 3 homers and 16 RBI's are a far cry from what hopeful Cubs' fans had been expecting. Last reports have Gary Scott being hired by TFS Energy in 2005 where he works as a global oil broker. Who was the other top 3B prospect they've had in the last 20 or so years that completely flopped? The name eludes me. Corey Patterson, Brant Brown, Brooks Kieshnick, Bobby Hill and Felix Pie say "hello!" Might as well include Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith for good measure.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 02:44 PM) Love, love, love Semien's statistical profile this year. His walk rate is phenomenal, and given the fact that he's not some hulking power hitter, I'd guess he's not getting many cheap walks (only 2 IBB for example). Contact rate is very good and if he can keep the contact rate up then he should hit for considerably more average than his current .267 mark. He's very age appropriate for his level. Solid power. Yet for some reason I feel very sceptical about him. I need to see more. There isn't enough of a track record to get too hyped up about him... yet. I haven't read any recent scouting reports so I don't know much from that perspective, but the numbers make him very intriguing. If I was ranking he would fit somewhere in the top 10 for me. He should be a fringe Top 10 guy. Does a lot of things well, but not really great in any statistical category or one of the infamous five tools. If he was a legit SS prospect, then sure. And hitting in the .260's isn't exactly dominating the Southern League. He's solid, the type of complementary player who won't hurt you but isn't anything resembling a star quality player by any stretch of the imagination.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 02:05 PM) The White Sox have an MLB rotation. The cubs have a nice farm system. They have Rizzo, who has been a bit streaky this year, and a sub-600 OPS version of Castro with bad work habits, laziness, a lack of power and a bit overweight.

I've watched quite a few of his games now at milbtv.com, he's not a burner. He's very quick...but he doesn't fly down the line. He doesn't have Pods' speed, or Durham's. He definitely doesn't have that pure sprinter's speed to get you from 2nd to 3rd on a triple, where those guys actually seem like they're accelerating right around second base.

Bringing Floyd back to a rebuilding team...no thanks. Unless he wants to do his rehab next year for the major league minimum and gives us a sweetheart option deal for 2015.

Edwin Jackson 4 years/$52M (2013-16) signed by Chicago Cubs as a free agent 12/20/12 $8M signing bonus 13:$11M, 14:$11M, 15:$11M, 16:$11M deal does not include no-trade protection Ask Theo for $15-17.5 million, haha. Trade Peavy and Danks for whatever they can get, not so concerned with the return for Danks as getting rid of the contract. Not in this particular order, obviously, you'd have to put the 2 righties in between. 1. Sale 2. Santiago 3. Quintana 4. Edwin Jackson (can flip him anytime in 2014 or 2015 if the team isn't competitive after Coop has "refixed" him) 5. Erik Johnson Use the savings from Danks and Peavy (almost $20 million per season) to fix the offense. That also gives the rotation at least one veteran who has enjoyed success with the Sox and gives you three lefties/two righties.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 09:08 AM) De Aza could be a LF on a team though. For example, let's say a team has a good leadoff hitter that plays 2B/SS. The team also has a CF that hits in the middle of the lineup. De Aza could be really good as a #8 or #9 hitter. His offensive numbers are not that different than Alex Rios' offensive numbers honestly. De Aza annoys me too but if he wasn't leading off and playing CF he actually brings something to the table. I think De Aza could hit you 15-18 homers in the 9 spot and get on base at a .330 clip. IMO, better to leave Viciedo there and find a new 1B (instead of moving Dayan to 1B to make room for DeAza in LF) and new CFer. (Unless they really just want to save money and not do anything but have another wasted season in 2014). We know DeAza's max potential, it's more in line with the 2011 season...but there's not a reasonable argument that he's going to get any better from here on out, whereas I could easily make that case for Dayan in LF.