caulfield12

http://news.yahoo.com/the-fight-against-ex...-171017296.html Now that they're listening to Jenks and Fox News, what will conservatives have to complain about with this admin? Seems like they've finally reversed course to take his advice.

I still don't even know if a second year tells you enough. Puig was excellent for the first 3-4 months in 2014 and then fell off a cliff. His power numbers were also off, although he did get a lot of extra base hits. We have three years to go on now with Trout, and he should have been MVP at least twice, if not all three years, arguably. Some would argue Puig is Top 10-15 (future/potential-wise) and some might not have him until the 30's, 40's or 50's in their rankings. Hard to say yet. Cabrera still deserves to be part of the conversation. A healthy Giancarlo Stanton if you're talking best power hitter. Trout, of course. Maybe McCutcheon, although he gets a lot of his value in other areas besides hitting. Cano, for the season he put up playing half his games in SEA. Victor Martinez is unlikely to be there going forward, that's been discussed into the ground. Looking at some of the "younger" names, you have Brantley, Posey, Fr.Freeman, Josh Harrison, Carlos Gomez, Rendon, Starling Marte and Duda. If you would have asked me a year or two ago, I would have said Carlos Santana of the Indians, but he was so bad in the first half it looked his his career was falling apart until he finally recovered. Kipnis, too.

This can go around and around forever. Bill Clinton always says his biggest regret was no boots on the ground in Rwanda. Why, because he felt it was an impossible political sell because of Somalia/Black Hawk Down. Bosnia/Serbia/Croatia, etc. If you want to go back further, you can look at the US/CiA assassinations of Allende, Patrice Lumumba and Che Guevara. How would South America or Africa be different had they been allowed to live? For a more recent example, you should watch OUR BRAND IS CRISIS...about how a US pr firm (Carville/Greenberg, etc.) deliberately tried to re-elect and sustain a terrible dictator in Bolivia and the consequence that came about was Evo Morales as leader and a wave of socialism/populism/anti-Americanism breaking out all across South America. If you prefer seeing how American corporate interests have probably even bigger negative impacts on the development of a country's infrastructure and growth, there's BIG MEN by the same documentary director, about how the US and European oil companies tried to exploit the first major deposit of oil reserves off the coast of Ghana...corruption in that government and its dealings with oil companies...and the spillover effect into Nigeria. Pretty eye-opening stuff. At any rate, to summarize, there's no guarantee that BETTER will be the replacement. There's only the guarantee you're getting rid of one...but often when you attempt to manipulate/control a successor, that's where the US has typically tended to get into trouble foreign-policy wise.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Feb 18, 2015 -> 11:51 AM) I don't like this thread title. Yeah, should have a ? after it. Makes people think when they come to the site a deal has already been struck. My first impression was surprise, but also a feeling that $100+ isn't the type of money the White Sox usually allocate to starting pitchers in their 30's, no matter what the previous wear and tear on their arm/shoulder/elbow has been. Now if Rodon/Danish/Montas completely flop this season (think Matt Davidson's equivalent as pitchers...or Erik Johnson 2014), then I'd be at least more willing to consider it. You'd have to, in Hahn's position.

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 18, 2015 -> 06:40 AM) I wanted to see that and Boyhood before the Oscars. Haven't gotten around to Birdman, but I watched Boyhood last weekend, and while it's creative film making, I found it really boring. It's certainly not best Picture material, in my opinion....and nobody should be getting a best acting nomination. It won't, just Patricia Arquette...and it's more of a "lifetime" body of work achievement IMO. I agree that it's not the kind of film that you would ever want to revisit again, and it's not what you would call entertaining...but it was a labor of love to come up with that film-making concept of following a main character in "real life" for 12 years. It's kind of like when we get upset with actors getting rewarded for massive physical changes (Charlize Theron as a serial killer or Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking), playing someone with mental challenges (Russell Crowe as John Forbes Nash), etc. If you do something out of the ordinary as a director as well, it deserves praise but not necessarily the best picture. Boyhood might be the "least loved" best picture of any movie from this generation of films with the possible exception of The Artist.

For the same reason we didn't parade Osama bin Laden's body around the streets of NYC. Because it would only create more antagonism and bring in numerous new terror recruits. btw, what specific Muslim terrorists are you arguing that Obama is trying to pacify by not calling them out for their actions? Basically, you want the George W. Bush or Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds) aggressive and "in your face" style of confrontation...instead of Mandy Patinkin's more cerebral/passive approach. Neither is absolutely, 100% right or wrong...you have to utilize both approaches to be effective. Always being the aggressor in foreign policy will lead to widespread loss of life. OTOH, if your enemies don't fear you and call your bluff because they don't believe you have the guts to do what it takes in order to stop them, that elicits confidence on the side of fear and terrorism. No matter what Obama has said publicly, the extreme increase in drone strikes shows that he really hasn't broken much at all with his predecessor in regards to the war on terrorism...many Democrats fault him for going back on a number of his foreign policy promises and have been greatly disappointed.

On the other hand, there's not a comprehensive statistical measure that's universally accepted, either. That system for looking at relievers' leverage is interesting, and it's better than something like pythagorean wins and losses, but it's just one facet of managing. For example, how much would that one facet alone be weighted at, 15%? 20%? What would the other tenets of managing be with measurables? Line-up construction? Dealing with the media? Effective use of double shifts? PH/platooning decisions? Would would you measure relationships with the coaching staff and front office, etc.? Showing patience and poise, versus being more fiery, like a drill instructor? These are very subjective and changeable aspects as well...they won't hold constant as a manager evolves. Wins per payroll/salary dollar? Well, that will always overrate managers of teams like the Marlins or Padres, and weigh down the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, etc. Even with your bullpen leverage stat, it doesn't necessarily predict who would do the best with the most talented bullpen...who would be able to manage best in the playoffs, etc.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 17, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) None of them will top Miracle (that's Disney, right?) but I still think this one looks promising. Or the Dennis Quaid one where he plays Jim Morris of the Rays.

Remember when this guy was THE story of the NCAA tourney in 2013? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Enfield Now 4-27 in his first 31 PAC-10 games.

They could be passed up. The White Sox are the most improved team in baseball. The Indians aren't going anywhere. The Royals went to the World Series last year. Full article on positives and negatives for the Tigers winning their fifth consecutive division title. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tige...sules/23416445/

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) Well you could go with Robin either way...grins but those are all good names an by the way I forgot to say congrats I'd take the over on 82 wins but don't think I'd bet our Sox for the WS win but can't really be counted out. I'm really not sure who in the AL though, could be a few different teams there. The Nats do look pretty solid in the NL. Seems like it's always a wild card team that wins it though. Gonna be a good yr. I think, a lot of teams are able to win it this yr....not many push-overs The Mariners are a popular pick, obviously...there's clearly (at least now) no dominant AL team. The Yankees and Red Sox are both going through transition periods. LA is relying on a repeat from Calhoun, plus Matt Joyce, David Freese, Rutledge, Iannetta, there's too many question marks, IMO. Richards, Weaver, CJ Wilson, Shoemaker, Heaney and Santiago is the rotation. Weaver has been more hittable with diminished velocity, Wilson has been borderline Danks-ish...Shoemaker/Heaney/Santiago are all wildcards, although Shoemaker was a pleasant surprise. Baltimore, KC and the Tigers haven't improved from last season. Theoretically, the Blue Jays could surprise as well...maybe the Rangers.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 02:39 PM) Strangely good timing for Cameron Monaghan that his character in Shameless goes on the deep end of crazy this week and they show that creepy close-up scene of Ian walking through the mental institution, a day before his debut as The Joker on Gotham tonight. That worked out rather perfectly for Cameron and Gotham. His career is starting to take off...he was in The Giver and at least one other big Hollywood movie recently. Shameless and The Walking Dead have been tough watches recently, but that was the best Shameless in months. The show has its best moments away from Frank, who ironically is the most talented actor but sucks all the energy away from the rest of the cast at times. They need to figure out a resolution to the Kevin/family problem soon because he's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle this year.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:50 PM) Finally watched Gone Girl last night. I think if you didn't see it right away it was probably sort of ruined for you. Or it was already ruined when you read the book...since the whole movie turns on that plot twist. That's why I am hesitating about learning anything more about The Walking Dead animated series...would rather be surprised. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015-02...nt_19603830.htm Speaking of strange documentaries, you have The Wolfpack...about a Lower East Side/Manhattan family (it seems they are half-Peruvian/Hare Krishna and half Eastern European by the names) whose parents lock up all the children in the house and home school them...and their only interactions with the outside world are through re-enacting movies and some tv programs.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 06:51 PM) ya.... she is banned and all her movies from china b/c of her making that movie.... she showed her ummmm many wonderful assets, which is, to put it simply as being great. wow. i am now a fan. back to the movie, it is a shame, it had a chance but they screwed it up. oh, i just saw John Wick. it was ok, nothing great, a 1 1/2 - 2 in stars. a brain dead movie, lots of actions and violence. the guy in it played the org Girl with a dragon tatoo. bloomquest. (sp) Nyqvist, Swedish actor....who has become more famous for playing a Mission Impossible (the one in Dubai) villain since then. John Wick is awesome...it's 50X better than Taken 2/3 or The Equalizer. For me, it's comparable to Man On Fire, although Denzel gets the nod because he's a much better actor. Keanu's kind of an anti-actor, whereas he can only not get in the way of a really good movie, but he can't make a so-so or bad movie bearable to watch. As for Tang Wei, she's really become China mainstream popular and the ban on filming in the mainland was lifted awhile ago.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:01 PM) Congrats on the baby...............March looking good for you. 82 wins sounds pretty fair. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01...nt_19287298.htm Everyone's in a rush not to have a "sheep" baby (Chinese Zodiac) or to waiting until next year because they believe they're too docile and pliant...on the other hand, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the Year of the Sheep. 82 sounds right, 77 is too low (Baseball Prospectus)...and whatever fangraphs or baseball-reference are projecting.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Carson Fullmer's 95 MPH heater, look at the movement on this thing, good god. https://twitter.com/cistulli/status/567449985122574337 Sounds like a high QB from California. Is he related to Brad Fullmer?

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 06:03 PM) First baby? who're going to name him after?..lol Agreed that is a good time of the year an it looks like Vegas is picking an Angels/Nats WS I was fighting for Robert because that's my dad's name, Roberto Clemente and Robert F. Kennedy.....but it sounds like "robot" in Chinese English so I have compromised to Ethan Robert if it's a boy. For a girl, Chloe or Zoe(y). Probably Zoe(y), because Chloe is a perfume and also for the Salinger short story. Chloe sounds too much like a celebrity kid's name, although Zoe kind of does, too. "One Dog" or "Lance On Point" are tempting. Or The Deacon. As for the Angels' pick, a lot depends on Richards' health. He was their ace last year before the injury. And I wouldn't be betting on anything more from Hamilton and Pujols than what they provided last year.

QUOTE (lvjeremylv @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 05:33 PM) That's why they play the games, though. It's a loooong season, and as we've seen before in sports, ANYTHING can happen. The Sox have question marks just like every other team in baseball, so let's get out there and see what happens. If they can manage to stay healthy, I like their chances at being competitive day in and day out. That's all you can ask for as a fan. Yep, can't wait for March 4th...first spring training game (and first baby's due date March 3rd). Seems like it is taking forever this year. Maybe that's because there's so much more excitement this year....definitely the most since 2011, and maybe going all the way back to 2006. (Normally, fwiw, the first weekend in April is the coolest because of the Final Four, start of the regular season and the Masters all hitting at the same time, along with the nicer weather).

http://i.imgur.com/lLBXsuK.png I thought this was the closest thing to accurate out there right now...compared to all the stats-oriented sites. Sox at 82 wins, Cubs at 81....Tigers at 86 1/2, Royals 83 and Indians 81. Twins at 68 1/2. Btw, the Astros have a lot of work to do to face the Cubs in the 2017 World Series, still at only 73 1/2. Can't say that I would be supremely disappointed (because it would be another big improvement record-wise) but it depends if most of those wins come in the 2nd half when the team's too far out, or the record is even better and someone runs away with it and guys like Samardzija are dealt (or maybe there's an injury in the pitching staff, Ramirez or OF, etc.) Probably it's setting up to feel more like 2012, except with a lot more optimism for the future as opposed to feeling the results that year were kind of fluky with all the rookie pitchers overperforming until the end.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) Roger Moore James Bond camp meets Kick-Ass, meets Quentin Tarantino, with a bad guy played by Samuel L Jackson who lisps heavily and is terrified of blood. It's perfect. Haha Kick Ass 2 was pretty unwatchable...unfortunately. Am looking forward to this one, though. The "new" actor (sidekick/mentee?) to Firth is getting lots of kudos as well. As far as Blackhat goes, normally Mann's a much better director. I think this movie was made as Hemsworth was just starting to get more notoriety...as far as Tang Wei goes, she's a big star in China but I haven't seen any mention at all of this movie coming out here. She's most famous for starting her career with an Ang Lee movie named Lust/Caution that ended up getting her banned from filming in the mainland because of its NC-17 scenes. It was a big career risk for a debut movie, opposing China's leading male actor, but it really worked out for her in the end. At any rate, she's trying to become a "crossover" star and no Asian actress has fully succeeded because of the English issues....Maggie Q and Lucy Liu to a lesser extent, and the performances of Fan Bing Bing and Li Bing Bing in movies like Transformers 4, Iron Man and X-Men have left a lot to be desired. Audiences here knew they were being pandered to, rather than respected. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2169322/ Finding Mr. Right/Beijing Meets Sleepless in Seattle This is one of Tang Wei's earlier attempts at the US market. She ended up marrying her Korean co-star, fwiw.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) Their pitching was fantastic, especially the relief, and it minimized Yosts bad managing. Because everyone had defined roles...the only time he departed from that pattern from July on was bringing in Ventura as a reliever in an effort to shake things up and because they were all over Shields, he was hanging by a thread the entire game.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:24 AM) Yost gave away outs like it was going out of style. His team succeeded despite him, not because of him. I am not comparing Yost to Ozzie in 05, or Robin today. They arent the same situation, nor the same people, http://m.mlb.com/news/article/106374740/mi...lieving-in-team The thing is, the Royals were challenged offensively (until the playoffs) to drive in runs with homers, everyone knows that. Bunting/sacrificing made a lot of sense for that team, in that ballpark...because of the incredible track record the bullpen had with just 1-2 run leads...and how important it was for that team in the 2nd half to take the lead early, as they collectively believed it meant a sure win, just like the 2005 White Sox believed as well, especially the first 2 1/2 months or so in 2005 when Pods and Iguchi were in synch. As an organizational philosophy, it worked. You can't expect hitters like Escobar, Infante, Dyson and Aoki to pound out victories...so they basically played a different style with half of their line-up while still hoping for SOME power from Hosmer, Butler, Moustakas, Perez and Gordon. Part of that philosophy was a belief in team playing and making every out count, as well as making contact. The White Sox could learn a thing or two, because ever since 2005/06, and 2008 when Quentin was on fire, their offensive attack has been pretty one-dimensional, all things considered. In the end, those types of offenses (like the A's) built on power and OBP but without the ability to manufacture runs on the basepaths always tend to wilt in the off-season.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 08:34 AM) He made a case that Kevan Smith should be talked about because the Sox failed on all of their high potential, high K guys but the Sox haven't converted on anything in the way of position players. If we're hanging the Sox banner of "success" on Kevan Smith as an example of progress/development...that would be a pretty low bar to jump over.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 09:53 AM) the idea of getting a young Trout, a young Stanton, a young Jeter how ever he develops, the price is worth it. the salary is hard to get used to, but look at the positives, fans in the stands, when the sox are making a run for the playoff, in the playoff, the on the field positives, let alone the media coverages, and for the financial aspects the commercial side, it is a win win situation. now totally unrelated question, Yoan is eligible to sign now, but at what point can he sign after spring training and it will count as next yr int't signing and the penalties., We have arguably two of the Top 10-15 players in baseball already and the positives have been fairly limited in terms of media and attendance. The bar would have to be set INCREDIBLY high for him to end up better than Sale and Abreu. Not to mention the fact that he probably wouldn't be a regular contributor until the end of 2016 or early 2017...any team throwing him right into the majors at 19 would be very shortsighted. It has only worked out a couple of times in the history of the modern game.

QUOTE (brett05 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) Stats do not make a player an icon. Actually he wasn't. His antics was reaching new heights, but he was still doing a good job handling the managerial part (at least compared to Robin) and an even greater job controlling the media away from his players. What did Guillen do well from 2009 through 2011? Quitting on the team at the end of 2011 when he already had left the Sox for the Marlins the last week of the season?