caulfield12

http://www.southsidesox.com/2013/1/11/3862...y-minor-leagues So the basic point was that the Bonilla trade wasn't so terrible because he wouldn't have elevated the White Sox much beyond mediocrity....and that the Sox specific version of mediocrity put them in the exact position to draft Frank Thomas 7th. Well, I'm having a hard time giving a GM credit for that one...in hindsight, it worked out well, but that wasn't Harrelson's doing. It's like saying if he drafted Bonds instead of Kurt Brown....the White Sox would had Bonilla and Bonds paired together and in their primes...and could easily have peaked a couple of years earlier, avoiding the disaster of the 1994 season being wiped out by the strike, etc., etc. Of course, they might not have been able to draft Thomas and Alex Fernandez by that point. And they likely would have been able to compete with Baines/Bonilla/Bonds/Ventura...so they probably wouldn't have ended up trading Baines for Sosa/Alvarez/Fletcher. http://www.southsidesox.com/2010/10/23/176...ma-harrelson-is Must-read article, some great "inside" stuff here about Hawk's year... Didn't realize he basically was sabotaging LaRussa at the end of April already by floating the idea of Billy Martin (Royko wrote the story)...and the "college of coaches" thing reminds me of a Hawk 13-1 blowout soundtrack, haha. And say whatever you want about Dombrowski and Duncan, they were 100% loyal to LaRussa. Among the other people Harrelson has hired to coach are Dick Allen, Rico Petrocelli, Tom Haller, Bob Bailey, Dick Bosman, Chuck Hartenstein, Bob Bolin, Jose Cardenal, Buzz Capra, Doug Rader, Herman Franks and Jim Marshall. There are some dinosaurs (Herman Franks?) and certifiable loonies in there, but Harrelson swears by them. (Also Moe Drabowsky, his buddy Drysdale and Willie Horton, among others). SI portrayed Hawk as a flamboyant, freewheeling baseball character. The horror stories didn't come out until September. As Bob Verdi wrote in the Tribune: Shortly after his appointment last October, Harrelson called a meeting of White Sox administrative staffers, presumably to welcome them, introduce himself and so on. Instead, the Hawk warned of leaks and other disloyal acts, threatening even secretaries with dismissal. The troops, many of whom had nothing to do with the game`s inner workings, were shaken.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 12:23 AM) As we approach Spring Training, a lot of things are set for the Sox. We know our top 3 starting pitchers. Eaton, Cabrera, Abreu, LaRoche, Garcia, Gillaspie, Ramirez, and Flowers are all pretty set as starters. Robertson is our closer. Wells and Jennings have strengthened our bullpen. Bonafacio is making the team in some capacity. So what hasn't been answered? Here are 10 questions that need to be answered. 1. Who's going to emerge as our starting second baseman? Sanchez, who ended last season there? Micah Johnson, the speedy lefty? Bonafacio, who's probably better in a utility role? Saladino, who's coming off injury? Or even Gordon Beckham, in a bid for the Sox to torture us once again after we thought we were done with him? 2. Who is going to stick at backup catcher? Soto? Brantly? Nieto? Kottaras? 3. Will Jesse Crain be healthy enough to help us this year? Will Nate Jones? (This is a two-fer.) 4. How will the Sox deploy Carlos Rodon? Will he stay in the minors long enough to give another season of control? When will his major league debut be? Will be in the bullpen, or as a starter? Will he displace Nieto or Danks if he starts? 5. Gillaspie and LaRoche don't hit lefties very well. Who subs for them? Seems like Bonafacio and Beckham are both candidates to platoon with Gillaspie. But what about LaRoche? 6. Who is going to be our 4th (or 5th) outfielder (assuming Bonafacio will also sub in the outfield a fair amount). 7. How does the rest of the bullpen shake out behind Robertson and Wells? 8. Will these players all be healthier this year? Adam Eaton? 123 games. Avisail Garcia? 46 games. Jose Abreu? 145 games. Chris Sale? 26 games, 174 innings. 9. Will guys like Matt Davidson and Eric Johnson get their careers back on track to where they can be seen at least as future help, if not being ready to help this year? 10. Who else are the Sox going to add to help the club in 2015? Answer all 10, or pick and choose which ones you like, or add some others. Should be an interesting season! As for #7, I think you meant Duke? Robertson Duke Petricka Putnam Guerra Then there's obviously a whole ton of uncertainty. Webb, maybe, if he's not sent back to Charlotte. Jennings, as a 2nd lefty. Sanburn. Beck. Cleto. Do they want a long man? Would they push Montas onto the roster as a reliever if he completely dominated in spring training? Surkamp is unlikely. Erik Johnson, although he probably belongs in Charlotte...could be the long man, though. Crain and Nate Jones...will they be the trade deadline "acquisitions" when/if they return? Or is that way too optimistic? As for the LaRoche issue, that probably won't be resolved until the end of ST (along with the 4th outfielder). Right now, it's Shuck and Taylor, but that's not very reassuring. A number of names have been suggested (Padres' depth, Tabata, etc.) Will have to be patient there. Another big question is who's the next starter if/when there's an injury or if Noesi falters? There's basically zero depth. Some of the names I mentioned above. It all depends on Rodon's progress. Names like Johnson, Carroll and Rienzo bring back too many unpleasant memories of 2014. Montas, Danish and Beck will be monitored closely. The biggest issue would be an early issue...and either blowing a service year of Rodon by bringing him up too fast OR running the risk of the back of the rotation pulling the team down in April/May.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/10899...44367-658620023 Really high ranking for the Tigers, IMO. Royals 10th, Indians 13th, White Sox 14th, that's probably a fair assessment. The White Sox shouldn't be in the 20's anymore. Any of the four top teams in the AL Central could win it, any of them could finish 4th as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/opinion/khan...ting/index.html

Iowa went scoreless for 8+ minutes in the first half and are lucky to be only down 23-19 to Minnesota at halftime in Iowa City. Sigh. I guess it's better than the game in Minny when they blew a 17 point lead in the 2nd half and had to win it in overtime. Hopefully the poor performance is out of their system but you can never predict this team. This had all the makings of a "trap" game...Minnesota hasn't won on the road in the B10, and psychologically, Minny feels they definitely should have won that first game. Iowa's now 26th/27th in the ratings, so I was hoping that missing out on being back in the Top 25 would serve as a motivating factor. Usually, success/recognition leads to a backslide for this program.

http://pro.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2015-...entines-weekend Didn't see it coming. 50 Shades of Grey projected to beat all Feb/Valentine's Day openings and challenge American Sniper's numbers. This article gives a list of reasons. Guess Charlie Hunnam might be second-guessing sitting this one out, but he'll be fine. From all reports, Jamie Dornan is pretty one-dimensional in his performance, but most women don't really care.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 12, 2015 -> 05:14 PM) If I was a betting man I would go all in on the Yankee's getting him. Jeter being gone and their need for the next star replacement at shortstop. They probably see Yoan as being the perfect candidate to do that. Except almost all of the scouting reports are putting him at 3B, 2B and CF. If his offense is elite, you can get away with a below-average defender at a position, but there's also a belief he's going to fill out even more, making SS even more of a challenge. A lot of teams, apparently, have had questions about his arm and playability at that position after workouts and are trying to get him back for a 2nd look to do more defensive/fielding drills.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 12, 2015 -> 10:55 AM) lol, this is literally five posts up Make sure to point that out to southsider2k5 in the Shields thread re-linking the Passan article, lol. Your vigilance is much-appreciated, though.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/108942702/ji...field-prospects In-depth report from Jim Callis on how Moncada stacks up in tools against the Top 15 MLB infield prospects

Wasn't KW supposed to issue a statement about the situation sometime this week? What happened? Perhaps the team is gathering more evidence...and there might be some legal repercussions as well, vis a vis the White Sox, the RBI program, etc.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/12/us/chapel-hi...ting/index.html

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 10:59 PM) He should be taken off the air for good. You can't lie about that kind of s***. Didn't he agree to a six-month work stint without pay? Amazing the egos of these rich anchors. They probably would work for nothing when you get down to it just to keep their egos satisfied. I mean how can you make up such a story? Ridiculous. Do you watch The Newsroom? Just curious.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 10:49 PM) What some of you Sabes people must realize is a lot of us, including Barkley, do not give a s*** about advanced stats. I mean some of it is interesting, but I think what Charles is saying is a ballplayer knows a good ballplayer when he sees one. Believe me, I don't need advanced stats to tell me Rios or Dunn are good players. I happen to SEE them play and can tell you they are not. I'm not a big WAR guy obviously. When I see Adam Dunn whiff as much as he did as a Sox, and the fact he as our big gun never sniffed a postseason, tells me a lot. I don't need advanced stats telling me he was good or some such. Again, if you watch your favorite team all year, you know who is good and who is bad. That's my take. The Sabes people should be more tolerant of us Sabes haters or Sabes dislikers. This is my favorite SoxTalk soliloquy of the year so far.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 09:35 PM) The new Dodgers GM that Freidman hired, he was a MIT grad with zero baseball experience, your ultimate "Sabr" guy. Now as time has passed and he has spent more time in baseball, I read he recently admitted that he has been trusting scouts just as much, if not more than the numbers. It's not about one way or the other, it's about making the baseball team possible using every available resource. https://slice.mit.edu/2014/11/18/mit-alumnu...ngeles-dodgers/ Farhan Zaidi, the first Asian-American GM (many thought it was going to be Kim Ng ten years ago). First Muslim. First of Pakistani/Filipino descent. Morey (Rockets) graduated with an MBA from MIT in 2000, fwiw. Interestingly, the Cespedes acquisition was more of a non-SABR projection than pretty much any move you can imagine...and required a lot of input from the scouting side. With the A’s, Zaidi was widely credited for his part in the signing of Yoenis Cespedes, the Cuban defector who became a star from the time he arrived in 2012. “He’s absolutely brilliant,” Beane said of Zaidi in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle this year. “He has a great qualitative mind, but also a creative mind. The ability to look at things both micro and macro is unique, and Farhan could do whatever he wants to do, not just in this game, but in any sport or any business. I’m more worried about losing him to Apple or Google than I am to another team.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/sports/b...as-gm.html?_r=0

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 05:44 PM) I had a free pass to see Project Almanac and I actually enjoyed it. Plenty of flaws and you'll have to suspend disbelief but I expected that. The found footage aspect wasn't needed at all. It's a "genre" that needs to die. The name itself sounds like a ripoff of Chronicle. Didn't they go through like 2-3 different name changes before settling on their final decision? Sometimes, a name alone is enough to doom a movie.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 08:28 PM) I've heard the same criticisms of Flash Boys. Yet no movie there unless Brad Pitt can play a Chinese-Canadian. I do believe one thing, firmly. Arguing/discussing baseball has become even more frustrating, because you can take a stat like VORP or FIP and say, for example, Ronald Belisario was the 3rd most valuable pitcher/player on the White Sox last season. Something that nobody who watched him pitch even a handful of times would agree with...and yet someone who hasn't watched him (especially as a closer) will argue vehemently that he was more valuable than Putnam or Petricka, and then a bunch of numbers will get bandied back and forth and a substantive discussion of actual performance gets lost in the numbers, the forest for the trees, so to speak. Now this isn't that common...but it's been extended to "team WAR" and then you lose the individual contributors to a team and so-called chemistry (which some will argue doesn't exist, the team is only the sum of the individual pieces) isn't taken into account in any way, shape or form. For example, how Dave Schoenfeld could rank the Sox in the #22-23 area (preseason) is just astounding to me, after all the additional talent they've brought on board. For the majority of last year, with the worst bullpen in the game, they were a #15-20 team, at worst. But the Cubs add Lester and Maddon and a team that almost anyone would argue is even or behind the White Sox at the major league level is #13? In the end, part of being a White Sox fan is knowing that no matter what the numbers say, your team will always have to fight twice as hard to earn respect on a national basis. I guess if we lose that chip on our shoulders (like was beginning to happen in 2006), things tend to get too complacent.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 04:49 PM) We don't know, obviously, but it's more likely that if you're having an ongoing dispute with someone, you get upset that last time and finally snap, just like road rage. I don't know why you'd jump to racism if there's a beef between these people that pre-existed their murder. Except for the fact that there's a definition connection between his religious convictions and their faiths. His wife is trying to say "he's basically the kind of guy who had parking disputes with numerous neighbors," and yet he didn't kill any of them (OTHER neighbors), threaten them on multiple occasions (with his gun visible) or make comments about their religions/churches that were confrontational in nature.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 04:49 PM) We don't know, obviously, but it's more likely that if you're having an ongoing dispute with someone, you get upset that last time and finally snap, just like road rage. I don't know why you'd jump to racism if there's a beef between these people that pre-existed their murder. About the only way to "spin" this positively would be to fill in the line: Three (pick any group or subgroup of people in the US).....were murdered in a robbery attempt. Maybe if it was three senior citizens, that would be logical, since they're inherently weaker and easier to rob. Now of course, if it was 3 Catholics, 3 Jews....it COULD be random, that if they were all related or friends and all happened to be in the same place, it would make sense that they were all of the same religion, but then you start connecting the dots with the Facebook comments and its a much more difficult argument to make.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/02/1...ml#.VNvbldKUdsI Protected free speech or the makings of his eventual demise? That last line is VERY close to a threat/call to arms. Speech is protected, up to the boundary line of potentially injuring other groups of people as a result. “I give your religion as much respect as your religion gives me,” he wrote. “There’s nothing complicated about it, and I have every right to insult a religion that goes out of its way to insult, to judge, and to condemn me as an inadequate human being – which your religion does with self-righteous gusto.” It’s not clear if Hicks was referring to a particular religion or all religions. He continued: “When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me,” he wrote. “If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I. But given that it doesn’t, and given the enormous harm that your religion has done in this world, I’d say that I have not only a right, but a duty, to insult it, as does every rational, thinking person on this planet.” Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/02/1...l#storylink=cpy

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/rev...dornan-20150210 Thought this review of 50 Shades of Grey (the movie) was hilarious. Actually, the reviews have been a bit better than expected....trending at 44% positive at RT, 50% at Metacritic. Given the source material, 20's or 30's wouldn't have been surprising. Of course, Jupiter Ascending's right around 40 and that movie has been blasted by nearly everyone.

For his sake, he better hope he's not pre-judged on physical appearance...or he's in a world of hurt. The dude could have shown up in the latest episode of Banshee on Cinemax with Aryan Nation/Brotherhood tats and he would have fit in perfectly. Luckily, they'll probably have him looking like Christian Grey by the time of his trial.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 04:32 PM) Why? Road rage is known to result in deaths. Point blank, execution style? Usually, logic would tell you they'd be more chaotic than the SEEMING pattern here. Once again, social media trails are the first place the media goes...trial by Facebook.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/11/us/chapel-hi...ting/index.html

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 02:18 PM) Charles' argument doesn't hold a lot of water. He gave examples like the current Spurs, 90s Bulls, and 00s Lakers as arguments against analytics. Charles, those teams had efficient star players. That's why they won. That's how you win in basketball. Morey takes it a bit too far since all he wants are guys who either shoot 3s, draw fouls, or hit layups, but if you want to win, you need players who can do that in basketball. Shooting long 2 point shots isn't efficient and teams who rely on that type of game aren't successful. Taking it one step further, how do college programs identify players who will succeed the most at the next level shooting 3's? There's tons of players in the country who excel in this area in high school, but, for example...Wisconsin and Michigan have excelled in recent years finding players for their systems, whereas Michigan State seemingly has fallen behind the times a bit.

http://www.houstonsportstalk.net/2014/03/1...hind-analytics/ http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/ast...64963d413b47#/0 One of these links SHOULD work. Building something like this is what I'm talking about...and it's interesting that Houston has become the epicenter of the debate, with the Astros, Rockets, Brady Aiken last year, NASA, haha. I guess it's also cool a Quad-Cities/Augustana graduate is so heavily-involved. Surely the White Sox could find a Sox fan from Northwestern, Univ of Illinois, Univ of Chicago, etc., to do something similar. As far as the White Sox go, in all the articles you read, the mentions you get about computer analysis are more in the area of contract negotiation/s, but it could be they're deliberately tight-lipped on orders of Hahn.