caulfield12

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 08:51 AM) Sox aren't in that race if he isn't hitting .400. His bat falling apart, how about him being injured. Guy is one of the greatest White Sox of all time and was a consistently above average player for this franchise for a long long time. Nothing he has done this year has impacted the Sox ability to win...nothing. In fact, he has been a valuable pinch hitter and your bias comes through where you dispell that by acting as if the stats which back him as being above average actually make him not so good. Which leads to the arguments about his not running out ground balls or doing bat flips, etc. Let's go back to 15 or so years ago, when he supposedly had a degenerative hip condition and was fated to end up like a Joe Crede, out of baseball by age 30. He's never going to be Mike Trout, he can't run...he doesn't have a lot of range at 1B, he's losing his hair, etc. JOKING. At any rate, he's been one of the best ambassadors in baseball for his team, so I don't have any problem with him. He's never been my favorite, either, but I guess the best word is appreciate him and everything he's accomplished for the franchise. Paulie also doesn't seem like one of those guys (ala Gabe Kapler) who spend their entire offseason working on weights/health/nutrition. He's more from that Mark Buehrle, Thome or AJ old-school way of thinking. Would he be sitting on edge of the Hall of Fame if he took better care of himself, or could run 25% faster? Maybe, but probably not. I guess the other thing to consider is that he's not a "rah rah" Bobby Valentine type. He has always been a "quiet/lead by example" type, and that's led in the minds of some to complacent clubhouses...along with others who have similar personalities, Thome, Dunn, Dye, etc. We really do seem to have a leadership issue on this team if Adam Eaton can't stay on the field and Gordon Beckham obviously never came close to fulfilling that potential/label from 2009. Abreu and Chris Sale...not sure they are the ones, either. It seems we do need a veteran or two (position players) added into the mix who will bring our young players to that next level...a Mike Napoli, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, their equivalent (and not easy to find), Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Tim Hudson, etc.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:48 AM) Paul Konerko has been bad for 2 and a half years. It takes a couple clicks on his profile on any statistics site to see that. This year he's done exactly what he wanted to do. He did not want to come back and be a full time player. He would not have signed. And, given that he's been effective against LHP, he's done exactly what's been asked of him. He's been one of the worst 1B in the game against RHP for the last 2 years because he can't catch up to the heat any more. People have no problem with Konerko, because he's been a great hitter for the better part of his career, but he's no where near Jeter's level. He also didn't win the Sox a World Series, the team won a World Series and he was apart of that. Given that I figure I'll be around another 40-50 years, and that there is competence in the front office and they are willing to spend money, I'd say the odds are right around 50% (or 2-1 odds) that the Sox will win another World Series in my life time. I don't understand the need to take a shot at Reinsdorf here, who has spent appropriately on this team for the better part of his membership on the board for the Chicago White Sox, but it depends on how much longer you are going to be alive. If you are in your 40s or 50s, the odds decrease signficantly unless you can live until you're 90 or 100. He's not Mark Cuban, he's not Ilitch, he doesn't spend insane amounts of his own personal money on a title quest. That's the argument, we don't have a free spender (Of course, the odds are looking worse and worse by the day as far as the Tigers getting back to the World Series again this year.) Maybe we can hire Gregg Popovich to improve our international scouting/development after he's finished, as Jerry Krause working as a White Sox scout didn't last very long.

McIlroy deserves all the accolades he's getting. As soon as he hit that eagle putt, you just had a feeling he was going to win...even though he was grinding the first half of the afternoon and missing quite a few mid-range putts. Guess breaking up with his g/f had a positive effect on his golf game...maybe a bit less of a circus when you're not dating a WTA tennis star. As with Tiger, the question about getting to 18 majors is all about health. Mickelson would have had his 3rd over age 39, the record for most is just 3, I think Snead and Hogan, with Nicklaus getting his Master's title in 1986 at 46 years old. Then Ernie Els was right there in the mix at age 44 as well. Rory's already only one behind Mickelsen career-wise. A confrontation between Fowler, hopefully a healthy Woods, Bubba Watson going for 3 out of 4, Mickelsen and McIlroy. Stenson and Schwartzl also should factor in.

But do they have that in sprint cars? F1 and NASCAR, sure.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 06:32 AM) Of the 2005 guys Dye seems the most likely to me. Or Rowand. Maybe Everett, you never know with Dinosaur Carl, although he didn't hit with a huge amount of power that year, he was more of an RBI guy.

Well, Joe Maddon had a chance to walk Rizzo with a LH reliever out there and runners already on 2nd and 3rd. It seemed LOGICAL at the time to walk Rizzo in order to face Castro with the bases loaded and a chance at getting the double play ball. Maddon chose to try to get Rizzo out with the lefty vs. lefty match-up and it blew up in his face. That said, the Rays won something like 22 of their last 26 road games before that and were very close to being only one of four teams in major league history to get back to the .500 mark after being 18 games under. The 2001 White Sox were 14-29 and battled back to .500 and over and nobody ever asserts Jerry Manuel was one of the best. I think the 2005 Astros must have been one of the other examples.

Hector Santiago since June 22nd.. 3-0, 53 2/3 IP, 39 hits, 16 ER, 18 BB, 48 K's 2.68 ERA Why would the Angels trade Santiago, who costs 1/20th the payroll space and has stats which are pretty much the exact opposite of Danks' recent performance? That would be the definition of idiotic by the Angels. Fireable offense.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 06:41 AM) Put Danks in the pen. And who do you want to start in his place? That's not exactly the kind of thing that's going to help you find a trade partner. The Giants did it with Zito when they had no other options, but they still had to carry his contract until the bitter end, although at some point he improved enough he could come back semi-effectively as a starter.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-180042555.html More Bryce being Bryce. He makes Puig look like a model citizen sometimes.

David S. Weinsten, a former state and federal prosecutor in Miami who is now in private practice, said it would be difficult to prove criminal intent. "I think even with the video, it's going to be tough to prove that this was more than just an accident and that it was even culpable negligence, which he should've known or should've believed that by getting close to this guy, that it was going to cause the accident," he said. The sheriff renewed a plea for spectators to turn over photos and videos of the crash. Investigators were reconstructing the accident and looking into everything from the dim lighting on a portion of the track to how muddy it was, as well as if Ward's dark firesuit played a role in his death, given the conditions. Driver Cory Sparks, a friend of Ward's, was a few cars back when Ward was killed. "The timing was unsafe," he said of Ward's decision to get out of his car to confront Stewart. "When your adrenaline is going, and you're taken out of a race, your emotions flare." It's often just a part of racing. Drivers from mild-mannered Jeff Gordon to ladylike Danica Patrick have erupted in anger on the track at another driver. The confrontations are part of the sport's allure: Fans love it and cheer wildly from the stands. Stewart, who has a reputation for being a hothead nicknamed "Smoke," once wound up like a pitcher and tossed his helmet like a fastball at Matt Kenseth's windshield. "I've seen it many times in NASCAR, where a driver will confront the other one, and a lot of times they'll try to speed past them. And that's what it appeared to me as if what Tony Stewart did, he tried to speed past Ward," witness Michael Messerly said. "And the next thing I could see, I didn't see Ward any more. It just seemed like he was suddenly gone." The crash also raised questions about whether Stewart will continue with his hobby of racing on small tracks on the side of the big-money NASCAR races. He has long defended his participation in racing on tracks like the one where the crash happened, even as accidents and injury have put his day job in NASCAR at risk. www.yahoo.com

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 11:43 PM) Juan Uribe will rule the world after the Sox bring him back. He will go back to being a carbon copy of Viciedo (with us), whiffing on outside breaking pitches/sliders, hitting around .240ish but AT LEAST getting some clutch RBI's and consistently driving in the runner from 3rd with less than 2 outs. I don't know what happened, in 2004 he was a really good hitter the first two or three months...just a lucky streak (compared to the rest of his time in a Sox uniform offensively), since it didn't last. He actually has been a lot better with the Giants and Dodgers...although he also went through a terrible spell for awhile where he almost was out of baseball.

Well, there's yet another theory. He saw Ward continuing to walk downwards at an angle towards him so he tried to gun his car go get past him because he judged that he (Ward) wasn't going to stop and that Stewart definitely wasn't going to stop HIS car in the middle of the track...so, in order to prevent an engagement he gunned the engine and sped up at the last second to get past or around him but clipped him with the back end because in sprint cars the back end of the car sticks out a significant amount (maybe 6-8 feet) more than the front ends.

Terry Francona would have this team in the playoffs.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 05:11 PM) What? Just seems to be a bit insensitive when Stewart has a reputation as being such an arrogant driver. He's not exactly someone who has built up the goodwill of a Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 01:41 PM) The player we drafted with the 2nd round pick we'd have lost had we signed Santana came out of high school and clocked in at #5 in the organization on the recently released future sox top prospects list. Santana's been pretty good for the Braves, but they clearly have no offense right now and are likely to miss the playoffs (especially if Harper gets hot), so that gamble didn't end up paying off.

Minor would make sense. Santana, zero sense. Although I don't see BJ Upton, either, since we already have Upton now for CF. The only way would be for Upton to have 50-60% of his deal subsidized or dumping Danks on them for Upton's contract. Wouldn't want to have Upton and Eaton in the same outfield...unless it was in the NL West or Safeco or Target Field.

QUOTE (LDF @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 01:19 PM) here is a site I always use for box office info and ticket results. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/ Yeah, I use that one, boxoffice.com, ew.com and variety.com.

No Zunino. That's one less homer for Danks to surrender.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-163351353.html Yankees ban Kate Upton from wearing Tigers' gear at Yankees Stadium. That's just idiotic. Part of the fun of baseball is having rivalries. Taking things a BIT too seriously, there. They should worry more about how they're going to acquire Tulowitzki or Hanley Ramirez.

The 21-year-old Cuban is not a cost-controlled prospect — there’s an opt-out clause that would make him eligible for arbitration after three years service time, but both sides would be thrilled if it came to that. In any case, there’s incentive for the Cubs to develop him quickly in order to make sure the bulk of those nine years are spent at the highest level. Chicago was smart to make such a long-term investment in Soler — it gives them a little developmental cushion. Okay, just don't know why Rozner and Abbatacola wouldn't know this or mention it.

What's next, we will bring back Juan Uribe and Neal Cotts? There's a big difference between APPRECIATING everything Konerko has done for the team and Reinsdorf and simultaneously having a plan or goal to compete in 2015 and beyond. Now that's not going to be hurt by Konerko's presence, UNLESS there's someone in the front office who believes Andy Wilkins could be a full-time DH next season, and not platooned against LHP. However, they'll never know what Wilkins can even do against RHP if they don't figure out some way to get Dunn off the roster (along with Beckham and DeAza). I'm not going to go as far as pointing to him specifically as THE reason we lost in 2012....it was a combination of Ventura's managerial inexperience, the team just wearing down (Sale and Quintana), injuries and MOSTLY the fact that very few believed they were actually better than the Tigers, so I'll just say it was 25% the White Sox choking and 75% the more-talented Tigers just prevailing in big games when it really counted.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) The animated TMNT? Or the last live action one? Sunday Update: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles broke out in a big way this weekend with a stronger than expected estimated first place take of $65.0 million. It had been widely expected that Paramount's high-profile franchise re-launch would find itself in a close battle with Guardians of the Galaxy for first place this weekend, but it ultimately won this weekend's box office race with absolutely ease. Following in the footsteps of Guardians of the Galaxy last weekend, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles marks another high-profile surprise break-out performance. The strong performances of the two films were much needed after the relatively weak month of July at the box office. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened a massive 168 percent stronger than the $24.26 million debut of 2007's TMNT and has already out-grossed the $54.15 million final domestic gross of that film. Without adjusting for ticket price inflation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles delivered the fourth largest opening weekend performance ever in the month of August (behind only Guardians of the Galaxy, 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum and 2001's Rush Hour 2). The film took in $25.61 million on Friday (which included an estimated $4.6 million from evening shows on Thursday), fell 14 percent on Saturday to gross $22.13 million and is estimated to decline 22 percent on Sunday to gross $17.27 million. That places the film's estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio at 2.54 to 1. The audience breakdown for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles skewed towards male moviegoers (61 percent) and moviegoers 25 years and older (55 percent). The film received a so-so B rating on CinemaScore. www.boxoffice.com

They should just bring back Joe Saunders. He pitched a lot better for the Angels than any team in his career.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 10:59 AM) People just love the Ninja Turtles. It's about $20 million ahead of the opening of the last TMNT movie, although part of that can be adjusted for inflation, obviously.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 10, 2014 -> 11:19 AM) Craig Monroe ‏@CMo_27 1h Bad news for the #Tigers Sanchez and Soria head to the DL... Craig Monroe still remembers that huge homer off....was it Aardsma or Javy?