caulfield12

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 09:24 AM) I assume the waiver sheet looks something like this Philadelphia Ryan Howard Chase Utley Cole Hamels Red Sox Clay Buchholz Jonny Gomes White Sox Bullpen What is Buchholz's contract? That might be a Cooper, fixer upper special. He did pitch decently against the White Sox the last time we faced him, although his ERA was 6+ at that moment in time. How has he been pitching the last two months? Wonder if we would have claimed Fausto Carmona/Roberto Hernandez had he gotten to the NL. Doubtful. But that's the "ilk" of pitcher we're going to be trolling for as the 4th/5th guy unless we shock the world and sign Scherzer/Shields/Lester or Masterson.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Yea, it is really hard to believe the SOX haven't put several of their players on waivers. I would have imagined the Dunn, Danks, Beckham, De Aza would have hit the waiver wire within days of August 1. Why the wait? Almost every MLB team puts all their players through the wires. Probably, they're simply waiting to see which players are claimed (Alexei and Viciedo, I'm assuming) and which ones are not (Dunn, Beckham, DeAza). The way Hahn has been operating, I don't think we will know anything until one of them has officially been traded unless the other teams' sources leak it.

Johnson, at least right now, doesn't have the stuff to be an effective reliever...that said, he's probably a better alternative than Surkamp. Heck, Nolan Ryan might be a better option.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 08:33 AM) I think the plan is already starting to crack, which is why they have started bringing guys up this quickly, instead of being mindful of contract situations. With Baez, perhaps. But that's not going to matter as much with Soler's contract (compared to Kris Bryant's deal, which everyone acknowledges will push him back to June, 2015.) Judging by his first three games, he's brought some badly-needed life and excitement to not only the organization itself but also the patiently-suffering fanbase. The only problem is figuring out where to play Russell...which is a dilemma that might not be resolved until winter ball or spring training or the possible trade of Castro, although the odds of that happening are about the same as the White Sox dealing Alexei IMO. If they can bring in Lester or Shields in the off-season, that's going to have a huge impact...and then maybe signing a flippable veteran or two for the back end to bridge them to 2017/2018. Having Lester/Shields, Arrieta, CJ Edwards or P. Johnson and then Jackson and veteran 2nd/3rd tier guy...that's not too bad, putting them only one more pitcher away. Maybe Hammel comes back on a relatively team-friendly deal, for example. Of course, like the White Sox, their bullpen is a mess, but it's still probably more talented than ours.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 07:25 AM) The plan is just fine. That the execution fell apart was ALWAYS a possibility and would have been even if the plan were different. Part of the plan is that you accept higher short-term risk in your bullpen in exchange for less long-term risk, because the ultimate goal is to remain flexible with your resources so that you can most adequately and immediately complement your team as you get closer to contention. What happened to the bullpen this year was about the worst realistic outcome in the spectrum. It was more likely that they were adequate as a group, and it was probably just AS likely that they exceeded expectations as it was that they failed so miserably. If a front office fails at this strategy consistently, then you can question their ability to evaluate talent, but this is EXACTLY what the Cubs have been doing to the past few years and the result for them has been a net positive. So if you want to criticize it, then make an argument against the FO's ability to identify good bounceback candidates -- but the plan itself makes plenty of sense. And we've done great with Quintana and Santos, for example...except for the returns on Santos, and the fact that we held onto Humber beyond his expiration date. Same thing with making Noesi into at least a serviceable/competitive 5th starter. The problem has been a lot of unexpected injuries to Floyd, Crain, Jones and finally Lindstrom. It's true, the Cubs did a good job with Feldman, Garza and then same thing this with Samardzija and Hammel. Arrieta's turned out to be quite the find, and that's to their credit. We were hoping at one point to possibly trade Nate Jones, Lindstrom, Belisario, Boggs, maybe Downs and Paulino, and none of those things worked out. Going back to the beginning of the KW regime, we've always excelled in finding hitters from other organizations, or buying players that were superfluous/injured/undervalued. FWIW, if CJ Edwards is in the starting rotation and Russell's the starting 2B or SS for the Cubs in 2017, then they've done a really good job IMO.

The main problem is the Cubs are clearly targeting 2017 and 2018. You're buying two years of Hamels that are basically going to be wasted...and then declining when you arguably most need him. If the Cubs were one year ahead of where they are with THE PLAN, then it would make a lot of sense to acquire him now in order to have him for 3 out of 4 competing years.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/waiting-for-th...3801289902.html Waiting for another female-led superhero movie...on cue. Argues that Scarlett Johanssen/Black Widow is the one to do it, because of the success of Lucy as well as The Avengers. Argues Cat Woman and Elektra shouldn't be held against women, etc. With all the focus on Bridesmaids, The Heat and Melissa McCarthy movies in general, one would think the time is now to strike...if not for the right reasons, at least acknowledging and respecting female audiences are out there and a huge part of the box office puzzle.

It's worth noting those 3 homers by Baez came against pitchers he's seen before. We'll see what adjustments the league makes...just like Abreu has gone through all season long, back and forth. Starting out like that, whether he becomes homer happy or not...or remains fairly disciplined in his approach. He's just ratcheted expectations into the stratosphere. It's like Wood/Prior or Sandberg 1984 right now. One thing's for sure, it will be shocking if there's no sellout today at Wrigley.

Well, let's be honest. Out of all the pitchers who have come out of our bullpen this year, how many of them really belong in the major leagues, at least right now, at this exact moment in time? 1) Putnam (if healthy) 2) Petricka (although he still has to show he can repeat, Nathan Jones wasn't as good his second year) Webb should be in AAA for at least 2-3 months. Belisario might have been solid had he never been moved to the closer role, but we'll never know the answer to that question. You could make an argument for Guerra, but there's 3-5 bullpen pieces that should be switched out before next season, arguably.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 04:17 AM) Can you explain to me if it is because of Don Cooper, how the pitching staff had a great road trip when he was gone, taking 3 of 4 in Minneapolis and 2 of 3 in Detroit, team ERA near 3.00 on the trip,and then imploded when Copper returned? The legend of Don Cooper has taken new heights. The bullpen gives up runs because of his absense, even though they gave up just as many when he was in the dugout. Coop came back for the Minnesota series and left right before the first game against Texas. The team gave up 8,8, and 16 runs the 3 games he was back. Almost half of it was Hahn not sending Rienzo to the minors sooner.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-...ing-legacies#p3 Interesting to know that a quote from C.S Lewis is the reason that Monaghan sold the Tigers and indirectly why we're having such a tough time competing with Ilitch/Dombrowski since 2006. If only he'd won the World Series in 2006, things might be different now. But maybe not. It's a lot like the Reinsdorf story, chasing after that elusive first trophy.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Aug 8, 2014 -> 12:14 AM) Is Robin going to do anything about this bullpen situation? Or just allow the implosion to continue for the rest of the season? Bring in a hypnotist. Try accupuncture. How about a colon cleansing for the staff? These ideas may seem ridiculous, but doing nothing seems even more ridiculous to me. Heck, I'd even rather try and and have all the righties throw with their left hands. At least they'd have a valid reason for failure at that point and could maybe realize their potential when switching back to normal. Robin acts like this is no big deal and just continue to trot out a new arm every out or two. If we're going to have a POS for our manager, get rid of Ventura and give the job to Mr Hankey. He'd likely command more respect from the players in our dugout. What would you have him do, take over Hahn's job and start making more waiver claims of overpriced relief pitchers? The fact that Rienzo was left by Hahn in the bullpen for so long tells you everything you need to know about our lack of relief pitching depth in the minors right now. Taylor Thompson's the answer? Donnie Veal? Leesman? Axelrod? Surkamp? Guerra? Boggs? Paulino? Nobody believes that...especially not Hahn. They just have to take their lumps. I'm sure that Ventura will be questioned every time he uses Cleto, but watching the bullpen the last 4-6 weeks, it's become much bigger than Robin. If you want to blame anything, maybe you should look no farther than the absence of Don Cooper and the seeming effect it has had on the results of the entire pitching staff.

If we're bringing in Gomes, it's as the last player on the roster to platoon with a struggling youngster...assuming we are approaching that season with a realistic chance to compete, which 2015 no longer looks like. McCarthy. No. Flyball pitcher, pitches high in the zone...essentially same problem as Danks with better stuff but no reliability whatsoever due to injury history. Angels would laugh and hang up at the notion of trading CJ Wilson for Danks. 90% sure the Rockies have the club option to bring back Cuddyer for 2015, and are likely to do so (especially if they trade Tulo or Cargo).

The only real pluses have been Putnam and Petricka, and Noesi from a starting standpoint (based on minimal expectations). Can they perform the same way again in 2015? Doubtful. Maybe. Webb has been the most disappointing, and part of it's attributable to lack of command, while others will say he never had a consistent role and that will be answered with, how could they give him a consistent role with all the injuries and his lack of dependability? Veal/Surkamp/Leesman have no place on active major league roster anymore. The only thing that would have really helped this team was signing the right 2nd/3rd tier veteran free agent starting pitchers to team friendly deals or trading for those guys. Not signing Ventura/Jimenez/Garza. That list of guys like Phil Hughes (just as easy to make the mistake of signing Nolasco, as the Twins did), Haren, Tim Hudson, Kazmir, Josh Beckett, etc. It could just as easily have been blown up, taking guys like Jason Vargas, Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Edinson Volquez, Feldman, Bronson Arroyo, Kuroda. Of course, that's where you have to rely on your scouting, Kenny Williams, Cooper, Buddy Bell (sigh). Talent procurement/judgement is the name of the game.

And 42 was one of the better baseball movies of the last decade. A lot of people think Field of Dreams is too sentimental, but that bar was really set in that era with Major League, A League of their Own, Major League and Bull Durham, along with Eight Men Out. Bad News Bear and Bang the Drum Slowly from the 70's, along with The Natural. Other than Moneyball and The Rookie (yeah, I know, it's Disney), it's been a minefield of hits and misses, like any Costner attempt in recent years or Trouble With the Curve.

Beckham has a little of the Konerko/Quentin disease, overthinking things...being too analytical and changing things around (mentally and physically) too much when things aren't going well. We all know he has a hitch in his swing, and it's never been successfully addressed at any level of the Sox system. It has caused him to struggle his entire career with dominant fastball pitchers, with a few exceptions when he quickened up his stroke or was able to forget about pulling the ball so much (getting in-between like Alexei many times before this year) and being able to consistently drive the ball up the RCF gap. Then, when opposing pitchers would make adjustments and take that alley/approach away, he'd struggle to readjust or simply fall apart again like this year when things started out so encouragingly (more or less a repeat of his high batting average/low power...then poof! offensive disappearing act in 2013). Viciedo has more troubles with pitch selection, and knowing when to shorten it up and go to the opposite field, but at least, as we all know...he has the raw power to get it over the fence in any part of the park, in any stadium. And, he has shown the ability to hit fastballs and RH pitching at different points in this season.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:33 PM) Rienzo optioned to AAA Finally! Cooper out and Eaton running into the wall hasn't helped matters. Keep Sale/Abreu/Quintana/Eaton healthy down the stretch, and hope for encouraging signs from Avisail and Viciedo. There's been a lot of talk about not playing for a higher draft pick, but right now as long as everything outlined in the aforementioned sentence occurs, winning 75 vs. 70 games is irrelevant completely. I'd even say they're probably going to be in a better position to evaluate both bullpen guys (whoever else is left to bring up in September) and Semien, Sanchez, Sierra, perhaps Michael Taylor and Micah Johnson. Reading some of the comments above, we also have that huge looming question about what to do with Tyler Flowers. Has he done enough to warrant not being replaced over the last 3 weeks? Hahn surely would have a hard time answering that question without having the next 45+ games to decide, which means you're unlikely to see Phegley or Kevan Smith get much of an opportunity. Webb and Nieto definitely need some more seasoning in the minors, that's pretty apparent.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 04:04 PM) Here you go Y2HH: get ready! What about Wonder Woman with Gal Gadot?

QUOTE (LDF @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 05:03 PM) I guess that is one way to think about it. I am more incline to say it is to get the world wide interest in the movie and thus make a bigger profit at the gate. We've already seen this happen with the Red Dawn remake, where the Chinese were exchanged for North Koreans inexplicably launching an invasion of mainland USA (Washington state, I think). As some films already are even more profitable in China than the U.S. (Pacific Rim, Titanic 3D, Cloud Atlas, Transformers 4), nothing is surprising when it comes to pandering to the Chinese, even the product placement of a famous Chinese milk and tea.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 06:45 PM) Phegley with his 19th home run And yet not even a hint of any thoughts by Hahn of promoting either Danks, Wilkins or Josh. That's pretty telling.

This is one of these cases of not wanting to hit Alexei leadoff (assuming he's not very comfortable there), and who else do you go with? Conor? Sierra? Beckham? There aren't very many good options. If Beckham was hitting 1st, everyone would be jumping on Ventura, even more than Garcia, who's at least entertaining (albeit that entertainment should be limited to 3 PA's per game rather than 4-5). It doesn't really matter, unless Abreu hits 3 homers or goes for the cycle, nobody will even hear the result all day tomorrow with the constant bombardment of Baez is God Already/Playoffs Are Just Around the Corner for the Cubs stories in the national and especially local media. At least it's less embarrassing with both teams on the road. Carroll's probably due for a bad start so we can tune out early (I think I just called in the Greg775 sure sucker bet against the White Sox jinx like anytime we face Chen/Guthrie).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 06:42 PM) Just wondering out loud...he is only 27... He hasn't had any major knee/ankle or leg problems, right?

Fwiw, the Rockies started lefties in 21/22 games, something like that. Of course, they're the team with the worst ERA in baseball...however much you're going to correct ERA for that fact.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) I just want to say that this has been a good discussion so far, so let's try and keep snark and venom out of the discussion. This one can get a bit heated at times, just want to make sure we all keep level head. Brian Anderson had 10X the number of defenders that Gordon has remaining at the moment, fwiw.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:32 PM) By the way, I do agree with some of the other points you bring up regarding Beckham and Semien being separated and just because we don't see a future in Beckham doesn't mean we just plug and play Semien. Semien was up a little earlier then expected and clearly was in a little over his head and went back to AAA with some more things to work on. While I want him up and would like him to get valuable at bats and more importantly allow our front office and scouts to get a better view and better idea as to whether we can count on Marcus, the fact that we have other internal options if Marcus struggles, probably allows the franchise to be more conservative in waiting because there are some other guys who have nice tools and could work at the position as well (Sanchez / Micah). I happen to think Semien will play at this level but again, nothing wrong with letting him get his bumps and continue to work on his game at AAA, plus to your point, he isn't lighting it up and I do really think there is something to be said about bringing a guy up when he is confident. Also by letting him go through the struggles in the majors, then go down to the minors and make adjustments and actually succeed based upon those adjustments (hopefully that happens and we see a nice hot streak), he will also have been able to pass a big mental hurdle which will be so important in his early major league development. You also had another great point on not having an entirely new middle infield and I think that is probably a very underrated reason why Alexei stays around (not to mention the fact that he's signed to a fair price and is one of the leagues top shortstops). I also don't see Semien, Johnson or Sanchez playing well enough defensively to fit in at SS. Rondon is the guy we have and he's still a ways a way (and again very raw; I'm probably the highest on him on this entire site and it is because I believe you have to have strong up the middle defense in this current era of baseball and that up the middle defense focuses more significantly on SS / CF / C. We need Jose Iglesias (expendable with the Tigers now content with Suarez), Rondon and Leury Garcia for the most entertaining from a defensive standpoint, yet most offensively-challenged infield in baseball. Carlos Sanchez would be the next choice. Has there ever been any talk about Micah Johnson at SS? This is the first I've heard it. What happened to the idea that Sanchez was a "plus" defender, by the way? Because he's apparently put on weight and hasn't remained his quickness for SS? Arm?