caulfield12

Well, despite the fact that I'm 44, I've managed to get my g/f here in China pregnant. (Before someone advises her to get an abortion, I should add we're planning to marry in late September here in Wuhan. Unfortunately, my mother is 85 years old back in Iowa and won't be able to attend or even come here because she hasn't flown on an airplane since 1988 and doesn't have a passport and I think it would be too much for her). She's 7 weeks along and we are going tmrw to the hospital to see the sonogram/ultrasound. Not even sure you can see or hear the heartbeat at that time? Any advice? We have a trip for 9 days to Thailand planned and she's worried about having a miscarriage...since the first 12 weeks are the most dangerous. She's concerned about being on a bus (we're renting a private car/driver) but we plan on mostly staying at a calm/peaceful/relaxing oceanside resort for at least five of those days and not spending too much time in the heat shopping in Bangkok. Does anyone think it's not a good idea to go...other than the fact that she'll have to avoid spicy foods? She's already dealing with not being able to drink coffee (she's trying), not wearing make-up, not wearing high heels (worried about falling down or getting jostled on public buses), changing all her clothing/bras, no alcohol, avoiding being around cigarette smoke, etc. I told her that as far as I can research, the highest odds for miscarriage/incipient abortion are from 2-12 weeks...and I can't prove for a fact that women are MORE likely to have a miscarriage the first time, although most women in China believe that...at any rate, I said the odds are 75-80% against it and that we just have to try to live our lives as normally as possible without worrying TOO much or being stressed out over every little thing. Other than folic acid and pre-natal vitamins, anything I/we should be doing from your own experience/s? She hasn't had morning sickness as of yet...just more burping/constipation, fever, constant hunger pangs, feeling tired and lethargic, she described it as feeling sick to her stomach but not able to throw up either. Peeing all the time. But I think the morning sickness period comes soon, doesn't it?

In the end, while my feelings about Ventura haven't changed in any way, it's impossible to blame him for giving up 5 in runs in 1 2/3rd's innings, hitting batters to start the 9th, etc. It was more a visceral reaction to falling asleep when the White Sox had a 3-4 run lead and being in disbelief Sale didn't get the win. Nothing like the feeling 8 years ago in September when I woke up to see the Sox had blown a huge lead late to the Royals and the Indians were one game closer.

In the end, while my feelings about Ventura haven't changed in any way, it's impossible to blame him for giving up 5 in runs in 1 2/3rd's innings, hitting batters to start the 9th, etc. It was more a visceral reaction to falling asleep when the White Sox had a 3-4 run lead and being in disbelief Sale didn't get the win. Nothing like the feeling 8 years ago in September when I woke up to see the Sox had blown a huge lead late to the Royals and the Indians were one game closer. In the final analysis, I'd rather they be 6-7 games out of the Wild Card standings than in "no man's land" again. Move on Rick Hahn, don't waver about trading guys that you don't perceive to be part of the future...and definitely don't trade prospects for Huston Street, Jonathan Papelbon or Joakim Soria.

Greg, are you of the "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" Old Testament belief, or the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone...judge not lest ye judged, etc." school of thought? Because it's hard for me to believe Jesus would be saying "burn in hell!" or something along those lines, right? Or things have gotten so bad that Jesus would have to go back to the Old Testament ways of destroying temples and kicking butt??

The problem is that going after "sure" guys like Huston Street or Soria will cost you an arm and a leg. They're going to be asking for Anderson/Hawkins/Montas...others for Davidson or Semien (buying low)/Micah/Danish/Trey/Ravelo, etc. Nobody's going to want our best trade chip in Alexei Ramirez while in rebuilding mode, and the Rangers already have 3 middle infielders among their top prospects, as well as a strong and growing desire to dump Andrus' salary. I could see Hahn MAYBE being willing to look at this second group, but a discussion of the first three should be off the table unless you could keep them beyond 2014. Trading for more middle relievers/set-up guys isn't going to solve the 9th inning problem. It's either a more reliable, veteran closer or there's no point at all in making a move.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 01:21 AM) We should lock this thread for one reason. He got an extension and this has ZERO chance of happening for some time to come. It's just not going to happen. The title of the thread is dumb cause it's not in the realm of possibility for a long long time. Surely you would have said the same thing about Ozzie Guillen before the 2011 season. And the likely reason at that time would have been his mouth getting him in trouble.

http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/white-...rehab-continues Setting return for sometime in August.

http://bustedcoverage.com/2014/06/05/carlo...d-keely-warren/ CHEERLEADER STALKERS!!! C'mon, she's like the girl next door although bordering on anorexic in some of her pictures. The irony is that Keely is a cheerleader for East Carolina, which is home of the coveted Jeff Hoffman, who we were arguably set to draft before the TJ surgery. Is she going to join Team Hoffman now? PS...One of those pictures, the NC State jerseys look not too far off from the 1983 Sox jerseys. Weird.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 12:03 AM) I don't know http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos...outs/order/true Only Flowers. Although Zunino, Castro and Salty are not far off. Yikes. Grandal's closer to 50. What a wasteland. The Braves were very fortunate to find both McCann and Gattis.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 12:11 AM) I hope we bring up Saladino - see if he can play some SS. That will have us never wanting to trade Ramirez. He's serviceable, and a step up from what Beckham would provide, but he's not a long-term solution, either.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:03 PM) And in all 81 home games, we play a team that is also affected by the park we're in. I can't think of any team that's been successful building a winner by tailoring the team to its extreme park. Colorado and San Diego have the most extreme parks and have tried the hardest. And before someone says it, Yankees have a bunch of good left handed power hitters doesn't help them because of the short porch; it helps them because good left handed power hitters are helpful. The Mariners, 3-4 seasons ago, built a "defense first team" for Safeco. The Cardinals and Royals in the mid-80's built teams specifically for AstroTurf play...you can argue the Blue Jays did the same exact thing. The Twins and Rays also come to mind.

Well, the simplest thing is to look at team record when leading after 6, after 7 and after 8. Some teams have a knack for coming back to win when there's a blown save, others collapse. Then you have to look at the extent of the blown save, 1, 2 or 3 run leads. For example, the announcers were saying the Giants have the 3rd best bullpen by ERA, in the 2's...Well, that's not accurate, because they're not successful closing out the game, so who cares about ERA in the 6th-8th?? Just a way to measure impact (very simplistic) on a team's chances of winning games. It's no surprise, for example, that the Astros aren't terribly concerned (yet) with winning games, although I think Luhnow will definitely have to make it more of a priority in 2015 if they ever want to turn the corner with all that incoming offensive talent and get them to buy into the belief they can become a playoff-contending team.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:27 PM) Between Marcus, Sanchez, Johnson, Saladino, Anderson and Rodon the Sox don't really need another SS taking up space unless it's a blue chip prospect. Rondon, haha. Not the last time.

Blown saves/Total Team Wins X % of blown saves 30. Houston 0.2132 29. Colorado 0.16873 28. NY Mets 0.16065 27. Cubs 0.1264 26. Miami 0.10915 25. White Sox 0.10647 24. Arizona 0.10472 23. Pirates 0.10132 22. Rangers 0.09731 21. Giants 0.0848 Do the White Sox have a bad bullpen because they aren't good (expected to compete) or they're not good because of their bullpen? The truth lies somewhere in between. Of the competitive teams from this list, you'll find only the Marlins, Pirates and Giants. Of course, the Pirates traded for Frieri and the Giants demoted Sergio Romo already. You can also safely say that Addison Reed in the Chicago pen wouldn't have made an appreciable difference.

Everyone thought Boras would go for the max allowable under the rules without penalizing the franchise. He got it. The end. Mission accomplished, another satisfied customer in the Rodon family. Even moreso now because he can also proclaim he got more money for Rodon than Aiken and Kolek despite being the 3rd pick. What would have been more interesting would be his reaction as Aiken's agent in his current predicament.

Happy the White Sox weren't successful in signing Tanaka...as a TJ flameout would be the last thing our franchise could deal with on a contract that large. The thing with Tanaka is that his success isn't based on velocity as much as deception and movement. I would be more concerned with that being affected by TJ/elbow issues than I would someone like Strasburg, who can still be effective in the mid instead of high 90's.

Beckham, DeAza, Danks, Dunn, Viciedo and Ramirez. They GONE! Who cares anyway? Just shut up and be patient while waiting for 2016. (This is one area where 2005 works against us, as JR would be desperate, like Mike Illitch in DET, to get one World Series title at his age had we not already won one).

Hahn blinked. In the end, the White Sox, after nights like tonight, need Rodon a lot more than he needs them. Except it's as closer, not starting, lol.

I think most White Sox fans were leery about Marcus Semien simply because he was never really on the "top prospect" radar until last year 100% and we generally never trust the front office to develop a position player anyway (for good reason)... It's the back-up QB syndrome here...most of the Marcus love was actually Beckham frustration/apathy in disguise.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 05:43 PM) their top scouts are at the Royals game today Dayton Moore is undoubtedly considering a blockbuster trade where he deals James Shields in a blockbuster to the Mariners then tries to assure the fanbase Walker/Paxton/DJ Peterson will lead the Royals to the playoffs in 2016 and 2017.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 09:14 PM) I just read the game thread and laughed at those blaming Robin for tonight's choke. Like somebody stated, the two goat relievers had been on a roll. Petricka and Guerro (sp?) had been doing "well" of late. It's not Robin's fault. Why doesn't Hahn ever get blamed on this board? How in the hell can you trade a decent closer when you have NO CLOSER to replace him? These losses are ON HAHN!! And don't tell me Nate was going to be a good closer. Cmon. Lindstrom? Maybe a decent piece of the pen but not our closer either. Robin is taking one for the team here. Why blame him when he has no bullpen bullets in the gun??? Seriously how would any of you handle this crap bullpen? Robin, whom I don't really like as a manager, is doing as good a job with the pen as any manager would. I repeat HAHN has some explaining to do. That Reed trade was downright silly. Uh-oh. At least tonight was the official end for any remaining fans who might have thought we could get back into Wild Card contention or were on the fence about it. There's at least two of them, and supposedly Steve Stone, in that particular category. I'm a belieber, and a believer, in the White Sox chances of sneakily sneaking into the 2nd WC this season. I'm sure plenty of you disagree, but the team has been hot the past two weeks. Why not give fans like me a bone and DFA Flowers and grab AJ? I'd rather have a token move for us to try and get back in it then do nothing. Like many have said, we're not 2013 terrible where we are going to get a top 5 draft pick. So why not help us dillusional fans with the illusion that they still care about 2014? If AJP costs the league minimum, I say get him. Why not?

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 06:02 PM) Yeah I know but I love AJ though so I just get excited I would love for the deal to happen tonight, then AJ is in the lineup tomorrow and hitting ropes off their s***ty pitchers. And then after the game where he gets 3 hits and drives in a couple runs he does some interviews and just buries their whole team in the newspapers. Wow how great that would be. Ummm...I'm pretty much sure that's exactly the opposite of what would happen against Lester for AJ. Although I'm also sure AJ would have plenty of motivation to do just what you're talking about.

I was told "That's a classic Cubs' fans viewpoint" these days...to not care whether we win or lose...about being 5 games, 10 games or preferring 20-30 games under .500 for draft pick position is NOW all of of a sudden being a terrible fan. Yes, everything is completely meaningless, other than Abreu and Sale staying healthy. But it kind of takes any joy out of following a team when they lose in this fashion over and over and over again. It makes you want to just tune out until they actually do have an above-average manager and decent bullpen. Why put yourself through believing in the team over and over again when this happens on a consistent basis? You get what you pay for, as they say. If Marty was still here, even though I could predict with 98% accuracy what he would say...ownership would deserve his criticism. They can't "make us buy into not caring" by rebuilding in this fashion. They should just trade Danks, Ramirez and Viciedo and be done with it. That's why bringing back AJ Pierzynski will have absolutely no point. We need the veteran bullpen equivalent of AJ to lock down games so this team can legitimately learn to win together. All they're learning is how to lose together. If they keep bringing in youngsters who've never won together at the big league level, then it's going to take another 2-3 seasons before everything is right, and even then it might not happen because we never know in the end how long we have a healthy Chris Sale.

Thank God I watched the World Cup game and fell asleep when the lead was 3 or 4 to zero. This has to be some kind of joke, right? Pathetic. They shouldn't be surprised when attendance is so low.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 03:53 PM) I don't believe that they don't change the number of runs required to win. I believe that the average score of the winning team in all games at the Cell is higher than the average score of the winning team in every game at PetCo. Not a coincidence that our best teams in recent years (2000, 2003, 2005-2006, 2008, 2010, 2012) put up a ton of homers.