caulfield12

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:59 AM) Quote was from 2012 FYI...Just pointing out Coops, who I really think runs the pitching staff, view on pitch counts....That's not his only quote from him on that subject either...Coop gives no (bleep) about pitch counts. Except I'm sure they do think about it when managing Sale...they have no choice with "instant reaction" media that puts Rodon, Japanese hurlers and U.S. high school pitchers in the national headlines instantly after a single start...but they probably think about it less than we do here on the message boards.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:47 AM) Paul Volcker intentionally spiked the interest rates to stamp out inflation. I meant to say HIGH INFLATION under Carter. My mistake. Yes, high interest rates are not always bad, in and of themselves...of course, it's bad if you are buying a car or house or have an ARM, but in general, if there's a sound fiscal policy paired with monetary policy, it can lead to lowered inflation without bringing on STAGFLATION, which is the worst of both worlds, and essentially what the Japanese have been going through for 20 years now after their housing bubble burst. Of course, those fiscal/tax policies, in the form of supply side/Stockman economics have been debunked over and over again by the likes of Krugman and even Gregory Mankiw.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:47 AM) Why? Seriously, you can get a really solid reliever out of a guy who throws 90 from the LH side, throws strikes, and has some sort of off speed pitch. That can give a guy a 10+ year career. Those 2 could make a fairly solid contribution to a much improved bullpen if they are able to do that. Will they? I dunno, but Surkamp has been really good at his role so far. They just don't have that electric stuff. Which means they really have to be command and control guys, like lesser versions of Danks. The margin of error for those kind of pitchers is almost zero. Sure, they can be successful, but the odds of them doing it consistently like a Marte or Thornton for 3-5 consective years are pretty darned low.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:30 PM) Steve Pearce on the orioles is also having a similar , unexpected year Making Sox killer Nolan Reimold expendable/DFA material.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:30 PM) Steve Pearce on the orioles is also having a similar , unexpected year Making Sox killer Nolan Reimold expendable.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:34 AM) Yes, this chart is basically the same thing as blaming the economic numbers in the first 2-3 years of the Obama presidency on Bush...just like some will blame them on Reagan. Nevertheless, interest rates were beginning to escalate the last two years under Carter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_inflation_now Remember that? It started under Ford, so it was already a growing problem even BEFORE Carter. As far as Reagan being ranked highly, it's just like Truman. Democrats will rate Truman/Kennedy/Clinton/LBJ very highly, Republicans Reagan and Eisenhower. Love him or hate him, and he was intensely polarizing...from the pure perspective of "things accomplished" he and Thatcher had a huge impact that has lasted until today in terms of reversing the government tide and stacking the deck in favor of the rich/elites through fiscal and monetary policies, Supply Side Economics, etc. The Republicans/Greenspan are credited with bringing that inflation number WAY down in the second four years of his presidency...as well as being credited for winning the Cold War and bankrupting the USSR.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:28 AM) I'm guessing this was Hawkins' first concussion. While it's true that only one can mess you up, 99.9% of the time you're fine so long as you let it recover. Morneau had 100 when he was in hockey as a teen. That number isn't exactly, but it's a number that is not in binary code. Knew that Morneau played hockey, just hadn't heard that number before. Guess it didn't affect Tom Glavine as much, or he was simply lucky not to get plunked too often in the head when batting or injured on the basepaths like Morneau.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:41 AM) The inauguration freeing of the captives in Iraq did that and Ronny sailed on from there. Weren't interest rates in the 20% range under Reagan or was that the after affect of Carter. I also heard from older folks that Nixon was a great president but was in the shadow of Kennedy and was paranoid as hell which lead to watergate. Iran....Carter was the high interest rates and "national malaise/I sinned in my heart" president. Smart enough to run a nuclear submarine, best "after Presidency," but had no idea how to work with Congress or delegate. Completely ineffective/inept. But it was the inability to resolve the hostage crisis quickly and Americans' overall sense of weakness that pushed Reagan over the top in 1980.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) Statistically, more people receive government support then any point in time in the countries history. Now I'm not sure if that is adjusted as a % of population so it trends better historically or not but that was a stat I saw about 6-12 months ago in a journal article. And we also have the highest amount of retirees (due to the Baby Boomer generation hitting retirement age within the last five years) at any point in our nation's history. If you strip away retirees and those on disability from that supposed 47%, what are you left with? It's certainly not those on foods stamps/WIC/AFDC/Medicaid because those programs have been cut down in many states almost to zero. Does that also include those, for example, who received the earned income tax credit...working/underemployed poor?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:13 AM) I'm trying to figure out if that is a preferred injury or not. Obviously you never want to mess with the brain, but it shouldn't hinder any baseball skills, right? Justin Morneau went from the most feared hitter in the AL to almost out of the game to finally recovering this season in Colorado...but how often do you hear his name referred to like it was 5-7 years ago? Didn't Fernando Vina also have concussions after he got run over by Albert Belle?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 06:53 AM) Yes, we're collecting them. I certainly think of things I got in 2006 and things I got today and call them a collection. I even forgot to add MacDougal's name to the list. Fine, we are amassing/accumulating "high level arms" that have failed to realize their potential. However you want to put it. The main difference is those guys in 2006-07 had a lot better records on the back of their baseball cards before they came to the Sox, except for Masset.

God help us if Surkamp and Snodgress are the two best lefties in the bullpen coming into 2015. JCINAA except in Greg's book.

Chopper, two hopper...should be replaced by the one referring to Matt Abbatacola for any play with a broken bat. So TUC, sorry about the broken/limp/cracked piece of wood, dude. "That's a Matt Abbatacola."

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) Myrtle Beach team expects to play tonight. Storm may stay away. Looking forward to seeing Wendelken pitch, and hopefully Hawkins is ok to play. So much for the Hawkins playing idea.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:05 AM) Yes Putnam usually throws in the 80's and he's been a great success because of the movement on his pitches. Partly, it's because nearly every MLB bullpen is filled with guys throwing mid 90's and up, so a soft tosser like a Wasserman, Wunsch, Bradford or even Putnam's a total shock even if they do have video and a scouting report.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:52 AM) If nothing left, then that is Sox fault for not getting more aggressive on other players. I'm not going to give them an excuse for missing the boat. They had a lot of resources for once and should have used them. Talent accumulation is the name of the game and this was a rare instance where the Sox had a large pool and I expect the organization to use that pool. The fact that we signed so few top 30 guys despite having such a large pool is a total disappointment. Where is Marco Paddy's response to what happened? This is his area of expertise. Just to say the Yankees beat everyone by playing with a different set of rules? Well, the Yankees were literally all over the world signing all those guys, Dominicans, Venezuelans, Koreans, etc. Who were the last "young/er" Asian pitchers we signed? There were 1-2 South Koreans I remember who have completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

Leaving Carroll to continue the night before when the lead was finally down to 1 was far worse than leaving Danks in...that totally took the wind out of the comeback sails when the Angels inevitably tacked on another run. Harrelson, Farmer and DJ were all questioning that move before the inning even started and went south. How can the worst pitcher on your big league roster be the best option there?

Locke is awesome An 80 minute film about a building contract/cement pour supervisor driving on the M-6 in his car to a hospital while dealing with three life-altering crises at the same time on his car phone. Tom Hardy makes this film work...and his imaginary deadbeat father in the backseat. Such a simple, yet elegant film...100% dialogue-based, not a single bit of action. And yet compelling. Reminded me of Stephen Spielberg's very first film DUEL in its utter simplicity.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 06:28 AM) So when Robin makes a good decision, he gets zero credit because it was so obvious. Gotcha. You tell me...on one hand, Sierra was 4 for his last 11 and has put up an OPS of nearly 800 for the month of June in sporadic playing time. He also had one game-winning, walk off hit earlier in the season. On the other hand, he has 31 K's in 110 at-bats, and is much likelier to hit into a double play. Garcia has an uppercut swing and recently has had a tendency to hit the ball up into the air, fwiw. All those things taken into consideration, it was a very good decision. On paper, Sierra's the better hitter. Then again, someone said they would have preferred Garcia to Beckham because Gordon has been terrible with RISP this season (assuming that means something, when in previous seasons he was good or better than with nobody on, statistical variance/randomness/anomalies, etc.) but I digress. This year, with the Sox, Sierra has 29 GO's and 26 flyouts. Garcia is striking out at a slightly higher clip than Sierra this season, and is twice as likely to hit the ball into the ground as to pop it up, but he's still less likely to hit into a double play because of his speed. Sierra actually had a 579 OPS against RHP and Garcia was barely above 500, although I'm guessing the main reason (in the end) he used Garcia was to avoid the double play and he thought a lefty hitter against a RHP was a better option. So....while there's no clear and compelling reason why his "hunch" work out from a statistical perspective...if Ventura can "go against the grain" and continue to make decisions like this that work out more often than not, and he can do it to the point where you feel it wasn't just blind luck for a fluke, we can start to throw the genius label at him.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 05:35 PM) I think our whole political system is a complete train wreck right now (just better then plenty of other places still) but I think he's a failure for the reasons our country is becoming a failure. More and more people in our country are expecting things from the government and expecting to receive hand outs and more and more of those people construe the voting public, therefor, we are getting to a place with less and less self empowerment and more and more government dependency (since you have to pan handle to that majority to win). I blasted Bush on this site for his role increasing the government and it has gotten even worse. It is an utter joke in my opinion. The republicans don't help things by focusing on what I consider to be social issues that are far less important then the broad base government bloat that is going on. I do not want to rely on the government to get me places. I rely on myself and my family. It is the same problem with society as a whole. Lets figure out what excuses to make and who to blame vs. taking ownership and responsibility. How many of the great advances of the 20th century have taken place without the involvement of government? Nuclear power/nuclear weapons, rocketry, the submarine, antibiotics (including the retrovirals that have stemmed the tide of HIV/AIDS), the Internet, and the interstate/national highway system.

Look at the situation he inherited in 2008. He's been a disappointment, but not the worst. 1) Carter 2) Ford 3) Nixon (everything he accomplished was pretty much wiped out by Watergate from a historical perspective) 4) GW Bush The best 1) Truman 2) Reagan 3) Kennedy 4) Clinton I'm neutral on both LBJ and Eisenhower, as well as George Herbert Walker Bush.

It would be nice to have the ability to look ahead five years into the future and see 1) how many of those $15 million of prospects signed make an impact and 2) how many players in 2015 and 2016 do, when the Yankees will be limited in who they can sign. Alas, no crystal balls. But with the Cubs' draft, we will find out much more quickly about those "high-risk" pitchers they were able to sign by picking Schwarber so high in the first.

We're collecting upper 90's fastball guys who can't get the ball over the plate...first there was the Sisco/Aardsma/Masset trio. Now we have Henry Rodriguez, Cleto and Angel Sanchez. Hopefully they can bring some excitement to Knights' fans...who knows, maybe they can even make a run at the playoffs in the 2nd half.

Davidson finally made it back to a respectable 700 OPS...at .206 now and rising. OTOH, the debate can start about the White Sox "ruining" Marcus Semien. .181, 637 OPS, 22 K's in 105 AB's (he does have 15 walks at least, that's returning to normal, correlating with his previous minor league numbers).

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 09:07 PM) He just used Leury Garcia as a pinch hitter which resulted in a White Sox Walk-off Winner. Genius. This wasn't a choice between Beckham and Garcia. It was Sierra and Leury. Any statistician would tell you that Leury makes more contact/strikes out less and has the remoter probability of hitting into a double play.