caulfield12

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 10, 2013 -> 01:33 PM) Yea I dont know what he is talking about either. Tokyo Drift is actually the 3rd film in the series. It isnt really all amazing that the film series came this far, the first film was a huge success, and ever since they reunited the original cast starting with the 4th movie(Fast and Furious) the film series once again became a big hit. Where did I ever say Tokyo Drift with Lucas Black was the first movie? Amazing to think where it came from First movie great, second movie without the whole original cast decent but nothing like the sensation the first movie was... C'mon. 98% of the people who post in movie threads here or pay any attention at all to popular culture know the origin of that series. Do I REALLY need to provide a history of all the movies to place Tokyo Drift in proper context? I don't get it. If I don't provide enough information because it requires reading/writing a longer post, nobody's happy, lol. Then, when I don't explain why Vin Diesel or Jordana Brewster or Michelle Rodriguez disappeared from the series...eventually leading to the no-name TD (unless you count the Japanese actress who was actually more famous as a model at the time she took that part)...well, I've never met anyone in my life who thought that debuting a series with a movie with limited appeal (only to the Asian market) would make any sense at all. Heck, Formula 1/Street Racing isn't even close to a cultural phenomenon here in China, YET. Maybe a decade from now.

Liriano going for the Pirates today in his first start of the season for them.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:58 AM) I've noticed you're only positive in your comments about the Sox if you're arguing with marty Well...I can't be quite as reasonable and level-headed as you normally are...but when you see a majority of the moderators getting frustrated with Ventura or already talking about next year, you know things are pretty bad.

Let the record show that we can't blow anything up because there's nothing in the minor leagues that's going to be any better. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Ventura. With guys like DeAza and Rios and their lackadaisical play this year...we don't have any viable options in the minors who are deserving or meriting full-time play. Although, let the record also show that DISCIPLINARIAN is not the first word that comes to mind with Ventura (it wasn't with Ozzie, either). And this isn't like the Pierre/Viciedo and Lillibridge/Dunn (2011) debates...it's Jordan Danks and D. Wise. Neither of those guys are part of the future of this organization. They're the final player on the roster of a very good team, but not both of them...one would be in the minors or released...or expendable, like Conor Gillaspie.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:45 AM) Okay, what's your plan to compete in 2014. How do you use this money? Hire whoever advised you to pick Josh Hamilton and Zach Greinke as your big additions to the White Sox. Because those two moves would have worked out wonderfully... Tony LaRussa will be 67 this October. Are we seriously going to go backwards in time? LaRussa as GM at this point in his life would make about as much sense as Harrelson did. Simply because it would be a complete break from the KW/Hahn regime, I can't say that I would oppose it 100% because I don't have much faith in Hahn or Buddy Bell or Paddy, either.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:40 AM) They did exactly what you want us to do with guys like Pence and Tavares. And the end result has been...55 win seasons. It's an incredibly beautiful example of the end result of your plan to give everyone away. Or the Mariners. Although they have at least kept King Felix. The Twins have had no choice but to hold on to Mauer and Morneau. The Padres are at least trying to keep Headley and traded for Quentin last year. And we'll have the beautiful rebuilding example of the Cubs to follow thanks to the Chicago media. But CLE or Miami is about the worst-case scenario....where the fans have grown to dislike management (Dolan and Loria) so much, they wouldn't even support a team that had recently won 10 of 11, added Bourn and Swisher and Francona, etc. About the only counter-example that's working is the A's. Some would say the Pirates and Royals are on the verge of a breakthrough, as well.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:36 AM) Alexei Ramirez is single-handedly keeping White Sox attendance up? Lamenting the loss of Carlos Lee, are you kidding me?? Nobody with the Astros is lamenting that.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:11 AM) If you can get anything for Ramirez, by all means they need to do it to get rid of that contract. When you have Danks and Dunn's contracts having Ramirez "not that bad of a contract" is a luxury they can do without particularly because they are not going to win anything with him. De Aza can play a passable CF, hit a little, and most importantly is cheap. Any team in MLB can afford him that's why he has more trade value than Ramirez. Like Ramirez though, De Aza will be in decline by the time the Sox are good enough to win again. I don't think Danks and Phegley are starters, but given they are the two best options the Sox have in Triple A there is nothing to lose at this point in giving them a chance. Same goes with Morel. SS for Morel? While we're at it, we should just let Phegley be the DH for the rest of the season with Black/Wilkins. Are we deliberately trying to lose 110 games? While we're STILL at it, why don't we just convert Micah Johnson to CF and he'll steal 100+ bags and be this year's version of John Cangelosi/Rudy Law/Ron LeFlore? If you don't trust Buddy Bell, how do we know we won't ruin the 2nd or 3rd pick in the first round of the draft? (assuming that, no matter what you tried to do to the roster, you couldn't make them worse than Houston. And you couldn't get Hahn fired, who's a big supporter of Bell's.)

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:51 AM) Fair point. I should clarify. When I said "And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years" I simply meant easily one of the worst teams in baseball. The Astros before this season were an org with little impact minor league talent and little major league talent. That's what I think this club is going to be in 2 or 3 years. Their minor league system is a LOT better than it was, with all the trades over the last couple of years for guys like Hunter Pence and Wandy Rodriguez. They had the first pick in the MLB draft last year. They have the first pick again this year. They're ranked around 8th-10th now, right? Plus, after 2014, the Dunn contract will be off the books. That will leave POSSIBLY only one bad contract in Danks, and that's under the pessimistic assumption he'll never be the same pitcher he was pre-surgery.

This thread should be more appropriately titled: "What I would do if I was kidnapped and my family threatened by sleeper agents of the Detroit Tigers and forced to destroy the White Sox organization by any and all possible means from inside..."

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:40 AM) 1- I actually think Bell has improved this system a lot. These things take time. And this is coming from someone who isn't impressed with 8 rookies playing last year. 2 - Whatever. I'm not going to argue about the 24th man on a roster. Long term I think Phegley is an NP 3 - Why? Ramirez has trade value and it's not like his contract is awful 4 - How does Ramirez not have trade value but De Aza does? IMO, De Aza has been flat out awful this year. Danks is another NP. I have never bought into the Viciedo is an impact bat that seems to go around here. I mean I get what you're trying to accomplish here. I agree with you that this thing is over. And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years. The Astros started the season with Lucas Harrell and Phil Humber in their starting rotation. Let's not confuse terribly struggling (White Sox) with just plain terrible. Any team with Sale, Peavy, Santiago and Quintana in the rotation can at least be close to .500...with one of the worst offenses in baseball and making 2-3-4-5 mistakes per game. This team isn't going to compete with DET, but they easily could be something like 17-16 if it weren't for all the defensive blunders. The Astros are on a pace for around like 115 losses.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:40 AM) 1- I actually think Bell has improved this system a lot. These things take time. And this is coming from someone who isn't impressed with 8 rookies playing last year. 2 - Whatever. I'm not going to argue about the 24th man on a roster. Long term I think Phegley is an NP 3 - Why? Ramirez has trade value and it's not like his contract is awful 4 - How does Ramirez not have trade value but De Aza does? IMO, De Aza has been flat out awful this year. Danks is another NP. I have never bought into the Viciedo is an impact bat that seems to go around here. I mean I get what you're trying to accomplish here. I agree with you that this thing is over. And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years. The Astros started the season with Lucas Harrell and Phil Humber in their starting rotation. Let's not confuse terribly struggling (White Sox) with just plain terrible. Any team with Sale, Peavy, Santiago and Quintana in the rotation can at least be close to .500...with one of the worst offenses in baseball and making 2-3-4-5 mistakes per game. This team isn't going to compete with DET, but they easily could be something like 17-16 if it weren't for all the defensive blunders. The Astros are on a pace for something like 115 losses.

#2 doesn't even make sense, YET. At the very minimum, Flowers deserves at least 3 months to prove himself as an everyday player, if not 4 or 5. Phegley's RH as well, there's no reason to rush him up to the big league club. Maybe he can be a decent "internal" candidate for DH/1B next year, if he doesn't profile as a full-time catcher (along with guys like Black or Wilkins that are probably not in the long-range plans). #3 You want to take one of the 3 worst offensive players in baseball, and put him at the most important position on the field when he can't even play 2B that well? And he hasn't even played SS since 2007-08? Jesus. Playing Beckham at SS was 10X better as idea than Keppinger there would be. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...=Jeff-Keppinger Next, why would you have to put him on waivers (Ramirez) and embarrass him when it would be a lot simpler to see what offers are out there? If you put him on waivers, then the only leverage you have is the team claiming him against itself. That's not prudent. #4 What makes you think there's a huge market for leadoff hitters who are marginal in CF and have an OBP between 290-300? Danks IS NOT AN EVERYDAY PLAYER. Nobody here, to my knowledge, at this entire website STILL thinks of him as being an everday major leaguer... Finally, why is there a need to give up on the season the first week of May instead of letting the season play out for at least one more month? What advantage to you get out of doing that? To find out Keppinger can't play SS, let alone any position, on an everyday basis? To find out that Danks can't hit well enough to hold down CF as an everyday player? To put yourself in even more of a position of desperation where every team in baseball knows you need a starting catcher, instead of leaving Phegley down in the minors longer, where you keep him as a valuable bargaining chip to walk away from any deal for a catcher that's not favorable enough. So, to summarize, you've managed to completely destroy Keppinger for the rest of his Sox career, deal DeAza and Ramirez for almost nothing in return, give up on Tyler Flowers after one month and promote Phegley before he's 100% ready (he is the streakiest hitter in our minor league system, with the exception of Mitchell perhaps) and will fall flat on his face. Just because he's hitting well now (and his OPS is around 1000) doesn't mean there aren't holes in his game that the coaching staff and minor league hitting instructors realize will get exploited in a week at the major league level. On top of that, you've alienated whatever season ticket holders are left and any free agent interested in coming here in the next 2-3 years by trying to dump Peavy at the drop of a hat. One can only wait with bated breath for your next strategic moves. And there's not any incentive to deal Peavy until the mid-season market for starting pitchers emerges with 10-12 bidding against each other, instead of just a few teams willing to make a commitment at this point in the season to a higher salary veteran.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) Not a Bears fan, but yeah, I got July and 2 weeks of August to entertain myself before I go back to school. 6-7 long weeks without sports. where were you in 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2011 during that time of the summer? if flavum's giving up his optimistic numerical projections for the rest of the year, I'm afraid all hope is lost

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:26 PM) Same. I don't want to see a OF picked until we take a few LHPs, 3B, and SS's. I wouldn't say LHP should be a priority with four (theoretically) in our rotation and Snodgress. Just find the best pitcher availability. We have Erik Johnson and Beck, but another one would go a long ways to stocking up on this invaluable asset.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:47 PM) Another memorable at bat by Keppinger. What a truly awful team so far this season. They're going to either wake up on this next road trip or be buried for the rest of the season.

BOO!!!! Good thing they cut from the live feed on the radio, lol. Nothing like poor offense except for one inning, non-existent hitting with RISP, more bad defense, passed balls, pitchers not covering home plate, 3 1/2 hour long games that must have seemed like 4 1/2 or 5 in the cold (imagine being in the upper deck tonight?)... Just more general badness. We don't have any threats off the bench (from the RH side) to counter someone like Frieri. Kahn or whatever his name is was throwing some nice and easy GAS, that's for sure. "Be mindful of this, folks, the White Sox will play hard tomorrow." Nice ending there, Farmio, as you signed off.

Would be nice to not have 2 lefties in a row and our worst RH hitter in Keppinger up here. SIGH. EDIT: Flowers might be worse, but not by WAR or when you include walks and big hits this season (including the tying RBI tonight). Not a surprise Wise and DeAza both K'ed there, lol.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:03 PM) I envy the Cardinals organization. They never rebuild , yet they never spend in free agency. They just constantly produce winners either with guys from their system or very shrewd FA signings. And that huge decision to part ways with Pujols was definitely the right one.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 10, 2013 -> 08:58 PM) Did they call it an error? I hope they did. Yep. Saved an earned run for Axelrod. Sox go down 1-2-3 after the runs put on the board by the Angels. After the Bulls' loss, can you hear a tree falling in the forest if nobody is there to witness it?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 08:50 PM) Gillaspie is very good on those short picks off to his left. Not so good on cue shots or balls hit with sidespin on them.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ May 9, 2013 -> 09:08 AM) They also don't pick high school hitters with 1st round picks. But that changed last year. And for what it's worth they had picked a high school pitcher much more recently than a high school bat. Gio was 2004, but supplemental if you want to get picky. Honel in 2001 was a 1st rounder. As for hitters, the last Prep Bat the White Sox popped with an early pick was Brett Caradonna in 1997, and that was supplemental. The White Sox are also very much linked to Trey Ball this draft, another prep arm. The outlook seems to have changed a bit recently, so I wouldn't be so dismissive. Jason Stumm, too.

Back to tied for 2nd in the AL in errors. Worst fielding percentage. Lindstrom way too late covering the plate. If Lindstrom covers the plate, the runner doesn't leave from 3rd. Basically like 3 errors there. Then what will probably be called a Passed Ball on Tyler Flowers. So 4 errors, essentially. 5 passed balls 2nd most in the AL. Not the first or last boo-birds we'll hear this season at USCF. Lindstrom has ZERO confidence right now. Twins blew a 6-0 lead to BALT, now tied 6-6.

The dreaded "warning track power."

3 theories why Trout isn't doing as well this year. 1) Angels screwed him over in contract negotiations in the offseason. 2) Sophomore slump/baseball is tough and scouts will always find your weaknesses 3) Getting a lot more off-speed stuff than last year Royals rally against the Yankees, tied at 5-5 in KC, top of the 6th. Oops, just gave it back again. 6-5 Yanks and still threatening. Minnesota's still playing well, up 6-0 over the Orioles and about to go 2 games over .500.