caulfield12

It's the same theory of the movie theatre (let's say it's an IMAX to equate it with Wrigley) down the street being sold out, so if you want to see a similar product, you have to go to another theatre. Now, many will argue that the White Sox are not a product substitute for the Cubs, that the crossover is limited or that "independent/casual/touristic" fans who don't have a strong affinity for either franchise are unlikely to be motivated enough to choose the Sox as a 2nd option, preferring to wait for Cubs tickets to become available.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 04:09 PM) My response to anyone calling the Astros a positive example is going to be pretty simple. They had a game last year where 1100 people watched. On TV. The 4th biggest city in the country, with no competition, drew 1100 viewers on TV for a game last year. On a weekend. The Astros have 2 winning records since 2006, They have an 82 win season and an 86 win season. They've been under .500 for the last 4 years, they've sold off whatever talent they had, and they still are facing several more years of being the laughingstock of baseball and having no interest whatsoever before they'd be able to rebuild through the draft. The White Sox have legit competition in their area, even if that team is also terrible. The end result of a period of 5-8 years losing by the White Sox right now is going to be the end of the White Sox. They would either be moving or close to folding. The Chicago market will not be that forgiving. Oh, and welcome to the site . The counterargument is that the Astros have lost 213 combined games the last two seasons. In a year in which the White Sox were in first place for the majority of the year, they only outdrew the "no interest whatsover" Astros by less than 400,000 fans. Per game, it was 24,271 vs 19,848. And the Astros are outdrawing the White Sox so far this season. AND, there's a guarantee in the lease of 1.5 million in attendance written into the contract...so this whole idea of moving or being close to folding is dubious at best, not for one of the most profitable franchises in baseball over the last decade. Balta's same argument about "no interest" will start unfolding as early as the next 7 SOX home games, where attendance figures will range in the low teens and could even challenge going below 10,000 for the first time in recent memory. Sure, it COULD get worse. OTOH, the only thing that avoided this rebuilding process in the first place was the injection of Alexei, Carlos Quentin, Floyd and Danks into the 2008 team...and living off Buehrle/Dye/AJ/Konerko/Crede/Rowand/Jenks as long as possible. All of those former players are gone, and Konerko soon will be...so if now's not the right time, when will it be? Who are they going to build around? Alex Rios? He's getting older, and will be be gone after 2014 or 2015 anyway. It's either you gamble completely behind Chris Sale's arm not falling off, or you trade him and get the highest return possible.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) Brewers could use a 1B. Are the Brewers legitimately in a position to be competitive this season?

I don't care if Hawkins/Mitchell/Thompson/Walker never make it to the major leagues. I would take those four picks over McCulloch, Broadway, Poreda and Royce Ring every single time and twice on Sundays.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 02:35 PM) Rangers have two DH types on their roster already Who is their everyday 1B these days? It's not Moreland anymore? I haven't been following baseball this season as much because the Sox are so depressing. I do know the Rays need offense. I listened to a couple of their games.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 02:32 PM) Christ is it your mission to depress us even more? We have a good rotation, potentially. Alex Rios. Quintana and Santiago have looked good. Addison Reed. That about does it, for the entire organization. I guess Johnson and Snodgress are making progress, but none of our hitters in the minor leagues are giving us a reason to have any hope, either. When your big league team is horrible, most fans at least can get excited about SOMETHING. We don't even have that, right now.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 02:30 PM) So what teams might be interested in PK if this season continues this way? I don't know what Loney's contract is, but TB could definitely use the hitting either at 1B/DH. Of course, everyone assumes he'd always go somewhere like AZ, Dodgers, Angels. Rangers?

Courtney Hawkins, 0/3, 3 K's, 1 BB. Ha! A walk.

Of course, Dunn hits a homer now. LOL. Bronx cheers...

Sigh. Probability of scoring 1+ running against Justin Masterson tmrw. 1.2%

Oh great, Masterson vs. Dylan Axelrod tmrw.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:41 PM) They were blasting the Sox the other day. Reinsdorf, Hahn/Williams or the coaching staff? Or everything Sox?

The inevitable version of Gavin Floyd is back, perfectly timed. Javy-itis.

Must have been criticizing them recently... Do those guys have a Sunday morning show? Or just during the week? We don't even have good villains like Mariotti or Cowley to fight with in the media this year, haha. 19,587 today. We're going to be threatening to go under 10,000 in one of these Indians games during the week.

Never in a million years thought we'd ever want Eduardo Escobar back...

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:33 PM) Anyone want to guess who the 3 worst players in baseball are this season, according to fWAR??? Hint: They are all playing in this game. Dunn and Keppinger, surely. Hicks, probably.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:31 PM) This is not a flame, just a question. Is Walker still in Atlanta and is he beloved there? They got a pretty good team. Pitching. Besides Justin Upton, who certainly learned how to hit away from the tutelage of Greg Walker, some of their other stars like Heyward and BJ Upton were off to incredibly slow starts. Of course, they were missing McCann and Freeman, in fairness. Gattis has been a huge success story, too.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:26 PM) I think they give him 40 games, and if it's all the same, release him. Eat the money. We've never eaten more than $5 million on a contract. This would be closer to $20-25 million. Just don't see it happening. As much as we'd all like to move on.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:25 PM) What are the options with Dunn really? DFA or clear waivers and send him down to AAA? Dunno just grasping at straws trying to find some sense to this madness. They're going to have to assess at some point the damage to the organization, attendance, etc., from trotting him out there every day... Of course, they also would have to study their ability to pay out XXX amount of money in a one-off payment vs. bi-weekly over the course of the season.

Someone should be recording this game and sending it to every front office in baseball...maybe we actually can get something decent back for Floyd. Hopefully not another toolsy minor league outfielder with a Dunn/Flowers-like K ratio.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:17 PM) Nice ab for Paulie, didn't do too much Your man Rios trying too hard to create something there on his own. If you're stealing 3rd and no-contact Dunn is at the plate, you have to get there with a 100% confidence or wait on the next hitter...it's not like Alexei doesn't have a chance to drive him in from 2nd. Just not good baseball, but understandable with the offense in a stupor.

DJ's excuse for Dunn is his swing path. Too long and not quick to the ball, guiding the bat and feeling for the ball. It's also hilarious how quickly they cut away from the booing to the radio break when Dunn strikes out to end an inning. Diamond still with a 5.40 ERA. Seems every game we're getting limited by bad pitchers, although Diamond was the best pitcher for the Twins last year (the tallest midget, admittedly).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:14 PM) PEople would complain more if it was a HR. Maybe. Except if it came from Adam Dunn or Courtney Hawkins...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 01:11 PM) © fathom, June 20, 2004. If we're going to add the equivalent of Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia to our roster, which were the two key in-season moves in 2004...well, then there might be more of a reason to get excited.

There's your run, Floyd. We can't even score in an exciting way, lol. Wild pitch and groundout, lowering Keppinger's average even further.