caulfield12

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) If all you do is trade your good players, you probably never actually win. I'm all for trading guys if you get the right value and fill in the pieces but I don't exactly know who the hell the Sox are going to get to fill the void. Shortstop is a hard position to fill and unless Beckham proves he can hit, he can't play at short. I can live with his defense at short if he's hitting the hell out of the ball, but if he isn't, he needs to stay at 2B. Escobar isn't able to hit enough to short (and is a downgrade defensively; not a knock on Esocbar, again, more of a compliment to Ramirez) and Lillibridge sure as heck isn't competent enough offensively to play (and again, is a defensive downgrade). And it's not like Saladino is anything close to a "sure thing" in AA. You make that kind of a move when you have a capable replacement, like the Phillies did when they jettisoned Thome to open up the position for Howard. We're NEVER going to get anyone both close to major league ready and capable of being an offensive and defensive force. Alexei's very well-liked in the clubhouse and one of the "glue" players on this team that everybody respects.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:35 AM) Wonderful. Get something for him then. Why would you do that NOW, in the middle of the season, when his value's lower or maybe at its lowest in recent memory? Do you really think he's just going to get worse and worse? This is solely based on the theory that he's really 2-3 years older than his birth certificate? His defense has been the same as ever this year, if not better. And project 27 rbi's in 60 games over the next 100. That's very decent RBI production for a SS, although obviously the OPS is very low.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) You change your opinions so often it's impossible to figure out where you stand. Chris Sale in the bullpen for the rest of 2012=season over, rebuild, fire KW Chris Sale in the rotation=everything's fine, no problems, add pieces without giving away any core components for the future That's it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:31 AM) Not to mention that Konerko guy. He is bound for a fall off. And AJ can't continue this level of production, so we should get the most we can back for him now. While we're at it, trade Rios, Dunn and Peavy, too. And Chris Sale will never be worth more than he is worth today, so let's trade him for 3 prospects named Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips.

Dunn was hitting .000 on four seam fastballs up and in for the entire season? Guess that's his weakness, lol.

Reds up over the Indians 4-1, after being brutalized by the Tribe last year in the Governor's Cup. Let's try to hold this one, boys!

Meanwhile, Marty's best idea at SS this offseason was Brent Lillibridge. That would be working out really well. Sure, let's just stick Escobar there, we're only in the middle of a pennant race because we're "all in" again but now we want to save money we'll have to pay Alexei Ramirez 2-3 seasons from now. In the meantime, attendance for watching the Lillibridge/Escobar show at SS will nosedive to 14,241 per game. FIRE KW!!!

Stephen Drew walk away, even if he is the best shortstop in the Class of '13. Drew, as Drews are wont to do, has returned slowly from an injury. Granted, he broke his ankle in horrific fashion, something that seems not to matter to Arizona owner Ken Kendrick, who emptied an Uzi at Drew's character last week. Enjoy that dynamic Willie Bloomquist/John McDonald duo at shortstop, Kenny! Stock report: Down • Alex Gonzalez A 35-year-old coming off a torn ACL is the second-best shortstop available. Stock report: Down. • Marco Scutaro: A 36-year-old with an adjusted OPS of 72 playing his home games in Colorado is the third-best shortstop available. Stock report: Down. • Jason Bartlett Forget an OPS+ of 72. That's triple Bartlett's 24, which ranks as the 17th lowest in the last five years among hitters with at least 98 plate appearances. Stock report: Way down. • Yuni Betancourt: Told you shortstop was dreadful. Stock report: Even. • Option option: The Tigers should exercise Jhonny Peralta's $6 million option, even if Peralta isn't terribly keen on exercise himself. His weight yo-yoing continues while …

Buehrle-esque.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:17 AM) We're stuck with a(nother) bad contract. Have you looked at the free agent SS's available this offseason??? After Stephen Drew, as bad as he's been this year, Ramirez would be a clear #2. Other than the possibility of Danks (we still don't know how much his injury was affecting him), Rios/Peavy/Dunn have ALL been earning their contract dollars this year. If we'd kept Quentin and he was out the first two months, you'd be complaining about that, or Santos' "bad contract" too.

QUOTE (quickman @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 05:05 AM) Rock he is playing on one leg and needs to go to the A league to be a DH. Cleveland makes a ton of sense as I believe Hafner is out. The reason I am responding to you is your avatar. I just want to keep watching it. But coming back right after the All-Star break, plus they're going to want to rotate Sizemore in and out when he comes back from his injuries in the 2nd half, so they would be much more likely to go after Quentin and stick him in LF because Johnny Damon's close to the end of his rope. Quentin, Brantley, Choo, Santana, Hafner, Kipnis, Cabrera, Hannahan/Chisenhall....that's a better offense than ours. Throw in Sizemore as well.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 13, 2012 -> 09:06 AM) Who needs Mark Buehrle for $14 million when you can have the Colombian version of him for the minimum? But can he do the patented rain delay tarp slide and receive the ceremonial first pitches as well? Dadgummit....how can Konerko be far enough off 1B to get doubled off? Not the best baserunning from him these days. Another positive with Quintana not being a strikeout pitcher like Floyd or Humber, only 40 pitches through 3.

Wainright, .223 BAA before pitch 45, .356 after...

How was that a strike? That was way inside on pitch trax. 1.80 ERA, WHIP just a nod over 1 Buehrle had something like 10 or 11 consecutive interleague victories coming into today, in jeopardy now, down 2-1 in 7th.

Really fortunate, so far, to avoid any runs being scored against Quint.

Jason Kipnis is really playing well for the Indians now, .280ish average, 10 HR's, 40 RBI's, 15 SB's, he's doing it all. More surprisingly, Brantley has an 18 game hitting streak. Cue Phil Rogers about another local product that got away from the Cubs/Sox, like the Grandy ones. J. Gomez hasn't pitched well his last 3 starts, but he's out to an early 1-0 lead behind a Shoo double and Kipnis single.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox are the latest sports team to experiment with "dynamic pricing" for single-game tickets. The Sox are planning to offer variable-based pricing on a select number of tickets next year, joining the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and several NBA and NHL teams. ESPNChicago.com White Sox blog The latest news and notes on the White Sox. Blog The team is experimenting with the idea over its last seven home games this season, with 750 seats spread around several sections being dedicated as dynamic-priced seats. Only two of the remaining home games had pre-sales over 20,000, as of Friday, according to White Sox Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer Brooks Boyer, so the team decided to try out the idea this season rather than wait until 2011. The White Sox have been working with Austin, Texas-based software consulting firm Qcue to implement this pricing strategy. Qcue pioneered this idea for sports teams, inventing a software engine that takes in a variety of factors including team performance, giveaways, weather, starting pitchers, and possible milestones to create market-based ticket prices. "This is like secondary ticketing," Boyer said. "At first, four or five teams do it, and then everyone follows. It's not something that's revolutionary. Airlines have been pricing tickets this way for years." The team can check Qcue's recommendations every morning, or before every homestand, and decide how to price tickets based on certain factors. Prices don't have huge fluctuations, but can go up or down several dollars. Teams don't have to take the recommendations. San Francisco made waves in the industry when they first started utilizing this technology. The Giants started with 500 variable-priced tickets in 2008, and then expanded to 2,000 seats in 2009 to every area of their park where single-game tickets are sold in 2010. Qcue is expanding to the NBA this season, with the Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz offering dynamic-priced tickets. They started talking to Qcue last season. The White Sox are averaging 27,342 per game, which puts them at 17th in the majors. Last season they averaged 28,199. "We were thrown on the pay-no-mind list in April and May and that affects our big months of June, July and August," Boyer said. "You need your team to carry you in September and unfortunately, we're out of it. "Typically one of our highest-drawing tickets is the Red Sox, and this series will feel more like we're playing the Royals." The team already uses four different pricing tiers to differentiate games: premier, prime, regular, and Monday. The Red Sox games fall into the premier category, with the idea that the team would still be in playoff contention. None of the dynamically priced seats for the series, that runs Monday through Thursday, are in sections that include season-ticket holders. The Sox are experimenting in the upper deck, the corner of the club level and lower levels by the foul poles. Tickets will be priced as low as $15 for the final series against Cleveland beginning Friday. "We don't want a situation where someone with a $40 season ticket is sitting next to someone who paid $25," Boyer said. While White Sox fans get a deal right now, tickets can go up for major pitching matchups, important games or milestones. "We're not talking about a huge or significant amount of tickets on a per-game basis," Boyer said. "This does favor the fans when a game is not in the highest of demand, as you pay less than what you would pay if you walked up to the box office." While fans will have the chance to get lower-priced tickets through this plan, Boyer said overall ticket prices likely will have another small increase next season. "We've had a ticket price philosophy where [we] have made small, incremental jumps year after year," Boyer said, "whether it was after we won the World Series or after 2007. I anticipate us sticking to the same philosophy moving forward." http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5618359

Liriano might be going from invisible/out of baseball to the most valuable trading chip in all of baseball...although his track record since surgery suggests it won't last, there's nothing like Free Agency to stir a player's competitive juices (see Pierzysnki, AJ, or Hamilton, Josh).

What's his average velocity his last three starts, since he returned from the pen? Keep in mind, the Twins are still "only" 8 1/2 games back of the Sox and far from out of it completely. 17 2/3 11 hits 5 ER 6 BB (very low for him) 23 K's 1.96 ERA

QUOTE (Wedge @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) Sorry if already posted, but from Phil Rogers' MLB power rankings today: 29. Cubs (29): Ryan Dempster is turning himself into a big-time bargaining chip. But don't forget that he's a 10-and-5 player, with full no-trade rights. 30. Padres (30): While trading Carlos Quentin is the easy move, the right one is to suck it up and sign him to a long-term contract. He's a hometown guy and he can really hit, when he's healthy. The problem is the Padres are like the Cubs when Ted Lilly was approaching free agency. They don't have an owner on hand to authorize a major expenditure, and it will take one to keep Quentin off the market. Note to Padres: Please don't trade him to the Tigers or Indians. Thanks a bunch.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:27 PM) And in a stunning twist, Caulfield changes the subject from baseball rebuilding humor to discussing the first female President! Well, we already had cannibalism and Kenny Williams piloting a plane in a scene out of Eight Below or The Grey, lol. Marcum, Greinke, DeLaRosa or Liriano? I'd go for DeLaRosa because he has an $11 million option for next year, so he won't cost nearly as much...on the other hand, it's like acquiring another version of Gavin Floyd, mentally. However, I have faith that Cooper can, at least in the short-term, maxmimize results from nearly every pitcher with pretty good stuff...at least starting pitchers. Liriano would be awfully tempting, but you'd be buying high after just 2-3 starts and could just as easily see him crater and take down your entire team behind in the wake. However, just from a fan's perspective and someone who is sick and tired of seeing Floyd and Humber get their brains get beaten in, I'd love to see what happens when you pair Cooper with Liriano and also have AJ, Sale and Danks around him as a support group.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:18 PM) This depends...was Kenny on the charter? If he was, then I want Kim Ng, just to prove a woman can use the same tools at everyone's disposal to win a World Series title. We're always on the cutting edge in this department. It will be interesting to see which comes first, female president or female GM. The president part COULD come as early as 2016 or not in my lifetime, more or less 30-40 years from now...

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:16 PM) Just goes to show you there isn't all that much to worry about! If we were the Yankees, Phillies, Rangers or Red Sox...but not quite.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:03 PM) And the Uruguayan rugby team in the Andes...they had to do a complete rebuild after they ate one another. Edit: This is in terribly poor taste, but I think the team would understand it is necessary to make the point to Caulfield. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campeonato_Uruguayo_de_Rugby Very bad example. Old Christians was like the NY Yankees of Uruguyan rugby. They won the championship again the next season, after the 1972 crash. Look at all their championships in the 1970's, they were actually better AFTER the crash.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:04 PM) Conversely, i think Kenny Williams would need to be s***face plastered in order to trade for Baker I think swapping Floyd for DeLaRosa wouldn't be horrible, except for the fact we should wait for Gavin to go on his run for 2 months and see if we can get something even better. Kind of a change of scenery move, two pitchers with great stuff but suspect mental games. Marcum's much more doable than Greinke, but what are we willing to give up to get him? If his average fastball's only been 86-88 MPH this season, that would be a bit of red flag...but I haven't seen him pitch this year to make any type of comment on the movement or his K/9 rate. Can you imagine Sale, "The Franchise" Liriano and "good" Danks together in one rotation?