caulfield12

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) I think the Sox are much better off getting pitching prospects. I think our scouts, KW, and Cooper have a good track record for getting pitchers into our system and making them a better more valuable player. Floyd himself is a prime example. They are not nearly as good at developing young talented position players. Why not stock up on good pitchers and make them better and when you need a position player you can trade for an established major league proven player using the pitching surplus. The antithesis of the Javy/Chris Young deal. We built up a pitching surplus in 2005/06...and we did leverage it to get Danks. B. Anderson and Swisher have good careers with the White Sox, probably no need to get Alex Rios and Adam Dunn...certainly not Rios, and Swisher could have DH'ed too. And we dealt the legit CF prospect in Young because there was too much confidence (including BA himself) in Anderson's ability to be Torii Hunter-Lite. Then you have the bad move of letting Thome go in 2010. Just little things like that blew up...and Teahen's extension, limiting our return for Edwin Jackson. Overall, the only trade that really really rankles is giving up Daniel Hudson too quickly, but I'll just assume that Ozzie/Cooper had some issues with Daniel behind the scenes that we didn't know about....3 starts, c'mon!

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 07:44 PM) Also, perhaps an overpay could happen due to AA basically receiving a package of Floyd-Santos-Thornton-Frasor Don't forget them taking on the useless Teahen contract and designating him to the last roster spot on the bench. The Cubs sent $15 million in cash and got back a serviceable starter. We erased $10 million of debt and got back $700,000 of prospects, Zach Stewart, Molina + 2-3 more B level prospects or more. We needed to leverage Jackson to get rid of Teahen's money...Jackson going alone would have gotten us a lot better prospect, quite obviously. And there's no reason we can't go out and sign a Roy Oswalt on a one-year deal, Rich Harden, same type of "band aid" solution the Tigers applied with Brady Penny/Coke until some of their minor leaguers were ready. Joe Saunders and Pat Maholm are out there, too.

We need to get a SoxTalk "EAGLE EYE" computer to filter and sift through all the internet data and give us instantaneous, "real time" status updates of all electronic conversations simultaneously and present probability printouts, haha.

Does anyone else here share the opinion Melancholia was one of the top 5 movies of the year and actually "life-affirming" rather than depressing?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 06:33 PM) AA loves himself some White Sox pitchers. What does that say about Kenny Williams? hmm... Kenny Williams is a Krazy "Gangsta" Genius. Potentially 20% of AA's roster will be comprised of former White Sox players. What's the saying, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Just win, Baby!!! KW is building a juggernaut minor league system while the Blue Jays are only preparing to threaten for 3rd place and will see no appreciable rise in attendance/revenues.

It would be much funnier if Santos/Thornton/Frasor completely blew up (performance-wise). Not because we'd like to have a repeat of the Sirotka/Wells fiasco (for both sides), and certainly you never want to see any athlete injured, but simply to read the reactions of j4l and especially Keith Law.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 03:31 PM) You can make it even shorter and call it "Lawrence Polling" or "Lawrence Polled". Lawrence Polling shows the Quentin to Padres deal to be a head-scratcher. Maybe Lawrence Market Survey? Lawrence Surveying...? Lawrence Market Analysis/Customer Feedback? Polling almost makes it sounds like the name of some cricket player from Australia or New Zealand. What's that thing they do on CNN right after the primary and presidential debates...? There's a specific term for it that eludes me at the moment.

Balta-ing? Was that word/phrase recently added to the SoxTalk lexicon? Can I second "Lawrence, Kansas-ing" the conversation?

Can we all send off faxes/e-mails to all the major league GM's to let them know Gavin Floyd is currently available...to please bid on him and bump up the return by getting all the teams in baseball to "e-bay him" into a stellar prospect haul?

There's a better chance of moving Andre The Giant than getting rid of those 3 contracts in 2011. Peavy's the only one remotely possible, and we'd have to eat at least $4-6 million of the remaining to make it happen, and be willing to get back the same junk/flotsam/detritus we received for Frasor.

I meant more dubious than the QUentin move, which was telegraphed 6 months ago or longer. I can't remember which offseason it was....that we brought in 10-12 journeyman/MLFA's/veterans on their last legs for an open tryout for a LHR spot. None of those guys stuck. Of course, we've come up with guys before like Marte and Thornton, via trade. But usually picking up guys from the scrap heap (and Sisco counts in that category), not such a high probability of working out in April. Sometimes you get a a Loiaza, Jenks or Santos, but 90-95% of the time nothing. And I just recall that the one guy who pitched well as Javier Lopez and he went on to pitch very well for the Red Sox and had a pretty decent career, overall. Logan and Cotts were both acquired by the Sox...I was referring to journeymen/scrap heap guys like Nelson, Myers, Porzio, Jose Paniagua, etc.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 06:34 PM) With Peavy's BO its up to 69 million and with Floyd's option. (I think they should take it.) It would bump the payroll up to $78.5 million. Going into that year, you may have a rotation of Danks, Floyd, Sale, Humber, Castro/Molina/Axelrod. With a young rotation and about 22-$30 million to spend on free agents and maybe more (pending on if they trade Thorton or not). This team can significantly be much better sooner than we thought. I actually don't mind taking this 2012 season as a "Lets see what we have in our guys" type season. I really hope KW deals Thorton soon! You really believe we can win without Thornton in 2012, using Ohman/Santiago/Hernandez/waiver wire? We've tried that before and it was a disaster. Actually, the only useful piece in that LHR tryout spring was Javier Lopez, and we dealt him for Riske. If they can get a return somewhere between Molina and what they got for Quentin, and save all that money committed to Thornton, they should look closely at it. Personally, I think they should see how things go the first half of the season...wait until the demand is even higher and Thornton can prove last year was "flukey" and maybe you can get yourself yet another Molina for Thornton.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 06:40 PM) I hope Floyd goes too. Send him to the Jays for Deck McGuire and other pieces. Another trade with Toronto, really?

Fair enough. The argument to be made on KW's behalf is that they believe Hernandez can help right away (assuming Santiago is in AAA starting) and/or they're trading Matt Thornton and need additional LHR depth. Seems Hernandez will definitely get a shot, as the 2nd or 3rd lefty...depending on whether or not one of the many RHR prospects blows everyone away in ST. Castro clearly has been perceived as having the talent and the ability to be a big league pitcher. To start off the 2012 season? Well, probably not, unless it's in the bullpen. He has more upside than anyone currently in our organization not named Molina, so clearly he should be building up his confidence in the minors...although we know with Frasor gone that another hole has been blown in the bullpen. Castro, Axelrod, Santiago and Zach Stewart...all of those guys could be fighting for the final spot on the pitching staff coming out of Arizona. So I'll agree it was 60% salary dump (they could have just not offered arbitration and let him walk) and 40% about believing they could get some legit talent back for him in return, which is exactly what happened. Frasor was more dubious...bringing him back, but we still got $700,000 worth of prospects and saved paying him this year...that one was much more of a head scratcher (along with Santos/Molina) than the Frasor move. QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 04:04 PM) No, I think it's because folks don't seem to read all of what I am saying or make an effort in some cases to look at both sides of the situation. They then do what they accuse me and other posters here of doing and try and justify it with name calling and slights. Believe it or not I know baseball and have been involved in the game for a lot of years. I try hard not to slight others when i post, but I have my opinion and I voice it. I accept that others may not agree and that's fine. I don't really think this board is set up in a way to be a battle ground of competing opinions. I am not in this to win the argument. I simply state my opinion. The ole Milkman is right when he posts "It's like arguing with a wall." As well it should be because it shouldn't have to be a winning argument. That's one of the only times I will agree with Milk. Carlos Quentin is gone, Mark Buerhle and Frasor are gone. Nothing can be done to change that. I look at our return for CQ and my question is was it enough? Was it the type of transaction Kenny Williams said he would make only if the retuirn was major league ready? I don't think it was and thus the next assumption would be if the trade was in reality a salary dump. Why was it a salary dump? Because of bad decisions by the GM. Now he has to dig himself out of the hole. Can it be done with the return we are getting. That is an unknown. Maybe what some folks need to do is take a step back when responding and edit their posts. It is really getting out of hand with name calling, etc. Again I have my opinions and take on things and others have theirs. Let's be civil please. I know I have answered beyond what you have posted in reply to my statement, but I think it is necessary to write. By the way I don't think you -Balta- have been unprofessional when reponding just as I hope I have not been.

Why would/should Huntsman do well in NH? Don't quite see it. Santorum will likely finish a tight 3rd/4th....and do VERY well in SC, maybe even coming in a close 2nd. Depends on how much soft money the GOP uses to crush Santorum so as to protect Romney for the general campaign. Paul going independent really would hurt the GOP just like Nader in the past (to Gore), or Perot in 1992 (that worked to Clinton's advantage, clearly).

Greg, how many Royals fans attend White Sox games in Chicago? It's kind of irrelevant. I'm sure Royals fans in 2004-05 thought the White Sox were crazy to get rid of Jose Valentin, Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez, too.

The real importance of this, however, is that Goldstein provides a possible timeline for Cespedes' free agency. Mercedes tells Goldstein that Cespedes hopes to have residency in the Dominican Republic established "in the coming days," (article was published on DEC 17TH) but that's not the end of the process. It will then take two or three days for him to be cleared by Major League Baseball, and then perhaps another 10-15 days before the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) distinguishes Cespedes as a Dominican. So you're looking at the 21st of December at the earliest, plus another 10-15 business/working days. Not sure how they count the New Year's holiday...how many days the USOFAC works during that holiday time period officially. Sometime in the next couple of weeks, for sure...maybe around January 8th-10th?

Still a 4 vote spread for Santorum at 99%+ reporting. Wonder if it will tip to Romney by tomorrow, but the story for now is all Santorum...perception is that Santorum actually won the expectations game, by far. Paul will cease to exist by South Carolina. Forgot how the caucuses worked, last time I participated was in 1988. I was in the Jesse Jackson camp (as a high school senior), but we were quickly outmaneuvered by the Dukakis machine. Santorum has to finish no lower than 4th, but hopefully (for him) 2nd or 3rd in NH. You'd have to guess Romney by a lot, then Paul/Santorum/Gingrich for 2nd, with no result surprising. Perry and Bachmann, along with Huntsman, all probably suspending, which will definitely help Santorum in SC. Gingrich and Paul both kind of in-between about contending for NH, because of the newspaper endorsement for NEWT but also, Paul will get massacred by the military/GOP establishment vote in S.C. Paul has to finish 2nd in NH or he's done...if Santorum beats Gingrich and finishes a respectable 3rd, he can very easily beat Romney in SC, IMO. He has a good chance at beating Romney again as the evangelical vote is 40-45% of SC, compared to the teens in NH.

Bush/Gore 2000 revisited... Wonder if Romney loses whether he will ask for a recount or look petty in doing so? After all McCain was 4th in the past and he became the nominee eventually.

Santorum's got to survive NH. It would really help if Bachman pledged her support towards him....Gingrich was endorsed by main newspaper (Union Leader I think?) there at the end of November, so he will live on through South Carolina at least. Perry and Bachmann have to be reassessing....Huntsman's never been in it.

Why is Vanilla Ice being connected to Iowa? Shouldn't it be Kurt Warner or someone actually from Iowa?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberm...man-109497.html Funny Paul tweet at poor Huntsman. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71011.html Can Santorum catch fire? Other articles at politico.com arguing Gingrich and other candidates should give up and support Santorum against Romney.

Santorum put everything into this state...practically living there for much of the last year. Romney just fought back the final week/s when things finally turned against Gingrich and all the soft money destroyed him...Swift Boat/Bush vs. McCain/Perot/Kerry tactics Paul did well...Santorum seemingly got the entire Huckabee vote. 4th place allows Gingrich to live on a bit longer, Bachmann and Perry are pretty much done, although Perry will try to rally in South Carolina with his homespun speech. By the way, as a native Iowan...we have one of the best educational systems in the U.S., although we do get the leftovers from the Chicago suburbs who can't get into Northwestern or Illinois, haha. Those are the same college kids who got so firmly behind Obama in 2008 and helped turn the state for him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 3, 2012 -> 07:22 PM) Who is Crowley? Terry?

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 3, 2012 -> 07:12 PM) Cowley is being a big doucher on twitter right now. Trying to start s*** between Garfien, Jermiane Dye, and the White Sox. What's the gist of it? China has twitter/FB/youtube blocked, so just curious. About the time that Rios was acquired in 2009 and the writing was on the wall as far as JD's future?