ILMOU

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 06:58 AM) On the play GB scored the TD on the fumble, even they had no idea the play was still live, although there may be some merit in the Bears perhaps scoring there if Lovie was still coaching. Anderson was the guy who could have picked it up and ran. He wasn't coached by Lovie and his group. I have bashed Cutler plenty, but I thought he played a really good game yesterday. There were a couple of throws a bit off, but conditions weren't ideal. He also had a couple of drops, and the final throw for an INT was nothing you could hold against him. I don't know if Mel Tucker is an answer, but if you have to play guys like Conte and Steltz, and don't have much of a pass rush, I think there are a lot of coaches considered defensive geniuses who would look like fools. The drop by Marshall at the 25 or 30 with ~10 seconds was huge. If he makes the easy catch there, they use the timeout and Cutler has time to likely throw two darts in the endzone, instead of one desperation heave. And shut up already, Brandon, with the Ray Lewis/LeBron analogies - those guys lost on the brink of championships, you didn't even make the playoffs, again.

The "smoking gun" video is a mashup of Rodgers highlights and scenes from Brokeback Mountain.

Has Tucker been fired yet? I can live with everything but the fumble return, but I can't live with that.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 02:01 AM) If you put enough of these Cuban dudes on the same team, you're bound to end up pairing up two guys that hate each other I mean, you can't really make managerial decisions based on that, but I think about it Never much bought into the chemistry thing in baseball. Don't care if the team gets along. It's such an individual sport that I don't think it matters. My opinion is forged by the early days of my fandom in the '70's. The dynasties of that era, A's then Reds then Yanks, we're full of players that couldn't stand one another.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 02:01 AM) If you put enough of these Cuban dudes on the same team, you're bound to end up pairing up two guys that hate each other I mean, you can't really make managerial decisions based on that, but I think about it Looks "short and quick" as Hawk would say. His body looks like a combination of Puckett/Uribe/Cey. Quite a rump on that young man. The male J Lo? Disturbing, yes.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 24, 2013 -> 09:57 PM) When Choo signed he said he preferred Texas so I doubt he cared about endorsements, can't really fault Boris for Choo's decision. Maybe, but what else is he gonna say at that point?

The endorsement possibilities for Choo as a Yankee would have been far greater in both NY and Korea, vs. his situation in Texas. Boras did nothing positive for his client here. The bloom oughtta be off that rose by now. Hopefully soon.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Dec 23, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) We've all heard this song enough The Song Remains the Same. In fairness to Knuck, he only said Gordo is due, which is undeniable.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 01:17 PM) It's not an endorsement for flipping more an indictment on "closers." I hear ya. I'm more of a develop and flip, than sign and flip guy as it pertains to relievers and our org's strengths. Still bugs me that we didn't get anything better for Sergio, given his performance/age/contract heading into that deal. Should have yielded at least a Davidson-like piece.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 12:07 PM) I wanted Arrieta forever! I made threads about it. Hahn needs to listen to me more, he could have gotten Arrieta for a song. In general though the flips return prospects. You are right though, often you get nothing, but it's a nice little way to take a chance at something and maybe deepen the farm a little while taking virtually no risk. If the player fails you waive him if you can, DFA him & eat the money nif you have to, you're not committed to much of anything, and if things work out you can buy a prospect from someone. I'm glad we don't have Arrieta. I realize he's the polarizing type that will always entice with upside, but he would have shown more by now if he was ever going to "get" it, imo.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 11:43 AM) Signing Ryan Madson and dealing him at the deadline would be best option. I love how folks assume these sign-and-flips always work. Those who've fallen in love with Theo's return for Feldman need to take a look at the totality of his flipping scheme - more miss than hit, and not inexpensive.

C, not nearly "addressed" imo, and I agree with you on Lobaton.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) Jones, Petricka and Webb should be competing for the spot and let the best man have the job. I think Tyler Danish should be being groomed for a fast track to MLB closer anyway. Obviously not 2014, but I also don't think he should need a ton of time to develop as a closer either. Especially not with the type of stuff he has from an odd arm angle. I think you will see Danish as a setup-man/closer ala Sale when he first comes up, but he's being groomed as a starter, so that will be temporary unless an injury fear arises. The first and last choices of this poll are kind of the same thing, so one of those.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 01:12 PM) Kenny Williams trades definitively won: Borchard for Thornton Freddy Garcia trade Peavy trade Youkilis trade Contreras trade Danks - McCarthy trade Kenny Williams trades arguably won: Edwin Jackson - Daniel Hudson trade Javy Vazquez trade Thome trade Ken Griffey Jr. trade Kenny Williams trades neither win nor lost: Mark Teahen trade (Fields and Getz are hot garbage, so it was lateral) Mike Sirotka trade Liriano trade Jon Garland trade Trades Williams lost: Nick Swisher trades 1 & 2 I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple, but feel free to debate about how Kenny gave up too much other than the awful Swisher deals. TCQ, Freddy for Gavin and Aaron Miles for Uribe also big wins. He won much more than he lost. His non-trade acquisitions, Dye, AJP, Lexi are also better than most. How good could we have been in his tenure if we actually had developed position players?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 20, 2013 -> 06:39 AM) Watching Bonds at his juiced up prime was an absolute treat. It's amazing he hit as many homers as he did considering how few good pitches he would see. All juicers and juicing were not created equally. Many or most juicers were following regimens with second-hand advice from pseudo-medical/trainer types. Bonds was the lab rat for the cutting edge of the science.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 11:09 PM) I'd say they're mostly thinking about your top 20 versus everyone else's. They'll also have an impression of each of your recent drafts, though, which will certainly overlap with some of your top 20 but they may also like guys from your recent drafts that haven't yet made a name enough to crack the top XX list. Erik Johnson is a top 100 prospect -- someone even mentioned that he probably gets too little love due to BNS (Boring Name Syndrome). Better organizations would have several guys in a given year that look just like Semien. Guys who didn't have any great tools, but really broke out and took a pretty good performance to really really good levels. Some of those guys don't pan out. For us, we need our guy like that to pan out. Yeah, I think this has some merit. Compare Jake Odorizzi and Erik Johnson, for instance. The main difference between the two has been their prospect ranking.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 04:09 PM) The young players may, or may not develop fast enough for this team to compete this year. However, even if they do, the line up is still missing a left handed, impact bat. I'm still very uncomfortable depending upon Dunn to provide the only left handed balance, in the heart of the order. Unfortunately, with the new acquisitions, it's hard to see where they now have room to add that LH bat. Whose place would that player take? I think we're all with you there, Lillian. I don't see the LH/RH balance being solved this year - even if we acquire a good hitting LH C. Next year, we'll have the DH spot wide open OR Tank will shift there, in which case the new OF will have to be that guy. Agreed that the options don't appear abundant with new prospects being deemed the "future" at the respective positions. But things change.

I'm excited enough about the system that I'll be trying to convince the Mrs. to take a trip to the Carolinas next year. I figure if I can work in a trip to the Biltmore, and a carriage ride in Charleston, I can likely get her to 2-3 Milb games. Like these lists a lot. I posted an early-offseason one that would obviously be much different now. The consensus seems to have Danish a bit lower than I did - I see him as a potential #1 or #2 starter and can't wait to see him in live action

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) None whatsoever. There are a few guys who I think can become good and valuable players - the one I pretty much stand alone on that I think can become a very valuable player is Leury Garcia. I would like him to show better patience at the plate while making more contact (no problem, right?), but I like the idea of good defensive shortstops who are fast. I think you can find really cheap, undervalued players there. I like Leury as a D replacement/pinch runner/backup, but not as a starter until I see a lot more at the dish. Carlos Sanchez doesn't turn 22 til the end of June, and is killing it in Venezuela. And, from what I've read, he's the only high-minors guy that profiles well to SS defensively - it's by no means settled, but many have doubts about Semien there. The first few months of CS' second go-around in Charlotte should tell us a lot.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 01:36 PM) I guess while I was driving this was answered. However I still think they have one more pen guy for the mix and most likely still looking to deal a player or two. I still cant believe we havent gotten a vet bat for the IF. Curious as to what you have in mind here, Rock. Do you think the possibility of a no-hit utility guy like Leury is hugely unattractive to them, or are you talking about a hitting upgrade at 2nd or SS, combined with a trade, or are you talking about a 3rd base placeholder if Davidson isn't ready?

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 01:43 PM) That's what I was getting at....not many options. But there are a few in the free agent market. I'm guessing this our last pitching expenditure for the offseason, barring a possible coming-off-injury cheapie flyer on a starter. But who knows? O'Flaherty is still out there, I think, unless I missed something. I don't want to give Crazy Boone Logan Money to anyone, though!

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 12:52 PM) Yeah I agree with this. Not a fan of Veal....would rather go with someone else(not that there are many options). I'd agree if I had any confidence in Leesman or SantRod. Heck, I've been following Santos religiously ever since the Javy trade. His horrible adjustment to AAA, after finally showing a tiny semblance of control in AA, has me worried that he'll never throw strikes consistently enough. Needs to happen soon for him.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) As opposed to the high-K, high velocity types, I feel that Hahn and the front office have shifted their focus towards finding groundball pitchers, regardless of swing and miss stuff and velocity (though both are still preferred). The Sox have added Belisario and Downs in the past month. Here are their numbers Belisario (missed 2011) 2010 - 61.3% GB 2012 - 64.5% GB 2013 - 61.4% GB Downs 2011 - 63% 2012 - 60.4% 2013 - 64.3% This is in addition to Lindstrom's career 1.55 GO/AO and 50.7% GB in 2012 and 55.6% GB in 2013. Nate Jones was at 45.5% in 2012 and 50.5% in 2013. On the flip side are the two pitchers the Sox have traded, Santiago and Reed. Santiago was at 38.2% in 2012 and 36.4% in 2013, while Reed was at 32.9% in 2012 and 33% in 2013. Does this give any indication to you on who they could inquire on next? Who still may be available? What say you in general? Is it "wite, shut the hell up!"? Nah, it's nice catch Wite, for me. Not insignificant. Fly ballers will always be somewhat dicey in our park.

Loved your year to year evaluations of the consensus expectation. Accurate and telling. I do think Lexi has improved as a basestealer. And, I'd really like to know more about his familial issues in Cuba, regarding that excuse being made for him. IF he returns to elite defensive status, he'll have plenty of value by mid-season or next offseason, and will be more asset than burden.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 19, 2013 -> 07:06 AM) He better not get too comfortable being back home. Odds are he gets traded in the next year. Yeah, and I think he'd prefer to be on a team with an owner like JR for the same coin. I think we goofed here, but I'm not going to dead-horse it, and will maintain cautious optimism in RH's plan for the C position. However, I think it would suck if the season's primary goal for the position is to find out which of Flowgley makes a more adequate backup.