flavum

QUOTE (daggins @ Jan 19, 2017 -> 10:28 AM) With all votes now being public, I think guys like Mussina and Edgar Martinez will see significant bumps as well. Edgar Martinez will be next year's Hoffman. He'll be real close. Voter group think is a real thing. People who never thought Hoffman deserved it, will vote for him because he's close, and no other reason. I'm not a Hoffman or Edgar guy, but it's going to happen.

I could see Thome coming up short in his first year, like Vlad did. There's no reason not to vote for him, but voters still act like 1st Ballot means something, which is stupid. Either you think the guy belongs in, or you don't.

If you have MLB Network, watch the last two minutes of MLB Tonight the next airing.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 18, 2017 -> 06:55 PM) Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel have to have legit shots. Andruw doesn't pass the smell test. I know the numbers look great for 10 years and the defense, but, ya know... Vizquel looks like a glove-first Hall of Fame SS. I wouldn't complain if he got in, but the stat nerds are going to be anti-Omar.

2018 ballot- Chipper Jones, Jim Thome are locks. Also on- Rolen, Andruw Jones, Johan Santana, Johnny Damon, Omar Vizquel Vizquel is going to be the new Jack Morris. My 2018 ballot- Guerrero, Clemens, Bonds, Mussina, Schilling, Manny, McGriff, Chipper, Thome Only 9, but Hoffman is getting in next year along with Vlad, Chipper, and probably Thome.

If you didn't know, Ivan Rodriguez made his debut at new Comiskey Park in 1991. He got married that morning. The first player he threw out was Joey Cora, then Warren Newson. Also, Piazza getting in was very good for him on his first ballot.

Bagwell - 86.2 Raines - 86.0 Rodriguez - 76.0 Hoffman - 74.0 Guerrero - 71.7 Clemens and Bonds around 54%

I don't care about Beer right now. My hope is the Sox make quality trades to the point where they have the worst AL record in 2017 with a losing interleague record. If that means they draft 2-5 in 2018, so be it.

The country of Colombia is spelled without a U. Back to the discussion...

By the way, just want to say before it becomes a topic...Raines was a good player for the Sox, but he's not ours. He doesn't deserve to get his number retired or a statue. If the Sox want to have a Tim Raines Day where they give away something, and give him a gift, great. But don't get crazy.

I was there. Congrats, Tim Raines, in advance.

They can take their chances and hold on to him, but I think he gets traded a week from today. Wednesday, January 25.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 02:49 PM) Yaaaaaaaaaaawn. Pretty much. We get it. Call me when the deal is done.

Sponsored by Total Lubricants. WTF.

Nothing official, but not every guy deserves their own thread. Jason Bourgeois re-signed. The Sox signed lefty pitcher Cory Luebke, and catcher Carson Blair. Other non-rosters: C Geovany Soto UTL Cody Asche LP Matt Purke RP Blake Smith IF Everth Cabrera I'm sure other guys with major league experience will get added, plus guys like Burdi and Collins from the system.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 02:07 PM) If we're going to hate on talented, cocky, young kids then this rebuild is really going to be tough. Yeah, unfortunately acting like Nick Swisher is now the norm, and not the exception. Millennials.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 01:21 PM) If they aren't over 75% now, Hoffman and Vlad aren't making it this time around. Probably not, but I'm not saying that definitively. With a lot of the old-schoolers getting chopped off the electorate last year, I'm still holding out a little hope. In my opinion, they should find a format that three, and only three, former MLB players get in each year. That would be a good percentage of former players that get in. It's more than the top 1%, but still less than 2%. Plus then it wouldn't take 75% to get in. The whole steroid era kinda messed it all up with the backlog.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 01:14 PM) Typically the percentages drop with the last ballots, so it will be interesting to see if IRod holds on. I'm hoping the remaining ballots are the non-Bonds/Clemens people, and their votes are more pro-Guerrero. Only 2 would be disappointing. 3 is ok, but no Guerrero is a joke. 4 or 5 would be very nice.

http://www.bbhoftracker.com/ 51.7% of the ballots public. Raines - 89.8% Bagwell - 88.4% Rodriguez - 78.2% -- Hoffman - 72.4% Guerrero - 72.0% Announcement tomorrow at 5pm. I'm not a Hoffman guy, but he's getting in eventually, so I'm rooting for 5 guys to get in tomorrow.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 12:28 PM) How is Kopech a dbag for throwing hard? It's not that. It's the whole persona that he's putting out there, as a AA pitcher.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 12:15 PM) Yup. Dude needs some humble pie. I want him to be a bad ass but it's also already kinda hard to root for him. There's a high D Bag factor there already. On the pitching side of things, it's too bad locating and changing speeds seem to be secondary to lighting up the radar gun. If Buehrle was a college player now, would he even get drafted?

For the Astros: 32 starts, 209 innings, 3.43 ERA

https://twitter.com/coatesktbb/status/821389680507752448 Check the gun. Is this a dumb thing to do? https://twitter.com/BrandonOSports/status/821389615135358976

If you want to see Don Cooper face the White Sox in 1985 2:48:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVC3J4LOTc

If and when the Royals fall out of it this year, they're going to be the team cleaning up on trades at the deadline. The Sox are trading Quintana before opening day, probably way sooner.