flavum

I wasn't clear. I'm not complaining that he did a call-in. That's fine. But his comments on there that Peavy should start Opening Day. I think Sale should want the ball Opening Day, and I would hope Robin just gets over with and let's him know he's opening the season against Shields.

Chris Sale is doing some call-in thing... https://twitter.com/whitesox I like that he's humble, but somebody needs to tell him he's the ace of the White Sox and he's starting opening day and hopefully starting 33 games, including 6 against the Tigers this year.

Beckham looks like he's doing a little Cal Ripken-y thing with his bat before he swings. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play...18&c_id=cws

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 05:26 PM) Wouldn't surprise me at all if the Sox brass think they have their Harper/Trout in Hawkins, and want to see him in the bigs in a few years. If he's our Trout or Harper, he'll be up in September. If he's starting at High-A, I hope he just stays there all year. Then a full year of AA, and if he's ready for a taste of the bigs and the Sox are in a position to do it, he can come up September, 2014. Then probably have a plan for a 2015 callup so he's got the extra year of service time. If he's 21 in his rookie year that would be cool, but there's no rush. (or he's a Marlin by this August and we have Stanton)

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 02:15 PM) Sports leagues have learned that having a larger number of divisions containing smaller numbers of teams keeps more teams in the playoff hunt for a longer period of time which keeps late-season interest high in more cities. Being "fair" is not the primary concern of the leagues. Most of that is perception. If you have 15 teams playing a close to balanced schedule, more than likely you'll have 7 or 8 over-.500 teams and 7 or 8 under .500 teams. Over 162, the cream should rise to the top and the rewards should be for the best teams, regardless of geography. The AL Central shouldn't be a charity division. It wouldn't have taken away from the Tigers and White Sox from competing for a Wild Card spot last year. And in the NL, the Braves and Giants could have been in competition for the 3-seed until the end to avoid the 1-game playoff with the Cardinals. Instead, the Braves knew forever they were hosting that 1-gamer. It would have been better if they were playing for something to the end of the regular season.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 01:51 PM) That doesn't make sense. Then you still have a division with 4 teams (NL West) and a division with 6 (NL Central) EDIT: Unless you have the Astros moving to the NL West? I still don't understand how this is any better. Yes, it would have made more sense to move the Dbacks or Rockies to the AL to even out the leagues by time zone, plus the Astros have been an NL team for 50 years. But as I said before, with 5 of 15 teams making the postseason, there's no reason to have divisions anymore. The Tigers made the playoffs with the 7th best record in the league. It's stupid. And believe me, I'd be saying the same thing if it were the White Sox.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 01:15 PM) They needed an NL Central team to move to the AL West to balance out divisions. Geographically, Houston made the most sense. Of course, the real reason was probably more that MLB could force the move on a new ownership group and that the geographic fit was a nice coincidence. I guess you could have moved the Padres to the AL West and then the Astros to the NL West and that still could have worked. Or D-backs to the AL. They could have had the Rockies as an interleague partner. Col-Arz SD-Sea LA-LAA SF-Oak Hou-Tex Chi-Chi Cin-Cle Mil-Min Stl-KC Pit-Det Atl-Tor NY-NY Was-Bal Phi-Bos Mia-TB Done.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 12:58 PM) Sox website still not updated. I'm guessing they have an inventory of #17 Flowers jerseys they're trying to sell before they admit he has a new number. Yeah, I don't know what's going on with the numbers. Jared Mitchell was wearing 29, and now he's wearing 45 for picture day. Zach Stewart was 45 the other day so there seems to be some shuffling going on. Still, the Sox should have something on their website by now.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 12:05 PM) The NFL has a league most similar to MLB's and they generally keep teams in common areas in separate conferences. New York/New York, Jacksonville/Tampa/Miami, Dallas/Houston, Baltimore/Washington, Philadelphia/Pittsburgh, San Fran/Oakland...why would you change that? I understand that some of that is historical, but the NFL plays by the same rules in both conferences and they don't do any of that. If you were to do that you'd oversaturate the local markets and you'd lose money, long-term. There's simply no way in hell that you'd see a major realignment nor the Cubs and Sox ever in the same division. I hope you're right, but the way they want more games within the division so there are more games within the same time zone for TV revenue purposes, it scares me they'll just blow it up and make it even more regional. This is year one of Astros and Rangers in the same division. I think the Diamondbacks would have moved to the AL, but MLB wanted to use Astros/Rangers as a test to see what happens with attendance and TV ratings when they play each other head-to-head 19 games a year. If there's a noticeable spike over the next 5 years, then we'll see what happens. Personally, I would have moved the D-backs to the AL, eliminated divisions, and played a more balanced league schedule with 18 interleague games, and top 5 of 15 qualify for postseason.

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 11:35 AM) Of the two biggest spenders this off-season who makes the playoffs and who tanks? I think the Blue Jays will make the second wildcard, and the Dodgers just miss out on it. I'm rooting for the Angels and Dodgers to miss the playoffs. Nationals too. Blue Jays are going to win 90 games if their bullpen isn't awful.

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 19, 2013 -> 11:31 AM) I can't believe they instituted year round inter league without making the DH mandatory for both leagues. In just interleague games or NL goes to fulltime DH too? I see both sides...fans like what they're used to. I kinda hope they keep it the way it is, because if they ever have the same rule in both leagues, then they would be one step closer to radical realignment where the Sox and Cubs would be in the same division--and I would absolutely hate that.

Another reason why Sale should start the opener...it takes the bat out of his hands in Washington. Start him Monday and Sunday in Chicago, and let Peavy, Floyd, and Quintana/Danks hit in Washington.

Interesting... http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...ng-projections/

Dunn and Carlos Sanchez D'oh https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/30283...6393344/photo/1 https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/30283...3379201/photo/1 Watch your back, Beckham https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/30283...6896641/photo/1

Rick Hahn on Talking Baseball said Hawkins "could very well start the season at High-A Winston-Salem".

You gotta be some kind of arrogant to get off on a technicality, lie right to public while your teammates stand by you, and continue to juice. We'll see what happens, but there's just way too much smoke with this guy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 15, 2013 -> 02:32 PM) He is the fifth starter in the spring rotation right now. It's minor leaguers and bullpen guys the first 6 ST games, and then March 1-5 it's Sale, Quintana, Peavy, Danks, Floyd. Hopefully by OD it's Sale, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Quintana, and they're all ready to go 31-33 starts.

30 Clubs in 30 Days schedule. Sox next Thursday 2/21. Fri., Feb. 15 - Cubs Mon., Feb. 18 - Rangers Mon., Feb. 18 - Royals Tue., Feb. 19 - Rockies Tue., Feb. 19 - D-backs Wed., Feb. 20 - Padres Wed., Feb. 20 - Mariners Thurs., Feb. 21 - White Sox Fri., Feb. 22 - Indians Fri., Feb. 22 - Reds Mon., Feb. 25 - Dodgers Tue., Feb. 26 - Brewers Wed., Feb. 27 - Athletics Thurs., Feb. 28 - Giants Fri., Mar. 1 - Angels Sat., Mar. 2 - Blue Jays Sun., Mar. 3 - Braves Mon., Mar. 4 - Tigers Tue., Mar. 5 - Pirates Wed., Mar. 6 - Orioles Thurs., Mar. 7 - Astros Wed., Mar. 20 - Yankees Thurs., Mar. 21 - Rays Fri., Mar. 22 - Phillies Sat., Mar. 23 - Red Sox Sun., Mar. 24 - Twins Mon., Mar. 25 - Marlins Tue., Mar. 26 - Mets Wed., Mar. 27 - Cardinals Thurs., Mar. 28 - Nationals

MLB Network Schedule. http://www.mlb.com/network/schedule/Spring_Games.jsp

It's kind of a nothing story, but truthfully I'd rather have a manager that really aspired to be a manager after his playing career. This is rebuilding without saying it, so they'll put a decent team on the field and a likable manager in the dugout and in front of the microphones, and try to get the farm system rebuilt on the fly without doing a complete tear down, because economically the Sox can't afford to do it.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 11:38 AM) Good to see Danks back. Is he going to start pitching in live games right away or will the Sox wait till later in spring training? Supposedly it's minor leaguers and bullpen guys until March 1st. Then-- 3-1 Sale 3-2 Quintana 3-3 Peavy 3-4 Danks 3-5 Floyd

Danks throwing. We're going to need him. https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/30210...9209217/photo/1

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 01:18 PM) Any idea when the first televised game is? http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=87856

Keppinger http://instagram.com/p/Vrj4rhFsc2/ https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/30175...8471168/photo/1

Yes, Cooper is wearing 99 for Hickey. Daryl Boston takes 17 from Flowers.