Jerksticks

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 03:10 PM) I think they should let the team with the worst record have the #1 pick but 14th worst should pick 2nd, 2nd worst should pick 3rd, 13th worst should pick 4th etc. This would stop some of it IMO. Not bad. Maybe just change the rules of basketball to the point where you don’t need a superstar or good shooters to win.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Mar 30, 2018 -> 07:12 AM) Waking up after an Opening Day win never gets old Yes, the air smells crisp today my friends. The eggs taste good.

I don’t think a cushy retirement is a right that all Americans should have. I subscribe more to every family has a right to acquire as many dollars as they want. If you choose to do something that doesn’t gather many dollars then someone else in your family should gather dollars as well. We all have the right to pursue happiness, but not the right to happiness. Anything else leads to budget crises time and again. Probably too far gone to ever get back on track so it is what it is now.

What’s the word on the ground? Is the dirt okay? I’m assuming he went crashing down onto a bunch of vulnerable earth.

QUOTE (New Era on South Side @ Feb 25, 2018 -> 07:16 PM) I’m not sure if this belongs here or in the Democrat thread but I historically split my ticket and am voting out an incumbent in Peter Roskam nationally. However, locally, I am looking for candidates who are more moderate or democratic that will go against Mike Madigan. Does anyone think any of them would go against the man who is dolling our support to their campaign? Is Rauner really doing a bad job as governor and is he somehow involved with Trump? What positions on the ballot actually have an impact on Illinois, given that the general assembly can’t get anything done? I don’t live there but I say vote union, vote teachers, vote pensions. Just go down with the ship and vote D across the board. It’s too late for moderation, cutbacks or austerity of any kind. So f*** it- blaze of glory.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 25, 2018 -> 07:16 AM) This idea is just crazy and I’m pretty sure you know that. Let’s put guys, many of whom already have problems with ptsd and issues integrating back into society, into a school with a directive to protect against a possible school shooter. What happens if one of them sees something that isn’t there and opens fire on the kids? Are we going to vet all of them for mental health? Because that seems to be quite an issue right now with normal people, much less trained war veterans. I don’t want my kids going to school where someone with a gun is patrolling the halls at all times comparing it to a war https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02...rd-schools.html I didn’t know that idea was suggested already. I’m just saying let the men and women of the local towns volunteer to guard the schools. I think we’d be surprised how many flock to volunteer for a noble cause. It wouldn’t be 1 person per day. I bet you’d get 10’s of volunteers daily depending on the location. Maybe PTSD vets is a bad idea.

Instead of arming teachers, why not let the retired vets do the job? I bet they’d be way more than happy to each take a day per week protecting their community schools. Then we honor them and s*** and it’s all good.

LuBob is one of the better nicknames tossed around on here in a long time. Love it man, hope it sticks. I’ll do my part.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 02:46 PM) So you think sparklers, duct tape and nails tossed into a crowd is more deadly than someone firing high capacity clips into a crowd from a distance? I have no idea what’s more deadly. What I do know is that a few sparkler bombs loaded with shrapnel could wound or kill hundreds of people in a crowd quite easily. Just throwing the idea out there that if all the semi automatic rifles are banned, will something replace them? Because a sick sonofab**** that wants to kill lots of people thinks like a sick sonofab**** that wants to kill lots of people. What vehicle of destruction does he then choose? Not against or for gun laws, just trying to apply rational, unemotional thinking to examine a sick mind.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 01:46 PM) Making functional explosives is much more difficult than purchasing a gun off the shelf from Bass Pro or going the even easier private sales route. Disagree. It’s a lot cheaper to buy some sparklers, duct tape and nails than it is to purchase a gun and do the background check. I’ve built plenty of them, minus shrapnel. All I’m saying is it’s gonna suck when somebody finally does it and throws it in a crowd. It’ll make this look like a cartoon.

What are we going to do when these f’ed up kids start realizing how easy it is to make pipe bombs from everyday materials? I’m so surprised that never happens and I’m scared to death of the day it starts. No laws will be able to help anybody.

I think I’m leaning towards throwing a bunch of money at Donaldson for a few years instead of less money to Moose for more years. Gives us the chance to see if Burger tears it up in 2028 or not.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 11:21 PM) Kind of agree with Greg that maybe Sox are moving on from their plan to go after Manny. I wonder what the 3B plan options are on the big board. I doubt Manny is plan A. Hard to PLAN on the top player choosing your team. He’s more like Plan GravyTrain.

So what does it mean when say the Astros racked up about 52 total team WAR in 2017 but only had an opening day payroll of 125M? Did they really get $340M in surplus value? The bottom two teams record wise, the Tigers & Giants break down as follows: Giants: 37 team WAR, opening day payroll $172M: $161M surplus value Tigers: 20.6 team WAR, opening day payroll: $199M: -13.6MM The Dodgers had about $210 million in surplus value, putting up essentially the same WAR as the Astros with double the payroll. What does all this mean? Nothing?

Great points above. I feel like our window will be open much longer than the cubs’. The waves of arms will just keep coming.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 4, 2018 -> 11:53 AM) I actually think the bullpen is decent to start the year. They'll take a big chunk out of it though by dealing players. If Nate Jones is healthy, he'll bring back a lot in a deal. Soria, Avilan and some of these NRI's could be very tradeable as well. White Sox have a lot of relief pitching prospects as well that could be seen as high leverage types. This is exactly what they should be doing right now. I’m with you. There’s a way to bend the light and see a dominant bullpen, potentially. There’s just so much gas- almost 800 mph worth. I felt the same way going into ‘07 so it could all Sisco on us really quick.

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Jan 28, 2018 -> 01:47 AM) Had a really great time at my first ever SoxFest! I was really bummed I didn't make it in time to be in the room during the opening ceremony. I was in the "viewing room" above with a few hundred other fans. But I made up for it by asking Hahn a couple questions at the first seminar of the evening. My first question, was, of course, whether my RedLineRadio "Hahn" shirt was "A GREAT shirt, or THE GREATEST shirt". Hahn chuckled and muttered that he is still waiting for his commission on that shirt. Then I asked if he anticipate the record-high $68M contract given out to Abreu to be broken next off-season (referring to Machado, without saying it), and he told me that they have offered 9-figure contracts in the past, and to get the idea of the Sox not offering big money to anyone out of our heads. There is a video of the Hahn shirt question on twitter that WhiteSoxDave retweeted. I also took a video of my 2nd question, but didn't post it anywhere. From there I got autographs and shook the hands of 8 players. My observations of the players were that Giolito, Rodon, and Fulmer are extremely outgoing and excited to interact with fans. Hansen barely smiled or looked at anyone. Cease wouldn't stop smiling, although he looked more nervous/shy than anything. Everyone else was generally friendly and accommodating. Walking through the hall my crew walked RIGHT PAST Moncada when he was on his way to go to the signing booth. I didn't even recognize it was him until about 3 feet away. We made brief eye contact and then all I could muster was "Oh s***!" and I pointed him out to my crew as he and Yolmer (who I didn't notice at all the first time) walked by. Someone no one else seemed to notice him, it was kind of funny. I then stumbled upon Sierra Santos doing a segment with Dylan Cease and a kid playing Twister. Somehow, again, no one seemed to notice. So it was literally myself, Cease, Sierra, the kid, a camera man, and the kid's parents. I watched and snapped some pics and then ultimately Cease's knee touched the ground and Sierra went to me for a ruling. I decided, as I think are the rules, that a knee down means you lost. So the kid won. I later apologized to Cease in the autograph line for having to call him out on it, but he said he was relieved the kid won so he didn't have to feel bad. lol. Bought a few things at the Sox garage sale. Sox pint glass for $4. Paid $2 for a Chris Sale stretch-armstrong somehow. Paid $1 for a mini souvenir bat. And then paid $10 for game worn pants by former Sox Deunte Heath. They are the 1983 style pants. Can't believe they were only $10, I'm actually really stoked about it. The twitter-vending machine earned me an autographed baseball. #18, but honestly can't read the autograph. I think it might be Saladino, so I sent a pic to my buddy who is friends with Tyler to find out. Then, at the end of the night when everyone was leaving, I again found myself in the presence of White Sox players that SOMEHOW no one seemed to notice. I was standing outside the Hilton waiting for my girlfriend to come pick me up, and out walk Kopech, Giolito, and their lady friends. The four of them just standing there outside next to me. They are going on about their plans for the night and Giolito was talking about his shoe collection. I was pretty much stunned that no one was around hounding them for autographs or pictures. So, without wanting to bug them too much, and Giolito noticing that I was looking shocked, I asked "Hey, do you might if a take a snapchat real quick? I didn't want to be creepy and just take a pic." Kopech looked up but just ignored it. Giolito smiled and said "Yeah man, of course! We are here for you guys this weekend, that's what this is about". I didn't ask them to pose or to be in it, I more or less just wanted someone to believe me that I was standing outside with them waiting for a ride. When their Uber finally pulled up, we all said bye to each other and I told Kopech to have a good night and good luck this year. He said "Thanks man, I appreciate that" and took off. I forgot to save my snapchat story like an idiot, but some pictures I did download or just take with my regular camera app, so I'll post some stuff in the next post. Awesome man. Just awesome stuff there.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 03:56 PM) Law also said that if he were rankings organizational talent 25 years or younger, he would likely have the Sox #1. Exactly. I love that we’re #4 without counting Moncada, Lopez & Giolito. We have the most young talent in baseball and it’s not even close.

QUOTE (wrathofhahn @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 03:31 PM) I want more certainty from Hahn. He talks about Yelich and Machado but the problem with that is the rebuild hasn't been completed. I want his assurance he will follow the season ender PC where he talked about 2020 being the target date. Last thing we need is to be back where started in no mans land because Hahn or more likely Kenny didn't have the stomach for a proper 2-3 year rebuild. When does a rebuild complete exactly? I feel like the goal is always to have awesome players at every position. Some of those are going to come through free agency and trades. The whole point of having a farm system is to supplement the major league roster.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 22, 2018 -> 08:54 PM) I won't comment. Only say wow at your post A good wow? Get a lil pumped reading it? I got so pumped I just started a stupid thread. Please tell me you at least got a half-stick reading that.

Yea Brady is in the Super Bowl again. Way. To. Go. Do their fans even care about regular season games anymore? I love watching the White Sox so much on a summer night that I don’t think I’ll get spoiled. I may desire to see them get a bigger challenge though after 4-5 straight championships. Maybe MLB will consolidate the NL into one super team to try to beat the Sox...which will still not be enough, but at least competitive.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Jan 22, 2018 -> 04:23 PM) A bunch of it is no matter how bad the Sox are this season, the Royals and Tigers will probably be much worse. They could have an inflated record and a false sense of how close they really are going into 2019 due to the awfulness that will be the Tigers and Royals. Hahn has to look at performance vs the big boys in the AL in order to gauge that, rather than division placement or even how many wins they have. They're going to play the Tigers and Royals 36 times, and winning 20 of those is probably a conservative estimate. I don’t think a false hope would impact anything though. 2019 and beyond is a competitive window, whether they beat up on the Tigers & Royals or not. There’s really no chance of adding talent too early when you’re on the ground floor of your competitive window. This isn’t some fringy 80 win team of veterans.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2018 -> 05:25 AM) So everyone in the countries are crap and they should be stuck where they are? You seem to like Venezuelan baseball players, but if they are from a s***hole, what are they doing roaming our streets when they aren't being watched playing baseball? The commie Cubans, why is Jose Abreu here? Dangerous. No one is arguing these countries have issues, but that doesn't make all their people horrible people. You just gave reasons why a reasonable person would want to flee. Seems most people came to this country initially under the same premise. Dick I never mentioned anything about the people of these countries, not sure where you got that from my post. Merely saying that if all the countries were ranked, some countries have to be at the bottom. And if North Korea isn’t a s***hole, then what is a s***hole? I’m only arguing the accuracy of the term s***hole.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 21, 2018 -> 09:42 PM) You make it sound like the US is the only country where immigration is an issue. The main push for the Brexit was around the same issues. The people in the UK wanted to kick out the LEGAL immigrants to stop taking their jobs and paying for them in their economy. If anything the issues of immigration are worse the here, it's just that there are more here due to the size of the countries involved. Totally. You know what’s funny? Is that the huge crisis in Europe, and it’s an absolute nightmare of a crisis, is caused by a huge influx of millions of people from a few s***hole countries. Failed states are s***holes. Places with constant war, oppressive regimes, the inability to feed citizens, the inability to have any record keeping are pretty much the definition of s***hole. As an example: If for some reason I was told I had to live somewhere besides the United States but I could pick anywhere I’d be like “Cool, let me check the world map and pick a place. So many choices, well let me start with where I don’t want to go:” In no particular order those countries would probably be Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Chad, Somalia, Libya, Yemen & North Korea, due to the governments (or lack thereof) and the treatment of citizens. Not because I’m racist but because these are pretty much s***holes. Failed states are s***holes. I think Trump is right on this one, but the President is required to have an unrivaled level of tact, which he has zero. But he is right that failed states are s***holes because if they aren’t s***holes, then what is a s***hole? If the countries of the world were placed on a bell curve, some would be pushing 3 dev. Wouldn’t those be s***holes by default. Or maybe no countries are s***holes and that’s an argument I’d be willing to listen to, because otherwise SOME countries have to be the s***holes by statistics. Or maybe the bell doesn’t apply. And please don’t tell me about human beings or skin color, just talking about conditions of governments and treatment of citizens here.

QUOTE (Two-Gun Pete @ Jan 20, 2018 -> 01:34 PM) I don't see Yelich as being a fit for the rebuild, and I don't see him as being a CFer going forward. Looking @ Fangraphs, he has a negative DRS as a CFer. What's worse, this is in the NL, where the opposing pitcher hits, and thus there may be fewer opportunities for a CFer to make plays. One would anticipate that his DRS would worsen in the Big Boy AL. He DOES have a positive DRS in LF, and comparable power numbers to Avi. However, him moving off CF would reduce his value to an acquiring team. IF Yelich were to be acquired, I'd view him as a replacement for Avi in one of the corners, rather than as a CFer. [Though, I wouldn't want to send Miami anything of value to do so, and I do not support his acquisition.] I agree with all of this. Love the idea of Yelich’s bat in our lineup but as somebody mentioned the other day, outfield isn’t really a problem for the Sox moving forward. Sure, CF is a bit up in the air but Robert might take care of that. With the outfields in the minors loaded with guys and not enough playing time to go around, it seems like a position where the Sox have the safest bet of playing “wait and see”. If the Sox are going to fire a bunch of prospect bullets for a Yelich-type core piece this early, maybe 3B is the way to go. Least amount of depth there. The only other sense I could make of a Yelich acquisition is buying lower with our prospects than we could sell him for in the future. I dunno.