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QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 9, 2015 -> 12:24 PM) That's what I thought too, but now I sort of understand it. The Cubs performed very well during the 2nd half of the 2014 season and they have some pretty solid rotation arms, now headlined by Lester. Travis Wood is really the John Danks of their rotation which includes Hammel, Lester, Arrieta, and Hendricks, which is a formidable top 4. The only question mark is the prospects, but I think Kris Bryant is a sure thing, and one to two of the Soler/Baez/Alcantara/Schwarber crowd could be perennial all-stars- and they also have Rizzo in that lineup. I think they'll win 80-87 games next year depending on how the prospects perform, but they have very underrated pitching. The reason I said they have a bunch of unproven players is the likelihood of Hammel, Arrieta, Hendricks and Wood putting up a dud season is just as high as the likelihood of them turning in a decent season, especially in the case of of Hendricks. The guy's stuff is below average and doesn't have a good pedigree. I am willing to bet that Noesi will turn in a better season than Hendricks would.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 9, 2015 -> 02:00 PM) Adding Lester immediately gives them a decent rotation. Not top of the line yet but good. It takes them from the basement to the middle of the pack. The hype has everything to do with Theo and his group. They are leading the way for the SABR group and many of the national writers believe this is the way to go. The Cubs have compiled a number of really good hitting prospects. The only thing really missing was to buy the pitching since they didn't draft it. Their philosophy appears to be to acquire proven or MLB experienced pitching because drafting and developing them is tough to do. So far their plan is on track. however, for them to be that good this year, everyone one of the young players will need to have an impact and no one can have a bad year. Possible but not likely. I know where you're coming from, and I personally feel that the Cubs can contend for a World Series in 2-3 years, and that's if at least 3 or Bryant, Soler, Baez, Russell, Almora and Schwarber pan out. Even if this opinion is coming from SABE writers, the Red Sox, Angels, and Dodgers still trump everyone else in terms of advance metrics. Taking a step back, this team hasn't finished above .500 in the past 5 years, and hasn't made the playoffs in 6 years, adding Lester and Maddon isn't enough to turn the ship around, unless they are banking on Bryant, Baez and Soler to be stars right out of the gate. Sabemetrics is cute and all, but basing the entire prediction on it and completely ignoring other factors like durability for 162 games and post season experience is completely asinine. Like other posters have said, this is a perfect example of attention getting or the equivalent of Skip Bayless trolling on ESPN. I don't even think Cubs fans themselves feel that their team is ready to win a WS this season.

Can someone explain to me what's with all the Cubs hype recently? Does adding Lester, Montero and bringing back Hammel, while getting Maddon to coach their team make them THAT much better? They have too many unproven talents for anyone to start hopping on their bandwagon.

Hopefully this also means the plan to cut ties with Johnny boy is on the horizon.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 11:48 AM) He's 6'0, 215 right now and running a 4.4? Good god that's insane. By all means, the kid is definitely a serious athlete. If he was a running back in football, he'd be an elite prospect.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 7, 2015 -> 08:26 PM) If Micah could be a productive major league player he'll be a fan favorite in Chicago with his looks. If he's an All Star the national media will love him. I posted a video of an interview with him in the hitters mini camp thread. I am becoming a fan of his already, and I think the media will like him too. He's a pretty intelligent, likable dude with a lot of aspirations in life. I don't think this has been posted on here yet, but he's definitely paying a lot of attention to what Hahn and the team have been doing so far, and hopes to become a GM himself someday. http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/105...d-off-the-field The tidbit on his 40 yard dash and olympic weight training is also interesting, and could potentially make him a power and speed guy rather than just a speedster.

Chicago White Sox 1 hr · White Sox have announced an expanded list of current and former players scheduled to appear at SoxFest 2015, including: White Sox pitchers John Danks, Zach Duke, Dan Jennings, David Robertson and Jeff Samardzija; White Sox prospects Tim Anderson, Courtney Hawkins, Micah Johnson and Carlos Rodon; White Sox greats Bo Jackson, Ron Kittle, Carlos May, Bill Melton, Minnie Minoso and Billy Pierce; and assistant hitting coach Harold Baines. http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/105...at-soxfest-2015 Not sure if they've brought out that many prospects in the past, but that's the past 3 first round picks, and the guy they pegged as the 2B of the future. I have a feeling Micah would be on the opening day roster if he could just have a solid but not spectacular Spring Training.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jan 7, 2015 -> 08:06 AM) What's amazing about the Jimmy block was he timed his jump perfectly. He literally jumped at the same time Harden was getting ready to shoot. That kid's timing and defensive awareness are off the charts.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 02:49 PM) Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 3m3 minutes ago Derrick Rose on his sore hip: "I should be able to play tomorrow. I'm not worried about it." He must be suffering from dancer's hip. I knew that strutting back to the bench after those big shots will take a toll on him.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 10:46 AM) He's being ignored a little. At this point he's my MVP for the Bulls, as much as Butler deserves the mention as well. 1 off the league lead in double doubles, putting up career stats in boards and blocks. He's "won" us more games than Jimmy at this point. But both have been amazing. I disagree with you on this. I will admit that Gasol is a more consistent and reliable force on offense (at least perception-wise), and even though he's gotten better defensively as of late, he was horrendous early on in the season. Butler impacts the game on both ends of the floor, plays 40 minutes night in and night out, came up big in late games a few times already this season. While on some nights, Gasol isn't even on the floor for most of the 4th quarter.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 6, 2015 -> 10:03 AM) For example, last night, they focus in on what he did to hold Harden to something like 2 points in the 2nd half. Immediately, he gives credit to his teammates, etc, credits them for the team effort and everything. He literally says the right thing whenever I've heard him interviewed this year. He's the anti-Rose from that perspective. That's because Rose never got an interview for his great defense. But I think Butler is the antithesis of Rose in many ways on the court as well, you almost couldn't find 2 backcourt players with more different playing styles.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 10:41 PM) Oh, when I was driving in my car, ESPN radio reported that Jackson was going to the knicks. I heard that and was like, wow, that is incredible. I don't understand what the Cavs are doing. Maybe they are just going to cut Smith and figure Shumpert isn't a bad fit. Smith is essentially Waiters, but more efficient, believe it or not. They badly need a strong perimeter defender, and Shumpert fits the bill. A combo of Lebron-Shumpert-Kyrie is more versatile than Lebron-Kyrie and Marion/Mike Miller. I don't get the deal for OKC. They didn't give up much for Waiters, but they have no use for the guy and the trade pretty much puts them over tax apron.

Beverly is a dirt bag.

Jimmy Butler just suck that Harden shot into the dark hole and told him ain't no one got them for that!

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 11:14 AM) Really good 4. 3's just have more speed to close out at the 3pt line, and also recover on the pump fakes. When he does this vs. 4s they have no chance. For one, he eliminates a 6'8 or taller man from clogging the lane, for 2, they are helpless to defend him that far out. But he wasn't awful, I think Green shot pretty poorly. He was running fantastic PnRs with Noah, except Noah has no ability to finish despite getting fantastic looks. I'm fine with him being a 4, with some more development, he'd be a good enough rebounder to hold his own in that position. I think he was a little awkward as a 3, just didn't have enough lateral quickness to score against or defend a more athletic 3.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 03:55 PM) I'm not sure including 2013 for Bonifacio helps him either. There is little chance Bonifacio replicates his 2014 season vs. lefties, but I think he could still do better than Viciedo did the past 2 years. On top of that, Bonifacio 2014 season supports his career .290 average against lefties, while Viciedo is trending downward in that department. We needed a guy who could play 3B and hit lefties, Bonifacio fits that bill better than Viciedo, no need for debate here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 03:24 PM) EB .291/.341/.380 DV .291/.331/.507 What about the last 2 years for DV?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 02:14 PM) Better than the Saladino alternative I was thinking would happen, and I think it hints at the strong likelihood of Johnson winning the 2B job. The means a bench of: --Backup C --Bonifacio --4th OF (right now Viciedo) --??? The ??? can be just about anyone, now that Bonifacio is there, because he can cover basically any position AND can PR. So his presence actually adds flexibility to the rest of the bench. You could go Sanchez or Saladino, or you could even have another OF, an extra pitcher, or heck even Davidson or Wilkins (though I think those are unlikely). Hard not to like the move. I'd have to say right now Danks, Viciedo, and Shuck are in contention for the last 2 bench spots. If Viciedo is traded, Shuck will have a better shot, but Danks will have a spot, and it's for him to lose. With the health issues of Eaton and defensive struggles of Avi, we absolutely need someone who's a defensive minded OF. Danks fits that bill.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) Then he saw the "I am drunk" thread and announced White Sox players and staff will only stay at Motel 6's from now on. So not only are you saying Hahn reads Soxtalk, but Steve could actually be a Sox player?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) No offense to anyone here, but if Rick Hahn is getting personnel ideas from Soxtalk, JR needs to find a new GM. Thanks, Dick. And no offense to you, I don't think anyone seriously thinks that Rick Hahn takes advices from Soxtalk. If he did, we would've signed every free agent out there this offseason, and traded for Upton, Kemp, Castro, CarGo and Viciedo would have been long gone by now.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 28, 2014 -> 06:02 AM) Saying that I am wrong is a stupid thing to say, I just diagree with you. If you're confident in your system and your player development process then you shoul feel confident in your team's ability to develop those picks into solid players. The more draft picks you have, the greater influx of talent that enters the system, the more players you develop into major league caliber players and more you don't have to go out and sign players to big contacts and the flexibility you have as an organization. Look at the Cardinals. You might not want to hear this, but prospect developing is more about luck than anything else. Until statisticians and sabes can invent a scientific method that could predict the success of prospects with great success, it will always be the case. Even for the model farm system like the Cardinals who you assumed have better ability to develop draft picks, they only developed 2 major leaguers with their 3rd round picks from 2003 to 2011. Joe Kelly and Daniel Descalso. To top it off, none of the said draft picks even made any Top 100 lists. So let me ask, would you take the pick with less than 20% of even reaching the major leagues, or would you take Melky Cabrera, a proven major leaguer that fills a need? So far, we aren't even taking into account the timing of the resource. The Sox have a need now, not 4 years from now. Timing of the sources is extremely important, that's why teams overpaid for needs at the trade deadline (see A's trade for Samardzija). The Cardinals are a smart organization, they do not have just one strategy to build their roster. I think any smart organization would have done what the Sox had done to fill a need. The 3rd round pick is just the cost of doing business.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 1, 2015 -> 08:29 PM) These are stretches you could predict having really had a run of games. But, his defense is a joke recently. He did just redeem himself and block an alley hoop

You keep suggesting getting Zobrist depending on the cost of the trade, but Balta already hinted to you the price tag for Zobrist. We'd have to give up at least either of Danish/Montas, plus a couple of top 10 guys to get him, with the likelihood that he will walk away after this year. If we are going to trade the farm for a guy, we should target guys who will be here for our window of contention, which is the next 3-4 years, not just 2015. Trading for a rental player is a move you make in July, not in January. Lastly, if the Sox are looking to make moves to improve chances of playoffs this year, I think another starting pitcher is a bigger need than 2B. If we have a need a 2B come July or August, one could be had for a lesser price.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2014 -> 12:47 PM) The question to ask in reply is...would you be willing to miss the playoffs this year if Sanchez and Johnson can't provide decent performance out of 2b? To which I ask, are we so sure right now that 2B is our weakest position and is it our biggest need to upgrade taking account long term potential? It sounds like you're suggesting we are making this decision for this year only, and if that's the case we don't have to have the roster completed by January. I rather wait till July or August to evaluate our need to make a playoff run, and similar talent could be had for a lesser price around that time. On top of that, Sanchez has a track record for hitting in the minors, and if you take into account defense as well, he could be out performing Gillaspie by July.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 31, 2014 -> 11:58 AM) The bat hasn't really slowed down, but his power has diminished. He's still hitting about .270 and walking 10-11% of the time. And, while you're right that the defense will slow down, I don't know that it will get to the point where he's a liability in the field. I don't see any reason why he couldn't be a 2-3 WAR player at age 38 considering he's been a 5-6 WAR player for pretty much the entirety of his career. Again, not saying I want him, but he's not going to be cheap to acquire. That was precisely what I was hinting at. I agree that he wouldn't fall off the face of the earth by age 37-38. I actually DON'T want to go after him for another reason. It could play out in two scenarios for us. We acquire him and lose him in free agency or we lock him up for a huge deal. I wouldn't want to trade the farm for him for just 1 year, because for what? If we do lock him up, it wouldn't be cheap. With no contracts coming off the book next year, it would also impact our flexibility to resign Shark as well as extending some of the guys like Eaton and Avi, and upgrade in the positions of greater need, 3B and C. We already have 2 prospects who are close to ML ready at 2B. At some point you got to play them. That's why the "trade for Zobrist so prospects could develop" argument doesn't work here. If we are going to trade prospects for a position player, it better be a 3B or C, as we don't have in house replacements, or a 2B with a cost controlled contract.