lasttriptotulsa

Need to rack up some wins in the next two series against the Rays and Angels. After that the Sox face a real tough 13 game stretch in which they face Texas, Toronto, Baltimore and Boston.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 11:29 PM) No, but are that 20% so monumentally ignorant of the world that they have NO idea that an election is coming up? Like I asked above, how much time do you need? 6 months might be a lot, but what about 2 months? 3 weeks? Why should an independent have declare their allegiance with any party just to be able to vote? I read that roughly 27% of the voters in New York are not affiliated with either party. That is a huge percentage of people whose opinion means squat. I think closed primaries are nothing but voter suppression that hurts any non establishment candidate like Sanders. I understand the point that the parties don't want outsiders voting for someone because they think that person will be easier to beat in the general election. I get that. But honestly the percentage of people that do that barely makes a dent. I really think semi-closed primaries are the way to go. That eliminates Democrats from choosing the Republican nominee and vice versa but it allows unaffiliated voters to vote. Allowing same day voter registration updates is a way to help prevent the voter suppression in closed primaries. New York's voting registration laws are just ridiculous. To have to decide who you are going to vote for 6 months in advance is just plain silly.

Nice sweep. Now onto Tampa. We're missing Archer and the Sox are trotting out two of their horses in Sale and Quintana. No reason to think we can't win two of three. Coming back home to face a poor Angels team at 9-3 would be sweet. Maybe Danks shows up in game 2 and we can sweep another one.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 01:59 PM) nor will the other person do the same to disprove what i was saying. btw, my point was, the bulls had a chance to fix this up, before st and didn't. who cares of the cost being over 129 mil. there were uncertainties, going into st, will avi rebound or can rebound, esp with his new stance. can laroche rebound from last yr abysmal hitting??? the sox never fully fix those holes. and my point is and will always be, b/c the owners are too cheap. they will go the cheapest route. this was not the yr to do this, this team is too good. now, those who were posting against me, was trying to divert the subject. those holes were before the st started. They made an attempt to sign Cespedes, Gordon and Upton. How in the f*** is that going the cheapest route. You are just completely wrong on this and no matter how many times you repeat it it's not going to make it true. Remember, it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 03:08 PM) I like the way we're pitching, but I hope our offense heats up a bit. 3 runs every game won't cut it with guys like Danks on the mound, or Sale/Q/Rodon on a bad day I'm not worried about the offense at all. Even the guys that aren't putting up good averages have hit the ball harder than their stat line shows. I think this offense could be dangerous once the weather warms up. Plus I liked the execution to score that 3rd run today by bunting Garcia over and then hitting a sac fly to get him in. Seems like those are the types of runs this team usually can't manage to get.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 03:05 PM) I'd rather have batted Jackson and kept him in, but at least he subbed out the lefty. It's a good way to get a guy like Sands who is not playing all that much an at bat.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 03:00 PM) Or Sands. The problem with him is that his defense absolutely bites. That could be an issue in a high-leverage situation, like the 9th inning You can bat Sands and then substitute Jackson in for defense in the bottom of the 9th.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 01:37 PM) If Abreu could learn to lay off the low and away slider he'd be f*cking Barry Bonds Lol. Okay.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 01:34 PM) They gona pitch around Jose again? No. You don't move a guy into scoring position.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 01:28 PM) His FIP must be low 2.87. His poor K/9 so far this season is the only reason it's even that high. Of course he's also not going to sustain a 0.0% HR/FB ratio either.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 12:03 PM) and why not, they have history on their side to show how they never finished what they started. the sox owners always went to the cheapest route to finish the team. there times the sox could have won more than 1Ws if they would have invested. the same thing now, this season. they could have gotten that extra hitter. but they didn't they instead went with the reclamation or the other prospect who needed a chance. instead, the sox will need to roll the dice with this weak link to this team. and still all for the savings of money and lining their pockets. all the b/s the owners spouted about wanting a championship team is all b/s. My god you are a broken record.

All I'm going to say is that you guys will be eating crow at the end of the year.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) We probably could have scored 5-6 last night given all the base runners we had. I'm still not sure why McEwing held Melky on Lawrie's double. I thought he would have been safe by quite a bit. I just went back and watched the replay. I'm fairly confident a good throw would have made it a bang bang play. You don't risk it with nobody out. If there were two outs he probably gets sent.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 09:45 AM) The problem with Garcia isn't so much the slow start to the season as much as it is the slow start to his entire career. Let's not pretend that Avi hasn't shown flashes in the past to show that maybe we shouldn't write him off at 24 years old. I think people forget how young he still is. He also had a fairly major injury that really hampered his development. From the time the Sox acquired him until his injury he had a .298/.332/.450 slash with 162 game averages of 23 HRs and 81 RBIs over roughly 200 PAs as a 22 year old. Sure he had a bad year last year but I'm not ready to write him off. Last year everyone thought Trayce Thompson was going to be our savior. Apparently everyone forgets that TT is older than Avi and put up an OPS that was 200 points less than what Avi did in AAA.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Apr 13, 2016 -> 08:12 AM) Sox dispatched several young players over the last two years, who are far outperforming the proven veterans they were traded for. I see no reason to trade for prospects from another organization, when the Sox can't properly evaluate their own. They aren't very good at evaluating the veterans either. The best choice is to just keep calling players up and see who sticks, recognizing that the evaluators judged a .900 OPS from a young player as fourth outfielder quality. That said, the team will contend if the bullpen holds up. They are relying on four guys and that eventually will have to be broadened for the pitching to be good enough. You really think a player that couldn't manage a .750 OPS in AAA at the age of 24 is going to be a .900 OPS player in the majors. Come on.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 12, 2016 -> 01:00 PM) They will almost certainly try and avoid the super 2 designation. When would that be, first week of June? I don't think that would hold them back if he was needed and ready. It's not that big of a deal to have to pay him a bit more in arbitration.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 12, 2016 -> 11:31 AM) Yeah, that's the reason 27% of New York voters are not registered as Democrat or Republican and are therefore not allowed to vote in the primary. Bernie dominates Hillary among Independents. In a race that Hillary will win by probably around 10 points that could be the difference.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 12, 2016 -> 10:36 AM) And the fact that his poll numbers are dropping... Well that is completely and utterly false. Early on Clinton held leads in New York by between 20 and 40 points. The latest polls show those leads down to 10 to 18 points. Nationwide they are in a virtual tie with Clinton ahead a point or two in some polls and Bernie ahead a point or two in others but almost all within the margin of error.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 12, 2016 -> 10:10 AM) I can see both sides of the argument. I consider myself a right-leaning Independent and not really a Republican, but I generally vote in the Republican primary. In 2008, because the Democratic contest was still undecided by the time the Indiana Primary came around, I took advantage of Indiana's Open Primary rules and voted in the Democratic primary for the sole purpose of voting against Hillary. Depending on how things shake out in both races in the next three weeks, I may do the same again this year. I think the Democratic party can make a valid claim that I really shouldn't have a voice in their nomination process, since in both cases there was/is zero chance I'm actually voting for their nominee in November. If I had to make up my mind six months ago, I would have registered for the Republican primary. Now, if you want to make the case that there should be a later deadline for people who aren't already registered with either party, I'm on board with that, but I don't think setting a six month deadline for people who are already registered with one of the parties to switch is unreasonable. I think this is a valid argument for having closed primaries. My concern is not so much over closed primaries, it's just over the fact that voters had to decide by October whether or not they wanted to switch parties. That is way too early on in the election to force people to make up their minds.

Having the deadline to update party enrollment more than 6 months before the primary is just absolutely ridiculous. Bernie will probably lose New York for that reason alone.

He's had 28 plate appearances. Let's give him a little more time. His BABIP is an entirely unsustainable .167. If it were the .320 mark he hit last year he would have a .280 batting average right now and we wouldn't be having this conversation. So far this year, albeit a small sample size, his FB% is up, his pull % is up, BB rate is up, K rate is down, pitches per plate appearance is up and his contact rate is up. All positive signs. Let's at least give him a few weeks before we try to magically save our season by calling up the likes of Travis Ishikawa or Jason Coats.

Melky

Lawrie

Avi

I don't live in Chicago, but judging by the weather reports I've seen I can't imagine this game gets postponed. It's a major hassle for everybody to postpone an opening day game and I think they'll hold out as long as possible to get it in.