Lip Man 1

Considering both were basically one dimension players it seemed to be a good possibility. Neither brought a lot to the table other than the occasional home run, they can't run well and don't field their positions well. I honestly thought bought could be a bench contributor moving forward at one time but their flaws far outweighed the one benefit they brought (occasional home run)

National League Central is an interesting race. Looks like no team wants to actually "win it" by playing well. Mediocrity rules!

Yes and no. To make a deal someone has to want to take that money.

No reason to see him at all...period...with some of the up and coming outfielders in the system.

Nova can't seem to pitch well or beat anybody else but the Cubs and Cleveland...but on this day you give him his props as he was very solid. As Joe Garagiola once said, "Baseball is a funny game..." Giolito's an All-Star and the Cubs hammer him twice...Nova is anything but an All-Star and he beats them twice. Sox by the way scored three runs in every single game against the Cubs. Just an unexpected nice win today to shut up the Cubs and their clownish fan-base.

History shows it doesn't happen often...not today. To me accomplishing something like what the Braves did, win the division, what? 12 straight seasons and make the playoffs all those times is mind boggling. Yea they only won one World Series, but continuing to do what they did year after year with different guys....you just don't see that anymore.

Given that the White Sox are the only one of the original 16 Major League teams to have NEVER made the post season in consecutive years....I'd happily take that issue myself. Which is why I said what I did in my original post.

All I can think of is that it's a mental thing with him. It's happened to pitchers before, just can no longer find the strike zone and the more they think about it the worse it gets. But with him it is incredible, going from leading all minor league pitchers in strikeouts to a guy getting ready to take a quick ride to retirement. With Fulmer I think it is a combination of his bizarre delivery which cause him to miss often his release point, the fact that the Sox rushed him in my opinion to the majors in some misguided effort to "justify" their selection of him and then having had his delivery tweeked and changed so often that the guy no longer knows which way is up.

Agree completely. I'd be ecstatic if the Sox made the playoffs three years in a row or four out of five. Even if they fell on their faces in the postseason, getting there in the first place indicates you've got a pretty good club. That would be a very refreshing change. One you get to October it's a crap shoot like Jerry Koosman told me, one freak injury, one bad bounce, one blown call by a bad umpire and you can be D.O.A.

It may be they are getting somewhat complacent after having made the playoffs four straight years...maybe they think they can "turn it on" whenever they want. That's hard to do. What the Cubs have going for them is the ability to take on salary at the deadline. I don't know if the other clubs in the diviksion can or have the will to do that...maybe the Cardinals.

Had hoped for better but Gio spit the bit for the second time in a big, big series. Just something to watch moving forward. In his defense he won't be having a stretch of four in a row like he's just gone through...Cubs, Red Sox, Twins and Cubs...that's a rough stretch. You always want to beat these bastards and tonight was really disappointing given Giolito is the best the Sox have to offer this year. We'll see what happens Sunday. Pray for a miracle I guess.

Leury screwed up a lot of outfield balls last season not just during the home opener. And believe me Leury isn't close to the fielder Jones was.

I mentioned that three times he hit over .275 including the one season over .300. Garcia meanwhile has NEVER hit over .275 for a single season. If anything this year may be an outlier who knows for sure. So I don't think you want to compare batting averages but if so that's your choice. Again I'm not saying Garcia isn't worth anything, he is...on a good team he'd make an excellent super-sub. Also I repeat I'm not a Rios fan but I recognize he put up some offensive numbers, drove in runs and played very good defense (when he wanted to). Garcia defensively has improved but has everyone already forgotten how much of a butcher he was in the outfield last year? Starting with the home opener vs. Detroit where he misplayed and mishandled balls in the 9th inning helping to cost the Sox the game. I respect your opinion Richie and your devotion to sabermetics, I simply disagree with the conclusion.

As if using WAR isn't cherry picking especially for a flawed stat? I'm not saying Leury doesn't have value, it is a different type of value but offensively he's never going to put up the numbers Rios did and that's a statistical fact. And I never cared much for Rios myself. I was responding to the original poster who said Garcia was better than Rios. Maybe he is in certain ways...but not offensively.

When Leury hits 18 home runs, steals 24 bases and drives in 70 RBI's in a season I'll agree with you.

In basically the four full seasons Rios played for the Sox he averaged 18 home runs, 24 stolen bases and 70 RBI's. Three times he hit over .275 for the year and played some very good defense in right field. His attitude at times was an issue, twice Ozzie pulled him in the middle of a game for not hustling but the numbers seem to indicate Rios was a much better player than Garcia who is not a very good outfielder. Garcia has some value certainly but he isn't going to produce on offense like Rios generally did.

And the point is? Today if you want to win (again no guarantees) you better be prepared to spend money on getting top talent because no franchise has a good enough minor league system to fill every single hole that develops on a roster. That either means free agency or being willing to make trades for players who make a lot of money that are available by their previous clubs. Can the Sox spend three quarters of a billion dollars? Probably not...can they spend more than they have been over the past decades? I would argue with the revenue streams flowing into MLB today they certainly can.

Can't argue with that.

Nobody said they were perfect but in fact they've made the playoffs four straight seasons with a title. They are a decent bet to make it five straight playoff seasons (no guarantees of course) but even if they don't, any Sox fan I know of would kill to make the playoffs four years in a row and win a title. They must have done something right to accomplish this right?

I had hopes Palka could be a useful bench player moving forward. Late inning pinch hitter type if you needed a home run. Now? Guy needs to just go away, totally lost right now. Give the at-bats to Collins a kid who may actually have a future.

The Cubs were able to supplement things with great trades and a willingness to actually spend what it took to get top of the line, quality free agents. That makes up for any drafting deficiencies.

Good question. The Sox are very closed mouthed when it comes to these things. Who knows if they even offered anything at least yet?

Based on his comments last night I suspect he really wants to stick around and will give the Sox a "hometown discount" Which of course is always music to JR's ears.

They won the series...with this pitching staff that's not bad. Lopez though is so inconsistent that if the Sox do get pitching help this off season and with the return of some of the injured guys, his spot in the rotation is going to be in real jeopardy unless he gets his act together. The second half of this season I think is going to be very big for him as I assume the front office is going to be watching closely. And the bullpen just wasn't sharp today.

I'd hope after a reasonable time to allow some of these players to show they actually can perform at a high level that things will start being discussed. They better...remember Kenny's "infamous" comment after the failed Machado derby. Along the lines of Sox fans getting upset if the team didn't have the money to sign all these guys because they gave it all to Manny. We'll see what the Sox do in this regard and what they actually offer.