Cali

Biggest Offenders of trying to buy a championship this off-season: Dodgers, Angels and Blue Jays combined 25-34 record. Love it.

Dunn 4th again. It's just funny now....

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 06:54 PM) Good question. They seem to be teaching ultra-aggressiveness. I think I've heard Buddy Bell mention this. I know Jeff Manto hates walks. It's a mess. Christ is a change in philosophy need in this organization. If you specifically stated your biggest issue you want to work on is cutting down on strike outs, why would you want your raw minor leaguers to be aggressive? That's just f***ing up their development ever more!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 01:05 PM) I don't recall ever hearing what offers for Danks looked like. Is that information out there? Yeah I don't think it was ever revealed, but I would love to have know what the exact offers were.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:20 PM) Again, this is really easy to say now... Well, I said it then too haha I slammed KW and thought he should have traded him for whatever the best offer was. Lower his price just a little and take the best deal. Obviously the Sox competed in 2012, but with zero help from Danks (even pre-DL he was pretty useless) so it wouldn't have made a difference if they traded him and just let him play out his contract year.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:13 PM) I think this is what happened with John Danks... Except, they should have just let him walk the next yeah instead of signing him to a (as of right now) AWFUL contract.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 12:07 PM) I think our FO is always going to be a bit sensitive to this because of the White Flag trade. And that's a s***ty way to to business. Be afraid of a deal that is so old now, it could get it's learners permit. You'd think 2005 would have eliminated any issues with that, cause, scoreboard. But... White Sox fans....

I also hope that Hahn doesn't have the "illusion of contention" issues that playing in the AL Central gave KW. Where they were close to .500 and less than 10 games out in July and Kenny didn't sell when clearly the talent level wasn't enough to have them actually push for a title. Hopefully the hole this team buries itself in before the eventually run to that classic 82-80 finish will be so deep Hahn has no other choice and plenty of teams are calling.

Here's the deal. I agree they will hit better, most if not all of them really. But at that point how deep of a hole will they have put themselves in? Cause we all know (outside of '10) getting out of holes, not the Sox specialty.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 05:45 PM) I have no idea why Ventura is trying to force Dunn into the #4 spot in the order. If anything, it just makes it easier to pitch around Rios now. Cause he's not that good of a manager?

CONE-ER!

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 05:37 PM) you didn't think some (a lot) of that act was phony? Sure seems like AJ and PK and some others thought so. As for that trade, we can agree. Horrible. Not at all. Unless he's been faking it his entire career, since he's always been a goofball. The rod up your ass, stiff clubhouses under Dye/AJ/PK are not going to be something I'll miss when PK is gone.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 05:33 PM) I'd still take him. Buying high and selling low after 1 down year was just awful. He had the gall to be loose, have fun and be white in the clubhouse of Ozzie Guillen. That's a death sentence. One of Kenny's worst trades ever. 2008 was an down year aberration for Swisher.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 05:28 PM) Know what I miss about Swisher? Nothing. Yep. Marquez, Nunez, and Betimit really took this team over the top!

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) Remember when Red Sox and Yankees were suppose to suck? Seems like everyone predicting the Blue Jays and O's on top of the division jumped the gun there. Sigh. Baseball is so boring when they're on top.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 04:12 PM) Peavy is far and away the best trade chip this team has right now they can realistically afford to trade. See what the Dodgers are willing to give up for him if the team is out of contention in a few months, especially with Billingsley possibly hurt. I have a hard time seeing this team making a quick rebound next season if they struggle big time this year, especially with Konerko likely gone. Peavy for Puig straight up. Hahah

I agree that the inability to get value for any of the big chips traded in the last few years has hurt, especially when you see other teams getting more for similar players and those player panning out. I would hope Hahn would be better at it than Kenny, and hope that Kenny wouldn't really be the one pulling the strings if Peavy/Rios/Konerko have to go in July.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 17, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) Getting a healthy John Danks in this rotation would be amazing. So he can get zero support from the "hitters" in the "offense"?

I hope Johnson gets some starts in Chicago this year. If Floyd can put together a decent half-season and a playoff contender gets desperate maybe Johnson can slide in there and get a shot at big league hitters.

Maybe the Sox will beat KC this year since KC might actually be good. Can't touch them when they suck, but give them a better pitching staff and the Sox come alive!

Dunn "hitting" 4th... again. Fantastic. I bet Dylan shows up, but the bats don't. 3-0, 3-1 something like that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 11:45 AM) The approach they are taking now. They need to draft better obviously, and make better decisions signing Latin players. Paulie is off the books next year, then Dunn the next. They can sign some hitters. I see no reason to blow everything up and start at square one. Of course, I'm not a guy looking to complain about everything, so I may have a different view than others. I'd rather be sick of winning 85 games a year than be sick of winning 70. There is no way anyone can convince me the current White Sox crew is the crew you want directing you in a total rebuild anyway, and the current crew isn't going anywhere for a while. I don't understand how people complain about the Sox lack of talent in the lower levels, yet want the Sox to rebuild through the minor leagues. They haven't produced minor leaguers that could win 75 games in almost 20 years. Why would that suddenly change? If the Sox had done one thing differently, drafted Mike Trout instead of Mitchell, would the rebuilders still be crying about a rebuild? This is a completely different subject for a completely different time, but I think the Sox have a major issue at developing talent. No matter what talents the player has. If Trout were in the Sox system there's a good chance he'd be having the same kind of development issues that a Trayce Thompson might be having. (And Vice Versa... i.e. some other teams might have turned Mitchell into a superstar by now, who knows?)

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 11:11 AM) There is a list...although with our hats, we're fairly high on the merchandising side, thanks to all the celebs/rappers, haha. You're forgetting the Giants and the Rangers....they're both top ten franchises now, as well. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with all that star power, huge attendance and LA market. You can't forget the Mets, simply because of the NY market, but they're definitely down now, despite the new stadium...plus all the financial issues with the Madoff/Wilpon connection. In the end, you can make a credible case for the Sox as high as 14-15-16 and as low as 24-25. The value of the franchise is closer to 12th....and our ticket prices, at least before this season, were averaging around 4th-6th highest in baseball. Had we made the playoffs and finished last season strongly, it would be a completely different picture and feeling, IMO. Yeah that would be their highest point, but a lot of it comes from non-fans, which would also be the case for the Yankees. More style than substance. Jersey sales would be more accurate, since it's a lot easier to just toss on a hat of a team you're not a fan of than spend $90 + on a jersey.

Let's be honest, the White Sox are just not a popular team. They're not going to lose so many of what their aren't a lot of to begin with. I wish there was some sort of smart guy algorithm that could tell you how popular all the MLB franchises are nation or world wide. Something that takes into account attendance per game/year, TV ratings, Hat/Jersey Sales, National Coverage, Pop Culture relevance etc. I would guess that the Sox would wind up around 20+ on that list. Just for fun, I would guess the Top 5 would be: 1. Yankees 2. Red Sox 3. Dodgers 4. Cubs 5. Cardinals

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 10:53 AM) But you will sit through 60 win seasons and continue to buy tickets? If that is the case, you are the exception, not the rule. Well that would involve me buying a plane ticket first But were I living in Chicago, I would be 100x more willing to spend money on that than watch a middle of the road team finish around .500 season after season.