Southwest Sider

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2016 -> 10:58 AM) However, last offseason, people convinced themselves of exactly that. Hence why I said this. Remember where we are now and how we got there when judging the next batch of moves. This is an important thought. I noted it during the offseason, and I think I know what you're getting at. The Sox have guys with value on short contracts. They brought in Frazier, Lawrie, Melky, Robertson and then they have their core to deal from. The Sox set themselves up nicely to be sellers should the situation call for it. Each of our players that we could deal, which are numerous, could bring back reasonable returns. The Sox could load up with a few more like players during the offseason and still be set up well to sell if they need to. I'm torn because I like a lot of our players but still, the Sox need to reload their farm and the OP is right, this is a golden opportunity. I lean towards selling, but to properly rebuild I think you have to sell from the core as well.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 22, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) People aren't going to be able to deal with a full rebuild. Just look at the facts. 2014 was a rebuilding season, how many people complained about Konerko taking the 25th spot and ruining "roster construction"? They weren't going to win, I thought people didn't care. And many who have said this season is over are complaining Jacob Turner is starting tonight. That's what you get in a rebuild. Guys like Jacob Turner starting, for years. You should say "some" people can't deal with a rebuild and guys like Jacob Turner starting. Sure, there are always those who can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Glass half empty sorts of people. Whatever, who cares about them? I have two statements for those kind of people, pick the one you like the most. 1) The Sox will be .500 or worse the next 3 years. 2) The Sox will be well under .500 the next 3-5 years, but are working on building an elite farm. These people who pick #1 are sacrificing the possibility of a VERY bright future for a couple more W's in a .500 season. What is the point of that? There is no "but" with #1 other than "but maybe they will catch lightning in a bottle ala 2005 and win it all". The competition is too stiff in the American League to hope for miracles. 2005 was a miracle, and it seems like we keep chasing a title using a strategy similar to 2005. It just doesn't work. If people get pissed about a few horses*** seasons with the caveat that they're rebuilding, then screw them. That's on them for being closed minded.

As much as many may have doubted the merits of going for it, it really wasn't a bad move. Many had observed awhile back while the Sox were loading up that many of the players were on short contracts, making it much easier to unload them should the Sox prove to not be serious contenders. One question I had with it was would these players retain or build upon their value? If the players were playing well enough to have value, then there was a good chance that the Sox were contending. If the Sox weren't contending, then these players haven't been playing as well and have lesser trade value. The other question I had is would the Sox only trade guys like Melky, Robertson (and the rest of the pen), Lawrie, and Frazier in the event of a rebuild and continue to try to build around the core of Sale/Q/Abreu/Eaton. The good news is that I think these players have performed well enough to have decent trade value. Robertson is an elite closer, yes he is paid handsomely but the contract is by no means an albatross. He should fetch a good return. Melky has continued as he has in his career of being a professional hitter. Having him on the team has been vital to staying near .500, in my opinion. He is a great hitter and with only 1 year left on his contract, should be able to bring solid value back. Frazier has had a terrible batting average but his power is real and he could well hit 40+ home runs this year. We'd be a lot better off if he hit for power and average, but he definitely has value. Lawrie is pretty decent too, I'm surprised Oakland let him go for so little, but maybe that's the kind of return the Sox could expect for Lawrie. Duke, Jones, Jennings etc should also bring back value. As has been mentioned in this thread, you can't really trade those short contract guys without trading the core guys. Their contracts will nearly be up by the time a new core is forming, and those core guys have the most value and will bring back the elite prospects. The Sox would need to fully commit to a rebuild. If the offer for a player isn't there this trade deadline, try again in the offseason. If it's not there in the offseason, try next season. Abreu is a great example of this. Some teams might try to snag him on the cheap since his numbers aren't elite, but it might be more prudent to keep him and see what he does next year. A rebuild would also give the Sox the flexibility to see what they have in other players. I think you have to keep a guy like Avi Garcia around because he doesn't have any value and he would fill a position for a rebuilding Sox team. You never know, maybe he actually figures it out and you dump him at his highest value. Keep Tim Anderson around and let him learn on a crappy team. Hopefully he'd be willing to sign a contract to buy out his arb years and 2 years or so of free agency if he's worth keeping him around. That way he could be infused into whatever our new core is by the time it is coming up. Rodon is in a similar situation, but given that his agent is Scott Boras, if/when Rodon figures it out, keep him until he's 1-2 years from free agency and then unload him to the highest bidder. This would help add layers of depth to the minor league system. Get top 10 (prefer top 5) draft picks a couple years in a row and really invest in Latin America. This is where I believe the Sox faulted the most during the past few years. Teams like the Indians who are direct rivals have several good Latin American players on their current roster, and it is a huge reason why they are so much better than the Sox. Focus heavily on bringing in the best Latin American prospects during the rebuild. Instead of investing money into the ML roster, invest it in prospects. Bring in all the best player development people you possibly can. I like Hostetler, so let him run the show there and bring in guys he likes. I kind of agree with some posters here that this is the direction Hahn has wanted to go the entire time. Let him run a rebuild, I say. There's no need to let him go but hopefully KW, who got lucky once in 2005 with a strategy that really doesn't work for long term success and decided to continuously employ that strategy to chase a World Series title, would resign since this direction isn't one that he endorses. That way Hahn can freely run the show. This all sounds great to me. I'm ready for a Sox rebuild. I'm young enough to not care about a few more years of losing (especially with light at the end of the tunnel, unlike now). I'd feel bad for the older fans who might miss out on the potential rewards of a rebuild, but I really hope they wouldn't get too salty about it. This is a business and if the Sox want to win over some newer generations of fans they need to start over with this team because continually floundering around .500 is just not fun. Can JR set aside his urges to win now and approve the rebuild? Would he be okay with possibly dying before seeing the Sox contend again? These are the real questions. There is smoke around a firesell now... which honestly surprises the heck out of me. It would be incredibly admirable of JR if he approved a rebuild, and my respect for him would reach new heights.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 01:47 PM) Anyone do the pidgey exploit? im about to try it out tonite I did a session where I evolved all the Pidgeys, Weetles and Rats and some others in a 30 minute Lucky Egg and that rushed me from late 18-20. Yesterday I think I took it a step further and hatched 8 5k eggs and a 10k egg right after I started a Lucky Egg and evolved some. Then I kept evolving those Pokemon. I got about 80k experience from the trick.

Theres a pretty major bug with gyms right now called 1HP bug. It needs to be fixed.

The sheer amount of people playing Pokemon Go is insane. It's so weird seeing all the people who show up for games with highly anticipated releases on the streets rather than the computer. My town is having a weekend festival and I swear more people are downtown playing Pokemon Go than for the festival. It's no wonder the servers are stressed out because the same thing is happening in every town in America. On a game related note, got super lucky today and hatched 2 Pikachus, 2 Squirtles and caught a wild Bulbasaur. Plus, I picked Charmander as my starter so now I have all 4 starters!

Just saw it on MLB At bat. Good for him. Anything to boost that confidence further.

Stoked to see that Soupy is going to be coming back. The Hawks really need a guy like him and it's awesome that this worked out. Keeping my fingers crossed for Staal.. if we land him on the cheap then that is great! It's so cool to be able to sign some higher profile vets for cheaper because they want to chase a cup and play in a first class organization. Truly amazing to see what Toews, Kane, Quenneville, McDonough, Rocky Wirtz, and everyone else has done for this organization. It is great to be a fan of the Hawks right now.

Don't see a whole lot of fighting to be done by Dany's army. Whatever army Cersei has, yes. And Euron's army. Highgarden, Dorne and Iron Islands have aligned with Dany. It will be easy to see the North align with her, especially if she gives them the same deal she gave Yara. Independence, but still respect to the crown. Who else is left to fight Dany's army? The dead... It's good to see Baelish get used and screwed. He looked pissed but he also looked pretty defeated. I wonder what he might try to plot to still achieve his vision, but nonetheless it will further destroyed when Dany arrives. Also interesting, I wonder if Arya will work through her list to the South, or learn that Starks are in Winterfell and rejoin Jon and Sansa. I really hope she doesn't try to go to King's Landing, but plays the patient game and gets with her family. I really see Jaime either abandoning or killing Cersei. It's boiling over for him and I don't think he looks and Cersei and loves her anymore. I hope he just leaves because it would be awesome to see Cersei just get wrecked by the Dragon Fleet. So damn epic. Lastly, Young Lady Mormont is the s***!

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 23, 2016 -> 08:55 PM) I think Tommen will somehow be spared from the wildfire, only to be killed by the Sand Snakes. Feel like that's how he'll go out in the books and there was an episode earlier this season in which Jamie mentioned them to the small council. I don't think the Dorne storyline is 100% complete just yet. Absolutely. With how abrupt and short their storyline was this season, and how it left them essentially free to plot their revenge against Lannisters, I really think they will show up in some form in episode 10.

Cersei could also go the route of revealing to everyone that Tommen is Jaime's son, not Robert Baratheons and therefore not the true King. This would effectively negate his/high Sparrows rulings. Tommen could then be killed by an angry mob or flee with Cersei? This would work doubly as well for screwing over the Tyrells because now Margaery wouldn't have a claim to the throne. I do believe she is resigned to the fact that Tommen will die, and as such I think it will be easier for her to take matters into her own hands. But I could easily see her trying to flee with Tommen and Qyburn with the power of Zombie Mountain.

If Sansa delays the battle and Ramsay eventually becomes aware of the Vale army, he would instead stay in Winterfell and prepare for a siege. He was probably only so willing to meet in open battle because of his superior numbers. Sansa wanted to tell Jon about the Vale, but for some reason wanted Jon to naturally delay the battle instead of delaying because of the Vale. Perhaps it was because she didn't know if they were really coming, or maybe there really was strategy about it from Sansa's part. I hope we'll find out in the finale.

I'm fine with there not being a final fight scene with Arya and the Waif. What would have been the point of it anyway? It's pitch black in the room after Arya kills the candle. We're not getting night vision Game of Thrones battles and everyone would be even more upset with a pitch black screen and the sounds of a fight. The point is, Arya knew she had an advantage in the pitch black because of her "training" while being blind. The Waif did not and therefore died. Props to Arya for setting up that trap. I will admit the whole her getting stabbed thing is a bit odd. That wound should have been more fatal. Perhaps she was resting for longer than it seemed in the show before the Waif found her. As for the Blackfish going down in a blaze of glory, meh. I could take it or leave it. As soon as he decided to fight he was vastly outnumbered and the fight wouldn't have lasted long anyway. It's kind of pointless to have a scene where Blackfish kills a couple guys and then gets surrounded and killed himself. I would have loved to see him ride north, I'm a fan of the Blackfish, but it wasn't meant to be. RIP Brynden Tully.

So happy for the fans at the game. All those shots of them... they wanted it so bad. Finish it for them.

I would love to be proven wrong, but the Sox just continue to embarrass themselves against divisional opponents and I don't really see that changing aside from the few series the Sox will eventually win. It's been said before and bears repeating: This is not an organization with a winning culture. As much as I'd love to see the Sox right the ship here and win the division or make it to the playoffs, I think that most of us are thinking that Robin and his management team are going to be unable to get this team ready to defeat the Tigers, Indians and Royals. If you can't beat them, you can't make it to the playoffs barring some insane luck. A good team in a tricky slump would have found a way to put their foot down and gone .500 in all the recent games against divisional rivals. Why? Because they are the guys you want to beat. Instead, the Sox have let this slump turn into a death spiral with seemingly no end in sight. I fully believe the team will get hot again, possibly go on another tear and get themselves back into the divisional race, but there is one common denominator that we all dread that has been a theme of the White Sox of recent times: That they will find ways to lose against their main competition. Momentum may or may not be a real thing in sports, but confidence is, and I believe the Sox have given the Indians, Tigers, and Royals all the confidence they will ever need against them. When you couple that with an apparent lack of confidence from the Sox end, it's easy to see that failure is imminent. Obviously, Robin is part of the problem, and it is definitely time for him to go. But who or what else is contributing to the problem? Do KW/RH lack the ability to hold their employees accountable and create a new organizational culture? Do players despise KW and their hatred for him affects their ability to play to their highest potential? Is Don Cooper too set in his ways? What exactly has Todd Steverson and his hitters been trying to do to improve their hitting? What is wrong with the players? Are none of our players strong leaders? I have hundreds of questions! I'd love to eat some nasty crow, but I think the Sox are toast. The arrivals of Chris Sale and Jose Abreu could have rejuvenated the organization, but did not. The hot start of this year was certainly deceiving because we are not used to hot starts. We are used to mid-season hot streaks that bring us close to .500, but not a hot start. It was nice, but has been proven to be nothing more than a regular hot streak just at a different part of the season. Moreover, and bash me all you want for this, but I am DONE with this version of the White Sox. This JR/KW/RH/RV/DC clown show. As a diehard fan, I am ready for significant organizational change and I know I probably will not get it. Unless magic and miracles really can happen, I won't be attending another Sox game this year. We vote with our dollars. Ideally, Jerry finally sells the team and the new owner makes changes across the board. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but this grass here hasn't been cut in a long time and at least the grass over there will be freshly mowed. If Jerry doesn't sell the team, he needs to launch almost everyone in a management position and surround himself with new people (yeah right). These are dark days for the White Sox and their fans. They are going to lose tons of new baseball fans to the now amazing Cubs organization, revenue will continue to fall as more and more fans reach decisions like mine and there will seemingly always be a complete failure from the owner and his management team to instill a winning culture. I love watching the game of baseball, but if I want to watch bad baseball I'll go see the Kane County Cougars and save a bunch of money. Right now it just completely sucks to be a fan of this organization, but one day things will finally change. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 09:37 AM) I am not sure. I will hold my breathe when the ball is hit to him because I know even he knows he has to work on that area of his game but I think he may bring it offensively right from jump. For what its worth, it seems like lately a lot of Sox prospects hit pretty decently when initially called up. Then when teams start adjusting they cool off.

This organization should have sold out for Theo Epstein when they had the chance. JRs loyalty is a b****.

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 09:29 PM) I've never left a baseball game before the 4th inning. Today I did. That stadium was a disaster. Concession stands closed, no energy from the fans, Nationals almost had as many fans as the Sox did, etc. Despicable. My buddy and I got hyped to buy tickets to the game tomorrow over a month ago. Let's just say I am happy we didn't buy the tickets ahead of time.

Well, it's back to ignoring White Sox baseball I guess. Hopefully I'll see you guys soon, because that will mean they are winning again and it's still not too late in the season.

It's like the pitching coach went out there and said "Dude, these guys suck. Just pitch the ball and they will get themselves out." Nothing like getting beat by a guy that a manager is overusing to save his bullpen.

I've stayed reserved enough during this losing streak to keep myself from joining the Fire Robin bandwagon. That being said, if the Sox don't turn it around during these next 12 games then I believe he should be let go. Honestly, if the front office believes that they have a team that can compete with KC, Cleveland and Detroit then their manager should be producing results that are at least .500 against these teams. The team as a unit sucks and as easy as it can be to blame this player or that player, the management team needs to do a better job getting these players minds in the right place and getting them prepared to win baseball games. Sure, Robin presided over that amazing start, but he's also presiding over a terrible collapse that has proven complete ineptitude against divisional opponents not named the Twins. Seriously, let the guy save face a little bit because he's still an epic White Sox legend. It really sucks that Sox fans with more recent memories will only remember him more as a bad manager and less as an awesome baseball player.

What a terrible inning for Saladino...

It's funny how Albers went from one of the best relievers in the game for awhile to seemingly one of the worst. So unreliable now. He is the epitome of this White Sox season. Unbeatable to unbelievably bad.

I really hope this team can turn it around before these divisional games. They don't really need to, but they kind of should if they want to set themselves up for success.

I also want to say that this bullpen need to come together as a unit, lock arms and galvanize themselves. They all suck and they need to step up and say enough is enough. In the mean time, i am indeed burying my head in the sand until things start looking better.