OmarComing25

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 11:04 AM) I doubt UNC was expecting to be in this position when they made their schedule. Didn't a couple teams back out, and that's why UNC had to schedule FCS? I don't think they wanted this schedule.

Honestly I thought Zimmerman would get a lot more (closer to $150 million than $100 million), so not a bad deal for the Tigers.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Nov 29, 2015 -> 10:57 AM) At least Detroit tries. Can't fault them for that. We keep talking about well they'll regret it later, meanwhile they'll continue to own us. The last two years Detroit has gone 20-18 against us, that's not "owning us".

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 26, 2015 -> 08:50 PM) I'll just throw in that as pointed out in SSS someone like Soto got only 4 pinch hitting appearances which seems odd since he was the only RH power off the bench. Plus Robin didn't play him much while he was doing well. The second half Soto was bad but the 1st half he could've been used more. Also LaRoche played a lot in the 1st half even though he never really got untracked all season. Now with a club as offensively challenged as the Sox you'd think Robin would play a hot hand more even though there weren't very many hot hands to be found. I know they got him for a reason and they made every possible effort to play him to get him to hit to try to get some positive return on their investment but at some point it had to stop and in my mind it wasn't early enough. Pinch-hitting your backup catcher is generally not a good idea. LaRoche's numbers were fine up until about mid-June, and in August when Thompson came up Robin did stop playing LaRoche a lot, I didn't really have a problem with how Robin handled him this year. Conor only had 15 PA against LHP this season so let's not pretend Robin doesn't know how to platoon someone. He also stopped playing Conor once Saladino came up, and I think he utilized Soto and Shuck well for the most part.

QUOTE (Baron @ Nov 25, 2015 -> 09:16 PM) 2011 was 4 years ago.He had a few little life signs last year but not alot. We had a better backup catcher last year who got signed for a few hundred thousand more than he got. Plus your going to have to be smart about platooning these two guys. That's great...we got Robin though. I just see alot of bad matchups with pitchers and plenty of missed opportunities. If there was someone else managing I would be fine with it. But we dont. Ok I'll bite, where has Robin failed with platooning in the past? Who should he have used differently?

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Nov 25, 2015 -> 09:59 PM) So what has he done lately to give me confidence? Nothing. He's a guy. That's it. Outside of 2015 he's always hit RHP well, and it was clear he wasn't healthy this year. If he's healthy he's a much better option against RHP than Flowers. Even if he doesn't hit his defense is pretty good. Despite hitting under .200 this year he still had a solid OBP.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 25, 2015 -> 10:13 AM) ND's best wins would be @Stanford, vs Navy, @Temple, @Pitt OU's best wins would be @OSU, @Baylor, vs TCU, @Tennessee OU's wins are slightly better, but not by a lot, and also OU's loss is to a team that ND beat (by a lot). Honestly, both of them have better wins than Alabama. There only team in this week's playoff rankings that they've beaten is #21 Mississippi St., who drops out of the rankings if they lose to Mississippi, and by the time Florida loses to FSU and then Alabama, they'll barely be ranked. Committee doesn't have the balls to leave the SEC out of the playoff though. People focus too much on just the top 25 teams. It's an arbitrary cutoff. Alabama has pretty much dominated all their games with a couple exceptions, and if you go by, say, top 40 or top 50 wins, their ranking makes sense. I think there's little difference between #25 and #40. The Baylor win was good for OU, but barely scraping by a TCU team missing half their starters and on their 3rd string QB at home is not an impressive win at all.

I liked Almonte, and although Kahnle's walks are a bit frightening, he's had some success at the ML level, which Almonte is still likely to never see. Still way more than you'd expect to get for 2 months of Beckham.

Steamer projects him for 1.4 WAR next year, for that low a cost it's hard not to like this move.

QUOTE (Whitey @ Nov 25, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) Sitting through the past season, I anxiously awaited the accountability and change that undoubtedly would have to come as a response to the overall ineptitude and lack of effort we witnessed last year. Instead, we get the same coach and management back next year, with no real plan in place. Next year could range anywhere from them being a perennial contender, to them needing a complete rebuild… they just have to let it percolate a bit to figure it out I guess. This shows that they have no real vision at all for the future, and no faith in their own scouting abilities. If they did, they would know exactly where they stand, and they would be hitting the ground running. Instead, they are just flopping in the wind, going day to day (decision by decision) it seems. That is pretty alarming to me. Strong contender for biggest overreaction of the offseason post so far.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 24, 2015 -> 08:56 AM) It is a good strategy considering they have not won a WS in over 100 years and made it to the NLCS last season. Will the strategy work? Who knows but we'll have a better idea by the end of February. Not really, unless we know all the offers teams made. Any free agents that sign with the Cubs are likely to have taken the highest offer.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 23, 2015 -> 10:54 AM) Another blow up scenario. Resign RP Matt Albers 1 year/3 million Resign C Geo Soto 1 year/2 million Trade SP Chris Sale, CF Adam Eaton, and C Tyler Flowers to the Red Sox for SS Xander Bogaerts, C Blake Swihart, CF Mookie Betts, 3B Rafael Devers, and SP Henry Owens Trade 1B Jose Abreu to the Mets for 1B Lucas Duda, SP Noah Syndergaard, and SP Gabriel Ynoa Trade SP Jose Quintana and 2B Micah Johnson to the Diamondbacks for RF Ender Inciarte, SP Archie Bradley, SP Joan Lopez, 2B/SS Chris Owings and SP Brandon Shipley Trade RF Avisail Garcia to the Phillies for 3B Cody Asche Trade LF Melky Cabrera to the Astros for UTIL Nolan Fontana and SP Asher Wojciechowski Trade CP David Robertson to the Blue Jays for SP Justin Maese and SP Clinton Hollon Lineup: CF Betts RF Inciarte (L) SS Bogaerts DH Duda (L) C Swihart 1B LaRoche (L) LF Thompson 3B Asche (L) 2B Sanchez/Owins OF Shuck, C Soto, UTIL Saladino, UTIL Sanchez/Owings Rotation: SP Syndergaard SP Rodon (L) SP Owens (L) SP Bradley SP Danks (L) The Mets wouldn't trade Thor for Abreu straight up (nor should they), let alone add two more players with him.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Nov 21, 2015 -> 02:43 PM) Should've been PI in the end zone against UF. Two blatant PI that weren't called. FAU should have won. Thankfully I trust the playoff committee saw that.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Nov 21, 2015 -> 12:52 PM) Florida is tied with Florida Atlantic in the 3rd....0-0 Overtime now, and the refs bail out Florida. The amount of close escapes Florida has had against crappy teams this year is ridiculous. What a joke.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 01:17 PM) You'd sure think so, but it wouldn't be the first time Robin has chosen not to follow clear platoons. Obviously LaRoche didn't play much in the 2nd half, but it wouldn't shock me in the least to see him get starts against LHP early. Melky needs to be the DH as often as possible. Conor had only 15 PA against LHP this year, that gives me the confidence that Robin will platoon LaRoche, especially because it's the last year of his contract, there's no need to "justify" the salary anymore. But you're right, it wouldn't be that surprising if he didn't.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/...gue-in-playoffs Arrieta says he had dead arm during the playoffs. Surprised Maddon doesn't take more heat for riding him so hard in August and September, especially since it was clear he was going to blow past his previous career high in IP.

QUOTE (Special K @ Nov 20, 2015 -> 12:42 PM) I'm not saying there won't be a slight improvement, but at this point, I'm not counting on it. As far as the comparison to Dunn goes, wasn't his knee also ailing him in 2011? I believe there were also some family issues, so there was some sort of explanation for his poor year. I haven't heard anything that might account for LaRoche's play other than the fact that he is just isn't good anymore. LaRoche was clearly not 100% healthy in the last few months of the season. No one is expecting career averages LaRoche next year, but s*** happens, poor years happen, he was pretty good just two years ago, it's not unthinkable he can bounce back to something like .750-.775 OPS, especially if Robin limits his ABs against LHP, which I think he will (Thompson likely starts those days, with Melky taking the DH spot).

I really doubt Hahn wants to do a scorched earth rebuild. You can rebuild without blowing it up, which I think Hahn wants to do.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 02:11 PM) This is why I think Hahn is likely to blow this thing up. Aggressive but realistic moves just can't put this roster anywhere close to contention unless Mekly & LaRoche somehow miraculously get back to career averages. You act like we lost 95 games last year.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 12:34 PM) What was Trayce's wRC/WAR for the last 2 months of the season? That's kind of my point. In small sample sizes, the guy was gangbusters for the first 30 or so at bats. Then he dropped off dramatically. I'm sure Avi's wrc/war was great for the first month or two of the season when he was hitting above .300 too in 155AB's. You're still ignoring defense here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 12:14 PM) The Cubs still love Baez. There are some in their organization who think he would be a better SS than Russell. I mean, the guy has his flaws, but he was still rated as a top 5 prospect in all of baseball just a couple years ago for a reason. We aren't getting him cheap if we want him.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 12:09 PM) Is that true? If so, the Cubs are idiots. It wasn't just Baez, he would have been the centerpiece of a package. Also it wasn't confirmed IIRC, was just speculation.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 11:31 AM) I wonder if the Cubs would trade Baez for Avi and Danish/Beck/etc? Cubs refused to give up Baez for Tyson Ross (at least that's what I took away from last year's trade deadline), they would laugh hard at this proposal.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 10:54 AM) 2 totally different things. What is different? He posted that Eaton doesn't count as a win in talent evaluation all because 1 really bad month supposedly discounts two really good seasons. Where's the logic in that?

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) I think the question is not really whether Walker is better than Sanchez, it's more is the difference between Walker and Sanchez worth trading prospects away and adding a difference of roughly $9.5 million dollars in salary for a guy with just one year team control? And, in my opinion, the answer to that question is no. Especially when we have other greater needs when could spend that money and those prospects on. If Walker had another year of control I'd consider it, but just for 2016? Pass. We have too many holes to commit to one-year guys.