OmarComing25

Would have loved to see that 1st inning Jeff earlier this year.

Good start

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) The most important thing that happened today is that Hawk joined Twitter. My roommate is a huge Phillies and WWE fan, and absolutely loves Hawk because he thinks he'd make a great wrestling announcer. Ever since he said that I've looked at Hawk in a new light.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 9, 2015 -> 11:46 AM) This is where you ignoring things. Caulfield likes to say a third of the Cubs attendance are tourists, but then say USCF is 75% Tigers fans or whoever they are playing. So the assumption that everyone at USCF is local is crazy. The other assumption you make is if 37% of the crowd at any particular game are tourists, if those tourists stayed home, those tickets would remain unsold. I don't think that is true for every one of them. Not even close. The Cubs are more popular than the Sox. It's even in this thread people would be more inclined to go to a Sox game if there was a Wrigleyville vibe to the neighborhood. I never said the Sox were 100% local, and you're right that a lot of those lost tourist tickets would go elsewhere. But it's still not a level playing field. Is it a coincidence that the Cubs really only started to outdraw the Sox after the Tribune started marketing the hell out of Wrigley? It's not the only reason the Cubs are more popular of course, but it's a huge reason. I'm not trying to take away from the Cubs here. They've done a hell of a job building a brand over the past 30 years while the Sox have failed.

I can't believe the Bulls were even compared to the Sox situation. They had a dynasty in the 90s, have been pretty good over the last decade, have no other Chicago NBA team in town to compete with, only have to fill up the stadium 41 games instead of 81, and have a much lower capacity to fill. Even the pathetic Sox attendance of recent years would be enough to sell out the United Center every night. It's not an even comparison in the slightest. We also need to stop comparing our situation to the Cubs. According to the Cubs' marketing department, 37% percent of their fans are tourists from out-of-state. Wrigley Field is a huge tourist attraction, you take away that from the Cubs and they would have similar attendance woes when they're bad. http://chicagoist.com/2011/07/25/cubs_numb..._percent_of.php

There was an inside-the-park home run by both teams in the Royals-Rays game last night. First time that's happened since '97.

Abreu and LaRoche each get one off Dickey.

That was huge. I did not want to face them coming off a 3-game winning streak against their hated rivals.

Rare Emilio sighting.

Archer got lit up tonight, 9 runs to KC.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 08:38 PM) I have been waiting like you. He's the lone good hitter in our lineup by a huge margin.

How much longer can they keep throwing Danks out there to get shelled? His salary is a SUNK COST for Christ's sake, why is that so hard to understand? The Cubs kicked Jackson out of the rotation and were quick to kick out Wood as well, why are we so slow on the trigger? So frustrating.

We have the league's worst offense and defense. However, at least the bats have a chance (even if small) to rebound even to a small degree, because some of our players have at least shown to be capable of that in the past. On the other hand, the defense with this crew is unlikely to improve, and none of the small handful of position player prospects we have on the farm are plus defensively either. How are we going to fix the defense?

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) In 1980/81, the Cubs and Sox both sold for essentially the same price. Now the Cubs are worth 3X the Sox. Who's fault is that? the fans? The Cubs and Sox drew pretty equal attendance numbers up until the 80s. WGN and the marketing by the Tribune allowed the Cubs to jump way ahead. They did a hell of a job marketing Wrigley. More than a third of fans in attendance at Cubs games are tourists, Wrigley is in the top 5 of places to see in Chicago on almost every list. In the city itself the fanbases aren't that far apart, but the Sox have zero draw outside Chicago. The location doesn't help either. They also really blew it after 2005. That was a golden opportunity to build a consistent winner and grab a bunch of the casual fans, instead we're back to being irrelevant again.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 10:53 AM) Junior Guerra absolutely mowing them down in AAA. Has to be in our starting rotation before the end of the year, let's see what he's got. Co-signed, I assume Johnson will be up after Samardzija is traded, but it'd be really nice if one of Johnson/Guerra can show themselves as capable of being a solid back-end starting pitcher next year.

QUOTE (SmashROT @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 11:04 AM) That crowd looked bigger than 25K, and it definitely sounded bigger than 25k. Considering the threat of rain, I thought they drew well for a Monday night. Did anyone really expect a sell out? The Cubs were also in town, and Monday Night Raw was at the All-State Arena as well that night. There was a lot of competition in addition to the weather. Not really that surprising.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 10:49 AM) Things could change over the next few weeks. Davidson and especially Thompson are struggling the last few weeks so I think they will not come up until the fall. Johnson is pretty hot so I could see him come back. Kotteras has stuggled( .215 avg) at the majors his whole career. I could see Erik Johnson up to replace Shark. Teams rarely bring up struggling players from the minors although White Sox did w Sanchez and we see the results. Sanchez had cooled off a bit but he was hitting .344 at the time of his call-up, not exactly what I would call struggling.

We're preaching to the choir here (as I'm sure fans who spend time on White Sox message boards are also likely fans who go to games), but does anyone really blame the fans for not coming out? If I had any faith that low attendance would cause changes in the front office I would want it to continue.

Urias is the #3 prospect in baseball, c'mon, you'd be lucky to get him if you offered Quintana.

At this point I'd be happy to get someone with a solid chance to be an everyday contributor. We have too many below-average players on the team, some league-average guys would be a huge improvement.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 09:53 AM) While he isn't blocking anyone now, he would be blocking whomever the Sox target as his replacement, for next season. If they can dump that salary, they may be able to find a legitimate left handed clean up hitter, which this lineup sorely needs. And who is that hitter going to be? Example of a hypothetical scenario?

Somehow Danks has 0.4 WAR this year.

Hoffman would be great but I hate not trying to get help on offense. Some of the proposals here are a bit crazy though. Jeff brought Russell a year ago when he had another year on his contract, was pitching better, and in a package that included Hammel too, and it was widely considered an overpay. Now for a two-month rental he's going to bring in a top 20 prospect (Judge)? Not a chance unless teams get very desperate and Cincy wants the world for Cueto. Also have to hope Detroit doesn't fall out of it in the next few weeks and puts Price on the market.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 09:51 PM) The Cubs are totally in your head. Living rent free. Just don't commit suicide in 2017 when they're running the NL. Hah, their "great young hitters" are going to have to do a lot better than they're doing right now if the Cubs hope to run things.

The NL is terrible this year, only 6 teams with winning records and with how bad the Mets are at offense, I would be completely shocked if the Cubs aren't in the playoffs. At this point the only question is if they'll have a home game in the 1-game playoff or not.