tray

This is the bottom for the Sox. They cannot afford to intentionally tank the team once again in 2018. The fans will notbstand for it. It looks like the Sox have decent talent right now at all positions That can only improve if some of the highly rated prospects get promoted. But just as wee see now, pitching will be the key. Let's see Reynaldo Lopez, Kopech and Goilito this season. Bring them up and see what they have. A healthy Rodon to start the season with a couple of the prospects filling a few spots in the rotation would be better than what we have seen this year. I'm not predicting they will be .500 next season, but I would be surprised if they suk this bad again.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 4, 2017 -> 11:38 AM) Just a reminder that soxtalk has a facebook account and we have a futuresox twitter account that you can reach out to us in the event that something like this happens(and good lord let it never happen again) I thought you banned me bro.

Anyone can parse stats to make a point.For example, Moustakis BA and OBP for 2014 was pretty bad (.212. BA .271 OBP) He would have been gone if KC did not believe he could improve. Geezus, give Davidson a chance. This is his first almost full season. And hit a landmark homerun against the Cubs. Never forget that either.

KC would have given up on Moustakis after his first several years in the majors where he was hitting for low average and did not put up big power numbers. I find it somewhat contradictory to be all in on a rebuild that involves developing players from within, and then complaining about Davidson who is in his first full season in the majors and has already shown great improvement. Anyway, as far as 2018, IMHO, the composition of the starting rotation and bullpen will dictate whether or not the team can be competitive. If it looks like what we have now, it will be another sorry season. On the other hand, if they bring up Giolito, Kopec, Reynaldo Lopez z(and they start dealing) and then stabilize the bullpen with a few relievers, the record is going to improve over what we have this season. Our pitching staff now is a joke.

Davidson has shown improvement defensively. He has turned many difficult plays into outs. Shots down the line or in the hole which he has handled and thrown guys out. That does not show up in WAR or any defensive stat. One would have to watch the games to know that. Davidson leads the team in HR. The Sox do not have any other player in their minor league system that can play third base and jack 25+ home runs. And please do not tell me that Burger can play third base until he has proven that through all levels of the Minors. The videos of him playing defense are a joke. The bottom line is that Davidson is the starting third basemen now and it will remain that way until there is a better alternative. Until then he is doing most of what a corner infielder is supposed to do. He is playing a decent third base, he is durable, and he hits for power. Judgment for Greg on this one.

Position players at the start of 2018 wll pretty much be the same as they are now. Davidson, Anderson Moncada , Abreu- the infield third to first. Outfield Leury Garcia, Willy Garcia, Avi Garcia. Engel.in the outfield. Narvaez and Smith catching. Saladino and Yolmer as utility players. ---------- If any of the outfield prospects are raking in the minors, I would not hesitate bringing them up next year, even early in the season. The Sox need to know what they really have with some of these players and then use that information to help decide what positions to look for in the 2018 Draft and in future trades. I have no idea if some of these guys will be close to major league ready next year, but if they seem close, I would have them up so fast their heads would spin. We are done tanking after the end of this season. We will probably not compete for the Division in 2018 or 2019, but we should at least be on the road out of holy he11. This tanking business is too painful to endure for another season. I hate to lose and just can't abide by that cheap strategy much longer.

Attendance at the stadium does not always indicate the size of the fan base or the interest level of fans. There are other factors impacting attendance. For example, Sox park is situated in an area which does not have much in the way of entertainment, shopping or commercial business. That has slowly been changing with the gentrification of the Bridgeport and Bronzeville neighborhoods, and with the progression of development down the Halsted street corridor. Wrigley is just the opposite. Many fans are within walking distance or can access easily through pubic transit. Another factor is how far portions of the Sox fan base lives from the park. The areas with the highest concentration of Sox fans are in the South, Southwest and far Southwest suburbs. For these fans, attending games is a planned event given the travel required. It is what it is, but there is no sense obssessing over it, caulfield.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 09:22 PM) The Sox are a pretty disgusting organization, that's for sure. Do you want to name names ?

We need a young, premier third base prospect ...or two. That has been one of the toughest positions for the Sox to fill post-Crede.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jul 27, 2017 -> 09:11 AM) Wow, is there a point where we say, "Enough is enough, we can let the big league team be TOO bad"? I don't get the last few trades, especially the trading of Swarczak and Jennings, where nothing of use came back. I wish the Sox did not trade Kahnle to the Yankees and instead packaged him with Swarzak and/or Jennings to get a better prospect, for example Brinson from the Brewers.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 24, 2017 -> 04:07 PM) Scrubs loseYES!! Yes, hell yes!!!

SWEEEET!! **ck the Cubs and their fans!! Losers!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 23, 2017 -> 04:16 PM) Not only that but make it harder for them to get to the postseason. I want the Sox to win every game against the cubs and then they can return to the tank. As someone who grew up in Chicago, and now lives in Sox country down in a South suburb, I do not want to see the cubs in the play-offs. Try to beat them. Give it everything you have. Punch them back, right in the face, like they sucker punched AJ. As far as tanking, Ttere will be a few highly rated prospects available regardless of whether the Sox pick one or perhaps four of five. The Sox just have to pick the right player, which is not going to be easy. If I had any say in the selection, I would encourage the Sox to consider the top two or three hitters over any pitcher, and then make the pick based on which one they think could help the team the most (which would include their ability to defend at their position).

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 23, 2017 -> 04:16 PM) For those in the know, is there a high school bat that could potentially stand out as the number one next spring? Brice Turang and Tristan Casas. These players appear to be physically developed to the point where they could conceivable have a shorter path to the majors than the typical high school prospect might.

I wonder if Hahn would rather have had Fowler instead of Rutherford.

I hope Rutherford works out for us. Maybe he will be the next Jacoby Ellsbury minus the injury issues. This deal should work out for the Yankees and the guys we traded to them. Frazier is from New Jersey and grew up as a Yankee fan. He said that he can spend more time at home now during the season, so good for him. Robertson was traded from the Yankees and Kahnle came up in their system so they are both going back to familiar circumstances. I will root for the Yankees over the Bosox if they meet in the playoffs. Frazier is one of my favorite players so I would like to see hm win a championship. Also, good luck to Kahnle, a very humble man and hard worker who really found his grove while pitching for our team.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 10:30 PM) What does that have to do with what he said about him as a clubhouse person? Frazier was a great person in the clubhouse and he will be missed by teammates.

Frazier had to be traded but his departure has to leave something of an empty feeling in the clubhouse. He will be missed.

The Sox have to maintain fan interest and try to avoid a real drop-off in attendance after trading so many players.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 12:19 PM) Make it stop please Sleepy. I had to defend myself against a personal attack but I did and I am done with this tread. I think this point was a slam dunk, like a Mark Aguirre dunk against Tripucka back in the day.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 10:46 AM) I think the only irrefutable fact that we all can see is that your hate for the cubs makes you baseball irrational. No need to resort to personal jabs like calling me irrational and hateful just to disagree or make a contrary point while claiming that everyone agrees with you. Listen man, I feel no differently than countless true White Sox fans about this trade, and I know *a lot* of them. But I understand how cub fans are ecstatic about this and others who do not feel invested in one of baseball's biggest rivalries or perhaps are unfamiliar with the history of the two franchises and their fan bases may not fully understand it or care about it. "“I think we are back,” Contreras said after the Cubs completed their three-game throttling with an 8-0 victory Sunday. “Back to where we were last year. I hope we can be like this for a lot of games.” Club president Theo Epstein delivered them another ace in lefty Jose Quintana — a blockbuster deal with the crosstown White Sox that came with more than a subtle kick in the rear urging the boys to kick it into gear. The message, it seems, was received. On Sunday, Quintana took the ball for the first time as a Cub and validated Epstein’s gamble: Seven shutout innings, just three hits allowed and 12 strikeouts — tying a franchise record for a pitcher in his debut. “I’m really happy to be here,” Quintana said with the relief of a man transported from last place in the AL Central and a life of perpetually poor run support.Yet, he’s probably not as happy as his new teammates. Had the Cubs played much worse in the first half, Epstein and Co. might have had to ponder selling assets, rather than adding. Instead, they plucked the gem of this deadline before the market even opened. Quintana has pitched into at least the seventh inning in 51% of his starts since 2015. He’s pitched between 200 and 208 innings the past four seasons, precisely the reliable salve the Cubs rotation needed. And he’s under club control at between $8.5 million and $10.5 million per year potentially through 2020. It’s impossible to quantify if the Cubs’ enhanced self-esteem this weekend was more the intangible boost from the front office, or facing Baltimore’s major league-worst pitching staff. It’s not surprising which narrative the Cubs prefer. “It gives us that extra confidence,” says reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant, who hit his 19th homer among three hits Sunday. “We have a lot of the same core that we had last year, and we won the whole thing. To add him for an extra three years, too — I think it’s a great move.“I think our offense came alive here. Obviously, Jose did an unbelievable job. Today was a great day for us feeling good about ourselves.” In fact, it’s almost impossible to find a Cub who isn’t trending upward. So, he dominated, spiking his curveball for swinging strikeouts early in the game, leaning on his fastball and changeup late. He finished with a flourish, striking out Mark Trumbo looking and inducing a double-play grounder from Chris Davis to end the seventh, greeted with a high-five from Maddon upon reaching the dugout. “He knew he had done well,” says Maddon. “He’s a low-key fellow, but his method is outstanding. “From his perspective, coming over from the White Sox to the Cubs in the middle of the season, There’s got to be something going on in there. And he handled it extremely well.” Link Edited to add link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/...6987316c62215a5

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 17, 2017 -> 09:12 AM) You keep saying this, but have zero evidence to suggest it's true. Seems like you're more concerned with the Cubs sucking than the Sox being good. I am not suggesting that Hahn did NOT have other choices. To the contrary, I am stating that he did. One of the choices was to not make that breathless trade with Epstein and to simply wait to trade Quintana. Epstein became desperate to deal for a starter. The return was not overwhelming. No one can say that Quintana would have had any less trade value this week than he did last week...including to the cubs. Quintana will not win a World Series for the cubs but he may put them in a good position to get into the play-offs. Chalk up one big win already along with the emotional turn around of the team after getting that shot in the arm. Go ahead and root for the cubs . I guess the rest of us will wait for 2019 when

It has been hard for Epstein and cub fans to wipe the smirks off their faces since Quintana's start. Helping the cubs to another Word Series was not what most White Sox fans wanted Hahn to do with Quintana. He had other choices.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 15, 2017 -> 12:31 PM) If you really think that Hahn took a lesser package than the one he received from the Cubs to help the Cubs is among the most ridiculous conspiracy theories I've ever heard. I didn't say that or think that. Hahn could have waited for another trade opportunity. This wasn't the first offer for Q and it would not have been the last. Who was more desperate to make this trade, Epstein or Hahn? There are reasons why the Sox and Cubs seldom make trades. Depending on how this one works out for both teams and both fan bases, this might be the last one for a long, long time.

Many Sox fans were and are against assisting the Ricketts clan, Epstein and the Cubs to another World Series. That's just a fact. If you disagree fine, but don't pretend that this rivalry does not exist, or that most Chicago fans are not fully aware of it and invested in it to some degree. Second, Hahn stated that it was the best deal available. Of course he is going to say that after he makes the trade. We don't know what the Brewers offered, how those players would eventually pan out, what other teams may have offered at the end of the traded deadline, or during the off-season. Why didn't Hahn just trade Q for the best available before the season started, like some wanted him to do? Why now? Because Epstein got desperate after Lester had a meltdown and the Cub fan base started stirring? Q's trade value was not going to go down immediately and it may have even increased in the next several weeks. Hahn sold out...to the cubs. If Quintana ends up helping the cubs to a world series, go ahead and enjoy watching with your Cubs Quintana jersey on. Is this petty? Yes, absolutely...but sports fandom is by definition fanatical and frequently quite petty. You wear hats with team logos and swear your allegiance. You root for the team and you disparage opponents. It is what it is. Don't try to pretend you are a sports fan but at the same time you are above it all.