vilehoopster

A loyal, consistent, and outstanding player. He deserves the respect of ending his career with the White Sox and not being nickeled and dimed out of a few million dollars. I say three years and 36 millions, at least. And if he is only productive one more year (Which I absolutely doubt as he shows no signs of slowing down), he has still earned it for his loyalty, clubhouse presence, and constant and consistent production. I just don't get you guys. Some people on here are still expressing regret that we didn't sign Machado ( a complete and total dick and clubhouse cancer) for over $30 million a year for ten years. Yet you want to insult a loyal warrior and get him to sign for only two years for less than 20 million for both years. I don't get it. Right now, Abreu has two more home runs than Machado, 25 more RBIs and a better OPS than Machado. I don't begin to get it.

I always thought that North Carolina was the state that came closest to Indiana when it comes to caring about basketball.

I know I'm late to the conversation. But I glad the Sox did not sign Machado. Roid rage or not, he is a complete and total dick. I'm proud to be a Sox fan, and I want my team to have players we can be proud of and who represent the city of Chicago. To me, the throwing the bat is nothing compared to the time he rolled his bat toward the catcher who was looking up to catch his foul ball, hoping the catcher would trip on his bat. It would have been awful tough to cheer for a dick like Machado. I probably would have, but I'm really glad he's not wearing a White Sox uniform and we don't have to suffer the embarrassment of his antics as a White Sox.

Was that Tim or was the guy just that fast going to first?

You see that slide past the bag out all the, all the time. It seems like that should be really pretty easy to avoid if you pay attention to what you're doing. What else do you have to have your concentration on once you reach the bag? But it must be tougher than it looks.

Wow, it's nice to see McCann hitting the ball again. I was really starting to worry he was going to regress back to that .230 hitter we got from Detroit.

That's what I'm thinking. Just walk his ass and take your chances with the next batter. He is insane.

Also, what you said about Steele Walker in RF and then moving Eloy to DH does make sense. If Eloy isn't showing marked improvement on defense by mid-next year, you're right. Have to really start looking at moving him to DH as Abreu (really actually does) starts to decline. But in the mean time, give him a chance to improve.

We agree on that one.

Good point. When you see stuff like that, it's very disconcerting for many reasons.

Bill's mind was blown wide open long ago. I think at a Dead concert in '91. One of several Dead concerts Bill was at that year.

I don't think last year's Giolito is what he is now or will see going forward, of course not. But I don't think the Giolito we saw the first half of the season will be the Gio we see going forward either, for whatever reason I don't know. I think that was aberration. I think the one we see now is the one we're gonna see the rest of his time with the Sox. Not spectacular like he was earlier this season, but a good solid, smart pitcher who takes the ball and most of the time gives you a chance to win and will get you around 14 wins a year. Do you agree?

Or show some patience

You can always get an DH who can bat (well not the Sox this year, but usually). There aren't too many left fielders out there who are going to get 40 or so home runs for the next 10 years or so. He has a good work ethic; he will get better and be more than adequate.

That's about the only time Ricky has them bunt that I agree with.

This is an overreaction. We need his bat in the lineup from left field. He'll get better and do just fine there. Every player on the team can't DH.

This 100%

Back to Eloy not catching that ball. Do you think he catches that next year?I would say yes. He's already improved a ton from the start of the year.

Nice shot, pretty well thought up. But really, calculus is cold, hard math. Analytics is using biased math to justify opinion. Mark Twain: There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

No, I was a English teacher and basketball coach with bad hair when I played in the 70s and in some ways equally bad when coaching in the 80s, probably too much hair.

The implication or reference escapes me here. Sorry

Actually, the way he is blowing smoke out of his ass that means absolutely nothing reminds me of analytics. Basically the same thing and of equal value.

I loved Walton in his UCLA and Portland days, but he is now a living testement to the dangers of what prolonged drug use does to your brain. He keeps bringing up this book or that book; he has no idea what happened in any of those books. Those brain cells were burnt out years ago. He's just pontificating and putting on airs. As I said before, I quickly muted.

Oh my god. I just turned it on. Could only last a minute before I muted it. Sorry, no way I see this as a good idea.

These are the words of a guy who never coached in high stress situations. I coached high school basketball in Indiana for over 15 years and I’m telling you team leadership and modeling a strong work ethic is really important. If anything it’s underrated. It doesn’t show in games. Everybody bust their asses in games when the crowd is watching. Where it matters is in practice. If have seniors who understand and value drill and practices, you’re gonna get better as the year goes on and pass teams that were better than you at the start of the season. Stuff like that is contagious. If you have seniors who dog it and do just enough to not get yelled at, who snipe and b**** in the locker room, that stuff is even more contagious, and you will underachieve, maybe really underachieve. Remember before the all star game when people on here keep asking how the Sox could be only 2 or 3 games under .500 with their starting pitching, injuries, and other problems. And I know things turned ugly after all-star game, but the ship seems to have righted itself. Anyway, when a team overachieves like that, there’s some positive intangibles happening in the clubhouse, some serious leadership, both verbally and modeling hard work. And everyone you talk to, players and staff, all point to that positive presence as Abreu. That stuff is important, and if you don’t think so, you don’t really know sports. Ask any coach in any sport. We can debate whether Abreu is a really good or just an average 1st baseman, and though I argue against the claims he’s only average, I can see the arguments for the other side. But to claim that locker room or clubhouse atmosphere and leadership have no value, or even little value, when it comes to wins and losses, I’m sorry you lose all credibility with me.