Jake

I would say that this is a thing that Hahn will definitely think about doing, but as Marty admits it may be difficult to pull off, even once. The trading team would have a lot more explaining to do than us. Team X will have a hard time justifying trading their high-priced should-have-been-star player AND some top young players for nothing in return except a heavier wallet.

I don't mind the "bad contracts for top prospects" idea in the abstract, though I'm not especially thrilled by any of the ideas so far

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 10:41 PM) Good, then they draft Manny Machado with Kenny Lofton like speed. It gets even better. He'll go great with Matt Kemp and Ryan Howard, our selections in 2012

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 11:12 AM) This isn't even as bad as the debt ceiling fight in 2 weeks. It is likely that President Obama will raise the debt ceiling himself and that it is completely legal to do so. Most believe that the Supreme Court would refuse to hear arguments on the matter. It could actually be yet another move that ultimately makes the GOP look horrible if they try to fight back. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 02:14 PM) Just awesome. And 6 minutes apart too. LOL. Great job. QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 09:24 PM) I honestly prefer drinking a 12 pack of Sunkist, shifting gears and thinking about how much I hate the government all day. While that thing you're driving on has absolutely nothing to do with the government

QUOTE (ptatc @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 06:39 PM) Correct. It kis too difficult to be accurate with the variability of pitches thrown in an inning. You can "ballpark" it but its never going to be reliable. Pitches thrown is better, but even that is not as straightforward as it seems. Back when I pitched, a 35+ pitch inning pretty much meant I was going to be useless for the rest of that start. I always compared it to weightlifting. 10 sets of 10 is not the same as 5 sets of 20 is not the same as 1 set of 100. I think we approach it the right way. We don't ignore the measurable stuff like game by game pitch counts and innings pitched, but there are subjective factors that play a big role as well. The end result is a pretty damn healthy staff and team.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 09:26 AM) While I appreciate your example of the Sox quick turnarounds, I think I have a better, more recent one. The last time the White Sox had a season about this bad was 2007. They won the division in 2008. The Griffey factor.

They should all be back. Even if we bring in a guy like Granderson, I expect the rest to stay.

Worth mentioning that it is a near certainty that if we did a simple vote on a CR that left spending unchanged in both houses, it would pass fairly easily. You can look no further than the strange powers granted the Speaker and the silent filibustering powers in the Senate as what is to blame for this.

I am very fond of the new wild-card system. I would be okay w/ 3 game series, but it is cool to have an all-or-nothing game

In one league, 4th most points but 1-3

Didn't we get a sixth rounder for Gabe Carimi?

Given what I expect the market to be, I have a feeling we'll make one signing for more than expected while missing out on the biggest fish who get extravagant sums

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 08:06 PM) Seems that Semien should be ranked higher. Hard to question his numbers. What about Micah? Need to do more at a higher level? Semien doesn't have unreal tools and had a relatively quick rise from okay prospect that was a possible utility guy to a guy that was hitting like a legit top of the order hitter. Makes sense that there would be some pause.

0-3 (I think I'm going to win this week) in the league where Yahoo rated me as the best drafter 4-0 in the league where Yahoo rated me 11/12 in the draft QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 02:52 PM) Who wants in on the best NBA fantasy league ever? It's a keeper, I need two owners. Sureeeee

The USA has by far the best higher education system (now, that does not include cost, where we are pretty much the worst). This is a tremendous asset as pretty much everyone in the world knows that we are the place to go to learn just about anything from STEM and beyond. We get the greatest minds in our backyard; many may not plan to stay, but when you're educated here you would normally find work opportunities here vs uncertain prospects abroad. Now the prospects abroad remain uncertain, but there are no prospects here

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 11:31 AM) Agreed. At least they dumped him before he could permanently damaged Garcia/Semien. Semien walk rate in AA: 17.4%. Result: League MVP Semien walk rate in ML: 1.4% Result: .261./268/.405 For what it's worth, his walk rate had already been cut in half after his promotion to AAA. This is among the reasons I'd like to see him get more MiLB seasoning because he really was just surviving in AAA (by his standards). He went from BB outnumbering Ks to an almost 2:1 K:BB in AAA and then didn't walk at all in MLB. QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 11:33 AM) Amen. I'm not huge on hitting coaches making a huge difference, but that was ridiculous when Manto said he didn't care about walks. I hope they talk to Rudy Jaramillo and Kevin Seitzer. Manto never said that - the example he had given in the interview that led to much of Soxtalk thinking that he hated walks was him giving a situation in which his hypothetical best hitter is up with a base open and man in scoring position. He said, in this case, he wants the guy trying to get a hit because a walk doesn't benefit the team. This is, of course, correct. There are some situations where you'd much rather have the guy at the plate take a shot on something he can hit than pass it on to the guy behind him.

Anything based on innings pitched was always going to be doomed.

It is not the NBA. Tanking is unlikely to magically net you a franchise-saving player

De Aza's faults are correctable and that's a good thing

WRs and TEs have been brutal short of one play by Jeffery

Jay has had something going on with his arm today

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 29, 2013 -> 02:25 PM) Forte and Peppers showed up. Everyone else? Nope. Not that Forte wanted to catch the ball a few plays ago either

Not our day. Bad game in every facet for the Bears

Drop, drop...?

Peanut takes that to the hizzy