[2013 Cubs catch all thread]

Rebuilding hardly ever goes smoothly. Even the can't miss usually give you reason to worry.

If they want to blame Sveum for that, that would be silly. They may snap back, and the Cubs may change managers, but if that happens and they give the new manager total credit, it would be way off IMO.

 

Which is why all this talk about Baez, Bryant and others is way premature. The Cubs may have a great team in a few years because of all these draft picks. Odds are maybe one or two of them will be average to good major league ball players. Time will tell.

[Your Realistic 2014 Lineup]

Not that huge of a difference considering he played until he was 45, and a catcher. In fact, his age 33 season was one of his worst as a White Sox. I think, while some players fall apart at 32, considering it a general rule, is way off, especially if speed isn't a major component of his effectiveness. Plenty of players are productive until they are 35 or 36 or even 38.

 

People here worried about Detroit being the greatest team ever because they signed a 38 year old and had a 34 year old coming back from injury.

 

I have no proof, and do not pretend to know him personally, but as with all players how do we know that Mr. Fisk never used any "enhancements". It's a little before the Canseco stuff, but just because Canseco was one of the first obvious ones, doesn't mean they weren't in use prior to him.

[Your Realistic 2014 Lineup]

At this point no one should have a clue whether Avisail could be a solid CF. He has the speed to stick there but he hasn't played the position enough to get used to the ways the ball will travel and how to get a good jump on it. If you want him to be a CF long term, play him there and see what happens.

 

As one who values excellent defense, at the middle positions especially, I really don't like this idea. I would much rather have a real centerfielder, gold glove calibur defense, regardless of how he hits, provided he isn't totally incompetent with the bat. Meaning that he can at least put down a bunt when needed, and hit circa 220 - 230. If you're going to have Choo and Garcia on the same team I say put them in right and left, whichever way.

 

That's the thing that sickens and worries me most about this horrid season. If it's just a bad offense, that can be fixed fairly easily. The piss poor defence has really tempered my outlook for this teams short term future. I don't expect gold glovers at every position, but geesh, the team defense this year has been beyond terrible.

[Interview with Bristol Sox manager Mike Gellinger]

Very informative, Thank you.

[2013-2014 NFL Thread]

That is the law, yes.

 

But Tebow moved into an apartment in another district so he could play for a different team, so there are weak loopholes.

 

I do agree with you on the picking any school they want deal, although at least the parents have to pay to transport them there. I do not however, have any problem with homeschooled kids participating in public school extracurricular activities, such as sports, band, etc. These families pay the same taxes that the rest of us do and have every right to participate.

[2013 MLB Catch-All thread]

This could really hurt the Mets playoff chances....oh wait..

 

Maybe they will blow things up now and trade Wright to us!

[Your Realistic 2014 Lineup]

I can be tolerant of Dunn in the lineup, excited actually, but please "NO MORE DUNN HITTING 3rd!

[2014 Draft class]

Sox are within 5 games of the 11th pick in the draft. Please start losing games. Lots of games. K, thanks.

 

That would be the final kick in the a** for this season. Play just well enough in the final ~40 games to put us out of the top 10.

[Chris Sale is a Stud Thread]

Leyland probably had Sale pitch longer to wear him out for the rest of the Tiger / White Sox games this year.

[Grinder Bash]

I was never at WSI long enough for a ban, noticing early on that I didn't care much for the site. I did however receive a warning there for being overly religious. I had simply agreed with something another poster had said and I replied "Amen brother, preach it!". For that I received a warning. I just never went back.

[Hey, it's an afternoon game . . .]

Alexei came up lame there, grabbing hamstring. Unclear if a pull or a cramp. Looked more like a pull to me, but what do I know

 

Just when you think the season cant get any worse.

[7/10]

Personally he strikes me as a player Jeff Luhnow would've targeted in the Cards organization. He doesn't appear to have a stand out tool but he appears average to above in everything he does, I can only hope he turns out like one of the cards unheralded prospects that just know how to play the game and take a walk.

 

I like the idea. I personally am so sick of the low average, high strikeout, slow, low baseball I.Q., power only type players that we always seem to have an abundance of. I realize that you need to have at least a couple of those types playing in U.S. Cellular, but we seem to have way too many all or nothing types.

 

Give me a solid ballplayer over the Adam Dunn types anyday.

[Rosenthal: Sox should market Sale]

Very good post. The idea of losing Sale frightens me also. I guess it simply will all depend on how long of a retooling process they would like to endure. Im assuming next year will be a developing year for the newly acquired young guys. However, if the organization decides to make a run at it in 2015, id say you have to keep him.

 

Its tricky. If a team offers three can't miss top 50 prospects, we would be foolish not to explore that possibility.

 

There's no such thing.

[ARod suspended for entire 2014 season]

If Detroits Peralta is suspended for 50 games and accepts it, would he not be back in time for the playoffs?

 

If Peralta appeals the suspension could that place him injeopardy of being on the playoff roster?

 

Maybe this is actually pretty good timing for the Sox as far as making deals.

[Baseball America Midseason Top 25]

Im glad that these lists dont really mean much, no actual Major League performance yet, because everyone else in the division has prospects there. Even the Cubs have several. How depressing.

[Puig-Mania Thread]

I think with marty having disappeared and Greg only doing "hit and run" comments in the middle of the night, there's nobody left to pick on or try to agitate.

 

Haven't even seen much of Dick Allen these days, either.

 

What ever happened to Marty anyway, was he suspended? I thought he was very annoying, as others did I'm sure.

[WELCOME BACK, JIM THOME!]

Would prefer it be Dayan...unfortunately, they have something in common, taking massive, 110% power cuts at pitches.

 

And being a lefty, perhaps he can help Conor with his power stroke, although I don't think you should mess too much with how he's approaching at-bats right now, as he has perhaps the best, most compact swing on the major league team right now.

 

I would prefer it be Dayan too probably, but I am thinking of Danks because he is a bigger lefthanded hitter, and if he could turn into an average, or slightly above average hitter he would be a very legit Major League centerfielder.

 

[WELCOME BACK, JIM THOME!]

"If you can give a kid a piece of advice or be around here and somebody asks you a question about hitting or about the game in general and you see them have success, ultimately, that's the biggest accomplishment of all, is giving back to the game and giving back to young players that want that input and want that advice," Thome said.[/b]

http://www.mlb.com

 

I know this is kind of a longshot, but if I had to pick one player that J. T. could help the most with hitting I would pick.........drum roll please..... Jordan Danks.

 

Again, nothing factual, just a guess.

[7/2 Games]

I could be wrong, but I think that most here are overestimating the amount of activity that the Sox are going to be involved in the next few weeks. Im thinking that the F. O. very much sees this as a bad year and has every intention of contending next year. A rotation of Sale, Danks, Peavy, Quintana, and Santiago is pretty good and if they can get even a mediocre offense they should contend.

 

Its possible they could really start unloading players, but unless they get a haul for someone, I really don't expect much more than Crain, Thornton and Lindstrom to be gone. Maybe Konerko as a favor if he is willing.

 

As always JMHO.

[7/2 Games]

On the plus side, no strikeouts, which have always been the main concern with him.

 

Could this mean that they are working with him in some way to cut down on the strike outs, but it hasn't translated to more contact yet?

[Keppinger to Yanks?]

If we trade Alexei, I have a feeling we'll see Gordon at SS and Kep at 2B. Morel would probably be in the mix as a platoon partner at 3B for Gillaspie in that case.

 

I thought our defense was pretty bad now, but if thats the case, its going to get worse.

[White Sox sign Micker Zapata for $1.6 million]

So whats the timetable here? He's only sixteen, is he free to join the system, or will we not really see or hear much from him for a few years?

[Rios, $1M traded to Rangers]

Walks are a by-product of a good plate approach in which the hitter swings at good pitches and takes bad pitches. No one LOOKS to walk. But they have to accept a walk, because if they don't then pitchers never have to give them good pitches to hit. For the LIFE of me, I don't understand why people cannot grasp this.

 

I approve of this post! We complain about our "freeswingers" striking out so much, or hitting week grounders; well thats because pitchers know they don't have to give them much to hit, most of our guys will swing at about anything. Heck, pitchers like Mark Buehrle feast on these types of hitters.

 

I'm not a big fan of Adam Dunn, but at least, for the most part, he forces the pitcher to throw him strikes, he just can't hit most of them.

 

[**7/2 Game thread! Sox hosting Orange Birds!**]

I tend to be an optimist but.........I am really not very interested in seeing the Sox get swept.....again!

 

I'm going to Tradewinds.

[Dunn?]

Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, heck name most any Cub star, Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood and several other Sox stars never played in the post season to the best of my knowledge. Im sure other teams have star players as well in their history that never played in the post season. Are they all losers?

 

Guys like Goose Gossage never played in the post season either until he went somewhere with a team around him. Is he a loser?

 

Walter Payton never played in the post season until the Bears put a team around him. Was he a loser too?

 

Just my 2 cents.