Jack Parkman

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 09:46 AM) Something like this could honestly be the end of baseball. To actually follow through and get this type of plan into action, the owners and commissioner would have to be willing to wait out a 12-24 month lockout, because the MLBPA is not going to be on board for salary restrictions. Economically speaking, does it make sense to go through a lockout when only two teams are spending an exorbitant amount of money on their major league roster? The limit on the draft and international free agency is a bit different, but, again, they already have a policy in place to help restrict some of the overspending. Increasing fines and/or taking away draft picks from teams that go above slot is a possibility, but it ultimately may not stop teams from still doing so. It is also entirely possible that taking those picks away could work out to the higher spending team's advantage, as you could see players who normally go high slip and fall to the teams that spend. They take them in the 3rd round, sign them to even less (but still far above slot), lose their 3rd round pick the following year, but then get their 2nd round pick back at the same time. To actually get a hard cap into place, you would again have to be willing to go through a lockout. Is a lockout really worth curbing amateur signing bonuses? --- I also don't think you will see annual ticket price increases stopped simply due to evolving economic conditions. As more people enter the job market, the money supply increases and the value of money diminishes, and people need to receive more money to pay for goods and services. If you want baseball owners to stop increasing ticket prices, you need to convince the Fed to decrease the money supply. Look what the lockout did for the NHL. I think the league is arguably more popular now than it was in 2004. I, as a fan, would be willing to go through 1.5 seasons without baseball so that the game is better in the long run. The Yankee/Red Sox dominance of the AL has to stop. I think it is complete bulls*** that you can buy championships in MLB. I hate to say that, but it's true. It would be one thing if the Yankees/Red Sox had this huge economic advantage, but only had a $130 MM payroll. But the two of them combined probably have a payroll approaching $400 MM, which is probably as much as 5-6 smaller market teams in the AL. The current system gives AL teams a slim chance to win anything. There is a reason why Yankees/Red Sox is so huge media wise, and that is because it seems that they have a chance to win a World Series every year. The Yankees make the playoffs basically annually(15 out of the last 16 years) Under the current system you might as well make it like Euro soccer, where there is the Big Boy league, and the other guys league.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 11, 2010 -> 11:53 PM) Not to mention that if you add a salary cap the Yankees and Red Sox just use their resources to buy all the top international free agents and go well over slot for every single draft choice in order to build ridiculous farm systems. I thought of that, and there would be a cap on draft/IFA spending as well. Nullify the East Coast advantages, makes for a better league. It would theoretically halt annual ticket price increases, but that is wishful thinking because the owners would get greedy.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 10, 2010 -> 09:53 PM) Not to mention from the early 80's through 1995. This was before the YES network turned the Yankees into the financial giant that they are now. I was talking about the here and the now.

For the time being there are only 2 ways to win the AL pennant: The first way is to spend like the Yankees and Red Sox, on both the Major league and Minor League levels. The second way is to go into the s***ter for a 5 year period, and emerge with the amount of talent that the Rays have built over the last 5-7 years. Another note: When you spend or draft, at the end of the process, you must possess 2 pitchers with #1 stuff, one of which pitches like a #1, and the other of which pitches like a #2 or #3. The period between 2004-2008 was special because the Yankees made some really bad contract choices. When the marquee free agents returned to the market it was back to this way. As long as the Yankees have a $200 MM payroll and spend it wisely, these are the only ways to compete with them. It does not matter what you do, The Yankees will always win unless you have somewhere close to the amount of talent that they do. This is why, IMO there should be a cap of a $150 MM payroll in baseball. Unfortunately, there is a more level playing field in the NL.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 9, 2010 -> 08:58 PM) The most glaring problem I see in your mock roster is Sale as our closer. I will pull my hair out if they don't try this kid as a starter, like he is supposed to be. No sense wasting an electric arm for 3-4 innings a week when he can be a great starter for us in 2012. Sale may have an electric arm, but we saw how good that did for Strasburg. He started 1 season every 5th day and his elbow exploded. Sale has similar mechanics. I think that if they start Sale, he will suffer the same fate as Strasburg in his first season starting. If they can preserve Sale's arm by making him a closer, you do it. Liriano was throwing 98 mph before he had Tommy John surgery, now he throws 92-94. Sale throws 95-97 out of the bullpen, I'd guess that makes him a 92-94 mph guy as a starter. If Sale loses anything on his fastball if he gets injured, it could make him a fringe major league pitcher. We all know how hard reliable closers are to find, Sale seems to have the makeup, and I'd rather have that electric arm out of the bullpen for at least 6 seasons, than an injury prone starter who the team can never rely on, including losing probably 2 seasons of cheap service time for when his elbow explodes. JMO.

Rios needs to come in to play CF now. Seriously. You can't give the game away because of a guy who doesn't play the position very often.

Just heard on the Score that he needs Tommy John surgery after the MRI showed a torn UCL. This sucks. we now only have Sale as a lhp out of the pen.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 27, 2010 -> 10:37 AM) I just hope Chris Sale lasts a lot longer than Strasburg. Sale's mechanics aren't pretty either. Sale's mechanics and Strasburg's are very similar. In that article you posted the link for they mention a "timing issue." Project Prospect has noticed the a similar timing issue with Sale's mechanics. This is why I'm on the "Sell high on Sale" bandwagon. When Kenny thinks Sale is at his highest value before he gets injured, he should trade him. There will be some GM who will not learn from Prior/Strasburg. I said when Strasburg was drafted that his elbow would explode or his shoulder would tear within the first two years of starting. I expect the same from Sale. They have to trade him when they can get the most for him, before his elbow/shoulder gets injured. IMO, unless Kenny is stupid, Sale was drafted to be traded next deadline for a big acquisition. QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Aug 27, 2010 -> 10:38 AM) legit point with him, but young pitchers are a crap shoot, there are guys who can last a lot longer with bad mechanics than others This is the downside of trading Sale. If Sale by some freak occurence stays healthy for about 4-5 seasons before he gets injured, the Sox are going to look bad in their trade. However, the guys with the inverted W delivery are a ticking time bomb, and for Kenny to maximize Sale's value, he has to trade him at just the right time. If they want to keep him they have to send him to rookie ball and give him a mechanics overhaul, which will probably give him a fastball somwhere between Buehrle's and Danks's, after which Sale would have to learn how to pitch like Buehrle.

Pants?

Pants, See my PM

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:35 PM) Hawk has declared Sale a great pitcher. "Nintendo stuff" QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:36 PM) Last person he said that about has been a massive bust in the minors (Andrew Miller). He hasn't used that phrase much, nor has he used "he was all-state in two states". Actually the pitcher that Sale reminds me most of is, in fact, Andrew Miller. Mid 90s heat, high 80s change, low 80s slider. Same pitches actually. Hopefully they have different careers.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 09:17 PM) Sale tops out at 97-98. Gun is way off. My post was baseball stupid anyway, and I deleted it. I forgot, in the 101 mph pitch glory, that Sale has the Prior-Strasburg delivery, and I said that Strasburg was going to blow out his arm within the first 2 years of him starting, and by the accounts posted from member of WSI who watched the Nationals game, Strasburg was removed from the game after throwing a pitch holding his elbow in severe pain. If Sale really throws 100 mph, he'll blow out his elbow too. We might be better off using Sale as trade bait after he's proven he can get major league hitters out as a starter for half a season. IMO pitchers with that delivery are ticking time bombs. I'm not an orthopedic surgeon, but Prior and now Strasburg have proven that that delivery is just too stressful on a human shoulder and elbow. I saw 101 mph and logic flew out the window.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 04:31 PM) I'd bet money all of those guys have been on the wire already. All teams waive everyone at some point. Teams that are wanting to make moves are much more aggresive about it to mask players that could be moved. If that was the case, then wouldn't they probably have been claimed and pulled back already? Would that prevent the Sox from being able to make a trade because if they had to re-waive these players, then they would have to be put on irrevocable waivers, which then the only responsibility that the claiming team had was to take on the player's contract? If the the first case has already happened, then basically the only thing waivers can do is provide salary relief if the Sox are 7 games out come Sunday night.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 03:37 PM) White flag weekend. QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 03:44 PM) If Garcia s***s the bed in Game 1, we're f***ed for Game 2. This could be season ending tonight. Yeah seriously. If Garcia gets shelled in game 1, we could be 7 out of first by the end of the weekend, after which we would need to seriously consider moving guys like Konerko, Vizquel, and Putz on waivers. IMO Putz is going to get a big contract this offseason, and it's not going to be from the White Sox.

Edwin Jackson won't start the second game http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

I got banned there for being really pissed off about that game that Jon Garland started in 2006 during the first week of the season which they blew a 6 or 7 run lead. I was so angry that I said that for the rest of the season I'd expect them to lose but be pleasantly surprised if they win. I got banned for both a language filter violation(personally I think that language filters are stupid because anyone with half a brain can know which swear word you are using by the context of the post, except when you say "I don't give a (blank)") and they told me to go be a cub fan. I should have quit posting there, but I went back. When I feel pissed and negative I post here, because I won't get flamed for it. When things are going well, I post both places. I also think that the general baseball knowledge is better among the posters here, because: a) people actually accept sabermetrics as useful statistics, rather than useless trash. and B) people have a better knowledge about what is realistically attainable in a trade while the farm system is s***ty. I don't know how many times in July I read trade proposals over there centering around the movement of Tyler Flowers and Jordan Danks, who are close to being non-prospects if they aren't non- prospects already.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:51 PM) That's why Thornton will not ever make a great closer. He has no other pitches to rely on. It was his turn to suck. OTOH, how does Thornton ever get anyone out, I know he throws 95 mph from the left side, but he only has 1 pitch. Logic would say he would be lit up like a pinball machine.

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 10:21 PM) Jenks pitching like 2005 version. Heavy fastball and an overpowering hook. Nice to see he still has it when he wants to. If he still has the 97-100 mph fastball in him Oz and Ken need to go to him and say "throw the f***ing ball as hard as you possibly can and still throw strikes" This was vintage 2005 Bobby Jenks tonight. It seems on Sox message boards this is how Bobby is viewed=> Bobby gives up a run= Bobby you fat f***! Bobby strikes out the side in 1-2-3 fashion=WOOOO! BIG BAD BOBBY JENKS!!! STOP-HAMMER TIME! U CAN'T TOUCH THIS

If Bobby still has it in him to throw high 90s gas he needs to go back to being a fastball-curveball pitcher and he needs to throw this kind of gas each night. EDIT- This was vintage 2005 Bobby Jenks right here. 87 mph big breaking curveball wow.

My biggest 2 gripes with the Sox organization are: 1.They need to spend more on the draft and international scouting/signings. If you have a top 10 talent available to draft where you are, or if you have a chance to sign a top international free agent, unless there are some serious question marks with injury, you take them and sign them, especially if you are a mid market team. You should spend less on free agents and more on developing your own players that are under your control for 6 years. 2. You should not trade all of your top ten prospects away if you are intent on keeping payroll in a $90-105 million range and compete with the best of them. Break in a pitcher and a position player, if you think they are ready, each year. You pick 3 guys you think are going to be the best major league players each year and keep them or break them in over the next few years and make the other 7 available for trade. Repeat prospect process each year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 27, 2010 -> 07:33 PM) This is kind of like a software company in the US pretending they're going to operate in China. It's not like the Yankees have guaranteed anything with their huge payrolls, either. They've won just as many as the Sox since 2000. If we want to emulate anyone, it should be the Twins, Cardinals, Braves or Angels...because we simply don't have the ability to put all of our eggs in the basket of a FA superstar contract like the top 7-8 payroll teams do. Boras would never have his player sign that kind of "reverse" back-loaded contract...and KW/JR would certainly never approve, because their goal has always been to avoid the most expensive implications of any contract. Yes, we should do a much better job in international talent procurement (especially Dominican and Venezuela), the draft and development...no doubt. Still, what's the biggest lesson of 2005? Subtract Valentin and especially Ordonez and Carlos Lee from the payroll and that gives you the flexibility to bring in Pods, Iguchi, AJ, El Duque, Dye, Hermanson, Vizcaino, etc. Ironic, but we won that year with our lowest payroll, $65 million. Ever since then, we've spent MORE money but obviously not as efficiently or as wisely. It's also the main reason we're not making a Fielder, Oswalt or Haren acquisition, and those guys don't come close to $25 million per year, although Fielder certainly might in the future. Now of course...your chances to compete are increased (although not exponentially) at each $10 million payroll tier you reach, but somebody quoted the fact that only about 37.5% of teams who have spent $100+ million ended up making the playoffs. There's simply no guarantee. And you say the Cubs control 70% of the market, then proceed to say we're a Top 4 market...that really doesn't make sense. In some ways we are, but our attendance definitely has not been since 2006. Each market like SF/OAK, LA/Orange County, Balt/Washington, Chicago and NYC/Queens is unique. With the new Twins ballpark and the Tigers'/Illitch's continued willingness to outspend the Sox, we will undoubtedly continue to act like a "stealth" middle market team in a large market. Maybe I should clarify myself. I said we should try to compete with the Yankees, not spend like them. I specifically said in my post what I expect payroll to be when we are at different levels of competition. When we are in tier 1, or 5 year rebuild, we should have a payroll below $80 million. When we expect to compete for the division and hope to catch lightning in a bottle in the playoffs, we should have a payroll between $80-100 million. When we are going all in and are in our World Series window, we should have at least a $100 million dollar payroll and preferably between $110 million and $125 million, and payroll should only be expected to stay there for 2-3 years while our opportunity to win a few World Series is greatest. Second I said we were a top 4 market in the AL, not the whole league. the Chicago metro area has 9-10 million people living there. Lets say 3 million people don't like baseball. Now you have 6-7 million people who like baseball. If the Cubs control 70% of the market, that leaves a market of 1.8-2.1 million people. I don't know if you could name another market for AL teams that is that big besides Boston, NYY, and LAA.EDIT-(I guess the Dallas-Fort Worth area would be about the same or bigger)All in all the team that I'd like to emulate is the Red Sox.

This is my view about competing, you all may think I'm crazy, but here it goes. If you don't want to read the details skip to the last sentence. Since the sox are in the AL, every year as spring training opens the FO should ask themselves 3 questions:1. Do we believe, given the moves and talent of the teams in the AL central, that we will win the division by at least 5 games. 2. If a contributing player goes down to injury for the season, do we have enough talented players in our farm system to either A: replace that player adequately from within or B: acquire a replacement player close to the talent of the injured player. This should be determined by the amount of players opposing GMs covet(the key word) from the farm as well as the evaluation of our own scouts. 3. Does this team have at least a 40% chance of beating the Yankees in a 7 game series? If the answer to all 3 questions is yes, then we have done an excellent job. If the answer to all 3 questions is no, then there needs to be a 5 year plan to make the answer to all 3 questions yes. If the answer to question 1 is yes but the answer to questions 2 and 3 is no, then revert to the same plan as if the answer to all 3 questions is no. If the answer to questions 1&2 is yes, but question 3 is no, there needs to be a plan to make the answer to question 3 yes by next year's spring training. In short, the ultimate question should be Do we have a 40% chance of beating the Yankees in a 7 game series. The next question should be Do we have a great farm system that allows us to acquire elite talent from a non contending team, while still supplementing the major league roster to keep us within our budget. We are in the 4th biggest market in the AL behind NY Boston and LA. I consider this because I believe Chicago is 70% Cubs. As a top 4 market in the AL, ideally we should pretend we are in the AL East and and we should say "Can we compete with the Yankees over a 162 game schedule?" and strive for that goal. Also, unless it is announced that we are in the 5 year plan and the answer to all questions is no, I expect at least an $80 million Payroll. If we are in the 1 year plan or better I expect at least a $100 million dollar payroll, ideally in the $110-125 million range. This is how I'd run the team if I was JR One more thing-Boras clients that make bank are among the top 5 players at their position in baseball, or top 15 Starters. I'd like to see the FO pay up for one of these guys for a change. I wouldn't go more than 5 years for him though. I wouldn't be opposed to trading for Fielder and giving him a 5/$100 million contract extension, but with the first 3 years being at $25 million and the 4th being $15 million and the 5th being $10 million

I am actually not impressed by Hudson's stuff, and I'm not surprised he got hammered in 2 out of 3 starts. He was getting it up there to 94-95 in his first two starts, but yesterday was sitting at 90-92. If yesterday's fastball velocity is what he brings most of the time, then by all means trade him before he lowers his value. He has no breaking ball. I think that AJ doesn't call for it often because he knows it's going to get hammered if it's not just a "show me" pitch. His change is good but the "slider" has barely any movement and tilt to it at all. I think that the swings and misses he gets off it are because it is a little slower than his fastball and opposing hitters don't time it correctly.....yet. Hitters should know when his curve is coming because his arm angle changes from low 3/4 to high 3/4, which I'm sure that advance scouts have picked up on by now. From what I've seen of Hudson's stuff I think he could be a good set up guy in the future with the mid 90s fastball that moves and his change up, but I don't think that he is going to have any sustained success starting in the majors. Props to Keith Law for scouting this guy better than most others, Because I see what he saw-a pitcher with a plus change and a fringe-average breaking ball. I now trust his scouting a little more and I'd like a bit more info on why he doesn't like Sale. I know Law is perceived to have something against the Sox, but he seemed spot on on this guy.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one: "That was an ultimate Doc Edwards shot" Who the hell was Doc Edwards anyway, and why does he use this for popups that just get over the infield?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 19, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) #1 Reason: TCQ and Beckham are gonna start hitting like they are capable of and we will start winning games like todays. If that doesn't happen, then thank god for the Hawks & the World Cup to hold me over til Bears training camp, cause this team will be going nowhere. I hate to s*** on your parade, but the Bears are the 3rd best team in their division, just like the Sox are. If people think Ozzie and Kenny are bad, Lovie and Jerry are 10 times worse. If the Bulls strike out on the Lebron sweepstakes, then for the next 3-4 years or so the Hawks will be the only team in town with any chance of winning anything(hopefully in a few weeks it will be winning again) If the Sox can't turn it around, then the only thing I'll be looking forward to sports wise is the Hawks ring ceremony in October. (crosses fingers)