caulfield12

Back to the discussion of Paulino vs. Jimenez/E.Santana last year. Except LDF is taking Marty's and Dick Allen's role. It's understandable why they stopped where they did...if they had been able to get rid of Danks' deal, they already would have. Hopefully at some point the Cubs would be willing to revisit Danks for Ed.Jackson, but it seems unlikely to happen, that they'll just end up eating most of his contract one way or another. In the end, signing Volquez, for example, wouldn't have completely precluded Samardzija from signing a long-term extension, but it would have been close to the death knell. The problem with doing that would have been pushing either Noesi or Danks from the rotation, and they're unlikely to eat THAT much money turning Danks into a long man unless he goes all Barry Zito on them. Would Sale/Shark/Quintana/Volquez/Noesi or Danks with Rodon in reserve have clinched the division? Probably not...because there's just too many other factors or variables that could go wrong. As far as Rodon making a huge impact, you've got many examples of pitchers....Finnegan and Y. Ventura last year in the playoffs, or Francisco Liriano in 2006, just off the top of my head. Madison Bumgarner was a rookie in 2010. I'm sure there are many others, to go along with Sale out of the pen in 2010.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) Moncada could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, because it is actually hurting the MLB players more than minor leaguers and draft hopefuls. However, there are also political ramifications here at play...US normalizing relations with Cuba, etc. It's not quite so cut-and-dried as Moncada signing is taking away $30 million from James Shields. We haven't seen a player at his age that was this close to major league ready and universally-predicted by be a future superstar...at any rate, the Red Sox have two test cases with Rusney Castillo and now Moncada. Castillo was impressive in his brief call-up last year. Yasmany Tomas with AZ will also be an interesting situation, to see if he can stick at 3B. And, of course, Jorge Soler as well. We'll see soon enough if this is the absolute peak of the Cuban market.

Iowa 55, Illinois 57 and Purdue 59 in today's RPI. Iowa a 10 seed, Purdue in the last four guaranteed byes and Illinois in a play-in game as of this morning at ESPN Bracketology. Iowa State a 3 seed. Fwiw, you'd much rather be a 7 or 10 seed because that gives you a #2 instead of #1 the 2nd round. Avoiding KY would probably be a good recipe for survival, although WI on a really good night definitely could knock them off in the Elite 8.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 09:29 AM) I have a question for the group to ponder. Would it beneficial to the White Sox to not be able to come to terms with their 1st rounder this year? It would only leave the team with picks in rounds 4-40 and the Sox would only have about $2 million to spend on the entire draft. My idea then would be to go nuts in International Spending this year. In this scenario, the White Sox would pick 9th next year and own their own 1st rounder. They may even have a third 1st rounder as compensation for Samardzija. The White Sox could have one of the biggest draft budgets ever by doing this. I know it would be tricky to pull this year and blatantly skirting the rules but it'd be an awesome strategy. Add a little talent to system through draft this year. Go nuts in International Market, spending way past the restriction and lose the ability for next year. (White Sox never do this) But in 2016, could have potentially 3 first rounders with lots of $$ to maneuver and no budget in International market. This would be awesome. Is this plan crazy? The problem is this doesn't fit well with the 2016-2018/19 window...until proven otherwise, the majority of their June draft spending will go back in the direction of collegiate pitchers, because of the tremendous expense of purchasing a rotation through free agency. There's just too many high-quality advanced pitchers available at that spot in the draft to pass up. The only reason would be taking a Hoffman/Fedde/Giolito type at 8, going underslot as much as possible and throwing 50% of the remaining money at another starter in the 4th round. That's dangerous, because you're putting almost all of your eggs in one basket (even though most drafts don't provide more than a couple of useful contributors). Along with the collegiate pitchers, the focus on C and middle infield...with the knowledge that some of those middle infielders will also end up at 3B eventually. Corner outfielders, DH/1B and relievers are always easier to find or acquire via trade. Until that 2019 media rights money is available, huge overspending in the intl. market from the Sox would be a shocker.

http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=203 This breaks down the numbers for the new national baseball contracts. They essentially doubled from 2013, with all teams previously receiving $24 million bumping up to $50 million last season just from those three networks alone. I would imagine the other $28 million has to be coming from MLB as a 1/30th share of all their various media properties like MLBTV, Gameday Audio, At-Bat, etc. Angels. Rangers. Mariners. Cardinals. Somewhere in that zone is where the White Sox should be for their tv rights deal. At any rate, we shouldn't be looking up to the Tigers for too much longer. This post has been edited by caulfield12: Jan 26, 2015 -> 05:50 PM I'll quote my own post $65 million (Comcast/WGN/WCIU) + $50 million (ESPN/FOX/TBS, etc.) + $28 million (revenue shared from MLB Media)=$143 million That $78 million is guaranteed to every team now....and the most lucrative deals are all well over $100 million per season for the regional sports networks (and then there are the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, etc.). I think the Mariners went to $118 per year with their new deal, so they started the 2014 season already $53 million ahead of the White Sox (hence, the Cano deal).

NPH ripping on the director of the short doc (whose son committed suicide, and the movie was about programs to remedy that) for her fashion choice wasn't exactly the best. Terrence Howard's getting a lot of mentions for his "overlove" or infatuation with 3 of the best picture nominations....everyone speculating something went wrong with the teleprompter and he was trying to wing it and went all emotional/dramatic as a way to fight through it. You could sense that he was totally lost there a moment and then got back with his pre-programmed speech. Finally, I wonder if Travolta's trying to act "too cool" these days because of all the whispers out there about his possibly being gay, Scientology, etc.? It's like he is trying to force his way back into relevancy by his behavior, but it's just icky. Idina Menzel seemed to have a good sense of humor about it...basically, those two will always be connected together forever now, so why not just laugh it off? If it was an episode of Criminal Minds and everything in his life since Battleship Earth was evidence, he'd be checking off 2-3 boxes on the serial killer list.

In other words, potentially they pack the punch of the 2006 White Sox (first half) offense but they will also go into prolonged droughts/slumps and have a challenge manufacturing runs because many of their hitters are not multi-dimensional.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 06:36 AM) Loved Internet's Own Boy. DVRing CitizenFour tonight. Excited about it. My buddy really hyped it up for me so hope my expectations aren't too high. It's not really exciting...more of a "behind the scenes" look at the whole situation. It still leaves a lot of questions unanswered about Snowden himself.

Let's look at it this way. What team in MLB doesn't have a number of flaws? We can name 10-12 things that could go wrong with the Tigers off the top of our heads, and their payroll's a lot higher than the Sox. They've probably spent almost a billion dollars this past decade, still with no World Series titles. Even the Nationals and Dodgers, we could pick apart their weaknesses.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 23, 2015 -> 05:54 AM) I enjoyed Whiplash the most out of all them and think it was the Shawshank of this Oscars. Meaning in time, it will be the most rewatchable out of this years nominees and most quotable. Also think Simmons performance was the best of the year in any category. Leading or Supporting. Can't argue with Birdman. It really was an accomplishment all the way around. I also think Whiplash is indicative of a cultural "sea change" in the way that pushing kids is perceived. The other side of it is books like "Tiger Mom" about how the US is just too soft in the way we raise our children...that the path to excellence in the case of many breakthroughs is a mentor that pushed that person to the edge and beyond what they believed they were capable of. Definitely, if you have a teenager...it's relevant, not just for the story or for jazz/music aficionados. It's like Mr. Holland's Opus for modern times. Also, just finished watching CITIZENFOUR. Have the same reaction as the Oscars audience....not sure whether to praise him as a hero or vilify him as a villain. Would tend to side with the "heroic" take, but of course he broke the law (even though he was fighting against what he believed to be an unconstitutional overreaching of the Patriot Act). Very complicated situation. It's not unlike that doc you referenced early (and which I thought was even better), The Internet's Own Boy.

I think history will show that Birdman was the better pick over Boyhood. Unfortunate for Keaton not to get the best actor, but they picked up pretty much everything else. For foreign movies, Ida and Leviathan were the two best IMO. Imitation Game got credit for its adapted screenplay, which was nice to see. Overall, that movie was simply better than The Theory of Everything. Btw, Miles Teller living the dream with his new "model/actress" girlfriend. And cool Jack Black rant at the beginning.

In terms of the catcher's position, we have more depth than at any time in recent Sox history...you've got 3 veterans in Soto/Kottaras/Brantly, Nieto and Kevan Smith. That's not GREAT, but much improved compared to last year entering the season. The 4th outfielder, likely, is on another team right now...it's not like we're stuck with the only options being Taylor and Shuck. As far as the rotation goes, we are six deep with Rodon, and that's not including Beck, Scott Carroll and Brad Penny. We're in a better position than 75% of other teams, and with Danks on the books for two more years, making ANOTHER move before the season would have been foolhardy. If there was a speculative move to be made, it should have been a two-year deal like the Royals signed with Medlen, so that you have additional back-up insurance for Samardzija leaving via FA before 2016.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Feb 22, 2015 -> 03:29 PM) If Illinois wins 3 out of their last 5 they will be pretty safely in, so if they win tonight the Iowa game isn't all that important. If Illinois loses tonight, the play in game for Illinois will likely be @ Purdue the last game of the season. Up until last week, Purdue had been firmly on the bubble or out with most brackets because of their non-conference and lack of marquee wins. It will be an interesting finish. It's harder to imagine them winning in West Lafayette, compared to Iowa City. We just haven't had that home court supreme confidence for a decade now (this year losing to MSU and Minny already, along with WI).

Michigan inexplicably takes down OSU in Ann Arbor. And Iowa up 30 over Nebraska, ON THE ROAD. I don't think ANY team has been that dominant in Lincoln all season. So beat UNC in Chapel Hill, OSU twice, have MI down 20+ points in Ann Arbor and pin one of their worst home losses under Beilein, wipe out Maryland by double digits and ahead by 20+ in the first half...but lose at home to MINN and at Northwestern to ruin all positive momentum. What an inconsistent team. They'll probably lose to Illinois at home, win at PSU, lose at IND and beat NW by 30+ at home and then lose in the 2nd round of the B10 tourney and be firmly on the bubble. In many ways, that Illinois at Iowa game next week becomes another play-in game for the Illini, like tonight's game against MSU. Only two of Illinois, Purdue and Iowa will make it imo. Although OSU now is 8-6 too with that inexplicable loss to MI. Parity.

It would be nice if Iowa could find a young PG with athleticism, too.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) For once this random point appears accurate, down just about 75% and apparently one of/possibly the largest week to week drop in movie history. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 22, 2015 -> 02:21 PM) If Jose Quintana threw 95 and had exactly the same stats he has had, he would be considered ace like. If Samardzija is what everyone hopes, and Rodon is what many expect him to be, that is almost as stacked as it gets. He does throw 92-93 MPH pretty consistently. He's just not a media darling/personality, is not particularly flamboyant, he pitches for the Sox, English is his second language and he's not a strikeout machine, consistently get 10+ K numbers that look nice on SportsCenter. To me, because his change-up isn't dominating, he's more like Johan Santana-Lite. It will be nice to see how he responds to pennant pressure...he was awesome the first half of 2012 and faded a bit like everyone else in the 2nd half.

Another example would be the KKK or John Birch Society perverting Christianity...or the polygamous branch of the Mormon Church deviating from the norm. There was a recent episode of The Blacklist (The Ken'yon Family) dealing with this topic. It's not so much a particular religion, it's the extremism of that religion, used to justify horrific acts. Would the US government state that extremist misinterpretations of Christianity are the root of many domestic anti-government and militia groups throughout the country? What comes first, using the Bible or religion to justify their cause...or their cause justifying their beliefs?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Feb 22, 2015 -> 04:32 AM) CSN really seems like the best place for the latest Sox video. Also video with Rodon talking , Avisails new diet, Jim Callis talking to Dan Hayes about Spencer Adams. Hayes has improved, IMO, partially because the system and major league team itself has improved so much. It's difficult as a reporter to do much with the 2013 season....but the additions of Abreu, Eaton, Garcia, Montas, Danish, Tim Anderson, Adams, Rodon...and now Duke/LaRoche/Samardzija/Robertson/Cabrera/Soto, this organization has become so much more interesting to follow. When the team you follow is in the mid 20's for record, attendance and minor league talent, what can you say positively? Kind of like all the hype about college football and basketball recruiting...having Jim Callis in-studio to interview also adds some credibility/legitimacy to his "insider" reporting style that he didn't feature previously.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/politics/giu...rica/index.html Giuliani stands by Obama comments Obama Haters: It's Becoming Crazytown http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/02/21/sm...ry-02212015.cnn Maher: Obama Sounds Like the NRA http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/02...-sounds-nra.cnn

http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/how-do...&ocid=yahoo And he's joined the world in getting an I-pad...proving that even leopards can change their spots.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Feb 21, 2015 -> 08:44 AM) I can see one scenario. Rodon expldes in the minors and is put into the rotation and the Sox are in contention but have one major hole. Say Alexei or Flowers ( positions the Sox may not have a reliable back-up for) goes out for the season and they can get a ML ready prospect for Shark. If the Sox think Shark is going anyway, they could deal if they got a top prospect back. But how likely would they be to put a prospect into the middle of a division/pennant race in that scenario? I can only think of the opposite examples, like Hudson/Holmberg for Ed.Jackson. It's easy to imagine them hesitating on promoting Tim Anderson when he's slated to be in BIRM this whole season, but I think any Samardzija deal would have to give the Sox players back similar to a Semien/Bassitt with limited experience or some veterans on expiring contracts. Of course, there's the issue of the compensation for that draft pick which comes from holding onto him to consider, versus the return at mid-season.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 21, 2015 -> 06:18 AM) So you're looking at the Central being winnable with fewer than 90 wins? Yeah, all four teams beat on each other and get the majority of their +.500 factor against Minny, Texas, Houston, TB and the NL. 87-89, 86 is really pushing it, but not impossible to conceive.

Who's the best collegiate catcher? Anywhere close to projecting at #8? From looking at draft boards, it looks like a ton of collegiate pitching, middle infielders and some outfielders. Is there anyone who has spent some time catching in the past but has been playing 1B/3B/DH/LF like Schwarber last year? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/107044448/20...top-10-catchers Here's the Top 10 prospects for catching list. The Mets seem to have a surplus, then there's the oft-mentioned Gary Sanchez. Justin O'Conner with the Rays is a really interesting prospect as well...but their incentive to deal a top prospect these days has to be pretty darned low.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 20, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) Kinda silly of RV to set himself up for failure like this. Be optimistic and all... but man... it would literally take career years out of a number of our guys for us to reach the playoffs. It would take a 2005-style feat. I'm not sure about that, but Verlander/Sanchez having more health problems and another bullpen implosion there wouldn't hurt. As it is, Victor Martinez won't be 100% on opening day in terms of his timing and rhythm, it's quite possible he ends up having his own version of a Kendrys Morales 2014 or Adam Dunn 2011 season.