caulfield12

Would be a huge win for the Rays but they won't be able to outbid the others.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jan 30, 2015 -> 10:37 PM) He's a good guy do deal with the media but I do not want him to have anything to do with making baseball decisions. I think that the Sox should promote Jeremey Haber, who is Hahn's right hand man and assistant to Ast. GM and Bell should be a special assistant like Thome. He's not ready. Read this. It's a pretty amazing/cool story, but he's not prepared to do talent evaluation yet. The White Sox had another guy, Mike Gellinger, working with video and advance scouting but I believe he encountered some health problems. They even had him coach Third or First a couple of times as a fill-in. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/white-...er-assistant-gm

I don't believe they can afford to take that chance with a completely inexperienced manager again. That definitely wasn't one of his better interviews. He should have redirected and taken the opportunity to discuss Anderson, Montas and Adams, the three breakthrough players from last year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 30, 2015 -> 08:44 AM) I received my BP yesterday. Melky was supposed to be decent with about 12 homers, the other numbers pretty average. I don't have the book with me. They had Avi hitting 7, and Abreu 23. They also had Abreu driving in 74. They are normally very conservative with everyone. The write ups made Q seem like he was going to be a Cy Young contender, but he made the top ten in WAR depreciation. If all of that happens, I agree their 78 win projection will look good. But unless there are season ending injuries, I'm pretty certain Avi and Jose are going to blow by those numbers. That's one obvious flaw when most of the projection is based on last season...which for Garcia was injury-shortened. I'm sure the over/under in Vegas would be around 14-15 homers.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 30, 2015 -> 08:17 AM) Are you saying that trade didn't work out? Without Jon Lester the 2014 A's probably don't even make it to KC for the wild card game, so I think it was a positive trade. I mean everyone was predicting them to win the WS at the culmination of all those moves.

Not based on how bad he was for the Tigers last year.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v37188373/buddy-bel...150129_39636747 Takes some blame for pushing Hawkins too fast. Talks mostly about Rodon, Micah and Saladino. Asked if there is a new emphasis on speed in the org...says he still prefers power. Nothing much about Anderson. Nice video montage of Sox rookies. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/107841198/ch...on-as-favorites Another Merkin puff piece.

Reminds me a little of the Josh Johnson situation coming into 2014. Or Beachy and Kris Medlen this year. The problem is that the White Sox are in a vastly different position heading into Spring Training. They can't afford to "experiment" with rehabbing Billingsley in the major league rotation. If it's a situation like last year with Tommie Hanson in Charlotte, sure, why not? Nothing to lose. But you wouldn't want him to be in the starting rotation pitching every 5 days in April and May. That wouldn't be fair to Billingsley, the fans or the team, to put him in that position. FWIW, the Royals are HOPING that Medlen can make an impact in replacing Shields this season. Ken Rosenthal reports the Royals have signed right-handed pitcher Kris Medlen to a two-year deal worth $8.5 million with a $10 million mutual option for 2017. Of course, $8.5 million for a pitcher who won't come back until mid-season is a HUGE risk for KC. They already went 2 years and $20 million on Edinson Volquez, so basically they're betting those two COMBINED will outperform Shields in 2015. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...cle8162523.html Article on unlikelihood of Shields going back to KC, complete silence from his agent.

Hoiberg=Bob Huggins/Kelvin Sampson/Jerry Tarkanian albeit with much more likeability and no scandals

It's a great time in Sox history when Balta is the most negative/"realistic" poster these days, haha.

2004-2005 Starting with the additions of Garcia and Contreras, followed up by AJ, Dye, Pods/Vizcaino, Iguchi and El Duque. 2007-2008 Alexei/Danks/Quentin...Floyd was added in 2007 and then Viciedo would be added after, was REALLY excited at the time about the biggest signing bonus player (surpassing Borchard) in Sox history...with Beckham also drafted that summer as well 2009...With Peavy and Rios coming onboard, especially the season-long courtship of Peavy...unfortunately, it also pushed out Jermaine Dye, and that left a sour taste

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 09:47 AM) Here it is. Read it. We put lots of work into it, and I think it's a darn good list. Thoughts? Disagreements? Are we insane on someone, one way or the other? Anyone we missed? Yay! An end to Miguel Gonzalez, Jared Mitchell and Keenyn Walker. That's progress.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 08:37 PM) Is that good? It's not so amazing for the NL West. Guys like Eric Stults and Clayton Richard have looked good out there for stretches.

4 or 5 players being involved in a trade isn't important, it's the ability of those players. It's not like we traded away Anderson, Rodon (as PTBNL), etc. We traded from our biggest area of strength, middle infield, where we now have Sanchez/Johnson/Bonifacio/Saladino/L.Garcia/Beckham/Anderson... The ONE and only concern most have is that Bassit looked really good at times, but nobody knows if he can make it as a starter long-term. And that's the biggest area of weakness, the 4-5 spots. In the end, adding a 2-3 starter outweighed having insurance for a 4-5 starter in Noesi. And to reiterate, Ynoa still has lots of potential. Not to mention the fact that we've got plenty of catching options now (Soto/Kottaras/Brantly) and Nieto/Kevan Smith passed Phegley in the eyes of the front office.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 01:13 PM) The research has shown midseason acquisitions rarely pay big dividends. I hope the Sox get away from the philosophy of being OK being a little short thinking adding in July will put them over the top. That hasn't worked. If you are trying to win, try to be as strong as you can day 1. Hahn has admitted they still are not where they want to be. It obviously takes some time. But there is no doubt they can win. There have been seasons they weren't as highly thought of as they are now, and made the playoffs. This team might win 95 games. They might lose 95 games. No one really knows until the games are played. See Oakland A's, 2014.

Look at the way the Royals and Giants are approaching this season. They didn't add any foolish risks or big contracts, in fact, they were almost risk-averse. With the price of pitching in the game today, you develop 5 Adamses (see the Nationals), go into April with six quality starters and expect at least one of them to get hurt. You also don't overpay middle or back of the rotation starters with long-term deals...but you do bust your balls to do everything possible to develop as many top-line starters internally.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) That's why I said 2017. If we don't win this year, 2016 looks like a "retooling" year because you get several contracts off the books at the end of the year and you start working extremely raw rookies into the lineup. Well, every good team breaks in 2-3 rookies per year across the roster. We're lucky to succeed with one (outside of pitching) every five years. At some point, the law of statistical averages has to break in our favor. Yes, Anderson's going to have a ton of pressure on him as a starting SS in 2016. It might be that he has to play 2B in 2016 and then move over to SS in 2017. A lot of things can happen between now and then. Nobody's exactly sure what will happen with Johnson or Sanchez, so they're going to have to adjust in real-time. As you always say, the 2006 White Sox could/should have won with Brian Anderson in CF for the whole season. There's no reason to believe they couldn't do the same with Tim Anderson playing 2B for one season to get his feet wet.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:29 AM) I think they should too. They have money to burn and there's no commitment beyond this season and their current outfield starters are Grady Sizemore, Ben Revere, and Dominic Brown with Ryan Howard at DH. There are plenty of ABs for Viciedo on that team. The Rays, too. They have to replace Myers and Joyce in the power department.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:26 AM) The only one I'd count on to be a contributor by 2016 is Rodon, and at the same time I can easily see other holes opening as Alexei, LaRoche age. That leaves me with zero confidence, frankly. After 2016 at least you clear several contracts, but "wait for 2016 when we have 0 money to spend" is the plan, it is a poor one. This team either will win this year or its going to circle 2017 for the next time it has money available. Or we can start to be optimistic that some of our prospects like Anderson and Hawkins will make an impact. Especially our young pitching prospects. Their development saves a LOT of money (see Sale/Quintana). Let's not forget, Danks eventually will be off the books, too. The worst-case scenario is we're muddling around .500 at the All-Star break and get something nice back for Samardzija. The reality is that nobody should be running away with the AL Central this year, and the Tigers and Royals have both taken a step back to the field, if not two steps.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:23 AM) If this team is not a winning team in 2015, how does it become a winning team in 2016 with the team having to commit $130 million+ to keeping Samardzija? It doesn't. You subtract Ramirez's money (putting you around $105 million) and you still have $20-25 million to play with. That money shouldn't go to an overpriced 3rd starter...for the same reason $90 million hasn't gone to James Shields yet. HOWEVER, if Shark proves himself to be a 2 or better, then it starts to become more justifiable based on the lesser wear and tear on his arm. Of course, a LOT is also dependent on what happens with Noesi/Danks and then the development of Rodon/Montas/Danish/Beck and Adams might very well be a fast mover as well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 10:24 AM) Then trading for a starting pitcher 1 year away from FA and blowing all of our FA spending money this year ($110 million already on the books next year counting Alexei's option) was really silly. 1) It's very possible that Anderson takes that final leap and takes Alexei's spot for 2016, injecting even more young fire into that line-up. That saves you $10 million and/or gets you another piece if he's dealt. 2) The cost of acquiring Samardzija wasn't prohibitive. The cost of signing him long-term might be. This team will be expected to compete, but not at the cost of the 2016-18 window. 3) Viciedo and DeAza being off the roster are positive developments for those who believe in accountability (Beckham's another story). 4) We had the unique situation with a protected 1st rounder where we could add as many FA's as we did without losing anything more than 2nd and 3rd rounders, so, like the teams going over budget in international spending, we maximized the one year window, as we certainly shouldn't have a protected pick next season. 5) Back to point 2, if Rodon/Montas/Beck/Danish turn out as expected, there's not nearly the pressure to keep Shark around. 6) With LaRoche at least, we're not stuck with a four year contract like Dunn's...there's still some flexibility or fluidity built into this situation. 7) The farm system is starting to improve at just the right time to feed players onto the roster (2-3 per year) and/or trade them for more experienced pieces to put you over the top.

Is Adams the only 2nd rounder from 2015 to make the list? So essentially we've added Rodon, Anderson, Adams, Montas, Davidson and A.Garcia....so six Top 120 guys in less than 2 years. That's pretty impressive. Not to mention the fact that we didn't have to give up any of them for Samardzija. And that's not even including Danish or Courtney Hawkins, with Beck still having a shot. Wonder if Boston would like to have Montas back about now, haha? Otoh, our $10 million investment in Viciedo turned into a bust, which has been replaced by the $4 million investment in Ynoa.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 08:07 AM) Boras, I think the owners are making huge profits and should pay more to the employees. Plus, I represent some of the best players playing. If Boras signed up for an account on an internet message board then he can make suggestions on how the game should be played, but not until then. Baseball's history and traditions are both keeping it alive and killing it at the same time. I don't mind exploring each and every idea for merit. The DH was sacrilegious to many baseball purists. It improved the game in my opinion. OMG! They are proposing a wild card game in baseball?! Why play the regular season? That was a terrible idea we now have embraced. I'd like to hear a fully thrashed out conception of a neutral site World Series. The media currently sets up in two cities and moves back and forth. Corporations set up for 6 days at golf tournaments all the time. This would not quite double that. The bad news is the northern teams without a dome would be screwed . Which may actually be a benefit. Baseball games with fans dressing like they are snowmobiling to a football game are ridiculous. I assume the season is as long as it is because of revenue. But I could easily have the season start a week later and end a week or two earlier. I can't believe those games are much of a money maker. Baseball can't afford sacred cows. Only reject some of these ideas after a serious look. It woudn't kill them to go back to the old 154 game schedule. Each team would only be losing 4 home games. Another "innovation," the World Baseball Classic, just hasn't worked well in the U.S. On the other hand, it has been a tremendous marketing asset in Cuba/Latin America, and especially in Korea/Japan.

Alibaba (BABA) getting hammered... down to $90 in pre-trading So between the Chinese government leaking their "attack report" six months late...to the disappointing earnings announcement today...and then earlier in the week the announcement that Yahoo was spinning off its stake, lots of moving pieces. Has zoomed from around $82-83 (IPO time) up to $120 and now back to the low $90's with more room to fall. So the logical play here is wait until Alibaba's around $68-70 or Yahoo (because they have a 15% stake in BABA and will spin it off in the 2nd half of the year) is around $34-36...because most are arguing the stock's being punished unfairly at the moment and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with their strategic position in e-commerce.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 07:14 AM) No it's the Dottie character