caulfield12

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 28, 2014 -> 12:06 AM) Yea I agree plus the Sox didn't completely crater, there is value in that IMO. Baseball is better when both teams in Chicago are good and while it would pain me to see the Cubs make a lot of noise next year if the Sox are still mediocre it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to get people in Chicago excited about baseball again. I think the Sox are well positioned and as far as MLB talent it's not even close the Sox have more guys that have established themselves then the Cubs. The Cubs have a plethora of top 50 prospects however so things can change but as you said the Cubs are 2 or even 3 years further into their rebuild than the Sox and the Sox have many inherent disadvantages financially. Depends on the definition of cratering. If you took away the blip of being competitive for most of 2012, you'd have 2011, 2013 and 2014 as down years, with 2013 as rock bottom. Maybe not bottom five in the majors bad for 3-4 years, but the equivalent for the Sox franchise in terms of sponsorship/revenues impact from the poor play.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 01:05 PM) Quentin was hurt all the time, and his numbers went down after he hurt himself. He deserved the criticism. If Eaton punches a wall and takes himself out of a playoff race because of stupidity, he will deserve the criticism too Ignoring the existence of the warning track itself doesn't help much, either. It wasn't quite like Quentin hurting his hand out of frustration, but it's another form of baseball recklessness that eventually gets punished with DL time if you're Eaton's size.

Well, I was asking for an example in the thread....here I found one, a black officer shooting an unarmed white kid in UTAH of all places Why isn't the media covering the killing of an unarmed white youth by a black police officer? The case of Michael Brown, the unarmed, black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer, continues to make headlines weeks after the incident sparked riots and outrage in Ferguson, Missouri, and prompted a national debate. Meanwhile, the case of Dillon Taylor, a white 20-year-old shot and killed by a black policeman outside a 7-Eleven in Utah has received virtually no media coverage beyond local news reports. His brother, who was with him at the 7-Eleven, says Taylor was unarmed. The negligible coverage of the Taylor case by the mainstream media prompted many conservative critics to address the racial double standard. The Washington Times reports: "Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh blamed the discrepancy between the two cases on 'the liberal world view' that portrays whites as oppressors and blacks as victims." The Times noted that CNN news host Jake Tapper acknowledged the discrepancy between the two cases, and noted that "the press often undercovers such topics as inner-city violence and the high rates of black-on-black crime." According to Tapper, though, the Brown case is more newsworthy because of the national reaction it sparked, though some question whether the excessive media coverage of the violent protests actually served to fuel them. - - Teresa Mull

I left multiple choice options....so you can click on the answers you feel are most appropriate.

Wonder how long before we start drawing under 10,000 in September? 12,000 and change tonight.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 02:00 PM) From yesterday, the Sox gained 0.5 games on.... Texas, Rockies, Red Sox, Phillies. Only team that the Sox lost 0.5 games on yesterday was... Houston. Sox are now 8 GB of the #1 pick, and 4.5 GB of the #5 pick. They sit at #10. Should be #9 (for this year's teams, #10 if you include both Astros' picks)...as long as they finish at 9 or 10, they're okay And the Cubs, Phillies, Twins are all getting within range. Mets and SD are still ahead (behind) since we started to fall apart. Btw, the White Sox are now tied for fifth worse runs scored/allowed differential in the majors. We could easily be 2nd worst within another week of atrocious play. 1. Texas -137 2. Arizona -97 3. Houston -93 Boston -93 5. White Sox -72 Colorado -72 7. Cubs -46

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) I wouldn't trade those guys for Gattis, but i would make a trade for Gattis. Would be a nice fit in the lineup who I think still has some potential upside. Plus you have the Greg Walker Effect in Atlanta. God, what happened to that offense? We all know about BJ Upton's struggles, but Heyward hasn't exactly taken that next step to superstar status. On paper, he looks okay because he walks quite a bit, but his overall traditional numbers are way way down.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 01:47 PM) Since people seem to really enjoy The Purge 2, I decided to finally watch the first one. I really liked the premise of it, but man it was a bad movie. Terrible, illogical motives and predictable plot points. I hope the 2nd one is as good as I've heard. The first one has more name actors...Ethan Hawke, especially. The second one, the most recognizable guy is Frank Grillo from Transformers 4 and maybe he was in GI Joe? At any rate, the premise of Purge 2 is much more compelling...and yeah, that the supposedly impregnable security is so easily defeated, and then the "random dangerous minority dude introduced into random white suburb angle" was too predictable, both in its inclusion and conclusion.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Aug 26, 2014 -> 03:53 PM) I wonder just how desperate Detroit is for starting pitching... Smyly has actually pitched better than Price, but that's not even the biggest problem. At any rate, they're not going to trade for Danks, even if we offered him ala Alex Rios....take the contract and he's yours. If you want to blame any individual trade, it has to be the Fister move, along with the theory that their bullpen was close to strong enough coming in the season, that CF could easily be covered without Austin Jackson's presence and that Suarez could stand up to the pressure all season, along with JD Martinez and Rajai Davis. DD bears more responsibility than Ausmus, IMO.

As far as Gattis goes, the Braves have one of the worst offenses in the NL and they're trading away one of their most productive hitters? I will believe that when I see it. Sure, I get it, they have their best hitter at 1B and unless Gattis could play 3B or LF, he doesn't have as much value, but they're definitely not going to make a move like that for Danish AND Montas.

The Cubs aren't going to make that move...trading Danks for Jackson would make more sense to each club, although Danks has been throwing harder, it doesn't matter if he's at 90-91 MPH with no control, I think that actually makes him MORE hittable as he's pushing too hard to prove he has not lost all of his velocity from the surgery. He was arguably better when he was changing speeds within the 76-88 MPH range earlier in the season. The Cubs have McKinney (from the Samardzija trade), Almora, Soler, and of Alcantara, who's been their equivalent of Marcus Semien offensively. Baez and/or Bryant could also end up at corner OF positions. They have ZERO need for BJ Upton in Wrigley Field.

It's not going to mean they have him for 7 years instead of 6...it's simply about when he reaches arbitration status, after 2 years or 3.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Aug 23, 2014 -> 03:22 AM) Friday night's Tigers pitching boxscore against the Twins. Double header slated for Sat Yeah, I saw Romine gave up 2-3 homers even though he was throwing the ball fairly hard, it ended up being BP. Is Verlander starting today?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 23, 2014 -> 04:16 AM) Avi has hardly played. I was referring to Viciedo. The way you characterized Alexei Ramirez was inaccurate. It should have said starting American League All-Star SS, if not for a Derek Jeter retirement homage. Meanwhile, Cabrera, the best hitter in baseball when he’s right, has been only very good this year after consecutive seasons with 44home runs, batting titles and MVP awards. He has a .817 on-base-plus-slugging percentage since the beginning of June, and while that’s not bad, the Tigers are counting on more. “I still firmly believe that Miggy at some point -- and I’d like to think some point soon -- you’re going to wake up one morning and think to yourself, ‘Well I guess Miggy’s gotten hot,’” manager Brad Ausmus said. Until that happens, the Tigers will continue relying on the likes of Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler. So far that has worked, since they led the AL in batting average and slugging percentage entering the week. They can hit. The Tigers also benefit from playing in the relatively weak AL Central. They’ll play 18 of their final 37 games against two teams going nowhere this year: the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox. And when that starting rotation gets healthy, watch out. “There’s three Cy Young winners on this one staff,” Price said. “Anibal Sanchez won the ERA title last year and Rick Porcello is throwing the ball just as well as anyone else on this staff.” In Scherzer, Price, Porcello and Sanchez, the Tigers have four starters with ERAs between 2.98 and 3.53. “Nobody wants to be the weakest link,” Price said. “That’s always good when you can have that internal competition between your starting five. We all push each other to get better.” It will be a matter of one-upping the starter who pitched the night before. “We already had our friendly competition. He’s just adding to it,” Scherzer said of Price. “It just adds to our stable.” www.freep.com/sports

At this point, anything's better than watching Danks, DeAza and Viciedo. I wouldn't mind Sierra or Taylor, either. We already know what we have in the first 3.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/internation...-baseball-star/ Story hyping Yoan/Johan Moncada as the best prospect left in Cuba...although nobody seems to know exactly where he is, faster than Castillo even, whose best tool is supposedly his speed at this point story on Castillo as well....still underwhelmed http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/rusney-castillo-signs/ Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo agreed to sign with the Red Sox last night. According to a source, the deal is for six years, $72.5 million, making it the highest first-year contract ever for a Cuban player. Prior to the last year of his contract, Castillo will be able to opt into arbitration, which could take the total value of the deal even higher. Castillo, 27, has gained 20 pounds since leaving Cuba and is now 5-foot-9, 205 pounds, with his best tool his plus-plus speed. The extra size and strength has translated into an increase in power, with some scouts now putting a 60 on his raw power after pegging him with below-average to average raw power while he was in Cuba. In games, at least while he was in Cuba, he’s more of a line-drive hitter with an aggressive hitting approach. He won a Gold Glove in Cuba in 2011-12, with the speed and reactions off the bat to profile in center field in the major leagues, even though his arm strength appears to have backed up since he left Cuba. Castillo’s numbers were down from his usual pace in his final Cuban season in 2012-13, when he hit .274/.377/.399 in 68 games. The previous season in 2011-12, Castillo had hit .332/.395/.545 in 420 plate appearances with 16 home runs, 22 stolen bases (third in the league) in 29 tries and a league-leading 28-doubles. In 2010-11, Castillo hit .324/.373/.555 with 18 home runs in 400 trips to the plate and led Serie Nacional with 29 stolen bases in 35 attempts. Castillo had played on the Cuban national team, though he didn’t participate in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Since he’s 27 and has played five seasons in Cuba, Castillo’s bonus isn’t subject to the international bonus pools. Castillo is represented by Roc Nation Sports.

The Will To Win argument comes full circle, lol. How to quantify it? If we can't put a number to it, the idea of mental weakness/intestinal fortitude/clutch...then it therefore doesn't exist.

QUOTE (LDF @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 11:51 AM) when bos is ready, they will have a surplus and the price for one of them will be a steep price to pay. I wouldn't buy high on any of them, honestly. Not even Cespedes, because it would be dumb to control him for a year or less than a year. When/if he reaches FA, that's a different story. Otoh, Victorino is the type of veteran player we need to help lead the youngsters, IF he can stay healthy, which is a huge if. Finally, I'd try to steal Bradley but wouldn't be willing to give up Anderson/Hawkins/Montas for him. Just not a huge believer in Eaton being able to play a whole season without going on the DL for significant periods of time after what we've seen this year so far. At 5 feet 9 inches and 205 pounds, Castillo is a righthanded hitter more reliant on speed than power, but he does have extra-base pop in his bat according to scouts who watched his showcase workout July 26 at the University of Miami. He also is solid defensively. “Above-average speed. Can play center field or right field. What kind of power? What kind of average? Obviously our scouts liked him enough. That’s a significant investment,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell. “It’s an exciting athletic player by all accounts.” The Red Sox held a private workout for Castillo in Florida on Aug. 1 attended by general manager Ben Cherington. The team was impressed and started working diligently to sign him. Castillo’s contract, with an average annual value of $10.35 million, was heavily back-loaded. That helps the Red Sox for luxury tax purposes. At the same time, Castillo received a larger overall deal than the $68 million Abreu received from the Chicago White Sox last winter. That was considered important to his representatives at Roc Nation Sports, the agency owned by music mogul Jay-Z. Bidding by the Tigers, Phillies, Giants and Mariners helped drive the price up. Castillo played five seasons for Ciego de Avila in Cuba’s top league and was impressive playing for Cuba’s team in the 2011 World Cup tournament in Panama. He was excluded from the 2013 World Baseball Classic because of a suspension likely related to his trying to defect. Castillo is described as a high-energy player comparable to Shane Victorino in his prime or Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner. The success other Cubans have had in the majors helped convince the Red Sox to make the move. “That’s the one thing that stands out more than anything. When you look at Yoenis’s performance right away in Oakland, Abreu in Chicago. Hopefully the same holds true for every other player that comes over,” Farrell said. “When you look at how many games they play on the international stage and the talent in which they play against, just by nature they’re seemingly a very strong group physically and they’re able to transition and handle the wear and tear of a long season.” Because of his base-stealing ability and what was a high on-base percentage during his time in Cuba, Castillo could become a leadoff hitter. bostonglobe.com/sports

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) Judging by reviews, this one looks the same. Only good thing about it is Eva Green nude which she's done in other/better movies. The Dreamers is the one that put her on the map. NC-17 right off the bat in her career almost. Worked out a lot better than it did for Elizabeth Berkley. But most really noticed her for the first time in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig, the spark and chemistry they seemed to have together.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) you should be a police officer It doesn't seem like I'm the only person here who feels it's right to question the police. God forbid, that somebody does, or that they even have, GASP, civilian oversight. As a teacher, EVERYONE thinks they can tell teachers what to do, that we're wrong and why we're wrong, that we're too strict or not strict enough, that we can't just GIVE grades, students earn them. We're expected to be comedians/entertainers, guidance counselors and surrogate parents as well. It's fine, goes with the territory, I just kind of roll my eyes and realize that's the way it is always going to be. On the other hand, if you DARE question anything about the way a police officer does his job, you're likely to get shouted down (or even shot for questioning his authority). Seriously, enough. 9/11 was thirteen years ago. Do we still need "God Bless America" to express our patriotism at ballgames? Where was that song in the mid 1970's after the troops came back from Vietnam?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 10:05 AM) Nava has been great over the years for the Red Sox. He was never supposed to be anything. Sizemore was a break or bust and he busted to no one's (except Lillian) surprise. BoSox seem to be going the Oakland path. They'll have Craig/Cespedes/JBJ/Castillo/Nava and (I assume) Ortiz for 3 OF spots and DH. Plus Betts with nowhere to play. I am sure it'll be another active offseason for them. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/30910/daniel-nava Great is subjective, I guess. Other than 2013, his overall numbers look like Dayan Viciedo's. That said, very little to nothing was every expected out of someone who spent so much time in the minors and peaked late.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 10:01 AM) No, because Nava and Sizemore and things Geez, nitpicking. 90-95% of the reason is directly related to Bradley and their disappointment with his offensive development, and even though they have Betts coming behind him, he's only had 45 AAA games. In general, EVERYTHING has gone wrong with the Red Sox OF this season. First, Sizemore. Victorino's back surgery. Gomes, Nava and Holt underperforming. Even Cespedes has been disappointing so far with Boston. Craig's also having an uncharacteristic down year and may have peaked.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/08/...IdoO/story.html Long examination of what went wrong with Bogaerts and Bradley, Jr., where they rushed through AAA too quickly, why young hitters are having a harder and harder time breaking into the majors, etc. Bradley Jr. would be a great buy low candidate and insurance for Eaton injuries. He's a Gold Glover caliber defender, better than anyone we've had at CF in my lifetime. PS: Yay! Ken Rosenthal was actually ahead of everyone for once on the Castillo deal.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 09:47 AM) Greg, while graphic, beheadings are one of the more humane ways to go. There is no suffering. cynanide suffocates your body. You may go quietly but I can't imagine it's better than a beheading. Although it's arguably a lot better for your family/loved ones....

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 22, 2014 -> 09:42 AM) The Red Sox will be spinning quite a few of those pieces for pitching in the off-season. I imagine Craig, Bradley, Betts, Middlebrooks Cecchini, and Swihart will be made available to upgrade their pitching staff. Their OF will likely be Cespedes, Castillo, and Victorino. I think they will be in on Hamels and could make a run at someone like Cashner from the Friars to go along with Kelly and some of the young arms they have in their system. Trading prospects at the lower end of their value isn't the normal Red Sox way of doing things, particularly in the case/s of Bradley, Betts and Middlebrooks. Well, we do know one thing, that they still view Bogaerts as a building block for the immediate future. I would doubt that Swihart goes since he's seen as having a lot more potential than the first rookie catcher they brought up to replace AJ, Christian Vazquez or whatever his name is.