mmmmmbeeer

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 10:09 PM) Absolute love the trade. High ceiling pitchers that our system lacked. I think we will see the 2015 Giolito and Cooper will have him go back to his old mechanics and add a cutter to his arsenal. I love Dunning Throws three plus pitches. Needs at least 2 years of development, but has a chance to be a #3 SP. My thought on Lopez is a reliever, but a dam good one. I think Lopez tiny stature and lack of breaking ball will put him in the bullpen. With a great chance to being high leverage RP in the late innings. Lopez has an outstanding curve and glimpses of a plus-change. He'll definitely be a starter, imo. He's 6' 185...not talking about a tiny guy here.

QUOTE (TRU @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 09:56 PM) We've never seen anything that suggests this ownership will ever pay the price it will take for a marquee free agent. I'm not saying we sign a Bryce Harper, I'm saying we will be willing to sign guys on that 2nd or 3rd rung of the ladder which, if things work out, will be plenty enough to push us over the top.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 09:28 PM) Market conditions are in the favor of sellers when it comes to pitching. Not a lot of quality starting pitching out there in FA and not a lot that are on the block. This is the time to strike. THIS! The FA P market, especially SP, is pitiful this season...Hahn should take as much advantage of this market as he possibly can. That leaves Melky, Frazier, and Abreu as position players, none of which had great seasons last year. I think Melky should be dumped now for whatever you can get. Deal Frazier now because I don't feel he's going to improve much over last season's numbers. Jose I'd go either way....he really struggled first half of last season but finished strong which could lead rival GMs to believe that first half was just an aberration or you hang onto him and hope and pray that he doesn't repeat that first half this season, diminishing his value at the deadline.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 09:51 PM) OK, one thing we should know as Sox fans is that there is zero chance of them bidding on top line free agents when we are going to be coming off of two completely terrible season. We don't do that coming off of good seasons. I don't know why this has taken traction, but look at the White Sox free agent history, and tell me why there is any answer other than no. Their salary will likely be between $40-50M in 2019. Even if they just move to $100M, weak for a big market team, you're talking 2-3 impact players to augment a young, talented, and exciting roster.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 08:08 PM) Although in the second half of this season, Giolito's FB was 92-96 and he got pounded with that pitch (at the MLB level, at least). Before that, yeah...upper 90's. Interestingly, he was quite effective with the rest of his off-speed repertoire, which is the key to any "stuff" pitcher moving from thrower to pitcher. Lopez actually passed Giolito in the eyes of many observers and throws almost as hard. Hopefully Cooper can figure out a way to smooth out Giolito and Spencer Adams, who almost becomes forgotten now after being one of the few gems of the system a year ago. My post was in reference to Lopez. Greg asked why his signing bonus was something ridiculously low like $18k.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:41 PM) Sounds good on Giolito. Thanx for info. Why did Lopez only cost the Nats $17,000 to acquire? Sounds like he may not be a sure bet. His fastball was topping out in the high 80's when he signed at age 18. He can now reach triple digits and sustainable high 90's.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:27 PM) Great great post. Total overhype. Sale was and is a true ace. Q is close to ace. Rodon has gained valuable experience and looks pretty stellar. These Nats guys are FAR from sure bets. How has Giolito looked since he had Tommy John? Is he still a top pitcher prospect or not?? He's healthy. I think biggest things for him are working on his mechanics to make them more reliably repeatable and perhaps work on a cutter/2-seamer to offset his straight-as-an-arrow 4 seam. I don't think his stuff is as electric to watch as a Lopez or Kopech with his 4seam averaging about about 95mph, but he's just a damn good pitcher who can consistently miss bats and/or draw weak contact (if that makes sense).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:19 PM) Or else they really have doomed themselves to another decade of failure. Typically, half of a roster is pitchers....12-13 players. You can never have enough good pitching for depth both on the ML and ml rosters. You keep saying we're repeating what got us here but we have awful depth at pitching. I know you're a huge fan so I know you saw how bad our pen has been the last few seasons. I know you saw that we had to pick up two washed up vets last season to fill out the rotation. This team, outside of 3 guys (if you include Rodon), has not been a system stacked with high-floor/high-ceiling pitching prospects.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:16 PM) Not a fan of that straight up follow through reminds me of rodon from the other side. I worry about his future command. That's his problem...command. The stuff is there, let's hope Coop can fix him. Read a postseason interview with Giolito and he said the same thing about himself...he was loosing command of his offspeed stuff thanks to mechanical issues. He became way too reliant on his fastball (like 70% of pitches in ML) and, due to lack of movement on that fb, he was getting hammered. Again, Sox are the right organization for these guys to figure these things out.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:13 PM) I'll do a frappin' backflip if they get Bregman. It's a dream however, because they wouldn't give him up for Sale. On the other hand, seeing Sale stay in the AL may drive them to make a move they wouldn't have earlier this week if they are serious about competing. With the two trades Hahn has pulled off, he's set the market and I think Houston has to understand it's going to cost bigly to get such talent on a super-friendly contract.

Thanks for the write-up, fellas. Here's some MLB video of Lopez from last season.

Was doing a bit of research on these guys and Lopez's stuff is incredible. Having not followed the Nats this year, I didn't see either of these performances (or highlights). This kid has incredible stuff: I literally couldn't wipe the grin off my face while watching these videos.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 03:13 PM) Have you actually read what happened? Do you remember how close the Cubs were to losing that game and the World Series? Are you seriously kidding me right now? I'm sure pep talks from the bench and locker room is what Theo had in mind when he handed over $184,000,000 to Jason Heyward. GMs from across the league are lining up to take on that contract so that they, too, can have Heyward give pep talks during rain delays.

I'm glad your elbow held on long enough for us to get some good value for you.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Dec 4, 2016 -> 09:55 PM) Washington would be insane to do that. Adding those 3 pieces virtually guarantees them a trip to the NLCS. They're in a position to compete, not worry about prospects.

As much as I wanted them to lose, this could actually be a very good thing for the game of baseball. I haven't seen the ratings numbers from last night but, based on purely anecdotal social media observations, there were a lot of people who I never pegged as caring about baseball who were watching the game and really getting into it. With football struggling, the NBA and MLB need to capitalize and a Cubs WS win surely helps MLB. I really don't dislike anyone on the team or in their front office. Not a fan of Ricketts because Trump, but I do appreciate he's living the dream...owning the team he grew up rooting for and winning a WS. Of course, I live in Atlanta and don't have to deal with their fans at work, etc....makes things easier to stomach.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Aug 28, 2016 -> 04:06 PM) The Shaw injury. Thought I posted it. https://mobile.twitter.com/WindyCGridiron/s...4439936/video/1 Let's just say if that was Aaron Rodgers, that player would get ridiculed right now. Holy s*** that was a dirty hit.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Jun 28, 2016 -> 11:58 AM) First time playing a team under .500 since May 19, and that team was the now over .500 Astros That's crazy.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 09:28 PM) never thought i'd tune into a game just to see JB Shuck pitch. And yet, here we are.

It's almost as if the team is playing like they expect it to happen.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 09:33 PM) There's a big divide here. I think a lot of people really believe this. Others of us think this is a 80-85 win team at best. I can see both sides but gut says were the latter. Mediocrity can be poisonous. You do just enough to keep you believing you have a chance, but siphon off talent and opportunity to get better LT. Agreed. I'm glad I'm not in Hahn's position. With that said, the division is still tight and we've got some tremendous values on this roster. If we make some deals and just take on salary without giving up the farm, I think we need to give it a shot this season and, if we fail, be big time sellers over the winter. I can't help but shake the feeling that we're just a couple of pieces short, pieces we can acquire this summer.

QUOTE (SpankyEaton @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 09:29 PM) I saw two on and no out. The optimistic side said we could get a run, the realistic side said, who cares - they'll find a way to f*** it up. The old teams we had before we started to suck in 2009 at least hit doubles and home runs. I would give anything for Ordonez or Konerko in their primes to be on team right now. But no...we have to watch Saladino make two errors at short, the bullpen issue free passes and our offense come up empty. This Shields trade doesn't do s*** if they don't start winning and playing like competitors. Blow it up and actually fire someone - KW, Hahn or RV...just to say "maybe we need to go in another direction." My god...corpseball sucks to watch! Shields should have removed Latos from the rotation. Hopefully that will be the case when Carlos is back. Latos was horseshot tonight.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 09:37 PM) I'll probably get crushed, but if anything we should be SELLING not buying. I would be furious if they traded off our most valuable pieces, especially so if Robin is still manager. Again, a couple more pieces and this team can finish the season strong. Bruce/CarGo and a bullpen piece...that's all it will take (and a new manager of course).

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 09:21 PM) This is stupid, is Rick Hahn watching the games? The Sox really think Jay Bruce is gonna turn this sinking ship around? A powerful LH bat and one solid reliever would do wonders for this team. If they can acquire those assets without selling the farm, they should.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 6, 2016 -> 07:02 PM) Pretty good segment on MLB Now today. http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/49502780/v782...quiring-shields Really enjoyed this....thanks for posting.