Y2Jimmy0

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2015 -> 01:03 PM) And so we'll slog from one just-under .500 season into another, amazed at how attendance keeps going down from year to year. Yes. They don't have a choice. What are they supposed to do? They can't do what the Cubs did. This is in the other thread but "our" fan base wouldn't be on board with a rebuild. They aren't on board unless the team wins consistently. They have to ride it out. They have to hope that their offseason moves work out and supplement those moves with guys from the farm system and other deals. I don't see them dialing it back. They would have done that instead of what they did this offseason.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2015 -> 12:25 PM) That's a great comparison for what Timmy will probably be like if he's at SS in the big leagues in 2016. The difference? The A's sold off expensive pieces and clearly committed to a rebuilding season and are hoping that Semien can develop into a more solid defender at SS with time. Are you prepared to commit to 2016 as a rebuilding season? They aren't going to rebuild with Sale, Q, and Rodon at the front of the rotation, Duke and Robertson at back end of the bullpen, and Abreu in his prime. Not wasting Sale and Abreu's prime is one of a myriad of reasons why they spent heavily this offseason. I just think it's a nonissue. They aren't going to tear it down properly, they never have. I also think they'll be around .500 though and it'll be a moot point.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2015 -> 11:59 AM) Because if this team falls flat like it's in the process of doing and the tiny "they spent money on the team" attendance bump evaporates, the financials for next season look terrible without adding a single soul. If they're below .500 in June and especially July, with 2-3 teams ahead of them, I think it would be extremely surprising if they didn't try to move some of that salary they just took on. If they pick up Alexei's option and offer arbitration to most of the guys who are arb-eligible, there's already a payroll increase to $125-130 million on the books for next year, up from $117m this year, and that's with allowing Samardzija to walk. Just to avoid losing money, which this franchise does not like to do, they will either have to turn this season around or they will have to get rid of some fraction of that money. I think that Danks, Ramirez, and Shark could possibly go if it gets out of hand. Robertson, Melky, and LaRoche aren't going anywhere though and I'd probably rather have the 1st round pick for Shark than the package. I just think it's way too early to consider even talking about pulling the plug.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2015 -> 10:37 AM) On an unrelated sidenote, I have finally grown to accept the fact that if we lose tomorrow, Thibs is gone and should be gone. I think Thibs is a great coach but I also think this whole situation wears on the players and everyone so if JR is going to pick the front office, then let them get the coach that they want. I just hope they don't mess up a good thing, cause this team is loaded and should actually get better (part of that is because I am buying into Drose and I obviously think highly of Butler / Nikolai. I also hope Noah can be better (with an off-season to rest). Key is going to be finding another big though to develop since our bigs are older. I would try to move Noah this summer. His contract is up after next season and they can't pay him again. They need to get much more athletic and they will be giving Jimmy a max deal.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 12, 2015 -> 01:46 PM) Another ex-Illinois player now speaks out. I wonder if this will end with Beckman's job (it shouldnt). It will probably end with the AD's job though.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 3, 2015 -> 10:35 PM) Mad Men. Seriously great show. This is getting sad. Yeah Sunday is going to be great and depressing at the same time. I wish it wasn't ending. But it's time.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 12, 2015 -> 09:09 PM) He said he couldn't run up or down the court today. You can't play 4 on 5 defensively even if Gasol doesn't move much on that end. Why can't they? They've been playing 3 on 5 offensively with Hinrich and Noah on the floor. Tony Snell played what 5 minutes? 22 for Hinrich? Does Hinrich do anything better than Snell at this point?

QUOTE (WBWSF @ May 12, 2015 -> 10:18 PM) I'LL say it again. Bad teams + bad stadium location + bad stadium upper deck= BAD ATTENDANCE. Considering everything I'm convinced that if the White Sox draw 2 million people a year, they've done well. Anything above 2 million is a bonus. The location is fine. The Upper Deck is also fine. Sox fans are a fickle b****. That's the problem. We are excuse makers. Just the way it is.

Why are people talking about selling guys that were just signed? That's not going to happen. The White Sox are not the Marlins. The White Sox have a front four of Sale-Q-Samardzija-Rodon and a really good bullpen. I honestly think the Sox are more likely to add than subtract. They didn't spend $$ to turn around and sell.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 12, 2015 -> 12:41 PM) BPA is a myth in relation to the MLB draft. Sure everyone once in a while there is a sure fire guy like Strasburg or Harper that jump out as the best players in their draft, but other than that it is always a weighted argument. The factors that need to be balanced are players floors and ceilings, risk of a player meeting/not meeting their ceiling. Thing there are things like organizational and cultural (style of baseball) fit. I saw that as well, not sure that I like the idea of Jay that high. He has pretty good stuff but has been in the bullpen his entire college career and has a build that would indicate he will be a bullpen arm in the future. If they are viewing him as a bullpen piece to help them this season (like Finnegan) that could make sense. I'm sure they'd be looking to develop him as a starting pitcher. Could start in the pen though like Sale and Rodon. He has 3 pitches and the fact that he doesn't have a ton of innings could be seen as a good thing actually.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 12, 2015 -> 11:21 AM) Funkhouser seems to be the exact thing that the Sox tend to go after. Great FB, solid secondary pitches that should develop into plus, just needs a little refinement to reach his ceiling. Plus being a local kid really helps as well. Unless he is gone, I would be surprised if he is not the pick. If he is gone, the Sox may roll the dice and go underslot on Matuella and offer him $1.4M. Since he is injured the Sox are only required to give him 40% of slot value to get compensation if he does not sign. If he does, you have a guy that was the pre-season #1 overall pick (two years in a row) at a discount and can use the $2M saved to get some high end talent that slips due to signablitiy. If he doesn't sign you have two first round picks, including #9 overall, in what figures to be a much better draft next season. Law and McDaniel both have them on Illinois LHP Tyler Jay as well.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 11, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) Keith Law and Kiley McDaniel have pretty solid intel. I'd be surprised if it's not a college pitcher for the White Sox I am relaxed. Read it differently.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 11, 2015 -> 06:15 PM) For some reason, I feel it won't be pretty having Abreu play third base. First of all, teams that don't get a minimum of two bunt hits a game won't be trying. Second, I just can't picture him dazzling with the glove at 3B when he is blah to lousy at first. And the point of doing it was to take the slight defensive hit from Gillaspie to Abreu while having a better lineup offensively. They obviously didn't do it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2015 -> 05:56 PM) Seems appropriately harsh to me and a dumb way to try to get an advantage. Is Aaron Rodgers getting suspended for over inflating the balls? Many teams do this. I see it in high school games every Friday. The problem is that Goodell is just such a boob. He just makes up punishments. Instead of having a punishment ready to go as soon as the report was released, he waited to gauge public opinion and then did it. He is the head of a billion dollar company. Make a f***ing decision. That report exonerated the Patriots but then for some reason they get fined $1 million and get 2 picks taken away? It just doesn't make any sense. There is also no proof that Brady did anything. I'm sure he did but they don't have anything. Garopallo will go 1-1 in the first 2 and then Brady will lead the Patriots back to playoffs again. The 1st round pick matters much more than the suspension.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 11, 2015 -> 09:51 AM) Ok for starters, there were quite a few players who got hurt in the beginning of the season or during. Of those I am going to mention that some may not have realize or known about. 1. Tyler Stephenson – cat – prep – came back early most already know of him. 2. Jake Lemoine – sp – college – hurt his should was ranked #9 coming into the season, still no surgery, no further info., 3. Kendall Rogers – sp – college – acl injury. Rtn unknown. 4. Kep Brown – of – prep. Predicted if all went well, should have made the 1 round. A better version of Chris Shaw. Another name that was an exciting prep player just removed his name for the mlb draft. This player is Kyler Murray – ss – predicted to be a 1 rounder. He is predicted to be a 1 rounder in football…. Multi talented player. Now, another thing that is being discussed, the wild card, UNDER SLOT agreements with the players, as of thursday their was talked of just Arz and their #1 pick. But there is discussion that Hou and Col are thinking the same. This is going to throw a huge monkey wrench into the mechanism. So I see, if true, most of the mock draft up to now as being nothing but good reading. Arz – either .T. Stephenson – cat – prep or G. Whitley – of – prep, tough choice Hou – they need infielder - Dansby Swanson – ss – college Cou - I thought Brendan Rodgers – ss – prep, but now I don’t know if it a prep SP Tex – if Rodgers is there is not, D. Tate – sp – college Hou – here I s the underslot deal, so who will it be, Cameron, Tucker – preston brother, hou outfielder, or Chris Bettis, cat- prep, surprise name here . Minny – who in hades know. No word out of their camp. A college SP or Of . Bos. – either Bergman - ss or Buehler – sp – both college. Sox - under slot. pick Donnie Dewees - of - college, tied for the ncaa in homers, walks and hits, plus among the top for sb. Now the sox at 8, I was really thinking outside the box here. I looked at the needs of the team. So I had several options. SP - Jake Lemoine, but since this morning and no surgery, forget about it. Next I am leaning on: Donnie Dewees – of – college. He is arguable the best hitter in college this yr, supplanting Happ and others. He is in the top 2 or 3 in most offensive categories, can play most any OF positions but he is a CF’er. David Thompson – 3b – college, got hurt, missed his soph yr, came out last cape and was in the tops in hits and hrs. this yr, continued hitting homers and is good at defense. hard to choice http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/strong-spri...top-few-rounds/ http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1 http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/321 http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/483 http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/200 Keith Law and Kiley McDaniel have pretty solid intel. I'd be surprised if it's not a college pitcher for the White Sox

If Rondon hits .220 he will be a big leaguer. That's how good his defense is.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 9, 2015 -> 11:52 AM) I doubt that, especially considering the awfulness of BR. BR has hired a ton of really good writers lately. It's not just fan pieces anymore.

Bleacher Report is my guess. They are currently the #2 sports media brand now behind ESPN I'm pretty sure

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ May 9, 2015 -> 01:05 AM) f*** you Levine. Way to go buddy. You get the gold star for CHOOSING to report this, choosing to add strain to an already stressful start to the season. This does nothing positive for the 2015 White Sox. Seriously, the real question is who told him this? Seems like it would be a pretty short list privy to this conversation. Why would you tell a media loser like Levine this information if your goal is a 2015 White Sox championship? This is akin to treason. Umm unless it was all off the record, this is Bruce Levine's job. What exactly do you think reporters do? If you just want them to be shills for the team go follow KC Johnson

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 7, 2015 -> 01:12 PM) If I was Wisconin I would be all over this. Rock, do you think Braxton Miller will end up somewhere else as well?

La'el Collins is signing with the Cowboys. They are going to be awesome. They could slide him in at LG or start him at RT over Doug Free. The Cowboys essentially just added 3 first round talents in this year's draft with Collins, Randy Gregory, and UConn CB/S Byron Jones.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 7, 2015 -> 12:24 PM) Golson transferring. I believe I broke that news on soxtalk.com back in january I'll go with LSU as the destination but Alabama wouldn't surprise me either.

Here's some more fuel to the rumors of Arizona going way under slot at #1: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/dbacks-plan...ome-into-focus/

QUOTE (LDF @ May 7, 2015 -> 08:02 AM) my question is, what will Hou be willing to give up?? would an agreement of both of their first rnd draft picks plus their comp pick and lets say 2 of the players selected?? maybe the sox can kick in chris beck and add the third player, being a pitcher. Brett Phillips - of, Derek Fisher - of, Joan Mauricio - sp, Michael Feliz- sp Can't trade draft picks.

Keith Law chat: Justin (Chicago) Rumor is the White Sox are targeting college pitchers with their first pick. What are your thoughts on organizations who target only a specific group of players? Specifically to the White Sox, they really have not developed a hitter forever. Do some orgs just feel as though they have a better strength and developing position players or pitchers, so they target them more? Klaw (1:23 PM) I think the White Sox have such a good track record developing pitchers I wouldn't question them taking another one - it's a clear core competence at this point. I've heard them specifically on Tyler Jay at 8.