thxfrthmmrs

Keep in mind Engel typically takes a while to figure out each level, but definitely gets better at each level with more playing time. He has played a little more than 1/2 season in Charlotte and hasn't fully figured out that level yet. I'm fine with him starting in Charlotte as the everyday CF, let him figure out hitting against better competition, and if improvements are made then call him up when a spot opens.

Sosa, Coronado, Feliz, Perez, and Mercedes from LatAm signings, and Yurchak, McClure, Tyler Johnson, Alex Destino, Matt Foster, Curbelo, Burr and Hamilton from the draft are all interesting guys to follow. Quite confident a few of them will break in Top 30 or 20 by end of next season.

To think one top FA would sign with this franchise and deal with this FO is iffy, let alone 2 near max players. I think it's important for us to stockpile as many future 1st as we can, and use the picks to trade for big names when the time comes.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 15, 2018 -> 11:01 AM) My question is, if we move Niko, do we think we stop winning at this pace or does Lavine counter the loss of Niko (albeit I’d expect some rust / tranisition) and thus even moving Niko isn’t enough. Personally I think the Bulls should be calculated in who they move to facilitate the better draft pick (without negatively impacting the overall culture or implying to the team...we don’t want you to win, etc). Rolo seems like a guy who should be moved (but damn if he isn’t a great guy in the Locke room, etc). You need to be careful that you don’t turn into the cancer that is the Lakers (for example) or even the Sixers (might be looking good now but in no way would I call how long they sucked a good path / strategy). If we move Niko, Portis and Holiday and are still winning games, I would have absolutely no problem with it. In fact, it really gives more optimism that the rebuild could be fast tracked with a high lottery pick and some FA signing. But as the GM, Gar absolutely have to trade away assets that has value but do not belong to our long term picture. If we do not do that, I would consider it a failure on his part.

Great debut by LaVine. Dunn is just awesome.

QUOTE (wrathofhahn @ Jan 11, 2018 -> 03:15 PM) Agreed but between opening day and june someone is going to likely miss time. Also Gonzalez and Shields are not sure things just from an ability to perform standpoint. Neither is Lopez who got hit around at times and longterm maybe more of a reliever. That is without taking into account injuries. I think they need another guy. You made it sound like Sox is competing in 2018.

While he’s not going to help with tanking this year, I do like Favor as a long term fit next to Lauri. I think he’s an FA at the end of the season though.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 5, 2018 -> 05:53 PM) Well I would say he's better than those 2. Those 2 make me cringe. I'm just telling you Soria to a Royals fan is Rios to Greg. If you remember how I despised Rios. Soria is just a gascan. That doesn't mean I mind the trade. The trade is fine since we got that other guy and aren't trying to win anyway. Plus I've said 5 times Coop may fix Soria. I love Coop the grouch. Agreed. We're not trying to win so no biggie. My problem is Soria (to me) is so bad he's affecting my decision whether to buy mlb.com or not. I don't need the angst. Dang Greg, let me see if I understand you here. You WERE planning to get MLB TV but now that the Sox have added two relievers better than Albuquerque and Covey and who won't make you cringe as much without giving up any MLB talent, you are deciding you aren't watching the Sox next year? I am a little lost.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 6, 2018 -> 09:07 AM) All he’s saying is that KC fans are happy he is gone, which is true. Have you read the thread at all? QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 5, 2018 -> 05:53 PM) I just think Soria sucks and can attest to you KC fans are rejoicing at dumping him and that salary.

Things I’d like to see: Trade Abreu and Yolmer to NYY for Frazier, Andujar, and Bird. Tank hard for a top 3 pick in 2018. Sign Machado and whoever else to fill the holes, compete in 19.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2018 -> 02:10 PM) No. Teams trade good players all the time. They don't include good players and money for basically junk prospects if these players are as valued as some want to believe. I have no problem with the trade. I think it's a no brainer. I just think all the Soria optimism is misguided. The guy sucks. It's the reason why this trade was available to the White Sox. No. They’re trying to shred payroll and re-sign Hosmer. Paying $10 mil for a setup man does not work for their payroll. Soria isn’t the best reliever, but I can name 200 relievers who “sucked” more than Soria in 2017.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2018 -> 09:37 AM) Sounds very similar to David Robertson at this time last year. Yep, I was thinking the same thing. When he's on, it looks like he's still a very effective reliever. We just need to not make the mistake of holding on to him for too long, sell when the value is high.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 4, 2018 -> 11:42 PM) Just look at his game logs for the 2nd half of 2017. http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/i...88/joakim-soria From July 29th to August 15th, in 4 out of 7 important outings...he was terrible. Each of those were games KC had to win to stay in the division race (where Herrera was on the shelf/struggling as well). No, he wasn't terrible for MOST of the season, his overall stats look pretty decent. This is more of a Jake Peavy thing...where, when they really needed him to step up, he just couldn't get it done. So what you're saying is Greg is trashing Soria for having a really bad 2 weeks.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 2, 2018 -> 02:29 PM) So take this for what it is worth, but over the holidays I caught up with my buddy who is connected to someone in an NBA front office and he always gives me back some nuggets on the Bulls. Basically, he mentioned Lauri was mis-scouted / evaluated by a lot of people (major disconnect between what coaches saw working him out (which was, this is the best guy we've worked out) vs. what people could get on tape of him(questions about athleticism, ability to D, rebound, etc...maybe too "one dimensional"), but the chatter around the league is that if the draft were to happen again today, he probably goes #1. A lot of people think he's going to be a total star. That's good to hear. I think personally Lauri will be top 5 for a redraft. I think Tatum, Ball, and maybe Mitchell (who I think is Jame Harden lite) will be ahead.

we have abad bullpen right now, adding Abad will make it less bad.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 1, 2018 -> 04:47 PM) Sean Payton 2014-2016 They did make the playoffs 5 out of the last 9 seasons though, and that definitely happens few and far in between. When you have a franchise QB, you have a much better chance to succeed. Saying Fox was a good coach when he had a franchise QB (a record setting offense to boot) just shows that he's capable of doing what most coaches could do, does not in fact suggest he's a good coach. I think letting Fox go is the right call here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 1, 2018 -> 01:16 PM) The funniest thing about good NFL coaches is they all have franchise QBs. Fox was pretty good when he had one. On the flip side, who was the last coach to miss playoffs 3 years in a row with a franchise QB?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 1, 2018 -> 12:43 PM) As a GarPax basher, You can't bash them both ways. You can't complain they are now too good. If Dunn,a dn Laurie, and Levine are great, that should be a feather in their caps. If they get something for Niko, that should be a feather in their caps. I am sure no one would have been upset had Niko signed somewhere else. People are still b****ing about Bell but wouldn't he make them better? So even us bashers have to pick a lane. Except Garpax traded Bell away for a completely different reason. Also, I think people would have less issue with the team winning if it was Bell not Lopez being a key contributor.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 1, 2018 -> 12:15 PM) Also on team: Dunn, Lavine, Lauri, Markannen, Lopez. Teams don’t look to trade stars to get better immediately anyhow. They trade them under duress. And as for second round picks...we can buy them when we need them. So that counts as two players? I made the post with the idea of keeping two or all three of Dunn, LaVine, and Lauri if we were to acquire a star. Trading for a star but tearing down the core leaves us in the same position we were in 6 months ago.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 31, 2017 -> 09:16 PM) The good news is we have assets to trade for a Star if it comes up for first time in forever. I actually don't think we have acquired enough assets. Teams aren't looking to trade stars for Portis, Valentine, Grant or Nwaba, or even Niko for that matter. We don't think even own anyone else's first rounder, while we have traded away our own second round picks for the next 3 years. We're actually are $7 million under salary floor and still has $15 mil TPE from the Butler trade we haven't used. We absolutely need to acquire more assets at this trade deadline.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Dec 30, 2017 -> 01:19 PM) And that's why the bulk of the talent acquisition of the rebuild should be over now. Dunn/Markkanen/Mirotic/Lavine have proven that they can produce at the NBA level, so trading any of them when we're already assembling a solid core would be counterintuitive. With our current roster (when healthy), this team is a big FA signing away from being a top-4 team in the East. Markkanen and Mirotic are redundant, neither can be your rim protector. You have to trade Niko in this case. Holding onto a future 6th man to hurt your draft pick isn't a smart way to rebuild.

If it's a bigger name than Styles, then it's gotta be an old timer. I think maybe Angel, Austin or Triple H (hope not).

Shouldn't have trusted this FO to lead a rebuild.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 09:05 AM) Nice post. I think the Halos accept that deal, maybe. The money seems about equal and the WAR per year seems around 10. Believe it or not that's a fair deal to me. But does trading for Trout require a bit more overpay for PR? Nicely done though. And that still somehow leaves us with: Infield: Delmonico 1B Sanchez 2B Anderson SS Davidson/Burger 3B Outfield: Rutherford Jimenez Trout Cordell Engel Tilson Call Pitching: Rodon Hansen Kopech Dunning Cease Guerrero Stephens Etc. The Ohtani point of yours might actually allow us to keep Kopech/Jimenez Crazy. Thanks for playing the game. That’s is an horrible looking lineup. No above average bats besides Trout and Eloy. I would never want to do that trade from Sox perspective. There is no rush to trade for a player like Trout, I would rather wait and see what I have in the 3 young players in that trade. You may potentially be trading away two 4WAR pitchers and a 5 WAR 2B with about 6 years of team control each. Their aggregate surplus value is far greater than that of Trout alone. If we’re in win now mode, I may consider it (with less going out from Sox), but the trade just doesn’t make sense for the Sox’s window.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 09:16 AM) This is 100 percent me speculating here but I'm guessing they use that as a way to make Ambrose pissy when he comes back(he's not going to be out 9 months) and turn him heel. I think Ambrose is 99% turning heel, and story would revolve around Seth accidentally injuring him last week. I also think it's silly they tried so hard with the JJ storyline after breaking up the Alphas, but in the end they have to put him back in a tag team and have Rollins carry him. I was also hoping they would stop burying Rollins in the tag division.