Bananarchy

QUOTE (Superstar Lamar @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 01:53 PM) Moan for Yoan! "Not a particularly good way to start"

While Ding-Dong is right, we're also writing off most prospects' ability to improve. I'm not saying he's wrong, I'm just not ready to write off the rebuild based on performance of prospects right now.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 10:55 AM) Good morning. An evening has passed and I'm still beyond stoked to land Rutherford. HELL f***ING YES!!!!! #smarttank

No shot for Harper.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 09:40 AM) When you take the contracts into account, I don't think that's all that far off. I think we got a slightly better prospect for Kahnle because of them, but that's kinda true. Take a look at the D-Backs trade for Martinez and the Nationals trade for the A's bullpen and then remember that Robertson is paid 2x as much as Madson, and that's not far from the current market for those guys. I'm not sure anyone "wanted" frazier for that matter...

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 09:03 AM) And the Sox record on "their guy" and "kenny williams loves him" is less than exemplary. This does look like one of those trades; and I'm not convinced this FO is anywhere near 100% Hahn's show. Nothing about this says "Kenny Williams move". Come off it. The Kenny ship has sailed.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 09:02 AM) Kahnle is a bad two months away from being back to worthless. If he's the next Andrew Miller we made a mistake, but now that we have no bullpen we should be on track for the #1 overall draft pick. Can't see this team winning many more games down the stretch given our rotation, bullpen and offense. I guess. I'm not sure what a team on pace to win like 60 games has to benefit from having the next Andrew Miller.

Not that I think this is the best move, but last night's move is now in the poll.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 07:58 AM) So when the Bears traded for Cutler, I immediately went online and had a jersey customized. Then they released ones they mass-produced like a day later. You could definitely tell the difference in the letters and the spacing of the letters. My guess is they want to filter all the Moncada orders through the mass produced line, rather than sending them through the custom line. I never thought about it, but you're probably right. I would expect something today or tomorrow. There's no way they'd miss a chance to capitalize on all this buzz.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 07:47 AM) No...and I just saw the same thing. They must be planning to sell it already stitched on that way? I assume that's part of it. In fairness, he hasn't played a game. You can't even customize it.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 07:33 AM) I think they want him to learn to play at this level now, so that he is fairly developed when the next wave of kids come up in a 18 months or so... "waves of talent" This AND the fact that he'll play every day in the majors. There's really no reason to keep him in Charlotte. He should be up; he has earned it.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 19, 2017 -> 07:22 AM) So #10? Who is ordering a jersey today? Would it be weird if I said I already visited the shop and saw that his number is currently not configurable?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:54 PM) I may side with you on this issue, but Jake reads as much as anyone here. He's an awesome poster. That makes his complete lack of understanding of basic team building strategy all the more disappointing.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:50 PM) The point was the Cubs were picking from positions that aren't so different from hapless teams like the Sox that were trying to win. That is, the Cubs clearly were not all that dedicated to losing for losing's sake. Where do you get this crap from? Theo all but said the Cubs were going to try to lose and they did. A lot. Maybe read a little more before saying a team that won 61 games in one season was trying to win?

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:47 PM) I'm saying they may have squandered fan interest and player development in the service of trying to save the owner money. They were in a rather different position to both Cubs and Sox though because they never really had a big moment where they started trading good veterans to get prospects like Cubs and Sox were able to do to kickstart things. To be clear, my argument wasn't that you go for it every year, but that the reason rebuilding works has little to do with draft position. It's that you stockpile your system by trading veterans and prioritizing the development of your minor leaguers. You will lose and get good draft picks because of that, but there are real benefits to squeezing out a few more wins with the MLB club when it comes to giving the people who watch the games on TV and in the ballpark something worth seeing. From a development standpoint, I think it helps the players to win whenever they can—I also think some pitchers benefit psychologically from not seeing their leads pissed away by awful bullpens. I'm of the opinion that the benefits of winning a little bit more are usually better than picking 2th instead of 5th or whatever. That's a very long winded way of saying you don't understand tanking and the benefits of the highest possible draft pick. That's okay, you aren't alone.

QUOTE (KrankinSox @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:42 PM) Levine says sox are getting 4 players back. Rutherford, Clarkin, Clippard, and???? Judge

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:38 PM) Or you can compare to the Astros who picked 1, 1, 1, and 2 in 4 consecutive years. Are you suggesting the Astros haven't benefited from tanking?

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:35 PM) Finishing as a bottom 6 team three times isn't doing a great job? Right? They did a great job considering they had Rizzo on the roster for much of that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:32 PM) The f***? He still thinks we have a shot at the wild card.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:28 PM) I'd say the Cubs never lost on purpose. Only Bryant was a draft pick in the post-tank era who was a big piece of their WS team. And that wasn't even a #1 overall pick. They just traded all their good veteran players and never said no to a player playing well on their MLB team. Like I said, the losing will happen if you are maximizing the value of your veterans. But there's no use futzing around trying to squeeze out extra losses by making bad managerial decisions, etc. Uh, go look at those lineups in a season where they won 61 games. They tanked. It's part of the game. And don't give me that Bryant crap. The Astros blew their number 1 pick, but if the Cubs weren't horrible, they wouldn't have had a shot at Bryant. The tank is on. It's time to get with the program.

He's a better clubhouse mentor than Ventura for sure, and he knows how to coach young talent.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:23 PM) I stand firmly by the position that losing on purpose is stupid. You want to win even if you're not actively trying to put good players on your MLB roster. The losing is a byproduct of the restocking of the system. You want fans to come out and see wins and you want your players to play well in tough situations whenever they present themselves. You would be wrong: Evidence: If you want to be bad, be the worst. Fans will show up at the end of the rebuild or when studs start showing up.

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:20 PM) 1) Maybe Kopech 2) Who f***ing cares? It's 2. When you're tanking, you need the opposite of a closer. In fact, in a tank, a closer is a detriment as you get closer to a better pick by losing games.

QUOTE (gosoxtim8 @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:20 PM) no but still you like to wins games even though main goal is tank Actually, no. You do not. You do not like to win games when you tank.

QUOTE (Tony @ Jul 18, 2017 -> 09:17 PM) Merk speculates this opens the door for Moncada I'm going in two weeks!!! YES PLEASE