Lip Man 1

His agent also said everyone was notified in November that he had that blood platelet injection in his pitching elbow (as did Tanaka) as a "precaution." Angels said they knew about this before they signed him.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 9, 2017 -> 03:56 PM) The Stanton deal looks great for the Yankees right now, but I think they will end up regretting the trade several years down the line when he seriously regresses and still has 5-6 years left on his contract with a full no trade clause. With the Yankees money do you even think that will matter? They'll just go out and buy someone else, price be damned.

MLB is soon going to have the same issue that the NBA is now having. Three or four "super" teams...Dodgers, Yankees, Indians, Astros. A small number of very good teams...Red Sox, Cubs, Nats and all the rest mediocre at best or tanking / rebuilding with ZERO CHANCE to win anything. Not good for the fans and not good from a business standpoint when fans stop watching or going to games because there isn't any point. And I'd argue just the opposite, on a point. Miami actually has Stanton over a barrell. The guy wants to play for a winner and doesn't want to go through a rebuild. Fine. Miami should have said, 'you go to the Cards or the Giants or we'll trade everybody in the f***ing lineup and you'll be out there alone with no protection in last place. How would you like that?' I'm willing to bet he'd change his tune mighty quick. Instead Miami acted like Miami even with new ownership.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2017 -> 10:08 AM) I think that's a great thought too To stress - it doesn't mean that low payroll teams can't win. But for a low payroll team to win in this era, when the Yankees and Dodgers and Red Sox are combining big payrolls with big contracts and with big time talent coming through their systems...the way you have to win is to make yourself a 100 win team by development. If your team has to go through the "win 100 games then rebuild cycle", you still have the shot to win 100 games and put yourself in the world series. A successful rebuild is more important for competing today than it was yesterday. So parity may be going away, but the era of small market teams winning titles is not. What you've posted makes a great deal of sense to me. But keep in mind from a White Sox standpoint is to win the division and actually get into the playoffs. Once you do that, especially in a short series...its a crap shoot. Cleveland would appear to be the only team in the division who still figures to be good when the Sox are so that increases the post season odds for them. At this point I'd be thrilled to make the playoffs three years in a row say, even if it meant getting swept out in the first round by a "super" team.

Older fans remember the K.C. A's being a major league "farm" team for the Yankees. (Roger Maris among a number of other guys who went on to star in New York). Now it's the Marlins. The more things change the more they stay the same. As always $$$ talks and BS walks and the Yankees always have the most money to be able to do things.

Not so fast my friend??? https://www.mlb.com/news/report-stanton-tra...ams/c-263112926

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-...do-trade-calls/ Interesting if true...

Where things are believed to stand right now: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/shohei-o...t-happens-next/

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-new-b...rs-of-new-site/ Will be interesting to see what (if anything) they can do moving forward.

Cubs must have made some pitch to his agents to get to be one of the seven finalists.

Sox got rid of dead weight---good for them!

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 1, 2017 -> 03:48 PM) You sure like complaining about odd things. $1M for a guy like Farquhar to fill a spot in a rebuilding team’s depleted bullpen is normal course of business. We need someone to pitch innings and you’re not going to get anything much better for the price. It may be a boring move, but I don’t see how it warrants complaints. I think the guy is a stiff. No future. Rather give some kids a shot since they are still rebuilding next year. Some of them may prove useful when the team is actually good.

Bleh!

Real solid move by the organization. Guy threw out 44% of base runners and hit 20 home runs. Good call by Hahn.

Jose Abreu Leury Garcia Avisail Garcia Al Albuquerque Danny Farquhar Jake Petricka Zach Putnam Carlos Rodon Yolmer Sanchez If it were me I'd say "he gone" to Albuquerque, Farquhar, Petricka, Putnam and maybe Sanchez.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 03:24 PM) The Sox signed Albert Belle to the largest contract ever at the time. The Sox offered A-Rod a huge deal back in the day, rumored to be like 10/$190M. They recently offered Tanaka a massive deal as well. You’re fooling yourself if you don’t believe the Sox will pursue the truly elite free agents next year when they have like $2M in guaranteed payroll. Whether they can convince one of these guys to take their money remains to be seen, but I have no doubt Reinsdorf will ok an aggressive offseason plan. Regarding Belle the reason he was signed to the largest deal in the first place was because JR was paying back the other owners for resolving the labor / impasse issue on terms he did not care for. (Not that the owners had a choice after the Federal judge ruled that MLB was NOT negotiating in good faith.) I think, if memory serves, the Sox and Reds (Marge Schott) were the only owners to vote against the final agreement. In essence he was giving them the finger, 'you won't keep holding out? Fine...here's what we can do to jack up the cost of free agents across the board now that we've set the precedent..." In return the other owners voted JR off the committee that advises the commissioner on labor issues which was a powerful committee at the time.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 02:48 PM) You're right that we can't count what's in a player's head -- but to me, whatever goes through a player's head on the basepaths only matters if it affects his actual baserunning behavior, which can be and is observed and quantified. If he has instincts, good or bad, that DON'T result in him making different running decisions, I don't know why we care. Eminor: No problem. I care in this case because fundamentals have been so bad on the Sox since the last few years under Ozzie. It costs them games. Avi's baseball-sense, in my opinion is poor. Base running is part of those fundamental instincts and while to the eye he has improved slightly, to me, again, he's still bad at it and in his judgments. It all has to weigh on Hahn's mind as he tried to decide if he wants to offer him an extension.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 01:14 PM) This stats looks at base running as a pure run expectancy as the only relevant base running plays. I would disagree that it looks at all of base running in general. Knowing how to stretch a single to a double or take an extra base isn't really considered. Neither is stealing a base. I would classify those as part of base running. Agree.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 11:27 AM) Do you even know how it works? Here's UBR: https://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/ubr/ I know that you can't quantify what goes through a player's mind when he is running, a situation which has billions of variables and how the defense is going to react to that specific situation. To me, my eye test, Avi has improved as a base runner but he's far from ideal which goes into factoring if you want to re-sign him along with his defense which is generally poor and his offensive production. Fundamentals, baseball-sense are important to me.

Getting any folks connected with a winning organization is a plus in my book regardless of position.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 10:14 AM) Right, your own judgment based on the camera views you are afforded in the games you happen to watch seem much more reliable. As reliable as a nebulous unquantifiable stat based formula in my opinion...yes. Both are based on judgments that aren't 100% accurate but in this case I trust what I see far more.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 07:23 AM) He actually graded out as an above average base runner last season, but you know, narrative. Dunt: Right, there's a way to accurately measure how a guy runs the bases, the decision making thought process for each one and factors in the decision making process of the players on defense when said player is running the bases. SIGN ME UP! Stats = narrative.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 03:36 PM) Amongst other things DeBartolo was going to build a new stadium for the White Sox with his own money. It probably would have been next to a new shopping center. He made his money building shopping centers. He was also aware of how popular Harry Caray was with White Sox fans. Caray would have finished his career with the White Sox if DeBartolo had owned the team. I've never heard of either of your two statements before. Not saying they aren't true but can you provide some evidence to back it up? Such as links to stories and so forth.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 11:22 AM) You truly said it all. All I can say is the people who want him traded are in love with trades and the unknown and all the cliches that make sports fandom great but very frustrating to me. I'm not a "wait til next year" guy. I've heard it too many times. I want to win every year. Your post is very well thought out and reasonable especially compared to mine. I am intrigued by your closing line: "for a corner outfielder he doesn't have a lot of power and his defense and base running is comical as well as his understanding of simple fundamentals." If this is truly true, you study the team more than me, then by all means dump him. I did not think he's that bad any more in any area. But if he does all these things poorly, he's not worth keeping around. What I saw was a very good player last year and I personally think we need some Sox veterans for our next WS contending team but again if you are right, dump him. Those are a lot of deficiencies you list. Greg: Like everything else last year for him he got better in those areas but his fundamentals are still poor.His defense is not great, he'd be a better DH if his power numbers were better. Keeping him actually off the field is best for all concerned.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 25, 2017 -> 11:10 PM) Kind of a bad answer. The grass is always greener on other teams I guess. Don't understand your comment... all you have to do is look at his numbers over his career and specifically compare them to last year. We don't know for sure if last year was a fluke or if he has actually figured something out and can be a really productive player. Don't see what is "bad" about stating it that way unless it has to do with your comment about JR not wanting to pay anybody. There is some truth to that comment in regards to paying for untapped potential (as in the minor leagues) and is not wanting to deal with certain agents, history has shown that as well as JR stating it himself, but I can only speak for myself in that if it was my decision I'd want more evidence that Avi really has turned things around before I offer him a truck load of money. And even if he has I'd have to think twice about it...for a corner outfielder he doesn't have a lot of power and his defense and base running is comical as well as his understanding of simple fundamentals.