BlackSox13

Ed Walsh Wilbur Wood Chris Sale Mark Buehrle Eddie Cicotte This was tougher than I initially thought it would be. Still bouncing names around in my head but I'll stick with those five. Going to be fun seeing what other fans come up.

Well this is not the start I had hoped for. Come on EJ!

Thanks for the updates flavum. Having a few shots with the wife and I completely forgot about this game.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 12:37 PM) I would think yes. Maybe they were pinning everything on making the playoffs, but they did hedge it a bit and say they weren't where they wanted to be. I would think the $15-20 million a year it would have cost to sign him was coming from somewhere other than hoping the fans would show up if the Sox were close. They didn't in 2012, even in 2005, there were a couple of real clunkers attendance-wise in September. Hopefully the can make a couple of good trades, maybe get lucky with a reclamation project, maybe sign a free agent. When they fixed their defense a bit, they did start playing a better brand of baseball. The OFs aren't missing cutoff men. There is an issue with pitchers not backing up bases (Sale in particular) but that can be fixed. The dumbness seems to have gone down a bit from where it has been. Hopefully, next year it will not be a pronounced as it's been, and they can play no dumber than any other team. There are still some really good pieces here. A couple top of the line pieces. They do need some offense, especially some on base and power. Again, great points DA. I've noticed the improvement on defense as well and the dugout seems to have more life too. There are still a few sour pusses but over all I see more players enjoying the game. I'm not expecting the Sox to sign any of the big FA outfielders but there are some interesting free agents available. Personally, I'm really hoping for more smaller moves than fewer big moves. Fixing more holes is what's really important to me. In an effort to incur more power into the lineup I can see the Sox looking more along the lines of acquiring players like, for examples, Louis Valbuena for 3B and Pedro Alvarez for DH as the smaller but less costly moves. Maybe look into a guy like DJ LaMahieu from Colorado or sign a FA like Ian Desmond to play SS or 3B. Can alwzys look into Jason Castro to pair up with Flowers. Not necessarily these specific players but players along these lines are more affordable and would be more reasonable on the budget and allow the Sox to fill more holes with that 15-20M you spoke of. If the Sox were close to being contenders I could see going after a big name like Heyward or Cespedes etc but with so many holes its just not reasonable, imo. Besides, signing one of them does not help the holes in the infield which should be more important.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) JR, RH, and KW should send his agent a case of the finest champagne after every one of these starts he stinks up the joint. On the plus side, they did try to sign him and had every intention of signing him, and they knew what he turned down, so that money should be available to be allocated somewhere else. Absolutely agree DA and you make a great point about the money saved by Samardzija rejecting the Sox extension. Do you think this means the could extend the payroll some for next season? Imo, they should since, as you said, they had money allocated for the extension but since that money has not been spent and the Sox are in need of hitting, there should be some money available towards bringing in a positional player to help the offense. Not necessarily through FA but maybe acquire a player through trade.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:59 AM) I think he meant that given Samardzija's bad season, it's a good thing the efforts to convince him to sign an extension didn't work out.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:50 AM) Why thankfully it did not work out? If it did work out, the Sox would have a shot right now. Just Samardzija's second half alone, if he was just average, they are probably over .500 even as poorly as they have played overall. I wish they didn't trade for him, but do wish since they did, it worked out. Thankfully in that I am happy the Sox did not work out an extension before Samardzija stunk up the south side of chicago. Samardzija's insistence on going to free agency has turned into a Sox blessing.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:37 AM) Sidenote- still mad that he got the Opening Day start over Quintana IMHO, it was park of the Sox trying to woo Samardzija into an extension. Same with giving him his own K-zone. Thankfully it did not work.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:37 AM) This is random, but can we get Samardzija out of the SoxTalk banner? Maybe putting Quintana and/or Rodon instead. I second this notion! Never understood why Samardzija was there in the first place.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 06:59 AM) Nobody said he was. But a full year of him would undoubtedly improve our pitching. Agreed and a healthy Jones could mean the Sox save some money by not trying to re-sign Albers. A little savings here and there can help in other areas.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 07:22 PM) I wouldn't be opposed to the Sox giving Samardzija a 10 year/$300 million deal. That's pretty close but it might take just a bit more to get a deal done.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 06:19 AM) Why are you talking in third person? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissisti...nality_disorder.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 12:22 AM) I gotta go with Fathom, especially on the Shark call Yep. Fathom and Balta did well but I think the edge goes to fathom. Both predictions are kind of eerie in retrospect.

For some reason I did not post but I'm pretty sure I was in that 84-89 range. Just a bit off.

Hopefully the rain doesn't kill the momentum they had going. Would love to see Trey hit a slam when the game resumes.

Scoreless with Winston batting in the top of the 3rd. Looks like Almonte has settled down.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 01:12 PM) Well, you keep calling them Winston. No one else does that. Didn't realize I needed to since I am posting on a Sox board in the future sox forum. A thousand pardons...

The Sox need more than just better production from the DH spot in the order. RF, 3B, SS, LF and 2B need to improve in order for the Sox to be legit contenders next year. LaRoche/DH is only one problem among many.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 11:11 AM) It's Winston-Salem. Yes, I am well aware of this.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 11:15 AM) When he's the version of himself that stays in his delivery and doesn't reach back for extra gas, he's quite good. When he gets too amped, he's very hittable. Thank you for your insight NorthSide, much appreciated. All I have to go by is what FS writes up and a few videos on the Winston site. Since we're talking about Almonte, is his breaking ball a Slider or Curve? It looks to me like a Slider similar to what Peavy throws.

Winston vs Myrtle Beach 6:05 CT Yency Almonte gets the start for Winston. http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?c...mp;ymd=20150910

Yeehaa, Almonte gets the start for Winston tonight. Go Dash!

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Sep 10, 2015 -> 07:54 AM) Yep. I copied the info from the site I linked and pasted it into an excel doc. Nice work and I appreciate your time and effort. If the QO turns out to be 15.3M, this really is good news for the Sox FO and fans. Thanks again.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 11:58 PM) And that's with Montas, Danish, Adams, Guerrero, Beck and Jaye in the wings. Then the possibilities of Erwin and Hickman from this years draft. Now to start trading some of it for hitting. Amen Q! Let's not forget about Clark and Almonte. I agree, its time to start trading for some hitting. My problem is that I've become a big fan of Adams,Guerrero, Almonte and Clark. But if any of them need to be traded to help the future of the Sox then so be it.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 10:05 PM) Fulmer has a rough delivery. Rodon didn't. It looks like they're taking their time trying to smooth it out. Great move. Should be ready for 2017. No need to rush him up, esp. if Hahn is allowed to rebuild this team a bit. Good point on Fulmer's delivery. 2017 is what I'm hoping too. This is why I like the idea of Danks pitching for the Sox in 2016, to bridge the gap to Fulmer. 2016: Sale, Rodon, Q, EJ, Danks 2017: Sale, Rodon, Q, EJ, Fulmer I like the the future of the Sox rotation.