Southwest Sider

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 1, 2016 -> 10:46 AM) Avi sucks. He's a 4th outfielder at best and has below average defense. Strikes out at a high rate, I would have no issue cutting Avi loose. We have seen enough If we're rebuilding, I'd rather see Avi on the team next year. He can be terrible and help us to a lower record and higher draft pick. And you never know, maybe he actually figures hitting out for real this time. Not holding my breath, but in that event he could become a trade chip, albeit not very great of one because he can't play defense.

QUOTE (Ro Da Don @ Nov 28, 2016 -> 06:50 PM) Shoot. I was really hoping an international draft would get done so that teams besides the Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers, and Rangers would be able to get top Latin talent anually. Maybe they'll deepen bonus pools or increase penalties for going over international allotment. It wasn't worth a lockout, though. It has been a little ridiculous how "the rich are getting richer", so to speak, in terms of talent from Latin America. I'm with you, I hope they institute penalties that are enough for teams to not overpay the Latin talent. That would be just as good for me as an international draft.

I'll give the OP this, he acts like he has sources according to some of his post history. He started that 2 team race thread and if I recall correctly no one questioned him then. Edit: AND the owner of the site spoke with him like he was a credible source... I'd be curious to see the responses of some Administrators of the forum.

This is quite the claim to stick your head out into the gauntlet of message board participants for. Good luck OP. With your lack of ethos, you're in for it now.

Honestly, if the Dodgers want to attach a Puig to the deal, Urias better be coming back. I think he has negative value in that he seems to be a cancerous player, and on top of that he doesn't even perform that well. Attaching him to a deal to acquire Sale should mean Urias +++. Getting the Sox to take Puig off of their hands only hurts their ability to bargain with prospects. If I were the Dodgers and I needed to dump Puig, I'd explore any alternative possible other than attaching him to a deal for one of the best pitchers on the planet.

QUOTE (Tony @ Nov 19, 2016 -> 11:42 PM) Also, for ANYONE on the fence about hockey, show them that OT. 3 on 3 is just absurdly fun to watch. Way better than 4v4 and then shootouts and I really think the NHL made the right choice by making this the overtime format. I feel sorry for the goalies, but hey, they have a crappy job in the first place, they're probably used to it.

This has been a great 3rd period to watch! Really gettin' into this, great period for Hinostroza.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Nov 18, 2016 -> 02:32 PM) Make me an offer. You've got a pretty deep farm, so we should definitely be able to do some business. I can get back to you tonight. Real talk, im working all day and busy this evening so i wont have a chance to check out a deal until later.

We should have waited to start negotiations until all necessary GMs were set. Also it would have been better to not see everyones negotiations. Lol. Can we have a new one thats planned a little better?

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Nov 18, 2016 -> 11:10 AM) Several players can move from Tampa. Let us know who you're interested in and we'll talk. - Matt Silverman Who would you need to have for Archer? -DD

Hey guys, I'm looking to talk trade with Matt Silverman or Al Avila? Has anyone seen them? They must have been out partying last night.... (Someone please take these GMs ) -DD

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Nov 18, 2016 -> 09:24 AM) As Jed Hoyer: I'm looking for young cost-controlled starting pitching. I'm looking to trade Jake Arrieta. Make me some offers. Hey Jed, I'm not sure if we match up well, but if you have any ideas regarding some of my players, I'm definitely interested in Arrieta and willing to listen. Thanks. -Dombrowski

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 18, 2016 -> 01:10 AM) Dave... come on bro. Are you kidding me? I'm transparent as f***. You're just trying to get me all alone to yourself to manipulate me. Nice try. Poop, -Rick Hahn No, but I might want Chris Sale or Jose Quintana and Nate Jones. But I also might want Verlander or Archer. I'd be interested in discussing all potential avenues of improving my club.

Naturally, we all want the Sox to win the trades. But for some of us it may not be as difficult to role play as you might think, ChiliIrishHammock. We all know that whatever happens in our simulation, none of it is real. I can roleplay Dombrowski and intend to make the best out of the Red Sox situation, even if I'm a White Sox fan. Your ideas are certainly not discounted, however, but I think it'd be cool if several people capable of role playing in this fashion from this site played along.

I'll snag Dave Dombrowski of the Red Sox, kind sir. Good idea, this should be fun... I would recommend holding off on trade talks until all major GMs are taken: Copelella, Avila, Silverman, Cashman, Rizzo, Zaidi\ Edit: and maybe making trade talks private? IDK how serious you want to be about this.

Love Sale, and I also love it when great Sox players finish out their career in a White Sox uniform. Potential Hall of Famer in the making. The sad reality is that the circumstances have gotten the better of the Sox. You can get a franchise altering deal for Sale. I don't care if Sale is a hothead, and he's definitely not a cancer. He cares about winning. Whatever team that gets him is getting a guy who wants to play in the playoffs SO badly, he probably wants to try to do what Madison Bumgarner has done because he knows he's capable of it. If Sale is traded, we will always remember him as a White Sox first, even if he wins a championship with another team. I'll always root for him, and be a fan of his. He's one of our own, even if he goes a bit nuts sometimes and cuts up jerseys or talks smack about KW. Bittersweet will be the emotion. Sad to see him go, happy to see a bunch of fresh new faces giving greater hope for the future of White Sox baseball.

I think the Red Sox owners will push DD to make a deal for Sale. Those guys want to win and they know the Red Sox are on the cusp of having another championship team, and pitching will put them over the top. They need Sale. The Dodgers need Sale too, and I think they have an equally good chance of landing Sale, but I just think the Red Sox owners will eventually tell DD to make it happen... which would really be in the White Sox favor. Maybe they could still pry Moncada and Benitendi +...

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 02:10 PM) South Sider a lot of the points you are making are that they are from times past and not pertinent to the current situation. My point is that the organization as a whole is the same as it has been for all of these moves and has been since the 90's. KW and Buddy Bell are there and overseeing these things. Very well. Truth be told I'm not supremely confident in the management group, especially KW because of the past. But I do think there are signs of positive progress within the organization, even with KW in charge. We'll just have to see how events unfold.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 08:55 AM) The thing that scares the crap out of me is that the White Sox cannot develop players so anyone playing below AAA this year is more likely to bust then reach their potential. I'd be careful with this assumption as of now. I will grant that the Sox have done a bad job developing position players in the last decade +, but as of very recently there are promising signs. Tim Anderson and Tyler Saladino are among those promising signs. They could just be outliers, but they could also be an indication of an improved position player development system. We have to hope for the latter. QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 08:55 AM) The White Sox cannot scout very well. This is the organization that believed Avasail Garcia could play center-field. These are also the guys that seem to have no advanced MLB scouting worth a damn. These guys felt Jimmy Rollins was the answer at SS last off-season for a team that was looking to go to the playoffs and that James Shields was worth giving up a solid SS prospect for.....after Latos lightening left the bottle. Sadly I attribute this to a going-for-it mentality without wanting to commit to big contracts. One of the reasons the Sox are in a somewhat enviable position right now is because they didn't start handing out super long term high dollar contracts. Instead, they tried (and failed) to plug holes with stopgaps and retreads and hope for 2005 to happen again. Yes, we are stuck with James Shields for the next 3 years, but there are some positives to that. He can be a guy to eat innings during the rebuild. He is most likely a good leader and someone young players can look up to and learn from. Also, maybe he rebuilds enough value where you can trade him for something. As for Avi Garcia, well for every one of him, there is an Adam Eaton. You can't be 100% right all the time. We still got excellent value out of the Peavy deal, despite Avi's failures. QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 08:55 AM) Jake Peavy and Javier Vazquez were two other trades that should have added to the foundation of this team....they did not. Honestly, those two deals were so long ago that they almost don't even count anymore, IMO. Those were purely KW deals. And actually, both of those starters were serviceable. I think most knew Vazquez had the ability to be an ace but didn't quite achieve it. Same thing with Peavy, he had a rockier transition to the AL and suffered a freak injury, and still was a serviceable pitcher despite all that. I get it, serviceable isn't great, but Peavy and Vazquez weren't the only reason that the teams they were on failed. QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 08:55 AM) I like Renteria only because he seemed to be the guy the cubs wanted to advance their team in the rebuild and they seem to have a good plan over there. I agree with you here. Maddon is a one of a kind manager. It makes complete sense to drop *any* manager for Joe Maddon and that's where my optimism comes from. Theo Epstein and his group are baseball geniuses. They placed 100% trust and faith in Rick Renteria before Joe Maddon became available. If they were happy to have him as a manager for their rebuild, then I'm happy to have him as a manager during our rebuild. QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 08:55 AM) Maybe Getz will change things as Hostetler seems to have...we will see.....but with KW overseeing it my gut tells me they will be undersold like many trades before them and we will be left with Carlos Rodon, Tim Anderson and a whole lot of Brain Andersons. I don't know about Getz either but this last statement of yours is just so negative. Brian Anderson is from a time where we had a completely different organizational philosophy regarding minor league development. KW is the President of Baseball Operations, he's not on the practice fields teaching these young players how to play. KW has much bigger fish to fry, and he has a different group of people developing players nowadays then the Brian Anderson era.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 10:15 AM) Young exciting talent, cheap tickets, short beer and bathroom lines? I will be there to drink a few beers and have a good time with some buds for sure. This past season, I basically refused to go for the last 3 months. We had plans to go to a couple of games in July and probably for the rest of the year, but when the "Meltdown" happened we pretty much decided against it. It's sad, the Sox could have started playing well, but we almost knew that they wouldn't. The Sox currently have exciting players worth seeing in person, but it's incredibly disheartening to have an exciting start to the season followed by sheer mediocrity. There was no reason for me to move my butt into the city, pay several dollars for transit or parking and beer, as well as food. It doesn't help that I'm a student and I have to be concerned about my budget. When I choose to expend on entertainment, I want to be excited about it. I couldn't find excitement even for Sale games.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Nov 15, 2016 -> 10:10 AM) Ahh another two months of me furiously updating this site, mlb trade rumors, and twitter. The joy I'm right there with you. This could be one of, if not the most epic offseason in White Sox history. While I love our players, big time trades that may revitalize the franchise are enough to get me stoked about next year. Heck, if enough of the new acquisitions actually play next year, you might even see me go to more games!

Sox ticket reps are usually great.... not sure whats going on there.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 4, 2016 -> 03:50 PM) I think we all recognize the significance of it. s***, we all just went through the same things with our own favorite team. I don't know where you are reading in this thread that the Cubs' winning is not significant. That is a very different thing, however, than "the most significant thing in baseball history," which is the argument that some seem to be trying to make. Thank you for the response. I guess the vibe I was getting from some posters several pages ago was that no one besides Cub fans really cares about this, like one baseball fan might care of other records and such being broken, and that it is not historically significant for baseball. I guess I fell behind on where this thread was going, at this point. That's on me, my bad guys. I directed a post at everyone when it really only applies to (maybe) 2-3 posters. Ah well, it pays to keep up in these threads.... I'll work on that for future posts. In other news, I proudly wore my new-ish White Sox jacket today. Not to be a jerk or anything, but you know just to remind the few Cubs fans at the store that there are still Sox fans and we still love our team too. I think it'd be cool if instead of Sox fans putting their gear away in shame, we all wore it proudly as much as possible. We are still a part of something underground, the opposite of the popular thing to do.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Nov 4, 2016 -> 01:00 PM) To most people, turns out it actually is. You gotta remember, you're dealing with a lot of Sox fans here who have no love whatsoever for the Cubs. There's nothing wrong with that, but the argument you're trying to make is falling on deaf ears. We know the historical significance of this event, let the Cub haters keep on hating and denying it all they want. Everyone wants to say there's nothing historically significant about sucking in baseball, and that's right. To be sure, there is nothing that is REALLY historically significant when it comes to professional sports. History books won't tell the tale of the Cubs finally winning a World Series. For me, it comes back to baseball lore and those who care about it. Some of the best moments baseball has are the Red Sox, White Sox and now the Cubs finally breaking historically long (in baseball lore) World Series droughts. In 100 years, if some baseball historian writes a history book about baseball, you better believe that there will be sections relating to the Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs finally winning a World Series after having not for so long. That's really all there is to it. To one person, it might not be as amazing a postseason as 2001, or it might not be as amazing as Barry Bonds breaking home run records. I know I'm preaching to a bunch of salty Sox fans, but to say this isn't significant to baseball history is just plain wrong. I think a lot of salty Sox fans are just grasping at straws to try and downplay this. Do yourself a favor: don't. Just keep being you, accept that this is what it is for us, and move on, because it doesn't impact your life in any meaningful way. I know a lot of you don't care what I have to say, and that's fine. I'm just trying to bring a little perspective to this thread in a way which I feel can enhance your life at this moment. If I helped any one person out at all, then I'm happy, that's why I'm here posting this. Not to put the Cubs on a pedestal in front of a bunch of Sox fans, but to help my fellow Sox fans out through some of the toughest times there probably have ever been to be a White Sox fan.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Nov 4, 2016 -> 11:40 AM) You mean besides being the greatest World Series AND WS game ever played? (as long as you're looking at it objectively of course) Seriously, it's the next part of the lore of baseball. The team that couldn't buy a World Series finally gets it together. Theo Epstein, the greatest baseball executive of all time, delivers titles to beleaguered fanbases in Boston and Chicago, and he will be in the HOF. There's your record for you. That will be remembered 108 years from now. Other teams don't care as much, but why should they? That said, I still recognize teams like the Giants for winning 3 titles in 6 years and how impressive that was. Plus, we all remember those insane Yankee teams, The Big Red Machine, and other such dynasties. And if the Cubs become a dynasty, that will be remembered by baseball fans everywhere. This would be a dynasty for the ages... from complete and total losers to complete and total winners. Even if they don't become a dynasty, this one World Series, coming back 3 games to 1, the sheer joy of a city, the best executive in the game and quite possibly the best manager in the game. Literally having every single one of their top prospects work to this point! That doesn't just happen, that comes with an organization built the right way. Other teams will be taking notes and trying to build organizations like this because the Cubs are now perpetuating the idea that winning a World Series means having the best organization, from top to bottom. You can't skimp on any one part of the organization. Trying to downplay this is just silly. If you don't care about baseball, that's one thing, but people wouldn't be here if they didn't care about baseball. I try to keep a solid perspective in between baseball and reality. Baseball is a source of entertainment but it does not impact my life or reality in a significant way. It's just a cool, fun game to watch most of the time. Most other baseball fans probably feel the same way I feel about this, a mixture of "this is cool" and worry that their team will have a tough time winning championships because the Cubs seem poised to go on a huge run for the next few years.