Southwest Sider

That first Weaver curveball clocked at 65 mph...

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 01:22 PM) Sands is playing? He's not in the box score. And what was that play? My gamecast says Trout walked He's referring to a play from yesterdays game that Benetti and Stone were talking about in the broadcast.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 01:20 PM) Bring in EJ, he can't be any worse than Danks. I'm with you. If I'm Robin, Danks has a very short leash today. Johnson is on 7 days rest from his last start in Charlotte, so he should be ready to go.

I have a flight later and all of todays commitments are completed... I'm debating just cracking open a beer now.

Escobar K's.... just kidding.

Ball 1, get Johnson warming up.

QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 15, 2016 -> 09:56 PM) Right, because that's basically a "neutral zone" right on the line. If he kept one tippy toe on the line and then the puck crossed, he'd be fine. But with both skates in and not on the blun line, with the puck just crossing the line, it's off-sides. I was wondering about it myself being unclear on the rule. He lifted his leg and it appeared to me that if you were looking straight on at the blue line, he could technically be onside because of the appearance of his leg still being above the blue line. Because of this I thought it would not be overturned. Clearly, the rule is different. If you lift your leg, even though it may look onside to the naked eye, you are judged to be fully in the zone. Quenneville may have challenged it anyway, but I give a ton of credit to Matt Meachem for actually noticing this with such little time available to notice such things. Meachem saved the day, in my opinion.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Apr 15, 2016 -> 10:07 PM) Absolutely love the winning, absolutely love the pitching but man the offense has got to start showing up. Can't expect the pitchers to keep going all year like this, they have to have some room for error. Mark The Sox hit a lot of balls hard early in this game and had some tough luck. The Rays could have easily lost by a few more runs. Odorizzi settled in a bit, but he was very fortunate that there wasn't a worse outcome. I feel as if the offense DID show up today, just didn't get any bounces until the 9th inning. If the team as a whole can keep hitting balls hard as they did today, you will soon be singing a different tune about the offense.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 02:52 PM) Eh I'm bored lol I'll play along You know, there are so many silly sports fans in the world. The thing is, it would not surprise me in the least if he wasn't trolling.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Apr 14, 2016 -> 02:49 PM) Flowers batting average is .137 better than Navarro and he's better defensively. It would clearly be an upgrade for us. At the risk of feeding someone who might be knowingly trolling.... This sample size is too small to make judgments like that. Also, what proof do you have that Flowers is a better defender? I was under the impression that worst case scenario was that they were equal defensively. Hawk mentioned that Navarro throws out 39% of baserunners (last year?). That's MUCH better than Flowers.

Why hasn't Coop gone out there to calm Sale down and give him a breather yet?

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Mar 11, 2016 -> 03:40 PM) I know it means nothing but I think it means something to have success in spring....if that makes any sense. Very few teams can flip the switch so to speak. I agree. They are setting the tone for the season. I like what I've seen so far in Spring Training, and it looks like this team should be much more competitive than last years team. I had my Debbie Downer moments over the course of the offseason, but the Sox really do have a shot at the AL Central. That's almost all a baseball fan could ask for.

Dedicated to John Scott. A fight I'll never forget. You need to watch the whole thing. 1:24 slow-mo is pretty sweet.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 25, 2016 -> 02:45 PM) Brian Hedger ‏@BrianHedger 22m22 minutes ago Versteeg told @NHLCanes video reporter Toews is his favorite #Blackhawks chirp. "He's just a big baby, really. He's just an overgrown baby."

Awesome bounce back game... Crawford adding a few more shutouts to his stats this year should give him real consideration for the Vezina... but it seems he might always be viewed as just a good goalie, helped by an awesome defense.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 10:44 PM) Robertson and Melky turned down better offers to come here just one year ago. I was unaware they actually had better offers. I must have missed that.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 10:33 PM) I've been pretty irrational through this process with Cespedes. Both raBBit & Y2Jimmy both know that. But, how can anyone be pissed at the Sox for how this all came together? Gordon wanted to go back to KC, same with Cespedes in NYM, & Upton didn't want to be here & got 6 years. What exactly was Hahn supposed to do? Let's cool off & think rationally before blurting out some insult at the Sox organization or Hahn in general. It feels so crappy that no player would want to come here, though. It speaks volumes as to how this organization is viewed by players. IN the case of Upton, it seems like he pretty much told the Sox he wasn't interested. If players are doing that, things need to change. That is unacceptable.

QUOTE (Tony @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 11:05 PM) And with that win, they now own the longest winning streak in the NHL at 7 games right now. The Hawks were down two forwards, and who knows if the new Kane stuff seeped into the locker room at all. Not giving them a pass at all, just sort of the perfect storm tonight. There definitely was a "Panik" problem in the locker room. Everyone, and I mean everyone knows that he overslept. That's got to be embarrassing and I would think that something like that wouldn't become something that everyone just knows is the reason as to why he was scratched. Everyone knew about it this afternoon and even Foley talked about it on the broadcast. It's true, McDonough does not mess around, he will embarrass you for doing something stupid even if it's sleeping in. I still can't believe he slept in, though! That's so strange.. hopefully he learned his lesson.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 12:24 AM) I said it before and I'll say it again... It's time to start a "Sign Josh Reddick " thread for the 2016/17 off season. 1k pages or bust! There's gotta be the smoke of a rumor for it to not just be a another "we should sign or trade for x player" thread. With our buddy interviewing telling us not to forget that Avi is just a baby... and all the "articles" or "information" attempting to detail Cespedes red flags... yeah I'm feeling like we're not going to land Cespedes.

Very impressed with TB tonight. They reminded me why they made it to the Cup Final. It's fitting the streak would end at the hands of those guys.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 10:01 PM) Yet he has never won a World Seriies, and owes Cabrera, Verlander, Martinez, Zimmernan, and Upton over $600 million. At least he is trying. Do you ever wonder why Tigers fans show up in spades to Comerica compared to Sox fans at US Cellular? I have to believe its because ownership is committed to winning... at ALL costs. Our ownership continuously proves to us that they are not committed to winning at all costs... and some are surprised that Sox fans hardly show up to the park. Owing those guys 600 million doesn't matter much if the fans are showing up because you paid those guys 600 million.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 09:46 PM) Nothing of quality to offer up, just the usual weak attempt to deflect any criticism of the crack management team of the Sox? Well color me SHOCKED! So unlike you. Your posts are always premium content and one of the reasons I visit this site. His posts (probably all 127,000 of them) are usually post-inflating garbage with little to offer. I've never seen a post from him and thought "well he put some effort, thought, and analysis into that."

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 09:38 PM) I've seen less drama on Jerry Springer. Get a clue dude. Thad Bosley's post is an incredibly rational post, and it makes a ton of sense. Chiding him for a well thought out post like that is classless, especially from someone like yourself, a board administrator who should be an example-setter. The writing is on the wall if the Sox refuse to pony up for Cespedes' demands. In this market, whether there are bidders or not, he deserves a contract in the Gordon-Upton range. If the Sox don't pay the price and sign Cespedes, you will see a lot of already complacent Sox fans questioning ownership's commitment to winning even further. No Sox fan should be happy trotting out Garcia, Fowler or Jackson after what our main divisional rivals have done to improve! The Tigers already had a good offense, and they signed Upton. The Royals won the World Series. We have a crappy offense with some promising additions, but there is still no guarantee that this offense won't have huge issues with run production. I understand signing Cespedes does not guarantee a division title or wild card, but mark my words, if the Sox don't sign Cespedes, they will not win either.

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 09:24 PM) Our ownership is a joke...one of only 3 MLB teams NEVER to have given out a $70M or greater contract. Ridiculous. And if this 3-year thing is true given today's market, they are completely insane and should be ashamed of themselves. Sell the damn team to somebody who wants to win already. I agree wholeheartedly. The onus is now on the Sox to get Cespedes. I know signing him guarantees nothing, but this is a tough division and they are expecting to compete. If you are expecting to compete, keep up with your opponents who are dominating you in the free agent competition. And if they don't.... well, an already complacent fanbase is going to get even more complacent. I think that unless you inherit a quadrillion fans, then you have to show your fans that you will step up to the plate for their money. No one wants to spend excess money on crap and that's what the Sox have been since 2005. By having ownership never willing to step up to the plate on a big free agent just makes things worse. Year after year goes by and we always watch big free agents sign with other teams, including our main competitors. I use the word "big" in the meaning in that they would command a massive contract. Year after year we are told that you don't need to spend the big bucks to compete. Year after year our farm system is marginal at best and can't produce the talent needed to compete with teams that do spend the big bucks. Being a Sox fan totally SUCKS sometimes, and it will continue to suck if they don't sign Cespedes.

[meatball post] Awww, the stupid White Sox can't finally pony up for a premium free agent. But look, we made other marginal additions! Look at Fraziers numbers! He won't have any trouble playing in a league with better pitching! And Lawrie is a grinder with room to improve! Except he is injury prone and hasn't lived up to his potential yet! We don't need Cespedes... Garcia will get better (better odds of that not happening) and if we sign Fowler, he can add his elite OBP skills! Forget that he is just a nice ballplayer on a team that is already elite!" Cespedes isn't a perfect ballplayer, doesn't have elite numbers, but he does drive in runs, and the Sox NEED THAT. If he was a perfect player, he'd be commanding in excess of a 200 million contract! Pay the man what he is WORTH, for crying out loud. It's no wonder Sox fans don't go to the park, Reinsdorf and company will rarely ever sign a premium free agent. For crying out loud, other teams have signed what appear to be crippling contracts yet they still compete, they still sign useful players during other years. I know Ilitch is old and crazy, but having insane contracts already didn't stop him from adding to his team. We have ZERO "insane" contracts and can't finally decide that maybe one "insane" contract might be worth the risk? I'm sick of this. I hope the Sox understand that even though they already have a bleak attendance outlook, it's only going to get worse for them with an "all-in" attitude without actually going "all-in". They may as well just had sold high on their assets and started a rebuild, and they would get the same attendance outlook. [/meatball post] Thanks for putting up with it.