BamaDoc

Soria is a total flip candidate. Last year 46 of 59 appearances unscored upon. Don't see how often he was brought in to start an inning vs in a jam. Pitch count lot higher in scored upon situations. So while you might be able to identify when he may struggle(poor command) you tend to let your closer ride. Hopefully, he will be tweak able. As many noted, peripherals are there, not like you are spending a similar amount of money in a multi year situation on a guy who dropped 2MPH on his fastball. We had little depth and less for LHP in the bullpen. Now we have options. Peters may make a valuable utility type guy but he wasn't taking second from Moncada.

A Hall of Famer but at this point I don't think he does anything except take at bats from guys you are trying to evaluate. Abreu is your veteran mentor/role model. I don't see it.

I think you could get something of value for Smith near the end of spring training. If we don't have an injury at catcher, I think he would make sense for a team looking for a backup catcher. He would be cheap, fairly decent with some MLB experience, seems to be a good guy. Somebody will have an injury or not like how their situation is looking. Might get a low level flier. Teams would know we have no real place for him as I don't see us keeping three catchers.

QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 10:59 PM) You can draft your own guys. Apparently some team years ago forgot to protect a guy but they had a high pick so they just took him. Thanks for the info. I would definitely consider him. Kinda like Burdi and Cortes. Cortes is just turning 23 LHP. In 52 ip at AA three HR allowed, 48 ip at AAA and zero HR allowed. That might work, although he doesn't have huge GB%.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Dec 8, 2017 -> 08:04 PM) Guerrero is about number 12 in the White Sox system. Is theirs really as good? I had just used MLB rankings (which obviously not the be all end all,) had him at #21. Don't get me wrong, I would have protected him and figure we would lose him. Just trying to figure a way to get something for a lost resource. As another poster mentioned, you may not be able to add him to the 40 if you acquire him which would kill his value. Earlier, I even wondered if we didn't like anyone better, could we draft him?

Miami's farm is very weak and have had bad injury luck. If you could take on Prado and his salary it could lessen what you pay for a Yelich. Hope Prado rebounds and flip at or before deadline eating some salary. I would not trade a high prospect but you could put Guerrero in the package as maybe a second or third piece as you will probably lose him and he would be about #12 in their system. If Stanton won't waive his no trade, they may get desperate for salary relief.

Would Nick Burdi make sense for us? We already have his brother and should have an idea as to his medicals. He had TJ surgery in May so he could begin on the 60 day dl. When ready, he could have a decent amount of time on a rehab assignment prior to joining the majors in what would likely be the second half of the season. Prior to injury, his profile was much like his brother's, 80 FB and 65 Slider rating with a lesser change up but potential closer ability. 25 in Jan. We wouldn't need him to be great in 2018, just survive. Second thought. If it is our pick and our targets are gone, can we draft our own player? Guerrero or Peter or Polo? I like all of them better than some we kept.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 13, 2017 -> 07:07 AM) http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/11/12/cub...eetings-trades/ Figured we needed a thread to cover this week's GM meetings and the winter meetings coming in December. I find myself checking this site and MLB Trade Rumors a couple times a day, knowing/expecting us not to do anything. I think Abreu is our veteran mentor. I don't think Avi gets you the offer you would want until he proves/disproves it before next years trade deadline. If Avi is playing well you may want to keep him also. Even when he was not performing, I always respected his hustle which is also a good example for the young guys. I think Rule 5 may be interesting or the first real opportunity to add. We just don't have the assets to move at this time. I think our free agents will be smaller flippable types and we may dumpster dive for late signers who don't get what they want and have to scramble late. At this point we are not a prime destination for a premier guy. I guess the one exception may be the taking on a bad contract in a trade route but I don't see that as very likely.

Several dads here took our sons to Yankee stadium before it closed. He pitched for Toronto that day. RIP

Could one argue that if Zavala and Collins both start in Birmingham, they could share catching and be the primary dh on the other night. They both get full bat development. One other thing might be on the day a player is going to dh, you could do extensive defensive drill work as you know he won't be catching. I could see that defensive work being useful and normally not able to be done due to wearing out the player. If after 6 weeks if one is clearly ready to move up, as the job share isn't working or has served its purpose, then you could move the most deserving up. It may also allow your minor league catching guru/rover to work with the two biggest catching prospects without having to travel.

Add two more teams equals about 24 more pitchers needed than currently not counting injury replacements etc. Yikes!

I was wondering if the rule 5 order follows the summer draft order and whether we will have pick number 4?

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Oct 13, 2017 -> 11:01 PM) Boston...New York...what year is it?! If it's 2005, it is gonna be great!

QUOTE (hi8is @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 08:11 AM) Thanks Scoots. While writing that out I actually had a thought wondering if anyone would relate to it as you did. Who are some of your all time favorite players from when you started being a fan in your younger years? Dude - every time I take my boy to a ball game I get choked up in a very loving sentimental way. Can only imagine what it will be like to start playing catch with him, coaching his little league teams, and taking him to games one day after Sr. has moved on to greener pastures. 🙏🏻 It is pretty awesome. I would get as proud of him when he made a great defensive play as when he hit a home run. Really cool when he could point out the fundamental mental errors the big leaguers were making! Treasure every minute cause the old farts that say it passes quickly are correct. Think I met you in 05 playoffs. The little kid that was with me is all grown up.

Except for a brief period in the AFL, Engel has unfortunately never shown a great hitting ability. Expecting him to figure it out or implement major changes at the MLB level is not likely. I thought people stated one of his problems was always changing his approach? He is most likely what he is which is a great defensive cf without a bat. In a rebuild, let him patrol center at AAA and see.

I think we are 3 games ahead of Detroit. After their dumps, they may be in this as well.

Thanks for getting this information. I had asked about him earlier this year because I had seen the results and while I am in Bama, I didn't know his story. He is pretty much league average for age but a whip of .7 is sweet. Maybe something maybe not but sure hoping for the former!

I noticed in box scores, he is playing first and I think dh ing. I double checked and 11 games at third with 7 errors. 17 games at first 2 errors. 20 games as DH. Young enough to improve.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 28, 2017 -> 12:36 AM) Will Clarkin be protected next year? reading the game story they don't mention any injury, more like he was on a limit. As far as protecting him, he is not an automatic but I would say yes. He's not ready but could somebody snatch him and use him as a lefty reliever for a year ,possibly. If we have room on the roster, we may look at some rule 5s also.

Clarkin had 31 pitches and no runs thru three innings. Planned or injury?

Guys I remember are Duncan with LaRussa, Mazzone with braves, and Stottlemeyer with Yankees. I'm sure there are others but often we aren't aware of them if they aren't frequently in post season.

Please do not let Robert steal!!!!!

QUOTE (South Sider @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 02:11 AM) If Fulmers stuff is as underwhelming as everyone has been saying, converting him to a reliever will not work. You still need at least 1 good pitch to possibly be a quality reliever. At this point, the Sox and Carson just need to stick their noses to the grindstone and try to get his stuff back to where it was when they drafted him. It sucks to see him struggle so much being that he's one of our first rounders, but you can't give up now and the Sox need to find a way to keep this kid confident in himself as his struggles continue. Sadly, I can't see him being very confident right now, so I hope the Sox can help him as much as possible over the offseason to find his "stuff". Completely agree hence my comment of even getting him with someone he worked with in the past when he was good i.e. Vandy pitching coach etc

I think you first must decide as an organization what and where you think he needs to be. Second, I don't think you can convert him unless he buys into the move. They really need to spend this off season going over his Vandy tape and seeing if something is different. Heck is it possible offseason to have an old pitching coach work with him in conjunction with Coop. I can remember Frank Thomas getting in a funk and getting former coaches to help Hriniak/Lau. We aren't contending next year and Fulmer holds a lot more value if you can get him back to starting effectively. The same holds for Giolitti if he comes up and struggles, we still have all of next year and maybe more for them to get "it". I completely agree with posters thinking he was a need and rush pick. We did him no favors so I feel like cutting him some slack.

While we have played with effort and spirit in many of these games despite our record, when we are bad we are going to be really really really bad.