bear_brian

This sure sounds like typical Levine Cub-biased BS. Supposedly right before the Grandal signing was announced Renteria talked to McCann, who supposedly had nothing but good things to say about that deal. I am not at all against trading McCann if the return is good, but I do not buy what Levine is peddling.

It would seem like the number one bullpen need is a "long relief" type, or swingman. Maybe at the time Kopech comes up, Lopez can fill that role. This should be a guy who can do a sporadic spot start, give you three or four shutout innings after a starter departs early, and then can come back the next day for an inning. Do not know offhand what free agent could fill that role. McHugh? Possibly Hudson?

He is a better fit for the overall plan than Encarnacion. Can get multiple years of control, still young, plays OF (not great but passably), and would really hit well in GR. If you can get him at an AAV of $17-18M would be great. He can DH against RH, then play RF against lefties with McCann becoming DH. Am not sure what the down side is, since this guy is a good and productive hitter. It might also allow us to consider trading Vaughn for more pitching, or trading Castellanos if we see that Vaughn will meet his lofty expectations.

I have the current payroll at $90M. If we can assume a top of $130M, that should give us enough money for Ryu/Keuchel, a good hitter, and at least one good RP.

What about Puig for our RF (good defense settling in with the other Cubans) , Dickerson for DH (productive lefty bat) with Wheeler and either Miley or Alex Wood?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 23, 2016 -> 11:47 AM) He was pick #18 in last year's draft. That is not the value of a second piece, no matter how much the WhiteSox liked him 6 months ago. If the Pirates are actually willing to pay Glasnow plus Mcutchen plus Newman for Quintana, why bring the Yankees in? Take the deal and Hahn can spin-off McCuthen for more than Rutheford. That's the problem with Hahn 3-ways; when he brings in the 3rd team, it's the 3rd team that takes the surplus from what the other team was willing to overpay. He did it last year in the Frazier trade. For the third time, I do not believe the Pirates would do that just for Quintana. They are going to get either Rutherford or Andujar or someone else who has not yet been mentioned. I also have a feeling that Robertson may be part of this deal. I just do not see us netting four prospects from those two teams and only giving up Quintana.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 23, 2016 -> 11:08 AM) Here's my thought- You're getting Glasnow for sure in this deal. So, take one more from the Pirates & 2 from the Yankees. 1. Glasnow 2. Rutherford (He's a must) 3. Newman (He may be a SS with little power but his hitting is something that always has value) 4. Andjuhar (Get your 3B of the future). Only other thing I would think about changing is Keller over Newman, because Keller has really good stuff as well. Either way, need two good bats. I think Rutherford & Andjuhar are those 2. What is Pittsburgh getting for trading McCutcheon?? I think we are overestimating our return.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 23, 2016 -> 11:00 AM) Okay, you have to include Glasnow, so pick the other 3: Mitch Keller, Blake Rutherford, Kevin Newman, Miguel Andujar & Elias Diaz. That's the easy version. Alternative Version: Pick 1: Keller, Rutherford, Newman Rest is Glasnow, Andjuhar, Diaz Not sure about this, since Pirates would have to get more than just Quintana. That would mean either Rutherford or Andujar going to Pittsburgh, would it not?

The classical case of the half-full, half-empty glass: 1. Half-full: Sox have 4/5 of an excellent starting rotation in Sale, Quintana, Rodon and Gonzalez. They have Abreu, Eaton, Anderson, Melky, Saladino and Frazier as the core of their lineup, with Lawrie and Narvaez as competent bench pieces. They have a closer in Robertson, and good bullpen pieces in Nate Jones and Jennings with the possibility of both Petricka and Putnam returning. They have intriguing pitching prospects in Burdi, Adams, Hansen, Fulmer, and Ynoa. 2. Half-empty: They have NO apparent fifth starter, and Rodon and Gonzalez remain as full-season question marks. They do not have a major league caliber starter at catcher, in center field or at DH. The free agent market is extremely thin. They do not have enough power, especially playing half of their games in the cell. Their bullpen literally sucked for much of the year, and they need at least three quality arms (especially a true long reliever). Conclusion: I believe the Sox have too many positives to decide on a total rebuild. That may seem like a foolish view to many, but I like the starters and the top of the lineup too much to agree with tearing it all down and rebuilding. Having said that, the obvious problem is how they acquire the pieces needed. There is no easy answer to that ...

I have tried to defend Avi in previous posts, but in watching him now - with his new stance - I see very little difference in his seeming ignorance of situations, of what a pitcher has done to the previous hitter, of pitch selection, etc. It seems that what we should have done was to dump Avi for a bag of balls, signed Loney and let Fields and Loney platoon in that DH spot. Too late for that now.

OK, at least we can have some fun today with the usual conjecture. Rockies need a SS to replace Reyes after he is suspended, need at least one RP and can always use a starter. So ... how about Saladino, Petricka, Eric Johnson and 1 or 2 "B" level prospects. We take on all of Cargo's salary. Is that possible (since we are not trading TA, Fulmer or Adams)

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:20 PM) Couldn't agree more. I get the feeling the Sox don't have Sanchez in their future plans. From what we've seen Saladino can easily fit into a utility IF position more so than Sanchez because he can play 3B. I like Sanchez and his glove, but I have zero faith in the guys ability to hit at the Major League level. There does not seem to be any love whatsoever for Sanchez's bat. He did not inspire a lot of confidence last year, granted. But maybe we should look at the following: a) He is all of 23 years old, has always played far above his age differential in the minors, and only has 500 AB's in MLB; b) Last year he did hit .252 with a .687 OPS in the second half. Granted, he died in September, but so did most of the team. c) His minor league line, starting when he was just 17, is .288, with an OBP of .354 and an OPS of .723. d) With that outstanding defense - I have a hard time recalling anyone who gets rid of the ball quicker on the double play - and the fact that he is a switch hitter, there sure seems to be more potential value than many people on this board seem to think he has. Just one man's opinion ...

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 09:35 AM) If you take out Fulmer and Anderson, they don't have the pieces to get a high impact bat. That is probably true, but they do have SOME pieces to use in a deal: a) one of Putnam, Petricka, Webb, Jennings/Phillips; b) one of Adams, Eric Johnson or Chris Beck; c) lower level minor leaguer. Is that enough to get ANYONE? Am not sure, which leads me to believe that the best course of action is either Austin Jackson or to do nothing and wait to see what position the team is in near the trade deadline.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 11, 2016 -> 06:20 PM) Not that big of a fan of Venable. I think we can trade a reliever for an OF bat like Desmond Jennings. If we sign Desmond we will be one over the 40-man roster. That, coupled with our excess of bullpen arms, might mean a trade is part of Hahn's plan. I like Jennings, but he plus Desmond would really make us an RH hitting team.

My belief is that Fowler is waiting for the Cubs to settle Arrieta's arbitration case. After that is done, the Cubs will either have the available cash for Fowler or not, and things will then proceed accordingly.