2Dbill

I’m going through trade withdrawal. Soooooooooooooooo There was an article on a Dodgers website yesterday that lamented the Dodgers would not be able to sign Yu Darvish(still a big wish for Dodger fans) unless they shed salaries of a number of arbitration eligible players(e.g.Yasamani Grandal, Pedro Baez and Joc Peterson).Even then they would come up short of what they estimated that they would need to strike a deal. The obvious answer was to find some way for someone to take Matt Kemp off of their hands. I really think the Sox would be wasting an opportunity if they did not see what they could get out of LA if they traded for Kemp. So let’s help them out. I would propose taking Kemp and all of his salary along with OF Alex Verdugo and pitcher Mitchell White. Some might say the price is to high but if a FV(future value) of a grade 55 player is about 20 million then the players and numbers do match up. I would still plan on Kemp being the DH for at least one year after that he could be released. I mean if Atlanta can DFA Gonzales with a year left on his contract then the Sox can do the same with Kemp .I don’t know what kind of influence he would be in the clubhouse but at least he could tell tales of what it was like to date Rihanna. If this trade took place I would then look at trading Avisail Garcia + 4million dollars + Kevan Smith to Toronto for OF Anthony Alford, pitcher Nate Pearson and pitcher Eric Pardinho. I’m including the cash to make a trade for Avisail as attractive as possible and it would cover the bonuses paid out to the two pitchers last year.

Since there has been a lull in trade talk and even though I don’t forsee any trade for Quintana happening until closer to the trade deadline, I’d like to take a crack at what might happen. I think that in order to complete a trade you will probably need to make it a three way deal in order to get the prospects that we need in return. It seems that too many teams are putting too many of their prospects “off limits” for us to get the type of return that we would like. If we use multiple teams we might get closer to the type of return we need. I would propose trading “Q” to the Astros for For Kyle Tucker, Francis Martes, Franklin Perez and the second round pick the Astros got from St Louis for the spying scandal(I think that pick is available for trading). I would then trade Francis Martes to the Cubs for Ian Happ. I have to admit I am big fan of Happ and was somewhat disappointed when the Sox took Carson Fulmer over Happ in the 2015 draft. I would see Happ moving to left field with the Sox. The Cubs need pitching and have no real prospects that would be available this year. The Sox need position players and Happ is blocked from the Cubs current big league roster. I also like the fact he is a switch hitter like Moncada. This would give us two solid position prospects with plus hitting skills one available to join this year (Happ) while we wait a couple of years of Tucker to be ready. I also considered trading Franklin Perez but I think he could be something special. I like the idea of him being available with Alec Hansen and Dane Dunning in 2019. I also like the flexibility that the extra pick would add to the draft plan for this year like it did last year.

My favorites in a Yankee trade are Torres ,Rutherford ,Kaprielian and Chance Adams. I thought that Rutherford was the best HS hitting prospect in last year's draft(sorry Mickey Moniak). Kaprielian was dominating high A in his first professional season before his tendon strain. I believe he would have been rater much higher in their system if he was not injured. Chance Adams is also underrated on their prospect lists IMO: Here's what Baseball America said about the 22-year-old: Move over, Tyler Glasnow. Adams allowed just 5.4 hits per nine innings this season and led the minors with a .169 opponent average. That mark ranks as the second lowest by a qualified minor league starter since 1993, which is as far back as we can trace such records. (The top mark belongs to former White Sox prospect Fautino de los Santos, a righty who allowed a .163 average in 2007.) Adams, a 2015 fifth-round pick from Dallas Baptist, throws an excellent fastball up to 97 mph that helped him set up solid secondary stuff and go 13-1, 2.33 at two levels this season. He struck out 144 in 127 innings and ranked among the overall minor league leaders in ERA and WHIP (0.90).

I tend to think that the Dodgers may be a better match than Boston for Sale. that said I don't think a trade happens until the off season. Dodgers Joc Pederson Julio Urias Jose De Leon Alex Verdugo Austin Barnes I doubt that the Dodgers trade Pederson now since he just got back from the DL and they need him for the pennant push . Boston Yoan Moncada Andrew Benintendi Michael Kopech Mauricio Dubon Luis Alexander Basabe Jason Groome We have to wait until the season ends to trade for this year's draft choices .I asked for 6 players because I did not include Rafael Devers and none of the players have Mlb experience.

What about trading Gonzalez to the Marlins for reliever Carter Capps. Since the Marlins appear to be" going for it" and can't really afford to trade any meaningful part of this years team to get talent- Capps would be an interesting alternative. I know that Capps had tommy john surgery in March of this year, but he was lights out as a reliever in the second half of last year.(1.16 era with 58k in 31IP) and is projected to be ready for the beginning of the 2017 season. Don't get me wrong if we could get Kolek ,I would be ecstatic but Capps would be an interesting option.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 19, 2016 -> 06:17 PM) White Sox almost never send money to get better prospects....they traditionally do the opposite. As long as Hahn's GM, they also won't turn around and just dump Shields, especially when the state of starting pitching is so thin in the upper levels of the system. We already have plenty of RH relief candidates for the future and Mariners need Diaz to compete for wild card this season...would trade us prospects instead or no deal with them. I know we almost never send money in trades but if we are trading a lot of higher priced talent, it would seem that we would have the resources to do so. As far as asking for Diaz, it never hurts to ask. He does have two loses since they called him up last month but he has 36 strikeouts in 18 innings.

I’m enjoying the debate. I’m for a rebuild. The trades for a rebuild take time and usually seem to take about a year and a half to be fully complete(so part now and the rest this winter thru next year). I also believe that we should take on salary where it make sense to make our trade players more valuable. I would leave the core players (Sale/Q/Rodon/Eaton/Abreu) alone until this baseball year(2016) is complete. I would trade Frazier to St Louis for pitcher Luke Weaver and the Cardinal’s supplemental pick in the 2017 draft. Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta are currently on the Dl so they need coverage at third. I would trade Shields and Robertson and 10 million dollars to the Rangers for infielder Justin Profar and pitcher Ariel Jurado. I know some might consider this a reach but the Rangers need starting pitching and relief help. I’m including the 10 million because Roberson is being paid as an elite reliever when he is a step below that(forgetting last night). Hopefully this makes the offer more appealing. I would trade Melky Cabrera and 7million dollars to Seattle for pitcher Edwin Diaz. Seattle is using Diaz in a set up relief role. We could move Nate Jones to the closer role and Diaz to Nate’s old set up role. I would do a three way trade with San Francisco sending Brett Lawrie , Austin Jackson and Jacob May to SF for pitcher Tyler Beede I would then trade Tyler Beede and Ariel Jurado to Colorado for outfielder Ramiel Tapia and catcher Tom Murphy. I love Tapia all he does is hit and god knows we need some immediate catching help. Except for Profar and Diaz. The new prospects are not the top rated at their positions in their respective farm systems-I guess what I’m trying to say they are more attainable than some of their counterparts. I always think that teams competing for a playoff spot can get a little carried away in trying to improve their teams and may overpay(at least I hope so).I still think these prospects are valuable players. After the season ends we could explore trades for some of the core players with the rest completed next year depending how some of these other moves play out. For example If I have to make other trades other than the ones listed above maybe my needs change. I think the Sox are somewhat different than most teams going for a rebuild because once the above mentioned players are “off the Books” the remaining players are not only very valuable players but very reasonably compensated making them even more valuable. Usually trades are for players in the final year of their contract or are players that come with a hefty long term contracts. Hopefully this increases our chances of success.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 04:43 PM) Am I the only one who got confused by the name Robinson? And 2DBill, yes mate, complete fantasy. My bad- I meant David Robertson. I still think there is some possibilities with trading Robertson Just today one of the sports headlines in the LA Times read: "The Dodgers need Help ,fast"

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 04:35 PM) dang, if i didn't know better, i would swear that you are hawk50 from the blackhawk site i visit. btw, some of these ideas i like. Nope I'm not hawk 50.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 04:21 PM) I don't understand the motive or the feasibility of trading for a couple of 20 year old prospects. Can you elaborate on the rationale for trading Engel and Johnson for Dominic Smith and Harold Ramirez? Dominic Smith has hit well at every level of the minors and was the MVP of his league last year. The sox have no 1st base prospects of note in their system so I was trying to fill a need. Ramirez is another prospect who could always hit. I'm trying to buy low on that ability.

Desperate times lead to desperate actions. Three teams from last year’s playoffs have or are projected to experience significant losses: Kansas City, the Cardinals and the Dodgers .the Royals and the Cardinals lost in the area where the sox also have a need-the outfield(I’m forgetting about Lackey as I think Heyward was a much bigger loss). The Dodgers lost big with Greinke . In the last few days the LA sports sites were talking about how they would have to settle for Cueto. Well that didn’t turn out too good for them either. Their fall back plan seemed to be to create a lights out relief back end with Chapman and Jansen and that fell thru .I think the Dodgers are getting desperate. I think we should see what the return would be for David Robinson. I would trade Robinson and Thompson to the Dodgers for Puig and Kiki Hernandez and one of their 1st round comp picks. I would sign Cespedes to a 5 year 1,112,000 (25/25/22/20/20) deal with an opt-out after year 2. I would sign Alexi Ramirez to a 1year 6.5million deal. I would trade Avi Garcia and Robinson Leyer to the Rockies for prospects 3rd base Ryan Mc Mahon and catcher Dom Nunez. I would trade Adam Engel to the New York Mets for 1st base prospect Dominic Smith. I would trade Mica Johnson to the Pirates for outfield prospect Harold Ramirez. I know people are going to say that the Puig trade is ridiculous- the Dodgers would never agree to it. But given the circumstances I’m not so sure. They seem to be petrified to trade any of their prospects. It seems Friedman thinks he is still in Tampa Bay. This would allow them to continue their plan of having a strong back end to their bullpen ( the only option they really have left). Robinson is also signed for three more years while Jansen is only signed for 2016. If Puig is as much of a problem as the rumors say it would solve that problem as well. There have been 3 trades so far this season which were considered significant overpays(Arizona for Miller,Boston for Smith and Huston for Giles) why can’t the dodgers be the fourth? I know I’m rubbing it in to ask for a comp pick but they may be desperate. On the sox side I think the influence of Abreu, Cespedes and Ramirez would do wonders for Puig. I am not signing Ramirez just for Puig. The more I thought about it the more I liked Ramirez in a part time role this year. The bullpen would be weaker but the daily lineup would be much improved and the starting pitching would be unaffected. In addition the sox would have 4 picks among the first 50 in next year’s draft. And by trading Robinson you free up the money for Cespedes as the efforts to unload Laroche seem to be going nowhere. Fantasy?

I’m a new member on the site who is a lifelong white sox fan. I don’t claim any special expertize. I recently retired and enjoy reading the different topics posted on the site. I’d like to take a crack at a plan for next year. I would like to start out by saying that I fall into the camp of not seeing how we can compete for any post season spot next year. I do however see the next 12 months,however, as crucial to the White sox competing once again. To begin: Extend a QO to Jeff Samardzija Do not pick option on Alexi Ramierz Resign Matt Albers Resign Geovany Soto Free Agency: Sign Scott Kazmir to a three year deal (I know this seems stupid to spend free agent money on the team’s strength when there are other needs on the team, but it’s part of a larger short range plan.) Trades Trade Jose Quintana to the Arizona Debacks for SS prospect Dansby Swanson, relief pitcher Silvino Bracho, SS prospect Isan Diaz and their first round pick in the supplemental 2015 draft. Trade Avi Garcia and Jacob May to the Mets for pitcher Zack Wheeler and 1st base Prospect Dominic Smith. Trade David Robertson to the Boston Red Sox for prospect OF Andrew Benintendi and Pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza. Trade Micah Johnson and Adam Laroche(and 10 million dollars) to the Pittsburg Pirates for catching prospect Reese Mcguire. I think all these trades ae doable because: in Arizona’s case even though it’s a big step to trade the first pick in the draft from reading their site information they feel they are close to contending but their primary weakness to competing for a playoff spot is their starting pitching. In the Met’s case they want they want reasonably priced hitting talent (who doesn’t). They almost traded Wheeler for Carlos Gomez of Milwaukee. One of the rumors for the trade failing though was that Milwaukee would not pick up any of Gomez’s salary. It’s also interesting to note that Avi Garcia’s current hitting statistics are almost identical to that of Carlos Gomez. In Boston’s case their site is saying that they need both a quality starter and a closer. They even mention Roberson a one of their possible targets in the off season. In Pittsburg’s case they have seem to be in need of pitching and infield help. They have young starting catcher and are not in need of a replacement at this time. Laroche used to play for them and I would hope they would want someone to mentor their 1st base prospect Josh Bell(you can’t get much cheaper than 3mil). I’m trying to take advantage of the new rules for the drafting of this year’s draft picks after the end of the current season. I think that clubs are more hesitant to trade players who are ready to contribute right away and there is usually at least a six month delay in even the best of prospects joining their parent clubs. International draft According to Baseball America’s Ben Brader there was a “huge game changer” last week. MLB has started granting unexpected exemptions for Cuban players who will be eligible to sign this year. These are players who had been thought not to eligible until next year’s International Draft(e.g.Jorge Ona, Cionel Perez, Ronald Bolanos) this is in addition to this year’s eligible player Eddy Julio Martinez. The Sox need to be all over this new development. They can no longer take the view that either it’s not right or it’s too expensive to go your allotted budget. This is a rare opportunity to obtain some quality talent. One extra thing signing I did not mention this earlier but I am ok with the Sox signing someone for one year to play third(Juan Uribe ?). In the bullpen I would have the same cast of characters plus Frankie Montas and Silvino Bracho from the Dback trade. The starting position players would be Jose Abreu 1st , Carlos Sanchez 2nd,Tyler Saladino SS, Juan Uribe 3rd,Tyler Flowers catcher. Melky Cabera LF, Adam Eaton CF and Trace Thompson RF. The starting pitchers would be Carlos Rodon, Chris Sale, John Danks, Scott Kazmir and Erik Johnson. Mid year changes: I could be wrong but I suspect next year’s team will be at the same level of competiveness or even a little worse than this year’s team. If this is indeed the case then I would look to trade Scott Kazmir at the trade deadline. Even though we did not take advantage of the situation this year Samardzija , I would not make the same mistake .I would hope that Kazmir would be an attractive trade piece as he would not be a partial year rental but would be signed for over 2years..By that point I would hope that Zach Wheeler is available to begin pitching for the Sox. I would expect the same or a slightly worse result than what we had this year. At least we would have a better idea of what we have or don’t have with our current young players. The end result: The big payoff would be in 2017. Most of the prospect players that we traded for are projected to join their teams in 2017 . The only exceptions are Isan Diaz(voted the MVP of Pioneer league ) and Anderson Espinoza who are quality prospects although their achievements thus far are at the lower leagues. We would have money available for free agents from the salaries of John Danks ,Scott Kazmir, Juan Uribe and the bulk of Adam Laroche’s salary. Our farm system should be full of prospects from our current group plus the two additions from above who are not ready for 2017 and whomever we draft in 2016 with our 3 first round draft picks and hopefully from our international Cuban signings from this year.