Your Realistic 2014 Lineup

[Eminor3rd]

CF L A. De Aza

2B R G. Beckham

DH L A. Dunn

1B R J. Abreu [WISHFUL THINKING]

LF R D. Viciedo

RF R A. Garcia

3B L C. Gillaspie

CA R J. Phegley

SS S L. Garcia

 

BN R T. Flowerrs

BN L B. Tekotte

BN L J. Danks

BN S C. Sanchez

BN R B. Morel

 

SP L C. Sale

SP L J. Quintana

SP L J. Danks

SP R A. Rienzo

SP R E. Johnson

 

RP R A. Reed

RP R N. Jones

RP R M. Lindstrom

RP L D. Veal

RP L L. Septimo

EDIT: RP R J. Petricka

 

TRADED:

SS R A. Ramirez (for prospects or M. Adams from STL if possible and as an alternative to Abreu)

SP L H. Santiago (for prospects of the hitting variety, close to ML ready if possible)

 

PROSPECTS TO FACTOR:

RP R D. Webb (M. Lindstrom to be traded eventually, or someone else to be ineffective)

IF S M. Semien (Second stab at C. Sanchez's job if the former excels or the latter struggles)

1B R A. Wilkins (If Abreu/Adams can't happen or if Dunn is eventually traded)

OF R T. Thompson (If De Aza is eventually traded or in a bench role to replace Danks/Tekotte)

Edited August 26, 2013 by Eminor3rd

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

No Petricka ? ^

[Eminor3rd]

No Petricka ? ^

 

Good call, I'd prefer him over Axelrod in the long role, with a shot at taking Lindstrom's job.

[balfanman]

I can be tolerant of Dunn in the lineup, excited actually, but please "NO MORE DUNN HITTING 3rd!

[cabiness42]

vs RHP

 

De Aza 7

Beckham 4

Dunn DH

Viciedo 3

Garcia 9

Gillaspie 5

Ramirez 6

Danks 8

Phegley 2

 

vs LHP

 

Beckham 4

De Aza 8

Viciedo 7

Dunn DH

Garcia 9

Ramirez 6

Gillaspie 5

Phegley 2

Keppinger 3

 

Bench: Danks/Keppinger, Flowers, L Garcia, Morel

 

SP: Sale, Santiago, Quintana, Danks, Rienzo/Johnson

RP: Reed, Jones, Veal, Lindstrom, Leesman, Purcey, Axelrod

[nickofypres]

No love for Semien?

 

He's been playing some third in the minors, wonder if they've already written off Gillespie (which seems early), or if they're going to try to move Ramirez?

 

 

[Chicago White Sox]

vs RHP

 

De Aza 7

Beckham 4

Dunn DH

Viciedo 3

Garcia 9

Gillaspie 5

Ramirez 6

Danks 8

Phegley 2

 

vs LHP

 

Beckham 4

De Aza 8

Viciedo 7

Dunn DH

Garcia 9

Ramirez 6

Gillaspie 5

Phegley 2

Keppinger 3

 

Bench: Danks/Keppinger, Flowers, L Garcia, Morel

 

SP: Sale, Santiago, Quintana, Danks, Rienzo/Johnson

RP: Reed, Jones, Veal, Lindstrom, Leesman, Purcey, Axelrod

So you're not even trying to compete next year?

 

[cabiness42]

So you're not even trying to compete next year?

 

The thread title is "Realistic Lineup", and realistically, this is going to be the lineup.

[Chicago White Sox]

The thread title is "Realistic Lineup", and realistically, this is going to be the lineup.

Well no, realistically Hahn will actually try to improve the lineup by going outside the organization. I think the odds of us going with only in-house guys is slim to none, especially with the financial flexibility we have.

[Leonard Zelig]

The thread title is "Realistic Lineup", and realistically, this is going to be the lineup.

I believe that lineup would mean the Sox add nobody in the offseason and the only personnel change would be to not resign Konerko. I don't know if that is realistic.

[2nd_city_saint787]

I can be tolerant of Dunn in the lineup, excited actually, but please "NO MORE DUNN HITTING 3rd!

 

Why not? If he's the player he's been the last 3 months(though he's struggled a bit lately) he's perfect for the 3 hole. He's had an obp of .390 for the last 3 months which would put him .001 away from David Wright and a spot in the top 10 in that category.

[Eminor3rd]

I can't imagine going into next year and only adding one play to the MLB roster. That bench is atrocious. Morel and Flowers are AAAA players, Tekotte sucks and having Danks and him on the same team makes no sense.

 

I think the bench for next year is...

 

1.) Catcher - Flowers or Free Agent

2.) Leury Garcia

3.) Jordan Danks

4.) Keppinger/FA/ST standout

5.) FA/ST standout

 

The problem is that you need to give guys at bats. Dump Flowers/Morel? Sure, I mean that's fine. But this isn't a good team for picking up a bunch of cast-off/trade deadline gambles like the Cubs have been doing, because a lot of our "core" young guys are ready to transition to the ML.

 

Also, I totally forgot Keppinger in my roster. So Morel is out anyway.

[Eminor3rd]

I can be tolerant of Dunn in the lineup, excited actually, but please "NO MORE DUNN HITTING 3rd!

 

All sabermetric arguments aside -- which tend to show that the prototypical three hitter would fare better in the 2 spot and that sluggers that hit homers and avoid grounding into double plays and are the team's 4th or 5th best hitter would be better in the 3rd slot -- Dunn has been the team's best overall hitter for three months now. Assuming Konerko is done, would would you rather put there? Also notice my scenario has Alexei traded.

[Chicago White Sox]

Not realistic but what I'd like to see happen:

 

1. De Aza, LF

2. Beckham, 2B

3. Dunn, DH

4. Abreu, 1B (free agent)

5. McCann, C (free agent)

6. Garcia, CF

7. Viciedo, RF

8. Gillaspie/Kep, 3B

9. Ramirez, SS

 

IF. Garcia

IF. Kep/Gillaspie

OF. Danks

C. Phegley

 

#1 Sale

#2 Quintana

#3 Santiago

#4 Danks

#5 Rienzo

#6 Johnson (at AAA to start 2014)

 

CL Reed

SU Jones

SU Webb

MR Logan (free agent)

MR Petricka

MR Leesmam/Veal

LR Castro

 

[Eminor3rd]

I go back and forth on the idea of McCann. On one hand, he's 29 already and injury prone, but on the other, he's 20 times better than any C in our system, there's no one around to clog up 1B/DH after next year, I think the team can be competitive in 2-3 seasons while he will still be able to hit, and there's a chance his contract stays reasonable if teams see him as risky at C for more than a year or two.

[Y2Jimmy0]

I go back and forth on the idea of McCann. On one hand, he's 29 already and injury prone, but on the other, he's 20 times better than any C in our system, there's no one around to clog up 1B/DH after next year, I think the team can be competitive in 2-3 seasons while he will still be able to hit, and there's a chance his contract stays reasonable if teams see him as risky at C for more than a year or two.

 

 

I totally agree. What is McCann looking at? More or less than the contract that Dunn signed 3 years ago?

[Eminor3rd]

I totally agree. What is McCann looking at? More or less than the contract that Dunn signed 3 years ago?

 

Before this past season, I'd say to always assume it'll end up much more than we think, but then Bourn and Swisher both ended up signing surprisingly small contracts.

 

That said, I can see some teams going high AAV for a shorter term commitment, so 3/45 seems minimum for a FA class as weak as this. Plus all of the mystical "TV Money™" from the MLB is supposedly kicking in next season.

 

I guess I'd probably be down for McCann if (a) his price is on the low end of what we'd expect, and (b) if we don't land Abreu. If what I've heard from BA/BP podcasts is true regarding Abreu's defense, I think we'd be committing a lot of money to a DH logjam (especially if you think Viciedo sticks around) in a few years if we got both, and that's realistically when positional and financial flexibility should be the most value to us.

[glangon]

Reallistically,

 

We will line up as follows

 

CF De Aza

2B Beckham

SS Ramirez

1B Dunn

RF A Garcia

DH Konerko

LF Viciedo

3B Gillaspie

C Phegley

 

 

Bench

OF Danks

IF Semien

IF L Garcia

C Flowers

 

Rotation

Sale

Danks

Quintana

Santiago

Rienzo

 

Bullpen

Lindstrom

Axelrod

Purcey

Petricka

Veal

Jones

Reed

 

Keppinger will be dumped, Konerko will be extended for one final swansong season. Floyd will be dumped.

 

Johnson will spend another year in Triple A and be called up at the 1st injury to the rotation.

 

Jacob and Wilkins will continue to flourish in Triple A and will get called up at points during the season.

 

Hahn may bring in a free agent player, it will be either someone in the Rule 5 draft or a prospect that another team will give up on.

 

The spare money will be spent the year after once we get Dunn's contract off the books.

[Chicago White Sox]

The spare money will be spent the year after once we get Dunn's contract off the books.

On what? I keep seeing people say we'll spend money after next season, but the 2015 free agent group is hot garbage. There will be players available this offseason that can help us and if we're serious about fixing this offense we need to start now.

 

Free agency isn't what it used to be as teams are being much more proactive in locking up their young players. Financial flexibility is nice, but when there is no one to spend it on it's only worth so much. If we don't spend money this offseason we may seriously regret it, because we may be waiting until the 2016 offseason or later for enough good players to be available. With this pitching staff, that doesn't make sense.

[glangon]

On what? I keep seeing people say we'll spend money after next season, but the 2015 free agent group is hot garbage. There will be players available this offseason that can help us and if we're serious about fixing this offense we need to start now.

 

Free agency isn't what it used to be as teams are being much more proactive in locking up their young players. Financial flexibility is nice, but when there is no one to spend it on it's only worth so much. If we don't spend money this offseason we may seriously regret it, because we may be waiting until the 2016 offseason or later for enough good players to be available. With this pitching staff, that doesn't make sense.

 

To be honest, the Free agent pool this year is hot garbage as well. Ok, there are a couple of decent players, but we'd be throwing away money and completing with other clubs for these free agents.

 

I would rather see us spending the money and developing our own talent and using the Free Agent market to either pick up other teams discarded prospects (to fix them) or to plug an obvious hole.

 

The Tampa Bay Model or the Oakland Model are two good models to base your organisation around.

[fathom]

Just when you think Beckham has turned it around, he goes and puts up an awful 2nd half of the season. Now batting under .220 for the 2nd half.

[ChiSox59]

SS Alexei Ramirez

2B Gordon Beckham

3B Jeff Keppinger / Connor Gillaspie

DH Adam Dunn

1B Dayan Viciedo

RF Avisail Garcia

CF Trade / FA Signing

LF Alejando De Aza

C Josh Phegley

 

BN Jordon Danks

BN Connor Gillaspie / Jeff Keppinger

BN Miguel Gonzales / Tyler Flower

BN Luery Garcia

 

SP Chris Sale

SP Josh Johnson

SP Hector Santiago

SP John Danks

SP Erik Johnson

 

C Addison Reed

SU Nate Jones

SU Matt Lindstrom

RHP Jake Petricka

RHP Daniel Webb

LHP Donnie Veal

LHP Charlie Leesman

 

 

My guess for the opening day 25 man above. There will probably be a bit more movement, but my guess is Quintana traded this offseason for 3B prospect close to the majors (hopefully takes over for the Keppinger / Gillaspie platoon early on). Nice looking young bullpen, and great looking young rotation. I like Josh Johnson as guy for the SOX buy low on. One or two year deal at $16-$20 M. Obviously could get burned by it, but I think it is a solid gamble, especially w/ all the money off the books at that point. Offense will still struggle, but would really love to see the SOX go out and get a real CF. Obviously Ellsbury would be more than ideal, as would Choo - but I expect Hahn to get a solid offensive contributor out there. I think the SOX would move De Aza if they had any solid offers, which would keep Tank in LF (which is fine with me, for now anyway). Sox would then be in the market for a 1B. I would love Morales.

[fathom]

After hearing Hahn state on Hit and Run that the Sox have to get better with their fundamentals and defense, it's hard to imagine De Aza being brought back next year. Just like with Stone bashing Rios for a few weeks prior to him getting dealt, it seems like Hawk and Stone are openly bashing De Aza at every chance they get.

[flavum]

I couldn't guess who they'll move this offseason, but I'm going to say Semien will lead off Opening Day, 2014.

[fathom]

I couldn't guess who they'll move this offseason, but I'm going to say Semien will lead off Opening Day, 2014.

 

If he's going to be playing 3B with Alexei and Beckham at SS/2B, they sure as hell better bring in power at some other positions.