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This talk of AJP being a prick amuses me. Do you know how many assholes are in professional baseball?? Who gives a f*** if he nixed the girlfriends? I'll take 20 AJ's on my team any day and maybe my team would win something. Sox missed him GREATLY IMO last year!

For what he is doing for Hawk. I'm speechless. AJP is total class.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 4, 2013 -> 06:13 PM) Seems like good timing to give Semien an opportunity to play 150 games. See what he's got. Let's see what the Sox do in the next week. Beckham or Alexei could be gone--although I'm not sure who wants them. Royals still need a second baseman. How bout robbing some of their young pitching for Becks?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 06:47 AM) For a 1B that is pretty sad, esp when you start to bring up his .355 slugging%....A a number he shared with Tyler Flowers. I'm done, I'll let others have the fun. (What's sad is I was one of the biggest supporters of this move, and now greg has totally wrecked it for me.) How can I wreck it for you?? People ask me to back my arguments up with stats, I do so, and it's still never good enough.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 07:00 AM) If for some reason Greg turns out to be correct and Paulie comes into ST as the starting first baseman, I'm finding a new team. He won't, but I imagine if Robin tried it he would be fired immediately. With all due respect, how can you still have the Sox as your team with Dunn on the roster?? When I see Paulie go to the plate, still, I get PUMPED! When I see Dunn I want to puke. I was sad when Paulie didn't play in that game I saw in Kauffman this year the Sox won in 13.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 04:57 AM) What white lies did he say at the that presser? Lol he hit .226/.290/.310 against RHP last year...Adam Dunn? .226/.327/.459.....If Dunn is so god awful, how isn't what PK did last year an embarrassment in your opinion? Paulie hit .313 vs. lefties with a .398 OPB. His stats for the year were .244 12 54 with OBP of .313. In what universe is all that embarrassing?? It's actually a pretty mediocre season if you go by major league baseball as a whole. There are TONS of players with as bad or worse stats than that. I'm saying it's not out of the question he improves on those stats IF HEALTHY. I mean, if he hit .180 with 6 homers and 26 ribbies, that would be embarrassing. He did not hit like that; he was OK at best. He was not trash especially when you consider he still can catch the ball in the field. Yes he's slow as molasses. I've never denied that. He can't run. Dunn hit .197 6 22 vs. lefties. 48 Ks in 122 at bats. For the year he whiffed 189 times and hit .219 with OBP of .320.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 05:45 AM) Because the guy made it clear he doesn't even want to be a starter! I think he knows his body, and he knows it's not gonna hold up playing even 100 games. It showed down the stretch in 2012, and pretty much throughout the whole 2013 season. He is going the Giambino route and nothing more. He also held a long presser on the last day of the season or the last weekend saying a lot of things that were white lies. Folks, Paulie never was going to quit. It was pretty apparent he wanted one more year. Now if he's getting regular at bats and hitting .150 after 2 months, I'd suspect he'll hang 'em up or become a coach at that point. My point has been he has never embarrassed himself yet and may have fuel left in the tank.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 04:09 AM) Just give this act a rest man. You're worse than some of the callers on Boers & Berstein. White Sox ... I guess you are totally dismissing the possibility Paulie could have a bounceback farewell season. ... Yet many people on here are willing to give Dunn the benefit of the doubt again and again. I repeat, Paulie is not 44 years old. He still hit the ball last year. He just didn't hit it over the fence for some reason, maybe declining power? Possible. Maybe injury?? Likely. What if he's healthy? If he can see the ball and his wrists and back are healthy, I still think there's a chance of a super bounce back season. I don't get why everybody dismisses it. We're talking about a natural hitter, not some of the unproven hacks on our team who are much younger.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 04:18 AM) Good Lord. No wonder so many on Soxtalk hate you. You guys are starting to get personal again. Why the heck does my support of Paulie make me the bad guy here? I happen to think IF HEALTHY he is capable of a comeback and I am predicting a prominent role for the guy. No need to get all upset over some simple comments. Just think if I agreed with 90 percent of the board who hate the re-signing of Paulie ... the world is a BORING place if everybody agrees.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 04:35 AM) Absolutely. I like this signing. Is Webb a ceiling middle reliever? Now I know why u guys didn't like my haiku format of posting when I used to do that. It seems kind of weird to see my haiku format in print.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:15 PM) I'm sure you've been drinking or doing drugs or something. Konerko himself has said he is not a starter and that he is a part-time player. He said he didn't think he'd be able to stand the long, grueling season as a full-time player again. And yes, you are the only one thrilled, which speaks volumes. You don't think there's a chance a healthy Paulie has a great spring? And if he does he wouldn't be starting? it's not like the guy is 44 years old for gosh sakes. I do realize what he's said publicly. I'm just pointing out a scenario in which he's not finished and actually bounces back.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 6, 2013 -> 01:15 AM) Eh every fan base hates their middle of the road relievers because they're all frustrating. Sure I'd like to see Petricka and Webb get their shots but they're middle relievers, I'm not going to lose sleep over it if they have to spend a few months in the minors. I kind of agree with this. There are a lot of bad relievers out there. Hopefully this guy can find a comfort zone this season with the Sox. I long for the old days when starters could go 7 all the time, ideally get an out in the eighth. It seems to me the earlier we got to go to our pen (I'm talking you, Hector) the less our chances of winning. A reliever often gets lit up or has walk-itis. Maybe it's the same way for all teams. I'd like to see our record in games when we start the parade of relievers in the sixth, then the 7th. My guess is last year we lost almost every game in which that happened.

You guys aren't going to like this post. ... Robin Ventura is a former player. As such, Robin Ventura respects near Hall of Famers like Konerko (he won't make the Hall but a damn fine career). My take to you is it's Paulie's STARTING job to lose. Look ... we go to spring training. Paulie is going to be healthy. Paulie is going to hit .310 in spring training with 6-7 home runs. Paulie Konerko will be starting first baseman. You heard it here first. Please please give me credit when this happens. It's going to happen. p.s. Am I the only person on Soxtalk thrilled with his return?

He will have a very good year. You heard it here first. Thank goodness he's back. Gives me a reason to watch this pathetic team and maybe buy mlb.com again. Don't flame me, but can Dunn play left field? I'd rather see a platoon of Dunn/Viciedo out there. Let DeAza play center and Garcia right. Abreu DH. Can Abreu play LF?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 4, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) They may not be a 90 loss team, but I'd be surprised if they were a .500 team. I mean, are you really happy with 76-86? I disagree that Cano wouldn't sell tickets, but he doesn't do enough to make the Sox competitive. --- This is not the year to spend. It's not a free agent market that lines up well with the Sox weaknesses (other than Abreu), and they'll have more to spend next season. Dunn and Lindstrom are free agents who almost certainly won't be brought back, which frees up $19 mill. There are others - De Aza, Beckham, Flowers, Keppinger, Ramirez - who could be traded or non-tendered, which would free up money or commitments to spend money in the future. The team is not going to be very good this year, but there have been significant steps taken in the past 5 months to set the foundation for a team that can win for a long time. I feel Hahn has done a wonderful job thus far as GM and would give him an A. The Sox need some stars as the second team in the Second City. Even Bill Veeck who had no money, knew that. Hopefully Garcia or Tank can be those guys but I'm not hopeful because they have no plate discipline at all. Sale is a star; that's a good start. But we need an everyday star or two. The Sox gave it a shot with Dunn but he didn't work out. Major bust. Konerko was a star a long time, but nationally nobody knew who he was except teams in our division whom he murdered. Bring me some stars!!!

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 10:12 PM) LMAO at Greg citing Bill James and Sabermetrics for the Red Sox signing AJ. Is greg now a statnik? I know Bill James personally. He lives in Lawrence as you know. And to all the statniks ... Bill James wrote a long long long essay in one of his books about the fact there is no such thing as "protection" in a lineup. In other words, let's say Adam Dunn is batting third and Abreu fourth. The performance of Dunn has nothing to do with how Abreu hits. That is according to the stat guru, Bill James. He says lineup protection is a myth (unless he's changed his stance on this). I know you all will disagree with James on this so what do you think of him now? I am confident, however, that James can identify baseball talent and his Red Sox now have AJP. That means Bill is projecting another good to great year from AJP. Meanwhile, we let him go LAST YEAR when he still could have been our catcher. Not smart.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 10:55 PM) Translation: While the Sox need a catching upgrade, they weren't dumb enough to give up anything of value for Lobaton, so we will wait and hunt around for a different sucker. Great post. Hopefully what you wrote is fact.

Geez Ellsbury just flip flopping from Boston to New York? Baseball is crazy with these big-money teams dominating everybody else. It's a fricking joke. The NFL at least doesn't give a bleep if some smaller city wins. Baseball, it's all about the big markets. At least Chicago's White Sox could act more like a big market team and get in the mix with the other big boys!

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 09:45 PM) Lobaton is a place holder while the Sox are rebuilding. I'd rather re-load considering we're 1/3 of the way there after getting Abreu and Garcia and have a helluva pitching staff. Seems to me there were guys out there to re-load with. I'll stop now. I'll just conclude by saying it's been a disappointing day as a fan for me.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 09:33 PM) It's called rebuilding. Fathom, rebuilding with guys like Loboton?? Cmon.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:28 PM) OK, forget bWAR or whatever for the moment. The 2014 Sox are still, at best, a 74 win team. Even if you think AJP is worth 7 wins (which is insane, but whatever), that still makes the 2014 Sox a .500 team and you've spent $8.5M just to suck a little bit less and still not have a catcher for 2015 and beyond. You know what, I understand your argument when you tell me that even if I think AJ is worth 5-7 wins that still makes the Sox just a .500 team and we'd be better off looking down the road. I do understand that. My feeling is it all contributes to the puzzle. Add an AJP with a Garcia and an Abreu and maybe make another deal and get a decent 3B and another bullpen arm and we might have something now. We allegedly do have a very good pitching staff and are "wasting" it. Adding Lobaton is very very depressing over AJ in my opinion even if AJ was here just one more year. I mean add a few pieces here and there and we don't waste the pitching staff possibly. Adding Lobaton means our catching platoon looks like that of a cellar dwellar on paper. I want to upgrade positions and win. Chicago is too big a city to have teams in this rebuilding crap mode. Let's UPGRADE!

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:30 PM) There isn't much else for Phegley to prove in Charlotte. Flowers gets dealt. Lobaton and Phegley split time in Chicago. Trade Lobaton to the Royals to back up Sal Perez for a possible bullpen arm and we start Phegs. Lobaton will assure me not buying the MLB package this year. It's like we are trying to lose games rather than spend some money and make a splash and win. Chicago is a big market city. Time to win again.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:09 PM) Phegley and Flowers combined for a -.6 bWAR last year. Pierzynski had a 1.6 bWAR. But you're right, we should have kept him, paid him $7 million and lost 97 games instead of 99. That would have done us a lot of good. I'm sure the Red Sox are worried about AJP's bWAR paying him that kind of jack. They just know they want him cause he can play. Grobstien had another rant against sabermetrics on the Score last night BTW. I can go both ways. Except I will tell you I know AJP is a good catcher/player/contributer without looking at bWAR. And I know some of our other players are horses*** by sight alone as well, sabes be darned.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:39 PM) Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 3m Rick Hahn said both Flowers and Phegley have more than what they showed in '13 and could be conceivable long-term solutions but.. Hahn: "We have made no secret of the fact that we need to get more out of that position than we got in 2013, so we continue to evaluate.. ... both our internal and external options for improvement."q I like what I've seen out of Hahn, but in my mind, the ship has sailed on Flowers. I'd give Phegley one more year. I'd have preferred it as a backup. Now he's the starter I hope and Flowers is the backup.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:58 PM) What's laughable is the fact that you think the loss of AJ is the reason the Sox lost 99 games. You put the blame on guys like Flowers, but completely deflect all blame from Konerko who was more responsible for the Sox suckage than Flowers was. Honestly at this point you're just trolling right? I mean you have to be, nobody could possibly be that clueless. I'm not trolling, I'm very angry that a team with Bill James as an adviser (admitted the best sabes talent evaluator) recognizes the value of an AJP and people on this board who actually got a WS title in large part because of AJP think Salty is a better option. Geez. I get the feeling some think AJ is some old hack who can't play, when he WAS A MAJOR LOSS to our team last season.