SoxFan562004

I wonder if JR and the Sox saw this spending spree from Bos coming and knew he had to up his payroll. Obviously no team can ever be in the payroll league of NYY and Bos, but the extra money helped. They must be confident in bounce back years from Lackey and Beckett.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) He wasn't demanding 2+ years from us. He wanted $5-6 million on a 1-year deal from us. just a guess on my part, but that might mean he wanted to be the closer coming into ST so he can boost his value, possibly Sox not willing to do that. Also, since splits are being used to show how awesome D-Lee will be next year, JJ's 2nd half was nothing to write about, his whip just about doubled to 1.5 http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...ar=2010&t=p

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 03:28 PM) The extra $2.5 million this year probably just cost them JJ Putz. possibly, but the Sox training staff saw him day in day out, maybe they didn't want to go two years at all, a lot of variables when and where guys sign. He could have wanted to close and possibly the Sox said nope, it's Thornton's job to lose.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:57 PM) So there is no guarantee about DLee, but there is about PK? no, I think if you read in my other posts I tagged it with the notion that there is no guarantee with PK either. Again, I would have been OK with Lee if PK went elsewhere, but at this point we have to see if he can bounce back for a full year and see what he is demanding and ends up signing for.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 02:49 PM) Ahem, did you not see Balta's post? Lee put up a .888 OPS in the second half of last year. And ptatc has informed us that Konerko's injury will last his lifetime, while DLee's is a simple fix and will be ready to go very soon, well before the season starting. I saw them, yes, it's still no guarantee he bounces back fully. Could he? Absolutely, but nobody has a clue on what type of $$ or years he's asking for and what if he wants to wait and PK was willing to get the deal done today, then the Sox could be looking for Mark Kotsay the sequel in January.

Cliff Lee's agent left the winter meetings, sounds like nothing close on him, a lot of things to weigh for them. Latest update I heard on ESPN with Pedro Gomez is NYY are at 6 and Tex are firm at 5 years and there's a question whether the 7 year mystery team or teams exist... That will be a tough call for the Rangers, they got new owners, a new 80m TV deal and want to change the culture down there, it will be extremely interesting if Lee's camp calls and tell them a 6th year will get it done.

Lee had a torn thumb ligament and has a wonky back... I'm not saying PK is the model of health, but he bounced back last year and D-Lee still has to prove he can bounce back this year. I know last year guarantees nothing in this contract, but it's how a free market works and PK came off a hot season... there was interest from the D'Backs with an initial offer of 3/30 and Rangers had discussed parameters with Baltimore lurking and it's not out of the realm of possibility that a team like Oakland who has had trouble giving money away this offseason could have gotten involved. I don't read this as a situation where the Sox were bidding against themselves. Lee and Pena have some serious question marks after last season, while I think they were legitimate options we have no idea how negotiations with every team go, it's completely unfair to look at how much a guy signs for with a particular team and assume that every team in the majors would get the exact same deal.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:39 AM) God I hope we can trade Floyd and Viciedo for some relievers so Sale won't be wasted in the bullpen. if Sale is in the pen this year, it doesn't mean that's where he'll spend the rest of his career, and as the pen stands now it might be the best place for him for this team

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:38 AM) YOu just helped his argument then you know. Having another contract that expires along with others next year gives you flexibility to re-up with players or to blow it up. And with everyone leaving, these extra draft picks wouldve been nice to help rebuild the system. Plus, as you mention, Dayan would be ready to fill in after a year. DLee was just a flatout better option. I wouldn't have minded the D-Lee option, but it's not like he comes with low risk... he's coming off a terrible season, off-season wrist surgery and nobody has any idea what his money demands are

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:37 AM) Yep. And I would have said go play in Baltimore. He expressed no interest in Baltimore and even his agent told them that. It was never a realistic option. it's always an option when contract is actually offered, it's one thing not to show a preference, but if one team is low balling you in your opinion and the other is offering market value or over, it can easily become a realistic option...

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:33 AM) Everyone is drinking the coolaid. Where else was he going to go, folks? Rangers, Os and I imagine there would have been one or two non-obvious teams interested in him

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:21 AM) LaRoche to Washington: https://twitter.com/ed_price/status/12553248955174912 will be interested to see the money... this and the Pena signing are why KW wanted to speed up the PK thing I imagine, logical Plan B and so forth are coming off the board

Rays will wait to see where Lee lands to pull the trigger on this. Garza is no Lee, but he would be a solid addition to any rotation

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:17 AM) To be fair, Kenny did say payroll is 'almost tapped-out'. I'm sure they're near the ceiling, but also he's not going to go out and advertise to agents of RPs or teams he may want to deal with that they have some money left

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:13 AM) That means nothing. We are not the Cubs. We wouldn't have had to defer anything had we signed him. how do you know he was willing to come here for 1 at 10? Isn't Boras his agent? Negotiations and situations are different with every team, so just to say he would have came here for the same price and one year or the Sox wouldn't have had to defer anything is guessing.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:09 AM) JJ Putz and PK are not close to being in the same financial position, first of all. Secondly, we were offering JJ $3.2 million. The DBacks offered him a contract for $15 million. Little bit of a difference there. The Score is reporting Pena is getting deferred money from the Cubs, no exactly numbers, so he isn't a one year and no responsibility guy

D-Lee and his agent sit back and he gets a very good deal at this point.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:54 AM) The White Sox are NOT the Yankees. Not even close to a fair example. No the White Sox are not, but PK is a special player for this franchise and still a solid player. Outside of a season where he was injured, he didn't post an OPS+ (I know, not great stat, but quick) lower than 114 over that contract... if he goes 114 for the next 3 years I'll live with it. I like Pena and the other options out there, but I like PK because I think it's a fair deal and who knows if those guys were coming here and for what price. Cubs aren't an attractive destination for FAs at this point, they may have had to go over market for the one year for Pena, he may have been like at 2/16 or 2/18 from another team and Cubs were willing to give him 10m up-front. Also, BR has Boras as his agent, if that's still true, he realistically might not have been an option.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:52 AM) Derek Jeter is the captain of the Yankees too and he did it. EVERYONE does it. out of the thread, but that Jeter thing is going to get uglier, because I think the NYY are going to realize quickly they can't roll him at SS for the next 3 years.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:50 AM) I'm not going to ban you for calling my post dumb. You keep thinking he did us a favor though. It was this or strolling on the Inner Harbor for 3 years. He did us no favors. he would have ended up with a quality offer from a team from other than the Os IMO. Somebody is going to lose out on Crawford and Lee. Not saying PK is at that level of player, but those teams are going to have money and holes still... Rangers would have been legit option if they lose out on Lee

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:44 AM) The hot chick on MLB Network just said Cliffy's gonna get an offer from the Yankees, 6 years, 140-150 mil. still reports teams have 7 year offers out there, likely less per year with the 7th... it will come down to what team he wants to go to and if the 7 year teams are getting creative with deferred money

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:37 AM) Less pressure on Beckham and Quentin....my god if they are just average and Alexei decides to hit in April-May, this may be good. that is one of the things that excite me the most about this line-up since Beck and Q were flat out terrible at the beginning of the year in 2010, if they are OK and more consistent next year this line-up has the potential to be very exciting. I also like that Dunn gets on base and takes walks, just that alone should help drive-up pitch counts on SPs a little, without at least one high OPS guys in the line-up it's too easy for clubs to go SP to final two guys in the pen, hay is made with the 3/4/5 guys in the 6th inning out of the pen.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) This is where it starts though. Do you think teams mean to get themselves in trouble when they defer money? Then all the sudden you wake up and you're cutting checks to Luis Castillo in 2024. come on, the Sox defer one million dollars for 7 years for a special player to the franchise and now you're acting like it's going to be routine?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:10 AM) Just compare this to the Jeter contract, both players 'Club Legends'. except Jeter's was wildly over market value because the NYY are head an shoulders above anyone in revenue... what did jeter get, like 16m a year? If he went somewhere else, the most I could have seen him getting was like 10-12 and that would have been wildly overpaying... PK likely had greater or equal than 12.5 offers out there, maybe not the 3rd year, but Sox got creative with that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:24 AM) Because before you know it, you're paying out a bunch of money to players that are no longer on your baseball team. it's a million a year for 7 years if I'm reading correctly, that is not bad at all, and AJ and Dunn's deferred money will be when they're still playing. It's actually a very fair, very good contract