Chisoxfn

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) Which in this case will be awesome. Part of the reason I want him. I get player opt-out is hugely in the players favor, but here you get the best of his years likely won't have to worry about what will be an awful back end of the contract. I was having a discussion with Kalapse and he convinced me that the player opt-out, especially for younger guys, is actually a good thing, since you get the prime years without as much of the longer-term risk. Plus the opt-out gives them that additional "hunger" towards the opportunity to strike another massive deal.

To all the posters here, I just wanted to take a little time out of my day to thank all of you for making Soxtalk what it is. I know the past few seasons have been frustrating as fans of this franchise, but you look at the discussion and passion that every member of this site brings to the table, it reminds me of how special this place is and how special it will be when the Sox get back to the promised land again (hey...why not this year!!!). Anyway, for the 10 year+ members, thank you for being so loyal (and for those who haven't been by lately, come on by and say hello) and thank you to the 1 day old members as well as because without new members and new insights, this place wouldn't be the consistently awesome place that it has been for 13+ years (and really even predating those days...back when Soxtalk was just a forum on SoxNet). When I look back over those 13+ years, I think to where the site started and how exciting it was when the site got 100 visitors in a day, and than looking back over the past few days, realizing that the past 4 days site traffic was an new all time high for any 4 day stretch (and also had a couple of the individual days that were top 5-10 in site history). To think when this site started, it was a shell compared to a massive other White Sox site. New sites popped up, but to correct a quote from field of dreams...their have been two constants in life, one Ray is baseball, the other is Soxtalk, the biggest damn independently run White Sox site on the planet, and that power wouldn't exist if not for all of you. So thanks again for all the great posts and interaction (and all the fantastic dialogue we have had over the years and most recently) and I look forward to many more years of the same!!! PS: I also want to thank the mod and admin team here. As many people know, their have been many sites that have sputtered due to overzealous and powerhungry leadership and I think this crew is the best (with the exception of me and my overpowering ways around catch-alls).

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 09:09 AM) 3 years from now, Heyward will be 29 years old.. and probably having the best season of his career He is probably a good bet to be 5-6 WAR for the first 6 years of the deal. And he'll likely have an opt out for 3-4 years down the road, where he'll capitalize on one last contract.

I'm not going to lie, I don't like that deal for the Sox. I don't want to trade Eaton for Frazier. Eaton is more valuable when you factor his contract. Bruce, with his contract, and performance the past two years, is overpaid too, so again, don't see it. Not going to discuss Jumbo Diaz, other than he has an amazing name (that fits his size). He's still a 31 year old reliever who has two seasons in the bigs, the last one with some moderate success. Either way, I'm not making that deal. No way in hell. Odd since everyone else seems to think it is a steal for the Sox. How do we solve the Sox low OBP problems, by trading our best OBP guy for a 3B (who I happen to like) that does a lot of things well, but consistently getting on base isn't one of those things. In fact, after adding Lawrie, I think Frazier is just a poor fit on the southside. If we are going to fix our offense, I'd like to do it by bringing in more guys who are capable of getting on base consistently. It is why I'd prefer Heyward or Upton. I still like the idea of Alex Gordon if he truly is going to get a deal lower / shorter term than the others. I ultimately think when factoring money, etc, Upton is probably the most realistic get for the Sox.

The thread has been cleaned up. Lets stick on topic here. If you want to talk the other issue, those posts have been moved to a separate thread in the buster.

Great move by the Angels. I don't lose sleep over a reliever like Gott (unless the minor leaguer is super talented). Escobar would have been a good fit on the Sox (if they are going for it).

You know...I'm not going to lie...if you got the right offer, I wouldn't be opposed to selling "high" on Trayce. The key would be if you could package him as a key cog in a deal that got you another piece you really liked. I don't see how Trayce can be an everyday hitter and I love Trayce. I just don't see anything from his historical track-record which would indicate he'd be good enough offensively. That said, I fully agree that he's better than Avi. I love the idea of adding another outfielder, moving Avi, using Trayce / eaton and other outfielder plus Melky can DH / play a bit of outfield (and you have Shuck on the bench as well).

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) Angels traded for Yunel Escobar to play third. Anyone think Freese is a realistic option at third now? Escobar is coming off of a money season. All that said, I think if the Sox are going to add someone else, they should be adding someone that can get on base, play d, be a good all around hitter. I don't really see Freese as that guy. Of course if the contract was right, it wouldn't be awful and I'd be fully on board with Freese / Upton / Lawrie as an off-season.

Interesting. Never know when the offer could come back on the market. Fact Sox were willing to kick in $8M tells you they were serious. Probably takes a little more. Either way, we are talking net $5M in savings, which in my personal opinion, shouldn't be enough to alter the overall strategy.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 10:19 AM) Still think the Angels have a shot at him. If it's between Cubs and Cardinals, I truly believe he signs with the Cubs. Cubs beat writers seem optimistic and Cardinals writers don't. I would be stunned if the Angels committed that type of money (again).

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 08:45 AM) Hopefully he's not like the other tall, solid build lefty who missed bats but had control issues coming out of Clemson (whom we drafted) that you really liked. Good ol' past days of FutureSox. If you are talking Tyler Lumsden...I was never very happy with that pick. I consistently ripped the Sox for how they handled that year they had the multiple picks. Of course in comparison to the Wes whisler pick, the Lumsden pick looked great.

Would seem to miss a lot of bats, but he also misses the zone quite a bit. 4.94BB/9 in his minor league career vs. a 8.26 K/9. Career WHIP is pretty inflated at 1.41. Even his best season, which was in 2014, he had major control issues. Presume this is one of those, Sox like his arm and stuff and think he could profile as a good lefty reliever with some work from Coop.

QUOTE (Moe @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 08:32 AM) It's actually Will Lamb, former Rangers LHP Thanks (and welcome aboard). Updated thread accordingly. Lanky Lefty who was a former 2nd round pick out of Clemson.

Nevermind...damn you Matt...it is Will Lamb.

Reminds me of Brian Giles. Any relation?

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 06:23 PM) Mirotic just isn't a good ball handler. He really can't create at all when people don't bite on his pump fake (which no one should since he isn't a good shooter). He's f***ing terrible. Drives me nuts.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 04:14 PM) Tony Snell has a distinctive thud when he bricks threes. I know this because I hear it a lot I think he's shooting as good as Dougie (or was as of like a game ago). Something like 45%.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 02:13 PM) There are going to be some grumpy people on here if nothing gets done before the meetings end. You know...I just want to win the regular season. I don't need to be the off-season winner. For once, lets put out a good product on the field. If it isn't sexy but works, great. 05 offseason wasn't "sexy", but it certainly worked.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) I just want a roster shakeup. Not that interested in watching the 2015 Sox take the field in 2016. If a diehard like myself isn't intrigued, then no way the casual fan will be. I am like you. While I have some concerns of Lawrie, it also sounds like he's a pretty hard ass player who brings an edge, which I think we could use more of.

This is going to speed up in a hurry.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 01:37 PM) I just hope we don't get the yearly quote from KW about the huge game changer that was so close. Nah, Hawk will be sure to tell us all about it for half of the season though and how the season would have been totally different if Kenny was able to make the game changer I heard about.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 01:34 PM) This is how I see it. There isn't a need to bring in one of these guys. If you feel you can contend, you need the whole package. One of them is a waste of time. I honestly think the only reason the catcher moves happened is because the market moved quicker than they wanted. Well, the catcher moves were peanuts anyway. They were no-brainers to make the club better now and it isn't as if Flowers was some great long-term option anyway.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 01:27 PM) Right, but like someone mentioned about, with salary restraints, there could be a ton of moving parts. OR, wanting to sign an OF to replace Avi while a deal is already in place to move Garcia is in some sort of bigger package, but you can't sign that OF unless they unload LaRoach, ect. ect. Again, I just get that hunch they finally have a plan laid out on paper but haven't executed it yet. All of what you say very much makes sense. I will quietly sit, back, relax and hunker down and hope the Sox front office finds a way to make the actual season entertaining this year.

If only pebble could fix their s*** with apple. My free watch has become utterly worthless since I switched over tom android to IOS. I feel bad for anyone that buys the watch since Pebble markets it as being apple compatible when it flat out is not compatible. It is a total piece of s***. Worst f***ing product experience possible. And it was utterly amazing on Android (by the way).

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 01:15 PM) I've also gotten the vibe the Sox want to complete 2-3 deals in a row in the quick succession, which is obviously requires a lot of moving parts. You want to get it right, but at the same time, you wait long enough and teams move on. Maybe the plan is aggressively see if we can contend (i.e, can we pair together 2-3 moves quickly that make us contenders) and if that answer is no, we move to a plan B? Otherwise I don't get the sense for why you need to make them in coordination (unless of course the whole strategically is contingent on us truly being capable of making X moves and if we can't, then we truly have an alternative direction we'd take). That said, you can't wait too long if that really was what you'd do because the market of suitors would dry up.