Chisoxfn

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 05:04 PM) Marlins must have LOVED Gordon... They are idiots. Yeah, I really can't rationalize the trade at all. Especially when you factor in Haren and his 10M contract.

I guess Dodgers traded Dee Gordon and Dan Haren for one of Marlins top prospects (top 50 pitching prospect in baseball). Presuming he still counts as prospect despite making 7 or 8 big league starts a year ago.

So wait....Dodgers give up Dee Gordon for Jimmy Rollins or are they getting more than that?

Wow...that is surprising...Nebraska steals Oregon State's coach and Oregon State goes to Big 10 and steals Wisconsin's coach. Really surprising as Wisconsin is a much better job on paper. Does Anderson have west coast ties or something?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 02:39 PM) So it WAS beneficial for Nieto? He was able to learn about life at the big leagues, learn from big league players and coaches, and what it takes to stay in the majors. It wasn't beneficial for the team in that he didn't provide much value for us. Define beneficial. I think it would have been more beneficial for Nieto to get every day playing time, however, as an organization, we have a catcher that we wouldn't have had who looks like he could be a nice back-up and has league average potential, all for $25K + the league minimum salary we paid him. While it might not have helped us win games last year, he is an asset we have today that we wouldn't have had otherwise and that asset is more valuable than what we invested in him in year 1.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 02:08 PM) If you take a player in the MLB portion, you have to keep them in the majors or on DL the entire season, and there are strict limits to the DL length. Whomever you pick needs to be on the 25-man roster the full year, or you lose 25k and give them back. Not that 25k is a problem, but it is more an issue of degrading your roster if all you want to do is hide someone. In Nieto's case, the team had a very real need. And that pick was still a mistake IMO, he was obviously not ready, though he wasn't quite as bad as I thought he'd be. The worst part was he basically lost a year of development, while not providing anything on the roster that existing players in the system couldn't have done just as well. If they grab someone, it is because they think they have a legit shot to help the club, likely an arm. It wasn't beneficial for Nieto but It was beneficial for us. We have a guy now in our organization that we could give extended playing time down in AAA who can take a lot of what he learned from his playing time last year. Was he prepared for the majors, no, but was he able to learn a lot, I would certainly hope so. Last year this club was in a perfect position to make that sort of move and in retrospect I'm very glad they did. This time I find it less likely, unless they see a guy that they think they could pencil in to the back end of the pen and let grow. Worse case, Coop can't work some of his magic in spring training and you give him back to another team. You basically pay $25K to get a free flyer on a guy.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:54 PM) Yep not a lot of room in the alleys and pretty large foul ground by modern park standards. The cell is playing only slightly above avg for runs the last few years I believe . I still say some of the park effects get impacted by how good the home teams offense and pitching staff is. If you had a great offense and lousy pitching staff, you will likely see some skewed park effects (albeit I am sure they are normalizing the results of the above average offense / pitching staff vs. other parks but there could still be issues in that process). You also have other factors such as how well various teams are built for their home park, etc.

Graham / De Paula both sound like intriguing options for our bullpen.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) If you have a compete nt 2B, and have $240 million floating around, and a bunch of holes, you don't blow $240 million on a 2B. Gordon Beckham---garbage .244/.306/.374 Dustin Ackley---perfect fit .245/.309/.366 LMAO Ackley is a nice fit cause he can play multiple positions in the IF / OF and can leverage his match-ups. Beckham was more limited in the positions he could currently play. Ackley has also been showing some upside. I still don't know if the M's would make this deal.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) If he was a nice option, someone they would actually want playing 2B, they could spend that money elsewhere. They had to overpay to get him out of NY. Dick, I like most of your posts, but this is kind of crazy. The M's needed to make a major splash one way or another. Ackley can play multiple positions, they signed Cano cause he was by far the biggest impact bat available. Is Ackley on the same planet as Cano, absolutely not. Ackley, in my opinion, is a better fit for this club than DV. It is kind of that classic change of scenery for both guy strategy. Also a great clubhouse guy as well. Ackley is not an all star though and I don't think anyone is claiming he is.

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 10:24 AM) Josh Johnson, Brett Anderson. i hope i got the names spelled right. Both of those would be pretty bad ideas. Can't stay healthy and / or don't look like near the players they once were. Both would be downgrades over our current 4 / 5, imo.

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 10:14 AM) Very good point. We're very slim on starting pitchers. If someone should get hurt we'll be in big trouble. 1 more starter would be nice and maybe move Noesi to the pen. Who would be the question and at what cost? I'm thinking a 1 yr. contract would be enough to get us through till the young guys get more time in the minors. I kinda liked Masterson because he'd be more willing to sign for 1 yr. but there may be others. I still feel our biggest need right now is a corner outfielder and with little money left..??? Two of our top prospects are starting pitching prospects (arguably 3 of our top 5 or 6 guys if you look at Rodon / Montas / Danish). I think if we add another starter it will be because we are moving Danks and will use Noesi as a bridge until some of the other guys are more ready. I would be stunned if we went anything past 1-2 years on a pitcher given what we have in our stable.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:45 AM) That's true. Sox just seem to have a thing with Castro. I just don't see how we can justify spending significant resources on catcher when we have far greater holes, specifically our outfield defense (and an outfield spot in general) and our defense at 3B. I'd put catcher behind quite a few spots in my priority least (including an improvement in the rotation and another reliever).

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:43 AM) Without looking it up, tell me which 2014 line was John Danks, and which was Hector Noesi: 4.75 ERA (4.83 FIP), 6.42 K/9, 2.92 BB/9, 1.46 HR/9, 38% GB (0.6 fWAR) 4.74 ERA (4.76 FIP), 5.99 K/9, 3.44 BB/9, 1.16 HR/9, 42% GB (0.8 fWAR) Actually, don't bother. I already forget which one is which because they're basically the same. If John Danks is unacceptable, Hector Noesi is also unacceptable. Rodon's ETA is not guaranteed, nor is his instant dominance when he does arrive. The best remaining options behind these two are Andre Rienzo and Eric Surkamp. Chris Beck? This team needs another arm. No...one more acceptable than the other given his price and the fact pattern that you are talking about a potential 5th starter. Or at least more acceptable. I think far more pressing concerns are our team defense. The problem in these circumstances is these are guys we have penciled in at 4 and 5. Noesi also did show some signs of progress vs. Danks.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:30 AM) If the Sox don't want him on the roster, they could waive him during Spring Training and be on the hook for 20% of his salary. So they really aren't even risking $1 million. And there is always a chance they wouldn't mind keeping him. Steverson was quoted a month or so ago raving about how hard he works, and how much he wants to be good. He is still pretty young. My issue with keeping him is I think our defense is absolutely pathetic and we can't consciously build our team around pitching and not focus on defense. I see no way that Viciedo turns into a positive defender, which means he has to really really really hit to provide significant value. I actually think he could do that, but feel he's just a really bad fit on our current roster.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:30 AM) If the Sox don't want him on the roster, they could waive him during Spring Training and be on the hook for 20% of his salary. So they really aren't even risking $1 million. I didn't realize his money wasn't guaranteed prior to the start of the season. Much more acceptable risk when you phrase it that way.

Longoria would be an insane fit, but I can't imagine it happening. Maybe if we had Rodon as bait but can't trade him for a while anyway.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:26 AM) They obviously feel like they can get something for him. I hope they surprise me. Clearly that would appear to be the case but I personally am not expecting much of a return for him, if at all. I think this could be one of those scenarios where we misjudged the market, although I hope I am wrong and they (KW / Hahn) clearly know the market better than I do.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 08:27 AM) If they are able to trade him for something else, that pretty clearly shows why they didn't non-tender him. Yeah...we'll see what they get. If they get something of extremely minimal value, then i'd say it wasn't worth the risk of being stuck paying him 4+M.

I still don't get why we didn't non-tender Dayan.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 07:26 AM) I'd assume there'd be a Danks domino to fall if something like this happened but who knows, the Sox still might have a bit more cash to play with than they're letting on. I'd think if we signed Volquez, we'd see Danks moved for a Dodger outfielder (or another outfielder of sorts). I'd be absolutely okay with that.

Really...so pathetic: 16: That’s how many times in the past 20 seasons, including this one, that the Bears have missed the playoffs, a sobering reality that leaves them in rare company in the NFC. Since 1995, the only teams to have fewer than five playoff appearances are the Lions (four), Bills (four), Redskins (four), Cardinals (three), Raiders (three), Texans (two) and Browns (one). The Lions and Bills are still alive to reach the postseason this season. The Browns entered the league as an expansion team in 1998. The Texans did so in 2002.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 03:02 PM) Someone with a better baseball mind tell me if we should expect Samardzija's current trend to continue and for him to be one of baseball's best #2 starters the next couple seasons. His command has improved with more time as a starter and he has plus stuff and a good makeup. I think the best of the Shark is still to come.

Gordon is a good player but the price would be extremely steep and I can't see any way for Sox to justify that sort of price for Dee when you have a player like Micah who could turn into that type of player. I just don't see it and think the resources can be better allocated elsewhere. I am actually pretty surprised Dodgers would consider moving him. They obviously have a top prospect who plays 2B in Guerrero, but with Gordon pretty cost controlled, didn't think it would make sense to deal Gordon (guy whose ear was bitten off by Miguel Olivo).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 11:24 AM) Sigh. We have to manage his innings, can easily do that by starting him out in the pen and slowly stretching him out and getting him into the rotation later in the season.