Chisoxfn

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 08:06 AM) Fangraphs has Trout as a below average fielder this year and a slightly above average baserunner. And I call that nonsense.

This time next year, Rondon and Rodon might be #1 / #2. I honestly wouldn't be surprised. I absolutely love Rondon's upside. The value of an elite defensive shortstop in this new era of less offensive baseball is just huge.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 08:00 AM) So wait...the Twins gave up on Morales and dumped him and are now turning around and adding? Weird. The move's more for 2015 and beyond anyway. Morales was lousy.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 08:00 PM) They are very close. Trout will win because of the teams they play for. Those are pure offensive numbers. Way to ignore the premium defense at a premium position. When you take in the value he adds in both places, he blows Abreu out of the water.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 07:54 AM) For $130-150 million? And they're going to give Cespedes a huge contract when he's getting close to 30 as well? From everything you read about Boston and how they're planning to operate in the future, both fly directly in the face of that...giving 4-6 year contracts for veterans on or close to the wrong side of 30. Didn't Epstein already go down that road too many times before for them to have learned the consequences with the likes of Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, JD Drew, Lackey, Dice-K, etc.??? If nothing else, the 7 free agents they added before 2013 taught them that 1-2 year deals (maybe with an option) are much better than 4-8. Well if that is the case, then they'll flip Cespedes after he puts up some monster inflated numbers.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 06:56 AM) Cespedes is a free agent after 2015. So they're trading two months of Lester (and post-season) for 8 months of Cespedes. The bigger question is what happens if Lester doesn't come back to Boston? They're already going to have issues with Lackey and his $500K contract, and they've also dealt Doubront and Peavy. Who is their rotation going to be? Rubby and Workman? Buchholz has had a terrible season. It's a huge gamble IF IF IF Boston can't turn around the talent on that roster again in the next 8 months. They will resign Cespedes long term this off-season and then bring back Lester.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 04:47 PM) Trout's numbers aren't much better then Abreu's and there are still 2 more months left Trout is also an incredible defensive outfielder.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 03:03 PM) I'm already tired of the DRose fluff pieces. I'm beyond excited for his return and I can't wait to see him in action but I just don't care how he looks in practice. I care immensely. If he's physically looking strong, the in game stuff will happen. Will there be rust, sure, but this process with team USA is great to help get some of that rust off and build his game shape, etc. The key is him being physically "back" and the next question and huge key is obviously his ability to maintain his health.

Brutal. Really unfortunate. He has all the makings of being an above average reliever. Tough loss.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 02:23 PM) See if you can get anything, even a team eating his salary. There's no harm right now. Plus you save on service time as well. DFA him anyway. You still have a few days to find a trading partner.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) Why? What value does Gordon Beckham have to anyone? I don't even like Dunn but that is complete nonsense. To go as far as saying at the same pay, Beckham is more valuable is completely laughable. Below average defensively and offensively. Dunn isn't going to get us a great chip but he's worth more then Beckham.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 09:38 AM) I never lived there, just visited when my Cubs fans friends insisted. I went through an entire era of my life doing the club/bar scene on the north side/downtown -- and it was a huge waste of money, and nothing good came of it. 1997-2003 or so... So advice I give the childrens these days is to save your money, that scene sucked then, and it sucks now. And my complaint was the same -- but there was so many of them it was impossible to avoid. I think one of the best financial pieces advice you could give someone is to take 15-20% out of whatever their first career paycheck is and then figure out what you can live on, etc. Put that money towards your retirement, etc, and never look back. Ideally you start to figure out new ways to continue to increase your saving percentages, but getting off to a fast start from a savings perspective is one of the most beneficial things you can do. To start by just spending everything, you are going to have such a harder time ever cutting back the 20% in the future. Obviously this means you find a way to live within those means you are handed to, vs. just wracking up a credit card bill at 15% interest.

Awesome. Sherlock is the best show on tv, outside of GOT.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 06:20 PM) Micah 3-3, sac fly Davidson 0-4, now hitting .199 Davidson is toast.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 06:19 AM) Looking at quality starts for a starting pitcher is like looking singularily at home runs or batting average for a hitter. Yes, it will tell part of the story, but the rest of the story says he hasn't done a hell of a lot. He has 15 quality starts in 21 games started. To me, that says he's essentially pitched poorly enough to lose 6 games, and who knows what he's done in the other 15 - maybe pitched just well enough to lose. The Sox pitching staff is not going to get considerably worse if they trade John Danks. Thats a little weak because you know in general, when you throw a quality start that you have put your team in a position to win the game. Typically teams that league the lead in quality starts and rank near the top also rank near the top of the standings, so there is a pretty good correlation and you know exactly what it means, that he gave up 3 or less in 6 or more. The bigger question is has he pitched a little lucky, etc, and that is probably the case. You also see deteriorating stuff, etc.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) while I agree about his slump, these teams should have made the move before the All Star Game. now some team played themselves out of contentions, if they made the trade for players like DV, Gordon Danks or anyone else, who knows they still may be in the running. In all honesty, it is pretty unrealistic that Beckham is going to put a team over the top. Same to be said about DV. Danks might really help you get in and I can even see DV for a team with really bad offense, but when you take a step back, these are some of our weaker links (excluding Danks) and both DV and GB are below league average players (thus unless you have a major sieve you are filling, they aren't going to be major difference makers). As I keep telling people, odds of this team significantly upgrading its talent pool are pretty minimal through trades at the deadline. The valuable chips we have are staying put and the guys we would be interested in dealing have very little, if any value on the market, and for Sox, only value is if there is a young player you can plug-in their stead. If not, not much of a point and you might as well "try" to see how much closer you can get and I wouldn't be surprised if that is Hahn's approach. The exceptions to this rule are any veteran reliever we have (cause they are interchangeable and we have plenty of young arms (didn't say good) that we can give a chance to and normally you can get some sort of intriguing low level talent for them), Alexei (and only if you can net an impact, major league ready top 75 or so prospect and another 1 to 2 high upside guys), and Danks (not because you'll get good talent, but if you can clear his contract, it is worth it because worst case, his production in the FA market can be replaced at that price, however, that would not be a preferred approach, as you can most likely find better production out on the market or if you can acquire the right assets, internally, and thus, if you can swap his contract and get flexibility, you do it. I also expect Hahn to be quietly looking at acquiring assets, maybe getting involved as a 3rd team where we are giving another team assets for one of the younger assets getting moved (who might fill better needs then the guys we move).

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:33 PM) Damn, this is some minor leaguers pranking Franceur level ish. Hearing Wimpie talk about Gordon was depressing. This guy has the most outsized defensive rep of anyone outside of Jeter. Gordon is a solid defender with a strong arm but his range is average and so are his hands. What did wimpy say?

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 02:58 PM) From BA's hot sheet chat: Can't say I disagree really. I'm not a Wilkins defender by any means, but have they checked out a 5th round pick by the name of Ryan Howard, who put up good numbers everywhere in the minors, but not great, until he really took off during his age 24 / 25 seasons (OPS went from .800's to 1.000's). He was a top 100 prospect entering his age 25 season (and don't believe he was anywhere near anyone's top 100 prior to that). People even questioned whether he could hack it at the major league level and while a lot wanted to try him out and move Thome, there were a lot that didn't, from what I recall. Note: I am not saying Wilkins is Ryan Howard, just stating he went from being not highly touted to being pretty highly touted after exploding onto the scene. If Wilkins keeps mashing and ends up with 40 - 50 minor league HR's while improving other aspects of his game, you have to start considering him a pretty serious prospect. That sort of power is pretty rare in this day and age.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 03:02 PM) He better make the team after those statements. Awesome to hear!!!

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 02:42 PM) Every year the Sox find new and creative ways to abuse the minor league DL's. I mean, Cales was on BHAM's DL, then off to pitch a couple games, then on again, then off to go to AAA, then pitched, then on again to make room for Beck. They're just outright trolling at this point, daring some other team to file a grievance. Fortunately, no team is going to do that, unless the DL is messing with a Rule V or 40 man situation or something that impacts another team. No one cares about David Cales. No point. You could just send them to instructional or wherever you wanted and it probably wouldn't matter and still clear up a spot.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 12:05 PM) That's where the "If the Sox think they live up to their top 20 ranking" part comes in.....If they are fairly confident that Pederson or Seagaer is the LH bat to pair with Abreu for the future then I'd make that move. Still a risk even if they are "confident" but nevertheless, with their contractual obligations, and the incredibly team friendly deals given to Sale/Q, I believe it could be a risk worth taking. I'm sure I'm wrong somehow, but looking at the payroll for next year, even adding Kemps 21M puts the sox at 64M. Nate Jones is really the only guy they have to pick in arbitration. They could realistically add a SP, a catcher, and some bullpen pieces and still be around a realistic 95M. But again it's moot if they don't give up Pederson/Seager. Pretty sure they are going to have to give a prospect and eat a good chunk of the contract, which is where things might get interesting. I just don't know that the Dodgers will make that type of decision (to eat money and give up a prospect like that...vs. just eating more money) given that they don't really have any major payroll restrictions (or don't appear to).

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 12:03 PM) Seems like there are two options for the Sox with Beckham: A - Give him away for virtually nothing (like the trades that send Thome to LA and Contreras to COL) so the team isn't on the hook for the remainder of his 2014 salary. B - Ride out the season and non-tender him. C - Profit. I don't know what C means but I'm all for A.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 08:26 AM) Danks is, this year, a #4 starter. But people seem to be forgetting that he was really more of a #3 before the injury, and this is his recovery year. No one should have expected he'd be 100% his usual self this season. He's still building up strength. So really what you are trading is a guy who is a #4 now, but very likely could be a #3 in the remaining two years of his contract. And at that level, his salary is more or less in line with value. Keeping that in mind, if the Sox are willing to trade him and maybe send some money (say $5M a year for each remaining, so $10M total), then you are giving another team significant differential value. Will that get you an elite prospect? No, but it could very likely give you a couple or three prospects who might turn into something. The team who gets Danks gets a cost-controlled starter for 2.5 seasons who, if healthy next year gives you mid-rotation quality. There's value there, but the Sox are probably considering whether it is better to wait and trade him this offseason or even next year at the deadline, when he's likely to be performing better. Technically, wasn't last year his recovery year. This is his 2nd full season after the injury. I don't know that I would say that he's likely to be performing better. Hard to say that. Guys coming back from shoulder injuries tend to struggle. What Danks has done has been an accomplishment in and of itself.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 08:33 AM) What everyone else said. I think this is a precursor to his potential trade. Doesnt necessarily mean Beck will see time at the major league level this season, but I think he ultimately slots in if someone else gets moved to the major league level and he finishes the season there. They aren't going to move Beck into the rotation just because we trade someone else. This is just more about Beck's continued development. Putting him to the majors right now would be extremely short sited and probably very detrimental to his develop.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 07:23 AM) Any publication that has Rodon and Adolfo arriving in the same year shouldn't be taken seriously. And since it's an MLB piece, it shouldn't be taken seriously to be begin with. Yeah, that is extremely poor. The list is really poor in general, imo.