Chisoxfn

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 10:38 AM) If June really is true, Garcia will be back, and it will happen soon, I bet. I'd rather grab Garland. I have much more faith in him being the innings eater we'd need. That said, the money might not be right as someone could pay hefty given what he did last year (which was inflated, imo).

I find it hard to give up Floyd. He's signed to a fair deal and we have cost control on him. I also believe we will ink Danks. However, if Kenny can get the right talent I guess anything can happen. I doubt he'll consider moving Buehrle and Peavy is unmoveable as of this time so I guess Kenny doesn't have many options since he doesn't have a farm system to attract talent and has limited payroll.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 10:44 AM) It would be nice to have 9 gold glovers on defense but that ain't gonna happen. CQ is serviceable in RF and we need to stick with our talent. He can do it! Repeat the mantra If by serviceable, you mean the worse or 2nd worse right fielder in baseball, than you are correct.

QUOTE (SoxPride56 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 10:27 AM) I'm not following...how so? Quentin can't possibly play in the field on a regular basis after seeing how much of a disaster he is there? And we also know Matsui can't. So if Matsui comes in, he'd be the DH, which means Q can't DH. But that is solely based upon the fact that I don't want Q to be an everyday outfielder. He can play every once in a while but not more than once or twice a week.

Matsui signing would probably mean Quentin would be moving on.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 10:23 AM) Heyman reporting that Orioles are going after Konerko (like they did after 2005). I am reporting that Konerko will say NO.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 10:17 AM) Besides every baseball writer reporting they're going to sign two big bats this offseason? It's been everywhere. They've already signed Jhonny and Benoit to pretty big deals, and they're considered the leaders for VMart and Dunn. They unloaded a ton of payroll from last season. Boston is the leader for Vmart.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) Would still be in the same spot because Huddy would just replace EJax, so either way, you have 4 starters and then Chris Sale/Tony Pena Ya, but you'd have 10M more to play with to address holes.

I don't think anyone can pinpoint his exact recovery date right now. However, if it better to be conservative and to expect there to be delays. It wouldn't take too many delays before you are talking about a late May comeback. Right now the Sox are smart to not expect/count on Peavy. Unfortunately that really hurts when you don't have any guys you can look to in the farm to help you until than. In retrospect it would be really nice to have Huddy.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) I'd love Juan Pierre, Curtis Granderson and Alex Rios outfield, but to me we would have to find a masher for 1B, and have Quentin and Viciedo split DH duties while both of them could use occasional playing time one in RF and the other at 1B. Focus on bullpen and a stopgap 5th starter until Sale is ready in the minors. EDIT: Jason you pretty much beat me the punch with your second post. I supposed if you believed in Quentin than you'd have your power hitting DH. The issue is your rotation would have some holes. I could see some reasons to make this deal though, but it would depend on who you could bring in to fill the rotation. If Peavy was healthy I'd lean much more heavily to doing the deal. Because a front line of Peavy/Buehrle/Danks/Floyd is nice, but when you can't count on Peavy you than just have 3 starters plus Chris Sale. That is a lot of spots to fill with little financial wiggle room. However, if you build yourself on pitching, that outfield combined with the defensive infield of Morel/Alexei/Becks/? would be really good.

Keep in mind that Granderson is coming off his two worse seasons in his career at 28 and 29. However, he's posted an OPS + over 100 for each of the past 4 years from centerfield. Granderson would make 8M this year, 10M in 2012 and than there is a 13M (2M Buyout) option for him in 2013. Defensively a Pierre/Granderson/Rios outfield would be stellar and athletic. However, offensively you'd be lacking in some areas. Granderson provides above average offense in CF, Pierre is solid (but obviously doesn't have the pop or super high OBP) and than Rios is talented but isn't a top level run producer either. So with that the Sox would, imo, have a need to have some above average offensive production at DH or 1B.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/...-land-dunn.html Rogers mentions how Granderson and Swisher are on the market for pitching, especially if the Yanks miss out on Cliff Lee. He throws out the possibility of a Granderson for Edwin Jackson swap. Granderson would provide the Sox with an athletic centerfielder and some pop from the left side. Grandy does have some flaws to his game, but he is a solid player. Would you guys consider/make this deal?

QUOTE (chimpy2121 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 08:53 AM) Virgina @ MINN: Minnesota Iowa @ WF: Iowa I don't know anything about Iowa, but WF is garbage. GT @ NW: Northwestern OSU @ FSU: OSU This might get ugly. Michigan @ Clemson: Michigan UNC @ Illinois: Illinois Indiana @ BC: Boston College NC State @ Wisconsin: Wisconsin NC State has some good freshmen though. Purdue @ Va Tech: Va Tech Maryland @ Penn State: Maryland MSU @ Duke: Duke It's a down year again for the ACC. Wow, I'm a huge Iowa fan but they will not beat Wake Forest. Iowa's new coach seems solid but they just don't have much talent at all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 07:07 PM) I dunno, I get the feeling we're seeing a lot more triple-posts where people don't see what's going on in other threads right now. Umm, there have always been double posts, however, at least now, there aren't the posts in two different forums.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 03:35 PM) Tim Hudson is gonna enjoy watching his new 2nd baseman field all those ground balls. Despite that, I do think its a great move for the Braves. He really is an impact bat, that can make up for his defense, plus you may be able to stick him in LF anyway. Since 2006, Uggla has the 5th most HRs out of all right handed hitters, just behind A-Rod, Pujols, MCab, & PK. It is also why I would accept deals for Beckham if we were able to get a talented guy that can play a premium position. Bottom line, solid 2nd baseman can be had/found with relative ease compared to most other positions. It is also probably one of the cheapest starting positions on the diamond, if not the cheapest.

How are people like this new combined baseball talk? Personally, I'm loving it, but wanted to follow up and get some perspective from all of you guys/gals.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) From a pure talent perspective I'd support it too. But if I were the Angels I'd ask for something good (not like Viciedo or anything, but much better than Flowers and D2 kind of prospects) knowing that eventually someone is going to offer a good player. Even in his down year last year he hit 26 HR in just 510 plate appearances, and his OBP was still 78 points above his BA, which is about where it has been. He struck out more and got fewer hits, but there's no reason to believe that is the start of a downward trend. Now if we thought we could extend him at a reasonable price however, and buy low, then I'd fully support this move. But he's still going to cost something good. Scioscia wants his catchers first and most importantly to call great games and he has fallen in love with the light hitting, exceptionally defensively Jeff Mathis. However, Napoli is a pretty solid catcher in his own right and I think the Angels tend to underrate him. Plus the Angels org in general despises strikeouts, which is why I still don't understand how they have stuck by Wood for as long as they have.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) Dunn put up a 1.63 ERA at AAA this year out of the bullpen and had solid velocity in that spot as well. Infante was an all-star infielder this year. I guess a comparable Sox price would be giving up Santos and perhaps Alexei. Umm, Alexei is a superior player to Infante. Infante is a guy that the Braves are selling incredibly high. He is a utility guy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 02:04 PM) but the real question is, are they convenient? I'd be interested to see these analyses you mentioned--any links or references? Why do I need to analyze that. Doesn't it depend on peoples personal habits. Not my job to analyze your own habits. And yes, mine is incredibly convenient and I love it and ultimately that is all I care about.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 02:20 PM) I wouldn't be a huge fan of this unless AJ left the Sox for a better offer and Kenny had to go after the next best thing. Napoli is a good player, but he's going to get a raise on the $3.6M he made last year during arb, and 2011 is his last year before FA. AJ doesn't cost draft picks, only money. Napoli costs good talent, plus money, and we'd run the risk of losing him. I don't necessarily know how much good talent you'd lose in the deal. It seemed like the Angels might go another route. They won't give him away but I don't know if they need a whole ton to make something happen. Again, purely hypothetical and while Napoli has his flaws it is a move I'd support.

For some reason I keep thinking Mike Napoli will be our starting catcher next season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 11:48 AM) Really though, if you had to guess what %age of truck owners absolutely need to own a truck, would you guess it's a large majority? I wouldn't. I'll bet for a lot of people it's a convenience at times (heck I can think of a few times when it would have been a convenience for me). If I'm right about that, then in the event of a gas price spike, the demand for trucks would be very elastic; the people who might like them but don't need them would opt downwards. Absolutely not, but to each their own. I'm sure plenty of people are weekend warriors that occasionally use it or ocassionally tow something. In no way do I think the majority of trucks are used by people who use it at least twice a week. Personally I love SUV's/Trucks because they are incredibly convenient and I feel more comfortable sitting up and driving in them versus a car. They are also incredibly convenient. But there are also a ton of financial reasons for why I'd be better off with a car and that is part of why the family will be going to the route of one SUV and one mid size sedan. Still have flexibility but also have that nice gas mileage vehicle that is comfy too. It is so evident that kids are in my near future, haha (and no, wife isn't expecting).

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 11:39 AM) You haven't seen the fully body scanners yet at O'Hare? I've went through some of the full body scanners. Not specifically the ones at O'Hare but ones had other airports. As long as they have the resources to keep the lines down (as the scanners tend to take a bit longer), I have no issue with it. Bottom line while flying is inconvenient I'm pretty open as I have nothing to hide and I just want to get from point A to point B safely (most importantly) and hopefully without any significant delays.

I have no problem with it, but I don't think they should be touching your junk.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 11:29 AM) Obviously. There has to be a cost savings of at least a few thousand to make it worth it, in my opinion. This is pretty crazy to think about, considering that 3-4 years ago, when gas prices were through the roof, dealers couldn't give away their trucks. I went with a friend to buy a new truck and we negotiated them down something like 10k below the msrp, and could have done even better on some of the more expensive models, but my friend's wife wouldn't let him spend a few thousand more (even though he would have been saving much more had he done so). It was crazy, I had a few buddies pick up Ram trucks for like half of MSRP. It was ridiculous and they walked away so happy. I think some people wrote stuff off just because of gas prices and didn't factor in the fact that the added cost savings actually outweighed at times the added fuel costs. Plus if you need a truck for what you do, you need a truck.