Chisoxfn

I wonder if Torres has been traded.

They didn't pull him for a value standpoint. If he was pulled, it is either an injury or the possibility of a trade. I think if I were a team out of contention I wouldn't mind getting a Carlos Torres who might actually turn into a relatively solid innings eater at the back of your rotation or a long reliever.

Mariners going to the pen early. Bringing in a lefty to face Kotsay.

Carlos has hit it hard in both his AB's today. I Like it.

Dang Rios. Alright Paulie...2 out HR time.

Freddy's looking better.

Another hard hit ball, hits Freddy's glove and allows Alexei to make the play. We are going to need to score tonight!

Wow, that ball was absolutely killed. We got lucky.

Freddy can't keep throwing those elevated fastballs.

f***, both of those balls to Guti looked like strikes to me.

Two hard hit doubles so far.

Horrible execution by Figgy.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 27, 2010 -> 10:07 PM) Is it me, or are the Giants one big bat away from being downright scary? Andres Torres has been one of the best all-around players in baseball. Aubrey Huff's sporting a wOBA of .404. Buster Posey is 1997 Mike Piazza. If Pablo Sandoval starts hitting? Wow. But they've got to upgrade 1B. Travis Ishikawa is too much suck. I don't even have to talk about their rotation (looks like Bumgarner found his velocity). Underrated bullpen. Just a lot to like. Torres was a White Sox at one point.

This thread is hillarious and priceless. Been hectic at work and this is exactly the type of humor I needed.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 03:05 PM) Just heard on the Score the Rays are the front-runners for Dunn with the Giants the only other team involved, NYY and White Sox are said to be out of it. I hope it is because we are unwilling to give up Huddy. I think there are solid enough bats out there that we could acquire without giving up not only our best starting pitching chip, but also a guy that I think we will need to count on for this season as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what Huddy can do in his next start.

Has he approved.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 08:37 AM) I may be putting too much into to this but I believe some teams may be turned off by the fact Viciedo is owed 10 mil a year (I believe) for a guy who is still a work in progress. He was paid a 4 M bonus and gets 6M over a 4 year span, IIRC. So he is quiet cheap.

If we are talking sinker-ballers, how about Fausto Carmona?

And no, I'm not talking about striking out the side, although I certainly wouldn't complain if you did that from here on out. But the agression in which you pitched with yesterday should be done everyday from here on out. You clearly still have the stuff and velocity, but instead of focusing on your best stuff, you work more as if you were a starting pitcher trying to utilize multiple pitches and being pretty. It don't have to be pretty, you are a power closer. Utilize that nasty hook and power fastball. You really don't need to out-think hitters, they can't touch you when you are throwing those two pitches with even mediocre command. Last night was vintage Jenks. It reminded me of 2005. He was upper 90's on velocity and than just snapped some lethal curves.

Raul Ibanez is another guy whose struggling that might become available and could probably benefit from being able to DH a decent chunk. He's having a down year for the Phillies and if the Phillies get Oswalt they might need to free up a few million.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 08:26 AM) Is Matsui under team control next year? I can't remember and am too lazy to look it up. I believe he's a FA at the end of the year. Matsui is a solid fit too, albeit he is having his worse season of his career, but he's got 15HR's. However, we can't even pretend that Matsui could play in the OF. I don't like the idea of Abreu out there, but he really isn't much worse than Quentin so I can live with that. Matsui, well that is just ugly out in the OF.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 08:20 AM) Abreu would come cheap since he does have the contract obligation. I think he makes around $10 million next year. I wouldn't mind if we got Abreu, he does make this team better. Hell, anyone makes this team better because of Kotsay. And I didn't realize that the Angels are now in third place and at .500... Talk about a big swing since the Haren deal. Piniero is out for the next 8 weeks too. Basically put, they really have almost no shot at the division right now so they are basically in a next year mode. I think if the Angels were willing to kick in 5M, Abreu wouldn't look that bad, even if we needed him next year. He tends to be a good OBP guy and while he's slowed down a lot, he still can do some nice things for our team (smart base-runner, draws walks, can handle the bat). The big thing I consider is that I think I'd rather have Abreu or Matsui and still have Hudson than a lot of our other options.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 08:16 AM) Abreu's expensive next year. He's getting old really fast, the bat's been mediocre this year and bad for his standards. His defense is bad, although not Carlos Quentin bad. Quite frankly, Abreu would end up hitting second in this lineup. He doesn't have enough power to hit 5th. I actually didn't realize Abreu was under contract next season as well. And in no way shape or form would I be a fan of having Abreu for anymore than this year. But I do think him/Matsui would be pretty solid fits for our squad this year. I think they make us better, without making us worse long-term (since we don't have to give up a ton of prospects) and essentially can keep Huddy in our rotation (which I actually think is a good thing).

The Jays seem to be asking an awful lot for Downs.

The Angels had a team meeting yesterday with GM Reagins, Scioscia and coaches and it is believed that the tone of the meeting was around the upcoming trade deadline and the future of the organization. While the Angels aren't waving the white flag, it appears that there focus has turned towards getting ready for the 2011 season and that means players who won't be around after this season will be available for pieces that can help the Angels going forward. That list includes Brian Fuentes, Hideki Matsui, and Bobby Abreu. While the Sox would have no interest in Fuentes, we have had interest in the past in Matsui and Abreu. Abreu would probably be a better fit given that Ozzie doesn't want a full time DH and while Abreu isn't a good defensive outfielder, neither is Quentin and the offensive upgrade would be pretty significant over our current DH situation. Neither Abreu or Matsui are exactly having great years, but Matsui has 15 HR's and Abreu has a respectable ~.350 OBP. Abreu is putting up pretty solid numbers against RHP, which would work perfect, given the fact that we could utilize Viciedo against tougher left handed pitchers. The beauty of both of these guys are they are seasoned vets who wouldn't rock the boat in the Sox clubhouse. They both have post-season experience and neither would cost the White Sox significant prospects, thus enabling them to keep Hudson in the rotation. Personally I got a feeling this might be the route the Sox go.