GreenSox

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 10:46 PM) Nothing to me. .270 at best and a low OBP. If you can get value based on upside I would flip him. So would I. And I think we can. Seattle still looks like a likely spot - that's the sorriest hitting outfield I've ever seen. I wouldn't give him away for dud ex prospects though.

Cubs have made a lot of good moves. This is another one of them. For as bad a team as they've been, they always seem to have starting pitchers to flip, and those guys always bring back at least some interesting prospects.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 02:40 PM) Jordan Danks is a more valuable baseball player. Not even in the stratosphere of reality. Viciedo is basically middle of the pack among AL corner outfielder's offensively. I realize his D is poor but I also know he has a strong and accurate arm. Eaton's not a LF. If we get another CF, then trade Easton.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 10:07 PM) Feldman and Maholm also. Quintana has been awesome for Sox though. Feldman and Maholm weren't reclamation projects. They were just relatively cheap inning-innings free agents that they signed for the purpose of flipping. That's the approach we shouldn't have taken with Belasario and still should- give him some 7th and 8th inning work.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:56 AM) "But this pitch count thing, we’re in the American League," Cooper said. "We’re not in Little League. But nevertheless, people that bring up pitch counts are people who have nothing else to really know. And it just blows me away. They’re doing that to say, ‘God forbid if someone goes down, I told you so.’ And these are people that are not in the arena and never really played, so what kind of validity does any of that hold? If it's just yappers not in the game questioning it, we should see a lot of 120 pitch counts on below .500 noncontenders. But we don't. Danks struggled in the 7th; he shouldn't have been out in the 8th at all. The pen is reasonably fresh and has pitched well, despite its 9th inning struggles.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:28 AM) I didn't realize that Jared Mitchell is still only 25. It's good to see; you never know about these minor leaguers. Mitchell joined this organization high-school raw, even though he had played in college.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 08:47 AM) Here's the thing though, the Yankees might well not be abusing the system. There's some pretty severe penalties coming for dumping everything they had into this year. The Cubs way over-signed last year; they're signing this year. What are the penalties? ON edit, I guess the Cubs aren't signing....thought I had seen some.

Nobody on this rebuilding team should be throwing 120 pitches.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 07:28 AM) So when Robin makes a good decision, he gets zero credit because it was so obvious. Gotcha. He's paid to make the correct decision. The night before, when the object was merely to get on base - nothing more - he made a poor decision letting Garcia bat. Even last night was nothing more than a push for him, clearly over-extending Danks.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 2, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Take him out now.. Why are we pitching him into the ground? Ventura's been doing that to pitchers since the day he arrived.

Just looking at Fan Graphs, Peralta is a 9.1 WAR fielder this year and Alexei is -2. Am I supposed to believe that? Anyway, we don't need to trade for middle infielders, when we have the worst OF in baseball, the worst 4/5 starters in baseball, close to the worst catching in baseball and perhaps the worst pitching in the minors in baseball (and if it isn't the worst, it is really light). Alexei needs to be on the table.

No HR Derby is stupid, pointless and it can't help Jose.

I don't know what move they are talking about, but: You don't bat your WORST hitter on the roster 2nd. You bat your best. Further, Ventura puts the worst hitter right in front of Abreu. Bringing Carroll out for the 7th AND letting him walk 2. With Abreu on deck in the 9th, Ventura doesn't bother pinch hitting for the worst hitter on the roster.

He should be fired after tonight. A fifth grader would make more reasoned decisions. he has extreme limited skills.

I see Robin Ventura has L Garcia batting 2nd right in front of Abreu. That's why he earns the big bucks.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) Why is he a failed prospect? He has less than a season of MLB ABs under his belt. Guys don't have to be phenoms to be good players. My whole point is that the longer a guy fails at the ML level, the less likely it is that he'll eventually succeed. Viciedo is 25 with 3.5 seasons of ball under his belt, whereas Franklin is 23 with like .75 ML seasons under his belt. Both guys were considered to have similar ceilings at one point. To me, there's no questions that Franklin is the better prospect today. Ackley is the failed prospect; Smoak is the 1B who can't hit. Franklin I just don't think is very good and see no real reason in trading for him with several good MI prospects in our minor league system. We can find other players with bloated PCL stats who don't play good D and who played poorly at the ML level. Note, Seattle won't even play him in front of a guy hitting. 630. It's amazing how failures elsewhere somehow have value.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 12:06 PM) Why on earth not? I'd be incredibly disappointed if he wouldn't. Why? Not a great fielder, we have several MI prospects and his offensive numbers stink.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 1, 2014 -> 10:22 AM) I think it was during the winter meetings that the rumor came out and was pretty much confirmed by other sources. Word was that JZ called Hahn and made the offer of Ackley for Viciedo, and Hahn countered with Viciedo for Franklin instead, but JZ didn't respond. Honestly Franklin doesn't do much for me either, but I sure as heck don't want a failed over hyped 2B prospect and a 1B who can't hit either. And none of these guys should be in the discussion for Alexei. We need real prospects, even if A or AA.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 09:41 PM) I have no doubt someone would give him a shot, but I really think we're deluding ourselves if we think we're going to get anything exciting back. He can't help anyone right now, and a guy who's had 1500 PA of ML failure is much less likely to help a team LATER than the prospect we would hope they'd give up. But yet, people insist that Dustin Ackley, a year older and a career OPS of a mighty .659 has real value. And Justin Smoak - my gosh, even though he is 3 years older and has a career OBS 35 points below Viciedo, he's a real talent! BTW, Viciedo has a gun. Is that calculated in these defensive metrics? And while most players don't turn their lights on at 26 or 27, some do. A late blooming Cub almost pitched a NH the other night and is having a great year; And then there is Jose Bautista, who had a Viciedo like career until he turned 29. Or Carlos Gomez who arose from the dead at 27.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 04:33 PM) Word is that the Mariners turned down that exact offer in the offseason. I don't think Viciedo has done anything in the meantime to change their minds. Well, Franklin's .363 OPS this season probably hasn't instilled the Mariners with much confidence either. On paper, Viciedo is way too much. They found a replacement anyway: he has .609 OPS and .277 OBP. They should be desperate. Viciedo for Franklin. Alexei for quality prospects. Alexei is 6th in OPS in SS. His salary is probably higher than most. What's he worth?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 01:25 PM) Wilhelmsen? Franklin

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 04:24 PM) I don't think so. If you have a catcher who is good with the glove (both defensively and framing wise) while being able to talk to pitchers and throw guys out, anything you get offensively is a bonus. Castro has pretty well proven capable of the former and has shown potential (and produced to some extent as well) with the latter. True, but if you traded for him last year, I would assume that the price would be for his hitting as fact; now, it's mere potential.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) I think we hang on to Lexi unless blown away. Competent defensive SS's that hit better than a Leury Garcia are no easy trick, and no one is saying with overwhelming confidence that Carlos, Marcus or eventually Anderson will fit that bill. True, but that's why Alexei should bring a much higher return than Beckham. And if none is offered, keep him. Could be some bidding for Beckham, though - a lot of teams need 2B. And he's not so easily replaceable. Plays pretty good D.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 10:13 AM) So at midway point, how are people feeling about Hawkins? His K rate staying at 25%, but his BBs are at 11%. Is this year better or worse than expected? Is it good enough to promote or should he stay there? I wouldn't rush him - it didn't work out well last time they rushed him. Take your time and develop him into an above average major leaguer. If he can keep that walk rate >10% at all levels, the K rate is tolerable. George Springer, for example, Ks a ton. But a low walk rate and a high K rate portends serious issues eventually hitting ML pitching.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 03:35 PM) I'd just much rather be scrambling to find a corner OF than scrambling to find a C. Sure, but with Castro, you still may be scrambling. But right now, his price should be a couple of clicks lower.