GreenSox

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 5, 2014 -> 12:55 PM) Not really. It can be seen as an advantage in a trade scenario the way he's been pitching. How? $34 million owed is an advantage for an ERA of 4? We'll see I guess.

Dunn's contract isn't an anchor because there are only 3 months left on it. I would think someone would want him as a PH and platoon DH/1B, but we'd have to eat all of that contract for such limits and platoon player that don't play the field much just have a narrow market. I look at Danks' numbers and I see 4.12, 1.34 and rather modest K numbers. There must be some internal numbers that beef him up a good bit.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 5, 2014 -> 12:44 AM) Ellis has always been know more for his defensive ability. Beckham's been sitting in the 600's OPS every season from 2009 until this season, this year he's already back down to the low 700's again and he would have to adjust to a completely different league. Unless the Cardinals get really desperate in terms of their chances of making the playoffs, you don't/can't see them overpaying for Beckham. They had numerous opportunities to upgrade last year and didn't, preferring to keep their prospects like Wong, Taveras and Carlos Martinez, to name a few. Beckham's also 27 and has not only improved this year, but he improved the 2nd half of last year. He's average. I don't expect anyone to overpay for him. Of course I don't expect anyone to overpay for Sox players - when's the last time we were overpaid on paper? I just don't want to see the return of giveaway day. Re the Cardinals, I would expect them to try to move Allen Craig. Maybe not now, but soon. of course, his numbers have declined each of the last 4 seasons and this season they are downright bad. His contract is soon to become an albatross.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 5, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) The Sox would love to get rid of Danks's contract. Decent-upside, A-ball players is all that is that would be needed. Danks is nothing more than a fourth starter with a bad contract. Agree - his contract is a big anchor.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 03:35 PM) I'd love to get something out of Noesi. Now it's my turn. Why would a contender want him? Actually, though, I think we may be able to turn him around because he does deliver a lot of Ks. But that would be an unwise effort for a contender. Mark Ellis has had 1 year in the last 4 with an OPS over .700 and that was a .708. Kolten Wong has a .586 OPS. That's .586 for this elite talent. Beckham is 14th in the majors in OPS among second baseman. Yes, I know, he's the worst in the league and has no value. What Beckham is is average. I don't quarrel that we won't get a whole lot for most of these guys, which is why I prefer to peddle the ones over 30.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 11:07 PM) This can't be overstated. There's really no mystery to it. If every team could simply take every decent major league player they had and "flip them" at the deadline, they'd have a lot of good prospects, too -- and an awful lot of high draft picks as well. Then add the minor league players that Hendry signed before he left (for which he'll never receive credit because the media is TheoJed brainwashed) -- guys like Baez and Alcantara -- give it 3 years and . . . yes, you have a deep farm system. But that only happens when you can still draw, and they can. The Astros don't draw. The Rays Royals and Pitt were playing in front of no one when they were trading away all of their major leaguers. But the Cubs never have gone completely on the cheap like those teams did, thanks as you said, to their attendance. Still they will have to find some front line pitching and that's not so easy. They've done well signing Feldman and Maholm and flipping them, but those 2 are 5th starters on good teams. I think it was, overall, a good move for them. For one thing, Shark is almost 30 - kind of a late bloomer. I would have also thought that the As could have gotten Price for that price.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 11:14 PM) Who exactly? Viciedo, De Aza, Danks, Alexei, Dunn, Gillaspie, Belisario, Lindstrom (when healthy). That's all I got. Well, that's a lot. You can add Beckham and probably Petricka and Putnam too. Alexei must be put front and center.

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.