GreenSox

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.

"we would still need a headliner like Giolito because we still value Harrell highly." Rick Hahn darn well better ask for a headliner for Scott Carroll.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jun 30, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) I was on my soapbox in the offseason, and I think went as far as to say the Sox offseason plan should center around trading for Castro. Crap... He's been TERRIBLE this year. And as a sidenote, his statline exposes Flowers' entirely EMPTY batting average. Castro 218/297/363 - 82 Ks Flowers 237/296/326 - 92 Ks and for s***s and giggles.... Grandal 196/285/354 - 49 Ks Maybe keeping Flowers wasn't such a bad thing? *shrug* That's why I'm willing to accept an offensive black hole at catcher and just find one who can catch and handle the pitchers. the price to trade for a catcher is immense. And the risk is high. And even then, if you have a catcher who can hit, but have a Viciedo in LF, what have you gained? Nothing. But now is the time to move on one of these guys, if we must...when the price is low (and if it isn't low, don't move).

Trade Viciedo for that young Seattle SS who can't hit. Then trade Alexei for some of their young A and AA pitchers....don't know who, but I'm sure they have some - they always do. I watched their game the other night and they have some guy in the pen with electric stuff and an ERA of around 7...looked like a good "coop can fix 'em" candidate.

Ole Buck Martinez was commenting on how geared up Moises was to hit the Jays. Bam!

Sierra, Flowers, L Garcia...good lord, what a bottom of the lineup.

If you platoon intelligently, you can make an excellent player out of 2 mediocre players. I suspect we'll see more of that in MLB. And they've always had good pitching and been able to peddle it for nice returns when the pitchers hit their contract years.

I think Ventura charted it out well: Daryl Van Schouwen @CST_soxvan · 6h Relivers like having defined roles. "I'm sure they do,'' Ventura said. 'But the role is when you come in get some outs. It's pretty simple.'

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:37 PM) Cubs are dumb even asking for that kid. If you want a talent like that for Samardizja you'll need to find one in A ball somewhere. Well then the Cubs are silly. Samardizja is having a great year, is a good pitcher, a 2 or a 3 depending on the year.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) I thought hitting a HR in the 1st inning does less for a hitter's Leverage Index than hitting one in the 9th inning? I'm no expert, but I always thought that to the SABRE guys, " a run is a run" no matter when it comes. I think you do need your best reliever, and certainly the one able to get the K, when you have runners on in late innings. You don't need your best for a clean 9th. That said, I also believe (and the SABRE guys disagree) that there is more pressure in the 9th and that some pitchers simply spit the bit in the 9th

L Garcia can play 2b, SS, 3b and outfield. He has speed. He's the kind of guy you want as your roster's last man (more useful than several we've had), although it would really help if he could hit at least some. we should have gotten more for Rios, but we really wanted Rios off the team.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) Robin actually trusted Putnam to get out of the inning on his own today. Wow. Maybe he is getting it, we'll see. If he pulls him for a lefty-on-lefty matchup next time out then Robin still hasn't gotten it. I don't know if it's good or not. What if he had trusted Bellasario last night. It's kind of a guess with this unproven bullpen and hard to fault one way or the other. But the right call was made, 2 in a row.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) No, you can't move other people to the DH spot during the game if they start in the field. Yea that's right. On another note, Toronto needs Beckham. I'll take Stroman for him!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) Well, they already used Ramirez, Sierra could actually take over in the OF to give a defensive improvement, and Konerko is the only other one left on the bench. Why they waited until the counts as 1-1 is much more confusing to me. Couldn't they do that anyway? PR for Dunn, and move Viciedo to DH and Sierra to RF?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 28, 2014 -> 03:08 PM) Wow, nice! Putnam showed some stones. Ventura with a ton of good decisions. Here's one I don't get. Why PR for Viciedo instead of the lead-runner Dunn?