GreatScott82

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 16, 2009 -> 07:54 PM) Wow, that was really nice. Great find. I posted this video on here in the White Sox video thread awhile ago. . its my favorite one. For some reason the myspace videos wont work on my PC, what do i need to download for them to work properly?

Carlos Guillen is going to likely miss the rest of the year for Detroit. Per Foxsports Thats a big blow to their team, they are going to need all the offense they can get. Esspecially with the way Willis and Galarraga have been struggling. According to The Detroit Free Press , the Tigers will be buyers. I'm guessing they will try to add another starting pitcher and a left fielder with offensive pop. My question is, will Detroit be the only buyer in the AL Central division? I'm thinking the Twins will likely stick with what they have and hope to compete with that. The Royals are closer than last season, but still need to address many possitions, they'll likely be sellers in hope to address those positions for next season. Cleveland is a big mess, injuries, lack of pitching depth and so on. They need to sell DeRosa now while his stock is super high. The Sox are in a weird position, they have potentially 4 experering contracts that will shed about 40 million from their payroll next season, do they sell those players now? Or do they sit back and wait alittle longer to determine if they can be in this thing the rest of the way? If they can get to .500 by July 1st and be about 2-3 games back, i garuntee you KW will be a buyer. He won't be a significant buyer (meaning he won't trade away his farm depth) but he could easily add another bat in the lineup to add pop to the top of the order.

I never thought i'd say this. But as of right now. I'm okay with our rotation. If Contreras continues to show flashes of his successful past were set for the remainder of the year. Buerhle has been solid all year, Danks is coming back stronger each start, Floyd seems to be coming back and Richards is probably one of the better 5th starters in the league and he keeps showing signs of maturity. If Contreras goes down (i hope not), we have young stud Aaron Poreda waiting in the wings. Now if KW wants to add an ACE going forward for next year and beyond, i'm all for it. Guys like Dan Haren come to mind but thats about it. Guys like Barry Zito wouldn't improve our staff tremendously at all. I think if KW were to add another SP, it would have to be a top of the rotation ACE type of pitcher. What this team really needs is a bat. I've said if before and i'll say it again, Freddy Sanchez would be a perfect addition to the top of the order. I like Getz and i think he would really be a solid player in this league, but we need a little more consistency at the top of our lineup. He has an 8 million option for next year- which is very reasonable. With him and CQ coming back and the rejuvinated Bronze Titan- were right back in the mix in a very below average division. Sanchez 2B Ramirez SS Dye RF Thome DH Konerko 1B Quentin LF Pierzynski C Beckham 3b Pods/Anderson CF Thats a better lineup than anyone else in the AL Central. . .

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 15, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) If we have 2005 2nd half/2006 1st half contreras that will= 2009 Central Division Champion Chicago White Sox. No Doubt in my mind. Will he keep this up? Likely, no. If he does, the rotation looks like this. Contreras Buehrle Danks Floyd Richard The hitting should heat up. If not, I still like our chances with that rotation. Yep. key phrase- will he keep it up? He is healthy now. But we've seen this before, he shows flashes of the past, then tears something. I really hope the guy stays healthy for once. And if he does, i completely agree with you rangercal- the White Sox have a great shot at winning the central. Even with our subpar lineup.

Pods!!

Stone wants a squeeze. . . I concur!

If Beckham continues to take that outside pitch to rightfield, he is going to hit a lot of doubles this year!

Your likely not going to see Flowers until 2011.

The Sox have 3 options with Dye. Option 1- Trade him to a contender for minor league prospects. The question with this option is, with Dye's age and his mutual option, would we get much back for him? Option 2- Take the option at 12 million. This is something i just can't see happening in the current state of the Sox and in the economy in general. We saw a big decrease in pay for free agents this year. Option 3- Decline his option and sign him to a new restructered deal. He could very well be our new DH. I actually see option 3 the most likely. Why trade Dye for crappy prospects? I could see Dye re-signed for a 3 year 21 million deal. Dye could easily be the new DH going forward. SO far, he is showing no signs of decline offensively which is encouraging.

We'll be sellers for sure. All baseball 'experts' think were the 'wildcard' to all names because of the Peavy thing. Well back in May we were only 3 to 4 games back in the division and hovering around the .500 mark. Now we are 6 games under .500 and 6.5 games behind Detroit. I say by the end of the week we'll be about 10 games under and and about 9.5 games back. Matt Holiday will not be coming here. In about 2 weeks expect some popular names to be dealt away from the team.

The defense was horrible, baserunning horrible, bullpen horrible. The positive irony of tonight- Poreda and Richard looked great while Peavy is hurt and will likely miss a month. Not that i cheer for injuries or anything, still very ironic.

If there is one guy in the Brewers rotation i want to face, its Suppan. Lets take game 1!

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 11:07 AM) Given his injury history in Arizona, I'd say probably. yep, until the guy actually plays a full season- he will likely carry around that label.

Many baseball experts compare you to Carl Crawford. Is he the guy you model your young career after?

I agree with Black Jack 100%. Let Beckham take his bumps, let him develop a comfort level. He is the future, in fact is a huge piece of the next wave of up and coming young Sox stars. Fields is not part of our future nor should he be. I'm a big fan of Ozzie, but he needs to learn how to handle his young players better. Next year when Viciedo and Jordan Danks come up, do us all a favor and take it easy on them.

I'm not a big fan of the term fire sale. Now it would be one thing if KW trades PK and AJ to go along with Dye, Dotel and possibly Thome. But if he trades away 3 expirering contracts, i wouldnt consider that a fire sale. Knowing Kenny, I could see him trading away Dye and Dotel, but still bringing in a legit starting pitcher.

I garuntee you KW will pursue Figgins this winter. Fields is the odd man out, he will likely be traded this winter. I'm not sure about Thome being DH though, i guess i wouldn't mind it for one more year, via you still have Konerko and AJ under contract for one more season anyway. This would give Flowers, Allen and Viciedo one more season to develop in the minors. Have you guys noticed the increase in production out of Viciedo? He has definitley improved since the begining of the year which is promising. With about 40 million plus coming off the books, i definitley see KW going after a starting pitcher and Carl Crawford (if Tampa doesn't take that option). They wouldn't draft a guy with similar tools as Crawford if they didn't like the guy. As far as the Haren dream goes: His is due 8.25 mil in 2010 and 12.75 mil in '11 and '12. Which would be a perfect acquisition for KW and JR as they hate giving starting pitchers anything longer than 3-4 years. Even while we get younger, im keeping the Haren dream ALIVE!!

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 07:37 AM) That's my line of thinking too. As long as we have a decent pitching core and pen. Our young guys could have a decent chance of competing for a pennant. I'd leave Vicedo down until next year, but i'd only have a few reservations with beginning the major league acclimation process for Danks, Flowers, Allen and Link after the trade deadline. The thing is, even if the Sox do trade Dye, Thome, Dotel, or even Jenks for prospects, I could still see KW go out and bring in some free agents to keep this team competitive during this transition. For instance, I could see KW signing guys like Carl Crawford who will be 28 next year. I could also see KW signing Figgins to a 2 year deal just to remain somewhat balanced as far as youth and veterans. I could easily see this next year: Figgins 2b Crawford RF Quentin LF Konerko 1B Pierzynski C Ramirez SS Beckham 3B Viciedo DH Danks CF This team could definitley compete in the AL Central. As long as the starting pitching is there. I think KW needs to find one more legit starter. I would LOVE Haren. Maybe this winter offer Arizona- Poreda, Richard and Getz. With that lineup and a rotation of Haren, Buerhle, Floyd, Danks, not only would we be a very young team, but a team that can do damage in the playoffs. Who knows what KW has planned though. . he could very well not spend a dime this offseason. I just don't seeing him doing that. . .

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:15 PM) Seriously!?!? haha why not. this team is dead. okay maybe your all right. i just get excited to see our high draft picks. . . i can wait till next year to see him.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:13 PM) Jared Mitchell has no business being up in September. How many minor league games would he play? 5? would it hurt anything if he got his feet wet? Its one thing coming out of high school, its another coming out of college.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:59 PM) You know my thinking. If you're not going to end up within 5 games of the divisional lead (which means you're in it until the last week), then you might as well be out of it come the deadline. This team is dead. And really even if we do go on a bit of a run in July or August and somehow win the AL Central by default, do we even have a prayer vs a Boston or New York in the playoffs? Lets see what we have with our kids. Let Beckham see MLB pitchers every day. Trade Dye and Dotel for some solid prospects. Bring up Jordan Danks, bring up Viciedo. Lets see what these kids can do vs MLB pitchers. . . HELL bring up Jared Mitchell in August. Would any of us be upset if our starting lineup was this in September: Jared Mitchell RF Alexie Ramirez SS Carlos Quentin LF Paul Konerko 1B AJ Pierzynski C Gordon Beckham 3B Dayan Viciedo DH/3B Chris Getz 2B Jordan Danks CF Without Pauly and AJ, thats our team of the future right there. In 2011 i could see Flowers as our new C, and Brandon Allen as our 1B. Lets face it guys we are on the verge of a youth movement. No need to be stubborn and continue to try to win on and get younger on the fly, i respect what KW was trying to do but it just isn't happening. The 2 guys i want us to keep during this transition are Buerhle and Jenks. However, if you could bring in a couple of top 100 type prospects to add more depth to our farm for Jenks, im all for it.

Can you say 2007 all over again. . . at least this year we have promising young talent to develop on the major league level. As of right now, thats the only thing keeping me interested.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) Yes, but the Sox have spent so much money on plenty of other guys. In this case your spending 4M to take a chance on a guy whose going to be under your control for a very very long time. I see nothing wrong with it, imo. If he checks out with the doctors than he's fine in my book. I couldn't argue with that. The dude throws in the mid 90's and has nasty stuff.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:59 AM) A ton of prep players have just made this draft interesting, putting out large demands. We might see the fewest number of prep guys taken in the 1st round in the history of the draft, given the economy. Make sure you check out the FutureSox forum for all the draft profiles and tons of draft discussion to get all caught up before the draft starts today. Oh and one guy the Sox have been linked to, Prep Outfielder Mike Trout (no strong ties, more tied to them based upon needs by other columnists), is demanding $2.5M, which is .1M less than Beckham got. A few prep pitchers are asking for Porcello money, Donovan Tate $6M, and the two top collegiate position players are both asking for a lot of money (Grant Green and Dustin Ackley; 5-10M). Crow is only asking for around $4M, which is about what he was offered last year by the Nats. Scheppers would probably ask for a similar amount. I think the prep demands, combined with a stellar final outing in St. Paul, might have just put Scheppers back into the top 10-15 picks, but I reiterate if he's there and the Sox pass, I'll be f***ing pissed. Arms like his are rare. Arms like his are rare, but doesn't his recent stress fracture in his shoulder make you concerned? That would be a HUGE gamble IMO.

If a firesale constitutes trading away 3 or 4 guys that have expirering contracts such as Dye and Dotel than yea I also predict a 'firesale'.