Marty34

After seeing him pitch against the Sox I'm not sure Liriano is the answer, but after Greinke he was my second choice and the price was right.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:37 AM) I love the fact we're saying XYZ player can't play a corner when we've had guys like Pods and Pierre on the corners. Mitchell will probably be a LFer in the big leagues if he makes it...although it's possible he sticks in CF. With the Sox, they probably have him lined up behind DeAza rather than Viciedo, but he can play either. If anyone projects as a "pure" power hitter in our minor league system, among the outfielders, it's Thompson and Hawkins head and shoulders over everyone else. That's exactly what you need at USCF, not punch and judy hitters. I like Walker better because he has shown dramatic improvement this year which gives me hope that he will be able to improve his contact rate in the future. I can see him being a guy who eventually gets you double figures in doubles, triples, and homers, and 40 SB a year.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 10:08 AM) Astros might own him by then. If so, Brett Myers will be very expensive acquisition. What makes you think Walker is in the trade?

QUOTE (scenario @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 09:35 AM) I don't think the velocity drop is due to a physical problem. I think it's intentional to help him last longer into the season. I have a feeling you're right. I remember his last start at home before the break against Texas, he got the big lead and was just sitting between 89-91 mph. 7th inning Josh Hamilton came up and he was at 93-95 mph for that AB. The Sox wouldn't put him out there if he was hurting. As long as he's being honest with them . . .

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 09:26 AM) What are you talking about? He is a power prospect, if he reaches the majors it means he definitely will have the bat to play in all 3 spots. He's not going to be a good enough all-around hitter to play left or right.

Good that he can stay in CF because that's the only position I think his bat will play. It would be interesting to see how many players drafted out of H.S. who have Thompson's K rate after 1,300 minor league plate appearances have made the majors.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 28, 2012 -> 06:44 AM) I love how Walker has been playing, but I'll still take Mitchell and Thompsom over him at this point because of their power. Having said that, I don't see how these three guys and Hawkins won't all be in our top 6 prospects. That's pretty insane to have four legitimate CF prospects. I'm not a fan of Thompson. I think it's an ominous sign that his development continues to be stalled 1,300 plate appearances in. Plus, not sure he doesn't grow out of CF and moves to RF where his bat would need to get better.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) Overreact much. Come on. I understand the infatuation with Nate Jones due to his 99 mph fastball, but he does not get batters out. Hasn't in a couple months.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) Up by 4 hate to see him wasted in a non save situation may need him next 2 days. I think it's a thing where he warmed up past the point where sitting him down would've been a good idea.

Just thought of this watching the game. Walker is going to get called up in September to be used as a pinch-runner.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 09:57 PM) There's no way Crain can be worse than Jones and Thornton have been recently. Crain is good for 2 innings or about 35 pitches a week, he has to be used very sparingly. Win this game without using him and he's available for tomorrow or Sunday.

Crain is a 2 inning a week pitcher and after the way he threw Wednesday, I don't have much confidence in him right now.

I hope Nate Jones isn't on this team after the trade deadline.

Walker has been very impressive especially considering his slow start in April (May too I believe.) Still has to work on his K rate, but I think you can make a case for him as their #1 prospect right now.

Two starts in a row his velocity is down.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 06:56 PM) K. Well check the facts in October. And I'm not going to be sorry for being a guy that would like my team to go for it. I have been a season tickets holder for 16 years and seen one WS, and not seen a playoff game in 3 years. But I can't tell you how many prospects I've seen, most of them this board enotes as the future or untouchable. You're right, I'm not worried about next year, I'm not a Cubs fan. If we would have traded for ZG and he started "10 F***ing starts" got us to the postseason and won a WS. You wouldn't give a crap about who we gave up. You play to win the games. You can keep crossing your fingers about relievers with 4 Eras, underperforming ML talent who have the same "problem" than Greinke, mentally weak. Difference is ZG is a disease he gets treatment for. So call him a whack job or whatever, a lot of people suffer from this disease. He can't help it. Beckham and Floyd are average players because they are mentally weak. Outstanding post. You'll never go broke betting against prospects. Especially when those prospects are relievers and White Sox position players.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 06:23 PM) Well that sucks. Now we can have an even harder time beating AL contenders. Now we better do something, and not a Ryan Dempster. Now we can all watch how Impactful Zack really is. With that time to go out and get drunk. Agreed. Ultimately, this is a bad thing for Sox fans.

Greinke is the only difference maker on the market. Johnson and Garza are a level beneath, don't want either.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 27, 2012 -> 07:27 AM) Floyd for Grienke is a good deal. Quintana for Grienke is not. I think we can agree that Quintana's success was not a game or two. It comes down to an argument similar to the one regarding Viciedo. Quintana can be a big part of the future of the club. I wouldn't trade him for an almost-sure rental. It comes down to what you think the future is with Viciedo and Quintana and without Peavy, Konerko, Youkilis, A.J. (A lot of production for ~$40M) not to mention the bounce back year from Dunn, MVP-type year from Rios and Cy Young-type season from Sale. A lot has come together this year, the Sox can't let this opportunity pass by.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 08:40 PM) Depends on the cost of the upgrade. There are other avenues to upgrade rather than gambling away our future. I guess where we disagree is how good that future is going to be. I don't think its worth holding on to and passing up this opportunity.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 08:24 PM) BUT THEY'RE NOT GETTING GREINKE FOR MORE THAN 10 STARTS! You're acting like he's going to go all 1984 Rick Sutcliffe and roll to ten victories in a row. That's just not going to happen. They survived...and yet you keep calling for the GM's head, largely because of that trade (Swisher) and one would assume Hudson/Holmberg for Jackson, although what Daniel Hudson or Sergio Santos would be doing for us now, it's pretty self-explanatory. You came into this season saying Morel, Beckham, Reed, Viciedo and Molina needed to progress. You didn't include DeAza, but he's clearly become a steady contributor to the line-up as well, at virtually no cost. Only two of those things have happened, yet Quintana, Dunn, Rios, Youkilis, Nathan Jones, Peavy and others have more than compensated. I think you point fingers too much for someone who is wrong as often as anyone else on this site. If you don't think an upgrade for 10 starts is worth it in a race as close as this, I think you're wrong. If the GM is going to gamble that Swisher can play CF and give up Gio Gonzalez in the process, he has to be willing to make this trade when a playoff bErth is at stake.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 08:17 PM) Berth. And they haven't survived particularly well. They're in the bottom 6-7 teams in attendance and haven't been in the playoffs for 3+ seasons. They need to be building for a sustained run, not a "one and done" type of situation where they're going to go into another downturn that's in between this season for the Sox and what the Cubs are currently going through. The Tigers are likely to be back in first place in another hour or so with Verlander. You can't make that kind of gamble with the Tigers looking stronger than ever. This will be a 15-3 run now. You're predicating this whole Zach Greinke to the rescue thing based on 2009's Cy Young season. He's more hype than reality. Sizzle over steak. You sound like you don't want to win.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) 10 games for Greinke as opposed to getting Swisher at the time with 4 years left on his contract....huge difference That trade turned out to be a worse case scenario for the Sox, but they survived. I think it's a lot easier for a big revenue team to find a LF'er and closer (if that is what Reed turns out to be) than it is to get a SP the caliber of Gonzalez.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 07:52 PM) Giving up Q would defeat the purpose of adding Greinke. The fact there is NO CHANCE to sign him for the future makes giving up Viciedo and Reed and 2 top minor leaguers a very stupid proposition. Cause if the gamble does not work and we do not make the playoffs, the team next year will be in very bad shape. Viciedo's bat is pretty important to this team's future. Reed is the current closer. Q looks like a decent starter who will eat a lot of innings maybe. The fact the Brewers want a lot means the Sox should not go there. In my mind, it would be tough to be a GM to trade some of the organization's best prospects for 10 starts. Let's say he's blah in two of the starts and great in the other eight? He gets no run support in two of those eight. So he wins six games for us. Yes, he could be pivotal IF we make the playoffs. This is why KW gets paid the big bucks, to make decisions like this. I'd prefer trading a couple prospects to the twins for Liriano and have Coop fix him or send the Marlins players for JOhnson. If the White Sox can justify and survive trading Gio Gonzalez for Swisher, they can withstand trading Viciedo and Reed for Geinke when a postseason birth is at stake.

Here's another reason why this year is important especially to KW and maybe JR too. How much more worse does Guillen look if the Sox win big this year? You know the Sox front office would soak up the delicious irony of that.