Kalapse

Dear god I hate that site. Yes the Reds need to cut costs but how does Votto enter into the equation? He doesn't, people just assume that he'll be dealt because Yonder Alonso is waiting in the wings. Joey Votto has turned into one of the best hitters in the game and has but 2 years of service under his belt, he's the face of a losing franchise, there's no incentive to trade him. If they were so inclined to deal him he'd have considerably more value than Adrian Gonzalez seeing as how he's still under team control for 4 more years. They're going to dump 1 or more of Brandon Phillips, Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang and Francisco Cordero seeing as how they're the ones making all the money, they do have trade value and they're not the face of the franchise.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 10:12 PM) Now this makes it seems a bit less-likely to me. How the hell would Clayton Richard know anything? Would they ask Richard about Hudson because he played with him? Did he even play with him last year? I don't get why they would tell Richard anything...and it seems unlikely to me that the two would have spent enough time together to have forged some sort of friendship. Obviously, I don't know, but it just seems a bit strange to me... They never crossed paths. Hudson spent 2008 in rookie ball while Richard played in AA, AAA and the Majors. Clayton spent the entire 2009 season in the majors and he was gone by the time Hudson was recalled in early September.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:50 PM) Can you imagine how amazing Gonzalez would be if he didn't play in Petco for half the season? He'd hit 50 here, easy.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:13 PM) Interesting that Dye brought up 1B. That might be a possibility with the Sox, with PK at DH. If we pick up a LH hitting OF, the balance wouldn't be as bad in terms of the lineup handedness (though ideally I'd still prefer more lefty hitters, but that isn't a huge issue IMO). PK can then DH and stay in better playing shape. I wouldn't be opposed to it. So we take our good defensive 1B and put him at DH so the under performing 36 year old RF can spend the season learning 1B because he doesn't want to DH? I have a huge problem with that idea. The team defense is s*** as is and probably got worse with Teahen taking over at 3B we can't have a guy learning on the job at 1B, we need someone who can pick the ball out of the dirt with consistency, Teahen and Ramirez will make his life a living hell. Dye's probable offensive production (~.820 OPS maybe) isn't worth the problems it would cause defensively. I'd take on Lyle Overbay's contract before I sign Dye to be my first baseman.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:27 PM) The real issue is, and where he's right is...every one of them is a gamble. The way that lineup is built, with both D2 and Pods, you need to basically win every gamble for it to be an average lineup. Even if Rios is a 90/10 shot at a win, and teahen is a 75/25 shot at a win, and Quentin is a 90/10 shot at a win, the odds of winning 9 times in a row are pretty low. You put another solid OPS in the middle there, instead of using D2 or instead of using Pods, and suddenly you can afford to maybe lose one of those gambles. Exactly, this team is in desperate need of a big bat, we need that sure thing in the middle.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:22 PM) I don't agree on the bolded. I think everything in Rios' career says 2009 was a flukey bad year, and I think Alexei is pretty consistently a top flight offensive SS (relative to position is important here). And I know I'm in the small minority, but I think Teahen looks like a good candidate for somoene who will benefit from this change of scenery (ballpark and all else). I agree on everything else though. He was no where near top flight last year, he was in that blob in the middle between the good offensive SS and the no stick all glove SS (his .319 wOBA put him with Theriot and Everth Cabrera). When your DH is Podsednik and your RF is Jordan Danks you need to make up for that offense elsewhere, while Alexei should be able to meet at least the league averages for a SS that's just not good enough. He's basically put up identical production to that of Ryan Theriot the past 2 seasons.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:52 PM) Please explain why this would be that bad? 2-8 all have the potential to hit .270 with 20 HR and 70 RBI and who knows what D2 can do and if we have the pods of last year we're fine. esp. with this staff, i would like to see the addition of one more bopper but i honestly think if we put that out there next year and our starting staff stays healthy we'll be fine. That's because you're assuming everyone lives up to their potential in 2010. It's a lineup full of question marks with a few key figures looking like poor best in 2010 and some unrealistic expectations on your part IMO. Podsednik is 34 years old and has averaged a .340 OBP and .700 OPS over the past 6 seasons, given that he's also an awful baserunner that's some terrible production from the DH spot. Beckham should have a big year. Quentin in my mind is a mid .800 OPS hitter not the .950 guy we saw in '08 that you expect to reemerge in 2010. Konerko is a marginal 1B who will top .830 if we're lucky. Pierzynski does not have 20 HR potential, he'll hit 13 or 14 like he does every year with a good AVG and awful OBP. In all he's a decent catcher. Alex Rios has the potential to put up 25 HR and a .800+ OPS but given how horrendous he was last season he also has a good chance at being a complete disaster. Mark Teahen has been bad for 3 full seasons in a row, excuse me for not getting overly excited about him. Alexei has one good offensive season under his belt and one bad, these aren't exactly proven hitters we're dealing with here. So do people think Jordan Danks is as talented or as far along in his development as say Colby Rasmus (I don't)? They sport similar K% (with Danks' being higher) and Rasmus barely topped a .300 OBP in the bigs last season. Like I said, that lineup has the potential to be terrible, keyword being potential, it also has the potential to be pretty decent though with not a single sure thing in the lineup I'd lean heavily towards bad.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 05:12 PM) Hopefully, a full year of Quentin, Rios, Beckham, and perhaps Flowers coming off the bench or DHing helps take care of some of that. if Teahen could show some promise in a new park that would help too. But yeah, we need some OPS from the DH spot and we need something else in the OF as it stands right now. This is why some of us still think there's a good shot at Thome coming back; he's just a really good fit for what this team is missing (20-25 HR and a .400 OBP from the LH Side). Jim Thome isn't really a .400 OBP hitter anymore (.362 and .372 the past 2 seasons), even in a strict platoon at DH I can't see him topping .375. He's still valuable and a probably a good option at DH but you can't expect too much from him.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:41 PM) Oh okay I didn't know that. Run right at 0, and sometimes under? Hmmm... I'm a bit of a skeptic on that one, but I'll buy it since I have no proof to the contrary. You don't own a sports team to make money, you own a sports team to say you own a sports team.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) How does one get Plantar Fascitis? 1 foot injury, you'd think he's had 3 or 4 by the way people talk about him.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) I don't care how or where he gets injured but the dude hurts himself walking to the mailbox. Except for the fact that he doesn't.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:31 PM) I guess sixth years' the charm in Kalapse's eyes. Yes because of all those horrible outfield related injuries he's suffered over the years.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) Maybe not. Enlighten me... Jerry Reinsdorf only owns a portion of the team, he's the chairman of the ownership board so he doesn't have full rule over the club he has an obligation to the other share holders. They're not making a profit, they just try to break even every year.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:23 PM) I wish Reinsdorf would just give Kenny the friggin' green light to sign the players that we need to win. The guy probably makes a boat load of money every year from the team. I'm not saying go crazy like the yankees, but if the difference is 5-10 mil here and there, then JUST DO IT... Are you even aware of ownership situation of the White Sox?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:22 PM) How sad is that we have to consider moving our young LF to DH because he's so fragile. I'm starting to wonder if the villain in "Unbreakable" was loosely based on Quentin. In his 2 years with the Sox Quentin has had one non-self inflicted injury which happened to be an ailment that lingers for months with the only real cure being rest. People are getting seriously carried away with the "fragile" tag. So in his career he's had a shoulder problem that dated back to his college days, a hamstring injury that held him out for less than a month in '07, he punched a bat/locker/wall in '08 and contracted Plantar Fasciitis in '09. If he tears his ACL next year I'll jump on board but right now there's no reason to believe he needs to be protected at the DH position.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:15 PM) The sox could very well be looking at this type of lineup in 2010. Can't say I'm overly impressed. But it would be an upgrade defensively. 1. [DH] Scott Podsednik 2. [2B] Gordon Beckham 3. [LF] Carlos Quentin 4. [1b] Paul Konerko 5. [C] AJ Pierzynski 6. [CF] Alex Rios 7. [3b] Mark Teahen 8. [sS] Alexei Ramirez 9. [RF] Jordan Danks Bench: Tyler Flowers Jayson Nix Mark Kotsay De Aza That has the potential to be a truly terrible lineup, like bottom of baseball bad.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 03:23 PM) I could absolutely see him being on the Opening Day roster. Don't forget who runs our organization and creates our lineups... He probably should make the roster as the 4th/5th OF and primary speed guy off the bench. De Aza has his value just not as a starter.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 01:33 PM) Paulie had a good year last year and can still play. Not every team thinks our players are s***. Paulie returned to his old form last year, lot of key hits that were not home runs. I don't know why his salary would scare off teams that have money. Because you don't pay a 1B $12M (especially when he's 34 years old) to do what Konerko did last year, ranking in the bottom 25% of qualified 1B. From '04 to '06 Konerko was a hell of a hitter and no doubt worth $12M but at this point in his career he's a decent 1B being paid far too much in a bad economy. Some team is going to sign Adam LaRoche for ~$7M a season and get nearly identical production.

It looks like Orlando Hudson is going to win the NL Gold Glove at 2B which is just sad, there's no way in hell he's a better defender than Chase Utley. He's a top 3 player in the game and the best defensive player at his position in his league and he still can't win this stupid f***ing award.

He'd make a nice replacement for Wise and I believe he still has 2 options left so I'd say no.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 12:47 PM) It sounds like that report was a little premature. Apparently the Sox just aren't that excited to have Scott back. Like a lot of us, they just don't feel like he can duplicate his 2009 again. That's why they have Danks and De Aza as backup plans when Podsednik goes down sometime in the first 2 months. Very exciting.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) Where am I reading what? There has been all kinds of talk from the Sox about improving their defense, and there was just a blurb that came out saying the Sox are back in on Pods. Please don't do it, Kenny. Kotsay was a good baseball move, but Pods however is not. They'll re-sign Podsednik and pickup either Thome or Blalock to DH and call it an offseason lineup wise, this will make it very hard for me to go into next year with an optimistic outlook.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:34 AM) Boston declined the Varitek's option (although he can stay with the team if he agrees to the club option of $3 million). Would he be a candidate for a back-up? Varitek picked up his $3M player option so Boston is stuck with him for another season.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 12:45 AM) He got injured in 07 and he was still an above league average hitter back in 08. Not for a first baseman.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 9, 2009 -> 11:51 PM) $7 million for a guy who had an wOBA of .363 last year isn't that bad of a deal. Sure, he's a 1B and a stat like that doesn't make him very appealing, but Konerko only had a .362 wOBA last year. Both Konerko and Overbay are average defenders. So basically, Overbay is being paid $7 million to be about as productive as Konerko, while Paulie is being paid $12 million. This is no knock on Konerko, but you guys are undervaluing Overbay. Given his current situation, the trade does seem to gain some validity, but if I'm Toronto, I want more than two minor league failures. He was pretty bad in '07 and '08 and he'll be 33 on opening day, he's not a great bet for 2010.