CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Just to expand more on what I said about Rienzo earlier his last 10 starts at AAA before his call up he went 5-3 with a 1.64 ERA . I have no idea what Dick meant by a dime a dozen in referring to Rienzo ,but I would like to challenge him to find a dozen starters in AAA with similiar numbers. 10 starts 66 inings pitched 69 K's 24 BB and that 1.64 ERA also holding opponents to a .192 BA. I will even give him the whole year at AAA to find a simliar stretch of 10 games for a dozen AAA starting pitchers. You cannot use Erik Johnson since he is with the Sox.

I thought Rienzo looked pretty good last year except that he had the same problem as Santiago and that was throwing strikes. He had a heluva 2nd half in the minors last year and everyone was surprised he had such a good curve ball in the game threads when he came up even though his cut fastball was supposed to be his best pitch. He has a legit chance to be a back of the rotation starter. This is what you do when you go young. You find out what you have. Saying the Sox should already know what they have is like saying they can predict his future and everyone including us and the Sox brass can only speculate on that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 4, 2014 -> 11:09 AM) I genuinely don't think you understand the definition of the word cheap. If Adam Dunn is not cheap, then neither Ervin Santana nor Ubaldo Jimenez are cheap. They will be making the same amount of money, roughly. I think cheap for Jimenez and Santana would fall in the 2 yr. under 9M a yr. or less category. Garza got 4yrs. AAV $13M .

We've got 2 guys in that core who have been compared to Miguel Cabrera in Abreu and A. Garcia , even if Garcia's was based more on looks than ability . But still if either one or both of them come close to duplicating Cabrera's numbers then we've really got something. Also might as well add Phegley and Beckham to the core since it's not impossible that they have good enough years and are young enough that they can be considered part of the future. Or if Carlos Sanchez and Micah Johnson both hit .333 this year and pitchers have an Erik Johnson type year you can add them too since you'll be subtracting whichever ones you listed in the current core bust. So many unexpected things could happen. Conor Gillaspie could hit .280 and 20HR's . You never know.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 30, 2014 -> 03:44 AM) True story. I believe the Cards crappy shortstop made a huge error too. And Wong got picked off.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 05:02 PM) I disagree, do you remember the Pirates & Cardinals trade rumor threads last season? Everyone was sure the Sox would wipe out both teams' minor league systems at the trade deadline. Maybe the Cards and Pirates should've parted with some prospects since neither won the World Series

We might see a return of Grady's Ladies .

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 03:53 PM) I am not a big fan of this move nor Robin Ventura. He hasn't shown me anything of substance to prove he a good in game manager, situational analyzer, or open and willing to employ the tactics of modern metrics and theory. In fact I think he has proven the exact opposite, I dont believe he values outs and has shown a willingness to give them away (bunts, steals, sacrifices), especially early in the game. I don't believe he is a real student of the game at this point, I thought his support of the now departed Jeff Manto and his vocal stance against working counts, walks, and OBP was a big organizational mistake. I would have been happy to see Hahn let RV play out his contract for this year while he seeks "his guy" next offseason. Maybe someone who is more progressive in his tactics and someone that the new young players that Hahn has brought in can relate too. Out of everything said so far I'm closest to agreement on this. I don't think you publicly criticize any of your coaches so his support of Manto doesn't bother me.. The team defense falling apart is very irksome. As far as valueing outs, that's a tough call when your offense is bad . Do you play for an early lead or try to manufature runs with sacrifices ,steals and hit and runs or do you just let guys swing away? So many close games we lost still didn't provide an answer . When it was apparent the Sox were going nowhere, I hated seeing the same lineup every day. What better time to see how players respond in different roles ? Took Robin forever to give Viciedo an extended chance in the middle of the lineup and why did De Aza always have to hit leadoff when he was one of a few guys showing any power and hit well with RISP ? Seemed like Robin was more like Ozzie in that he managed from his gut more than relying on any kind of advanced metrics, but again, it's so hard to tell when your team sucks and most things you try fail, such as pinch hitting. But still I would've liked to see more pinch hitting . Have to play matchups regardless of fail rates because things can turn around just as fast as they failed , but you never know if you don't try.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 12:29 PM) So the Yankees are paying $175M over the course of 7 years, or about $25M a year if you spread it out evenly...... Good f***ing luck, jackwagons. Now add in what the Yankees have to pay MLB for going over the luxury tax level and being a repeat offender doing it.

QUOTE (CyAcosta41 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 07:51 AM) LOVED that the Sox (apparently) pursued this guy hard - within their organizational limits; VERY GLAD they didn't chase beyond any kind of common sense. There's risk and then there's foolish risk. There are 2-3 teams in all of baseball who can take enormous risk, yet their virtually bottomless war chest allows them to avoid out-and-out catastrophe if it plays out badly -- the Yankmes, the Dodgers, and (probably) the Bosox. Objectively, if we take Hahn at his word (and there is no reason not to at this point), the Sox offered competitive financial terms, and presented the intangibles in the most positive possible light that allowed for the possibility of Team Tanaka to value these subjective considerations as they chose to do so. There was ample reason to believe that subjective factors would play a part. Great. Be in the mix on the objective and let Team Tanaka ultimately decide how they weigh the entire package. My guess is that some of these factors played a part, but, at the end of the day, total guaranteed years won out. That's life. No regrets from having a sensible approach and losing because someone else did something that you'd never be willing to do (and certainly NOT with this team at this time). Can't guarantee the results, gentleman; just the process. Despite being a long-time good karma guy who rarely wishes anyone ill, I hope Tanaka bombs miserably and the Yankmes have to chew on this for years to come. Money like this is crazy money (all sophisticated value of WAR notwithstanding) for a human who throws with a flesh and bone arm who has NEVER thrown a pitch in major league baseball. To me, Abreu money - given today's relative dearth of true power - was well within the bell curve of sensible risk. This? Crazy risk. Take half of what you were willing to spend on this guy, plow it into a million other areas of the organization, and I feel so much better about our long-term chances. I'd love to see this turn out badly so that there is at least MORE of a chance that the financial giants out there have to think a little harder about whether they want a Tanaka situation on their hands. Market correction is sometimes an overall good thing. Also as much as I want to see ARod gone, now I have a need to see him come back next year so the Yanks are stuck paying him till his contract runs out in 2017.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 07:54 AM) If the Sox signed him and he's a bust. It's financially crippling. As I've said all along, and why I never cared to really follow this deal, that's a lot of money to pay for a prospect. I wouldn't even consider half that for a superstar in the draft. Hell, I wouldn't want to commit that type of money to an All Star. The Sox don't have the market to absorb huge risks and fail. I think he will pitch very well but he has a ton of mileage on his arm already. Unless he has a bionic arm ,throwing that splitter is going to catch up with him eventually. I say he doesn't make it halfway through that contract with shoulder or elbow surgery and the opt out clause will never be used.

Tanaka Loses his head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmJ-VWPDM4

.301/ .360 OBP/ .910 OPS 37 HR/ 108 RBI

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 9, 2014 -> 10:55 PM) Man, I had no idea that Tanaka has to be signed by Jan. 24th. I was thinking that was the deadline for teams to say if they wanted to bid the $20M or not, and then there would be a separate negotiation window. Now that I know this thing only has 2 weeks left, I'll actually pay attention more when I see stories on this. Excited for this to be over. Soxfest also starts the 24th of January. You can look at it 2 ways. The Sox are showing interest so they can say they showed interest at Soxfest when he eventually signs with the high bidder or they do sign him and Soxfest is a Hahn lovefest. The Phil Rogers article ( http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...p;vkey=news_cws ) compared the career innings piitched by Tanaka as a 25 year old to Frank Tanana at the same age. Tanana ended up with shoulder surgery . Tanaka/Tanana ,very similiar name. Draw you own conclusions.

The 1st and last choices seem like the same thing so I went with concentrate on the catcher. Hahn more than likely is not going to sign one of the expensive relievers.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 09:37 PM) They changed the baseballs prior to this year and it lead to huge offense/HR numbers. Someone picked the wrong prototype for the new ball or something and the ball traveled much better. I might be messing up the details but the baseballs were modified incorrectly. Wladimir Balentin hit an obscene number of HRs this year due to the balls. So theyve been screwing with the balls then for 2 of the last 3 years. Sounds obscene:P

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 09:40 PM) Consider where Salty decided to play though. He's from South Florida. I feel like some posters just think if we offered 3/24 instead of 3/21 then we would get him. I really doubt that that is the case. You never know ,would've been nice to find out though.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 03:04 PM) It's difficult to argue that the Sox shouldn't be heavily involved in due diligence for Tanaka. He should be considered an option. Whether or not they choose to enter the bidding depends ENTIRELY on their internal assessment of his abilities and upside -- an assessment to which we have no insight and which may or may not be completely different from public or even internal club consensus. If they don't get him, it won't necessarily be because they didn't think they had the payroll space. I agree. The Sox already took their big gamble on Abreu. To take another now for an even bigger gamble financially plus spending $20M for nothing but the right to sign him is a huge gamble regardless of how they "think " he will project. Tanaka wasn't anything special in the WBC. Also in 2011 when Tanaka really took off as a pitcher the Japanese league changed baseballs and offenses suffered. Not sure if they ever changed back. http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Masahiro_Tanaka

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 09:16 AM) PK is getting $2.5 this year. He has 1 million in previously deferred dollars that he is scheduled to get in 2014. I still think they have the money to have signed an impact player , if just to only generate some excitement with the fan base. Abreu though a big signing and fitting within Hahn's plan is a complte unknown to all but the hardcore fan. I know it doesn't make good business sense to sign an impact free agent for that reason only , but with next years free agent class looking even worse than this years it's going to be tougher to add that guy that can really make a difference. I also know that Hahn is looking for near ML ready players. If that's the case and he's sticking to it I'm not sure we're looking at even next year to compete. The top free agents want too many years and too much money. I don't see the Sox going after Tanaka. Saltalamacchia seemed very gettable and signed for a very reasonable deal, not that he woud've generated much excitement to sell season tickets . As much as I wanted Ellsbury , Salty seemed to fit in the right amount of years and right amount of money category and another LH bat.

Sox definitely need De Aza's lefthanded bat and speed. Sox definitely need Viciedo to hit but he'll be a Trumbo type if he isn't already .Davidson if he pans out is slow and might be a 1st baseman /DH in the making . Abreu isn't fast also might be a DH though my personal feeling is he will be fine as a fielder. Got to keep at least one Cuban for Abreu's sake but Sox also might want to get rid of Alexei since he's getting up there in age and is $10M a yr. now. If we keep De Aza he cuts into Viciedo playing time unless Eaton goes to the minors. And now that we know he is'nt much of a basestealer his speed can be better served against only certain pitchers or taking an extra base , something Viciedo won't be doing. Viciedo can be beastly eventually but without a position. Hahn's got his hands full now trying to figure this s*** out. I think eventualy De Aza, Viciedo and Alexei all get moved , one of them before the others if Hahn can get a decent return. We'll know more when we find out how Abreu handles ML pitching.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 08:12 AM) I listened to the Hahn interview this morning, and not once (if I recall) did he mention anything about trying to win the division this year. I was very impressed by this approach. As for Tanaka, no thanks...the cost is just going to be insane. You got it. The Sox already took their "leap of faith" on Abreu and they won't spend $20M just for the right to spend another $100M+. If they want more pitching they can always sign. Garza ,Jimenez etc for much cheaper.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 08:12 AM) Nope left handed and the dudes only 23, has plenty of time to develope. He clearly wouldn't start at MLB level but work his way through the minors. B-R says right handed as does fangraphs and baseball prospectus.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Dec 17, 2013 -> 12:23 PM) Mine was way prettier. I always said "look at all the pretty colors" when i saw yours.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 18, 2013 -> 07:50 AM) http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/phil...assignment.html He was just dropped for a reason -- he's had a couple disappointing seasons. But he's got a high pedigree and we have so little in the system that this is the most obvious fit of the offseason. When Rick Hahn acquires him soon, this will be the thread of discussion Have faith in the Hahn! Hit his peak in A ball. What a find ! And he's righthanded.