AddisonStSox

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ May 20, 2007 -> 03:48 PM) You got number one wrong. It's: "Your an idiot." This post is priceless. Absolutely priceless.

"Value be damned" Great words to live by when running a professional organization. It is exactly that sort of mentality that cripples the future of an organization--incidentally, it is exactly that same mentality which brought G. Gonzalez back to the White Sox organization (sacrificing a better yield for either a) a player the organization over-values or b ) a salary dump)

Great win. Great all-around performance. ...now, follow it up with a win this evening.

...dollars to doughnuts, Sweeney, in a starting situation, out-produces Melky Cabrera--even in 2007. IMO, that's what makes the Yankees and Sox poor trade partners.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:29 PM) You get rid of Contreras 10 times before you even think of trading Garland. Sure, on X-Box. This is the real-world, whereby we need to formulate projections on tangible, real-world baseball realities. Moving Contreras results in a net loss...of this much, I assure you. Moving Garland, on the other hand, (something Williams has attempted to do in two consecutive off-seasons) would most assuredly result in valuable pieces of the big-picture puzzle. Which player would you rather have on your team? Yes, that's what I thought. Now, why would any professional, paid, real-world general manager feel any different? [This is exactly the line of thinking I never really understand when it comes to Soxtalk proposed roster moves]

QUOTE(Beltin @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:31 PM) Obviously these numbers do not look impressive, but does Melky look comfortable in the OF this year? How about his presence at the plate? He looked like he was a real keeper last year but I have not tracked his progress since the Sox and Yanks last hooked up. Any thoughts? I'll certainly concede that my minor league knowledge is limited, but since day one, Cabrera has always screamed, "over-hyped Yankees' prospect" to me. In the end, I may be wrong, but that's what I'm thinking. Cano, on the other hand, is a fantastic little ballplayer.

QUOTE(Wedge @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:29 PM) Wang! Quit taking pictures of the parking lot! * * This is not a racist comment, it is from Caddyshack. "Don't tell em' your Jewish."

QUOTE(Wedge @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:24 PM) trading Garcia opened up the slot for Danks... eventually. Yeah, Danks is great! You're really fishing there, Wedge. I think that line of thinking is dangerous. Make no mistake about it, the Garcia deal opened up the slot for McCarthy; and when Texas made and offer including one of his favorite prospects in baseball, Williams couldn't pass on the McCarthy deal.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:23 PM) well, i agree that Gio reminds me more of Jim Parque than Pedro Martinez. But do we really need to bring up that stale and lame "We should have got more for Garcia!" argument? Yes. That argument is very much merited. I'll defend that argument all day and night. ...but, not here.

QUOTE(Wedge @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:21 PM) Danks or Garcia starting. Who do you trust more? I'll take the perennial 200IP pitcher, thank you. I really don't see where a Garcia v. Danks situation would have presented itself. Still, Danks is the real deal. Love. That. Kid.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:17 PM) Pedro is small as well. His stuff is nasty, we shall see what happen. Russell is a wild card to me. His stuff is nasty, he is a big guy and seems to learn new things quickly. ...and let's talk about Pedro's durability. Pedro is a Hall of Famer...suffice to say he may be the exception to the rule. I would certainly not put many eggs into the Gonzalez basket and still imagine there was a better return out there for Garcia.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:10 PM) I really want Gio, Russell and Danks to be in the same rotation. I feel like their stuff is so nasty to face back to back to back. In my opinion, Gonzalez is a non-factor in the MLB. Those slight-of-build guys don't project well...yeah, yeah, Oswalt...shove it. Russell, on the other hand, is really intriguing. He may very well end up being a very pleasant surprise.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:11 PM) Please have AJ DH in game two. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that doesn't happen...managers are very reluctant to put themselves in a situation without a viable backup catcher. If Pierzynski DH's, that puts Mackowiak in the emergency C role and, quite frankly, that just scares the hell out of me.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:06 PM) Hes nasty. he was into the 90's today with his heater, two kinds of hammers and a plus change. Not much more you could ask for. If Mark teaches him a cutter, he will elevate his game to the next level. If he can cut that 90's fastball like Buehrle, you're looking at a perennial double-digit-game-winner. ...to have that kind of poise in his rookie year, a year he projected to spend in Charlotte, is just gravy. Ballplayer. He's going to be around for a long time.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 16, 2007 -> 03:01 PM) yup. no doubt. Did ANYONE on here think he would be this good? Probably not. But, that guy in the front office did. It's no wonder Texas fans are thinking they got fleeced. He's the total package. He's got everything you look for in a big-league pitcher and he throws the ball with his left hand. This kid is looking more and more like Buehrle Deux to me every time I see him toe the rubber--but, I still bet Buehrle wish he had that kid's yakker.

Kid's going to be a star in this league.

QUOTE(Maverick0984 @ May 16, 2007 -> 02:57 PM) That sure was a nice throw by Cabrera though, I wish we had someone who could do that consistently :-/ Who's "we?" Got a mouse in your pocket?

John Danks is going to be around a long, long time. What a ballplayer.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ May 15, 2007 -> 03:19 PM) Is Darin Erstad going to be worth 6 million? thats the only thing I'm not exactly sure about. Especially since Ichiro will be taking over as leadoff guy and Tadahito doesn't seem to be successful out of the 2 spot. Answer: no. But, we all know Williams' (and apparently Hawk as well who feels Erstad is the best center-fielder since Willie Mays) love affair with Erstad and he would be one more veteran on the roster--something Ozzie, as well as Williams, appears to fancy. If the Sox could live with paying Erstad $6M for one more season's worth of proven work, I could. But, to answer your question: is Erstad worth $6M? No, he is not. That sort of lineup also becomes possible because Williams is a bit ahead of the curve on bullpen talent. He made concerted efforts to acquire young, inexpensive, promising talent over the past two seasons that I believe will pay dividends in the near future. While others will be paying upwards of $4M for Howry and Eyre-type talent, Williams will be able to plug in similar production for a fraction of the cost. As I've said, Williams was ahead of the curve on this one and I suspect you will see many, many other organization emulate the Sox franchise in this regard.

Thanks, Kalapse, I knew you would come through. I think you are spot-on with the Buehrle assessment and I know you are spot-on with all the current players, so I bet you are correct within a couple million dollars in either direction. Some areas that may deflate the projection: -Will Iguchi receive $4M on the open-market given his current pace? Probably not. However, he may receive $4M and Williams may very well give it to him considering the contract will be for less than three years and there appears to be at least one viable middle-infield prospect in Getz a season or two away. -How about Ichiro for $15M per? Perhaps. His 2007 statistics may not merit $15M per season, but considering his skill-set and the needs of the White Sox, this is one player I could see Williams overpaying for. -Having both Sweeney and Fields in the lineup looks like a necessity to me; and plugging in one or two farm-grown position-players every other year seems like a requirement for being considered a competitive and financially-sound organization on a year-to-year basis. It all works if both Sweeney and Fields are up and producing; otherwise, this is not the route to go and you can tear this projection to threads. Well done, Kalapse.

I normally pay no mind to these sorts of threads, but, it's an off-day of sorts and I'll play along. Assessing the team as it is currently construed, I think a 2008 roster including the following players is realistic given the White Sox front office's spending tendencies and general baseball philosophies. At this point, I would also add that the following roster resembles a roster I would like to see take the field in 2008. C-Pierzynski C-Toby Hall 1B-Paul Konerko DH/1B-Jim Thome 2B-Tadahito Iguchi SS-Juan Uribe SS/2B-Alex Cintron 3B-Josh Fields 3B-Pablo Ozuna LF-Ryan Sweeney CF-Darin Erstad RF-Ichiro Suzuki OF/Utl- OF/Utl- SP-Mark Buehlre SP-Jose Contreras SP-Javier Vazquez SP-John Danks SP-Open Competition (Masset, Sisco, Gonzalez, Broadway, etc.)/Cheap Free Agent Signing CP-Bobby Jenks RP-Mike MacDougal RP-Matt Thornton RP-Matt Sisco RP-David Aardsma RP-Nick Masset ------------------------------------- So, that assumes Jon Garland, Joe Crede, and Jermaine Dye will not be a part of the 2008 roster--the return on both the Garland and Crede moves are irrelevant for the purposes of this exercise. Some of the logic used to come to those conclusions: -Williams re-signs Buehrle to a historic White Sox pitching contract and Jon Garland and the $11M contract he possess becomes a financial burden and has to be moved off the books. -Jermaine Dye is not a part of this franchise beyond the 2007 season, this is something I think we can all agree with. Ichiro, along with Buehrle, is the big off-season splash and is an essential piece of the puzzle (proven everyday RF and lead-off hitter). -Crede, like Garland, is moved to make room for Fields and rid the White Sox of his contract--I wish this team could have a $170M payroll, but that is just not going to happen. -Mackowiak moved in the off-season for spare parts or minor league talent--his salary becomes a problem given the Ichiro and Buehrle signings. -Iguchi, the starting 2B, was had on the cheap following a disappointing season and is immediately penciled in at the two-hole following Ichiro. If any of the payroll aficionados could estimate the payroll for the aforementioned roster it would be greatly appreciated. What I think you will find is that this conjectured roster and its correlating payroll will be strikingly similar to the payroll of 2007 and therefore more realistic than you might think. Do I think that is a perfect lineup or even a probable lineup? No. But, I think it is something you might see as the White Sox once again find themselves in limbo between a complete rebuilding and a veteran/win-now roster.

Let me preface this post by stating: I don't give a s*** about the MLB draft or its "talent" pool. That said, I trust some of you minor league followers enough to ask the following two questions. 1) Who should the White Sox draft (realistically given their draft slot)? 2) Who will the White Sox draft? Thanks.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ May 9, 2007 -> 11:55 AM) Fact is, the team ERA won't stay under 4.00. At that point, what if the offense is just as attrocious? Congratulations on a 4th place AL Central finish if so. And Addy, I'm sorry but there were a couple of horrendously bad managerial decisions made last night. Sure, the bullpen sucked as well, but there is no way in hell you pitch to Morneau-ned with a base open, just to name one. Completely agree.

I would have told you: Clearly, it is Ozzie Guillen's fault.

For those of you closely following Illinois' recruiting (i.e. doc, whom I miss reading by the way; where've you been, buddy?), one noticeable difference in Weber's recruiting philosophy has been his failing to put all of his eggs in one basket and covering all his bases in his recruiting. For the first time in years, it seems like there is a distinct group-A whom the coaching staff would love to take first and foremost and plenty of contingency groups from all around the country--any one of which could come to fruition and turn into quite the commitment. I'm eagerly awaiting the first verbal of 2008. I'm sure it will be one to remember.