dmbjeff

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) Probably not, but to suggest that he left Boston because he had better chances at more titles is retarded. That wife of his probably had a big role in the decision to be apart of New York life too. She is the only thing keeping me in the thought that Damon may end up here over Detroit.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 02:10 PM) I doubt it's as one-dimensional as all that. Probably not, but to suggest that he left Boston because he had better chances at more titles is retarded.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) Not even a contest. The '94 team was the best I've ever witnessed. The pitching was just about as good as '93 with a VASTLY improved offense. Frank was Frank. He was the best offensive player in the world at the time. But what Julio Franco brought to the lineup, well, words really can't describe. And now I feel like going to the zoo and killing every animal I see. '94 still hurts. Sorry to bring it up.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 02:04 PM) Yeah, but the team he went to also has the most money to spend on players, and therefore, one of the best chances to win the WS each year, so it also made sense as far as a success standpoint Come on now, Boston has the second highest payroll. They each won the same amount of WS during that 4 year stretch. He left for the money, period.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) While that sounds good, then why is he looking to Chicago or Detroit? Why isn't he in NY or LA begging to play for the league min? This is the same guy who fled Boston, a place where he was treated as a God and then was referred to as Judas, for more money. To suggest he doesn't want the best deal is crazy.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) everyone knew that frank wasn't going to do much. I'm not asking how it tunred out, I'm asking if people were comfortable with it. Jones hit 17 HR in limited at bats last year. There's no questioning if he played full time he would be close to leading the team in HR's, however are people comfortable with that going into the season. It doesn't sound like most people like it. But in a platoon role, Jones will get 40% of the AB's at most against LHP only. He isn't being counted on as a full time DH, so why bring up the "if he played a full season" card. So once again limited AB's for Jones and his power which he does have will only play a few times a week so it won't add up to much. Kotsay has enough power to maybe hit out 8-10 HR with his 60% share of the DH duties, but he isn't a power hitter, never has been, never will.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) There is a whole new interesting topic in itself Yeah probably the wrong place to bring up the topic, but after mentioning the 93 and 94 team it got me to thinking how damn good that team was. Back to the Damon shenanigans.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:13 PM) Really? You were satisfied with Everett as being the primary DH? Everett was the DH because they were waiting for Big Frank to get back and he only lasted a month thus, Jurrasic got the bulk of the AB's. But the DH spot that year put up 35HR and 113rbi between the 2 that season. I seriously doubt Jones/Kotsay get to much more than half of that total.

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:09 PM) They would have all of spring training to work a trade for one of the backup OF's for a backup IF. That really isn't much of a concern as it is just to sign Damon. Small potatoes. Damon needs to be signed. Remember the 93 team, the 94 team, we signed stopgap guys in Ellis Burks and Julio Franco in those seasons to fill holes and both worked out great and got us over the hump each year, granted 94 was halted by the strike. That 94 team would have whipped the 05 teams ass by the way, they were unbelievable.

QUOTE (whtsoxfan @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:03 PM) If the White sox sign Damon then either Andruw Jones or Nix will be out. The White Sox typically carry 12 pitchers. The choice to be made if Damon signs will be to carry 6 outfielders with only 5 infielders or 5 outfielders and 6 infielders. With 5 infielders the reserve infielder would be Vizquel. They would have all of spring training to work a trade for one of the backup OF's for a backup IF. That really isn't much of a concern as it is just to sign Damon. Small potatoes. Damon needs to be signed. Remember the 93 team, the 94 team, we signed stopgap guys in Ellis Burks and Julio Franco in those seasons to fill holes and both worked out great and got us over the hump each year, granted 94 was halted by the strike.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 15, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) Who's going to give up a backup IF and take on $1 million for Kotsay? And a lesser but noteable point, who backs up 1b then? Konerko isn't as spry as he was in 2005 when our backup was Timo/Offday. Well you obviously trade him for a guy make similar dollars. Who that is, I don't know, but Kotsay should be the one moved at that point. Andruw Jones played some 1B in Texas last year I believe. Teahen can also play 1B on days PK needs a day off and Vizquel can play 3B. They do need another back up IF I feel and Kotsay would be the odd man out I think.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 15, 2010 -> 02:19 PM) A general question I was thinking about Re: Damon. Hypothetically let's assume the Sox sign him. That makes our bench/DH rotation Vizquel, Kotsay, Jones, Damon, and Castro, if they go with 12 pitchers. (12 pitchers, 8 everyday players, 5 man bench/DH rotation). Are people comfortable with a 44 year old Omar Vizquel being our only backup IF for 3 separate positions? At least to my eyes, we're pretty much required to carry either CJ or Nix just so we have 2 backups to cover the IF. That limits us to an 11 man pitching staff, and I'm not sure the org would be thrilled about that. Anyway, you don't avoid signing Damon because of that, but I'd say it ought to be something they think about beforehand. I think at that point you trade Kotsay during spring training for a backup IF.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 14, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) Juiced...Cough Cough. ya think??????

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 14, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) Scherzer sliding into the rotation makes them stronger but losing Jackson doesn't make them weaker? It's a lateral move at best in the short term. Scherzer has some great "stuff" but moving from the NL to the AL won't do him any favors. Long term he may end up better than Jackson.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Feb 10, 2010 -> 12:17 PM) I thought the same thing last year about CF, when we started the year with Wise and BA. Then we got stuck with them until the deadline. CF is much harder to acquire than a DH. There are only 30 CF's but about 200 different options when you really think about it we could trade for as a DH.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 10, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) I still don't see this situation as being that bad. If you look at the splits kotsay had a .290 BA , and a .347 obp against rhp last year and jones had a .367 obp against lhp with a poor ba last year. While these numbers aren't great they aren't awful in light of two reasons. 1. they spent their money and off season moves on peavy and rios, so the sox were going to down grade somewhere. I, personally would rather have peavy and rios than a thome type at dh. 2. the sox want a more athletic defensive oriented team and kotsay provides this with backing up 1B and jones provides this with backing up the of. I think ozzie and kw got tired of seeing dye konerko, thome and aj getting on base but not scoring because it took 3 hits to get them home. The replacements may not get on base as much but have a chance to score on fewer hits. The sox are counting on the lineup working as a team as opposed to the fanasy stats of thome only scoring if he hits the homerun. It will be quite the different team built along the same lines of boston, angels and seattle all of whom shed power for pitching and defense this year. In a true platoon, Kotsay will play 4 or 5 days a week. That is unreal. He should be starting once a week or once every two weeks at most as a 4th or 5th OF/backup 1B. He should be a late inning defensive replacement if needed and not be counted on for 60-70% of the AB's that come with a true platoon. If he were the Andruw Jones of a platoon, getting the other 30-40% of the AB's I'd still be upset with it. He is not someone who should be trusted with such a huge role on a contending ball club. KW must have some sort of deal in place for Gonzalez or Dunn or some other lefthanded power hitter and whatever club that is, doesnt want to deal right now and wants to wait until May or June and tell their fanbase, hey we gave it a try but now we need to move player X. We won't see this platoon past June or at least I hope so.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 11:50 AM) That's how I feel about it too. I like Hudson but he doesn't turn them into a powerhouse by any means. No, but he just makes them better, period. Any positive move is a good move. Their defense has improved a great deal not to mention he has a solid bat.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) How about the fact that Alexei is probably the team's worst bunter and would be asked to bunt near every time Pierre reaches bases in our new NL designed offense? With Pierre's speed, there is no reason we need to bunt him over to 2nd on the times he reaches 1st base. That's insane. He should be getting on base, have the 2nd place hitter work the count and have Pierre on 2nd base 80% of the time via a SB. Then the #2,#3 and #4 hitters all have a shot to get him in. That is ideal, I don't see alot of bunting from the 2 hole this season.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 31, 2010 -> 09:01 PM) I don't think anyone really knows because of the concerns about his back. I read something about the Indians possibly being interested, but only if he came at a very, very inexpensive price tag. My guess is somewhere in the $4-5 million range? His back must really be f***ed up. The Mets could really use a power hitting 1B, we could use a lefty DH and he is still available. I hope we get him, if healthy, because I think he would be a perfect DH platoon guy vs. RHP, much better than Kotsay I believe.

If you a guy like Damon, at this point, why wouldn't he just pull a Clemens and sit out until someone comes after him for a contract in May at the price he wants. There is almost always a team looking for an upgrade at that time, due to injury, under performance or a team who originally thought to not be good, breaks out and is looking for another piece to the puzzle. I know last year there were alot of bargains to be had but none of those guys had Boras advising them to the best of my knowledge. He wants to make the most money for his client, period. He has gotten it wrong a few times before like with Varitek and ARod this last time, but usually he knows what he is doing. While teams aren't beating down the door with much more than a $6 million a year deal right now, they might come in May. It's all about supply and demand. I sure hope we can get him for a Bobby Abreu-esque deal, but I don't think it will happen.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 12:58 AM) I agree with witesox....Kubel's getting better and better as his knee is bothering him less than after the reconstruction. Some Twins' fans I know would argue that he's actually better than Young because Delmon has so many bad habits on the field that haven't been corrected since his days with TB...the same "lazy" habits which have caused Gardy and Smith to look into possibly dumping him the last two offseasons. Some theorize Smith is "forcing" him on the fans simply because the Garza/Bartlett deal looks so one-sided and he stills hopes to get some return out of his investment. Count Branyan as another player on this list who was looking for a multi-year deal -- the first of his career -- but hasn't gotten one, and won't. The Mariners tried to re-sign him for a single year in November, but he turned them down, and GM Jack Zduriencik subsequently continued his quest to assemble a team that allows no batted ball to fall to the earth by trading for Casey Kotchman in January. The White Sox, who once seemed to be composed entirely of first baseman/DH-types, could actually now use a first baseman/DH-type, and they might represent one of the last options for one of 2009's breakout players. www.espn.com I am all for the Branyan possibility, at this point, I think he is the best option to DH vs RHP,unless Johnny Damon could become a reality, but I highly doubt it. Kotsay should be nothing more than a 4th OF.

they need to go get Branyan and have him hit the righties, he posted a .905 OPS vs righties last year, while playing half his games in a very spacious park. the guy needs a job. Kotsay can't be the starting DH vs RHP, he just can't.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:23 PM) What I'm not understanding is why is Thome such a big risk now when he was a much bigger risk in 2006 coming off injury and with a significantly larger contract, despite the subsidy/offwrite from Pat Gillick? He was in his mid 30's then, still well past the age that hitters start to decline significantly. So now spending $1.5-2.0 million is suddenly a huge risk when they spent 5-6X that on Big Jim last year? I don't get it. Once again, if they'd done ANYTHING to shore up the position, this wouldn't be an issue. And in fact, they have. Andruw Jones could take those at-bats against lefties. It just doesn't have any logic when we play 81 games at USCF. The Twins are a better team with Jim Thome and we are worse without him (and no suitable replacement), pure and simple. You are exactly right caulfield. To suggest that Kotsay is a better hitter vs RHP than Thome is, it's just wrong. I can't believe KW is letting this happen. It's not just because it is the great Jim Thome. It could be anyone who would be a suitable replacement at DH. Unless we somehow come up with a better option, this will hang over this teams head the whole first half until they realize their faults and have to trade for someone else.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:02 AM) You are completely missing the supply side of the argument here. There are a grand total of 14 DH jobs - and only about 3 of them were even potentially open - and Thome will likely get one of them, because he is among the best available. Kotsay on the other hand, is in a job market with 90 jobs (starting outfielders), and STILL hasn't been considered for one in years. There is no contest in terms of who has more value, in Thome versus Kotsay, in terms of getting majority at bats at the DH slot. Great post and your point is exactly spot on. Why you would consider kotsay for 65% of the platoon ab's over thome is sad and rediculous. Kotsay couldn't hold a starting gig as an outfielder, but in addition, he hasn't even held the platoon of an outfield job but now is expected to have the skills to hold it at a more valuable offesive position like DH.

Mark kotsay is going to get 300 to 350 ab's as a platoon dh considering how many righties the team faces. That is simply irresponsible. The numbers he puts up is of a 4th outfielder at best. He has no right to be taking that many crucial at bats for any team, much less one with an amazing starting staff who has world series aspirations.