dmbjeff

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Jul 22, 2016 -> 11:44 PM) I don't care. I agree with those who say that Bryant/Betts/Bogaerts/Correa is a starting point, and disagree with those who say that those players are more valuable than he is. You don't get a prime age ace who is on a 3/39 contract for less than that. He is, IMO the 2nd best LHP in baseball. and the only pitchers you could make an argument for being better than him for 2nd best in the game are Bumgarner and Fernandez. (Bumgarner and Fernandez pitch in the NL. Sale would have nearly Kershaw #s in the NL IMO. He'd annually flirt with, if not achieve 300 K. Arrieta was a flash in the pan IMO. He'll settle in as an ace level pitcher, but not a demigod like Kershaw) So, you are essentially trading for the best (healthy) pitcher in the game, with a contract of 3/39. Think about that for a second. Whatever Kershaw is worth in a trade when healthy, think about that deal. That is what Sale is worth. Then you add in the contract. So you get the rest of his age 27 season and his 28, 29, 30 seasons(prime) while paying him no more than 13.5MM in ANY season. For a top 3 pitcher in the game at worst. So think about that again. THEN tell me he's not worth Bryant++ or Correa++, etc. Man, none of those deals for Sale would ever happen. Carlos Correa isn't getting traded away for Sale, are you nuts??! Teams trade for people at the deadline to help them make the playoffs. They don't deal from their current core to add a similar valued player. It happens like 1% of the time. If they trade Sale, which I think they should, you go get the best prospect package you can find and build for 2018 and beyond. This current core is never going to put it all together. They need real contributions from young good players to help supplement higher priced talent. The Sox won't spend big money. They totally had the chance this offseason and blew it. Now next offseason, Free Agency is a joke, so we just go through another year of the same and Sale has even less value going forward, between age, contract and possible future injury.

Last year's team was awful, outside of Eaton, Abreu and Melky. They had 6 spots they had to improve in. They went and got Frazier and he has been an improvement over last year by a huge amount despite his recent struggles. Lawrie has also been an upgrade although he too has struggled lately. Every other position, SS, DH, RF, C...that's 4 spots of no upgrade. DH is your biggest glaring issue. That needs to be a 30 HR, 90 RBI guy in that spot. Instead we get Avi. He is just brutal. Everyone on this board wanted him gone but, nope, he is still here. I know the LaRoche thing screwed things up a bit but he was awful in his own right. SS, we went from bad Alexei to even worse Rollins. Just an awful, short sighted move. Saladino should have been given the job. Despite Saladino not being a great hitter, he was far better defensively and a rare bright spot last season after his call up because of his glove. At worse, let Saladino play until Anderson was ready. Instead, $2 million wasted on Rollins. C, we go from Flowers to Avila/Navarro. Mediocrity to more mediocrity. At least Flowers was good defensively. RF, we get rid of Avi's awful glove but then get Austin Jackson who good defensively has been pretty bad at the plate. Yeah I know Jackson is in CF and Eaton in RF, but Jackson was Avi's replacement. Jackson is a slight upgrade over Avi due to D, but really he should be a 4th OF on a good team like he was last year for the Cubs. SO in summary, needing upgrade at 6 spots and we only upgrade at 2. That still means almost half of your lineup is still garbage. There is just very little player development with positional players. I am really hoping Anderson develops and turns into something special. Until they start to develop their own talent, this will just continue on and on. You can rarely fill from dumpster diving and hope it works out. In 2005 they sort of did that letting Maggs and Lee go but they at least got competent talent back in return with Pods, AJ, Dye, Iguchi, Everett. It's like just because it worked once, it will work again. That team still developed their own guys(Crede, Rowand) or got guys super young from other teams and developed them(Uribe, Konerko) Unfortunately, they still need to develop and that's something they are awful at positionally.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 06:08 PM) I get that Bruce is having a great year but we've been stung by these NL guys coming and DHing and struggling. Not playing the field is something they struggle with. In addition to his .914OPS, he has a .3 WAR. That's replacement level. How is that? His defense is atrocious. He is exactly the type of player who needs to come over and slide into a DH role and stay far away from the OF.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 09:30 PM) I wasn't aware Bruce is having a great year. .914 OPS, would be best on this team by almost .100 points.

You see that Shields gem tonight? 2.2 IP 10 ER....Ouch, maybe trade talk is very real and he was nervous?

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ May 19, 2016 -> 08:39 PM) For the love of god, don't strand him this time. JINX

I hope BIG DADDY 69 is enjoying the game from the Scout Seats.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ May 19, 2016 -> 07:54 PM) This Kemp kid is impressive. I picked him up on my super deep, 18 team keeper fantasy league. Looks like an Adam Eaton type player.

Nice AB by Jerry, good approach there.

You gotta be bleepin me with that catch!

A brutal loss but in the grand scheme of things. hopefully this falls under the 60 losses(Hawk's 60 wins and 60 losses analogy), not what you do with the 42 in the middle. If this team plays .500 ball the rest of the way, it is still an 87 win team, so those wanting to jump off the bandwagon, go drink a Dr. Pepper and relax. Things will be alright.

A few things I've thought about with this bizarre story: 1. Do other kids of MLB'ers get their own locker in the locker room? I am sure kids are free to visit from time to time in the locker room at restricted hours, but how many others have free reign to hang out with adults in a locker room setting which includes naked dudes. 2. Wouldn't it make sense that having your kid at the ballpark is cool, but why the locker room? Couldn't he be in a suite with the rest of the family while dad is off busy working. Maybe LaRoche would be better off spending more time working out, looking at film, in the batting cages, fielding, etc. while son is eating Cracker Jacks and having a pop. 3. Don't teams have family days where there kids are allowed out on the field, playing catch and running around with dad. Why couldn't this be enough and why was it so important that his kid be in the locker room? What life lessons were learned from it? Now dragging your kid's name through the mud as you leave the game. Real classy. 4. How many players thought this behavior was so unprofessional, given what we know about sports locker rooms. A place where players will tell dirty jokes, swear, cuss, drink beer after games. It just never in my mind seemed like a place for a kid to be outside of a meet and greet with other players for autographs. Such a weird story and will be very glad when it fades away.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 06:21 PM) Based on streamers projections if Sox run melky, Jackson and eaton for most of your everyday outfield is only putting up 32 homeruns combined. Better be hope Frazier can adjust to the AL and Laroche bounces back cause the sox need those big bats to produce. Lawrie will put up 20+HR, they are swapping power at 2B for a Corner more or less.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 06:00 PM) Who gets DFA'd? I'll go with Kevan Smith. Olt

This one move fills so many holes. Excellent signing and I am glad a move has finally been made. 1.Improves OF Defense tremendously. His upgrade over Avi/Cabrera is huge. Moving Eaton to a corner is much better. I'd expect to see Eaton in RF. 2. Improves DH so LaRoche is only facing RHP and allows for someone like Avi to face LHP. Gives some better value and flexibility to DH spot and allows for a rotation vs. LHP of Avi/Cabrera or Frazier or Lawrie with Saladino/Sanchez playing 3B or 2B. 3. $$$ Still room for more improvements. While some were waiting on the Sox to spend $20-25 million on Cespedes, they have now went out and spent $10 million on Jackson/Rollins/Latos. Still room to spend, yes, not now on FA's per se, but allows financial wiggle room for trades down the line. I imagine they may need to bolster rotation or DH in July if still in the hunt, which ideally they should be. Massive improvements over a year ago. Kudos to Rick Hahn for being patient and working deals.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 28, 2016 -> 08:33 AM) Alex Rios is still available...Brian Anderson or Mackowiak? ErstUd? Trade for Swisher!!1

QUOTE (venom4789 @ Feb 28, 2016 -> 02:28 PM) So how have the last few players worked out for us that we got from the nationals. Plus its only a one year contract, you lose a pick and are hoping he can adjust to a new league and new position. Appears i am in the minority but i am glad we didnt offer the one year deal to him. The last few Nationals players? Should they avoid Bryce Harper too? You may have thought Desmond was a bad fit, but don't use Dunn and LaRoche as reasons why. That is so lazy.

They went foreclosure house shopping. Hoping to find an upscale 6 bedroom house for the cost of a 1 bedroom crappy condo. They figured, one of these will fall in to our lap. Until they didn't. QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 03:30 PM) Light em up: Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 4m4 minutes ago Scottsdale, AZ More KW: "But you have to ask how much the Ferrari costs. We had a lot of great Ferrari ideas, let’s put it that way.” Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 4m4 minutes ago Scottsdale, AZ More KW: "It’s like going down to the Ferrari dealership when you can only afford a Volkswagen. It kind of is what it is in some cases... Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 5m5 minutes ago Scottsdale, AZ Ken Williams on CWS offseason pursuits: "Listen, we always check in on everyone that is of potential interest. But in some cases …

LaRoche at least has a track record of MLB success. Yes, last year was painful to watch, but he could rebound to put up similar numbers as he did in 2014, In fact, dating back to 2010, LaRoche has been great in even numbered years and down years in odd numbered ones, so maybe he is due in 2016. Most Sox fans trust LaRoche to bounceback more than they trust Avi to figure it out. Avi gets mentioned repeatedly because he has never ever had MLB success, EVER. Even in the minors, Avi had a .736 OPS in over 2400 AB's. If that's what he produced in the minors, it should be no wonder why he can't get over .700 OPS in the majors. It's not just the offensive numbers with him either. It's the awful baserunning, awful defense, awful decision making. He just isn't that great. Just because he has a body type that resembles Miguel Cabrera, doesn't make him Miguel Cabrera. That is the whole reason everyone has been calling for the Sox to find a replacement for Avi as a regular and maximize Avi's and LaRoche's worth by having them split DH duties as a platoon.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 31, 2016 -> 02:24 AM) Why trade multiple prospects instead of just giving up one future prospect that the draft pick is? I'm guessing that's exactly what the White Sox are figuring out. What is the best deal for them? Losing 2 middle prospects to get someone like Ethier? Losing one potential top 3 system guy with the comp pick for Fowler? What about the salary coming in of the new player, is he worth the price, does it still allow for more flexibility to add another player? I assume they will come up with an answer soon. Fowler seems the most logical to me, but ya never know what these remaining FA's are asking for in salary. You would imagine the Sox should get a good deal on whoever they bring in if it is a FA but I thought they had Cespedes coming here and I was wrong on that. I just don't see many trade options left at this point and why I think Fowler should and will be the guy. The Sox may make a move like Jackson instead seeing as there is no pick attached and still leaves money for a SP upgrade or maybe bring in Desmond at SS too.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 08:16 PM) http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-191753654.html Big League Stew makes the case for a Fowler signing. The Sox, Cubs, Rangers, Angels, Orioles, Nationals , Indians and some I might be missing. Brewers supposedly want a stopgap for CF, but that would probably be Austin Jackson. Seems the Indians are already at the ends of their budget, so you can cross them off the list. Cardinals would be another possibility, depending on their long-range plans for Holliday and Adams. That outfield definitely has its weaknesses, especially subtracting the certainty of Heyward's defensive prowess. The Red Sox aren't sure about anyone in their outfield except for Betts. Bradley, Jr., and Castillo are huge question marks. It's like someone from this site wrote that article.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 10:17 AM) I want to point out a great post from the Fowler thread. I cut it off early, so click on the little arrow up there to see the rest. That is a good, compelling argument, but I think in general people are underestimating the money Fowler will get and are too quick to dismiss the value of the comp pick. I'm focused on the guy one spot below Fowler on that active career OBP list, Andre Ethier. Ethier has done it playing his entire career in a pitchers' park rather than mostly in Colorado. The Sox should trade for him for a number of reasons. 1) The most important is that he is a hitting machine. All he does is slap up seasons with 15 homers, a .360 OBP, and solid health. He does it year after year, with one ugly outlier in 2014. 2) He is left-handed, which will help balance the lineup, and he tortures right-handed pitching (.304/.383/.507 career). Unfortunately he has never been good against lefties, and we might even benefit from sitting him against them in favor of Avi or Jerry Sands. The Sox performed second-worst in the majors against left-handed pitching last year and you might say that adding Ethier would exacerbate things, but the addition of Todd Frazier (.833 OPS career against lefties) and a likely correction in Jose Abreu's splits (.658 OPS vs LHP in 2015, 1.098 in 2014) will offset any additional problems caused by Ethier. 3) He is primarily a corner outfielder so he doesn't require us to move Eaton around, something I'm not a big fan of. He got bad defensive marks at the beginning of his career, but in the last five years both DRS and UZR have him as essentially average. I would like a good fielder, I really would, but Ethier is a guy I can live with. 4) I'm only guessing here, but there are a lot of things that will conspire to make the cost of acquiring him even less of a blow to our minors than giving up the Samardzija pick. His age (34 in April), his salary ($36.5M guaranteed over two years), the Dodgers' jam-packed outfield (Puig, Pederson, Crawford, Van Slyke, Thompson), Ethier's 10-and-5 rights that kick in at the start of the season, his unhappiness with the Dodgers in the past... Trade rumors have bounced around him for years and while they might rather move Crawford, if the Dodgers are in any way inclined to get rid of Ethier, they are better off doing it now before his no-trade limits the market. I don't think you'd have to dig real deep in the system to get Ethier as long as you're willing to take his contract. I understand the reservations people will have about his age, the money, the fact that he is an NL lifer (though I particularly don't share that concern). Maybe you'd like more power but we're hard-pressed to find that now. It is not a slam dunk, but he is a really good hitter who would fit into our lineup terrifically. If we supposedly had the money to chase Gordon and Cespedes but were concerned about the length of their deals, well here's a pretty friggin' good alternative. I appreciate you using my Fowler stats but I don't see how Ethier makes much sense unless what we give up is next to nothing and/or Dodgers eat salary. Fowler will cost less per year than Ethier. I really think the main issue is what is the compensation we have to give up to get Fowler, Ethier, or whoever else. If it is low end prospects, Ethier makes more sense. If it is something equivalent to the comp pick, I'd rather have Fowler since he will be cheaper, younger and faster.

QUOTE (bear_brian @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 04:53 PM) Look, I am no Avi supporter, but it is bothersome to read what seems to be a real hatred for the guy. Last year was the first time in his very brief major league career that he has over 200 AB's. Did he do well? No. Was he poor defensively? Absolutely. Is he an irretrievable lost cause? At this point I don't know, and I am not sure any professional baseball person really knows either. He certainly was considered a great catch when we acquired him. He was overweight, he gained weight during the season, he frustrated Ventura, he botched plays in the outfield, he looked abysmal at times at the plate. But ... he is only 24 years old, with really what amounts to one full season as a starter. There are many, many star big leaguers who looked as bad - Lou Brock comes to my mind. The Cubs got rid of him in what was probably one of the worst baseball trades ever made. Avi had a great start to the season, then fell off a cliff. Maybe that's all he is. But giving him another year - if Hahn cannot find a reasonable alternative - may not be the end of the world. That's all I'm saying ... let the naysayers come! Avi still had a place on this team, it just isn't as a full time 600PA RF. He needs to be facing LHP as a DH and let LaRoche sit vs. LHP or spelling the other OF's for a day off, primarily against LHP.

Did you know Fowler is 25th among all active players in OBP according to baseball-reference and is based upon their parameters of 3000PA or 500 games played? Did you also know that every player higher than him on that list has had a 20+ HR season before? Every player on the list outside of Joe Mauer are still legit threats to hit 20+ HR a year still. Fowler is very elite OBP guy and considering nearly everyone ahead of him has the benefit of being pitched around due to their big time power. He has really elite OBP skills for not being a power hitter. Does that make him worth the risk of losing a comp pick? I say yes! The White Sox are in "win now" mode. They need help immediately. They need more guys who provide positive WAR. Fowler is a guy who can do that. The player they could choose around 28th overall will not be ready to help this "win now" team most likely. If they trade for someone like a CarGo, prospects are leaving regardless. Whether they be in the system now for someone like CarGo or via this comp pick for Fowler. Even if they stand pat and go with Avi in RF, they will still need to move prospects at the trade deadline to bolster the deficiencies of the roster provided they are still in the race. Either way you look at it, the farm system will take a hit, providing they are a good team this year. Only way the farm system improves is if this team makes no moves at all, falls flat on it's face the first 3 months and then we are out selling off pieces to get prospects in return, but that clearly isn't the goal. I think they do themselves a much greater good by starting with a more elite team now, rather than a wait and see approach. I think if they had $20 million a year for Cespedes, it can be divided up to get Fowler and get a rebound SP candidate, like Latos. It helps in multiple areas and this team needs more pieces then currently constructed to make a serious run at the playoffs.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 05:50 PM) It does seem odd that if the Sox and Mets are holding firm at 3 years and the Nationals are guaranteeing him 5 that he hasn't signed already. Because the offer is bulls*** and not real. That's why. Nats have no need for Cespedes, and certainly not at $20+ million and benching another $20 million guy to make room for him. A complete agent and media ploy to get more years and money from the White Sox.