whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (Ranger @ Feb 21, 2010 -> 05:29 AM) You think Damon would've made up a 6-game deficit? And you think it was the Sox' fault he signed elsewhere? $8 million, dude. For one season. For Johnny Damon. I think 7.5 (with some deferred) is workable, but $8 mil all this year? I don't know about that. He would've helped the lineup, but I think it's debatable just how much it would've helped them Having Johnny Damon at DH instead of the rotating pile of crap probably is worth 4 wins or so over a full season, which takes the club from being clearly behind Minnesota to almost even with them IMO. He'd have single handedly brought the Sox from having potential the worst offensive numbers in the AL from their DH spot to somewhere in the average range, and that's just such a huge difference. Johnny Damon himself realistically isn't a 4 win player, but the DH spot this team currently has is likely to be below replacement level. This situation can still be improved with a trade this spring, or even a trade at the deadline though. But to win the division with this DH situation for the full 6 months is going to be exceedingly difficult.

If Tyler Flowers played any position but catcher, I'd think the team would seriously consider him for the DH spot right now. But since he's the future replacement for AJ at catcher, he's better off staying in the minors and learning obviously.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:41 PM) Which would be a shame when there are legitimate bats available right now. They could try and get one now, I think most would prefer that course of action. I just don't think it will happen, although they don't seem nearly as content with the rotating pile of crap at DH as they were a couple of months ago, which is a good sign.

They should call Dye and/or Blalock. They will likely stand pat though, and be forced to give up whatever is left on the farm for a legitimate bat come July.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:37 PM) Blalock would be a terrible fit. Save the money. I suppose you could sign him and platoon him and Andruw Jones. I don't think Jones numbers vary greatly between his facing lefty and right pitchers though, and that would give Blalock the vast majority of the at bats.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:31 PM) To win it all, the Sox are going to have to overachieve. PECOTA has them 80-82, CHONE 81-81, but just about every team that wins has to have more than a couple guys step up. All is not lost. They don't play in the AL East. Agreed. I don't look at winning it all before a season starts though (which might be dumb on my part), I just look at making the playoffs. That's all you can really do since the playoffs are such a crapshoot based on factors of luck. One way you can have that luck on your side though is great pitching, and the Sox seem to have that. It's the getting to the playoffs part that will prove quite difficult.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:33 PM) Just think, one line drive out against Nathan started this whole Kotsay phenomenon. Blame it on Brian Anderson, I guess! I don't think Kotsay playing well in the eyes of the FO down the stretch last year is why they are going to the rotating DH thing this year. I just think Ozzie actually likes the idea of being able to rotate a bunch of crappy hitters in that spot because of the "versatility" it allows him, and Kenny has made the unfortuate decision to allow this mistake to happen.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:28 PM) I want to know how we swung and missed on so many DH candidates this offseason. Now all I can hope is Kenny makes a trade for Crawford, since Gonzalez is nothing more than a really nice pipe dream. I hear you on this one. I am interested to see if they call Jermaine Dye. He's getting no offers and would be a better DH than the guys we currently have, but that bridge may have already been burned. As it is, the one positive we have on our side is we can pitch and this division sucks. With that in mind, the front office will probably be willing to add a bat in July, since I think it's very likely by that point we'll be in the race, yet also realize our offense is awful. QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:32 PM) He's not worth $3M more than Abreu played for last season. I completely agree, he's being overpaid. But overpaying is sometimes necessary to fill holes, and I think this would have been a good spot to do it.

Officially put me in the concerned category, as this team will have to overachieve to win the AL Central. I don't think they'll have to overachieve A LOT, so I'm not indifferent or hopeless or anything because the overachievement necessary for this team to make the playoffs is reasonable. But I think this team has at bare minimum a 3/4 chance of finishing in the bottom 3 in the AL in runs, and it's just really hard to win that way in general, but especially in the AL and double especially playing in a bandbox.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:21 PM) We will be the Mariners of last year. I don't think we'll be THAT extreme (I think they were literally dead last in runs and 1st in ERA). However, the comparision is very valid, they were a low or mid 80's team that pitched great and could not hit a lick.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:18 PM) You really can't see this offense scoring 741 runs? I can. Not that I didn't want Damon, I really really did, but I don't think his absence puts us that far back. Certainly not worse than last year. Absolutely not. This is going to be a horrible offense unless Carlos Quentin returns to 2008 form (which is possible if healthy, but I don't trust his health) and/or Alex Rios returns to mid 2000's form. We could use another season like last year from Juan Pierre too, but that's a question mark. If all of those things happen, the offense could max out at average (6th to 8th range in runs in the AL), but that's going to be very tough.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:17 PM) Our offense looks very mediocre on paper now. Well it already did on paper, this development moves it from mediocre to bad in my opinion. I think Johnny Damon could have moved us from a low to mid 80's wins team to a mid to upper 80's wins team, which might be the difference in our division. It's really a shame.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 06:13 PM) KW and Ozzie just going to prove to us that mediocre hitting can win a championship. Well, we've done it once before, 9th in the AL in runs in 2005 with 741. I can't see this offense hitting either of those plateaus, though, and obviously this bullpen won't match that one. This is probably an 83 or so win team, the question is can they overachieve by 5 or 6 wins (certainly possible with this starting staff) and if they do, will that win total be enough to win a mediocre division?

So the Sox show some interest in two legitimate DH candidates, only to allow both to go to division rivals. When we finish 6 games out of first this season due mainly to being 11th in the AL in runs (or something close to that), I hope the front office brass understands why everybody is pissed.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 01:57 AM) I really liked Alexander coming out of college, and I think he's just been screwed over by playing time and injuries, kinda like our old buddy Tyrus. Our old buddy Tyrus has moreso been screwed by inability to play defense and inability to develop offensively. He'll block a shot for every 2 he goaltends though and grab a ton of rebounds if given minutes, so he has some positive attributes. As for Deng being selfish....that is true. But he's putting up near career numbers, which is about the best we can expect from him. He's going to be overpaid at long as he's here and selfish as well, but at least he's contributing.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 01:34 AM) Tyrus numbers.. 9 points 12 rebounds 6 blocks Salmons numbers: 19 points 1 rebound (33 minutes) Warrick and Murray were solid. Hopefully we see an Alexander & Law sighting tomorrow. (more than likely IF the Bulls blow out the 76ers) I was a fan of Alexander and Law in college, not sure what has happened in the NBA to them. Salmons hit a big shot in that game, but I think he was 6 for 17 from the field (sounds about right for him). The Bulls have a really soft schedule right now, doing a good job taking advantage of it so far, and need to continue with that trend.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 01:32 AM) What sane organization is going to allow their top starting pitcher to take a 2 week break from MLB baseball at the end of July/beginning of August to pitch in a 2 week highly competitive tournament? If Jake Peavy were to participate in such an event I'd be downright furious, even if he were representing my homeland. Yeah, this isn't an issue right now anyways since the 2012 Olympics won't have baseball (although it's possible they'll return in 2016 IIRC.)

Warrick had a decent first game, should be a solid bench contributor the rest of the way. Tyrus had a big rebounding/blocked shot effort in a win against Cleveland debuting as a Bobcat, but that's no surprise. When he actually gives a crap, he can contribute. Not at the level of a top 3 pick, but he can contribute nonetheless. Good luck to Charlotte getting him to do that long term though.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 12:15 AM) I really really don't think that was the case. But let's pretend it was. When you have an excellent 1-3, and some strong potential with Richard, you can get by with trying out Contreras/Garcia/Colon in the 5 spot. However, when you have a mediocre at best lineup, you can't settle for well below average at a position that exists solely to produce offensively. Edit: besides, going into the season with those holes in the rotation certainly hurt the Sox, didn't it? Why would we want to try it with the offense? Bingo. If this team had a really good offense, or even just a generally good offense, and wanted to use the DH as a spot to rotate players and keep guys fresh, that's fine. But even with a legitimate DH like Johnny Damon, this would be a below average offense. Having a bad offense AND giving away the fact you will be one of the worst teams in the league in DH production is just not a fruitful way to do business, no matter how good the pitching is. If this team misses the playoffs, odds are very high it will be the offense's fault (outside mass injury befelling it, this pitching staff should be very good), yet a team that clearly isn't afraid to spend won't go above and beyond to get a legitimate DH to help a sketchy offense. That's really strange and disappointing at the same time.

Yeah, blood testing means the players will never agree to this, considering how many of them are probably still on illegal things even despite advances in drug testing. Even if such an obstacle were overcome though, I don't think baseball with MLB players in the Olympics is feasible with the 162 game schedule. The season runs too late and is really jammed tight into the calendar as it is, imagine it if you also had a two week break for the Olympics.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:03 PM) I had forgotten that Dempster and Kevin Millar are best friends. They should be one of the more annoying pairings in Cubs history. The Cubs will be even more mediocre than it appears at first blush if Kevin Millar can make their team.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:01 PM) http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb Working title, "Can you hit better than a replacement level player (And if so, go DH elsewhere) No need for that text to be in green, it seems to be quite accurate. At any rate, I will certainly be watching this show. Should be great television.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 06:11 PM) Good for Kenny. Why let them control negotiations? Because Johnny Damon turns the Sox from a team that will be botton 3 in the AL in DH production to middle of the pack, is probably worth a few more wins, and could make the difference between a playoff team and a non playoff team?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 02:24 AM) So I'm supposed to believe that an NFL "scout" scooped EVERYONE by at least 5 hours on a baseball story involving one of the bigger names in the game and the highest profile sports agent on the planet? Of course not. However, assuming this dude is just making it up, it's kind of odd that he'd just randomly make up something like that, especially since it appears he's more an NFL guy.

Slovakia is a very dangerous team. That's a really tough group with them, Russia, and the Czech Republic. The only of the three groups that has 3 teams good enough to medal. Two absolutely outstanding hockey games tonight.