Princess Dye

Hey if Kotsay wants to hit like he did as a W.Sox last year for a whole year, I'm fine with that. Get on base. No matter who we get for DH, we need Quentin and Rios to return to '08 production. Otherwise we're not contending for anything anyway. I think of Thome as someone who doesnt do a ton with the bat other than go long. If we're not spending tons yet on payroll, I'd like to get back to smart hitting that is coming from somewhere other than a slap hitter. Maybe Kotsay is better at that than a Thome or Branyan. Could be way off on that but all kinds of things can happen (Thome showing his age, Branyan returning to horrid OBP, etc) As we stand I think we project to have a good amount of power already.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) Going to 4 years is the key there...Thome is simply older, and more likely to be down this year. a 39 yr old could preserve himself and prepare himself better than a 34 year old. Age is one of a bunch of factors. You can also argue that Vlad had even less of an excuse for a bad '09 based on the lineup he found himself in.

Do the Cubs have even one good young major league level player? Randy Wells and Soto and maybe that's it? Soto only depending on a bounceback year

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 04:04 PM) f*** YES. .184 .262 .382 in 76 ABS!! Let's see how awful we can make this offense KW!!! WOOOOO!!!! You have high expectations for the offensive capabilities of a team's backup C I get the sense you'd find me to be bad in bed

It'll be sad when days after winning the WS we're going to have to let Castro go ..carl everett style...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 08:29 AM) We don't need a semi-fulltime DH from the RH side, we already have one of those. We especially don't need to spend a year of arb-eligibility on that. If Flowers is up he has to play a decent amount. He should get at-bats one way or another at least a little more than Castro did when he was here. Otherwise, he's better off playing daily at AAA. From the team perspective, we do need a hitting RH catcher. And we could use DH as a way of getting Tyler more at-bats here and there. It's a weird mix of things where you have to get the best thing for the team and the best thing for TF's development --and get both those things working at once. I think it can happen with him up at MLB level. It's just that I think we'd have to sacrifice some Andruw Jones at-bats throughout the year to do it. I'm willing.

Tyler Flowers is a few days from turning 24 Basically a top prospect should see the majors on a regular basis as a 24 or 25 year old..or no? I guess a rule of thumb should take a backseat to proper preparation. But we have the need and we apparently have the tough financial straits.

To me a solid PR is such a big thing. So many situations throughout the year where you badly need a 9th inning run to get through. Lillibridge would make the shallow fly ball all that much more potent. Another thing to consider is that Nix probably wont get a lot of spot starts as he'll easily be Omar's inferior defensively. And as far as pinch hitting, while Nix has pop...he'll always be a 2nd or 3rd option as a PH.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) Bringing Castro back wouldn't be the worst option. Signed with the Jays

At one point, there was none bigger than Carlos. Maybe Rich Garces.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 11:29 AM) Well, let's give Tony Pena something to do. Frankly this is a huge missed opportunity for some reborn Carlos Castillo humor. QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) I'd still take CJ and his catching ability (again, assuming rotating DH stuff) over either. Shouldn't he be playing everyday somewhere though? He's always projected to being a utility guy at best, but given his recent offensive upturn maybe we should put that assumption on hold for a least half a year. QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 01:10 PM) While Nix doesn't have the pure speed that Lillibridge does, I would rather keep Nix and his versatility over Lillibridge. Nix did fine with the Sox in SBs last year and although his minor league totals are much worse than Lillibridge (SB/CS ratio), Nix is superior in all facets of the game excluding speed, which Nix is pretty solid anyway. Lillibridge can pretty much only pinch run while Nix can play almost anywhere and provide some pop occasionally. What about Lillibridge's usefulness in CF? Although I guess maybe that's covered with Pierre being able to slide over ...and Andruw/Alexei could theoretically be there in an injury situation. What is Vizquel like at third?

QUOTE (zenryan @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) I usually just root for teams that havent experienced any success(not named the Cubs) or depending on what the matchup is. Agreed. This is why I used to have a Red Sox hat, but now cant believe I did.

Hm another plus with Branyan is that at 34 he may want a fulltime DH role over an extra 1M from some team that would want him part-time. He hasnt really done much in a promising career and may value the chance to have a real role for a good team. What American League teams even have a DH or 1B type role to offer at this point? It's gonna be one of the three B's here on out: Branyan, Blaylock and BigJim

CJR would have a role all set for himself here if Flowers takes off offensively in year 1. I feel like what I've read about him indicates he's not a quick guy. Too bad we dont still have pinch runner extraordinaire Clayton Richard

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 10:47 AM) Just sign Thome now and be done with it- We've all gone from being terrified of being stuck with Thome again to being terrified of life w/o him. I just hope this time around they bat him a little lower and mix in Jones.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) If you're expecting Mark Kotsay, who hasn't been a good player in three years, to play like he did with the Sox last year over a full season, then I think you're going to be wildly disappointed. There's a chance it happens, sure, but it's far more likely that we see 06-08 Mark Kotsay and that ain't gonna cut it at DH. He has hit righties well for years now, even during his down time with Boston. Leads me to believe BOS just didnt use him selectively enough. EDIT: 07 at least looks like it was a incomplete lost year for him

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 07:13 AM) I can't say I root for any particular team but in the playoffs I'll root for the team that annoys me less...but I will NEVER EVER root for the Twins. For some reason I cant find the Twins nearly as hateable as the Tigers. Or Indians. Maybe just because I've had worse experiences with the fans of the latter two. Twins fans gave Buehrle a standing ovation when he set his record. You're not going to get that everywhere. Plus, with AJ stomping on Morneau's foot at first, and Game 163, they have more reason to hate us than the other way around. Granted we have lost a ton to them over the years, but I guess I cant really get tons of hate up for teams that come in year in year out with their just-decent talent level.

I always find this line of thinking amongst the dumbest imaginable If this matters, then why have the playoffs? There'd be no point to it. and actually, if anyone should hate this sort of thing, it's the people who rooted for the 06 Cardinals and were later called undeserving. They won it!!! What more can one do?

Depending on what else we do in free agency...and how many pitchers we keep.. it seems like a final roster spot will come down to Nix and Lillibridge. Lillibridge can play CF, but not 3B. He would hands down be our best pinchrunner in late innings. Our bench looks much improved, but it definitely isnt speed wise. Nix has versatility and some power...but with Vizquel here isnt he duplicated on the bench? Cant believe I'm saying it but Lillibridge might make sense as the last guy to make it.

People keep saying we need left-handed power. What's interesting though...our hottest hitter second half last year mightve been Kotsay, who's currently slotted to spell people as a LH bat. Meanwhile it's from the right side where we dont have a proven guy who can step in. Andruw Jones had a slight '09 bounceback year but in a limited sample size. I suppose there's Flowers too if he makes the team.

So can we infer the Sox pretty much want to spend 3M or less on this position? That assumes they just flat out didnt like Cust. EDIT: though also I should factor in the other money spent on guys that will take a turn at DH

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 9, 2010 -> 08:21 PM) Branyan has MASSIVE pop, but he would be hated here for his K's. Tons of K's versus tons of non-K outs..... it seems like very often the latter situation is hated less, even when it comes sans power totals. Hey at least Branyan cant GIDP if he's striking out. And we dont have to bat him that high either...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 8, 2010 -> 06:53 PM) Pods received only slightly more guaranteed than Omar Vizquel. If the Sox offered him a one year deal , it must have been something similar to what they gave Jones. No, the Pods camp was just depending on us overpaying for their guy.

I'm not one to be preset to be negative about our moves. But there's a lot to the sentiment that we couldve just brought back Pods and bid for Matsui. Then, instead of Putz, you couldve hoped for a good year from Peña. There's an argument there. Because it leaves a nice bit of cash open for next offseason when the pool of FAs mightve been better. Of course remains to be seen how cheap Thome/Blaylock/Branyan will be.

Apparently the Vlad story got updated that the original estimate was off by 2M http://www.hotstove.com/2010/01/report-ran...deal/#more-3680