Princess Dye

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) If this pitching staff is solid and not great, there is no change that can be made to this roster offensively that will win them the world series next year, and they may as well go with a youth movement on position players. It's that cut-and-dry in the NBA, but not MLB. We can be better than the '06 Cardinals. You at least have a chance when you're in the playoffs.....but once in I'd sure prefer my chances with above-average in BOTH offense and pitching It would take the current staff plus two major offensive acquisitions. Would mean trading our top prospects for one guy, perhaps Matsui signing for the other. Any way you slice it, we're going to be hardpressed to be a top AL team next year. But I just feel it's more possible w/o the scrap heap acquisitions. Definitely easier said than done though. If forced though I would take Crisp over Pods.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 06:58 PM) And an average lineup with a great pitching staff is one way to win a world series, whether the Yankees load up on players or not. In fact, it may wind up being that is one way of building a winning team now that the Yankees have figured out that they shouldn't spend their money on juicers. There's the very real possibility that this pitching staff is just solid, not great. Danks is no dominant pitcher. Mark has been up and down. Ever since his Cy Young, Peavy has been less than dominant considering his pitching at Petco Most people here want to go in with a solid staff and a fully put together lineup.......That's going to require trading some prospects....And I do not fault them for wanting that. It's a win-now pitching staff, yes, but it's not a dominant one. We have two real solid young guys and two veterans that have had great success in the past.

QUOTE (lakervin @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 06:20 PM) i dont care what he hits. Count me in with those who's picky about who gets the most at-bats on the club. Thus the push for Beckham to lead off.

Crisp for Pods.....Rios for Dye........but then also Teahan for Getz .......and then what will in truth replace Thome? There's still a possibility to end up roughly the same power wise and maybe even better BA/OBP wise. As would be the case with Matsui for Thome.

I guess when you frame it in the sense that Hudson/Flowers would have to be moved for a difference maker....... .....picking from a pool of Crisp/Thome/Pods/Matsui isnt the worst thing in the world. It might not be pure insanity to see AJP moved for salary space to get Matsui. KW seems to always make the shocking move. Plus Flowers is of age and one day or another you're going to have to get him familiar with this pitching staff if you're really built for a 3-4 year window as we stand.......and Blanco could be had thru free agency.

I think we started having a little surge late last year when we moved AJP up in the order last year. No, our general OBP wasnt great.....but it took us too long to get the decent OBP guy up higher in the lineup. I wouldnt want to repeat that mistake. Get Gordon and AJP up there. Against lefties AJ can switch with AR...an approach we did for a little bit in 08. AJP is not your prototype 2-hitter, but in 08 it worked one way or another.

I say all the following based on us apparently not willing to go out and get .400 OBP type guys this offseason. Hopefully that's wrong, but i'll proceed as if it's not. We then have to look at are options for increasing power. We have two open offensive positions...and it either comes down to getting A ) two power guys OR B ) a power guy and a classic leadoff man. I guess just in general I have a problem with bringing in a Pods OR a Coco. A .345 OBP singles hitter. Unless they were some kind of SB fiend. Call me crazy but I want Beckham setting the table and AJ/Quentin/Power guy 1/Power guy 2 immediately following. As part of my thinking I'm estimating homer wise what we'll be totaling up (considering how big a part of that our park will be) Beckham (20) AJP (15) Quentin (30) Power guy 1 (25) Power guy 2 (25) Konerko (25) Alexei (20) Rios (18) Teahan (15) Gets you up to nearly 200, which was what this franchise needed to have success year in year out. Then if these estimates are off by 25 or so, due to people underperforming, you're still a potent power team. If you sub out one of the power guys for Crisp, you then you are a few downyears away from being very average in the power department (in a park where you cant afford to be). Obviously HRs arent everything, but since we're apparently not willing to spend on .400 OBP guys, I have to think the Jack Cust's of the world (or Thomes) are what we're planning on using to fill the Power Guy spots.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:37 PM) And lose 3 straight playoff games by a score of 1-0. If there's nothing great we can get via trade...the best move is to save up for a big free agent expenditure for 2011. Unless you're bringing in AGonz we're going to have to fill LF/DH with some level of retread or aging guy. Matsui I suppose is the name everyone wants...which tells us somethin.

The thing youre refusing to do is the very thing the Sox did when they signed a low-risk guy for cheap last year....Pods.

Also if you want to maximize your production from just the general area of "3rd best outfielder" on a given day...........you can platoon Crisp and Kotsay to an extent....whereas Pods/Kotsay both are lefties.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 02:48 PM) Bounceback to what, though? Another year of a .340 OBP and 25 stolen bases? That's his usual level of production offensively, and certainly nothing to get too excited about. Thats the whole thing. And again I said earlier that neither player is my first choice. But if you're talking about picking up Coco for a low one-year deal..versus caving to Pods high demands (rightly so he has to see this as a last ever chance at multiyear money)............. then I have to compare a guy who has routinely gotten .340 OBP versus a guy who is older and shown a far lower floor in recent years.

It's funny how some people seem more likely to forgive Pods several years of injury plagued awfulness, but wont apply the same optimism to the career of Coco, who is younger...and has been a lot more consistently decent over the years. Coco fits the profile for a bounceback year. Pods toes the line of falling into a downward spiral due to age.

Pods lacks the arm strength, but problem is he also is atrocious in all the other defensive categories. Maybe they're just putting this rumor out there to get Pods' price down.

Pods in the field was brutal enough for me. Coco can at least do something out there. At the plate, Pods hit .320/.356 against lefties last year....... I sure hope it can happen again but I think we're going to be hard pressed to get that from him at 34. Above all this...if they dont want to get someone great at leading off, I would heavily consider Gordon there.

Would be nice if it drew one of the suitors for AG out of the mix.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Nov 23, 2009 -> 06:02 PM) Out of all the bad contracts on this page, I think PK is amongst the best of the bad, and I wouldn't even say his is bad, albeit it is a bit pricey. If we look at all the contracts out there for 1B/DH types, the only thing ok about PK's contract at this point is that it'll end soon. Just in terms of what we could do right now with his salary slot, it does hold us back. Notable because PK's people won those negotiations way back when on an extra year. But the Sox couldnt really afford to part w/ him back then.

Really trying at this. The thought of one-year hometown discount deals (Pods/Thome) are frighteningly appealing after scanning all this.

I'm about to be one of those posters that makes bigs leaps and bounds. But he sounds like a guy who has already heard his days are numbered with the team.

Mets want Jack Cust? Should be a wild ride in the NL.

Beckham was the kind of 3B that you could see being solid for a career but not one that makes outstanding plays. Teahan could be same deal, but all things equal, you want to get Beckham into 2b or ss in order to maximize the value of his bat over the coming years. So if he's better at 2b than ss, the decision is clear.

I wonder if they'll even look. If Jenks returns and Hudson joins the pen, we're kind of booked. Maybe a lefty? With the glaring offensive needs they'll probably go internal if they can.

He looks like a 43 year old Euro bargoer

I'm sure Ozzie will call Omar a 'kid' just like everyone else who is months younger than him but still playing.

Alexei might not be as good of a ss as Omar at present... but if he stays at the level he was 2nd half last year.... then he's fine defensively. Meanwhile, your solution proposes that we'd rather have the marginal increase in ss defense over the LH power Teahan brings at 3rd.