Princess Dye

(SEMI-SPOILER...) There are just so many predictable movies out there. ESPECIALLY when it comes to sports movies...they're usually giving the viewer what they want. So I liked what this one does.

I'm in the camp saying that I'd lke to know what else that $1M could have gone towards. Nonetheless, we dont know for sure that JR is unwilling to spend. So just like Rios, you cant knock it til you see the final product they have for us. And, much like that move, you cant argue with a move aimed at shaving some brutality off our 2010 late inning defense.

To make it as an above-average 1b in MLB...Allen is going to have to be sooo good. We might regret grabbing Peña but we wont see this as a colossal mistake unless something really crazy happens with Allen. We probably shouldnt revisit this for awhile it's like waiting for a comet

When I was an usher there I had to dance on the dugout in the 7th Fortunately they have pros now

When the cars drive out onto the outfield in between innings at USCF, i start thinking i'm on a different planet and start wishing i was as well I was at Wrigley once when a mom in the row behind me dropped her baby into my row. I assume this was a mother.

I have this feeling KW wants to turn the leadoff keys over to Beckham. Anyone of consequence you'd bring in costs you money. Bringing back Pods costs you a power position, costs you defense (unless he's DH). The way I see this offseason.......if we dont bring back Thome, we will likely make up for his power from last year with the Rios and Teahan acquisitions. 35 dingers from those two incoming....they replace the powerless Getz/BA I'm kind of intrigued by Thome and Kotsay being here though. That way you're making up for Dye's power as well. Kotsay improves the OF defense. We'd kill righties....... Factor in a full year of Beckham XBHs and CQ power (we hope). The pursuit of AGon tells us that KW is ready to go back to bashing HRs

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) Trading for Peavy and picking up Rios and then not goign for it all this year...that strikes me as a poor plan. This rotation...you get into the playoffs and you could have 4 straight guys pitch CG Shutouts. We've got the fancy rotation, let's ride it before people get hurt or before they hit FA. You are probably right that this is their plan.....if so then a trade of prospects is all but assured. If not then we're looking at a big Pods/Thome/Flowers/Kotsay stew.

I'm probably in the minority here, but if we're not going to go all out this year, then lets keep our money instead of giving multiyear deals for middling talent. Say we have 7M to spend this offseason. If you could spend all of that on Nick Johnson, great. But I dont think it's possible. So wait til AJ and Paulie come off the books and then really go for it......dont cut into those future funds now if you dont have to. Also I'm just flat out a Kotsay fan. Looking at his #s against right handed hitting.......even when he was with Boston ....he still has always been able to do that. This wont be terribly popular but you can improve defense by making him an outfielder and putting either Quentin or Pods at DH. Also Flowers can get DH ABs this way.

It really sucks to get something wrong AND be called champ

Ozzie could finally get his third catcher later this year..... they could call up Flowers and then stretch the versatility of several of their guys. Flowers could be a part time DH this way. Lillibridge can play all over. Nix has played OF...Retherford has played all over the place Alexei can move around to different positions in an emergency. And it should be interesting if they ever stick Beckham at 3rd against certain lefties. My guess would be Nix plays 3rd in those situations though......and I dont know if i like it

Great post bmags. Reporters/newspapers are concerned with the scoop. Here we want to learn more about our team's thought process. Even if this sounded hard to accomplish, we were at least glad to know the kind of player they want and the potential method of acquiring. Reporters need to do enough to inform, we need to have enough to be able to carry on day long conversation.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 10:39 PM) And really Soxnet isn't "new". There were some issues that made it disappear for a while, but essentially it has been getting stuff right since at least 2002, which is more than I can say for some... Has lasted perhaps four times as long as Monsters In the Morning? Though that may be a little more costly to produce

Thought it was great.

I must agree that it's kind of weird to call something "preliminary discussions" -- when we all figure that each of these trades just kind of starts the same way -- with a conversational phone call. It either goes somewhere or it doesnt. If it's shot down immediately, that too was a preliminary discussion. But 'preliminary' means it's headed somewhere... so it has a little bit of a loaded tone to it. Now, if someone has a problem with SoxNet's wording...that presupposes the person putting out the rumor has any idea of how far along it is. If they have to know that each time, then nothing will ever be put out there. Kind of a double edged sword. Whether to report or not. I think most of us fall on the side of wanting all the rumors that have any validity whatsoever. My life is boring enough .....i come here for news of any liminary, be it pre or post or middle!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 06:35 PM) In game 163, Joe Mauer, who had locked up the AL batting title, bunted against John Danks because he couldn't hit him. Mark Buehrle has thrown two no-hitters, has pitched in the postseason, and has pitched well in the postseason. Floyd is the #4 starting pitcher. It doesn't matter if they "strike fear" - if you put lion on the mound, it's going to strike fear in the opponent. What I want on the mound in the playoffs is a guy that is going to pitch well and give the team a chance to win. These are some pretty small sample sizes. I dont want to rag on our guys, but it sounds like you're calling John Danks a dominant pitcher. I mean, you cant argue that with Halladay in for Floyd...it's a gigantic difference in what an opposing playoff opponent has to face. Yes it costs more $$. That is the reason why.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 06:29 PM) You can also consider a restaurant. Say said restaurant has 4 very good cooks and 1 cook who is learning/old, but can hold their own. Say your serving staff is full of under-qualified employees and is lacking employees. Is the kitchen going to get that much better if you the best cook in town? Probably not. Is the serving staff going to get that much better if you add the best server in town? You bet your ass. It's simply following the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns. In a seven game series that restaurant would be outstanding though. Wait wah I think in our heart of hearts we know that Mark/Floyd/Danks isnt striking fear into another team come playoff time. Solid but I think we'd still be the underdog against whatever other divisional champ we'd face.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 06:21 PM) http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAD/2003.shtml If you can't score runs, you can't win games With our park and our defense, Floyd is a little less valuable here than he might be somewhere else. With our park, we can stretch our dollars more when we go out and get cheap free agent power guys that do actually matter. I guess I just see it as....with our current situation we badly need a guy who will get people out with the bat on their shoulder. Obviously no one is going to argue with me on that being a good thing, but I guess you're all arguing with me on how necessary that is for our team specifically to have a championship hope. If you put the Doc/Peavy staff out there, all you would need to go right is the team HR total going back up...which i think is doable with 5-8M somehow freed up for a cheap power guy. I only say this because I think there's no way we get a high OBP team together for next year....... but in 05 we had a great staff and a steady group of power guys...and it was just enough.

I would agree with everyone that says its a mismanagement of funds to dump cheap players for Halladay. But like I said, KW's creativity cant be underestmated. There are a few money earners on our current roster that could conceivably be moved to free up cash.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 05:57 PM) You may think that they've got 4 guys who could have an ERA around 4...but I'll lay you 10 to 1 if you asked KW somehow, he'd tell you he got his no-doubt staff ace last July. The guy did the pitching triple crown only 2 years ago (ERA, wins, and strikeouts). And the Detroit Tigers might agree, FWIW. Hey I'm all for it. But I dont see the couple of starts last year as an indicator that he's completely over the relative step back he took after the Cy Young I guess we shall see.

I basically agree with everyone here. To offer a few caveats though: The Sox may want to go for it all this year. And if they dont like what they see available for offensive players...... They may want to get the no-doubt staff ace, get Pods/Thome cheap and call it a night. That might necessitate dumping Jenks but we dont know JR's pocketbook for sure. Apparently KW never does either. I only say all this thinking of any possible ways in which this rumor could be real. The philosophy would be -- lets make the pitching championship level and just pray for the offense. As we stand, we're very solid pitching and still prayer-needing offense.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 05:32 PM) So people would be willing to give up 1 of Floyd or Danks for a 1 year rental of Halladay and at the same time leave us with zero funds left for the DH/LF spots? Adding Halladay to that rotation is simply overkill. You can't offset a weak offense by producing a moderate upgrade out of your #3 starter spot. Cant just say Doc means we have no way of getting a LF. Cant rule out Kenny's ability to move money around. Via trade we could get LF done ....just like no one saw the McCarthy trade coming, there are always ways. And of course there's the camp wanting Kotsay and Flowers sharing DH (with Kotsay more likely in the field on his days in) ALSO -I personally wouldnt do this, but since Trader Ken always shocks us...it's not entirely unthinkable to see him move AJP for a positional need.....then you have your young catcher baptized by fire...and you fill a need while avoiding the upcoming AJ/TF standoff.

While I am in the camp that wants to work on offense way more than pitching......we do need to have the expectation that we might have four starters that end up with 4.00 ERAs. It seems like most people here are expecting those four starters to have 3.50 ERAs. Obviously not an awful thing but point being we cant assume we're championship level with the staff.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 05:25 PM) Really? You think we need to invest more in starting pitching? I would imagine any trade bringing in Halladay has a current young starter outgoing.

there has been a lot of idol speculation about the angles and it makes me yearn for the days of Greg MaddOx

To hype this Flaming Lips concert on The Score ad breaks, I cant believe the commercial plays "She Dont Use Jelly" Do we know John Danks is gone after 2012? There are a few ways this can go. In short, though, KW has shown he'll worry about the next year or two foremost and let the rest sort itself out. Even when our farm system looked bleak, he was able to trade a real young prospect for a guy like Quentin. You can always make a bridge move, in addition to spending dough of course. Mark Gonzalez now on 670