Princess Dye

Compared to the shots-in-the-dark we took in '05....this is nothing. You'd be taking an injury prone guy and DHing him. When healthy he has put up the #s you want. If you want more power, you will need to break the bank - all signs point to us not doing that this offseason. I can only see not pursuing him if, as I stated earlier, you are planning to wait one more year for payroll to be real small and then make a '98 Albert Belle sized splash in the FA market. Perhaps more will be available then at the power positions. It's not what we usually do, but at the same time we are pretty darn blessed with pre-arb talent at the moment. At multiple positions. I have to think that the acquisitions of Peavy and Rios mean we wont let the power spots go unfilled for '10, though.

I cant dislike this idea. Until PK and AJ contracts are off the books (not that I want them gone, per se).........we cant easily get an impact OBP middle-of-the-order guy. not without getting in a bidding war (which of course we dont fare too well in ever). A guy like this is one we can get. The injury concern is real, but it's also the reason we could even get him.

Apparently Octavio was a percentage point or so away from being Type A?

I wonder how much alcohol Miguel Cabrera would have to drink til he's worse than Brad Eldred

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 5, 2009 -> 11:51 AM) Lexi walking 49 times is nothing to get loud about. Yeah, it's a lot more than 18. Still, nothing to get real excited about. Now if 49 turns into, I don't know, 75 next year? Then we're talking. True but I think Alexei's bat as-is...along with his second half defense is a pretty good one-two punch for a SS. Sub-allstar but I will gladly take it.

It's funny this year because so many of the big question marks were answered positively...and yet still things didnt work out in the end Found a real leadoff hitter midseason Alexei took more walks We solved defensive CF Gavin/Danks held up Called up Gordon and he varied from great to good throughout Getz was alright Paulie had a bounceback year We turned some of our young arms into an ace (while still contending) AJP career year Had two passable RHP middle-relievers and our LHP guy kept being great Just goes to show how gigantic it is when your 3-4-5 falls apart and you wait too long to replace it. And of course closer issues.

If he gets back to even just being near what he was in '08, I am perfectly fine with that bat and that defense in CF.

Emergency C and a utility spot could possibly be 'kilt' by two birds with one stone: CJ Retherford THAT BIRD WAS KILT CJ's development would be hurt as a utility guy, but then again he's turning (I think) 25 during next summer?

I like the idea of getting a third catcher (utility type guy) and then having Pods/Flowers in a DH platoon...with Kotsay facing righties and playing OF. Would drastically improve our OF defense. I suppose the reason people think of Kotsay and Pods as being mutually exclusive parts of the roster.....aside from their lefthandedness...is the fact that neither brings power. It's a problem. But then again, do we get a crappy free agent DH to solve that problem? Or wait til Konerko/AJP are off the books to do so? I currently lean toward the latter (which hurts since the staff could be so great). Then again, this seems like the kind of offseason where KW will pull a trade no one saw coming. Well I guess that's every offseason.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 1, 2009 -> 07:38 AM) I really hope you're joking. As for what it would take. They'd probably take Beckham straight up. Otherwise we'd prolly have to go with either Hudson/Flowers plus some combination of Danks/Shelby/Retherford/Morel Hudson/Flowers would mean nothing to them. Danks would mean nothing to them. They are so far away that they would need ready-to-go help at five positions to even think about it. Otherwise, they're far better off going for a one-star fan draw the next few years and hoping that other things materialize around him on the roster. They need so much help elsewhere that filling even several holes ...it's not an attractive option for them.

We had to rely on that pen so much this year. I honestly think we can win the division with purely offense upgrades. Be good enough to where you dont have to rely on your pen as much. Our offense was so bad this year that the pen got tested tons. Therefore it seems worse than it is. Our pen is kind of like a lot of teams' The above may sound naive. But i just really believe that great pens get cobbled together and that to be a good team, you have to rely on some good luck with a reliever having a career year.

Very interesting idea. We're going to need piecemeal solutions until AJP and Konerko are off the books. Too many holes right now.

Now that i think about it, it's not crazy to think CQ could get dealt. In this market, a team may want a cheap player who is coming off an injury. Thats how bad some teams wanna get better on the cheap. If they could deal from a position of strength and give us somewhat higher priced players in return, theyd do it Obviously we need corner OF so i wouldnt call it likely. But KW has shown a willingness to trade a cheap goodvalue name before (McCarthy)

KW should realize the team he put together wasnt THAT talented. It was his mistake to rely on aging sluggers. Thome did pretty much what you'd expect, Konerko had a bounce back year, Dye had an extremely long dreadful stretch when you'd least want it. And you can throw a little blame on Ozzie for not moving AJP up in the order earlier. But really it's on KW. If you built for 2010 with your trades, say so. Dont hide behind saying the guys underachieved just to cover your own ass. What is that supposed to accomplish?

The reason for Jermaine Dye's second half collapse is Greg Walker. He started taking his advice at the All-Star break, despite his MVP like numbers, and when straight downhill. The reason for Carlos Quentin's low numbers in 09 is all because of Greg Walker. CQ's great numbers in 08 had nothing to do with Greg Walker. This year, Alexei Ramirez started taking walks and raising OBP. This, however, was not the doing of Greg Walker. Kotsay revitalized his career here, Konerko had a bounce back year, AJP had a career year, Beckham adjusted well to major league pitching. Point being there are sooo many loose ends out there to evaluate, you cant be vitriolic towards Walker. If you feel like it's time for a change of pace, hold that opinion. But you cant really say you KNOW walker is the reason for certain failures. We're not with the team daily. It's not one of the things we can really know. As much as we wish it was.

Apparently Bradley loved playing in Texas and saw Washington as a father figure and what not. Then he took the big money and signed in Chicago. It at least goes to show there is a fit for him....somewhere. Will Ozzie coddle him? No. But Ozzie seemed to give Carl Everett all the space he needed as well. And Everett was incident free in Texas too, albeit with a different mgr Actually now I'm starting to worry that the nearest parallel is not Everett, but rather a ...less benign.. Frank Thomas. I only say that because of the apparent hypersensitivity. Ozzie and Frank clashed-- and if i'm honest with myself--i would fear a larger version of that clash repeating. When Ozzie does clash with someone, it doesnt get mended.

If I could be ridiculously choosy I'd wish Kotsay were still a little more athletic. How fast is he? Scale of 1 to 10 with Konerko being a 1 and 80s Rickey Henderson being a 10 EDIT: Well i suppose to be fair any-era Rich Garces would be a 1

It'd be great to sign him quick and then do all the upgrades you need. Obviously it'd be great if we could be so stocked that he's an elite PH. But he wont sign here being told that. You could DH Pods with Kotsay on the roster, but we need power upgrading somehow too. Blaylock somehow?

I believe his past indicates that he tends to sign wherever he can be assured of the most playing time (extended w/ OAK during his prime years). Seeing as how he's older, that's obviously more likely to be true now. We might be a good mix of being a contender and having a spot open. We need OF/DH, backup 1B, and lefty hitting. But would he prefer, due to his age, to pinch hit for a big time contender? I'm sure all Sox fans are terrified that he reverts to his recent career lows. But in truth, he has never really stopped hitting righty pitching. Even in 08.

I thought it was put well by Bernstein regarding Bradley's response to racist fan taunts. MB was not wrong to bring it up, but was wrong to handle it as he did. It is right to point it out and report it. It's a workplace hazard to have racist things being yelled. That goes for any workplace. What Bradley did wrong is hint at it and then refuse to explain. If there's a problem, tell us what it is. Don't tease us with it and then clam up. I actually wish Bradley had said more, that way the Cubs could work on a solution.

Whats interesting to me is how quickly people dismiss Bradley because of his (apparently) pretty bad personality. What I'm immediately dismissive of, at this point, are guys who give away at-bats and dont work the count. When I look at a player's upsides and downsides.... and I'm faced with spending $5M for a DH-type FA.... I'm maybe looking at a .340 OBP type guy. With this trade, you would get Bradley for $5M and add another 30 points to the OBP you're getting. The challenge would be making him comfortable. For a short term contract, and the possibility of getting value for Liney, I would do it. Bradley having a peaceful year is more likely than another $5M-ish DH simply overachieving and getting .370 OBP. Like i said before, i'd love to spend big money on great players who are wholesome. Also, I'd just get an Abreu for 5M if i could. But if that kind of player isnt there, i would do this deal. MB is the true switch-hitting guy who can have a good year from either side of the plate any year.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 21, 2009 -> 05:48 PM) Don't trick yourself into believing that white people are the only racists out there. Reverse-racism and anti-Semitism are widely-practiced and even accepted behavior in some sectors of our society. You'll have to highlight the part of my post where I said it only applies to white people. I would give all the advice given there to black people, hispanic, anyone. Take my interracial dating example. Absolutely something that applies to one and all.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 21, 2009 -> 05:39 PM) So, "hate speech" only applies to race-baiting? Calling somebody's mother a "fat c*nt" doesn't count? It's the same juvenile stupidity. The reason that nobody bothers to attack the non-racist hate speech in the crowds is because the Al Sharptons of the world can't make a buck off of it. When kids go to the park and hear racist language being bandied about, they grow up enforcing those attitudes. Some of those kids will grow up to one day be in a position to hire people. And at that point, they'll be a product of everything they grew up with. And perhaps enact unfair hiring practices. Or maybe they have a great place to rent and won't rent to a certain race. Or try and stop their own kid from dating someone they are a great fit for, who happens to be of different race. If you believe people are just too-PC these days, have that opinion. But dont trick yourself into believing racial language has no real world consequences. If its in movies or something parents can control, go ahead. At the park though, kids are learning. Kids are learning nonstop.

Has Milton Bradley cheated in some way that I'm not aware of? I'm sure many Royals/Pirates fans are amongst the most principled in the world, yet would trade that aspect of their fandom in for a taste of some competitiveness.

Exactly. You root for the uniform.