TaylorStSox

I already feel bad for the prospect who has to replace Konerko.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Dec 26, 2012 -> 08:32 PM) You won't give that one up will you? When you factor in years on the team and games played AJ outperformed Karkovice in the sanctified and hallowed WAR category. I liked Karkovice a lot. He was a defensive marvel behind the plate. I don't think AJ was terrible defensively, just not very good. If you could get have someone with AJ's hitting and the Officer's defensive prowess that would be a helluva catcher. Flowers is a definite upgrade over AJ behind the plate, but not on the level of Karkovice. Or Fisk and Lollar for that matter. He's also another all or nothing strike out machine that has given me no indication whatsoever that he can hit well enough to be worth it. No, I won't. Not when a player is vastly overrated despite popular opinion. Especially when the numbers tell a different story. For a catcher, I value defense first. In his best years, AJ was mediocre behind the plate. He framed pitches well, created a nice target and called a good game. Over the last few years, he's been horrid. Even this year, despite the huge rise in numbers, I felt that he was a liability more often than not. He wasn't only awful defensively, his pitch calling was suspect and he showed up at least 3 players during a game. That's just unacceptable, imo.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 26, 2012 -> 07:40 PM) Who exactly called AJ "worthless"? I've never called him worthless, just overrated and unlikable. I rooted for him, as I did all White Sox that were assholes.

Btw, I'll take a plus defensive catcher with pop over a poor defender who hits for average all day, everyday.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 26, 2012 -> 07:00 PM) And fangraphs WAR is the end all. Instead of standings, they should just add up all WARs and pass out trophies. The fact is if AJ hit .215 with a .275 OBP but threw out runners just like Karkovice used to, you would say he sucked. AJ was a good player for the Sox and had an impact far beyond numbers. The fact that he kept some of his back ups off the field alone should be appreciated. WAR isn't the end all, but when your best attribute is in intangibles, you better be damn good defensively. AJ was mediocre to awful during his tenure.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 26, 2012 -> 06:51 PM) Karkovice was basically a back up catcher. He caught 1000 innings once in his career. His entire value was his defense, and Flowers isn't anywhere near Karkovice defensively. He managed to produce a higher WAR than AJ. WAR doesn't account for grinderism though.

The legend of AJ knows no bounds. The other day, somebody took a shot at Flowers by calling him another Karkovice. Statistically, AJ was no Karkovice.

Is it ever worth it to upgrade your processor on a laptop? I've got an older Dell Inspiron 15 with an i3. I'm about to upgrade the RAM. Is it even worth it to try to upgrade the cpu. or should I just look into buying a new machine in the near future. It's only got 3 gigs of RAM currently. I'm getting 8 GB because it's so cheap.

Floyd for Markakis. Move Rios to LF. Move Viciedo to 1B. Trade PK for prospects.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 22, 2012 -> 11:48 AM) We desperately need a starting catcher. Everyone for Matt Wieters. Pathetic. Why is everybody in a hurry to trade Rios? At this point, he's our best player and his contract is fair to good.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 01:59 PM) That's just not happening. Teams in competition aren't going to be looking to take on 3.5 years of a contract. I think people forget that certain organizations can't just sign FA's because players don't want to play there. For example, if KC or SD contend, they'll have to overpay at the deadline because they have such a hard time buying players.

Signing Jackson might just be a roundabout way to acquire prospects at the deadline.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 10:35 AM) They already re-signed Geovany Soto, so they will be in a L/R platoon I assume. There is talk that they will use AJP as DH sometimes too. I would have no problem with the Sox doing this, but I wonder if the Sox thought there might be issues with AJ's ego if he took a back seat to Flowers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 10:34 AM) He's got a decent RH backup in HGeovannyH. If he needs extra time off compared to last year, that's a good setup. So you're saying the Rangers will lead the league in HGH from the catcher position?

I wonder if Texas is planning to use him as their everyday catcher. Sending him out there in that heat every day is going to be tough.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 10:05 AM) Hahn not bringing back AJ isn't about the money Winner!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 09:26 AM) Which is funny, because both fangraphs and B-R have him being better on defense in 2012 than he was in 2011. The only year he's been moderately below average on defense was 2011. Aside from that, including 2012, he's been about average with everything rolled in together. How do they rate catcher's? Anybody who's being honest with themselves and watched the Sox a lot last year can see that AJ was brutal behind the plate.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 09:18 AM) Yes. He's not the greatest defender back there, but if he's not a catcher then there are like 8 catchers in the league. Not the greatest defender? LOL. It's not like he's league average. He's bad. He was never a good catcher, and last year he showed regression. He went from bad to really bad.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 09:15 AM) Huh? You watched him catch last year. It was brutal.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 21, 2012 -> 09:02 AM) More AJ isn't any good and nobody wants him hyperbole. The catchers who signed were back ups like Laird and Ross. The only starting catcher who signed I believe, was Russell Martin. Napoli, who isn't really a catcher, has not signed. The proof is in the pudding. Nobody wanted AJ. That's why he didn't even get a 2 year offer. He's just not a catcher anymore. I would have loved to have him as a back up, but there's no way he'd do it. With his attitude, it would be more harm than good.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 20, 2012 -> 11:16 PM) For one year? Yeah, there is not a GM in baseball who would go with Flowers. I call BS. He's an awful defender. He had a career year in his mid 30's. If he was anybody else, we'd all be convinced he was cheating. He's a DH playing an important defensive position. For the life of me, I can't understand the butt hurt. I really can't. Granted, I've always disliked the guy, but I'll root for a guy I don't like, if it's the right move. Resigning AJ clearly wasn't the right move. The only thing he had going for him was hitting from the left side. I'd make a decent wager Flowers puts up a better WAR with more HR's and walks. Its pretty evident Rick Hahn agrees.

I'd love to see a poll that asked MLB GM's who'd they rather have as their starting catcher going forward: AJ or Flowers. I bet most of you guys would be surprised. Hahn had the choice. He chose Flowers. Deal with it.

AJ would have been a good back up/LH bat off the bench. That's it IMO. He's a DH playing catcher.

Some of you guys are acting like you haven't felt this bad since New Kids On The Block broke up. It's gonna be ok guys. Eventually everyone gets old.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 20, 2012 -> 07:48 PM) The point is eventually using age as the reason he will be worthless will be correct, but there is a pretty good chance he doesn't fall apart in 2013, considering there was no slippage in 2012. It will be interesting to see how Flowers handles the bigger workload and the higher expectations that come with it. There also is going to be another 15-20 extra games we will see the back up catcher. Giving AJ a one year deal was not very risky. What they do with the money is going to be the key. We've already seen it. He was a bad defender, but last year he was brutal.