chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 03:09 PM) We'll said! Also, DH/ #4 hitter behind Abreu was a pretty big hole that needed to be filled and has been taken care of. LaRoche didn't cost a compensation pick to sign, he's a player the Sox didn't have to trade prospects for and overall should give the Sox a rather nice upgrade over Dunn for a cheaper price without a long term commitment. This is a very good fit for the Sox. The nice thing about the LaRoche move (granted I'm mixed on it overall) is that it only cost money. No compensation pick, no trade, just cash and a roster spot (of which the Sox have plenty of fat to cut from). Bigger moves that might immediately improve the team more at the MLB will cost probably quite a bit more cash and/or MiLB talent. It's totally the time to just step back and enjoy the ride if you're a Sox fan. This is going to be a busy offseason, judging the LaRoche move in itself is rather uninspiring, but if it's part of a series of moves, then it could turn out well.

that is true hi8is lol when i read that. hopefully laroche won't be historically bad. this signing could go a lot of ways. it probably won't go that way.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:24 PM) He's going to be our DH, so who gives a s*** about his fWAR? If he can maintain his wRC+ against RHP then he'll be plenty valuable. Let's hope he can because as a regular, that's the only above average skill he has.

that tweet is hilarious. Yea, it's an impressive list...of guys...that met an arbitrary cutoff. Players credited with more than 3 fWAR over the past two seasons: not Adam LaRoche.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:07 PM) sorry missed your post before I entered mine. Didn't mean to be Pete and Re Pete It's a very interesting talking point no doubt. I mean, usually you don't see a "light go on" at age 34 in MLB. That ratio is downright Frank Thomas esque. If he really has learned to command the strike zone that well maybe he can reproduce his 2014 with the bat for Chicago. Moving to the AL doesn't help though.

One thing interesting is that he had 84 walks against only 108 Ks last year. That...is pretty damn good. Maybe they think his late career surge is real.

2.2 bWAR and .5 fWAR -- almost all due to variations on his defensive value. Hopefully they've done their scouting on his defense, although judging from how often they trotted Konerko out there at the end they don't really give that much of a f*** about 1B defense. Really hope more dominoes are going to fall.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 08:57 PM) He also is a plus defender and won a GG a couple of years ago. He's not a plus defender in 2015. At best he'd be run neutral at 1B. Yay.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:48 PM) List any. Eh, I literally have no idea who is available in a trade and who isn't. I'm not a huge fan of addressing weaknesses like this via FA for a team that's baseline is closer to 75 wins than 85. As I said, if this is a move towards bumping the payroll the full 40 million or so -- fine. If not, well, it's even more puzzling. He did mash RHP last year. I just don't like 1 skill players in general though. If he doesn't hit, he's worthless.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:47 PM) But LaRoche doesn't prevent us building for the future. He costs us nothing but money and is blocking no one of importance (sorry Andy Wilkins). Also, I think Hahn believes a lot of key pieces are already in place. We have legit #1 & #2 starters, one of the best hitters in baseball, and a very good leadoff guy. We are obviously not a finished product by any means, but if Hahn can fill our major holes with capable veterans and a few of our young, non-proven players like Avi, Semien, Rodon, etc. take that next step, we have a decent chance of being a playoff team. Burning cost-controlled years of Sale, Quintana, Abreu, & Eaton by refusing to sign/trade for veterans is by far the worst thing we can do IMO. This move certainly makes a lot more sense as part of a push to fill the holes with 1-3 WAR regulars and make a push for the playoffs. If this signals that yea, they really do have 40 some million in payroll to play around with, ok fine.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:45 PM) Counterpoint: He was very undervalued and with a limited number of landing spots. His age allows for the deal to be 2 years. Limited risk. No compensation pick. Pretty smart getting a guy who put up an .817 OPS last year and still leaving room for upgrades at other positions. After looking at his splits and yea, no compensation pick, it's slightly more defensible. That said, still don't like it, unless it's part of many more moves that all make sense together, which could still happen.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:43 PM) His 2014 splits are crazy....620 OPS against LHP, .890 OPS against RHP. He's going to have to be platooned. I'm not a fan of sinking $12.5M into a platoon player BUT he's quite a dominant hitter against RHP, enough so that he'll change this line-up considerably when he's in it. With that said, unless Viciedo will be his platoon partner, this signing still leaves a hole for a RH DH or 1B. I also agree that this signals that the Sox plan on being competitive next season which really surprises me. I thought it'd be 2016 before we threw our chips in. Viciedo is going to get what, like 4-7 million in arb? That's a pretty damn expensive DH platoon.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:41 PM) What did you want Hahn to do? Not waste 25 million on LaRoche. DH types are a dime a dozen come January. Have no idea what the rush to make this move was. Yea they need a left handed bat, but they need a decent one. Not LaRoche.

awful, uninspired move. When did Kevin Towers take over for Hahn?

On what planet are we living on where Andy Wilkins provides value? He's a 27 year old non prospect that was absolute trash in his cup of coffee. He looked completely overwhelmed by MLB pitching. He struck out in half his 45 AB! Come on people.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:59 PM) I think Phegley makes a hell of a lot more sense for that chopping block. The Sox have very little first base depth at the moment. At least as a AAAA player, Wilkins has enough talent and upside that he could get hot for a month and perhaps keep the Sox afloat. Maybe his ceiling is Garrett Jones, maybe it's lower than that, but the guy can hit the ball out of the park. EDIT: Also, Raul Fernandez, Andre Rienzo, and Maikel Cleto. Could be Phegley but honestly as an emergency AAAA catcher he has value. Types like Wilkins are usually floating around for non roster invites in spring, no? Cleto yea, he could be gone as well.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:50 PM) Who is Wilkins blocking at the moment that people want him DFA'd and gone so badly? Nobody right now but he's the next man for the chopping block when they make their next FA signing and/or trade. I put that odds at 90% that if they need to clear 40 man spot, he's the guy to go. edit: or when they resign Kong.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:20 PM) Nah, man. That role is going to Danks. LOL. Yea, they are going to pay him what they are paying him in order to pitch 50 s***ty innings out of the pen. He'll either enter camp as the 4th starter (something went horribly wrong then) or he'll be off the team. Well, one more possibility exists, and that is that he'll be the 5th starter breaking camp, and that wouldn't be half bad assuming they fixed the 3 and 4 spots. I do agree with you that Wilkens and Rienzo are as good as gone. Wilkens? LMAO. Classic AAAA player. I have no idea why he hasn't already been waived. Rienzo maybe they could get a C prospect for.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:03 PM) Sounds like the exact type of guy the Sox would go after. yup.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:03 PM) Well good; I thought he was at his 5 years (if he wasn't , I'm not sure why he was on the 40 man in the first place). He is, he reached that in 2012. He sucks, nobody will sign him to anything other than a minor league contract. Since he's familiar with the Sox, he'll probably just stick in Chicago. Classic career minor leaguer that might see a cup of coffee or two in his 26-30 age years.

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) I'm just not interested in Melky. I don't like him. He strikes me as a guy who plays for money an fame and not for the love of the game. I think he'll cost to much an I would't want him for as long as the contract he's seeking(5 yrs.) I think we'd be much better off with Rasmus with a shorter and cheaper contract. I'm still waiting to see whats out on the trade market though. Funny story about Melky (note: I don't think what you're arguing is true, just for the record). My buddy and I were sitting in CF at yankee stadium and the Yankees were doing their usual around the horn fan intros. Well, Melky got his last, as per usual for the CF, and it was just his luck that the first pitch was swung on and hit deep to CF. Melky was still tipping his cap to the crowd when the ball was hit and he got an awful jump and missed the ball by a couple feet. It would have been a routine play. The jeers from the crowd were awesome.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 19, 2014 -> 10:35 PM) Or, we could sign a clown from the circus and teach him how to throw a cutter. It would cost a lot less. Seriously though, Danks needs to be out of the equation IMO, even if they have to eat quite a bit of salary. Your plan is a good one for the rotation.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 19, 2014 -> 07:39 PM) Don't think anyone has looked at his splits yet to compare his 1st and 2nd half of 2014. If you think the league may have caught up to the changes then you may have a point. 1st Half 38 IP 29 hits 1.18 ERA 0.947 WHIP 7BB 0 WP 2nd Half 20.2 IP 20Hits 4.79 ERA 1.452 WHIP 10BB 3WP Hey fun with selective endpoints! His 2nd half xFIP was 2.76 his 1st half was 1.72. He was pretty damn good in both. The big difference? His strand rate went from 90.5 in the 1st and to 59.5 in the 2nd half, that and he walked a few more guys. He had a very good year overall, splitting it up is fairly useless for such a small sample already. He only pitched 20.2 after the ASB. It's a fine signing I have no idea how anyone could be against it. They have money to spend and the pen was awful. This move hardly breaks the bank for additional signings.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 19, 2014 -> 08:59 PM) And the bidding starts with 2/20M. I think LaRoche ends up with more but someone has to make the first bid. Let the Marlins have him. In the NL? He'll be a negative WAR player. Awful deal for the Marlines, might as well have thrown 30 million at Butler if that's what LaRoche gets.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Nov 19, 2014 -> 06:28 PM) Really want LaRoche, I would sign him to a one year deal with an option for a second. He would really upgrade the team's defense, and he is a left handed bat. The fug? He's only -122 runs for his career in the field. He's 35. He's a DH. Not a very good one at that. Pass, pass, pass.