chitownsportsfan

Good guy, good story. Got his service time for the pension so pretty much whatever else he can squeeze out of his arm is gravy. Certainly a testament to the power of hard work and perseverance. That said, pretty much a dime a dozen long man with zero upside. Sox might be looking to find someone with a little more upside for the last pitcher on the roster in '15.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 24, 2014 -> 05:59 PM) The White Sox don't play in the media the way other teams do. partly because they hardly ever do biz with boras (rosenthal).

Viciedo is the homeless man's version of Cespedes. Cespedes has value, he's proven an average starter. Viciedo has proven replacement level. and yea, their skills are similar.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 06:28 PM) I think they will add one more SP. Maybe an upside arm for Tank Viciedo isn't even worth an A ball arm at this point. He'll probably be non-tendered or traded for someone else's 40 man roster junk.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 05:58 PM) Viciedo is one of the worst players in the game. There is so much evidence that documents his sorriness that it is beyond dispute. If he is in line for significant playing time next summer, RH will have failed his offseason report card. In the rotation, Sale, Q, and Noesi (at #4) are givens. Rodon will likely start the year in the minors. That means we have two slots open. Danks should be either dumped or in the pen. You seem fairly level headed, so level head yourself on the La Roche move. The Sox have quite a bit of money to spend and this move probably signals they are ready to spend more of it. If they don't make any other moves to improve the MLB talent after this then yea, it's a real head scratcher. But if La Roche is mashing RHP in July and the Sox suck anyways he'll be good trade bait.

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.