Balta1701

QUOTE (Lillian @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 04:18 PM) This move of acquiring Juan Diaz only increases the likelihood that there is something brewing with a Ramirez trade. The Sox have plenty of middle infielders, so this doesn't seem like an organizational roster fill in kind of move. The only thing that I can find about his defensive ability is that he has a strong arm, which is not surprising for a 6'4" SS. He could be the answer to the question; "Who fills the stop gap SS role until Tim Anderson is ready?" To reiterate; If he can play defense, and Kemp would be coming to the Sox in a trade centered around Alexei, I'd be thrilled. He wouldn't have to hit much with that lineup. Remember, this speculated move would not require the loss of a Draft pick. Moreover, if Diaz were to be the SS, his salary is inconsequential. Juan Diaz could also be "guy who holds the AAA shortstop position until Saladino is healthy enough to return"

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) This is true. I understand about Leury struggling, I really do, its the .166 BA that frustrates me. I can on hope he would do better with consistent playing time. If Alexei is dealt, I would love to see Leury earn the starting SS job in ST. I absolutely love his speed and defense. Leury IMO should have an entire year at AAA. He had 1/2 a year there at age 22 and didn't really do well enough to earn the callup other than his ability to play multiple positions.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 02:19 PM) I have no idea what's happened to him this year. He's always been prone to making dumb decisions and causing a turnover, but this year he's just been pretty bad all around. He's missing routine throws. Not that last play, though. That was on the WR. His stats on the year were still better than last year all around last time I looked.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 10:33 AM) Q is a better pitcher than Bruce is a position player (even using his pre 2014 numbers). Bruce is Carlos Lee without being a pure clown defensively. He's good, not great. What is that worth? Scott Podsednik + Luis Vizcaino.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 01:07 PM) Leury is just frustrating to me. Slap hitting and strikeouts aside I really like his game as far as his defense, base running speed, base stealing and switch hitting. If he could slap his way to .250 I would be happy to play him at SS 150 games a year. He would certainly raise some hell at the top of the order with his speed which puts Eaton second in the order where he would fit well. Or at least hit right handers and platoon him with either Semien or Saladino. I know, I'm dreaming again aren't I... I'm not that frustrated with Leury, honestly. If you take almost any guy who belongs in AA and put them in the big leagues because he's the only guy in your org who can back up 3+ positions and you're carrying an extra DH on your bench, they're all pretty likely to struggle.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 11:29 AM) I will say I'm just somewhat disappointed in that it seemed like this would be beginning of a new team strategy for using our position players. For first time since forever, the possibility that our DH could be switched among 11/12 position players could have happened rather than just having two 1B. In all likelihood finding a LH non 1b for this would have been extremely expensive. But, just feeling a bit of "more of this then, eh?" It's worth adding that LaRoche has some pretty major platoon splits, so it could be entirely possible that someone like Semien will see some extra playing time at DH when there is a left handed starter on the mound (also depending on what happens to the corner OF slot).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) Read Hahn quotes. Abreu needs a lot of DH time. A first baseman was needed. I am sure they are still in the market for an OF. Oh, so you now agree with me that Abreu needed a ton more rest and Robin's failure to do that was a silly mistake?

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 09:33 PM) Kemp might think twice if he took the time to consider he would be hitting with Abreu/ LaRoche and 81 games at the Cell. For the right deal I would take the chance on him no problem. Just in general, if we wind up having a genuine personality conflict where several people are unhappy with their roles, do you have confidence in this manager to hold that team together? I think my answer is pretty apparent.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 09:17 PM) Think he means for next 2 seasons as Kemp is making less than Danks and Alexei combined But do the math. Danks has $29 million on his contract, Alexei has $20 million on his assuming option picked up, Kemp has $107 million remaining. Taking on Matt Kemp is an enormous salary boost for the long term.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 08:52 PM) Could Alexei + Danks net Kemp + a better than lottery ticket prospect, or Kemp + two or three lottery tickets? That just seems like a match that makes sense to me. The Sox lower their payroll obligation, acquire a middle of the order OF bat (who would essentially be paid 4/30), and rid themselves of Danks, allowing Bassit and Noesi starting opportunities. Meanwhile, the Dodgers get an upgrade at SS and the back end of the rotation starter they're looking for, not to mention clearing their OF logjam. Is it just me, or does that make a lot of sense for both sides and seem like a reasonable deal? I can't see any way on Earth that "someone taking on matt kemp" involves lowering the payroll obligation of anyone other than the Dodgers.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 08:19 PM) Ultimately, I think this team will be closer to $100M in payroll this year. Just a gut feeling, there. They will need more than Sale & Q plus a below average bullpen to contend, IMO. I wouldn't feel comfortable with Sale/Q/FA/ and Danks/Noesi/Bassit/Johnson/Rienzo unless they pen was above average. When I said the phrase "If everything goes right" that includes the bullpen. At this point with Duke, everyone would agree there's some talent in the bullpen, including young talent. We may not have an obvious closer unless Jones is Healthy so there's still a need there, but we've got a bullpen that has talent but needs stuff to go right. If stuff goes right, this can be an above average bullpen. We still have some holes to fill with tolerable players, and IMO the most important of those is to figure out the corner OF mess and I can't believe Viciedo will be offered arbitration. But we're on a path that could work if stuff goes right...which will leave a lot to me depending on the coaching staff and how the team comes together. Of course, I have zero confidence in our manager, but that's another story.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 08:00 PM) That rotation is a bit scary, IMO. Would really need to see what kind of bullpen they field before I could feel comfortable about calling this team a "contender". The way they're going, they're setting themselves up to "be a contender if everything goes right", which is what I thought they'd be able to do if they set a payroll limit in the $80-90 million range. I'm pretty ok with that. They can fill their holes at that payroll level and say they have a shot at contending if everything goes right but without leaving themselves unable to make major moves in 2016 if things do go wrong.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 07:23 PM) I don't see the problem with poop man. I would s*** if somehow Hahn pulled off trade built around an Alexei/ Danks for Kemp/ Van Slyke swap. I mean, there would be nut filled brownies everywhere! Sheeeeiiit me timbers! I'd think that is a terrible deal unless the Dodgers are sending along a ****ton of money.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 06:47 PM) Everything I read was saying $90-95M as their payroll for the year. Last I had checked before all of the moves, they were going into the offseason with around $50M in payroll. That doesn't count the amount it takes to fill out a roster, when you add in all the $500k guys that fill out a roster it puts them right around $60 million to start the year. $65 if Viciedo is offered arb.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 06:32 PM) Seems like not many are giving Micah Johnson much of a chance to break ST as the starting 2nd baseman. I like the speed element he should add to this team. Frankly, I'm not. I want to see him start the year in AAA. He missed so much time last year and barely saw AAA, I want to see him have time there and stay healthy for at least a little while.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 06:19 PM) At what point do you say he HAD control issues. BB/9 Lucas Giolito- 2.6 Archie Bradley- 5.3 Noah Syndergaard- 2.9 Jon Gray- 3.0 Dylan Bundy- 5.4 Frank Mantas- 2.4 That's your top 5 ranked pitchers. Montas had better walk numbers than all of em. The changeup from what I've read doesn't sound like a bad offering, I guess you can say he can "figure that out" but when you have a ++ fastball and a +slider I think you can get away with an average changeup. He's likely > a year from the big leagues. Plenty of time to turn the change into a + pitch.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 06:14 PM) The only way Danks gets traded is if we either package him with Alexei and we add Danks instead of getting a bigger return (and I don't think that will happen) or if Danks gets dealt in a bad contract for bad contract type of deal. I could see the bad contract for bad contract swap if we still needed the lefty and Ethier might have made sense, but now that we don't desperately need a middle of the order lefty, its just hard to see any obvious match. We don't need an overpaid right fielder nearly as badly now and clearing Danks only makes sense if we're going to easily replace him in the rotation, which isn't going to be cheap anyway.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 05:58 PM) Been saying this since he got called up. An earlier report said the Sox are looking to bring in a RHSP so I doubt it happens but I for one wouldn't think it'd be that bad of a thing. Or say they do trade Danks, I could see Sale-Q-RHSP-Noesi-Bassitt with Bassitt (Or Noesi if he bombs) moving to the pen once Rodon is ready. If they don't think Bassitt is ready to fill that role and they do trade Danks then I could see them going after a Morrow, Villanueva, or a Franklin Morales to fill that void of a guy who starts in the rotation then is moved to the pen. I cannot see them trading Danks. There's just no reason to believe they're going to do that, especially now that we just filled the need of a LH bat. Coop still talks him up, he's one of our veterans, his contract is hard to move, and there's just very little reason to do a bad contract for bad contract swap after the moves we just made.

Well, at least we still seem to have the reputation of giving guys a chance to be successful that attracts the minor league FAs.

He had a rep as one of the best in the league at "pitch framing", is that still true?

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 05:36 PM) Worrying about a LFers defense is like critiquing the intelligence of a beauty pageant contestant. If he can hit, nobody cares. The Kansas City Royals made their run this year in no small part based on the strength of their OF defense.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 05:21 PM) I hope you're not suggesting a Sale, Quintana, Bassitt, Noesi, & Danks rotation to start the year. I could totally see the White Sox doing this, but it depends on how much they really believe in Bassitt. he wouldn't be the only guy in that rotation who spent very little time in AA and up before being tossed into the big league team. I wouldn't do it, but it would fit with the way the Sox act.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 03:45 PM) Contract, or not, I think it's silly to put Quintana on par with Sale or Trout. There are no metrics that could convince me otherwise. I think their contracts bear that out as well. There is a reason Trout makes what he makes and Quintana makes what he makes. I'm not saying anything bad about Quintana, to me, he's just not as good as those other guys. Hypothetically, I would guess if all 4 were on the FA market, the order in size of contracts offered would be Trout, Sale, Bruce, Quintana. Maybe I am missing your point. Yes there is, but that reason has literally nothing to do with their performance, it has to do with how close they were to free agency when they signed their contract.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) Could explain why the Sox put Saladino on the 40 man roster. I guess if the Sox traded Alexei, they would use one of Sanchez/ Semien/ Saladino to keep SS warm until Anderson was ready. Also shows the Sox have confidence in Anderson remaining at SS. Sounds like Hahn is entertaining a bit of a bidding war for Alexei. That actually does make some sense, they seemed insistent on playing Saladino at SS a lot last year and he was doing ok there before injury. If they do move Alexei, they would need Tyler around as at least a guy to hold the position.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 07:25 AM) This just proves to me why I'm not a sabermetric guy and hate how they are used to justify players values because Trout is a much better baseball player than Quintana regardless of what those "metrics" say. Personally, I'd trade Quintana for Bruce tomorrow. I'd probably trade him for Mike Trout too The player alone doesn't have that value. The player + the contract status is what makes it close. If I'm comparing the value of Trout and Quintana, yes Trout is clearly a better player, but with Quintana's deal, I have an extra $100 million to go play the free agent market with, and Quintana + that extra 6/$100 has a good chance of being close to as productive as Trout. Yes, there's a benefit to having a single guy who's that productive, so it's not 100% a perfect comp and I don't want anyone to take it as that, but there's also a benefit to being able to have extra money to spend on the FA market since you could also get lucky and find a guy like Morneau with some of that money who massively overplays his contract. The point ought to be that no, you wouldn't trade Trout for Quintana straight up, but that's about the level of deal you need to think about before you start considering moving Quintana. If you swap in Sale, or Trout, in the proposed deal, do you laugh at it? Do you laugh at a deal of Sale or Trout for Jay Bruce? It's hilarious and crazy. Jose Quintana in that deal is equally hilarious and crazy.