Balta1701

QUOTE (Wanne @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 06:20 PM) The Halos were still complete idiots for spending that kind of money on Pujols personally...and I honestly think Pujols was an idiot for leaving St. Louis. He's kind of drifted off into obscurity... I don't think that "Staying in St. Louis" would have somehow helped him stay healthy, do you?

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 03:26 PM) He sais one very odd thing. He complained that last year's team was the worst defensively he has ever seen . But his biggest complaint was their attitude towards playing D. This year, he said, with the changes Hahn made, there is a new and improved attitude. But then he went on to say that a poor attitude would not have happened under KW either. So who were these players and if Hahn or Williams isn't to blame is he complaining about Robin allowing it. Last year he also started off the year being very complimentary towards the team's attitude. "not a butthole on the team" is a direct quote.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) I know, the extra 3 years could have made it even more outrageous though. The other way to think about it...he'll still be prime age and that's 3 more years of "rising contracts". 12/$500 could still sound plausible.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) I wanted to see him hit the open market at 25 or 26 or whatever just to see what he would have made. Would have been fun. He'll be there at 28.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 12:19 PM) Does Trout have any other endorsements besides subway? We should see him in as many commercials/ads that would rival LeBron. Kid is that good. Nike has him, along with a sports drink called bodyarmor

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 29, 2014 -> 10:52 AM) His .900+ .ops vs LHP for 300 at bats should lead the White Sox to 72-75 wins. (Just to point out, he got 113 PA's last year against LHP with both 1b and DH available. He did miss a portion of the year, but that's only going to get him to 150 PA's if you scale up. If he's getting 300 PA's, he's taking 150 PA's against RHP, and if you scale his performance last year that gives an overall .750-ish OPS).

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 11:51 PM) I think he is the best RH hitter the Sox have for a pinch hitter. He is alot better than any of the others. The good news is, the White Sox have an overwhelmingly LH hitting lineup, so a RH pinch hitting option is going to be desperately needed.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:39 PM) And wouldn't that be a refreshing change from the 200 strike outs, we've been getting every year from Dunn? Dude, in his healthy seasons Grady Sizemore still struck out 150 times. In fact, piling up the strikeouts and not putting the ball in play might well have kept him from developing into the MVP level player people were predicting for him at 25.

Interesting to see the level of hoops the Halos are jumping through in this deal to stay under the luxury tax level this year. You can tell where those deals for Hamilton and Pujols are really squeezing them.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 08:58 PM) It's not enough pitching depth. That's why they need to sign a guy like Shields. Then they don't have enough depth to trade Quintana by your standard.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 08:31 PM) Balta, here I thought I'd actually win an argument and then out of nowhere you show up with the message board equivalent to the old cue ball in a sock move and I'm fighting for survival again. If you want a top-of-the-rotation starter you must assume some risk. Johnson, Beck, the #3 pick, along with signing a guy like Shields provides enough insulation for the loss of Quintana if the deal does not pan out. But you already tried to trade Beck along with Quintana, and you've said repeatedly that Johnson, Beck, Danish, and the #3 pick is not enough pitching depth. Hell, that was your ENTIRE point for why the Sox needed another starter. At least it's great to see you finally agree that the White Sox do have sufficient pitching depth and don't need a mid rotation starter in the near future unless they trade someone, so your entire last 3 month schtick was pointless

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 06:43 PM) Thanks for understanding my point. Quintana's contract could give the Sox some nice leverage with a GM hellbent on winning. The GM could give up a top-of-the-rotation prospect and sell it to his fan base as getting a solid if not spectacular SP signed to a well below market value deal. Is it likely, no, but it's possible. A great comparison could have been the 4 players the Rockies got for Jiminez after he lost his fastball. Cleveland gave up multiple top prospects for the guy. Of course, the problem is that Colorado pretty much got nothing out of those guys. Pomeranz disappointed and was traded, the other pitcher was useless and is now an astro, and the other 2 guys have sort of dropped out of the Rockies top 25. Which is of course the downside that Marty either can't process or is really hoping for.

MLB and the MLBPA appear to have come to an agreement on a tighter steroid testing policy right in the middle of an active CBA. If this is accurate they should be commended.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 04:58 PM) I wonder if anyone around here supports this idea: http://gawker.com/arrest-climate-change-deniers-1553719888 Apparently you must think someone here does otherwise you wouldn't have posted that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 12:06 PM) Most vesting options are based on appearances, games, ABs, IP, etc. I haven't seen them yet, but I would bet if gets X number of ABs in the last two years, or something similar, is how it works. And like I said...if he's meeting those, I think the Tigers are happy, not sad.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) It could be a 12 year deal. MLBRosterMoves ‏@MLBRosterMoves 18m The @tigers and @MiguelCabrera agree to 8-year contract extension through the 2023 season with two vesting options for 2024 and 2025. Has anyone written what the vesting options are? If I had to guess I'd imagine they were written such that the Tigers would be happy if they vested (i.e. he's still performing well in years 9 and 10).

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 11:40 AM) Sorry, I was referring to the #10 rank on mlb.com earlier in that post. I'd happily let other people gamble on that one. In the mid to late first round, you get a lot of guys like that who "might" be major league contributors but who have some degree of mad skills.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:51 AM) There's already precedence for this. There are graduate student unions, and as far as I'm aware, their scholarships and stipends did not suddenly become taxable upon unionization. eta: well some quick googling seems to indicate that TA stipends are in fact taxable! We paid taxes but were exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes as grad students.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:56 AM) "...can still be a major league regular..." No thanks in the first round, lol. For us that was clearly talking about the early-2nd round pick, I thought.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:52 AM) Anything is better than last year. Just to see Eaton and Abreu, maybe Semien, Erik Johnson...maybe it will be a weight off everyone's shoulders when Dunn is gone as well as Konerko and it really feels like a completely fresh start? It's not just the "fresh start", it was the "we're not going to care about winning ballgames this season" message. That was the message when they kept Konerko, that was the message when they brought a guy up from A-ball so as to keep him around after the rule 5 draft, that was the message when they traded their closer for a person not on the roster. It's a tryout and practice year. The team needs it, but it's not going to be pleasant to watch most parts of it. The Benny Hill theme could well be a good fit for these guys this year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) I would imagine they play out this season and see where they think they need an upgrade. With the pitching depth we have, I can't imagine it would be another pitcher, but I suppose crazier things have happened. This is 100% my expectation as well. It's just crazy to think we know what the weaknesses will look like 6 months from now with this many kids around.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:33 AM) I'm not saying they're going to draw 2.25 mill this year, but I think fans will be more interested this year than they were last year. Last year was awful. To that point though, you're right - if they go out and play like a team that's not going to win 70 games, fans won't watch. I know I will be tuning in a lot more this year and might even get the MLB.TV package. Just to note my side...I'm the opposite. I'm expecting to tune in less than I did last year. First year since 2005 I didn't get the Extra Innings package. I'll watch some of the WGN weekend games but I'm not excited to see this type of setup, and I'm not motivated at all to head towards Chicago for a game (I have done that in a few previous years).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 10:03 AM) Masterson will be a nine figure pitcher when he hits the free agent market. I see Tanaka as a special exception, because we sure didn't look at anyone else besides him. I looked at Masterson's stats and he's one of those guys who has alternated between years with ERA's in the mid 3's and years in the high 4's. If he repeats another good year this year yeah, he'll push 9 figures, but there's a downside chance on him this year too

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 09:49 AM) When it comes to starting players, I don't want to say any particular needs trumps any other - it's a need for a reason. Still, I agree with the general premise that, if you can get another top of the rotation at a fair cost, you pull the trigger without worrying about other potential positions of need. Just to stress....it's going to be extremely difficult to get any healthy, successful, prime-aged starter at "a fair cost" on the free agent market. That's just not what the FA market is built to do.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 28, 2014 -> 08:08 AM) Still, 3 years in Rookie Ball is a lot, maybe a record. Of course, they may not have room for him on the Kanny roster. If he is still a viable prospect, he needs to be playing as opposed to another 2.5 months in advanced ST. I never understood why he didn't play more last year.... From what he said last year, he was playing almost every day while in extended Spring Training.