Balta1701

No. 2-3 months is not an advantage except in that you don't lose the draft pick. I'd trade the value of a 2nd round pick, either way you must pay market rate. And if they were trading him, it would make much more sense for a competitive team to deal for him.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 08:32 PM) Mitchell is starting the year in Charlotte now rather than Birmingham. Yeah, why not. What's the worst that happens he struggles and that's it?

I just don't see a top rotation starter being our most likely need, if I had to guess id go with either catcher or a LH middle of the order bat. But if somehow this teams grows up and plays better than I think they will, and somehow at the same time pitching becomes a hole, you know I could actually maybe guess Hahn go for the splash. But man, esp if we draft a pitcher third, that just will not seem like a need to me. I could absolutely see the north side putting up like 8/$190 for him.

Holy macaroni.

Tigers have extended Miguel Cabrera Hell, now that I see the dollar value that gets a thread.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 05:40 PM) Yes. It really is. I have a friend who thinks it looks great. He is no longer a friend. I just watched that. I'm sad now. I'm probably going to be laughing at that in front of the Winter Soldier next week and that realization made me sadder.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 05:04 PM) This Webb may have to go down for a while to make room for this pitcher we picked up on waivers, but he's going to be good. I very much agree with that, but I also think he might well benefit from some time in AAA. Best fastball I've seen at AA hands down though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) Not really. They will probably be playing with the extended spring training guys. They need to get some ABs before they play. Correct, the first games for the Barons isn't until April 9, the first game for the Knights isn't until April 11.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) So Hawks call to arms this year will be "Set the tone by running hard to first" because old guys did it, that's why I'd call that an improvement if it happened, but I have zero confidence that the team will actually listen. They'll follow the team leader who does not.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2014 -> 04:19 PM) Couldn't have said it any better myself. I wonder sometimes if plate discipline is something that can be learned or not. I am leaning toward the latter. Can you guys think of anyone in baseball who was a free swinger and then "figured it out?" If one either has it or doesn't, then Avi just doesn't. Which makes me wonder what Hahn saw in him to make him a centerpiece in the Peavy trade. The guy oozes tools, I know, but what good is raw power when a) he doesn't put it in play that often, and b) when he does, he puts it on the ground? Jose Reyes is the one guy who comes to mind who came up swinging as often or more often than Viciedo and then turned himself into an effective (not spectacular but effective) count-worker who took a good number of walks and got on base. If you glance through his stats you can clearly see it, he walks more, swings at fewer pitches, swings at fewer first pitches, sees more 2-0/3-1 counts, etc.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 09:31 PM) Scratched from start, back inflammation. Once the back starts acting weird, it becomes worrisome. Still, "inflammation" after a start in the middle of ST on the other side of the world, might not be the most stunning thing. If it's really just inflamed muscles that's not big time scary.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 09:13 PM) Now the Kershaw deal looks a bit worrisome. ?

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 08:30 PM) They were talking about Beckham playing in Birmingham next week for a couple games and coming off the DL on April 5th, which he can, because it's retroactive. 4 games isn't a lot of time to steal a guy's spot. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather see Semien be the regular 2B, but I'm expecting Beckham bought himself a few more months in Chicago. I guess the next question is, who goes down when Beckham comes off the DL? Leury is more versatile, but Semien can probably still play 3 times a week. Please stop making me say that Semien needs to play every day.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 06:47 PM) A September call-up is counted as well? Yes, if you check his service time right now it's like 0.027 years or something like that. That would add in to his super-2 count if he is sent back down and called up again later this year.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 06:38 PM) Someone with more mastery of arbitration clock details help me out- so assume Semien starts the season in Chicago for 2 weeks and goes down to Charlotte when Beckham comes off the DL. The # of days he was with the big league club count towards his arbitration status. What, roughly, is the threshold for # of days this season that would mean we get an extra year out of him before free agency? I think the number is actually unknown because the Super-2 deadline depends on what everyone else's numbers are as well. The rule is that the player must be in the top 22% of players that year for service time accrued. Generally that translates to guys having to wait until early July to come up. Since Semien was also up last year, it's possible this 2 weeks could require keeping him in the minors through part of early August.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 05:59 PM) So Webb's probably ticketed for Charlotte until one of Cleto/Guerra blows up. (I continue to have zero problems with that).

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 05:46 PM) At this point in time I would like to see Semien as our super sub guy. He can play three infield positions. He has a high ceiling I think. Keppinger was injured granted but I think he is expendable. Beckham haters can hate all they want but Gordo is an excellent 2Bman. He has gold glove potential and will contribute with the bat No. Marcus Semien should get >500 PA's this year. If some of those are at the big league level great, but him getting 300-ish PA's as a backup while Beckham and Ramirez take most of the time would be an utter, utter failure.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 05:31 PM) I was assuming his comment about "making the team" was in reference to backup players. Luery is the only guy we have to can fill in for Alexei at SS, other than maybe Semien, who is already a starter for us. Every time I raised this issue when we decided to use our last bench spot for a platoon DH I've been told that it won't be a big deal as Alexei plays 150+ games a year and shouldn't be expected to take a lot of days off.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 05:25 PM) He is really the only option we have to play SS with Beckham and Kepp injured, unless you let Luery play 2B and let Semien fill in at SS? And our defense continues to be awful. 4 errors through 4 innings and Nieto didn't come anywhere near catching a popup behind home plate. Alexei Ramirez at SS? And I'm 100% expecting the defense to continue being awful for a while.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 04:56 PM) I mean, if you're a Rienzo guy, fine - i understand the logic. let a young guy try and/or crash burn but i have to think they basically saw their '13 test run with him as - 'this guy will be relieving for us more likely than anything else.' unless something changes, he's kind of in that bad-world of starter-versatility without much excellence at any one thing. I am rooting for him but it kind of brings into question if even relief at MLB-level is ...a long career for him. I am a Rienzo fan somewhat (not as a top of the rotation guy but with middle-rotation potential) and I definitely see how there could be benefit for him being in the rotation in Charlotte. I could also see him having enough success that he becomes a really important trade chip in the near future. Maybe not in a deal on his own but in a multi-part deal like the one the Sox did for Peavy, he could be a really useful piece if he has some additional big league success and shows growth with his offspeed stuff this year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 04:50 PM) Obviously the solution is to sign Davidson to a team friendly long term deal and immediately trade him for someone exponentially more expensive and marginally better. (I actually can see a scenario where this happens...if Gillaspie has a really solid year, maybe adds 4-5 more HR and pushes his all-around performance upwards, since he's a lefty he'll fit the lineup a lot better than Davidson and we'll have a real bugger on our hand. Trade the established player who fits the lineup better, or trade the more talented guy who might need more development time, is RH in a lineup loaded with righties, and is higher risk due to strikeouts. Again, that presupposes Gillaspie shows solid improvement this season, which I stress is just a scenario, not an expectation or guarantee)

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 04:02 PM) You think these are one-year deals. You have your mid-rotation starter locked in for 4-years Balta at a nice, comfortable price. Just like we had our DH locked in for 4 years at a similarly nice, comfortable price. No obvious downside risk there either.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 04:42 PM) Headley and Sandoval make far less sense than Jimenez in my view. I don't see why you'd want to block Davidson. Why do you want to block Beck?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) There's no law against releasing him. But there goes your mid-tier contract money on a player not on the roster. Shame, can't sign that mid-tier player you want.

QUOTE (woods of ypres @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 02:31 PM) LOL Phillies at 180+M That's tax territory right?