Balta1701

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 02:26 PM) Dunn's contract was the scourge because the core the Sox had in place had run its course. Dunn's contract did not prevent them from winning and there is no way a mid-tier starter's contract would prevent this core from winning. Which is clearly why you haven't complained at all about the Sox giving playing time to Adam Dunn.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 01:29 PM) It isn't two years off though, Sherman is due at the end of next year. I think Irvin and then Wilson are coming up soon after. After just re-upping with Bennett, Allen had to be a luxury if he wasn't willing to take less than what the Bears offered And if I had to guess...it's simply going to be impossible to keep all of them. So win the title again this year and then do the best you can.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 12:56 PM) I think Seattle has to be very conscious of their upcoming salary commitments to young players I get that is a worthy consideration, but really their goal ought to be to win the super bowl every year right now and worry about the cap ramifications in 2 years when it becomes a huge problem and forces their teams dismantling. That's pretty much going to happen to some degree. Win the trophy again while you can.

Anyone who followed the concept of a "Freidman unit" with respect to Iraq will find this to be the funniest thing they read all day.

By the way, the other reason you put your weakest pitcher in-between your 2 strongest pitchers is the bullpen. If your weakest pitcher is the most likely guy on the roster to go 3 innings in a start, you want him sandwiched between the 2 guys most likely to go 7-8 innings in a start, so that the bullpen doesn't pile up huge innings on consecutive days. That's the other sign Paulino is viewed as the actual weakest/5th starter right now.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) Seeing it broken down like this, that is one ugly roster. On a positive note, it's a good thing that bullpen won't see a lot of leads. Clearly that's why we should have made a big signing this year, because one middle-of-the-rotation pitcher would fix all that. Right?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 12:07 PM) Isn't the best time to spend money when the team has a young core. If the money being spent makes them competitive that year, yes. Otherwise the money spent that year would be equally well served being lit on fire.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 11:43 AM) The only time Rasmus missed significant time was last year. If you throw out last year, he has averaged 143 games per year and that's with LaRussa benching him at times because he didn't like him, which I think really hindered his development in STL. He seemed to really figure it out last year. I know he doesn't get as much press as he should playing in Toronto, but he put up a 4.8 fWAR in just 118 games last year. If he hadn't gotten hurt and played at that level for 155 games it would have been 6.3. That is easily All-Star+ level. Definitely going to be interesting to see if he can repeat that performance this year. If he does, it's probably worth $50 million+ to him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 12:03 PM) You're absolutely right. Then why are you bothering with this team?

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 07:16 AM) I hope over, and only if the adjustment period isn't too long or draining on him but I can't help but think as mature a hitter he is he won't hit a couple stumps throughout the season so if money was involved i'd go under....although barely. 23/74 I still say these numbers make sense, and I get what you're saying too, but man, when you watch that guys swing it is just a work of art.

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Mar 26, 2014 -> 07:19 AM) For the money Scherzer is gonna demand(and will probably get) there's no way the Sox land him at the price he's going. The nice thing is...if that winds up being our only need, we'd actually be in a position to go after him since we didn't waste our money on middling, back-of-the-rotation FA's this offseason. Personally I still think pitching will be low on the list of needs this offseason and a LH, middle-of-the-order bat will be at the top, but that all depends on development.

So I assume this somehow means that Clay Matthews will be going to the Lions to complete the NFC North Cycle?

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 05:40 PM) Yep, there are no quality of play issues in the Western Conference. They only exist in the East where you have a number of teams that have gutted their rosters on purpose to tank or have zero idea how to run a franchise (I'm looking at you Michael Jordan). Add in key injuries to two of the 4 East teams with legit talent (Chicago and Brooklyn) and you have a disaster of a conference. (And of course the biggest competitive issue in the league, the self-assembled super team).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 04:47 PM) If Nieto had been in the Sox organization all along, he wouldn't be in the majors. That is why the comp doesn't work. I get the numerical similarities and all, but the situations can't really be compared because Nieto's situation is unique. If the White Sox went into this season thinking they cared about W's and L's, they also would not be doing this.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) Interesting circular logic. If we assume that the ideal route - keeping him in our minors - is out of the picture... then the alternatives aren't pretty either way. Given the 2 possibilities...screwing him up but keeping him in our system, and not having him in our system at all...1 of those options has a nonzero chance of him contributing long term to the white sox, while the other does not.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 04:05 PM) But how are we gonna sweep series' with Paulino in the middle of our two best? Jose Dariel Abreu 7/7, 5 HR, 14 RBI.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 04:10 PM) Sure, we all know the reason he's there is primarily the Rule V thing. I said that in the article too. But that point has been beaten into submission, so I wanted to look at the two players as compared in a vacuum, just to make an illustration. Also yeah, hard for anyone not to do better than what was there last year. But Phegley may have beaten that this year too, and Gimenez probably would. My biggest concern though, is this reversed development curve idea the Sox are trying for with Nieto has a high likelihood of backfiring in terms of his development. If they think he's a real potential future starter, that is. The reality is that we don't care about "screwing up Neito's development" unless we get to keep him.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 03:51 PM) I said pre-season that I thought Paulino would be the 3rd best, but Ventura already thinks he's 2nd best. /green Yeah, breaks up the order, and it was a good point that when 2 lefties go in a row, Sale will be the 2nd. (I think this setup suggests that Paulino is the weakest, he's surrounded by the 2 strongest pitchers in the rotation.)

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) It's the only way to be able to call people out on their predictions being wrong while leaving them unable to respond.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) Even though I said 74 wins, this team has the potential to be a surprise team. Abreu would have to be a monster and Paulino and Johnson would have to over perform. Could it happen? Sure. I'm interested to see how they get out of the gate against good teams. Sometimes it's good to play the good teams early before they find their groove. Go 16-11 the first 27, and we may have something. I think all of these things could happen and they'll still be sloppy, unfocused, and inconsistent enough to be below .500.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 03:00 PM) I'm not the only one in this thread that isn't sure that Quintana is a #2 on a playoff team. However, this other poster named Marty34 told me that it takes 2+ years to develop a pitcher, so we should conclude that Quintana will keep getting better this year based on what he told me.

I'm at the 68-71 win range.

Seems as good of a guess as any.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 02:03 PM) I don't know that Quintana is a #2 on a playoff team. But he hasn't finished developing yet...AS YOU JUST SAID. Based 100% on your words, continuing improvement on his numbers last season, which were already good for a solid #2 starter, will make him one of the best #2 starters in baseball. You either get to pick one. Quintana will continue developing this year and be one of the best #2 starters in baseball, or pitching development doesn't require 2 full years to get solid results.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 25, 2014 -> 01:56 PM) It's likely going to take at least 2 full major league seasons for these pitchers to develop even if they are good. Anyone after Johnson we're talking 2017, just too long to wait when you have money. So you're saying Jose Quintana, who pitched like a #2 starter last year, in his 2nd season, isn't done developing yet? Awesome. So we have our #1 and #2 rotation pitchers signed for 5+ years and have no immediate need for anything but back-end starters.