Balta1701

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:44 AM) Was your booze in booze containers? I've never been on a cruise, but I have friends that go on lots of cruises, and they claim that they can get it on by putting it in water/soda containers. I got this through security at LAX but got caught and lost it in Beijing.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) We may still see him around June. I'm not sure if the Sox care quite as much about the Super 2 eligibility, but they can manipulate the system enough to actually get an extra year of service time out of him. It could logically be around the ASB too. I wouldn't be opposed. Assuming he doesn't make the roster out of ST, a lot of when he comes up may depend on what Gillaspie does with the 3b spot.

Link

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:10 AM) True. Would anyone still be interested in taking a chance on Dustin Ackley if that could be a piece of the deal? He is another guy that was supposed to be really good, got rushed, and just hasn't been. I could see him + Saunders becoming a more reasonable return but there's a huge problem - we have literally no where to play him right now. The IF at AAA has 4 guys (counting Davidson) for 3 spots, the IF in the big leagues has Beckham at 2b with basically the same issue - needing playing time to see if he can live up to being anything useful.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:03 AM) Also, IIRC Viciedo was not present at that hitting seminar that went on in Arizona a month before spring training. Steverson wasn't even talking about Viciedo. I kept hearing Abrea, Garcia, Eaton, Davidson, Semien, Hawkins, blah, blah. Rarely heard much about Viciedo and I thought it was weird at the time. I don't think Sox are necessarily looking to dump him though. I think Seattle just really likes him. If that's the case...then any deal actually going down would wind up involving much bigger names than Michael Saunders. Seattle has some they could part with, but if they're not willing to do so then there's nothing to discuss unless the White Sox are trying to dump him.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) I know zero about aviation, so is it possible that all the tracking technology was disabled and it flew into another country... say North Korea? It's just such an odd situation that they can't find any debris. North Korea is a helluva long way from Vietnam. That's like aiming for Florida and turning up near Greenland.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) And where is the confirmation they are considering this type of deal? It really makes zero sense from a White Sox perspective, unless it is going to be some bigger deal. Is Saunders better than De Aza? If you think it is stupid to have Viciedo and De Aza on the same roster, wouldn't it be even dumber to have De Aza and Saunders on the same roster? The White Sox have made a pretty big investment in Viciedo. I find it hard to believe they would trade him for another OF they really don't need. I'm not sure we can say they're "Considering" it, but there appears to have been fairly respectable, non-bruce-levine names that have liked the White Sox and Mariners and put the 2 names Viciedo and Saunders together. The Sox know Viciedo better than anyone at this point and given his lack of development, I consider it plausible that they might reach a point of personal frustration with him in a way other teams wouldn't. When I start seeing proposals involving him that otherwise make no sense, as you say...that starts making me think that a personal issue could very well be the problem. This is one I could easily be mistaken on, because the only way to really gauge how a team feels about a guy personally is to read between the lines; looking at performance, playing time, trade rumors, competition on the roster, etc. If nothing happens and he goes out and gets 600 PA's this year, then they're still showing confidence in him. If they make a move like this, or they give him 350 PA's and platoon him with a lefty OF who is older and getting close to FA...those kind of things argue to me that they have a real problem with the guy.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) Has there been anything saying the Sox don't want him? It seems to me everything I have read is the opposite. It's the only obvious reason why the team would even consider this kind of deal. This one you can't help but read between the lines about.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) Given the roster crunch and service time stipulations, the likeliest outcome has always been for Davidson to start the year in the minors. (If he were to hit, both of those would be poor justifications for keeping him in the minors, however him not hitting well so far could make that point moot. That said....him hitting poorly in ST was sort of the best option...which is a really weird situation to be in).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:56 AM) The Boras-White Sox thing is overblown especially with Hahn in charge right? Could that have something to do with it? Might the Sox be afraid of the contract that Viciedo and Boras will ask for? How many years of control is Viciedo now, 2 more? According to B-R, Viciedo is a Super-2 player, so he's arb-eligible this year but he still has 3 more years of arb-eligibility remaining. B-R has him not becoming a free agent until after the 2017 season. For comparison, Michael Saunders is arb-eligible this year but has 1 less year of team control. He becomes a free agent after 2016. So, in any sort of deal set up like this...the White Sox not only wouldn't save any money this year, they'd also lose a year of time in which the player was under team control

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 06:18 PM) I believe your point is valid, but Viciedo was hurt last year so are the Sox unhappy with an injured player or thinking he still might perform to expectations? If they trade him for Michael Saunders + a few random, non-great pieces, they are really unhappy with him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 06:04 PM) I don't get trading one OF for another one that we have to keep on the roster. That doesn't really help the team. This would very much be a "We need to get Viciedo off the roster now before he does more damage" move.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 05:12 PM) All I'm saying is the standards in Chicago should be higher. Let the Toronto Raptors act like beating the Heat in the regular season means something. Fine. How exactly could the Bulls possibly have put together a championship roster this year with their PG getting hurt? With where they are right now, they clearly could have had a championship roster if that injury hadn't happened. If they'd done any of the deals people wanted, dumping Noah for Gasol or for Kevin Love or Aldridge or whatever else people could envision, it wouldn't have turned this Bulls team into a title contender without Rose. The only thing they could have done was trade Rose several years ago before the injuries. Hell...if they were to acquire Anthony without giving up anything of value this offseason, and then lost Rose for the year again, they're still not a title contender. Given that, I'm equally frustrated with the inability of the key player to stay healthy, but I still found today to be fun.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 04:33 PM) Not necessarily. Were the Sox unhappy with Santiago or Reed? Why would this be any different? In both of those cases, the Sox would appear to have gotten top-level returns for them of the sort that it seems people do not believe the Mariners will give up. That was the other option I noted.

This is flat out fun.

That was a nice move by Butler.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) Reading some of the rumor reports and what might be Mariner expendables is not very exciting. You trade to improve your team and not just to move someone IMO. Viciedo and/or De Aza are certainly on the block, but they have somewhat of a decent track record so trading one of them for some failed Mariner's prospect makes no sense at all There could be one caveat in here we're not thinking about. If they're considering moving Viciedo for one of the Mariners' expendibles...that would mean they've reached a point of severe unhappiness with Viciedo, either with something building during last season or something that they're really unhappy with about how he came to camp. Otherwise, the only reason to move him would be the M's overpaying by giving up one of the guys people are saying they won't give up.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 06:24 PM) Exactly. And I think Robin has given everyone the greenlight to steal just to get a feel for guys After all, they were so effective on the basepaths last year, why not?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 10:28 AM) Do they give up a first or 2nd rounder? If he has a good year, the give him a qualifying offer, and they get a pick after the original first round. If they are giving up a second rounder, if he performs, they get his services for a season and basically trade a second round pick for a comp pick. Next year the FA pitching market is going to be a lot thinner when many of the pitchers on the board ink extensions. If he pitches well, this will be a win/win for Santana and Toronto. They give up the 9th pick in the 2nd round. It's one of the lowest picks you can possibly give up by signing a free agent.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 10:07 AM) They're losing the 9th pick in the 2nd round, so that's even less than we'd have had to give up, and to some degree they do have a roster that "if things work out" could make some noise potentially. I probably wouldn't have done it either though. Also it looks like the Jays have 2 first round picks this year thanks to not signing a guy last year. I have no idea how that fits into bonus considerations but it seems important to note.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) It sounds like it will be Toronto. Why would a team like that give up a draft pick for 1 year of Santana? It's bad business for a team that isn't making the playoffs. They're losing the 9th pick in the 2nd round, so that's even less than we'd have had to give up, and to some degree they do have a roster that "if things work out" could make some noise potentially. I probably wouldn't have done it either though.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 09:22 AM) The truly great thing about this is that ES will be a FA again next year, most likely, so the fabulous debate can rage all year. If we don't have an obvious guy step up and take the 5th starter spot, then we can sign him next offseason and have saved $14 million in the process.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) Are there any reports on Hawkins this Spring? Here's the spring training fluff piece on him.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 08:53 PM) There's an apartment waiting for him in Charlotte. He's on a $3 million major league contract. Unless he's on the DL, by "apartment in Charlotte" you actually mean "a $3 million check and a chance to sign with whatever other team wants him".

Hes making the OK sign so I assume that means he'll be in OK city?