Balta1701

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 11:54 PM) I don't quite get this sentence that I see on the board a lot. Who has what to prove and where is not the only factor in making roster decisions. Hahn will not be fined by the league for violating the "stuff left to prove clause" if this 22 year old starts in AAA. Also, stuff he has left to prove: An .830 OPS in the PCL from a third baseman is not exactly superstar. As I've noted before, Gillaspie bested that. Our new light hitting center fielder put up a .995 OPS in that league. All reports also suggest he's not yet a gold glover either. If Davidson has a better spring than Connor are you prepared to release Gillaspie for nothing?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 11:45 PM) I guess he deserves some credit for his self confidence. If he's willing to play another position, I guarantee he'd get a job in the NFL, but he persists that he is a quarterback. At this point he's been out of the league so long that it no longer seems like putting him at another position makes sense. A 21 year old TE with no experience is one thing, but a 25 year old is different.

Might depend on the chemistry

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 10:20 PM) I think barring an injury or just some historically bad spring by Matty D, aka Lettuce, he's getting on this team. "Would we keep Gillaspie as the starting 3b if he and Davdison have similar spring numbers? Would you release him if both of them hit .400 in the spring and no trades wind up available?" If your answer to those isn't "yes absolutely" then you need to move Gillaspie beforehand, because the team gave up a fortune to get his MLB ready replacement. It's really that simple, if we go into ST with both and Davidson wins , right now gillaspie is gone.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 09:06 PM) I'm well aware of his splits. That doesn't negate the fact that he hit .285/.423/.462 overall last year despite those crappy numbers against lefties. Those aren't the numbers of a platoon outfielder at best. Platooning for Choo wouldn't make a ton of sense unless his platoon partner also hits leadoff and can get on base at a .350+ clip. There's a .400 point OPS between his LH and RH splits. We're keeping Konerko as a part time DH who may randomly steal playing time from our most important and valuable prospect for less extreme splits than that.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 07:55 PM) I like it. Solid. I'm in.

Kill..........me..............

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 08:09 PM) 87.0% with 77 votes tallied. I have applied for a lot of jobs in the northeast and I'd drive a long way for this if I'm heading that way.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) I think he's implying that De Aza wouldn't preform as well in a part-time role, not that Jordan Danks is a better player overall. De Azas poor start last year fits with this as well, it took him 1.5 months to really find a hitting groove.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) You can use him for pinch hitting, to give each guy a day off ever week, maybe some DH once in a while. He should be used and not just for that Sunday line-up deal. Ideally, we'd move Dunn and that will open more at bats for guys we need to primp and sell-off. Quite simply, this would be a really poor use of De Aza. Maybe on a very compeitve team with a solid but elderly or injury prone of, but this just doesn't fit these guys.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 05:23 PM) The latest update is 63 votes out of 73 ballots, good for 86.3%. This better f***ing keep up.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) Strange, especially midyear. Homesick, maybe? Was this his first year? My googling didn't give me that impression but wasn't that detailed.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 07:47 PM) It end to agree. Also, I think we need to realize how much of a ripple effect there is in the nfl. It's sort of like a bullpen...you take one guy out and everyone's role changes, not just one guy's. I think we were awful, but I'm not writing off some of these kids yet because they weren't put in a position to succeed; they were pretty much thrown to the wolves and I'd like to see a bit more. We've got so many holes, you're not going to be able to address them all anyways. Phil Emery has done a really good job of convincing me that "addressing them all" is one thing he's spectacular at. He may not put depth everywhere in the case of injury, not everyone will perform, but that roster had pretty much every postition solidly filled coming into both of the last 2 years.

Aw Hell. ESPN hires Tim Tebow as a College Sports analyst.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 04:09 PM) As bad as they need a safety (and they have the worst I've seen in 40 years of fandom), my thought is that a stud safety's not going to help that much against the run, which has to be priority one. Based on Emery's history I think it's a good guess he'll plug players into most of the gaping open holes, whether it's resigning Melton and Ratliff or otherwise finding FA's. The big worry is going to be Peppers until they deal with it. $7 million+ is an awful lot of dead cap room to leave while creating a hole at a position where the team already isn't deep.

I think there's a good chance my knees give out first and somehow that is associated with my doom.

Fortunately I don't have to deal with family taking me away from posting

Did somehow manage to cut 20k+ from your lead.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 03:10 PM) This sentence also didn't make a whole ton of sense: Yes, he sucks against lefties, but guys who platoon are usually guys who struggle so much against one sort of pitcher that their entire statline would suffer if they hit against them. Shoo led-off last year (most PAs on team) and still had a .400+ OBP, despite 221 PAs against lefties. Not to mention he still got on at a .347 clip against them. Against righties last year: .317/.457/.554/1.011 Against lefties: .215/.347/.265/.612

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 03:11 PM) That is fair, and most likely correct; but if 2014 is strictly a "see what we got" dead/wasted year, then De Aza as well as Dunn, Alexei, Gillaspie and Keppinger have all GOTS to go... and PK should have never been brought back. Semien would need to play every day. But this just isn't what is going to happen, so why not keep the perfect 4th outfielder, at least for two or three months? He's not the perfect 4th outfielder, particularly given his issues with "keeping focused" that we saw last year. We have a pretty darn ideal one in Jordan Danks. De Aza is a solid 3rd/corner OF on a team that needs one and has other guys who carry most of the load.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:26 PM) This. Even if the Bears would've won yesterday, I would'nt expect us to beat SF. High scoring teams with crap defenses don't go far in the postseason. GB is gonna get GOREd to death. GB is a better team by a lot right now than they were in weeks 13-16, for example. That has to be something of a worry, and it's a homegame for them.

QUOTE (Greyone @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) Bears pick 14, what position do you address (I know it is real early). I'm not a huge college football follower, and I know it is hard to suggest a player without knowing who is officially coming out, but those that follow any stud D-linemen worthy of that pick, what about Safety/ Cornerbacks. Those three positions are the biggest need right now, though Bowman played really well these last few months. Quarterback?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:39 PM) With De Aza, he has the best bench player he's ever had. He should use him. Keppinger should be used against lefties...if he shows he can recover and hit them again, we can move him perhaps. Ventura needs to up his game as well: stop all the mindless intentional walks, and situationally use some of these players. Frankly, with this outfield, no he shouldn't. Which guy under 25 shouldn't be out there every day? Jordan Danks is actually the perfect backup OF for this team. He brings defense at all 3 positions and nothings going to be shaken up if he's on the bench. De Aza is exactly the opposite, he's a tolerable starter on a number of teams in the big leagues. He should get at bats...and this team has none to spare out there.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:53 PM) He could bring back a decent, but blocked, prospect. A lot of people have mentioned these 3rd catchers who are blocked at Atlanta, Tampa and New York...I don't know if any of those teams need De Aza, but he could bring back one of those guys. Now I'm not that excited about one of those 3rd catchers, because I think we got one in Rule 5, although he lacks upper minors experience. We could also deal De Aza for a decent pitching prospect - probably bullpen. Or we could get some players in the low minors, but with more upside....that would be fine with me. Maybe a July deal would be better, although I have hopes for moving Dunn and Keppinger in July. De Aza isn't likely to garner much in July because he's not likely to be playing much. Everyone in the OF needs at bats other than him to try to improve their game, and Robin doesn't have a track record of using his bench much. The only way De Aza looks like anything other than "backup OF" in July is if someone gets hurt and he moves back to being a starter as a consequence.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 11:26 AM) Elway helped make that man a lot of money. Considering he nearly went a career without a super bowl, I think Elway is totally content with that arrangement.