Balta1701

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 01:23 PM) The point I was more trying to make is that in an ideal world and on a good team you'd like a little more production out of 3B than what Semien is likely to bring. Of course there are always exceptions and I'm not saying he can't be serviceable at 3B. He just seems like a more prototypical 2B and he shouldn't be stuck at 3B just because he's the best option we currently have there. I'm looking past next year when I say I believe he should be a 2B. If you think of it in context...we have 3 guys coming up who could potentially take over the MI positions (4 if you count Leury). Semien, Johnson, Sanchez. They're all young, they all need more time, but we could legitimately see more than one of them being close to ready by the trade deadline. If we've got youth around the entire infield and they're moderately productive (even giving a few of those guys a chance to struggle), that could free up substantial amounts of money to find a FA bat elsewhere on the field.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 01:27 PM) I'm not happy Konerko's back, but really, I could not care less because, as I've said, I think this is overall a rather meaningless move. If I believed they were going to be competitive and they did this, I'd be just as upset as quite a few others on here. Well there's one explanation. I'm one of those who, in the back of my mind, kept thinking with this pitching staff they had a shot. Now at least I know they don't care about winning, so I can save myself $200 next year as I can catch the late-season standing ovation for the guy on highlights.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 11:08 AM) After First Class, I honestly assumed that the X-Men was done with that other ridiculous iteration. Then they combined the two groups - and I too am terrified. I get the problems here, but having Stewart and McKellan back is a positive IMO.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:45 AM) I'm guessing Granderson will net 13m per season or more in which case I'm not interested based on my post above. I admit 10m per would be intriguing but not sure even then. Just my opinion is all. $13+ was my guess as well but it has generally sounded like he's not getting those kind of offers so far.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:40 AM) 2011 was based on the idea that they thought the roster construction of 2010 could win in 2011. That had Sale in the pen. 2012 was a reaction based on an injury. It isn't like they woke up one morning and said Hey how can we f*** with Chris Sale? This is a franchise that is about the most successful in baseball in managing injuries and keeping pitchers healthy and productive. At that point, they thought that this might be the way to keep Sale going. It isn't even like this hasn't been done before. John Smoltz? Dennis Eckersley? It happens. I get the team wanting to be conservative with Chris Sale. I also admire them for all sitting down to talk this out and figuring out that they made a mistake and fixing it. I am not about to take each step of the process and spin it in the worst possible way to justify paranoia today. I understand the 2011 notion, but you're 100% admitting that they were willing to do the wrong thing with a player, to screw around with the most important long-term piece in the organization at that time, putting his health, development, and career at risk in order to do something they judged to be more important at the time. And Smoltz and Eck aren't the comparisons there...because they started for a decade before they were put in the bullpen. Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard, and Joba Chamberlain are the comparisons. Those are the guys who were put in the bullpen for a time at the start of their careers, didn't get their arms stretched out, and never left. Only 1 of them had a moderately solid career. That's what we were aiming for in 2011-2012, so don't tell me we don't mess around with or do things that hurt guys' careers.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:32 AM) wouldnt you love that At least I wouldn't get my hopes up for the next few seasons again.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:32 AM) Except the "putting him in the bullpen" thing might be the thing that got him into the organization. A lot of the speculation around his fall down the draft board was due to what were perceived as his draft demands for money. The White Sox came up with a creative solution that allowed them to bring Chris Sale into the organization, AND not have to pay him a huge signing bonus. In exchange they agree do ram him through the system, get him to the majors, and start his money clock much sooner than if he had been a traditional bonus baby. There is a pretty good chance if the Sox don't come up with that plan, Chris Sale isn't a White Sox today. No where did I disagree with putting him in the bullpen in 2010 when he was drafted. Not in any spot. That made a ton of sense. In 2011 I vehemently disagreed with putting him in the bullpen and I stand by that being a terrible decision. Then compounding it by trying to put him back in the bullpen in 2012 when he experienced a dead arm a month into the season...almost certainly as a consequence of having been in the bullpen in 2011 where his innings were low...that was so dumb that even Chris Sale disagreed with it in front of the media. Do you think Chris Sale belongs in the bullpen right now? Because otherwise you're agreeing that "Putting Chris Sale in the bullpen in 2012 was moronic and f***ing around with the most important guy in the organization unnecessarily".

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:26 AM) See above. You have no related comparison to make here. No organization has ever done what you are suggesting will be done here. There is no foundation in reality for the idea that Abreu struggles and Konerko becomes a starter as a result. Such an occurance has zero chance of happening, and has never happened in any similar way before. The paranoia of some Sox fans astounds me. I'm not saying "becomes a starter". Pushes Abreu down to 400-ish PA's? I could totally believe that and that would be almost as dumb as putting Chris Sale in the bullpen was. You changed the game there to say that something has never happened that isn't what I'm fearing. Sending Abreu to the bench 2-3 times a week is what I'm afraid of and it's exactly what I'm expecting.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:08 AM) D Rose press conference at 11AM. Nobody seems to know what it is about Retirement?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:56 AM) The teams not winning the posting bid would have their money returned to them. Actually the "pooling the posting fees" would make a helluva lot more sense and the Japanese might well go along with that since they wouldn't be limiting the amount of money their teams can get to let guys go. I really like that idea. If you bid...you spend that money regardless of whether or not you win. Put some kind of penalty on it so that all 30 teams don't just bid the maximum on everyone.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:14 AM) Konerko himself has said he couldn't handle that kind of load. Do you not believe him? Frankly...no. I don't think they'll try to play him everyday but I think they'll play him often enough that it infuriates me. I'm so used to it from this team I just expect it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:11 AM) You should send your resume to JR. Your highly detailed, well thought out reply to my post has clearly improved my feelings and I now accept that putting Chris Sale in the bullpen in 2012 was the right decision.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 10:10 AM) I'm sure that the Sox will have an offer out to Buehrle too. If he were the 12th pitcher on the roster 3-4 years from now, would you be this upset? If we drafted a starter #3 this year, he pitched in AAA the year beforehand, the Sox bring in Buehrle and he's the 6th starter on the roster, and the only guy with options left in the rotation is the former #3 draft pick...wouldn't you be a bit annoyed with competition for him being brought in?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:57 AM) I find it amazing there are people who actually think Konerko is going to take significant at bats away from Abreu. Or even more hilarious, that they think Konerko will take over starting time if Abreu struggles in April/May. There is no foundation for this in reality. We are not talking about a Brent Morel, or even a Brian Anderson here - this is a guy with a $63M contract. There is zero chance he sits in 2013. He'll play at least 130 game, probably more like 130-140, maybe even 150. Konerko's being on the team has zero effect on that - that is what would have happened either way. There are plenty of good reasons to dislike the PK14 signing. Irrational fears about benching a guy they just signed for $63M is not one of them. The White Sox have been more than happy to screw around with "Key long-term players" in the past. Repeatedly. Viciedo's callups and position shifts are on that list. More so is the Chris Sale bullpen garbage. Not just sticking him there for 2011, but going so far as to try to push him back there in 2012 only a month into making him a starter. We tried to put the most important long-term piece for the organization in the bullpen forever because of a tired arm, he publicly said "No" and forced his way back into the rotation where he nearly pitched the team to the playoffs that season leading to the remarkable circumstance of a pitcher publicly disagreeing with statements by his manager about how he would be used...and I'm supposed to just trust that we'll treat this piece right because he's an important long term piece and it'd be completely insane to screw around with that important of a long-term piece...which we have a record of doing.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:46 AM) Tell me how much better the Sox would be with Keppinger on the roster and Konerko playing golf in AZ? Well, given that he's had success in the past as a platoon player, if he were put in a 3b platoon perhaps his numbers next year could return to some semblance of his career numbers. That could either allow him to actually be traded at only a small loss or could help the white sox actually win games. Given that the White Sox are spending $9 million on him the next 2 years, it doesn't make much sense to me to pay him that money to go play golf.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:40 AM) And I don't think I've ever seen a White Sox manager use his backup catcher in the same lineup as his starting catcher unless there were 3 catchers on the roster. I know, I know. It's the same reason I can say with confidence that the veteran will get his at bats instead of the rookie at 1b - that's standard managing.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:44 AM) Again, why are we assuming Leury isn't on the bench? Or for that matter why not Beckham for ~10 times a year at SS, I don't see the problem there either. All right fine, because I want an actual backup OF and I don't want to be forced to dump Keppinger's contract at what hopefully is its lowest possible value in order to carry a backup DH.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:38 AM) Sanchez or Greene because they aren't taking away at-bats from the 2nd most important player in the franchise's future. Sanchez or Green (or Leury) because I want Alexei to get a few extra offdays in the first half in order to make sure he stays healthy and hopefully give him time to find a groove that will help his trade value.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:29 AM) How about meaningless? Because frankly, this year, I could not care less about the Konerko signing. I want to see the organization taking steps forward. What the White Sox look like matters only slightly to me, because they are going to be bad. If they were intending on being good, it's a completely different story. They are paying a debt of gratitude to Konerko for almost 15 years of service with the White Sox. It's a classy move. You said in the same post you want to see them take steps forward and then congratulated them on looking backward.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:31 AM) Because it's $1 million for a catcher who is solid defensively, knows the staff, is well liked in the clubhouse, and can hit the ball 500 feet. Plus if he ever gets hot we can have him split time with Dunn at the DH spot since we don't have another RH hitting DH to soak up 100....wait...

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 01:37 AM) Outside of an extremely boring off season so far would someone please explain to me why we want to sign a 32 yo that has hit above .250 once since 08 , strikes out a ton and comes with a hefty contractual commitment ( both salary and years) ? Considering he was batting in the Yankee lineup, what can you reasonably expect from him in the Sox lineup who's offense was piss- poor at best last year? I want to see the sox get some players, but the right players. Going after Granderson just seems more like a move out of desperation than anything else. Just don't get it. It depends on what is meant by "Hefty salary commitment". I'm probably not interested at 3/$40 which is where I thought he'd be. I'd probably be interested at 3/under$30.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2013 -> 09:20 AM) Come on, let's call a spade a spade. The Bloomquist signing is akin to the White Sox signing Keppinger. And people are more than happy to call the Keppinger signing a debacle/disaster/choose your word. "It's the last guy on the roster" doesn't make it any less wrong.

This year, NORAD has elected to send a fighter escort alongside Santa Claus on Christmas Eve when he makes his round the world flight. This has apparently upped the ante on the diplomatic row since that would mean U.S. fighters escorting Santa into Chinese air space, including this disputed territory. A White House spokesperson commented on the matter saying: