Balta1701

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:36 AM) Todd Frazier hit 6th. Frazier wasn't much better, but he was definitely better. Phillips was roughly equivalent to Beckham this year at the plate. Could you imagnie Ventura batting Beckham cleanup for the sole purpose of breaking up two lefties? Yes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:37 AM) Totally agree. The age difference is overstated here because of the positions they play. I think "an athletic CF" can take quite a pounding as well. They're doing a lot of running and probably have a good number of impacts with the wall as well.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:22 AM) He did not have nagging, chronic injuries last year. He was hit on the wrist in Spring Training and missed like 2 months, and it was like within a week of coming back he was hit and re-broke the same wrist. We can talk about concerns with power next year, but if you don't consider Gordon Beckham an injury risk, you really can't consider Granderson an injury risk either. He's played a lot of games but he's also played through a lot of things over the last few years as well, not just this year. A brief googling found a 2 sprained hamstrings and at least 2 precautionary MRI's during the 2012 season, an oblique strain in 2011, and a 15 day DL trip in 2010.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) I have no problem if you want to split them up, though I think in this situation, it probably would have been unwise to do so. Don't you think you should use your best right handed hitter between them though? Who was that on the Reds lineup and where in the lineup did he hit?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 11:14 AM) But he did have Shin-Soo Choo sacrifice bunt 3 times this year. He also batted Brandon Phillips cleanup in the playoffs between Votto and Bruce - after Brandon Phillips put up a .706 OPS this year. I don't mind this as much...particularly given that his 1 playoff game was against a tough lefty pitcher who had absolutely mauled their 3 lefties several times this year (Liriano). I don't know his bench but it wouldn't be that hard to convince me that benching as many of those 3 as possible was the right move against Liriano, not just breaking them up.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 10:53 AM) I'm not sure if Granderson can still play a decent CF. UZR does not think he's any good out there at all and hasn't been in years. I have no problem with Granderson if he's viewed the right way. He's an extreme platoon player and has been for most of his career. He bashes righties but hits like Alexei Ramirez against lefties. He strikes out a lot and pulls down a tolerable but not great amount of walks. He's clearly on the downside of his career but he's also a veteran presence at this point. He played only ~50 games last year and he was trending down the year before that. Is he a regular CF? No. Is he an everyday player? Maybe he'd like to think so, but he'd be a lot better off playing 1 of 2 or 2 of 3 days to stay healthy. Should he be facing lefthanded starters? No. He'd be good on a team where there are a couple right-handed hitting corner OF's who either are up there in years or who you might want to protect from some of the hardest righties, and where the team also has the DH spot open now or in the near future. If you could give him 120-130 games against right handed starters, maybe 2/3 of them in the field, that should work as long as most of those games in the field are not in CF. We can make that work but we have to have a manager willing to do so and he has to be willing to do so as well. Aside from having a DH for one more year, we do have 2 right-hand hitting OF's, at least one of whom has shown strong splits against lefties in several seasons. I would trust the GM to make that move, I'm not sure I'd trust either of the recent white sox managers to use him the way he should be used, which would wind up getting him banged up and on the DL and mostly wasted quite rapidly.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 07:12 PM) Eric Murphy, he's a PF. Looking at the box scores I was kinda surprised to see neither Pittman nor White got any minutes, esp with Noah out...Looks like Nazy will be the backup C and Murphy will be the 5th big. Ah, I got em backwards, Snell is a SG/SF type and he ought to at least get a few rotation minutes at SG, particularly in garbage time.

This time I actually said out loud "Yeah I think I'd walk Beltran here" when he came up leading off the 8th inning with the Cardinals down 1. My wife heard it.

PEYTON THREW A PICK!

Helluva play there by Williams and Romo.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 06:23 PM) Manning in rare air right now. They still haven't played anyone really good...but they're 1 game from getting Von Miller back also.

I believe one more score and the Broncos will be the highest scoring team through 5 games. Manning has now moved several ahead of the most TD's before the first thrown INT record, which was 17 coming into this game.

"You know, I'm not sure if I wouldn't just give Beltran the Bonds treatment here and walk him". -Things I was sort of thinking there but wouldn't actually say publicly or type. Then he drives in 2.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 05:52 PM) Then there's always Loney , Morales, Corey Hart , Morneau . Signing a 1st baseman shouldn't be a problem preferably a LH good fielder. (Loney's been my choice for a while) Then the question with any of those guys becomes...do they make the Sox good enough that it's willing to sacrifice a guy who can contribute cheaply in 2015-2017 for a guy who will help them compete this year? If Abreu is as advertised, then I can believe the Sox have a shot next year. If the Sox sign Loney? Much more hesitant on that one.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 05:30 PM) Can only make one move at a time, one improvement at a time. So if SF gets Abreu you immediately go after Brandon Belt. Or maybe we get Abreu. The problem with doing damage in trades is...the Sox don't have many trade chips. If San Fran wins Abreu then what do the Sox have worth Brandon Belt? Certianly not Rienzo plus Beckham. That's "Quintana + Semien" or something like that territory. And lots of reports have the Giants wanting to move Belt to a corner OF position to add another bat to their lineup anyway, so they might not be interested in that at all.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 05:20 PM) Kendrick's a complimentary piece. Like Balta said, he's probably an incremantal upgrade (arguably when you look at the cost/benefit analysis when you consider the difference in cost and then also giving up Rienzo)....but that's only a logical move when you've added say, McCann at catcher, Abreu at 1B and someone like Lawrie at 3B (for Santiago and Keppinger, let's say, or Quintana and Gillaspie for Lawrie and a pitcher). Of course, it becomes really hard to make a deal make sense where you trade away Quintana or Santiago and demand MLB-ready pitching and a position player back.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 05:16 PM) IU won! For the first time ever against Penn State. And it was by 20. Oh yes! Yeah, WTF? I wasn't even checking the game at all yesterday then the score popped up on my phone and I figured it was a mistake.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 05:00 PM) Kendrick from the Angels is supposedly avaialble again. Haven't researched who they have behind Kendrick but maybe a Beckham/Rienzo combo could get him since he's a free agent after 2015 ends. Kendrick doesnt walk much and is 30 now , but is a hitting, fielding, possibly speed upgrade over Beckham. Angels want pitching. Of course it also makes the Sox older but its only 2 years at $9.5M/yr. Sox could deal him at either deadline in those 2 years if no progress in standing are made. Perfect kind of contract for the Sox needs. That's an intriguing sort of move, with how Beckham has played it seems like it would be an upgrade, but it's not a move that really "fixes" this team on its own. If the Sox fill their 1b hole and perhaps upgrade the catcher's spot in free agency and are sitting there trying to figure out how to deal with having 6 starters ready for the big leagues on a team they want to compete next year, that could be an "icing on the cake" sort of move. Clears out the extra starter and does come up with an upgrade in exchange for about $6 million additional money. But it's not a move you make on its own - Rienzo + Beckham ought to be more valuable overall during that time period and for the couple years afterwards. You have to do something else to make that make sense.

I don't know if the game will stay like this but this opening to the Broncos/Cowboys is exactly what anyone who knows football should have expected given how many people spent the last week+ declaring the Broncos to be the greatest team ever.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 08:11 PM) The day I have my first child will not be as happy as tonight. Derrick Rose is back, he's inviting contact, and I am finally, finally f***ing at peace. Welcome back, Derrick. Bulls will be champs this year. Book it. "Yawn".

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 08:47 AM) Ya he's going to see Luol Deng minutes this year, I'd bet on that. He does have at least 1 legit backup in Dunleavy, right? And Hinrich, if healthy will probably get some minutes there, and the guy they drafted out of Florida whose name I don't even have down yet will get a few minutes per game also.

That was a great moment with the crowd noise last night.

Next year, the White Sox will have replaced at least 2 of their highest paid 4 players, including their longest-tenured player and captain. There will be no players remaining from the world series team. I think by definition they already are rebuilding. If they somehow came out and tore it up next year, that would be a successful rapid rebuild, because it's not going to be wins happening based on the guys who led the team the year before.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 11:19 PM) Just how expensive will he be? $$ per year? Do you think $12 million per season?? I'd just guess about 6/125 for Ellsbury, 5/95 for Choo, 3/45 for Granderson.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 11:15 PM) The more i think about it, the more i believe that Hahn will bring in Shin Soo Choo. His high OBP is exactly what this team is craving for. He will also come at a cheaper price tag than Elsbury and likely Granderson. His 20 HR/ SB #s won't hurt his value to the team as well. We all know Steve Stone absolutely raves about his abilities as well. I'm sure he will be in Hahn's ear this winter about signing him. I'd be stunned if Choo costs less than Granderson. My ballpark guess had Choo getting 2x as much as Granderson. Ellsbury, yeah, he ought to get more than Choo, but not extremely more.