Balta1701

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:31 PM) You know damn well that's not the primary reason. There are plenty of other things that could have been done to effectuate that. Not really. Trading Rios for a quality return, which is what we got, was by far the best of the options unless the organization is fully ready to give up on Viciedo. This trade makes it clear they're not. He's not losing his spot to Garcia.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:28 PM) Well, the obvious thing would be that we won't win anything by doing that. The second would be that we don't even know if we can sign him. The third is this is an awful lot of effort to achieve minimal results. If we can't sign him, fine, we go with Andy Wilkins as the 1b next year and hope to steal a 1b somewhere else along the line. But calling this "minimal results" really ignores what teams are paying for defensive-capable SS right now.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:25 PM) I thought we just traded Alex to free the money up during a time where we will be uncompetitive. Now you just want to go spend it again? I thought we traded Alex because we have a guy at Charlotte who is raking the ball and playing an OF slot.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:25 PM) Also, all of this is assuming we're the only group of people that see value in Morales on a short-term deal. He's having a bounceback year -- there will be plenty of teams bidding. Very unlikely he doesn't get a 2 year offer. That's fine. I'd probably be willing to go to 3 years for him.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:24 PM) Exactly, you prove my point. They definitely gave some thought to moving Gordon over there otherwise they would never have wasted time working him out there. A full time move? I wouldn't think so, but hey, they're re-building, he's young, and you never know. No, they gave thought to him playing there for a game if Alexei destroyed his knee in the 2nd inning and Keppinger was the only backup IF on the roster. By the time the next game rolled around they could have had someone called up from Charlotte to take that slot, but you can't throw Flowers in at SS for a game.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:24 PM) But what is the point of doing that? We trade one guy to sign another so we can get Leury Garcia? Yes. Aside from his name sounding funny what's wrong with that?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) Viciedo to DH/1B with Dunn opens up a slot in the OF. Who do we need that OF slot for now? If Rios wasn't moved I'd have thought that was an option yes, but who is going to take the starting OF slot from Viciedo now unless we sign someone? Jordan Danks? Blake Tekotte? Trayce might force one of the OF's out of the way at some point but he's not nearly there yet.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) Morales will be short-term. I don't foresee the organization extending long-term offers to anybody during free agency this year. Sign him to a 2-3 year deal worth $10-11 mill a year and an option attached to the end, and it's a perfectly harmless deal. The only player he'd be "blocking" is Andy Wilkins. And if somehow Wilkins gets hot, then Morales is still eminently tradeable on that kind of deal or can move to the DH spot and take it over for Dunn.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:07 PM) Me neither. I'm glad everyone is drinking the cool-aid now but with the way we're going, I fear the best case scenario is either a rebuilt team that maybe becomes competitive a long ways down the road, or some reincarnation of our recent strategy of retooling that accomplishes nothing more than the previous few teams have. I'm just not a fan of selling off these guys for nothing when we'll probably just resign similar players. This talk of Morales makes me ill. Morales is a great fit because seriously, who would he be blocking? Andy Wilkins? Paul Konerko's corpse on a 1 year deal?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 04:12 PM) so why did they work him at SS during ST this year and occasionally during the season during infield practice? Because who else is going to play there if Alexei gets hurt...Keppinger's D has been terrible.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) You have to take this in context - he was a 20 year old who started his career at High-A going 14 for 40 with 2 triples, 2 doubles, and 7 walks. He got promoted to AA and proceeded to hit .285. Again, prior to the 2011 season. His true hit tool began to surface the following year when he put up a .554 OPS over the course of the full AAA season. I think he has a fascination with him, but I don't think that shows bias. At the very least, I was seriously impressed when I looked at the numbers and found that Garcia had decently outhit Iglesias through the minors. Iglesias takes slightly more walks and has moderately fewer strikeouts, but Garcia has definitely put up much more extra base power and definitely has a more developed stolen base game.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:55 PM) So.... 1) The writing might very well be on the wall with the Alexei Ramirez Era 2) Beckham more than likely WON'T be shifted as an experiment to SS 3) Avisail Garcia goes to his more natural position of RF 4) Semien ends up being the top minor league candidate at either 2B/3B but not probably not SS I seriously doubt they're penciling this kid in for a starting role next year. I'd imagine he starts off as a utility infielder and maybe even is optioned to Charlotte a couple times. Garcia goes to RF this year, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if next year, they ran an OF left to right of De Aza, Garcia, Viciedo out there until it didn't work. That would be the best setup for all 3 guys, supposedly.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:55 PM) L. Garcia played in the bigs this year already. Should Sox dump Lexi now and have both Garcia's in the lineup the rest of the way? That'd be quite a switch already. Two of the eight position players replaced in the same season with young guys. That's 2/8 of the rebuild already done. The Sox may not have Garcia on their roster the rest of the way. He's likely a PTBNL because he's already on Texas's major league roster. He'll have to pass through waivers to the Sox to be traded. It's possible the Astros could be nice and just let him through, we don't know yet.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) No. 45: Shortstop Jose Iglesias: Law calls the 21-year-old Iglesias the best defensive shortstop prospect he has ever seen. “He's not the fastest or most athletic,” writes Law, “but he's the one most able to make plays and to take difficult plays and make them look routine.” More from Law, on Iglesas’ offensive potential: “Iglesias' swing is direct with good bat speed, and he has a little pop when he gets his arms extended, although in Fenway that probably will mean lots of doubles off the Monster but few home runs. He needs to avoid barring his lead arm, and so far he hasn't shown much patience although he has shown he can make a lot of contact. If he can draw 50 walks a year or hit .300 regularly, he's an All-Star, and if not, he's still an above-average regular because of the potential value of his defense.” http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/pos...p-100-prospects yeah, that's about what I thought.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:46 PM) So basically Garcia is a more dynamic/athletic version of Pablo Ozuna with the ability to play SS at the big league level but a less well-defined hit tool?? Well, anything's better than watching Angel Sanchez or Tyler Greene or random 30+ journeyman/fill-in-the-blank, right? Anything that injects a little energy and enthusiasm into the clubhouse and onto the field...it's exactly what we need to get away from our plodding, station to station mentality of the last 10-15 years. If you're looking at comps who have played for the White sox, yeah non-steroid-06-Ozuna might work also, except with better defense and a much better arm.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:44 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2854992:date=Aug 9, 2013 -> 02:40 PM:name=Mr. Showtime)-->QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 02:40 PM) <!--quotec-->What does Keith Law say about this deal? Then we can all decide whether this was good for the team or not. <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"> What does Law say about Iglesias?

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:41 PM) Do we know for sure that we are getting this Leury Garcia dude as the ptbnl ?? No, we don't know for sure, but MLB writers have said he is the likely guy and he was initially reported as the actual return in the trade. It's possible the Sox could decide they don't want him later and take cash or another player perhaps, i.e. if he gets hurt at some point.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:33 PM) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1384997...-this-offseason Garcia was listed as top 5 prospects to be traded last offseason. I note how they say he should reach the majors before the end of the 2014 season and he's already there. He's been very aggressively pushed upwards and his numbers have improved as it's happened (although, needs to cut down on the strikeouts to really take advantage of his speed).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:36 PM) Interesting. For all we know, Texas will try to trade him this winter or at next year's trade deadline just as the Sox would have tried to do. If he's ever going to have a career year it'd be next year cause he'll be playing for a contract. I won't second guess Hahn on this one. He's gone. Sox got a decent prospect and got rid of all that money. He's a great fit for Texas next year also. He probably makes them even better than Nelson Cruz if his all-around game stays solid, he strengthens their defense and baserunning which are good things when they already have some serious bats in their lineup, and he's barely more expensive than Cruz was this year, so their payroll really doesn't change.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:27 PM) Where does Semien fit into your 2014 Sox plans? Exactly where A. Garcia was before today. In my ideal world, I send him to the AFL, I keep him in big league camp until the last guy, and I spend the winter taking offers on Alexei. If no offers are satisfactory, I send him to Charlotte to start the year (there is zero harm in sending a 23 year old wtih less than 700 PA's above A ball to Charlotte for 2 months). L. Garcia immediately pencils in as the backup for every position in the IF and CF and hopefully can hold those down. If Alexei isn't moved for a good deal in the offseason, semien's job for next year then becomes "hit so well that you force us to take a crappy return on Alexei in order to bring you up".

QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:24 PM) I hear you loud and clear. I feel like some fans think they are going to take all this money and just go on a spending spree this winter, I don't forsee that at all. The purpose of freeing up the money isn't to use it right away, having flexibility is very valuable. After today I genuinely think that Kendrys Morales absolutely has to be the #1 guy on their list. The fit is way, way, way too perfect. He fills our need as well as Rios fills the Rangers' need. I would have hesitated on that if Rios wasn't moved, because the Sox would have been carrying too many OF's and someone would have had to move to first, but with Rios out of the way, Morales just becomes a perfect fit for the 1b hole, and he can move to DH later in the contract if needbe.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) I count 3.5 tools - glove, arm, speed, and a little bit of bat. Career .260 hitter in the minors, and his approximate splits over his previous 624 minor league PAs is .280/.325/.400/.725. If he can flash leather and put up a .250/.300/.375 line at the majors, he is going to be a perfectly capable shortstop. Keep in mind when you're adding his minor league batting averages that he was also very young at each of those levels. AA ball at 21, AAA at 22 and didn't spend a full season there.

QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) Maybe they are going to reinvest money into adding more scouts? Or one of these academies I hear other teams have? I know that's not 60 million dollars but, I think they can spend the money without people seeing it outwardly. The team has definitely said it's going to do this...but yeah, there's only so much money you can put into academies and scouts before you're just dumping piles of money on the table and turning your back.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) BP really liked this guy as a SS coming into this season. Said he has easy range a plus plus arm and is not short on premium tools. Said he lacks pop but scouts think he could hold his own enough to be an everyday SS. The more I look at this guy the more I like this return. It's not the #1 prospect in baseball but this kid is a legit piece that adds a lot of ability to the IF going forward.

QUOTE (bulokis @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) Is Leury Garcia comparable to Jose Iglesia whom the Tigers from Red sox. Maybe. They both were moved upwards aggressively and made AAA and the big leagues at a young age, but Iglesias spent longer at AAA and also has had some success in MLB which does at least count for a little. Iglesias is 23 and Garcia is 22, so Garcia could be on a very similar path. Garcia so far strikes out more, maybe walks slightly less but that's close. Garcia definitely seems to be a much greater stolen base threat. Both of them hit 4 HR in limited AAA at bats this year, Garcia seems to get a ton more extra base hits (23 for him last year, 10 for Iglesias) so that's a cap in his feather as well. Iglesias's reputation is as a fielder though, that's hard to judge from stats. Otherwise, that's a really intriguing comparison because Garcia's numbers outdo Iglesias's on a lot of categories.