Balta1701

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:58 PM) Do they try to work a deal or just let them have him and his contract?? I think the Sox will pull him back unless they receive something.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:46 PM) Again, when you look at it like that, you have to wonder why they allow the posting fees for international players from Asian leagues and not allow it within the MLB. Teams are buying Dice-Ks and Darvish's, why cant they buy from another team? Aren't posting fees an explicit part of the deal struck between MLB and the Japanese leagues to allow players to come over? That does make some sense if it was a league to league deal setting up the system, the Japanese league teams get a way to directly benefit if they lose a ballplayer.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:57 PM) Can we sound the "HOLY s***" alarm yet? No, because there's a good chance the White Sox pull him back.

Prince Fielder has a .785 OPS on the season. Here it is by month: April/March 1.009 May 0.738 June 0.788 July 0.656 August 0.630 That contract only doesn't look bad if you haven't paid much attention or if you only care about winning a world series right now and the last years are a write-off.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:43 PM) The problem isn't competitive balance, it's that organizations like the Marlins exist who care more about the bottom line than winning. And so MLB has to do their best to create a situation where those organizations can improve their bottom line by winning, even if it's only "winning every so often".

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:20 PM) It is strange that they would allow slot money to be traded for the purpose of acquiring better international prospects (like the Cubs did to land all of those top prospects) but they wont allow money to change hand between teams in order to acquire better prospects from minor leagues You can certainly buy players at some level...but I think what MLB is really trying to avoid is "The Yankees sent the Marlins $100 million for Jose Fernandez", almost entirely on competitive balance grounds. You know darn well both teams would do that if it were legal. And that'd be disturbingly close to what is being advocated here, picking up someone's contract almost entirely in exchange for young talent.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 01:14 PM) Why don't they just literally buy the prospects then? 30 mill cash for X Then you run into the other problem...MLB literally wouldn't allow this. Trades involving money moving around have to be approved by the commish's office and whatever rules they follow it seems like they make sure it's an actual trade with people being moved, not just money.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 09:47 AM) Give the Phillies credit for going against the grain. Who needs to get younger? I'd wager there's some degree of "if we can get one more healthy year out of Roy next year, with Lee and Hamels in that rotation as well, and Utley can play like he has this year, we're now getting production from Domonic Brown, we've got a legit shot at competing again next year".

Phillies extend Utley through 2015.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 09:18 AM) Von Joshua was fired as White Sox hitting coach in 2001. He was replaced by Gary Ward. Ah, that's why. Gracias.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 08:03 AM) 1984: Prince Harry was born as 3rd in line to the British throne. The Tigers beat the Royals in the ALCS on the way to a World Series win 2013: Prince George was born as 3rd in line to the British throne. "The thought of all that raw, surging power makes me wonder why the hell I should care" -Sideshow bob.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 8, 2013 -> 08:56 AM) How about the coaching? Semien, when I interviewed him last week, specifically credited Gary Ward for some improvements in his approach. Gary's the hitting coach in AA. I recognize that name, hasn't he been there a while?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 08:31 PM) Cliff Lee is owed at minimum $62.5 million after this year. Maybe over $80 million. The Sox would have to get a team's entire top 30 and maybe more to make it worth it. A professional organization gets that kind of smart deal done

Yup

“@scottmerkin: Ventura on choosing Leesman for Friday: "We need another lefty." #sarcasmalert”

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 08:21 PM) Rosenthal suggested we might be willing to move prospects to entice someone to take Rios off our hands...although I don't think this had any basis in reality. Maybe that's where Bernstein is getting this from. Well that's a sadly insane suggestion.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 06:04 PM) Its not hyperbole. If you are confident about the current testing and no one is testing positive, that suggests no one or very few are using. Yet. The program has been at this level for only a few months and there is always time for appeals. For all we know there might be a positive test already out there that isn't known about.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 05:57 PM) Hasn't he been hurt? He's off the DL and has made 2 starts since then. First start only went 2.1 innings, 2nd start went 6 innings (1 run, 5 hits, 6 K's). Might well be that they didn't call him up yet because he hasn't had enough work since the DL trip.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 05:51 PM) $62M owed for his ages 35 & 36 seasons. And yet the Phillies were basically uninterested in moving him despite people asking. His asking price was said to be larger than that for Peavy in addition to picking up the entire contract. The Phillies are not looking to save salary on him and aren't motivated to move him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 05:42 PM) Interesting strategy that will force teams like the Red Sox, Rangers, and Cubs to pay fair value in terms of prospects in any trade scenario. Teams like the Pirates, Royals, Indians, Reds, to name a few can use the Sox to take on a bad contract like say Cliff Lee. Cliff Lee is not a bad contract and the Phillies were asking a ton for him at the trade deadline.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 05:32 PM) You can't have confidence in the testing program. Everyone suspended this week didn't fail a test. And previous failures do cause more suspicion. Maybe Quintana did this clean. Maybe he did not. Everyone suspended this week was suspended for drugs they were taking prior to the beginning of blood testing and regular monitoring of testosterone levels which started with the new CBA and should be in place right now. And also take note...they did catch 3 guys from the biogenesis clinic with the previous tests. Braun, Colon, and Melky Cabrera were all caught by the urine tests with the remnants of the biogenesis drugs in their system, so even with the primitive previous test it was still able to catch some of the guys some of the time. Braun got off on a technicality but all 3 of them were caught by the previous tests.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 05:11 PM) One thing I find fascinating, is guys like Quintana aren't suspected of juicing anymore once they get caught. I don't know how many times Hawk has mentioned how much bigger and stronger Quintana got over the winter. He said he was almost unrecognizable.The first winter after earning a sweet paycheck.anyone reaaly think Colon is just naturally doing what he is doing at 40? Studies have shown most people who do time commit more crime after they do the time. I suspect juicing is the same. That's the annoying thing about this entire drug testing mess...all of that can make sense easily. Guys do get stronger. Guys who are in their early 20's build muscle mass all the time. Guys who are in their early 20's and go from "A-ball level trainers" to "I just earned $500k and I'm on a major league roster and now I have access to their weight room and nutritional information" could readily be expected to put on some serious mass and strength during offseason conditioning. Guys who are having a huge jump in innings, like Q was last year, could readily be expected to lose some velocity and then have it come back the next year. Colon of course was already suspended once for steroids directly linked to the Biogenesis clinic, so no it's already established he didn't recover naturally. But that's the real annoying thing here; guys can legitimately get stronger and better and that's exactly what you should expect in a guy's early to mid 20's. That's why I'm hoping I can finally have confidence in the testing program, because if it is finally olympic-quality it's going to be very tough to beat long-term and we can stop having this discussion.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 04:49 PM) Right, that would be more like sending Danks along with Peavy or something, if the team really wanted Peavy. The problem is though that that tactic only makes sense if clearing payroll is a priority we'd get less talent in that scenario in return for the salary relief. It's something that teams to do ino order to get to where Benrstein says we are now, which is relatively free of dead money. So, it would have been asinine for Bernstein to cite those examples in his article. I don't think there's much precedent for the types of deals he is suggesting, nor are there many teams that would be good fits. The Phillies are really the only big-payroll team that is failing to contend, and they are showing no signs of financial pressure. Since you brought up the Phillies let's think about this with a concrete name. What would the Phillies have to send along to get you to assume the entire contract of Ryan Howard? (3 years, $85 million remaining after this year counting buyout). Is there anything they have that would make you willing to take on this deal if you were in Rick Hahn's position?

QUOTE (Dunt @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 04:12 PM) While that's great in theory, when has that really been practiced? I ask because I have no recollection of a team trading a bad contract along with a top prospect for nothing. Though I appreciate his otherwise positive outlook on the White Sox organization, Bernstein doesnt know s*** about White Sox. He knows nothing absolutely nothing about the farm system and doesnt actually follow most games. Perhaps the closest examples might be the trades done by the Marlins and the Red Sox over the last year. The Blue Jays and Dodgers wanted Jose Reyes and Adrian Gonzalez, respectively, but their teams didn't want to give them up for nothing, so the teams took on extra dollars in the form of bad contracts given to Mark Buehrle and Carl Crawford along with them. But, the teams taking on that salary also gave up a few players as well, they didn't send prospects along, just bad contracts.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Aug 7, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) I robbed a bank, but i shouldnt go to jail because i dropped all the money before i got in my car and left. Of course everyone is punished, in a literal sense...but the punishment in public opinion is where the wildly differing reactions come in Of course, part of the issue might be the circumstances...if he legitimately took something a doctor recommended and tested positive as a consequence...then the comparison is "the 17 year old who was standing next to the bank and was handed $50k by the guy who actually robbed the bank when he was running out" to "the guy who robbed the bank of $200 million". I'm not going to give him a pass on the suspension, he deserves a suspension even if he naively took something incorrectly, but I'm also a human, I can judge how much blame to give him in my head based on my own standards.