Balta1701

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 12:25 PM) To B.J. freakin' Upton. LOL They'll have to pay Heyward soon though, so that mark is unlikely to last. Technically Heyward wouldn't count against that since he's not going to be a free agent...so for all I know the Braves have signed someone to a larger contract but that was just an extension

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 11:50 AM) I just don't understand the lack of appreciation for Gordon Beckham. He plays gold glove defense and has improved with the bat. He wants to learn and improve and makes no excuses. He was a #1 pick and we want to just get rid of him? The Sox have made some real strange decisions with their young talent in the past and hopefully they have learned their lesson. I could see Sanchez being added to the roster to play either third or secondbase. If he is the better middle infielder Gordo can move back over to thirdbase. The kid wasn't bad there at all Worth remembering is that this is Beckham's first arbitration year...thus, he's going to rapidly get more expensive. He'll only get paid a couple million this year, but in arb year 2, we're starting to talk about >$5 million for 1 year territory, and the last couple years he has simply not been worth that.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 09:22 AM) It's the year 2012. No one's laughing.

Pushing him up so fast that he winds up getting into a permanent rut with the bat whiel at the same time changing his position does fit the Sox's recent M.O. regarding infield prospects.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 09:48 AM) I do realize that Youkilis is a risk, but unless Hahn comes up with a better idea what else can we do? At this point, it's the GM's job to figure out what a better idea would be...because that's a pretty poor "Best idea" and one I'd have very little confidence in.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 09:10 AM) Here is what is weird to me about the AJ situation... if you look at the noise on Twitter, MLBTR, and other places from the usual chatterboxes... the catchers being talked about all the time are Martin, Salty, and a few others. I have not seen AJ mentioned at ALL, except in reference to the Sox wanting him back but maybe not able to get him. I can't tell what that means, but I think it is interesting. My personal theory is that the teams looking for a C, at least some of them, may be scared off of him due to a combination of age and reputation. If I'm right, then the Sox will sign him late, and for cheaper than most of you are supposing. Of course, I could be wrong. As for Rock's intimation about a deal sending off a popular player... if it clear salary room, I think they will then quickly sign Youk for 3B. The market seemed to move a lot quicker on AJ last time around. Of course, it also seemed to appear suddenly right after thanksgiving, it went from nothing to him about to sign with both Toronto and the Dodgers.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 08:43 AM) There's a joke there somewhere... I just havent figured it out yet Neither have we.

If I was pitcher guy who had played in the futures game at one point and then had stuff go wrong to the level that I wound up a minor league free agent, I'd be trying to get the White Sox to sign me.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 08:48 AM) I'm with you on this one. I hope your son keeps on rising through the system and is ready in 2014. Sign Youkilis to a somewhat reasonable multiyear deal without a no trade clause (or at least a very limited one), hope that he performs well and then trade him when Grabe is ready. The problem with signing Youkilis to a 2 year deal is that the team still has a big money DH for the next 2 years, and thus Youk can't be moved there if he gets beaten up at 3rd...and if he does get beaten up, trading him basically = buying out whatever contract he has left.

QUOTE (beautox @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 08:59 PM) I agree give him a fair shake behind the dish; his second half was very encouraging from Jul 3, 2012 to Oct 2, 2012 he put up this line .244/.326/.476 .802OPS his babip was reasonable at .326. His season pace at that rate looks like this 28HR, 44BB/168SO. The strikeout rate just scares me a lot, over a full season against MLB pitching, and with him being a righty.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 07:29 PM) which is why las vegas is BOOMING. Trade shows are horrendously overrated for how much money they bring in. They don't want the Geological Society back because we didn't gamble enough.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 08:30 PM) It's on him, but you have to understand that IU is IU because of Bobby Knight. Look at his accomplishments vs what the school has done overall. He should have never been treated the way he was. I'm sure a man of his temper and arrogance (not trying to be negative on him I LOVE Bobby knight) has a hard time giving up the frustration at IU. To be fair, Indiana in the modern era was Bobby Knight, but they had a history before that including 2 NCAA titles under Branch McCracken.

Anyway way more than he's worth

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 04:44 PM) From 1996 through 1999 - ages 19-22 for AJ - he never OPS'd better than .718. He did have OPS's better than .800 - during his 2nd time in rookie ball and his 3rd time in AAA. That just proves that you don't have to dominate to be good or effective. However, you act as if Flowers was mediocre in the minors. He had 1 season below an .838 OPS, and 4 of his 6 seasons were .866 or better, leaving him with a career split in the minors of .275/.391/.484/.876. Mike Napoli showed better home run potential, but I honestly don't think that comparison is too far off. Flowers needs to play regularly, and I do think he can be a really, really good hitter for the Sox. No, you don't have to dominate to be good or effective. But if you want to get a quality catcher out of your way, and convince the team to clear you a spot, you better dominate.

You could have saved me the trouble of going to ESPN by saying it was 5/$75.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:33 PM) A guy who was only drafted as a favor to a friend suddenly finds the "talent" to become the best power hitting catcher in the history of the sport? And I can't look past the evidence of blantant PED use throughout all levels of baseball during that era. it wouldn't be the first time that a guy had come out of no where to become an all time great...and you also have the other factors of ballparks, pitching quality feeding in to the standard of "Best at position x of all time". But yes, 2k5 is right...I can't prove he was clean, and there's every reason to think he wasn't, because you can't prove anyone was clean for that time. Except #35.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:25 PM) Piazza did the have the sudden power upswing from 1990 to 1991, which could have been an obvious beginning of his steroid use. He went from barely slugging .400 to suddenly reaching .550 & higher. I don't know what he looked like then, but that's a pretty damn big jump for a nobody without the help of any chemical assistance. He's also a 21 year old in high-A ball in 1990, and a 22 year old repeating high-A ball in 1991. A 22 year old repeating high-A ball ought to have a big power surge if he has some talent. Not conclusive again...but since it's all we have...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:16 PM) http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=2730570 D'Oh. That's what happens when you take a couple months off.

The ESPN bloggers did a roundtable of Hamilton destination predictions and a couple guys did th ink it was the sox.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:30 PM) How can a guy get the opportunity to prove he can be more than a backup when he's had an ironman catcher in front him since he's been on the club? He could always have dominated the minors....in a way that Flowers never really did.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:57 PM) All the evidence is right in front of you though. In an era when a high percentage of players were on steroids and all started breaking home run records, a muscular catcher comes from nowhere to suddenly be the best power catcher in the history of the game. That's not even bringing up some of the allegations against him. The andro use when he was young, the sudden 20-pound muscle gain in the middle of his career, the back acne everyone mentions. If you really think Piazza is clean, then IMO you have to say Sosa is clean, because there is the exact same amount of "evidence" for both of them. A couple things are different though...with Sosa, his power spike came mid-career...whereas a power spike for a kid in the minors is much more normal...and we also have good characterizations of Sosa's body type before and after as well.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 08:07 AM) Relax, you guys take everything so seriously. They went up one when I made that comment. Indiana looked very good last night. Big Ten has this locked now I would think. His shooting wasn't all there yet, but man, Yogi Ferrell is one quick SOB.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 12:19 AM) Anyone things the Thigpen hiring is due in part with the young bullpen we have ? Seems like a good fit for guys like Reed, Jones etc. He's already worked with a lot of those guys while @ Birmingham.

Coyotes at Wrigley:

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 06:18 PM) Wtf are you talking about? The scale of your anti-union complaint there seems incredibly tiny compared to the scale of the hole Hostess had dug for itself...as well as the scale of concessions their Union had already made (particularly if you consider the hundred million or so in missed pension payments).