Balta1701

I really don't see how spending money, which for all we know could be $8-$10 mil a year for a couple years on Livan Hernandez makes us any better than what we have now. He put up a 1.60 WHIP last year and an ERA of 4.93 in the NL. To the AL Central, that means he'd be pushing an ERA of 6. I think we probably have a line of 6-7 pitchers making the league minimum who could put up numbers of that level. And he put up a similar set of numbers in 2006 also, so it's not like last year was an abberration.

Link

Despite there being no national primary, someone's going to post these, so it might as well be me. Trend from previous poll 1 month ago, also by CNN. Dec. 6-9 Nov. 2-4 Giuliani 24 28 Huckabee 22 10 Romney 16 11 McCain 13 16 Thompson 10 19 Paul 6 5 Hunter 2 4 Tancredo 1 3 No Opinion 6 5

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) Just on Gilbert, do you still think he gets a max deal in the off-season, coming off 2 knee surgeries? Isn't he tentatively supposed to be able to play towards the end of this season? He may not want to risk it, but that's the issue. The other potential problem for him in getting a max contract is that as far as most people are saying, the only team this offseason with any kind of big cap room will be the 76ers, and that evaporates when they sign Iguodala. So he may well not get one simply because of lack of options, unless he stays in Washington or there's a sign and trade.

Kyle Orton in.

On Maybin/Fields, if nothing else, I'll add Baseball America's 2007 list. No matter how much stock you put in these rankings, let's just say that the difference in value between the #6 prospect on their list and the #45 prospect on their list (Esp. when the #6 is only 20 years old) is not Jerry Owens.

QUOTE(NCsoxfan @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 12:08 PM) IMO Maybin, Crede > Fields, Owens Rip me all you want, but I think this is creative and would look very good for the Sox down the line... The problem is, you're right on this. And considering that Crede has essentially negative value right now because he is little more than a bill for $5 million unless he proves he is healthy, Maybin > Fields, Owens also. Had the Marlins actually thought that Fields's value was anywhere close to Maybin's, we'd have Miguel Cabrera right now.

QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 10:58 AM) I believe Quentin will be the 4th OF and the part time DH for when Thome needs a day off. Unless he gets hurt, if Quentin plays less than 145 games, with the talent he has and the price we paid to get him, Ozzie ought to be fired just for that.

The Marlins will make that deal... If in addition to those 2 pieces...we also include a new stadium. We buy them a new stadium, include Fields and Owens, nad yea we can get that back.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 09:55 PM) The fact NE is going to get McFadden just ain't right, but damn I love it!! Keep winning NE and keep losing Miami, I'll never hear anything from South Florida's annoying loud mouths again about the NFL if this keeps up. Do you seriously think the Patriots won't trade down with that pick to pick up a couple of late first or early 2nd rounders? They're almost certainly smart enough to know that the standard "Draft choice value card" sheet or whatever you call it gives an incredible amount of value to the top couple picks, vastly more than they're actually worth in almost every draft that doesn't start off with a guy named "Manning, P., QB Tennessee", and on top of that, they will save a ton of cap space in the process and probably be able to still find a quality RB and replace some of the aging or departing folks on defense at the same time. And on top of that, if they were to keep the pick, do you think they'd actually spend it on a running back, when RB seems to be the easiest position in the world to find if you look around the league? How many lower round picks are there putting up great seasons behind good O-Lines, and how many top of the draft RB Busts can you find?

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 10:25 AM) I believe he hit rather well at the Cell That's because his numbers against Neal Cotts are ridiculous. I think he literally homers every time he faces Cotts.

QUOTE(BaseballNick @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 09:40 AM) I don't think we have hats big enough for that noggin of his. I'd be more worried about finding shoes that can fit him

QUOTE(max power @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 09:40 AM) I think its floyd, sadly. Danks will be over pitched, I have no faith in him pitching well after the first 140 innings. Count lost what little momentum he gained in his last two starts, plus he has back issues. If I knew he were fully recovered from injury I would say count, no doubt. Assuming he is still hurting, floyd. He pitched well. I hope that momentum stays. Really though, I think they will all be mediocre. Era about 4.5. If you could get 200, 175, and 150 innings from Floyd, Contreras, and Danks, with each putting up a 4.5 ERA, that would be excellent.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 09:35 AM) So since everyone is discussing who will do badly... anyone want to guess who is most likely of those three to have a good season? Pratt's going to jump on me for it, but I actually think that it's Floyd. He has a pitcher's frame, which should let him throw a lot of innings without tiring, he's 25 so he's approaching the age where he will hit whatever his peak actually is, and he may finally have built some confidence at the end of the last year. Honestly, despite what that logic tells me, I'm hoping that it winds up being Contreras...because if Jose could have a good 1st half, that would be the best thing for the team in the long run, as that would help rebuild Jose's shattered trade value and maybe make his contract moveable at the deadline.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 09:34 AM) It's pretty hard to hit heat in the cold; if April this year is like last's, it'll certainly make sense that Floyd would be able to succeed for a little but then again, Gavin doesn't throw all that hard so it might not help that much. But yes, if Floyd is starting in really cold weather, I don't expect him to fall all the way apart; instead, I expect it to happen once it heats up. I guess I'm just making up the "cold"/hitter's situation or something. If that were the case, and you were completely right, that Gavin would start hot this year entirely due to the weather...then the best thing to do to help the team out would be to plan for this hot start, and plan to move him sometime in early/mid may after he's come out, won 5 games in a row or so, and rebuilt some significant trade value for a team looking for young arms.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 09:14 AM) That would be pretty impressive considering his career OPS is .722 and his career high over a full season was .833 with him slugging over 500. His OBP will be the killer for Snacks and Cakes. If you catch my reference, I'm trying to allude to the fact that if he did that, his career would suddenly bear a striking resemblance to another player that was once described repeatedly on this site as a "4th OF" and who, when we was traded, made us all happy that we were losing his $5 million a year salary because few felt he deserved that at the time...who suddenly put up 1 year of a nearly .900 OPS in a contract year, after several years of mediocrity, and who now it seems 3/4 of this page wants to give 4/$55 or whatever the current offer is to bring him back.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 08:25 PM) If 2nd helpings is still on this team, he will be the starting 2nd baseman. There will be a "competition" that will wind up with Uribe winning it. Hawk will talk about how Uribe can carry a team, and how Uribe and Cabrera would be the bestest infield in the history of baseball. Ozzie will talk about a "new and refocused" Profundo who will once again swing at balls that bounce it. If he is on the team come ST, he will start. I would be completely shocked if Richar starts if Uribe is still here. On the same thought, if Crede is here Ozzie will park Fields on the bench or they will send him down to get him solid ABs. We will go for it, only to fail and cost our kids an opportunity to get better. Its a vicious circle of craptitude. But then, somehow, Uribe will actually come out and put up a .900 OPS next year, and suddenly everyone in MLB and especially every Sox Fan will forget about all of the years of mediocrity beforehand and will come out and say that we need to offer him 4/$55 right away because that's a fair value for his level of player.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 01:39 AM) I'd be shocked if at least one of them don't fall flat on their face. Hope I'm wrong but the odds of them both being competent starters this season just aren't very high imo. You're certainly right that between Floyd, Danks, and Contreras, the odds are high that at least one, if not 2 or even 3 of them are going to fall flat on their faces. The problem is...I defy anyone here to predict exactly which one is going to do so and exactly when. As I keep saying, right now, thanks to the weakness of our system, our only way back into it this year would be a lot of luck, and our only way to rebuild rapidly is to squeeze every ounce of value/talent out of the guys we currently have. We at least have 5 talented starting pitchers and a guy who we thought of 2 years ago as an incredible pitching coach working with them. If somehow all 5 have good years, we're right in this thing. If not, then we take a look at who blew up and replace them when it happens with Gio, Broadway, or Egbert. And if by some chance we see some success out of a couple of these guys, then we evaluate our position at the trading deadline w/regards to whether or not we hold onto them. I.e. Contreras has a good first half, but we're down in the division due to something else, like more bullpen failures, etc. At that point, you see that maybe Jose has rebuilt some trade value, and then you decide it's time to move him for some actual talent. You could even say the same thing about Floyd or Danks.

It seems some folks are missing my Panthers/Steroids reference. Here's that story.

BTW, that Buffalo/Cleveland matchup next week suddenly looks like it might well decide the last wild card slot.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 04:40 PM) You know, if you're playing the odds game, you're definitely right. I really don't think either NE or Dallas will lose in the playoffs and I finally believe that the Pats will go undefeated. The one thing that I believe could happen is that Dallas loses one of these last 3 regular season games. If they get to 14-1, they have nothing to play for that last week.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 04:39 PM) Yeah they have a lot of integrity, just ask the old injured players looking for help paying their medical bills while the McCaskey's and the rest in their fraternity count their money. And, as I said before, ask those Carolina Panthers players who were reportedly given Steroid prescriptions right around the time they were in the Super Bowl. Todd Sauerbrun says "Hi". He also said "Sauerbrun angry. Sauerbrun kick to Hester. Sauerbrun eat Hester. What was that blur?"

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 04:14 PM) Obviously there is a long way to go but it seems like there is a real possibility of having an undefeated team vs. a 1 loss team in the superbowl. Almost certainly at least 1 of those 2 teams will either lose another game in the regular season or someone will find a way to beat them in the playoffs.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 03:52 PM) It depends on what other teams are offering. If Homer Bailey is involved for the Reds, then we could not obtain Bedard. In theory, we could put together a package of prospects that is similar in value, but we lack anything top notch like Bailey, Hughes, Kershaw, etc. So if someone like that is offered, chances are we can not put together a package for Bedard. If Bailey is involved...that suggests to me not only that the Reds are going to wind up with Bedard, but that the Reds also soured on Bailey a lot more than we thought last year when people saw his velocity dropping.