Balta1701

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 06:13 PM) Probably not, and it would obviously be dependent on what Sox doctors thought of his back, but to me a fascinating buy low guy.There were a lot of people upset he was traded away and the Sox top OF prospects are still a way away. Throw him out there this year and next and see if he can create some value. I would think if Dodger scouts like how Swarzak is throwing, giving him up.wouldnt be painful. I honestly don't know what Swarzak is worth overall, but I'd sit down and listen to scouts about Trayce if that was on the table. CF is a spot where we could use an athlete or two, with the bats we've pulled together a defense first CF is something I will not be mad about if he could get back to a .675 OPS in a year or two with experience, and he's under control through 2021.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 05:15 PM) Yes but this isn't the NBA. Clearing the wall by 1 foot counts as much as by 50. I'd rather have the more control and contact and take my chances. And since all home runs travel 50 or more feet beyond the wall, there's clearly no tradeoff here.

Take this Freddie Freeman!

QUOTE (Señor Ding-Dong @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 04:50 PM) Kinda feel bad for Saladino, as he's probably not going to be here when the rebuild pays off. Don't feel bad for him. If we weren't rebuilding, he'd have been in AAA or released this year while some veteran got his job. Instead he got a chance as a starter. He might even get one more next year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 04:08 PM) Grab a wooden bat. Sing it from the end. Choke up an inch getting rid of non hitting area. Notice the difference. Most grew up with aluminum where you can get a huge bat head and keep it light. If it were cool to choke up everyone would do it. A ride up Barry Bonds did it and no one can match him. Basic physics requires that the farther away the hitting surface is from your body the faster it will be going. I believe that's why people feel comfortable choking up with 2 strikes - it slows the bat head down and trades speed/power for control/contact.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 12:14 AM) So stunned, in fact, that they hurriedly leaked Sessions' complicity in working with the Russians during the campaign to WaPo to give Trump the leeway to fire him. This is truly getting out of control. If Trump fires Sessions, recess-appointment to a replacement who has pledged loyalty who immediately fires Mueller and the GOP doesn't boot his sorry ass out of office, they're all traitors in my eyes. It'll be time to start getting prepared for the defense of this country. The Republican party will step up to defend Donald Trump if that happens. They'll make some statements publicly about how terrible it is then get back to the real work of dismantling government and making sure health care goes to only the right people.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 03:10 PM) FWIW, he's not starting tonight Now that we have another middle infielder, I wouldn't mind some extra days off for him.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 22, 2017 -> 11:46 AM) I don't know why everyone doesn't choke up anyway. At the very least it allows you to use a bigger bat. More wood in the hitting area. You could get closer to aluminum bat dimensions. If you're doing that to add in more weight then I think it would actually slow your bat down because you've added unproducive mass that you still need to move during each swing.

Link

QUOTE (GermanSock @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 05:59 PM) I think 2018 there will be more losses than this year. Having moncada and giolito won't out weigh having no bullpen and no real front line starter. Well, hopefully Rodon, but who knows.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 05:46 PM) You guys have fallen for a troll post I figure with a poster who is fairly new I can be somewhat polite and deal with the proposal as written.

QUOTE (KnightsOnMintSt @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 05:09 PM) I think in any trade scenario, Stanton should return better prospects than Quintana. In terms of my specific proposal. None of the guys I proposed, minus Adams, are proven above High-A. Plus with this deal, we still keep Moncada, Kopech, Lopez, Robert, Burger, and Giolito. I wouldn't be upset if it didn't happen, but if we did, I'd be excited. Then given that Stanton's contract is what, 5-10x the size of quintana's, I have no interest in him if that's the case.

QUOTE (KnightsOnMintSt @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 04:38 PM) So there is always the discussion on if the White Sox could sign Harper or Machado, but what about a trade for Stanton? The reason I think this would be interesting is because the White Sox probably wouldn't have to give up as many prospects as usual, solely because of the amount of money they would have to take on. Something like: White Sox get: Giancarlo Stanton. Marlins get: Eloy Jimenez, Zack Collins, Dane Dunning, Alec Hansen, and Spencer Adams. So we wouldn't have to give up as many prospects as usual and you're giving up more than we got back for Quintana? Anyway, I wouldn't mind trading for him, but he's "Fairly paid", so I want to give up virtually none of my high end talent for him and that's the problem. The Marlins would want a Jiminez type back for him and NO - those guys are my precious.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 03:50 PM) The Sox have him under control through 2024, if they pick up the options. That's plenty of time for him to just continue developing at SS. The team isn't expected to contend over the next couple of years, so it seems like good timing. He has tremendous raw talent and not that much experience, which suggests that he will get much better. We've all seen him make some pretty amazing plays already, and that should be very encouraging. As of right now, he's getting the ire on a losing, rebuilding team because he's the only one of the guys from that losing, rebuilding team we get to see on a daily basis. He'll continue that for a few months until someone else comes up and struggles. I think Moncada gets a temporary pass, but it'll get on our nerves if he's struggling middle of next season and we will be talking ourselves out of playing this same game. Heck, think about Garcia the last couple years - struggled through a couple years, plenty of venom, was a major cause of those 2 debacles, now is finally having a good year. But yeah, at least we didn't go into this season thinking Anderson would be a key cog carrying us to a division title.

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 02:13 PM) It's not really a conspiracy though. Kaep did what he did and teams don't want that kind of unwanted attention. These meatheads would probably boycott the games just because their team signed Kaep. Which says a lot about us as a people.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 02:37 PM) I also don't understand the lack of previous playing time as a knock on Anderson, to me that makes it more impressive that he even got here and has done as well as he has. He will struggle, he's young, and yes more time in the minors may be needed, but what is he harming right now? Or next year? Or the year after that? That bunt totally took us out of a scoring chance.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 02:39 PM) I agree. I think the worst is likely over. I know I will enjoy watching Moncada and the SP start to develop. This past 3 months, while a bit exciting due to Avi and Davidson and others playing well, was nervewracking. I didn't like the way Q was going. I am very happy that we've gotten good returns for all of our key assets. Now we can enjoy on watching some of these guys grow up in front of our eyes. The worst, most unwatchable baseball overall will probably be the next 3 months. Close your eyes when all but ~3 guys are playing.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 02:29 PM) The excitement of what may be is so much more fun than what is. Isn't that the fun of watching as they make their debuts?

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 01:13 PM) Also, I read that he's kind of a d***. He was thought to be a great guy early in his career but he hasn't handled the last season or two very well.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 11:04 AM) Yeah, I mean there is virtually no one in baseball that it would be wise to hand out a contract of that length for, unless of course you extend a guy in pre-arb or something. The trick with these deals is that you're paying in the latter years money that you spend in the early years to put yourself over the top. Anything you get in the out years is gravy - you need to put yourself over the top in years 1-4 if you're signing a deal like that. You just don't want to sign the guy to 5/$50 million a year to do it, so you spread it out into 10/$300. If you're signing one...be ready to win in years 1-4.

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 10:48 AM) Wouldn't Andrew McCutchen be the ideal sign for us? Shouldn't require a Machado $$$, yet plays CF and I think he plays good/greaat defense (??). He does not play great CF defense. The Pirates tried to move him to a corner OF spot this year because his defense has become a big negative and Marte is a better OF. He also has been very unhappy about moving to a corner OF spot, potentially having it affect his play. I do think CF is a potentially solid place to target FA spending based on our current system, but that isn't McCutchen.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 06:52 AM) But that also means that our minor league system did not work with him enough on it. He is not a player who jumped quickly to the majors like Sale and did not get time to work on fundamentals. I do think that more players in general are arriving in the majors with weaker fundamentals He wasn't "Carson Fulmer" rushed, but he wasn't brought along slowly either. His callup last year wasn't a "He's ready" callup, it was a "We thought Jimmy Rollins at SS was a great idea for winning the AL Central and Oops please come and save our season" callup. He showed at each level he could eventually adapt, but he had so many things to work on - fielding, hitting - that 2 years ago I would have penciled in his ideal callup time as mid-2017.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jul 21, 2017 -> 09:32 AM) I'm just not sure given the huge amount of money/bidding war that it makes the most sense for the Sox to sign any player to a mega deal. We could absolutely hate that contract if the player gets hurt or declines in performance. I'd rather spread the money around to several players who can help the team to win vs. one player who is a $40 million drain hole for the next decade. I'll reevaluate an opinion when we get closer to the mega free agency class. Here's the problem with spreading it around. We have something like 10 starting pitcher candidates, who by 2021 many of them barring injury are going to need stints in the big leagues to see if they're worth anything. We may still add a veteran "hold this together" guy to the rotation, but until some of them flop we have more than enough arms to not need to sign anyone. Now let's go to the lineup. We have guys in the top 100 who play: 2 outfield spots (Rutherford and Jiminez), 2b, Anderson, our most recent draft pick plays 3b as of now (moveable?), and a couple guys who catch. Not all of these guys are going to succeed. One or two may drop out by the time they get to AAA. But a lot of them are going to make the big leagues. Not all of them are going to succeed when they make the big leagues. Someone in there is likely to get 3 years of time in the big league roster and Gordon Beckham this thing. But how are we going to know which one if we don't give them the time to see? Counting positions and temporarily ignoring DH, we've got 1b (maybe filled if someone moves there), CF (maybe filled by someone for defensive purposes), and C (maybe Collins comes around?). In other words...almost all of our positions have a kid who by 2019 or 2020 at the latest there will be taking over. And that isn't counting guys who are here and having decent success now like Garcia, or any 2018 or 2019 first round picks who might come fairly polished if they're out of college. Those kids will not all succeed. You and I both know that. But if you sign someone to block a player, you're either saying you're moving a guy or that you're giving up and trading a guy. For most of these guys, the only way we will know whether or not they will be solid big league players is to bring them up to the big leagues when they are ready. There just aren't a lot of positions right now where we don't have an heir apparent. To me, that means that planning to "Spread the money around" on paper does not work with these Sox. If you're thinking it'd be great to sign a $15 million corner OF, $15 million infielder, and 2 $15 million starters, I'm going to ask where you're putting the guys they're blocking. On paper, I think the "huge splash" makes more sense. Find me a guy who slots into our #3 or #4 slots in the lineup and dominates at a single position, then put the 7 rookies who need playing time around him and see what happens.

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 06:57 PM) Just an aside, I really dislike the Houston Astros right now. They have a b****in' awesome team. They have the prospects to acquire just about anybody in baseball, they've been talked about in just about every major trade, yet they can't pull the trigger. Latest I hear that Sonny Gray is looking towards being the Yankees pick up while the Astros sit on the outside looking at it. Now, Gray isn't the guy i'd want, and I can respect the Astros for keeping their prospects in tact and trying to go for a dynasty route, but man, that team is a few pieces away from being dominant. Think if they had Sale or Quintana right now. Dayumn. I get the local paper and I think they are seriously convincing themselves that "this time" when their starters come back they'll stay healthy for the season and they'll be set.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 20, 2017 -> 03:58 PM) You get to a point where someone is not going to play and their value is going to wilt on the vine. With Moncada, Anderson, and Davidson playing every day, there are limited at bats for both Yolmer and Tyler, so one really needs to either get sent out or moved down so they are playing everyday. I wish they would have kept Moncada down, he wasn't destroying AAA and the team doesn't really need him, no reason to keep that service time clock rolling. Let Yolmer play every day and build value and trade him over the winter. Although I agree Moncada should have stayed down, I have no problem with both Saladino and Sanchez splitting time in the lineup, including 3b and the DH spot and some time backing up SS and 2b (and probably something else when the LF spot opens up in a few weeks). Yolmer currently has a head start but I haven't given up on Saladino yet, let's see what they do over the next 2 months.