Balta1701

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 04:20 PM) You could recoup it next off-season by offering Upton a QO I'd absolutely do a 1 year deal for him.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:37 PM) How much was invested in Turner? And how many starts has Turner made in the bigs? Fine if he's an option, but he should just be one of multiple options, and hopefully he's not the best fallback option you've got or you've fallen short imo. He's making $1.5 million. That's literally the exact same amount the Dodgers signed Beachy for - except it's non-guaranteed for Beachy (with options). Given $1.5 million to play with, the White Sox signed Turner and the Dodgers signed Beachy,.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:32 PM) We have 3 proven starters (counting Rodon as a proven starter), then the rest is a big question mark in terms of what kind of production we'll see. My point is if you are going for it with the infield upgrades and possibly OF upgrades as well, you better have dependable starting pitching. Not sure we are there in terms of quality depth yet, and I believe a proven starting RHP would go a long way to stabilizing the rotation. That's an awful lot of money to invest in Turner if they don't have him somewhere on the list. So like it or not from our perspective, they've at least got him somewehere in the answer to your question.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:22 PM) Then they shouldn't sign it. Then one of the other options, Fowler, or someone like that, needs to be brought in instead, or Fulmer/Anderson traded for an OF. This roster can't go into 2016 with an OF of Melky, Eaton, Garcia.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:18 PM) We're all doomed This post is nothing but trolling.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:16 PM) I still disagree that the previous moves committ the sox to this. They traded for a 3B to hold the spot until their next prospect (Trey M.) should be ready. He is a stop gap but a good one. So he's going to contribute to a competitive roster in 2018 and be close to a ROY candidate? He won't need a year or two at any level to develop? You can plan this setup so well that you're willing to risk Chris Sale walking without a playoff appearance on Trey M's development at 3b? Sign the stupid OF. We already committed to it. I don't like it, I still think we're a 4th place team, but we're at least better with one of those last 2 OFs.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 6, 2016 -> 02:06 PM) I don't trust Cespedes to be anywhere near last season, and a 4/5 year commitment at his price will be a huge hit to our payroll. I dont think adding just one of Cespedes/Upton/Gordon is enough to truly compete anyways so signing up for that big of a commitment is extremely risky. You're gambling quite a bit there and I, personally, just don't like those odds. I'd rather play conservatively with solid but not stellar moves that wouldn't kill our future resources, try to take advantage of Sale/Abreu by bringing in depth around them. We already committed ourselves to the "risky compete next year move" when we traded for a 3b who is a FA in 2 seasons. Next offseason's FA class is weak enough that we can't solve the current problems next season as easily as we can right now and we have no choice but to put a roster out there all-in by the end of 2017. Plus it's not like we're waiting on the arrival of franchise-reshaping talent from the minors in 2017.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:39 AM) How many 3 WAR SS's are in the game today? Last year? 4. Russell just on the outside at 2.9.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 05:36 AM) Poor Olt. Before Frazier, he arguably had one last chance at a starting job in the big leagues. Olt put up a .793 OPS at a 26 year old last year in Iowa and a sub .600 OPS in another short stint in the bigs. Unfortunately, you're correct, he did have a chance, but like every other player he has to hit his way to the big leagues and he hasn't done so. But, as long as he doesn't retire, he continues to have the same chance "hit and earn the job".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 12:34 PM) Danks FIP has gone down each year since returning from injury, and since returning from injury he has been in a major league rotation to take the ball every five days. Even after the surgery, Danks has pitched more innings than Happ in each of the last three seasons. Overall we are talking about 87 innings more, or about 5 starts per year more. ANd Danks's xFIP has gone up every year since his injury. Also worth noting - JA Happ only pitched 92 innings in 2013, because he got hit in the head by a line drive and suffered a skull fracture. So unless "avoiding head impacts" is a skill you'd like to explain why Danks has that Happ does not, I think we can call a portion of that innings difference "bad luck".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) Unless you look at consistency as being important at the end of your rotation. So John Danks is a consistent 4.6 xFIP and Happ is consistently better. Like seriously, I ahve no idea what that statement could mean. Danks is actually getting gradually worse if you look at those numbers, he's just getting back to more innings.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 11:58 AM) Looking closer 2.4 of that WAR was directly from his Pirates time. If you look more closely, out of the last 4 seasons, he's had an xFIP between 3.9 and 4.0 in 2 of those years, 2013 he was substantially higher, 2015 was 3.65 - so even with some minor league stints, you can make a decent case that you have a guy who can put up an xFIP near 4, that includes time in Torotno. Danks, OTOH, since his injury, 4.08, 4.62, 4.65. He's got to perform a lot better next year in order to convince anyone that he can put up anything like the outings Happ has done. The one thing Happ hasn't done that Danks has doen in that stretch is get up to 190 innings. So maybe you expect Danks to give a few more starts than Happ if you're signing him, but you can't convince me he's either flipping an on switch or getting better based on his numbers. As of right now, Danks is a couple steps below Happ no matter which year you look at.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 11:38 AM) Wow, I hadn't compared their numbers before, but Danks last three years aren't that far off of what Happ has typically done. Maybe Danks isn't as overpaid as we all thought. fWAR total over the last 3 years: Happ: 5.3 Danks: 2.5 Danks could well have it in him to put together a 3 WAR season again at some point and make himself look like Happ, but let's not go crazy here. Over the last 3 years, Happ's FIP is about 4, Danks's is about 4.5.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 3, 2016 -> 11:18 PM) I'd feel better about eight years of Hillary if I felt she had some concrete positive plans to offer. Maybe no president will ever be able to work with Congress again, but I just see Hilly's eight years as a continuation of the stalemate of getting nothing of consequence done. It would be nice if she could reverse the trend and put some money in the pockets of the middle class. There are a lot of people who work hard in this country and still can't afford good living conditions and decent health care. I feel like we should give Trump a shot. We can always vote him out in four years if he blows. Because if there's one phrase that describes deporting mexicans and banning religions, it's "concrete, positive plans."

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 10:55 AM) I think a 3 yr deal at a higher AAV with a 4th year option is ideal for the Sox If the White Sox are trying to "Backload" a deal to take advantage of Danks and LaRoche expiring without blowing up their 2016 payroll, then a higher AAV is something they can't do.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 2, 2016 -> 12:00 PM) There are a lot of total assholes in the HOF. Bonds was IMO a HOF worthy player before it became obvious he was juicing. I am sure there are guys in that have juiced, and have cheated many different ways. With the PED guys I was always no to getting in, but on a couple they seem to have been declared guilty with the evidence being stats and/or body. Harold Baines had some big years in his late 30s. Was he juicing? Tim Raines used cocaine when he played, even the documentary said he occasional kept a vial in his uniform pocket. Is he more innocent than a Bagwell or Piazza? It looks like Piazza has a shot this year, but by numbers alone, he should have been first ballot. No failed test, just a report about zits on his back. I always ask this one. Where is your evidence that Barry Bonds's first use of steroids was in 1998? Isn't that just as anecdotal as everything else? Barry Bonds was clearly an athletic freak in the 1980s and 1990s, but there are plenty of steroids that don't make you explode into the muscle-bound freak he became. There's a supposed quote from him while having dinner with Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998 where he says he's going to "start using some hard-core stuff", why is "well he's clearly experienced with softer-core stuff" not an entirely plausible conclusion? It's not like steroids weren't available to guys in high school and college in the 1980s and it's not like every steroid slows you down and takes away athletic ability in exchange for strength. If I put out a book saying he was juicing in the mid 80s, doesn't that have exactly as much credibility as saying he was HOF worthy before he was juicing?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 10:25 AM) Personnel issues. Bad OL. Lack of skill players. Thompson's drafts haven't been as good and they never supplement the roster with free agents even though they have $$. Aren't they now suddenly paying Rodgers fairly? That's gotta hurt. They added Peppers last year as their big FA, they extended Jordy Nelson for fair money in 2014, Clay Matthews isn't cheap, that's a tough criticism to give them IMO. As one of their fans I wouldn't be able to complain about them keeping those guys - 90% of the teams in the league would love to have the problem that is 'Rodgers's cap hit", the issue is the draft, if they aren't getting hits to plug in alongside those guys that's where they lose their depth.

This is among the worst things I've ever seen from a politician not named Donald Trump. Carly Fiorina went went to Stanford. This is offensive to almost everything I care about and respect.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 06:27 PM) Couldn't this exact same phrase have been said after Adam Dunn's 2011 season? His tenure with the Sox after that wasn't perfect, but it was leaps and bounds better than 2011. I don't think LaRoche will be any different. The worst case scenario for him next season IMO is .210 or so with 15 homers. One big difference? Adam Dunn was 32. Adam LaRoche was 36. It's much harder to believe that a 31 year old hit the wall than a 36 year old hit the wall. It does happen to 31 year olds, but it happens to a lot more 36 year olds.

My God...it's a fresh thread. I...I don't know what to do. It's so clean in here.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 05:46 PM) Wonder if the Sox are in better position now to go for Upton. Offer him a 5 year deal averaging say 23 million a year, with opt-outs after the 3rd/4th/5th years. Would fit the Sox 2-3 year window and allow Upton to re-enter free agency as early as age 31 I believe. I don't know if anyone has pointed this out, but if the White Sox need to "backload" a deal to take advantage of the ending of LaRoche and Danks's contracts after 2016, that makes offering an "opt out" basically worthless because the player would have given up a huge amount of money by backloading it.

If I had to guess? One of them will have a startlingly good year and one of them will have a terrible year, to the point where 29 other teams say "thank goodness we didn't sign him". I have no idea which will be which.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 07:10 PM) Lol...I saw this post coming a mile away. Unfortunately, you can't be objective with former roiders, so I'm not even going to waste my time. Regardless, I'm confident he will put numbers closer to his 2011 & 2014 seasons than his 2015 season next year. Guys have flukey months and if you watched him hit in May it wasn't the same Melky we've seen im recent years. So you've just literally said you expect Melky to perform like he did in a year when he was almost certainly roiding, 2011 with KC, then he got caught after it got him another year to stay in baseball rather than being cast back to the minors like he otherwise would have been. I'd say that by giving the "month by month" i was being as objective as possible. Ignoring the fact that he was only an above average hitter for 1 "clean" season, his 2014 contract year, and ignoring the fact that he was only an above average hitter for 1 month last year and ignoring all the other months...well that's the way we treat Melky. It's ok if he's weak to terrible for 5 months, but one great month, that's all we ask for, for some reason. That's objective! Excluding the brief stint he had in 2005, his OPS in his career until the moment the braves gave up on him and non-tendered him, his entire pre-steroid career, his OPS was .709. His 2015 OPS was .709.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 05:42 PM) If Melky put up his second half numbers throughout the whole season, I'd be extremely satisfied. It's about what I expected from him. Worth noting how much you're doing the same thing I would be if I said how terrible he was in May - selectively including 1 month. OPS+ by month: Apr: 78 May: 48 June: 100 July: 185 Aug: 107 Sept: 88 On the whole season, his spectacular July balances out his terrible May, leaving him as an "average" hitter with a 100 OPS. That would be bad for a DH, it's weak for a corner OF, and if you throw in poor defense, well there you go.

Extremely disappointed to learn that the Washington Post has terminated the contract of Harold Myerson, one of the only liberal columnists with a wide reach, right in the middle of New Year's Eve celebrations when no one would notice. Damn Liberal-less liberal media.