balfanman

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 6, 2012 -> 07:40 AM) He is tolerated on his team not likable in any stretch of the imagination. The only reason he will give the sox a discount is because he knows he will be tolerated here. I think he is gone unless he cannot get interest from another team or he gives the Sox a deep discount. PTATC; as others here have expressed I really appreciated your knowledge of injuries, rehab, etc. You seem to have some inside knowledge of players as well and I'm just wondering if you actually treat Sox players in your practice, or do you have friends within the Sox organization who share with you some of the personalities involved.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 5, 2012 -> 12:04 PM) Orlando Cabrera Ah yes, thank you. I had forgotten about him.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 5, 2012 -> 11:55 AM) I suppose this will be reminiscent of how we traded Jon Garland for an infielder who played a key role for a bit. Okay, now you got my mind working (my boss has been trying to for years now), who did we trade Garland for again?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 5, 2012 -> 07:42 AM) DKnobler ‏@DKnobler While some White Sox people insist Youkilis won't be back, a few rival teams aren't convinced and think they'll sign him. The more I think about this situation, I think that I'd rather let AJP walk and bring Youkilis back at 3b.

QUOTE (GoGoSox2k2 @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 11:13 AM) very few/if any rumors involving the White Sox.. what is Mr. Rick Hahn up to (hopefully closing in on a 3rd baseman) Maybe Mr. Hahn is going to demonstrate to Mr. Williams what stealth really is. We won't even realize a move has been made until 5 days after it happens!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 09:20 AM) I don't buy that. AJ doesn't make out the line up card. If they wanted him to rest more, he would rest more, especially at his advancing age. I think it is a budget thing as well as trying to project AJ's performance moving forward, and they feel, although I disagree, they have a capable replacement in house. Part of it could be that AJP is such a huge pain in the b*** on the bench that Robin prefers him out on the field. This could be a good way to ease Flowers into more of a full time role in 2014 though and to see if he would hit more consistantly with more playing time. AJP however, sounds like the type that would never go for this unless he knew that his health is giving out and age is catching (pun intended) up to him.

One of the many reasons that I do not believe that AJP will be brought back is the need to diminish his workload. AJP would almost surely balk at this notion, but for the betterment of the club it would almost have to be somewhere around a 100 - 60 game split over the 140 - 20 game split we've seen in the past. Even if AJP still feels he can catch every game I want someone else out there who is better defensively and at throwing. JMHO.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 4, 2012 -> 07:55 AM) Keep Quintana as far away from the WBC as possible, he doesn't need those innings. Good to see Peavy & Sale off the roster. I despise the WBC, especially for any of our pitchers. Now if Verlander, Sherzer, Masterson, etc. want to participate, more power to them!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2012 -> 08:07 AM) 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. I do realize that Youkilis is a risk, but unless Hahn comes up with a better idea what else can we do?

QUOTE (floridafan @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 05:27 PM) Hey! I would push Grabe, lol! He is good for better than .245 and an OPS of .718! By the time Youk is done, he will be ready! Resign Youk and push Grabe as far as he will go. He thrives in adversity and rises to the competition. I belive the organization likes what they have seen so far, and he will be better by ST. He is a bit short (5'11" and 195) but is very strong and has played the position his entire life other than opportunities at Shortstop and a very limited time at 2B. He probably has played less than 30 games his entire life at 2B. Mostly 3B and Short. Funny he was drafted as a 2B! But he projects there as well. He should show significantly more power next season, and maybe eventually find his way to Birmingham. Crossing my fingers on that one. Heck! We all have our favorite players here we want to push, my favorite just happens to be my son! LOL! 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.

QUOTE Barring a last-minute trade that did not appear likely or other reversal, the Mets plan to non-tender three players by the Friday night deadline -- right-handers Mike Pelfrey and Manny Acosta and center fielder Andres Torres, according to major league sources. A centerfielder whos last name begins with T. He's as good as ours!

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Nov 16, 2012 -> 12:33 AM) Hahn has made no secret of the White Sox desire to bring back free agent Kevin Youkilis to anchor third base. Youkilis was popular within the organization during his 80-game stint with the White Sox -- for everything from his ability to get on base to his penchant for big hits to his clubhouse presence. So which is it? I've heard here at Soxtalk that Youkilis was not popular in the clubhouse. Are there any documented reports that he wasn't liked, or is this just speculation?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 8, 2012 -> 09:50 AM) Michael Young is owed $16 million next year, is bad defensively, and his OPS was .014 higher than Beckham's. Other than that, he's a great idea . Oh...............Nevermind.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2012 -> 07:51 AM) Michael Young is probably someone who the Sox could get on a stop gap. He would probably come with a chunk of salary paid, and no obligation past 2013. How long has it been since Young has played 3rd base? Would a trade for Young / or Beltre happen for say Rios and various parts? They are losing Hamilton right? So many questions but inquiring minds want to know.

Here's another thought that I have. Keep in mind that I am one who has only actually been to 2 Sox games over the last couple of seasons, and have been able to watch only about 2-3 more on T.V. in that time. I do listen to most every game on radio however, so most of my information comes from Ed Farmer & Darrin Jackson (I do realize that they are somewhat biased). Listening to Ed & D.J., I have thought that Gordon Beckham was a G. G. calibur 2nd baseman with pretty good range. It does seem however, that most on this site do not believe that Beckham has very good range. It then seems to me that it might be best to move him back to 3rd base and try to find another 2nd basemen. I know that this subject has been broached before and I think that the main arguement against it was that we don't want to mess with his mind any further with another position change. Well, this would not be a totally new position to him and you are going to mess his mind up from what exactly? It is all ready messed up offensively. I believe that Beckham had most of his success in the Majors while playing 3rd base so who knows, the move might help him to "find himself" at the plate.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 7, 2012 -> 12:42 PM) You forgot to math or what year it was, cuz 2008 and 2 years is, like, 2010 or something. But seriously, Cristian Guzman? Where in the hell did that come from? Juan Uribe and Alex Gonzalez? If you are going to do that, atleast name guys that are good offensively. This is why I'm asking for help here. I do not pay much attention to other teams, particularly in the other league, nor do I pretend to be an "expert" as some others do. I thought that these guys were still playing, but I'm not sure on that, or to what level. I just thought that some others on this site might have a "think outside the box" solution to the 3rd base situation. "Good offensively" is also somewhat subjective, especially in this case. Are we looking for something good compared to the rest of baseball? That would be pretty expensive in both dollars and talent. Or are we looking for something good compared to our 3rd base situation over the last few seasons? If the latter is the case then this player only needs to be better than Brent Morel, Orlando Hudson, Rey Olmedo, and a broken down Kevin Youkilis. Heck, I'd settle for the return of Mark Teahen.

Since a decent 3rd baseman seems so hard to come by, I'm thinking that we may have to think outside the box a little and go the route of a converted retread. I mean like a player who can no longer play shortstop very well, but could still hit a little bit. We did this with Juan Uribe a few years back and while not ideal, it was a better solution than what we have now. I've been trying to think who this could be but I'm sure I could use the help of others who know the rest of the league better than I do. Most of the names that I have come up with I'm not even sure where they are at right now, or if they can still play, or hit at all. Juan Uribe Christian Guzman Alex Gonzales Rafael Furcal Jayson Nix ??? I'm sure that some of these names are laughable, but I have no idea where they are at. Maybe find a shortstop off of the minor league free agent list who is blocked by someone on the major league team. Just trying top come up with ideas.

Another way to look at this is that since Baltimores' rotation was bad their relievers had to pitch more innings (per pitcher). I don't have the stats but the Sox relievers may have pitched as many innings, but used more pitchers to spread the workload. If Baltimores' pen was used often, and were pretty good, they more than likely used the same pitchers over and over again. I said all of that to say that maybe their bullpen arms were overused last year and will not be as effective next year because of this.

"We will absolutely listen on any ideas and trades will be one of the avenues we pursue to potentially fill some of our holes.” I would think that a team that is desperate enough to call the Sox to give up a quality 3rd baseman for pitching would have to view themselves as a contender next season if they find this pitching. Other than the $$$ factor (I realize that this is a big factor) that would leave San Diego out IMO. So who else out there might be viable trade partners? Yankees? Texas? Baltimore? Reds?

Hallelujah!

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 1, 2012 -> 02:38 PM) First of all, Dunn's style is what it is. It isn't changing at this point in his career. Secondly, there's no evidence to suggest that if he could change his style, that the immense reduction in his slugging percentage would be made up for by a massive increase in batting average/on base percentage. The Sox got Dunn to be left-handed power. He isn't the Dunn he used to be, but even what he is now would be very difficult to replace and he's probably the second least likely starter to be gone after Paulie. I can appreciate this and Jim Thome probably felt the same way. I guess I'm saying then that Dunn cannot be the best hitter on your team, much less bat in the 3 hole, with this approach to hitting. IMO, while I don't hate him either, he is not near the top of my list of who I would like to see at the plate with the game on the line. I could like an Adam Dunn say in the 5 or 6 hole with a legit 3 hole hitter on the team. To this end, would the Sox of had a better overall offense last year with Dunn hitting 5th and Rios hitting 3rd? I guess that this would assume that Konerko actually stayed healthy.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Nov 1, 2012 -> 02:17 PM) I'm with Greg on this. I don't hate Dunn, I'm glad he had a massive comeback, and he seems like an ok guy. I just hate that style of play. I used to say the same thing about Thome and I'd get eviscerated here but there it is. If he's back, fine. If he's not, I won't be sad about it. This is one point that I have to agree with Greg on as well. I posted about this before, but I cannot imagine that the 1 or 2 homeruns that they would lose by going the other way now and then makes up for the number of singles or doubles that he would get by hiting to the other side once in a while. I remember several hard hit outs that Dunn had this year, right to a defender in the shift. Heck, Dunn isn't that slow, not Thome slow anyway, he could even have several bunt singles as well. To me, you have to keep the defense honest. Hitting strictly for bombs is not being a total team player in my book.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 31, 2012 -> 04:23 PM) It is more uncertain that we could find replacements for those big $ players' production (Dunn, Rios, Alexei) than the uncertainty about whether they'll be as good next year. Especially in the case of Dunn, it is not a stretch to say that he could do better next year. Same with Alexei, though last year turned out not to be a huge departure from his past like it felt it was at first. And no, I don't want Dan Haren and his aching back. We have enough aging injury risks for one staff. With the uncertainty surrounding a bullpen on any yearly basis, I'm not eager to gut it for very marginal cost cutting either. You can hope Jones can match Crain, or you can have both and have very good odds that at least one of them will hold things down late in games. Same with Veal, Thornton on the left side. I agree with this post. Sometimes you have to be careful about what you're asking for.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Oct 31, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) 3B Free agent list is super thin. I dont want any of these bums. Miguel Cairo (39) Eric Chavez (35) Mark DeRosa (38) Alberto Gonzalez (30) Orlando Hudson (35) Brandon Inge (36) Maicer Izturis (32) Adam Kennedy (37) Jeff Keppinger (33) Jose Lopez (29) Casey McGehee (30) Placido Polanco (37) Scott Rolen (38) Drew Sutton (30) Ty Wigginton (35) Kevin Youkilis (34)Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013...YyvrzzKYs5By.99 Don't know much about any of these guys now, but Polanco used to be pretty good. Does anyone know if he still has anything left? Could he be a legit contact hitter and bat 2nd anymore?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2012 -> 11:39 PM) Would the Cubs want him? That Wrigley Field is still kinda tiny and he proved he can play first base OK. And then Rizzo plays where exactly?