scenario

Anybody hear any other sources confirming it yet?

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 08:29 PM) There is a distinct difference between declaring as a minor league free agent (6 years) vs. eligibility for the Rule 5 draft (4 years for the sake of simplicity)... Based on that, I doubt Bourgeois is eligible for the Rule 5. In my take, he was simply a minor league free agent who chose to sign with the White Sox. I will close by saying I don't know for sure, but it makes sense to me. Thanks for your input. What you're saying makes sense, and I hope that's the case.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) What is too much money? If Williams feels he is able sign Linebrink and still be able to make the moves he feels are needed(I beleive that is the case) is it really too much money? While there were many holes, the pen arguably was the biggest last season, and Linebrink should be a welcome addition. Amen to that. Well said Tony.

I like it. 4 years - $19M is not out of line for a quality set-up guy. I'm impressed with the aggressiveness KW is showing so far.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 05:58 PM) This was posted TODAY from Roto. I saw that but it doesn't appear in any of the baseball transactions logs, which led me to think it was a mistake. And in light of the comment from Chris Kline, if we did sign Bourgeois and didn't put him on the 40-man, he would be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. So... something needs to get cleared up. If Kline is right about the rule... and we did sign JB, I'm assuming we would have protected him.

Hmmm.... Good point on JB. I can't find it anywhere either. All I found regarding a one year contract was the one he signed last year. However, I did find this piece of info on the Baseball America website. (I'd put a link, but the article is in the members section. For anybody interested in reading the entire thing, see Chris Kline's 'Winter Notebook' on November 9th.) "After toiling in the minors for eight seasons, the window of opportunity might finally be opening for White Sox second baseman/outfielder Jason Bourgeois... Currently a free agent again and also playing for Mochis in Mexico, the White Sox will need to make a decision to put him on the 40-man roster later this month. If they don't protect him on the 40-man, they could re-sign Bourgeois, which would leave him unprotected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft." What it seems to suggest is that he is probably still a free-agent, because if we had signed him and didn't put him on the 40-man roster, he would be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. (Anybody feel free to correct this if you have better or more updated info.) Is it possible that: ('a) we haven't signed him yet? ('b) we have a handshake agreement with him to not sign with someone else before the draft?, and ('c) that we'll sign him afterwards?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 03:15 PM) So are the Sox done for this offseason? /jumps out the window. No... they just had to submit a roster to MLB showing who they were going to protect from the Rule 5 draft. So, of course, you fill up all your spots. (And if you don't have enough spots, you move people, like Pods, to create openings for players you want to keep rather than expose to the draft.) But that doesn't stop them from making moves. If they sign Torii Hunter for example, they would probably release someone like Andy Gonzalez who is unlikely to be picked up by another team, and then resign him after he clears.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 02:58 PM) His 2007 bat and the complete lack of catchers in the system. Well... let's hope it doesn't take him 2 years in AA to hit well enough to earn a promotion to Charlotte. BTW - in his last year of college at Kansas... his offensive line - .260/.299/.630. And that was a full season.

A couple of other little interesting notes on Cole Armstrong... We actually got him in the Rule 5 Draft (minor league phase) from the Braves. His real first name in Melville. Cole is his middle name. And a couple of not so interesting facts... He's spent the last two years at Winston-Salem In 5 minor league seasons his offensive numbers: .255 BA / .320 OBP / .713 OPS. Whoa.... what in hell earned him a spot on the 40-man roster???

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 10:53 AM) I was actually wondering if, after a disappointing AFL, maybe they decided to just give up on Lucy and release him. I think he's got more value than that, but, they may disagree. Nah. You're talking about our WhiteSox... a team so short on minor league catching we kept Wiki Gonzalez and Gustavo Molina on our AAA roster. And besides, Lucy went to Stanford, so no way KW approves a release.

There must be something cookin' here... a possible deal to move a catcher maybe. Because it makes no sense to protect a 4th catcher and leave a promising relief pitcher exposed when... - You you have two major league catchers on the roster - Your #1 guy just signed an extension - And your team has a desperate need for relief pitching. They would save $1M by moving Toby Hall and letting Lucy/Armstrong duke it out for the backup job. Is this a foreshadowing of a move to free up more money to sign Torii Hunter?

So... we added Cole Armstrong to the 40-man, and we're leaving Fernando Hernandez exposed to the Rule 5 Draft? Seems like a total waste of time sending Hernandez to the Arizona Fall League then. What am I missing here?

Am I missing something? We added Cole Armstrong to the 40-man roster... and we left Fernando Hernandez unprotected for the Rule 5 Draft?? You've GOT to be kidding me!!! See the article below... and compare it to today's decisions. -------------------------------------------- Protect or get exposed By Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune, 11/19/07; 4:55 p.m. Tuesday marks the deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters. What may seem like a simple procedure is actually one of the most important days for a team, considering that two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana and former Toronto slugger George Bell were Rule 5 picks because their previous teams failed to protect them on the 40-man roster. For the Sox, pitchers Jack Egbert, Adam Russell and Fernando Hernandez must be placed on the 40-man roster or risk being lost in the Rule 5 draft. Catcher Cole Armstrong, infielder Robert Valido and Wes Whisler also are eligible, but there's little chance another team would select them for the $50,000 Rule 5 draft price and keep them on the major league roster for an entire year.

There really is no correlation between where players stand as serious prospects and their performance in the AFL. Alot of 'top prospects' sucked in the AFL this year. Take a look at Baseball America's top 20 prospects playing in the AFL and then look at their performances. Some did well. Some were horrible. So, I'm not sure that teams place that much importance on the players AFL stats.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 07:07 PM) Christ... you're certainly on a roll today. Pedroia, seriously? The same Pedroia who at 21 was already at AAA (Getz is already 24 and hasn't tasted Charlotte)? The same Pedroia whose minor league OPS is over .140 points better than Getz'? That's a brutal comp. Dig more into the details... I don't think the comparison is that bad. Pedroia Getz Pedroia and Getz are almost exactly the same age (both 24 in August). Pedroia started his pro career in 2004. Getz started one year later (2005). Pedroia and Getz each had one 'bad' year in the minors after promotions that had them skip an entire level. Getz jumped from Kannapolis (low-A) to Birmingham (AA) in 2006 and sucked hitting .256. Pedroia jumped from advanced-A to AAA in 2005 and sucked batting .255. (The difference is that in Getz's suck year he had over 500 at-bats while Pedroia's had only 200.) So the 3-year average minor league OPS difference is misleading. Take away the at-bats difference in their 'suck year' and their batting averages and OBP are actually very close. Look at their most recent minor league years for example: - Pedroia at AAA in 2006 - .305/384/.807 - Getz at AA in 2007 - .299/.382/.763 in an injury shortened year (about 1/2 a year; and he was playing much better than this before he got hurt in June)* *How Getz started the year before getting injured... April 2007 - .292/.406/.855 May 2007 - .348/.416/.807 The Point... - I'm not holding out hope that Getz steps up and wins ROY next year or anything like that... - But I don't think the comparison between them is bad... and it's definitely not 'brutal'.

Another point many people miss about Gio's year... He didn't just lead the Southern League in strikeouts... He led ALL of minor league baseball (all teams at all levels) in strikeouts.

Here's a description of Getz from MiLB.com in Spring 2006 where they were recapping the 2005 draft after players' first year in the minors... "Getz represents a new kind of player coming in via the draft, guys who can fill super-utility roles right off the bat. One of the best pure hitters in the draft, Getz spent most of last summer with Kannapolis, where he hit .304 and drew 35 walks vs. only 10 strikeouts. Mostly a second baseman at Michigan, Getz can also play short, third, even center field, where he can use his plus speed to be a Chone Figgins type. If he doesn't end up being an everyday player at one spot, he could be a guy who gets 450 ABs moving around the field."

QUOTE(Ozzie Ball @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 11:05 PM) I was always under the impression that Carter was a defensive liability and more of a DH in the making. Phil Rogers wrote an article at the end of last year ('06) suggesting, as a 3B, Carter was a liability and the Sox planned to move him to 1B. And there was also some worry that he may struggle there too because he lacked 'soft hands'. However, I saw an article at the end of this year quoting one of the the Kannapolis coaches saying Carter made good strides in adjusting to 1B and that his defense had improved significantly. Not gold glove material, but not exactly a ham-handed hack either. (Can't find the source right now, but I'm pretty sure it was an article on milb.com)

Interesting show. Good job.

Thanks for the heads up!

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Nov 6, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) As far as I know, Kevin Towers is not brain damaged. Ahhh.... I see. Mark Prior is a much better option. Thanks.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Nov 6, 2007 -> 11:49 AM) Just to focus on Wilson for a second. I would say he's an upgrade over Uribe. If he can be had in exchange for some non essential pieces, it's worth it. They have the money and the extra $1.5M in 2008 plus the 2009 guaranteed+buyout won't hamstring them. Actually I think we match up better with what San Diego needs. Pittsburg is undoubtably going to want prospects. The San Diego Union-Tribune had an article this week that says the Pads are looking to add two starting pitchers in the offseason, and that they're looking for a young CF... they're even eyeing Felix Pie of the Cubs. (And pitching-wise they're considering taking a flyer on Mark Prior.) So why not offer a Contreras + Brian Anderson package to open discussions and see what happens?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 6, 2007 -> 10:57 AM) Holy crap, I just looked, and he's actually right. Greene's OPS last year was .759, and his career best is .795. Wilson put up a .790 last year, and has a career high of .794. Greene has kept his above .700 most years, and yeah there's the Petco difference, but yowza. Greene did put up a .841 away from Petco last year, which is something, but the quesiton is how much you trust home/away splits to determine what a guy will do when you move him. Here's another interesting comparison... Wilson's career splits for home/away are... BA/OPB/OPS - Home .281/.324/.707 BA/OPB/OPS - Away .256/.300/.671 Greene's career splits... BA/OPB/OPS - Home .228/.288/.659 BA/OPB/OPS - Away .280/.335/.849 Uribe's career splits... BA/OPB/OPS - Home .273/.315/.804 BA/OPB/OPS - Away .235/.275/.641

QUOTE(daa84 @ Nov 6, 2007 -> 09:31 AM) since petco is such a difficult HR park, it usually means lots of doubles...im surprised his away doubles are higher than home...but then again the NL west has a few parks that are similar...lots of big gaps in the NL west That would seem to make sense... but it's not what happened. He averaged a double every 10-15 at bats in the NL West away parks. (3 in 42 at Coors; 3 in 31 at Dodgers Stadium; 3 in 39 at AT&T; 2 in 36 at Chase Field). But he hit 3 in 13 at bats at Safeco; 3 in 12 at Tropicana; 3 in 13 at Great American; 3 in 14 at Shea Stadium. So he actually hit more doubles per at bat outside the NL West, not in it.