scenario

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Dec 12, 2009 -> 06:25 PM) I could keep it but he'll probably be in the AL against us and it'd just be weird. suggestions? Never got to switch to ShutUpandDye as I had planned If you want to stick with the cross-gendered theme, you could change your name to 'sexylexi' and put a supermodel's head on a pic of Ramirez.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 12, 2009 -> 02:39 PM) Maybe KW thinks Carrasco is going to regress this season. His performance last season seemed beyond his capabilities IMO. Having said that, I'd love to have Hudson begin the season in AAA starting with Carrasco as our long-man. However, I'd much rather spend my money on a possible dominant setup man in Putz than a long-man in Carrasco, especially when we have a very capable replacement in Hudson waiting in the wings. Everything you said makes sense... but if it was my call, I'd wait until mid-late spring training or so to either cut or move somebody. Somebody strains an arm or elbow in Arizona and we''ll be kicking ourselves for turning what could be a strength into a problem. I just don't see the need for making that decision now.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 12, 2009 -> 02:18 PM) I totally think that's the smartest call, but perhaps Reinsdorf won't let KW carry that extra salary till the end of spring training. Possibly... I just struggle with the logic that we go out and sign a reliever who just missed an entire season due to injury for $3M... But we have to cut a guy who was one of our most valuable relievers last year because he's going to cost us $1M and we need the money.

If it were my money, I'd sign DJ, and make the harder decisions (who stays and who goes in the bullpen) as a result of what we see in spring training. Much smarter IMO to enter spring training dealing from a position of strength in the pen. Especially since we're not dealing with huge numbers salary-wise.

Sounds like a negotiation ploy to me.

Strikeouts are a concern. Other than that, he's progressing through the system very nicely (and quickly). But I'm hoping the team doesn't rush him too fast and screw up his development.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Dec 10, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) Cool, but when it's 6 outfielders from a 6 team league that's not very selective is it? When it's an all-star league in the first place, it still means something to be picked ahead of your peers. Each of the six teams had 6 outfielders on the roster. So getting picked as an outfielder on the all-prospect team means you had to outplay 30 other 'all-stars'. For example... consider the players who weren't selected... Like Andrew Lambo, Dustin Ackley, and quite a few other very good players.

AFL announces All Prospect team Danks was 1 of 6 outfielders selected. The others are Grant Desme (Oakland), Jose Tabata (Pirates), Bryan Petersen (Marlins), Chris Heisey (Reds), and Domonic Brown (Phillies).

QUOTE (Sox72 @ Dec 8, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) Well, I do like him. I think he's a really good player. Maybe I'm viewing it incorrectly, but the headlines about it being a blockbuster are kind of bothering me. Anytime a team deals two players who both made the all-star team in that year, in a single trade, it should be considered a blockbuster. How often do you see deals like that happen?

Good. This oughta get the ball rolling for other deals.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Dec 4, 2009 -> 10:52 AM) How can reporters get away with these types of rumors while places like SoxNet.net get slammed when they have legit inside information and reported the information professionally? I just dont get how a baseball reporter can be given credibility for what they write when they go ahead and report this. To me, it just shows that baseball reporters have a false sense of ego and really dont know much more than the average Soxtalker. Reporters can get away with alot when they quote named sources. Having a named source doesn't make the info more legit... it just reduces the questions/cynicism that naturally arise when someone quotes an unnamed source.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 11:47 PM) Not when you regress the way he did in 2009. Yeah, he regressed all right... all the way back to 10th in the AL in ERA among qualified starters (3.77)... ahead of other slackers like John Lackey, Josh Beckett, and Mark Buehrle. And the only two lefty starters with a better ERA were Sabathia and Lester. It's Thursday afternoon... so I think you qualify as a candidate for B&B's "Who You Crappin'?" bucket-o-suck.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Looking at Fox's career, he really only had two very good partial seasons in the minors, and I see no indication of a guy likely to hit anything like 40 HR. I don't see him being much of a DH, he'd probably be one of the weakest in the league. I know there's not really alot of value in arguing about a 26 year old with a total of 230 MLB at-bats... But Fox has better offensive skills than some people in this thread realize. He has good bad control and not any real obvious holes in his swing. Plus he's one of those guys that can muscle the ball out of the park even when he doesn't hit it well. 3 times in the minors he was having .950 or greater OPS seasons that were cut off by promotions... where, of course, he spent some time adjusting and it affected his overall numbers. He was putting up absolutely freaking Nintendo numbers in AAA before his promotion to the Cubs last year: .409 BA, .495 OBP, and .841 SLG for a ridiculous 1.336 OPS. Small sample size of 164 at-bats but 34 extra-base hits in 164 AB's is pretty impressive nonetheless. That said... I'm not on a bandwagon to acquire him. I just think he's better than some people are suggesting and could be a diamond in the rough pickup for some team.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 10:28 PM) What's the deal with Fox, is he just a butcher in the field? He's a former catcher who's been moved around to different positions over the last 3 years (corner outfield, 1B, and a little 3B). He could probably stick at 1B. But he'd be a subpar corner OF. Sort of limits his options. Solid bat though... and light-tower power. His offense alone makes it worth somebody's time to give him a shot.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 08:40 PM) Sox fans over-value John Danks. He's a decent pitcher. A 24-year old left-handed starter like Danks is a very valuable player. And do you remember last year... 2008... when he was 5th in the AL in ERA? And that the only 4 pitchers ahead of him were Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Dice-K, and Jon Lester? I think that qualifies as a little better than 'decent'.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 08:43 PM) He'd need to be AAA fodder like Restovich or Kroeger. Nah. I think Fox has a good chance of sticking on a major league roster. He's a much better hitter than Restovich or Kroeger. Problem is that he doesn't have a position. But somebody looking for a low cost DH might do real well by acquiring him.

Changing his name from Tiger to Cheetah...

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 09:10 AM) Obvious conditioning issues: He got pulled out/shut down from the AFL after just 4 games. Because of a sore elbow on his throwing arm that they didn't want to aggravate. That's not a conditioning issue.

During the second half, the Sox bullpen was an embarrassment. I'd sign Saito in a heartbeat if the price isn't out of line. Much better to go into the season with greater depth/strength in the bullpen IMO. And I don't think signing him is a big enough cost item to get in the way of addressing our DH/OF needs. So why not? Go git 'em Kenny!

If we acquired Cust, we would probably be buying 2 years of .240 BA, .350 OBP, and 25 homeruns per year from guy who can't field. Salary-wise he'd cost what... about $1.5-$2M per year I think. So... a. Do we want that? b. If so, what are we willing to give up to acquire that level of production? c. Could we do better?

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 10:24 AM) But also while we're at it..........the blogger mentions Jack Cust...what are your thoughts on him A 30 year old DH (can't field to save his life) whose offensive numbers are on the decline... I'll pass. I liked the blogger's analysis of Morel though. Even if he projects to be a league average 3B, that has good potential value... either for the Sox or to trade.

Just to make sure we're keeping the record straight here... He had a total of 57 appearances. After his first 38 appearances (through July 31st), Linebrink had a 2.48 ERA. And the Sox were 26-12 in games that he pitched. After appearance #43, on August 15th, he had a 2.98 ERA. Pull the plug and replace him with a minor leaguer yet? Nyet. It was in late August and September when he fell apart (over his final 14 appearances). Yes, he struggled from then on out, but when a veteran pitcher gets through 75% of his performances in a season with a sub-3.00 ERA, and then starts struggling... it's got to be extremely difficult for a manager/GM to think the pitcher can't turn it around the next time out. So when exactly do you pull the plug and say some minor leaguer with zero MLB experience is a better option?

Interesting to see two sides of the Linebrink vs. other reliever options argument talked out. Honestly... I can't fault the Sox for sticking with Linebrink over someone from the minors. 1. No reliever in the minors was doing well enough to earn an MLB promotion. (As Chisoxfn pointed out the two likely suspects Link and Nunez both were dealing with control issues.) 2. Linebrink's meltdown was progressive. He did relatively well early... and struggled more and more as the season went on. Much tougher to pull the trigger on a vet in that situation, because its so 'easy' to fall into the trap of giving him one more outing to see if he gets back on track. 3. The player who looked the most MLB ready control-wise was Carlos Torres and we see how that played out. 4. They weren't going to call up Hudson and convert him to a reliever mid-season. Basically what we saw was a management team (majors and minors) who felt that what we had in the high minors was not better than what we already had in Chicago. So, we traded for Tony Pena to give us another experienced option and he struggled too. Tough situation... but not one IMO that demonstrates a lack of judgment by WhiteSox management.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 28, 2009 -> 07:26 AM) Theo Epstein would have to enter the witness protection program if he were even to consider this ridiculous trade proposal by Heyman. It's so unbelievably one-sided that you can't even call it an XBOX trade. Bard is better than Jenks RIGHT NOW. Whoa there.... Bard has a cannon for an arm, but so did Ricky Vaughn... who Bard, so far in his career, seems to be emulating. 6.0 BB/9 in the minors?? 4.0 BB/9 this year for Boston? That ain't going to cut it in the majors. Bobby had similar numbers in the past and found he had to 'dial it down' to get his walks down... which is critical for a reliever if he wants to survive in MLB. Don't be surprised if Bard figures out he has to do the same. So can Bard be a very good pitcher? Sure. Could he be successful as a major league closer with his current control issues? Doubtful. So, is he better than Jenks right now? Absolutely not.

I have a hard time seeing him stick on the major league roster. It'll make a heck of a story if he pulls it off. Too bad he's not left handed.