Dick Allen

If Longoria was available, there is a far better chance he would wind up with the Cubs. I am sure they would give up some higher rated prospects than the Sox could give up to get him. I see no reason why Tampa would trade him, unless they just want to be like Major League and piss their fanbase off so much they would want them to leave.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 07:07 AM) Can we just stop with all of these BS narratives about choosing the Cubs because of a sales pitch or because they have a "plan"? Nearly $26 million AAV. He chose them because of money, that's how free agency works. There's nothing with admitting that. The end of the deal could get ugly, but until then Lester should be legit. When you potentially have so many cheap, cost-controlled plus bats, it makes it much easier to stomach an overpay for an ace. No, he is loyal to Theo and Jed, and everyone wants to play for Maddon. The extra $20 million and possible 7th year at $15 million is just a coincidence.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 06:34 AM) I know it's a long shot but I would love for the Sox to get back Dustin Ackley in any deal with Seattle. He could be a good left fielder for the Sox, and he wouldn't break the bank. Imagine this line up: Eaton - CF (L) Ramirez - SS Abreu - DH LaRoche - 1B (L) Garcia - RF Gillapse -3B (L) Ackley - LF (L) Flowers - C Johnson - 2B (L) What do you think? If you don't like Viciedo at the plate, why would you like Ackley?

Lester to the Cubs.

Lester to the Cubs.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 12:31 PM) Samardzija is not taking anything less than Homer Bailey's deal which was 6 years $108 million. When it's all said and done it will fall into the 6 year $120 million-ish range. At the moment, that is probably a little light. If he has a 4.25 ERA in May, he may jump at that.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 12:12 PM) Yay he's a starting pitcher that has a pulse! There are A LOT of pitchers who can throw 190 innings if there is no one better to replace them. He's done man, he's a soft tossing lefty without a great breaking pitch. And its a shame because I like Danks and he was on his way to have a good career, but some guys never recover from shoulder surgery and its pretty obvious he hasn't. If some other team wants to pay a decent amount of his contract then we should let them and move on. There were 47 guys who threw more innings than Danks last season. I wouldn't say that's a lot.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 12:03 PM) I appreciated Danks last year in that he was either just atrocious, or he was pretty good. IF you are gonna give up 5 runs, give up 20! He has always kind of been that way. He just has those bad ones a couple more times a season now.

QUOTE (peppers312 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 11:58 AM) i think people really underestimate Danks' value in terms of just pitching. he's an innings eater for sure. we all know he's overpaid, but he's not the first (or last) pitcher to have been overpaid. i still think he has some REAL value whether he pitches for us or for another team. we know what we're going to get with Danks and maybe, just maybe, he can turn it around this season being 2-3 years removed from his arm issue. like Stoney was saying on the Score this morning, if he wins 12 games from the #4 spot that's a PRETTY good thing we have going for us. would we love to unload his contract? sure. do we still need to address LF? yes. but Danks being on the roster is going to kill us. He is overpaid, but one thing people often forget, eventually, just about every player is overpaid.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 11:54 AM) Yeah but he's not even a starter anymore. Not complaing. Shark is the haul here and I love this. You never know with these guys. He strikes out a lot of guys. He probably will never be heard from, but he may be Roberto Hernandez, a guy the Sox got for basically nothing, who was a bust until he was 25 or 26, and became really valuable.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) 23 year old who hasn't pitched in AA yet and started his pro career in 2010? Yeah he's probably a bust. Obviously injuries are a factor but that's good either. Still, worth the lotto ticket. When he signed, he was considered a crown jewel.

QUOTE (onedude @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 11:47 AM) With Pittsburgh rumored interest in Danks earlier, could this be a smoke screen? Possibly Sox throwing it out there as there being more suitors out there wanting John Danks, maybe to get some other teams to possibly bite on some of that bait? I like Danks more than most, but I doubt there is any team claumoring for his services. If he goes, the Sox either ate a lot of money, or took someone another team owed a lot of money and really didn't need or want anymore.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 10:48 AM) I don't think the Sox are sold on Connor as an everyday starter. I think they see value in him but would prefer him in a super utility role. He could probably play OF, 1B, 3B, and even a bit of 2B off the bench if you let him work on it. I am not saying he could play those positions well but could provide a lot of flexibility and you could leverage advantageous matchups. I wonder if Hahn tried to get in on Donaldson when talking with Beane.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 09:30 AM) What is really impressive is that all this happened on freaking Monday! Talk about being confident and approaching the meetings with a damn purpose. Nightengale did say that most of this deal had been done for a week.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:39 AM) They had 21 blown saves in 57 chances. That was bad but it wasn't nearly the worst in the league. In fact, Oakland was worse and made the play in game, yet Billy Beane thinks his roster isn't there and is selling it all off. We also were towards the bottom of the league in going to the bullpen anyway, so "not needing to go to the pen" won't be very different from what we saw last year. Considering that teams often still win a small fraction of the games that they lose due to blown saves, getting to .500 with just improvement in the bullpen would require the White Sox not just to improve the pen to average, it would require them to improve to the best bullpen in the league from one of the worst. Do you think this pen is comparable to Kansas City? Oh, by the way, the White Sox's save percentage last year was 63%. The Yankees, with Robertson and Betances, was 69%. The Yankees were middle of the pack in that number. How many times was there not a save opportunity because of the bullpen? It never hurts strengthening the bullpen. The Royals were 71-1 when leading after 6 innings in 2014. They needed every one of those. I am a bit shocked the Sox went where they did for Robertson, but the guy is good. I was listening in the car last season and Farmio was going on about how Rivera taught Robertson his cutter, and Robertson got to 500 strikeouts faster than Mariano.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:26 AM) Disagree with that. How many blown saves did they have last year? I'm not a fan of the "save" stat but what it says about last year's team is that they lost a lot of games late that they should have won. Robertson and Duke alone will improve this. Now add JS and RV won't need to go to the pen, let alone inferior pen talent as often, and you get to .500. I don't think they are a favorite for a playoff spot yet but they are getting close to competing for it. Plus, when you are playing 40 games or so out of contention and winning isn't the most important thing, the 73 win total may not be the most accurate number as to the talent level. Garcia should be better.

Some have reported if he spends a couple weeks in Charlotte, it means an extra year of control for the White Sox. If that is true, it probably makes little sense he doesn't spend the first couple weeks in Charlotte.

I am thinking the TBD guy is a catcher. If this deal was basically domes days ago like Nightengale reported, it makes sense the Sox claimed Brantly.

Somebody is obviously going to go but Brantly isn't necessarily an upgrade.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) It is possible someone comes in and makes an offer for Smith that seems worthwhile and they take it. But barring that, it is almost assuredly going to be Phegley. First, look at the signals the team has sent. Phegley has been, multiple times now, sent to minor league camp early (spring training), benched for undisclosed behavioral reasons (twice during last season), and the team has multiple times had quotes out in articles talking about his shortcomings. On the other hand with Smith, they haven't said much of anything, but the did invite him to the special pre-spring hitter prospect camp last year, did send him to AFL, and did just add him to the 40. All the signals say they prefer Smith for value. Second, they are actually similar as prospects in many ways. Both are bat-first guys with some power, both are seen as weaker defensively, but both have a strong arm. It's just the "other catching stuff" that is key here, and Smith gets better grades for pitcher handling. Third, simply put, Phegley has had two shots. Smith none. So unless a team offers a significant prospect for Smith, which isn't likely, I am quite confident Phegley is the one who will be gone. Unless Smith is part of a trade, and the other team really likes him.

If Gillaspie didn't hit like he hit the first 3 or 4 months and Beckham didn't start the season injured, Semien would probably be considered a 3B right now. I don't think the White Sox think much of him defensively.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 03:20 PM) People keep claiming that 2B is one that is the least impactful or least important. Why? I'd like to understand the reasoning behind that because I sure don't understand it. And then I'd point out that Robinson Cano signed a 10 year, $240 million deal. I believe the Mariners overpaid, but that was a franchise that surely felt that 2B was not the least important position on the field and they almost clinched a Wild Card spot last year and are in great position to do so this year. IMO, every position is important. 2B happens to be where the Sox have some depth.

QUOTE (bear_brian @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 02:22 PM) Has there be any discussion that we may not actually be the "leader" in all of this, but may actually be behind Boston, who is waiting on a Lester decision? They probably have more tradeable pieces to throw at Beane than we do. I only mention that because it would seem that, if not Boston, what is Beane waiting for?? There is no leader IMO in a trade until the trade happens. Anyone can slide in at the last minute.

Bill James 2015 handbook ranks John Danks the #111 starter. A guy the Sox supposedly need to pay to get rid of at just about any cost. Justin Masterson is ranked #105.

Probably means Phegley is about to go or maybe Nieto.