Dick Allen

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 10:01 AM) So, to summarize: If Davidson is good, we are happy. If Davidson is not good, we are not happy, because someone(we don't know who) would have given up something better for Reed. Yes, because I was responding to the post that said even if he was below average, it was a good trade.

I am still really concerned about the White Sox offense this year. Considering the changes were Garcia for Rios, Eaton for De Aza and Abreu for Konerko, De Aza and Rios were 2 of the more productive hitters last season. The Sox are going to need a lot of guys to improve and Abreu is going to have a lot of pressure to put up big numbers. The schedule is tough early, when Abreu may need some adjustment time, especially if it's cold. I read the Sox scored 2 or less runs in over 50 home games last year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 09:38 AM) Um, we turned a 3rd round draft pick (Addison Reed) into the teams probable future starting 3B for the next 6ish years, at a cost that will probably be around $14 million TOTAL. That is why you don't forfeit draft picks without a damned good reason to do so. This deal is exactly the value play that everyone is talking about. Yet you laugh at anyone calling the Cubs top prospects "a core". Do you know BP ranks 7 Cubs prospects ahead of Davidson? If Davidson is the regular 3rd baseman for 6 years, and performs, it's a good trade. If he is Brent Morel or Josh Fields, 2 guys who at one time were ranked just as high, or in Fields' case, even higher, and Reed is productive, it wasn't a good trade, because you most probably could have received something else for Reed, if indeed, he had to go.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Sergio Santos for Molina was the waste of an asset. Edwin Jackson for Zach Stewart was the waste of an asset, largely. Davidson just has to hit 18-24 homers per season and play slightly above league average defense. How many times have we been over this "closer" issue? Jones, Belisario, Lindstrom, Webb and maybe even Cleto all have the ability stuff-wise to close....as the White Sox have proven since Joe Crede/Uribe left, it's MUCH harder to find a 3B OR to find a leadoff hitter than it is to find short relievers/set-up guys. At some point, you need a reliable, 80-85-90% closer, but it's not the biggest issue facing the club right now. And Reed's never going to be anything special....just that low 80% type of save guy, like Santos was as well. I get a kick out of everyone kicking Reed saying he won't be anything special, but once you start mentioning forfeiting the second round pick, guys like Reed, because he was a 3rd rounder IIRC, suddenly get mentioned as guys you don't want to lose the opportunity to acquire by signing someone their former team feels is worth at least $14 million for a season. The bottom line is if Davidson sucks, the deal wasn't worth it. It is up to him. There is some team out there that would have given up a useful piece for Reed. The White Sox felt Davidson was that piece. If he is a below average 3rd baseman, they aren't going to be happy about it.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 08:31 AM) Matt Davidson could absolutely play in Chicago right now, but Gillaspie has experience and a lot of times guys who play their first full season in the majors come back the next year and perform better. It's worth seeing if Gillaspie improves. However, that's only the surface and the only aspect to which Ventura and Hahn will admit. See, the real reason is that if the Sox wait until June - for Davidson to "work on his fundamentals on defense" (because he couldn't do that at the big league level, obviously) - is that they'll be able to save a year of service time for him. However, if they were to admit that exact thing publicly, the player's union would be on their ass so fast and so hard that they'd probably be forced to give up that year of service time regardless of how long they had him in the minors as they'd be suggesting that he's the best player but they want him to hang around a little longer. And here's the skinny on that trade: Addison Reed is a reliever, one that got touched up quite often over the past two years. He has good stuff, but he's a fairly average closer type, which is to say he'd be a fantastic set up man, but he's still just a reliever. He also only has 4 years of service left before he reaches free agency. Meanwhile, the White Sox will control Matt Davidson - a position player - for 6 full years. If he is even a below average regular at 3B over that time frame, he will have been worth the deal. If he is average or above average, the Sox win that deal in a landslide. So if he is a RH Conor Gillaspie and Reed has a productive career, the deal was worth it? Seems to me it would have been a waste of an asset. As long as the guy is good, years of "control" are nice, but if he isn't so good, who cares? Most of this board is very upset over the years of control the Sox have over Adam Dunn.

From Yahoo Sports: Scout's take – "Teams don't want to draft another Greg Oden. Embiid will be No. 1 if there is no back issue. There is only one player in the draft that's a potential franchise player, and that's Embiid. It's a deep draft. When I say franchise player, there are only eight or 10 of those in the league. Embiid has the potential to be one." Jerry West said this draft was overrated, and it appears this scout agrees.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 06:25 PM) Right. Because Jose Abreu is 27 and they're paying him $10m/yr, which is very much not 32+ and $15-25m like I just said. Yes, but you still said even if he couldn't play, blowing $60 million wasn't a big deal.if Hamilton lives up to half his contract, if you are consistent, it won't be that big of a deal,and worth the gamble signing him.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 06:16 PM) Which is why you don't take massive gambles that have high risks of ruining your franchise for five years. Like paying 32+ year old, injury-prone free agents $15-25m per year because of their successful "track records." Yet in the Jose Abreu thread you said if he were a AAAA hitter, $10 million a year for 6 years, really wasn't a big hit.

Cleto has one of the most unusual career numbers lines you would ever see. In 15 innings he has fanned 26, but he has given up 7 homers and has an ERA over 10.00. Also has an ERA almost 5.00 in the minors.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 23, 2014 -> 11:29 AM) I sense that there are a few regular posters here who are grieving over the release of Boggs, since they were very enthusiastic over his signing. He was terrible, but in the end it didn't cost much more than it costs to gas up JRs jet to see what he had and if the Sox could do anything about it. So I really doubt anyone is grieving except the Boggs family.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 01:40 PM) http://puigdestroyer.bandcamp.com/album/puig-destroyer Actually, this just made me crack up. Track #6..."Stop F---ing Bunting" Quite possibly the worst song I've ever heard in my life. Just thinking about all the arguments about "small ball" and how many outs Guillen gave up bunting at USCF...even Ventura getting criticized for it when it wasn't even a Top 20 issue with everything that went haywire last year. Anyone who criticizes Ventura for bunting has no idea what they are talking about. The White Sox bunted the fewest times in baseball last year and the 3rd fewest for a team in a decade. Back to Puig, he showed up 26 lbs heavier this year and supposedly comes up hurt every time he swings and misses. As long as he is productive it will be OK, but I have a feeling Puig mania isn't going to be very long lasting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 11:01 AM) You can't call it a "core" when none of them have playing a pitch of major league baseball. 25 minutes after you name Abreu as part of the White Sox core.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 10:41 AM) Let's say it's Kolek from Texas. The fact is that we have a lot more leverage to offer him less money than someone like Appel (the situation with the Pirates/Astros). A collegiate junior already has had more wear and tear on his arm, and there's a lot of risk for regression (see Chris Beck, for example). If you go to university/junior college, you're going to have to wait 2-3 more years for that big payday, rather than one. And high school pitchers who are dominant tend to be riskier and peak early (the ones throwing 100 MPH already)...so they're more likely to want to take the money when it's there than bear the risk of a significant injury over the next 2-3 collegiate/jc seasons. You can definitely make an argument that Kolek could be the best player (certainly pitcher) on the board but that he would cost us less to sign than Rodon, Beede, etc. Then, that money saved could be reallocated to the type of kids like Addison Reed, Trayce Thompson, Beck, Jacob May, Danish, etc., that will improve the team's minor league depth tremendously down the line... The 3rd pick of the draft is no place to try to find a bargain. Take the best player. That is what ultimately will make your team better. Not trying to save $250k to give a 3rd rounder. If they think the HS kid is the best player, fine, but the bonus amount shouldn't be the deciding factor or losing 99 games was worse than we thought. If ultimately the 3rd pick doesn't work out, that will be on Hahn, KW and the scouts. There are zero excuses.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 22, 2014 -> 09:33 AM) It will of course depend on how these young guys play this year, but I can tell you the ETA is a LOT closer than the models that the Cubs, Astros, Marlins, etc. have been employing. I mean look at the Cubs: they're on year three and we're arguably just as far along in year one. We have less ammo in the lower minors, but there's no reason to believe we won't continue to acquire it via the draft and international market this season and next. If the Sox and Cubs switched prospects, there is no doubt the Cubs current prospects would be more highly thought of here. I hope Hahn wasn't being serious about taking a lower bonus guy with the 3rd pick just to have additional money for lower picks. The one nice thing you get with being awful is the chance to perhaps draft a future star. If you aren't taking the best player on your board with the 3rd pick of the draft, it makes no sense to me.

It's interesting the Sox are getting raves for their offseason and definitely better than the alternative, but keep in mind, Toronto won the offseason last year. These guys still have to play when it counts.

Keppinger expects to start the season on the DL.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 21, 2014 -> 01:31 AM) To be fair, cell phone coverage is HORRENDOUS is a ballpark named after a cell phone company. It would probably be quicker to check twitter by walking to this new place and check it out versus looking on your phone. Which reminds me...instead of spending the money on this, can we just have money to put in to infrastructure for cell coverage? Considering said cell phone company does not offer service in Chicago anymore, it is not surprising. I was a US Cellular customer and my phone always worked like a champ at USCF, but there where problems with the phones of the people I was with from time to time.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) Probably old since it's ready for opening day but the press release just came out and the first I heard of it. Anyone know what it's taking the place of? They had good beef sandwiches at that booth in 112 nut that's all I can think of. I find it poor location so close to the bullpen bar . It's where those video games were at.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 02:24 PM) He didn't say they don't matter, he just said that focusing on them rather than his overall output is misguided. Strikeouts can be a factor to a low BA which is a factor to a low OBP, so as a diagnostic, they matter. I think Jake is just saying that, at the end of the day, if he would just get on base at a .330+ clip, we don't care if every out he made is a strikeout. Looking at the Ks can be missing the forest for the trees. If you're drilling down to find out what is bad about a guy, strikeouts are important. But if you're deciding whether or not a guy is bad, they aren't. You wouldn't say "he sucks because he strikes out too much," rather, "he sucks because he doesn't get on base enough," and strike outs may or may not be a factor in that. You can put it any way you want to put it, but if a guy has trouble making contact and doesn't get on base very much, pretty much like little league, he sucks. Exceptions are the big power hitters who get on base a lot. There have been several guys you can look away at the k-rate because of the other numbers they put up. But as of now, Tyler Flowers isn't one of these guys and he sucks as a major league hitter and his strikeouts are a problem.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) He played so badly, but focusing on strikeouts is misguided. Just focus on all of the hits he didn't get and walks he didn't take There are no players with BABIP at .000, so excessive strikeouts do matter. An out isn't always just an out, and if Flowers or any other player made more contact, their other offensive numbers should improve.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 08:38 AM) But the caution is who they produced against. A GM will also look at spring stats versus level of competition. If a player is producing mostly against the opponent's AA/A pitchers then the stats are really inflated. Using spring stats to really determine anything but bottom of the roster spot is silly. Even if you are facing Chris Sale and ripping him now, it means zilch. When the games count the best pitchers are a lot different than they are in March.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 08:40 AM) It's been pretty bad, from what I've seen. It really has, but it is hard to determine during spring training games when there is always of mix of regulars and not so regulars on the field. You would think it has to be better than last year. If it isn't, there are going to be a lot of posts wanting the White Sox to lose for draft picks.

Bottom line is this guy isn't a difference maker. Pass. The White Sox need to aim higher.

When Evan Turner got traded, the Philly GM really did drive him to the airport.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 12:52 PM) Odds are he ends up as nothing, or close to it. If The Sox think they have a future starting catcher, they should do what they can to keep him. They have been looking for a starting catcher for years now. Even if poor Tyler has to play 120-130 games this year, big deal. In the grand scheme of things, you are evaluating Flowers as well. If he doesn't have the moxie to be an everyday catcher, it isn't a bad thing to learn that in a year where you have no expectations. It buys you another year to evaluate Nieto and Phegley. It also buys you another year to look for a guy outside of the organization if need be. If the Sox think they have a future starting catcher, they should work out a trade with Washington and put Nieto in AA giving him the best and fastest chance to become the starting catcher. It's not like he would cost their top 5 prospects.