Dick Allen

Another thing I read about the waiver claim period is an injury wouldn't void out anything. In other words, if Rios tore up his knee playing today and needed surgery and would miss the rest of this season and most of next, the claiming team is still on the clock.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 06:11 AM) Ding Ding Ding! We have a winna!!! Here is what i think happened. KW knows he needs to find a true CF (im sure he's tired of all the CF criticism.) He looks at the Free Agent market and doesn't really see a true CF that would help our team. KW woke up one morning saw that Detroit claimed Rios. He said "I dont think so. . we need a CF!" So KW claimed Rios. This solves our defensive CF issue for 5+ years. We have potentially 40 million off the books after this season. So most of that 40 million would be going to arbitration players such as Q and Danks as well as newcomers Rios and Peavy. But it could definitley work and i expect a deal to get done by tuesday. We would still have enough money to bring in Figgins or even re-sign Pods. You don't get to see what other teams have claimed.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 02:27 AM) He CAN'T say anything about it. Do people expect him to just say "yeah I'm goin after Rios, just got off the phone with JP." I understand that, but the quote implies that when the media says its most likely the White Sox, they are usually wrong. Of course his other quote in that story was that it was very unusual to get a good player for nothing, and we know he thinks Rios is a good player, so ...........

Maybe it isn't the White Sox: KW on whitesox.com "You know how many times we've been sitting here and we [hear], 'Most likely it's the White Sox. They are going to do this, they are going to do that, the White Sox are involved in trade discussions with this guy, that guy,'" said Williams, holding court with the media prior to Saturday night's game against Cleveland. "And I'm sitting at home and I call [assistant general manager] Rick [Hahn] and I say, 'Hey, have you had conversations with team so and so? No, I haven't, so let's call [White Sox chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] to see if he had any.'"

QUOTE (3E8 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:58 PM) I don't believe Rios' contract needs to be "dumped". Vernon Wells' contract would qualify, but Rios is in his prime, an excellent defensive outfielder, and a good offensive player as well who just happens to be having some bad BABIP luck this year. Rios is still owed a lot of money, but the contract is fair. The only thing working against Ricciardi is the financial stability of other teams potentially prohibiting his potential trade partners Its fair this year when he makes $6 million, but if he continues to perform like he has this year and last, the $12 million a year he's going to average the next 5 years is excessive. When you can get guys like Abreu for 1 year $5 million in today's world, $60 million owed to Alex Rios is too much, unless he starts playing to his potential.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:40 PM) The Jays have the choice to negotiate a deal with only 1 team right now, or spend ~$2M more and keep Rios until the offseason and negotiate a deal with any team interested And if they wait and Rios doesn't play much better, they either will have to take back a lot of money or eat some of the contract. They dumped Rolen's contract, if they dump this one, Ricciardi is going to be looking a lot better to his superiors.

QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:36 PM) Imagine the fanbase reaction to letting go of Rios for nothing.... That's a good question. Fans in Toronto have seemed pretty indifferent for a while now, but if you could sell it as helping the team in the long run, I don't think there would be much damage. I think most fans know his contract if he continues to play like he has for a couple of seasons, isn't ideal.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:34 PM) I just can't imagine how they could turn down this chance to dump him. Not after all we heard about them trying to cut salary in the Halladeal. You would think that, but perhaps they would think the dumping of Rios for nothing but salary relief would be detrimental to their team moving forward. If they were in such dire straights, Halladay would have been dealt. On the other side, maybe losing Rios and freeing up the money eventually leads to re-signing Halladay.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:23 PM) Oh, he should absolutely try to get something out of it. He'd be a bad GM if he didn't. If I'm an owner who wants to dump payroll and Ricciardi's my GM, I would've been pretty pissed about him not moving Halladay at the deadline. If somebody put in a claim for an overpaid $60 million player on my books, I *demand* that Ricciardi let him go by the Tuesday deadline, and I fire him if he doesn't. I would think the Blue Jays owners are aware of the situation and have either told Ricciardi he had to get rid of the contract or to keep it if there is no package of decent players coming back.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:24 PM) Forgive my ignorance. Why was Torres pitching from the stretch with nobody on base? I hate when starters do that. Poreda was doing it when he was called up. I was thinking it might be a Charlotte pitching coaches thing. Some guys get discombobulated in a wind up.

Pavano twirled a gem against DET, 7 innings no runs. Its 11-0 Min. in the 8th.

Its amazing what a bad pitcher can do to make things better in a hurry.

I love Okha.

Was that on the concourse?

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:45 PM) he looked pretty good against detroit last time i saw him pitch He's a former Charlotte Knights pitcher. I expect some runs.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:42 PM) At least we get to see Ramon Castro play tomorrow! I keep expecting him to crush the ball, but his results have been incredibly disappointing. Mets fans used to love him. He's having no success with the bat which is surprising. The only thing he's hitting are the groupies in the viagra triangle.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:41 PM) Damn you, DA. Damn you to hell. He has modeled a few uniforms. I do agree, for a leftu who is now 34 who throws pretty hard, you would think he would have had more of a shot at the major league level, and he probably wouldn't be a bad LOOGY, but that's not the role he's ever been given. Okha in. Here's the Sox chance.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:35 PM) I'm suprised Williams never caught on with a team, with the stuff he has. Yes, its shocking.

I hope KW is claiming relievers on waivers.

When you put the Charlotte Knights pitching staff on the mound, the results aren't what you are looking for, unless you are jockeying for decent draft position.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:12 PM) Can't fall too far behind, as Masterson isn't likely to give up many homers. The good news is Masterson isn't going very long tonight. I heard 65 pitches. They are building him up.

Rookie spot starters in pennant races usually isn't a good idea. At least the Sox are still in the game.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 04:14 PM) http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_leagu...?urn=mlb,181651 Would KW dare go after Josh Hamilton??? It's the kind of medium-risk, high-reward move he loves (I say medium risk because we'd STILL have to give up something very decent like Hudson or Flowers in return to get Josh Hamilton, IMO) I would be surprised he takes on that amount of long-term risk (if Alex Rios doesn't perform again at 800 OPS levels) versus taking a much smaller contract risk on someone like Rick Ankiel...on a two year contract. Acquiring Josh Hamilton is just asking for trouble. Kudos to him for changing his life around (hopefully), but he's a guy whose career is on the line every morning, afternoon and night.

QUOTE (SockMe @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 12:03 PM) does anyone know for sure if we got him. Buster Olney said that it was speculation that the Sox claimed him. Probably won't hear much until Tuesday. I'm sure if the Sox claimed him Ricciardi is acting like he'll pull him back if the Sox really want him, in an effort to get something via trade. Tuesday is the day he has to s*** or get off the pot, so if KW doesn't offer anything, that's the day the Blue Jays have to decide if they wouldn't mind just ridding themselves of the contract. Of course this could all be wrong, and the White Sox may not be the team that claimed him.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 11:54 AM) The Sox aren't going to take a chance on this type of contract because they are blocking the Tigers. Heck, the Tigers really don't have room to add this type of contract so if the Sox put in a waiver request, as has been reported, they've clearly decided that he'd fit in perfectly on this team next year and the next couple of years. And if you think about it, he's a younger version of Figgins that plays plus defense out in CF (not as good of a base-stealer as Figgins but he has more pop) and if the Sox were to go after Figgins this off-season it will probably cost a signficant chunk of money (you also have to contend with other teams) and you'll be losing a draft pick. This makes sense if the Sox had initially intended on Figgins. You get Rios, whose a quality player that would be unique to the Sox (they don't have many guys like Rios) and I think he'll really help this team. I've really liked Figgins in the past, but I'd be afraid to give him a big deal this coming offseason. Getting older, coming off a big contract year. A lot of injuries. I think some team may give him a ton of money and by 2011 will regret it.