Dick Allen

In Buster's column today, he said an exec. told him to expect Hunter to sign a 6 year $90 million contract with Texas.

Ironically KW and JR wanted to meet with ARod without Boras in 2000 when he initially became a free agent. ARpd and Boras need either the Yankees, Mets or Red Sox bidding away to get the price up. I wouldn't be surprised if Boras is actually behind this. Since he allegedly said the Yankees couldn't talk to him unless they had $350 million on the table, Boras would look defeated if Arod agreed to take $270 million. So this way, everyone wins. ARod gets paid, either by the Yankees or someone else, and Boras doesn't get nearly what he demanded but doesn't look like he caved in.

With Cabrera, I think whether or not you give up a huge package of prospects like the Angels or Dodgers have would be dependent on signing him to an extension. You can have all the prospects you want, chances are most will be busts. Cabrera is no bust. Compare him to White Sox young players. He's younger than Floyd, younger than Fields, 2 months older than Richar, younger than Owens. He's only 2 years older than Danks. Getting him with an extension would be a coup, even if you had to get rid of 3 or 4 prospects.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 10:17 PM) With this many CF's on the market, there's no reason to get desperate. I think there will be a backlash if the White Sox don't pick up a big name this offseason whether its through free agency or trade. KW can talk about 2007 being a fluke, but the White Sox were also below .500 the second half of 2006 mostly because of the same problems they had in 2007. This team needs a couple of major changes or chances are its more of the same and probably even worse in 2008.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 10:11 PM) Or, he finally settled in and has found "it" again. I am so freaking sick of the no pressure excuse for why Vazquez did good last season. Vazquez has been the Sox best pitcher since the final 2 months+ of 06 till now. And last time I checked, the White Sox were still in contention in the final two months of 06. Hell, he pitched one hell of a game @ Boston and owned them (but to bad the offense was pitiful and he got the L). Now, are you telling me there is no pressure at Fenway, let alone when the team is trying to make a push for the playoffs? We will see in 2008. Javy has had good seasons before, and followed them up with not so good seasons. We will see if he's "found it" or if he goes back to the mediocre guy he was the previous 3 seasons. Where was he the first 4 months of 2006? His record was below .500 on a 90 win team, his ERA was higher than the league average. Pretty mediocre. He did well in 2007, but still has to be considered a wild card.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 10:06 PM) Hunter is a money whore. Remember how much he said at the all-star game how great it would be to play in SF in the steps of Willie Mays? Just about every player is. Its amazing how many talk about everything but money, but wind up taking the highest offer. Not that I blame them, I'd probably do the same thing. Its incredible the grief ARod got when he signed with Texas. For $100 million more than anyone else was willing to pony up at the time, I'm pretty sure I would have signed that contract.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 09:59 PM) With seeing all these ridiculous contracts, can I get state that the Chris Young trade really hurt this franchise. I'll shut up now and take the criticism. With what they have to pay Vazquez, that trade is going to wind up costing them over $25 million next year alone. Vazquez had a nice season, but on a team that lost 90 games so it was a waste. If he returns to his previous form, the Sox will have a guy with good "stuff" whose performance is league average or below and a CF that may or may not be as good as Young, and they will make a combined $25 million +. That kind of money saved makes you a player for Johan Santana.

Torii Hunter's quote in a Fort Worth Star Telegram today: While it would seem like a stretch for the Rangers to be able to sign Hunter, don’t wager against it. He certainly hasn’t. “I almost bet you that the Texas Rangers have a better chance than anybody,” he said.

QUOTE(quickman @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) Here is some cold water, Rangers had dinner with Hunter tonight. They have more money, a history of spending the money and he lives in Texas. Lots of math says Hunter goes to Texas, but I am sure KW is counting on making an offer so he can appease sox fans by saying the Sox stepped up. Excluding bringing Konerko back, isn't Albert Belle the last really big name free agent the White Sox signed? I know they signed other free agents, particularly Dye, but weren't they all bargain priced? I don't think KW has ever signed a big time big moneyfree agent from another team. Its why I kind of figure he will wind up trying to get Rowand to accept a lowball offer, because of familiarity. Tom Hicks also doesn't have to pay the Yankees anymore.

Dye is tight with Hunter. While the White Sox couldn't discuss money with Hunter, you know Dye could, and I'm sure KW knew what he's looking for financially when they met Sunday. If there's a bidding war, the price will rise. Hunter seemed to want to take his time, probably so he can play one offer off another. KW probably either wants to sign him fast or move on to plan B. It will be interesting. Personally, I would rather spend the money on Cabrera and trade for Crisp, but do the White Sox have the prospects to get that done? At least for next season, the dollars would be about the same, and there's your LF and CF.

Boras is Andrew Jones' agent.

The Tigers gave Todd Jones $7 million. Wow.

I predict Cedric Benson has a big game today. Laugh at me later.

The knock on Riske the past few years is he gets more than a little tight in pressure situations. If the White Sox would have offered him arbitration, chances are the Royals wouldn't have signed him and lost picks. The White Sox would have had to pay him, and considering they had a bad team, he probably would have been pretty good. I don't think not offering him arb was a bad thing. Who knows, maybe the 16 year old they signed becomes a star, and maybe they don't sign him if they had to pay Riske. If you have a good team, there's a pretty good chance Riske would be mediocre at best. The Indians happily pawned him off on Boston, in fact, insisted on it, and their bullpen was horrible at the time. Boston happily dumped him on the White Sox for Javier Lopez who was in Charlotte. I do agree, they would look like fools if they signed him now, they and any other team trying to win and signs him to a muli-year for good money will look like even bigger fools around May or June, but I don't think there's the slightest possibility of that happening.

The problem is going to be cost. The Phillies just re-sign JC Romero, a guy they picked up last June after Boston released him for 3 years and $12 million. That's $4 million a year, which is more than the White Sox paid their entire bullpen in 2007, and its for a guy who you may not even want 1 month into next season. Prices are only going higher.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 01:33 PM) I have no problem with...and in fact based on the contracts we handed out and their performances last year I think we have little choice but to start the bullpen with: Jenks Wasserman Logan Thor MMac Whether we like the last 2 or not, they're under contract. And whether we think the middle 2 are adequate or not, they did their jobs last year. But, either way...that's only a 5 man pen. And our other options are guys who failed last year; Aardsma, Masset, etc. For this to be even a complete bullpen, we're missing at least 1 more right handed arm. And it's possible we'll need to find 2 of them. Of course, Floyd or Masset could wind up there by default if the team doesn't want to lose them, but even with a long guy out there, I can't see how we can get around needing to add 1 more righty setup man. Thornton has only been good 1 year. He has control issues. Maybe he's good in 2008, maybe he's bad. Logan should only face lefties MacDougal can't throw strikes. Keep him if you can't get anything for him and see what he does in the spring, but counting on him for big things would be foolish. Wasserman may be alright, he also may have an ERA around 6.00. A decent extra guy, certainly not someone you want to pencil in for 70 appearances. You could just leave the bullpen alone and hope for the best, and also hope that guys like Aaardsma, Masset, and even Sisco perform how you expected them to in 2007. The problem is, if that blows up in your face, JR would have to take out the axe. If KW makes moves and brings in guys who have a history of being good relievers, if they don't work out, he won't get blamed. You can't get rid of everybody, but 2 new guys would be nice, guys that throw strikes, and then hope one or two of the 2007 flops become serviceable, and the bullpen can be decent again. Its been beyond awful the last 2 seasons. Obviously, there is a lot of time to get things done. I think the organization would be making a huge mistake if they expect bounce-back seasons from too many guys. The team has been bad now for a season and a half. People remember 90 wins in 2006, which I suppose if you don't mind 3rd place, is nice. The other part of that was the White Sox were below .500 the second half of 2006. I don't know how long losing continues before you conclude its not a fluke.

If Keith Law says he stinks, he must stink. Its amazing the White Sox ever won with some of the worst players to ever wear major league uniforms. Crede can't get on base, but Fields who strikes out at least twice as much and has a lower OBP is going to be a star. If OBP is the end all why are the White Sox going to throw all that money at Torii Hunter? Crede hit over .280 with 30 homers and 100 rbi and Keith Law says he's awful. Keith Law gets paid to say that. Sign me up.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) LOL, if they'd take Crede as opposed to Fields...I think they could hold a bake sale for the fans and come up with enough money to cover Crede's salary. According to Forbes, Loria made $53 million in Marlin profit last season. If they locked the gates and let no fans in, they would make money, that's how sad it is. Their revenue sharing check is bigger than their payroll. Basically the Yankees pay the Marlins more than the Marlins pay their employees including players.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 12:42 PM) Well, those were his first 53 games. Not a great stat to show considering his regression the next full season. Aren't you basing your love for Richar, Owens and to a certain extent Fields on about the same timeframe?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 12:38 PM) The biggest loss is defense of course. Fields may eventually be an average defensive 3B, but probably no better than that. Crede has been well above that for some time. Offensively, Fields will probably have a much better career than Crede. Probably, not definitely. Its possible that Joe had "figured it out" in 2006, and 2007 was an injury-riddled aberration, and that his back is now 100% or close to it. Not likely, though. That's what I'm getting at. He was hitting over .300 and his OBP and OPS lost a lot in September of 2006 when his back started really bothering him again. If he's healthy and the hitter he was the first 5 months of 2006, Boras will get him huge money next winter.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 12:28 PM) Don't even bother, some people just can not be swayed no matter how much evidence you throw at them. If you use minor league numbers to project OBP, I would imagine Crede had superior numbers as far as OBP goes in the minors. To say that if Crede is totally healthy, you are not losing anything if Fields performs exactly as he did in 2007 is silly.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 10:03 AM) Because he's worth more as a 3B. If they are dangling him as trade bait for Cabrera, they better have him penciled in as only a 3B. What? Saying he is a 3rd baseman, not a 3rd baseman who could also play LF makes him more valuable? You do know every team has scouting reports on Fields and doesn't get all their information on him from Kenny Williams don't you? Its not like he's losing valuable time playing LF this winter instead of 3B considering there are no games.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 09:18 AM) Unless, maybe, he's trying to market Fields for trading, as a 3B. He may be thinking in terms of trading Crede OR Fields, and the market needs 3B's, not LF's. I'm sure every team that needs a thirdbaseman is aware Fields is a 3rd baseman. He is horrible in the OF and the team isn't even having him work on it in the winter.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 09:23 AM) I HIGHLY doubt it. Crede will have to have the best year of his career (~.900 OPS) in order to finish as a type A free agent and bring in 2 picks. There's a possibility that he finishes as a type B and brings in 1 pick though I doubt he will. Crede had a career year in 2006 and was garbage in 2007 he barely finished as a type B player, he was a few points away from nothingness. With 2007 counting towards his ranking after this year he's probably going to have to have a better season in 2008 than he had in 2006 in order to bring the Sox even 1 pick. Garland is also a type B guy. It surprised me, but anyone holding out hope for a couple of nice picks for him.................its also tough deciding what you want to do because without him a couple of miracles have to occur for the pitching staff to be good enough to win. I wish KW would just be honest with himself and rebuild. He still could do it and have a team that was better than 2007's.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 08:57 AM) Yeah right. He is trying to drive up the demand for both Josh and Crede. Wouldn't saying Fields in LF and Crede at 3rd is a viable option rather than saying we have 2 thirdbasemen and Fields might have to go back to the minors drive up demand a little more? KW has said nothing about Fields in LF. They scrapped plans to have him work on it during the winter. He's not going to play LF anymore unless perhaps in a pinch.