harfman77

The two players most likely to be dealt are Quentin and Danks. Both have good value now and you need to trade Quentin while things are clicking. Philly, SF, Sea and maybe even Pitt would have interest in Quetin. Danks would draw interest from Colorado, NYY, Washington and StL. Buerhle would also be tradable but with his $15M price tag for next season it could lessen the return you get. In any trade made the Sox need to get back their future lead-off man so that they can let Pierre walk at the end of the season.

QUOTE (scotty22hotty @ Nov 24, 2010 -> 10:37 AM) If that's the attitude, then shouldn't KW be fired ASAP? Because basically looking back over the last two season, hes the reason the Sox wouldn't be competitive... Is there a better time to rebuild? With AJ and PK's contracts coming off the books frees up some money but also leaves some pretty big holes in the lineup that will be really tough to fill with budget. KW was building the team to compete last year and fell short. If anyone hit in the first half and Peavy doesnt get hurt, this was probably a playoff team. Now its time to turn the page and look toward next year. Is this team going to be good enough to win the central with the Twins coming back pretty much intact and the Tigers taking it up a notch? I think KW if hes honest has to answer that question no, but as we have seen in the past KW always thinks he has a chance to win. I am not defending what KF has done, I understand his thinking process, I just dont necessarily agree with it.

RH Matt Thornton? I'll take him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2010 -> 09:07 AM) I disagree. I think a lot of teams manage to contend by hanging on to some constant level of turnover while still holding on to a select group of key guys. Go through the list of teams that stayed competitive for multiple years; most of them have huge turnovers and still stay in there. The 2007 Red Sox looked very little like the 2004 Red Sox, save for Ortiz and Manroid. The 2006 Twins and 2010 Twins have Mauer and Morneau, but the pieces around them are pretty different. The 2008 and 2010 Rays made the playoffs with almost completely different starting rotations. You can win by having constant, "Rebuilding" level turnover, if the couple key guys you have, who are on big salary contracts or who you need to produce big numbers, do so. For the Sox, right now, the key guy there is Peavy. The thing with those teams are that they were built from the ground up. Mauer was a #1 pick, the Twins have competed by growing their own talent on the farm, having excellent minor league scouting (Nathan, Liriano, Santana) and then sprinkling in other pieces like Pavano, Capps, and Young. The Rays pretty much grew their entire roster from the farm system, while they changed over most of their rotation, they did so with pieces from their own system Price, Shields, Davis, Hellickson, etc. Carlos Pena was brought in on the cheap as a reclamation project, as was most of their bullpen, but the key cogs all came from the organization. The Red Sox produced Varitek, Ellsbury, Papelbon, Lester, Youk, Pedroia, used Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez to get Beckett, used other pieces to acquire VMart and added in Papi. The key to being able to have the turnover that these organizations have had is the ability to replace the pieces you lose internally or having the pieces to go get someone to fill a gap. The Sox dont have the depth in the farm to do the same thing, that is why if you are not contend now, you build that depth and use the money saved from handing out contracts to sign amateur talent. Then when that depth starts to mature to the major league level you fill in any gaps through free agency or via trade.

I agree with KW for once. If you are not going to be competitive next season, sell off the veterans with value and start rebuilding to contend, being half way between contending and rebuilding has no benefit. If KW cant sign/acquire the players that are going to put this team into contention, tear this thing down and start rebuilding. The only problem I have with that is that the Sox minor league scouts have not shown to have a great track record of evaluating talent.

I think offering AJ arb would have been a good move, there is a 50/50 chance he declines because he wants more than one year of security, and if he accepts at least you have a known quantity behind the plate. AJ was not good in the first half but was one of the better hitting catchers in the AL in the second half. He plays good defense behind the plate, though he does not have a good arm to throw out runners. The question becomes now, who do you have to overpay to get a replacement? The Nationals have Jesus Flores back and he may be an option depending how he does this winter in Venezuela, other than that the trade market is pretty thin, and the fact that we are talking about Miguel Olivio means the FA market is even thinner.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 10:55 AM) Yeah, I love Floyd but I don't think there's any way you could turn that down. You have Ianetta for 2 seasons (and perhaps 3 if he doesn't turn down his option in 2013) and Stewart is under control for like 4-5 years, plus you end up freeing anywhere from $6-8 million. I'd also assume you could play Stewart anywhere from 3B to 1B to RF, depending on who or what the Sox want to do. I think a more realistic package would be something like Fowler, Ianetta, and maybe a bullpen arm for Floyd and a couple B level spects.

I would do a Quentin for Ibanez deal and take the full salary if they threw in Jonathan Singleton. Singleton could be a piece that could be used to get Upton or held to take over at 1B in a couple years. Ibanez would do just fine as a full time DH and be a big upgrade over Kotsay.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) Adam Laroche just cleared waivers, what are we waiting for? Link: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/08/adam...rs-waivers.html You would think if KW had any interest at all he would have put a claim in on him. Otherwise why risk Minny or TB putting a claim in? It seems like he has his heart set on getting Manny when he is placed on waivers.

When Nick Johnson finishes his rehab he will be heading for waivers or to be DFA'ed. Manny wont probably be placed on waivers for another couple weeks while the NL West picture shapes up a little more clearly. Lyle Overbay will be available and is someone the Jays may give away. Mike Lowell will be given away to anyone who will take on his salary. Russell Branyan, Travis Hafner, and Hideki Matsui could all likely be had as well. Other than Hafner, they all make sense in some way.

With the Yanks getting Berkman, takes a big player out of Dunn conversation, TB doesnt feel the incentive to grab Dunn to block him from the Yanks. TB could be in the market for a RF.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 04:55 PM) Or KW isn't willing to take Berkman's contract at his production. I wouldn't either as he hasn't been fantastic for awhile. Or pick up the option for next season that Berkman may require to waive his NTC.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 06:43 AM) He is a 26 year old who couldn't make the Royals. Its about all you really need to know. There is not a lot of shame in being stuck behind Billy Butler.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 04:30 PM) Miguel Tejada has been scratched from his game, where did he go? Never mind, teams mentioned aren't the Sox, I'll put in MLB catch-all Giants ?

It doesnt look like Lilly will be a Type A free agent at the end of the year anyway so arbitration is probably moot.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 04:21 PM) Why wouldn't KW just DFA Kotsay after a Berkman pickup? That would make no sense at all, Kotsay would finally be in a role that he is best suited for, LH pinch hitter.

Not sure that Morel makes sense for the Houston with Wallace and Johnson manning the CI positions unless they see him as a fit at 2B. Houston needs pitching so maybe a package of Santeliz and Holmberg for Berkman and $2M to pay his buy-out at the end of the season.

The team is going to need pitching next year, I am not sure on the timeline on Peavy's recovery but I would think it will be a while before he can start throwing again and it is conceivable he may miss the first part of the season getting back in shape and rehabbing. So getting Lilly now and taking a chance on offering arb offers vrey low risk, if he accepts you have a fairly servicable 4, if he declines you get to take that money and roll into into drafting quality players in the draft and do with some combination of Hudson, Sale, maybe Garcia or whoever KW can pull off on the cheap.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 12:54 PM) The O's would have to like Dayan as they'll have openings at both 1b and 3b, with Wigginton and Tejada both FA's after 2010. Scott is arb. eligible through 2012, and Kenny has liked him since he was with Houston in 07. If the sox could get both Guthrie and Scott, for Dayan +, [wihtout giving up Hudson, maybe Teahen would be a fit], I'd be down with that. The O's also have Bell, Moore, Snyder, Aubrey, and Hughes to fill those spots next year and they are at a point where they need to see what they have in those guys, especially in the case of Bell and Snyder. I would think they would look to continue stockpiling young pitching to fill out the rotation and bullpen eventually.

Overbay and Scott could be fits, especially since Overbay is in the last year of his deal. I think the target could have been Guthrie though who is supposedly very available and there have been rumors of KW eyeing him in the past and would be a solid 4/5 for the team this year and next.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) Mine: Pierre Omar/Ramirez Rios Dunn Konerko Quentin AJ Ramirez/Teahen Beckham

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 12:42 PM) I think you guys are overlooking the bolded part above. Unless the scouts name is Kelly Linebrink, who the hell in their right mind would like this guy?? I think that a move back to the NL would serve Linebrink better than staying in the AL. Pitching at Citi field or whatever it is called is a lot different than pitching in the Cell and his arm is well rested for the stretch run. The scouts may take those factors into account or may think that he needs a change of venue or confidence boost to be successful. It may be that is not the case, but when looking for overpaid and underperforming relievers that have had previous success it is hard to look past Liney. I think Jenks still has too much value to this team to be considered especially if you are only really clearing salary in return.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) (Small note...baseball has no salary cap. And I believe the Sox already have an open 40 man spot...and they could come up with another one by moving Peavy to the 60 day DL.). Sorry, salary relief, the sport has no cap but the team definitely has a cap on the amount that it can spend. The concept if the same even though I mis-spoke or mis-typed I guess.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 10:06 AM) Why give our players away for nothing? Doesn't seem like we have to move anyone unless it benefits us as well as the otehr team Salary cap relief is a benefit to this team, it helps when forming the team next season and opens a spot on the 40 man roster which can be useful once the non-waiver deadline passes.

I would take a chance on him if the Cubs released him or if they paid all of his salary, but he is such a head case that he would be on a real short leash. Maybe he could DH for the Sox if all else fails...