harfman77

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 02:41 PM) Do you think JR asked KW what his plan was? KW is Hahn's boss. I don't find it unusual they talk about what is going on. KW was Hahn's boss when he got the job. Go back to the articles announcing the new arrangement. Hahn knew exactly what he was getting into. Exactly. I just don't understand the KW is dumb, Rick Hahn can do no wrong slant so many take. What is this based on besides nothing? Hahn was trained by JR and KW, the very two people some of Hahn's biggest fans think are total baseball morons. Hahn has been part of the White Sox decision process for years, has had numerous opportunities to jump ship, but didn't. There isn't a GM in baseball that hasn't been overruled a few times by a higher up. That's life. And you probably wouldn't have a problem with Hahn going on some radio show discussing what he has been discussing with other teams. But discuss that with his boss? Oh the humanity. In fact, I'd take it one further, I would bet when KW was the GM, he discussed his conversations with other teams with Rick Hahn, his underling. Sure KW reported to JR when he had Ricks job, but now has to deal with KW and JR. Its not that Hahn can do no wrong, it would just be nice to see what he could do without be saddled with KW and his ego. KW had his run, his legacy is a line of wildly inconsistent rosters, robbing tomorrow to pay for today. When Hahn took over the moves he orchestrated were aimed at building consistency within the organization, but then we saw a flutter of moves that contradicted that strategy so that question becomes is someone else pulling the strings or is Hahn too undisciplined to stick with his own plan? There is no way to know on the outside, but when you see some of the trademarks of KW's administration rearing their head its a natural assumption that KW is still pulling the strings that stand in the way of Hahn's plan. And when you are mixed between two plans, there is no real path to success, the team ends up in purgatory, not good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to add franchising altering talent in the draft and Intl FA.

No the Sox should not have any interest. He is not a long term solution and the cost would not equal the loss in long term value for the franchise.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 11:25 AM) The funny thing is this is demonstrating that this is exactly what Kenny is doing. He isn't saying this is our plan, or my plan. He is asking Rick Hahn for HIS plan. Yes, and then having daily conversations about it instead of letting Rick do the things he needs to do. This situation is unprecedented for a White Sox GM, and similar situations have led to resignations from some other high profile GM's. He is asking for Ricks plan and then discussing it daily, which would mean that he has a lot of feedback to the way that Rick wants to operate.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 07:19 AM) I don't. My gut says they used the prospects to get a reliever because they will use FA to get 2 starters. I thought they would trade Ramirez + big cash for pitching but w Ortiz announcement they can stash him at 1B for a year then move him to DH. I think they go out and get a starter in FA and then add another via trade. Their rotation was all sorts of bad last year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 06:14 AM) Precisely the reason. They gave up a ton of prospects. They aren't going to empty the cupboard. That is exactly Dave Dombrowsk's track record.

KW just needs to go away and let Rick have a chance to steer the ship. The conflicting approaches leave the Sox in purgatory, not enough commitment to either win now or to build up the system from the bottom up. AA left his job in Toronto because he did not want the micromanagement from Shapiro the way that KW is there to manage Hahn. Too many cooks in the kitchen.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 09:13 PM) And it costs the Sox alot of salary. If the Sox are going to spend their limited funds, it won't be on Reyes. The Sox would be fools to take on Reyes and his salary. Thats the negative you take by adding Blackmon.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) the one thing about laroche is Col already stated that they also want to shed salary. if posters still hoping to move laroche, then it is Pitts with Pedro Álvarez coming the other way. Swapping out LaRoche for Reyes saves them a lot of salary. Like $36M over the next two seasons.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 08:58 AM) plus for some unknown reason, they are having a mini fire sale. They are cutting their payroll way down and trying to build up their prospect base for when they move into their new stadium in a couple years, then there plan is to spend a bunch of money to fill in around the prospects they are acquiring so they can compete immediately when they move in there.

I don't think the two teams match up well. The Sox could check in on Betancourt to see if Atlanta has given up on him, other than that they don't have much (now) that would fit this roster and would be worth the cost. I wish the Sox would have gotten involved on Simmons, I feel like they could have matched that return and locked up a good young player for a while.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 06:25 AM) the fascination of getting cargo is beyond me. second, they, Col wants to do a fire sale for prospects, they don't want to trade their prospects. Agree, I think that the Sox could get some of the the Rockies veterans that are owed money and perhaps dump a contract like LaRoche's back to offset some of the the money they would take on. The Rockies have a hole at 1B and could use a guy like LaRoche on a one year deal to platoon with Rosario. A deal for Reyes and Blackmon would make sense to me, then you can either pick up a 3B in FA or stick with Saladino for a while to see if there is any value in upgrading the position and find someone to slide in their over the summer. It would also give the team a lot of roster flexibility and increase the level of the defense, yes at the expense of some power. SS Reyes LF Eaton/Thompson 1B Abreu DH Cabrera RF Garcia/Thompson 3B Saladino CF Blackmon/Thompson 2B Sanchez C Flowers/Brantly No, it is not going to be a team that wins 90 games, but it would be a much more athletic roster and probably a top ten defense in the league, which supports the strength of the current roster.

I think that he ends up with the Cardinals. They are thin with all of the injuries to their SP's and he would likely be in the range that they would be willing to pay.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 07:54 PM) maybe someone with baseball experience can answer this, is there a way to help improve pitch recognition? At bats and video work. Knowing what pitchers like to throw in certain situations and being ready for it when you get it. This is what the knock on a lot of the guys that the Sox have acquired has been Mitchell, Walker, Hawkins, Jacobs, and Garcia, but they haven't shown much in the way of being able to help those players improve that at all.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 02:17 PM) MLB Network PR ‏@MLBNetworkPR 55m55 minutes ago Todd Steverson on Avisail Garcia:"His plate recognition needs to improve..if that improves, we've got a heck of a player." #MLBNow @whitesox That was the case when they got him. And I feel likes it gone more backwards than forwards.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 01:55 PM) I do not want to pay for this dude's career-year he just had for a different team. This. I was all about getting him at the deadline and then trying to lock him up, but, his market went to a place after the deadline that the Sox need to avoid.

Thats not a great scenario. I think the Sox pick up Reyes in a deal with the Rockies for some pitching and include LaRoche to offset some of the money and give Colorado a one year stop gap at 1B. Then they go out and sign a couple OF's in Jackson and Parra and have Melky DH. Saladino can man third base, he is plus defensively there and would allow the Sox to save some money and monitor the trade market for a better alternative than whats available in FA. The defense goes from really terrible to at least middle of the pack. And Reyes probably just got a bit cheaper.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Researching I think it goes by record so the 2 Padre picks would be the only picks before the White Sox I don't think it works that way, I think it goes in order by record but you only get one pick at a time. So the Padres would pick, then each other team with a comp pick would get a selection before the Padres made their second selection. At least that seemed to me the way that it has worked.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) I hope he doesn't take it Are there concerns that he will?

So they got at least their third choice behind Alomar and Acta?

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 11:27 AM) A couple posts have discussed the org seeing the issue as talent acquisition not development. But to me, I have no confidence that the players with plus power in our system can ever be good enough at contact to be starters. And it just seems to keep happening. Really would love if the Zs in arizona can keep it up, but I just feel like its a fat chance (more so than with any prospect being a fat chance) I think it is totally a talent acquisition issue. The Sox FO is enamored of the idea of power (especially RH power) and have prioritized that too much over all else in selecting top tier amateur players. Players like Viciedo, Jacobs, Davidson, Barnum, Hawkins, Adolfo have been high profile acquisitions although their scouting profiles with the bat are similar - huge BP power, a lot of swing and miss, poor pitch recognition, hit tool may not progress enough to let the power come through in games. The team has to change its organization approach to identifying hitters. Get guys that put the ball in play and work on developing power instead of vice versa.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Oct 21, 2015 -> 01:05 PM) I don't know, the Sox are very proud of their medical staff. If they don't sign a compensation tied FA they should have what will come out to be a top 5ish draft pool. I think the only team in front of them with a FA with a QO is the Padres. So if they signed a their 10th pick underslot they could sign a big prospect in the comp round a la Daz Cameron, Sean Manaea, etc. The downside is that players are not taking as large of a discount to sign after having TJS as they did a few years ago. Its tough to see them getting someone at 10 that would take a significant enough discount to make a second top guy possible. If they were top 5 then it would probably work out, but I can't see it given where their pool will be.

I foresee the Sox going strong after pitching as I think they are going to clean out some of their upper level depth to get a bat or two to supplement the ML roster.

If they can move LaRoche, Brown would make a decent buy low DH candidate.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 9, 2015 -> 03:46 PM) Related: Eric Fisher ‏@EricFisherSBJ 1h1 hour ago The qualifying offer for MLB free agents this offseason will be $15.8 million, up from $15.3 million last year Thats great news for the Sox. There were projections earlier in the summer that it would be north of $17M. It lowers the risk of Shark accepting at least.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 02:53 PM) What does that mean? Beck probably can't start. He can't strike out anyone and he hasn't improved much from the get go. If the Sox buy low on a starting pitcher they like Latos/Beachy/Iwakuma/Fister/Kennedy and make him strong again they can A.) fill a hole in the rotation successfully to help compete or B.) flip him at the deadline for prospects. When it comes to spending, I want short term signings with upside. The Sox don't have success doing that with hitters but they've proven to be exceptional on the pitching end. Exploit that. It means lets find out if Beck can start, not every pitcher has to strike a lot of guys out to be productive, if he can't we can move on. The buy low candidates you mention are just as likely to perform worse than a guy like Beck than they are to be more productive. You also have Guerra, Noes,i and Drabek waiting for another turn, give those guys a shot and either find out if they are ever going to be worthwhile again or get rid of them. If they do catch lightning in a bottle with one of those guys it costs them nothing and they have a cost controlled option to augment the rotation or be a trade chip. By the time you run through all of those guys Danish and Montas should be ready. If we are going to be bad, just be bad with what we already have and use the money in amateur free agency.