harfman77

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) I don't understand your position. You say ARods contract is an albatross, yet the Yankees spent half a billion this offseason on free agents. You say Fielder had an awful contract, yet Dombrowski was able to move it. If you are making a point that taking on these contracts will keep you from doing anything else, (and Santana or Jimenez aren't exactly at ARod or Prince's price level) I think you are using some really bad examples. If anything, they go totally against your point. The Yankees were trying to stay under the luxury tax, something that they could not do and compete thanks to the crazy contracts they gave out. Of course the Yankees can afford to spend whatever, there are reports that YES nets them more than $100M/season, plus they sold 49% of the network to NewsCorp in 2012 for ~$1.5B and another $1B this year for another 31%. Obviously money is not an issue for them, they could pay 10 teams at the luxury tax level, but they have no chance at competing if they are going to stay under the threshold.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 09:24 PM) If Gatewood is there, holy s*** take him. Taking him is easy, signing him isn't. If you grab Gatewood in the second, you are going to grab a guy in the first that will sign for a decent amount under slot to free up money for Gatewood. I too am all for taking Gatewood if he is there, but I think it is moot as he wont make it that far. With the Tulo comp, someone will grab him.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) It's AL, so we get priority, right? He hasn't done well in the Majors at all, as we know, but he did destroy the minors. Championship for Charlotte, worst case! Pass, the 40 man is pretty crowded, the only real candidate to be outrighted is Molina, and I would rather wait for something better than Hendriks to fill that spot. I think there will some more interesting names to take a chance after some of the other FA's sign.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) On the flipside, a friend of mine bought his son a used car 20 months before his 16th birthday and it's running 6 years later. The problem with that analogy is that he would have had his lease expire when he turned 17.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 01:23 PM) A problem is they are going to have to trade a core piece in an attempt to get better. Santana replaces Quintana in that instance. Why does Santana replace him? Why not Beck, Surkamp, Rienzo or Danish when they are each are capable of putting up just as good of numbers that Santana would for $50M less? What position do they need to trade for to improve? We have a surplus in the IF and 2/3 OF positions occupied. Are you moving Q to get a C? Use the money that you would spend on Santana and plug holes with that money don't trade a cheap good player and replace him with an expensive bad player to try to make the team better.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 12:48 PM) Ellsbury and Pedroia were both available to the White Sox during the draft. The Sox selected Lance Broadway instead of Ellsbury and paid more money to Broadway than Boston paid Ellsbury. The Sox also selected guys like Wes Whisler and Donny Lucy and paid them bigger bonuses than Boston paid Pedroia. It wasn't overspending. It was better scouting and development. Yes, this was pre-slot when players would adjust their signing price based on the team they were negotiating with and thus were able to select the team that picked them instead of vice versa. There still is some of that today, but the slotting system helps to get rid of most of those situations.

I think there is just a big disconnect between fans like Marty who want to spend money on any free agent they feel can help now, much in the way the organization did under KW and the direction the franchise is headed. We have seen teams like the Jays try to spend themselves into contention only to see it backfire, the Yankees have depleted their minor league system by signing other teams comp players and have little to no help on the way to help their overpriced aging roster. The old ways are dying and its time to embrace the change. Santana isn't worth the talent you would have to give up for him, let alone the >$12M contract it will take to sign him. Looking at the last four Sox second round picks - Tyler Danish, Chris Beck, Erik Johnson, and Jake Petrika, I wouldn't trade any of them for Ervin Santana and 4/$52M deal. This roster can be at least semi-competitive now, I think they are headed for a winning record, and they could possibly be a team that could make a run if everything clicks. But also Hahn is building this system so that when people hit free agency, we have internal options to replace them, have the chips to go out and fill gaps when the team needs and extra push to reach the playoffs. The new approach allows the team to remain consistently competitive instead of going all in every few years to make a push. The Cardinals are never all in, because they are in every year. They are able to move their players that are getting expensive or let them walk because they can back fill with internal options. They also have the payroll flexibility to go get a guy when it makes a lot of sense for them. Someone like Santana is not a difference maker, he is a mid-rotation guy, the kind of guy you can sign any season in FA, no reason for him to block someone like Paulino (who very well could be better) or Johnson (ditto) from getting innings.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Feb 18, 2014 -> 04:01 PM) Im going to throw out a random early draft prediction. Max Pentecost is going to be a top 5 pick. I dont know much about Pentecost, how does he compare to Zunino out of Florida a couple years ago?

DeAza to Mariners for Smoak Smoak to Pirates for Luis Heredia or Kingham or something else

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 18, 2014 -> 12:50 PM) You're thinking about the "3 person on the side overshift". That's only the farthest extreme of what this type of data is referring to. This is talking about moving a player a couple feet to the side rather than across the entire field, I believe. Ahh... Thanks.

QUOTE (vegandork @ Feb 16, 2014 -> 12:58 PM) They've also moved away from big deals. One has to wonder what's the plan for when Lester leaves. They're going to be in the market for a sixth starter anyway. They'd probably pay a heavy price for a young, controllable guy like Quintana. They've got Henry Owens ready to step in sometime this summer and Workman and Allen Webster probably ready to go now if they have an injury. They were said to be looking to deal two SP's at the winter meetings so that they could get one of Webster or Workman into the rotation. Their rotation will be fine if Lester chases a big contract, and they would have no interest in giving anything of value up for Q until they know what they have in their own prospects.

I would say this is because there are not many other players in the division that you would perform a shift against, perhaps Prince, but not really anyone else I can think of. And the Sox have Dunn, which means teams are shifting at least four times a game against us.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 06:08 PM) I agree with the benefits, just thought he profiled well to closing and that they'd be handling him in the same way as Reed, who flew through the system in a way that a starting experiment perhaps would not allow. The issue is there is not a lot of opportunity to fly through the system with the pitching depth at the upper levels.

I could see a three way deal where De Aza goes to the Marniners and Smoak is moved to a third team, like the Marlins or Pirates, and the Sox get a prospect back.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 12:33 PM) De Aza has enough value to be traded for something semi decent now. Keppinger and Gillaspie need to be sent packing for whatever the Sox can get. Neither one is starting caliber and will never bring back anything more than a marginal prospect, especially with the money that is tied to Keppinger. When you are playing for the future more than the present, it makes little sense to get rid of assets and their lowest possible value. Kepp's value really only has one way to go, Gillaspie is talented enough to be a regular, not an all-star or anything, but somebody who can man the position and not hurt the team. He will have value to someone when their starting 3B doesn't pan out. De Aza's biggest negative is his makeup right now, his head just wasn't there defensively or on the basepaths last season, and until he can prove that was a fluke, your are not getting his true value in a trade. If its not a fluke, it doesn't really affect his value as that is the image scouts already have of him. I am all for moving De Aza in the right package, I just dont see a team out there with a big enough need to give up what he is worth. Once the season starts and teams get a look at what they have, he will be much more valuable as long as he isn't a platoon player.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 12:27 PM) First, on the insurance thing. I had done a little research on contract insurance policies in the past and I believe the premiums could be upwards of 10% of the player's contract. They also only paid between around 50%-75% and were usually only given in three year timeframes before the policy had to be renewed. So if the Sox had taken out a three year policy on Dunn, it would be expired already and they wouldn't take out another for one year. It's not like the insurance company is just going to hand them a $15 million check. Second, the logjam on the bench was caused by JR's emotions of not letting Konerko go even though the time has come. Dunn should be the everyday starting DH on the team until they get close to the trade deadline when a contending team will certainly be interested if he puts up similar numbers to last year. Your suggestion that Dunn be released because he is taking at bats away from Conor f***ing Gillaspie is absolutely ridiculous. If Hahn/JR would ever be willing to eat Dunn's $15 million and lose his 30+ HRs and 80+ RBIs to get Conor Gillaspie in the lineup, well then it's time Hahn start looking for a new job and time for JR to sell the team. With Viciedo, Eaton and Garcia all set to start, there is no room for De Aza at the price he is being paid. Hahn needs to keep looking into trading De Aza, Keppinger and Gillaspie. End of story. Which means that De Aza, Keppinger and Gillaspie need to play everyday to build enough value that someone will trade for them.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Feb 13, 2014 -> 08:50 AM) So if De Aza is the best outfielder out of spring training, you don't think Robin starts start him because winning is worse than hoping Viciedo eventually blossoms or Eaton eventually proves he is not a 4th outfielder. Remember, Eaton was pulled from more than 25% of the games he started in CF and RF last year. If De Aza is the best OF, Eaton gets stashed in AAA getting everyday AB's until ADA gets dealt.

Danks is the guy on the list that has the best chance to earn his money. Most of the players on that list are over 30 and declining. If Danks recovers the way he is expected, his contract will be just fine.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 11, 2014 -> 01:02 PM) It's not a very good sign when most of your roster can be candidates for "breakout season". Its more of an indictment of last season than anything when outside of Sale and Q, everyone on the roster can be considered a candidate.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2014 -> 10:52 AM) How does that prove that KW could have had a top minor league system if he wanted one? His drafts were epically bad. He passed on players who became really good players and paid bad ones the same or more money. Ignore it if you want. I don't care. Everyone else sees it. For the last time, no matter how much money you spend, you still have to spend it on the correct players. This is a problem for every team in baseball. Ten teams passes on Chris Sale, 24 passed on Mike Trout, no one has a crystal ball. Sure, you could go back and cherry pick players that we should have signed at the time that would fit in the budget, but that is not a sincere exercise. There has also been a lot of mechanics that go into the draft that dictate when a player is drafted, such as pre-draft deals where a player tells a team like the White Sox he will sign for $1.1M, but works out a deal with the Red Sox to sign for $575K, in an effort to pick his destination. This is especially true of HS players, which is why the Sox drafted very few of them. The new draft slotting in the CBA has corrected many of those flaws and made the draft a more level playing field, which is part of the reason the Sox have started having success in the draft.

That is the lineup without spending a dollar in FA, getting anything of use in a trade, or getting a player in the draft that can make an impact quickly (Hoffman). So its unlikely, but not totally impossible. A lot of people would probably put Thompson in at CF, I am not convinced he is ever going to make enough contact to stick.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2014 -> 02:14 PM) Ah. Considering there's no record of him playing a single professional inning anywhere but 2b, I'm going to consider that a flaw. He's defense is so very bad at 2B, 26 errors last season, he is projected to eventually move to the OF.

The Jays are still out using last years bonus to sign guys per mlbtr: The Jays put some traded-for international spending money to use today in signing Dominican righty Hansel Rodriguez for $330K, explains Ben Badler of Baseball America. After selecting lefty Brian Moran in the Rule 5 draft, Toronto flipped his rights to the Angels in exchange for the 81st overall bonus slot, which boosted the team's total allotment just high enough to add Rodriguez without triggering any penalties. (2/5)

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 4, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) Rockies were at 4.2 mil last year in the #3 spot so I would think we'd be closer to that number? I think you might be leaving out the additional 700k. Or are bonus allotments suppose to be down from last year? "To calculate the bonus pool values, MLB created 120 “slot values,” with each team getting four slot values. Those slot values are added together, plus another $700,000, to get each team’s bonus pool for the 2013-14 signing period." - Ben Badler, Baseball America. I added up all the slots individually, did not add the $700K. I believe the pool is expected to be about 10% higher this season, it rose 8.5% last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2014 -> 02:10 PM) All right i give up...who is that in CF? Micah Johnson