BearSox

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2009 -> 04:00 PM) Giants wouldn't do that...they have their closer in Brian Wilson (as long as he's not facing Mets). Not really sure what big time teams need a closer right now. I'm thinking the Blue Jays might be willing to get someone like Jenks. Ryan is practically done and has nothing left. And I don't think Downs is their ideal closer. Yankees are looking for Rivera's replacement. Rays could probably use a closer as well. That's three teams in the east, so we could maybe start a bidding war between them. If the Angels pick up their play and get back into contention, they would be interested. Does St. Louis have a closer right now?

I don't see us trading Thome as I don't see many teams wanting him, and doesn't he also have no trade clause? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to see us to sign Thome cheap next year at around 5 million. I don't know if the organization would think Allen would be ready to step in at either 1B/DH. As for Konerko, unless some team is willing to take on all 12 million dollars for him and offers a great deal for him, you keep him. He and Buehrle are the faces of the franchise. Beckham will be playing either SS, 3B, or 2B for us come next year, IMO. You have to give Alexei every chance to succeed with all the upside he potentially provides us. Hopefully he pans out. 3B depends on if Fields progresses at all (I doubt this, and would not be surprised to Fields in Charlotte next year or on some other team) and if Viciedo can stick at 3B. Right now, I think the hope is that Viciedo shows enough potential and tools to play 3B next year. At 2B, you got Getz who is solid but unspectacular, and Nix, who looks like a really solid ball player. I think we'll see Beckham at 2B. Nix could stay on at defense replacement and backup infielder. Getz, could maybe stay on as a utility player, but it depends on how the roster shapes out. If you have to choose between Nix and Getz, I think Nix is the easy choice. For the OF, Dye makes almost too much sense to trade, IMO. Hopefully his bat heats up, and come July, we can get a real good deal for him. I could see the Reds still being possible suitors as they seem to really like Dye, and if they are still only around 5 games out or so, they could use his right handed bat in the lineup between Votto and Bruce. Someone else mentioned the Red Sox, and they could make sense as well. They were really interested in him in 07, and they could use him in the same role. If we could get one of their several good young pitchers, that'd be great. Maybe the Rangers as well, as Blalock and Davis have had their struggles this year, and I'm willing to bet that one of Cruz/Byrd/Jones is gonna fizzle out. After you trade Dye, you move Quentin to RF. His arm isn't as strong as Dye's, but he's much better fundamentally and sets up a lot better, provides a lot more range, and it is his natural spot. He'll be good there. CF, Anderson is a decent option for the rest of the year. I'm not big on him, but might as well see what he could do. Wouldn't surprise me to see Figgins in CF come next year. Podsednik has surprised me with his bat early on, but his D leaves much to be desired. Maybe a fill in option in LF if there is no one better for this year, but hopefully this spot is filled via trade or free agency next year. I wouldn't mind signing someone like Ankiel and having him play either CF or LF. As for the rotation, the only trade piece is Colon. We might get a decent spect for him if he keeps this season up. I personally would fill the final spot for this season with Broadway. Yeah, very blah, but he's been decent every opportunity he has had. Also, I think Broadway could make it as a decent no. 5. He doesn't have much of a fastball, but he's got some good secondary stuff, but his problem has been command. As for next year, I doubt we sign anyone as all the decent pitchers should get good sized contracts from teams willing to overpay for decent pitching. It probably won't be improved much. I'd try and trade Dotel to a team that needs help in the pen. Could probably get a decent spect for him. I'd definitely be willing to trade Jenks. You get something even close to what Ugerith Urbina got the rangers, and you take it. I agree with you, quietly put him out there. With got some good options in the minors, so we could get by with Thornton and Linebrink. Put Poreda in the pen as well and go from there with him.

Sounds like a player we would definitely be looking at. IIRC, Dexter Carter's line his final year at Old Dominion were as bad, if not worse than those.

I don't know, for some reason I have a bad feeling about him. While the upside is there, he seems to have a long way to go. His command is a question mark, only has two pitches right now, and is having a really poor year this year (ERA almost 6 this year in less than 80 IP).

Ahh, Hudson is pitching tonight! Gives me something to look forward to concerning white sox baseball.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 18, 2009 -> 02:52 PM) Ya Matt, I knew that, am an idiot though. Big 12 is a much much more elite baseball conference, but Iowa State isn't the reason why, haha. Texas, OU, Oklahoma State, and Missouri would be those reasons. Hell, Kansas is even playing good right now (and will be in the playoffs). I don't know how they are doing this year, but Baylor is producing some real good talent this year.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but I'll mention it in here. Josh looked much improved today. He still looks lost at the plate, but his approach was much better. He actually turned on a fastball, which was robbed on a great play by Rolen, and that was nice to see. He was also making contact with the ball.

One thing today... Fields looked much improved. He still looks lost, but he had a much better approach today. I was shocked when he actually turned on a fastball... That was a great play by Rolen.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2009 -> 03:11 PM) Shouldn't the argument not be about Swisher, but about the fact the package we received for him was such garbage? I have no problem with the Sox trading him, as Ozzie and company obviously didn't gel with his style. Shouldn't the argument be why in hell did we trade anything for the bum in the first place?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 18, 2009 -> 02:58 PM) How many guys leave the White Sox and go on to become significantly better hitters elsewhere? If there was a guy that hit .220 under Walker but .280-.300 under someone else, and it happened more than once or twice, the Walker bashers might have a point. I really don't see any of that yet, although I'm sure Swisher's name will come up, but one of the reasons the Sox got rid of Swisher was his refusal to listen to Walker. His batting coach is his father. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but someone needs to be held accountable for this sorry excuse of an offense. I know it takes time, but there has been absolutely no improvement. Well, we did have 7 hits today! You can't really fire the players, but you can fire the coaches. I think this whole group of coaches and KW are much too loyal to each other, and the refusal to split any of them up is absurd. You need a good connection between the coaches, but when it gets to the point that you are afraid to make 1 single change because it might hurt someone's feelings, that's just garbage.

Danks will be fine. Floyd on the other hand..........

Why do we keep batting Dye ahead of Konerko? Right now, Konerko is our best shot at getting runs in. Why not go with Thome in the 3 hole with Konerko cleaning up? Podsednik has been doing a decent job of getting on base, Nix has been giving good AB's, and Thome still gets on base at a great clip. Right now Konerko is hitting and Dye isn't. Shouldn't we try and cash in with runners on base? Also, what is so wrong with giving Fields 2-3 days off in a row and let Betemit getting some playing time? Is his defense THAT bad?

It's the same for both sides. Would expect anything different?

Why even have a hitting coach then, if when the team isn't hitting for long periods of times, he gets no blame?

Brothers, Sanchez, and Miller would be a really sexy draft. Unfortunately, I don't see either Brothers or Sanchez falling to either of those picks. Well, Sanchez has a chance, but Brothers is looking more and more like a top 10 pick. Lefties with his stuff who can start don't last a long time come draft day.

I'm loving the reduced strikeout rate. You expand that to 600 AB's, he's on pace to K less than a 100 times, which shows huge improvement. His walk rate is about the same as last year though, but will hopefully increase. As for power numbers, he's on pace to hit 25 homers, which ain't too shabby in a pitchers park. I'm not sure about 2010 for Allen, but 2011, we could see him up on the southside as the full time DH by then (I've heard he's not much of a defender).

Luckily, for today, we got our secret weapon ready to step in when Richard gets hit around... D.J. Carrasco!!!!!!!!1

could we make a play for Erik Bedard in the offseason? KW has always seemed to like him... Eh, who am I kidding, we wouldn't go after any pitcher that would command ace type money.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 17, 2009 -> 03:53 PM) Danks with the golden sombrero. Ouch. I'm guessing the pitcher they were facing today was tough on lefties cause Allen K'd 3 times as well.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) I would like to see Nix starting at 3B or SS. Bench Fields and/or Ramirez I'm all for demoting Fields (if he has options, which I doubt since he's been with the big league club for parts of 4 seasons now) right now, and pretty much going with Nix and Betemit at 3B. You could also call up Andy Phillips who has been somewhat decent in his cup of coffees in the majors, and does nothing but mash in AAA.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:35 PM) What's the point of having Konerko on the roster if we're going to rebuild? You can't be afraid to lose if you're going to try and rebuild for a few seasons. My belief system is that even when you rebuild, you need solid veteran leadership around the team as well. Having the whole AA team up is just a recipe for disaster, IMO. Also, I doubt we ever see KW go into a rebuilding mode, but rather a retooling. I could see Thome being brought back for around 5 million and maybe a FA signing like Chone Figgins. We'll have a lot of young players on the team, but we'll have a solid mix of vets at least.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:34 PM) It's definitely time to get Nix 5 starts a week and see what he can do. Another non-competitive game for the White Sox. Agreed. It should be easy to get him playing time with how all of Fields, Getz, and Ramirez are playing.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:31 PM) The easy choice would be to DH Dye, but I don't know if he'll return if he thinks we're rebuilding. It's more likely he signs with Texas to DH for them. I'm just hoping we could trade him to either Texas, Cincinnati, or somewhere at the deadline for a good pitching prospect.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) He's also making more money than he's worth. Screw the leadership stuff....that should start with Ozzie. Part of the problem might be that the veterans aren't exactly vocal leaders. I remember when we thought the 12 million a year for him was a steal. Considering we will be getting rid of a lot of big contracts in the offseason and not spend a lot, we could afford to overpay him one more season. Also, like you said, trading Konerko would likely require giving up some doe to get maximum value for him, and you should know that KW never includes money in a trade, unless that money is coming to us.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 17, 2009 -> 02:28 PM) The first player I'd trade is Dye, as he would probably get you more than Konerko. With Konerko, we'd have to pay some of his salary. Lets hope Colon keeps up what he's been doing into July. Could be a very handy trade piece to a contending team that needs cheap veteran pitching. Wouldn't expect a ton for him, but a good young prospect would be a coop for what we got him for.