BearSox

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:10 PM) At this point I'd say screw Figgins. If the Angels would take on Dye's entire salary then I'd rather ask for Reggie Willits and prospects, then spread the money around given all the bargains that are starting to pop up. With that $11 mil saved we could add some pitching and Willits could be the lead off guy. If we were interested, that $11M might be able to get us Ben Sheets, or maybe Garland at $8M + Wolf, Pedro, Freddy, or some other guaranteed 5th starter or reclamation project with upside for about $3M. I like that idea.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 06:16 PM) Riiiiight. That was an obvious over exaggeration just showing how untouchable Braun is, and that he'd cost a king's ransom to get. I didn't think I'd need to clarify that, but just in case.

Vlad isn't gonna DH more then 20-30 times a season as he despises being a DH and has said how much he hates it. If they traded for Dye, they'd most likely plan on moving him to either 1B or LF, and really, those are the only two positions he should be at right now in his career (besides DH). If they got Dye, they'd probably do something like: 1B: Dye LF: Matthews CF: Hunter RF: Vlad DH: Rivera They could also work in Morales at 1B/DH, and Willits in the OF.

lol, I knew this was about the pitcher. The only way any team would get THE Ryan Braun would be by trading their top 2 players on the major league roster with full cash considerations, as well as their top 2-3 prospects.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 03:58 PM) So, you don't have any idea what's going on, but you are OK with bombing the s*** out of a mostly civilian population as a response? Why bother discussing it or posting in the thread if you can't be bothered to have a clue what is going on? If you want to ignore it, ignore it. I know the gist of it, and frankly, if they are killing Hamas terrorists, I'm all for it.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 03:43 PM) I think its easy to sit over here and say "Bomb the s*** out of them" "Kill'em all". Because you never have and never will have to watch your childern bombed. I think if you had to walk in someone elses shoes, you would sing a different tune. To what Alph dog was saying. Move them out? Kill them? How far does it go. How about we just kill all palestinians. Problem solved right? Its a nice final solution. I hope to God that I have never have to watch any of my loved ones bombed. But with all these terrorists who despise America, and constant plots to attack us, it's us or them. And I don't know about you, but I choose them. That's how Isreal feels right now, us or them. I would love to live in a world filled with love and peace, but the easiest way for me to put this, people suck. It's just the way we are.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) You really can't just eradicate terrorism by killing more people though, it doesn't work like that and is much more complicated. Unless your plan is to basically kill everyone. You can't, but you can severely limit it.

I'm not really up to date on this as I try to avoid the news as much as possible now, but I don't see any problems with anyone bombing the s*** out of Hamas. Hamas is no good scum, and should be have the s*** bombed out of them. If civilians die, oh well, get used to it. It's freaking WAR! Sure, it sucks for the innocent people who are harmed and killed, and I do truly feel sorry for them and hope God has mercy on their souls, but war isn't suppossed to be pleasant. And when you have terrorists like Hamas using public places and schools as hideouts for their operations, there isn't much of a choice. Call me callas, call me cold hearted, call me whatever, but terrorist scum like Hamas needs to be destroyed.

Did he play football there as well as baseball, or no? Also, it sucks as we can't offer him a contract now, because I bet he would sign with us now.

I've been thinking about something, and I think it is very likely we might be planning on moving Beckham to 3B. I don't think either KW or Ozzie are too high on Fields anymore and they might be viewing Vicendi (I forgot how to spell his name already) as more of a LF/1B/DH type.

QUOTE (TheBlackSox8 @ Jan 11, 2009 -> 03:11 AM) to even think that is blasphemy I know I might get burned at the stake for heresy, but I think Quentin will have a drop off next year. He is coming off a hand injury (it's his top hand too), and it's very tough for young players to repeat 2 great seasons in a row. I think he'll have a decent year, but not TCQ worthy. However, hopefully 2010 will be Quentin's breakout year where he can start to consistently put up great numbers year in and year out. Same goes for Alexei, odds are he'll have a sophomore slump next season and we will see a dropoff in production. However, 2010 will hopefully be the year where he puts it all together as well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 09:24 AM) Because its not a matter of having Dye or Abreu. Its a matter of having Dye or [Abreu + Pitching]. Or we could keep Dye and sign pitching. Unless we plan on moving Dye for another prospect like Homer Bailey.

QUOTE (Cubano @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 06:02 AM) Baseball like any other sport is cyclical. I see now a lot of upcoming good prospects in Cuba. Pitchers and position players are coming through the pipeline. SS and 3B are the weakest positions now. Hey, we got three SS in MLB now (Yunel Escobar (Braves), Yuniesky Betancourt (Mariners) and Lexi. SS Jose Iglesias defected form the junior team in Canada though he played 2B because Waspsp SS prospect was the regular. We have two other SS prospect in the minors. If you go to my blog, you see my work on pitchers under 25. I am preparing one for the position players. http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/2009/...5-year-old.html Cubano, you are the man!

QUOTE (wilmot825 @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 02:05 AM) Idk if anyone pointed this out yet, I didnt read every post but, Michael Young is a SS not a 2B so its not another 2B for the Sox. I think most people here realize he's a second baseman playing shortstop.

I don't understand this obsession people have for Abreu. It'd make sense if we had a hole at LF, RF, or DH, but we don't. It would not make any sense to trade JD and then go out and sign Abreu, as JD is the better player.

If we could somehow get them to knock off about half of his remaining contract without including any top prospects like Poreda, fine, but I don't see that happening.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 11, 2009 -> 08:52 PM) the injury shouldn't end his career. An achilles tendon repair is a fairly easy one compared to most. even in the general orthopedic population the rehab is 6-9 months. With getting back into pitching shape and such I would guess he could be ready at about one year post surgery. Wasn't it around the All-Star break that we lost him? That being said, he wasn't really pitching well last year so who knows how effective he could be this year. An injury like that can change the pitcher drastically. Everything will be out of synch, and it would take a tremendous amount of time just to learn how to pitch again. If he were younger, I wouldn't be talking like this, but he's probably about 40 right now. I think his career is done.

The thing is, what makes you think Garcia would magically be able to fill one of those spots? He can barely hit 80 on the radar gun, and there is no indication of him being able to hold for any significant amount of time.

So Cubano, how many young Cubans are there right now who might defect within the next couple of years and be top prospects to MLB clubs?

I don't think we should plan on Contreras coming back anytime soon, if ever. At his age, that injury potentially ended his career, IMO.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 11, 2009 -> 06:08 PM) Marti would definitely be in the mix for the 4th/5th starter's spot. Even though he won't blow anyone away, he definitely would be the favorite I think if the White Sox were to sign him as of today. As far as Gomez, don't think we'd have much interest in him at all...the other kid Torres had earlier, CF Fernando Perez (who worked out with Viciedo at his famous tryout in the DR) would be a much more interesting sign than Gomez, fwiw, because he's still only 20. Lol, I wouldn't mind if we spent the majority of our foreign scouting money into Cuban defectors. They are better bets then players from other Latin America countries, IMO. The difference though is that a lot of the Cuban players doen't get away until they are already in 20's or older, usually.

If they got talent/tools, what the hell, it can't hurt. And the better relationship we develop with Cuban defectors, the better, because it just helps us with future top Cuban prospects. From the info I have found by just doing a quick google search, Yadel Marti was the ace on his team and considered one of the best pitchers in Cuba, if not the best. He is a right handed pitcher, and supposedly 29. Yasser Gomez is an OF who is fast and seems to be maybe a leadoff type. He bats lefty, and is supposedly 28. If you do a google video search on them, you can find some very short clips of them, but they really don't show much. After reading about them, I wouldn't mind if we signed them at all. Marti could possibly help out or rotation or bullpen, and Gomez can't be any worse then Owens.

It'll be interesting to see how Baldelli does with Boston.

Young is a solid player, but benefits greatly by playing in Texas. He benefits from the Ballpark in Arlington because he is primarily a singles hitter, and Texas has easily the fastest grass in all of baseball, meaning a lot of grounders that defenders would normally have a play on zip on through. He is god awful at SS, and should be at 2B, but I doubt they want to see Kinsler playing any SS. If moved to 2B, which any sane team would do if they have a competent SS, he would be fine there. The thing is though, because he played his whole career in easily the best hitter ballpark, he has been able to put up FANTASTIC stats at home, mediocre stats away, and when you combine the two, it seems as he's a great player. But in reality, he's a good player who's overrated by the park he plays in. I don't see why anyone should despise him as a player or think he sucks, but he certainly is overrated. And it is because of this he gets paid a ridiculous 16 million or whatever a year. But honestly though, I don't see much of a difference between him and Grudz except Grudz is older. If a team needed a second baseman, and could get Young, they'd be crazy not to see him as an option, as he is a very good all around player. However, a team would be insane to want him at 16 million a year and/or give up a player like Dye for him.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jan 11, 2009 -> 05:28 PM) really? I didn't think losing Big-Game Javi would cost us26 wins. News to me. Having crap round out the rotation to go along with a likely down year for one of Floyd or Danks, as well as likely Owens playing center field and leading off for us... I'd say at least 90 L's has a really good shot at happening.