Vance Law

QUOTE (Real @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 10:10 PM) "While watching the young third baseman over the course of a couple of days in Chattanooga, a scout I was talking to made a great point when I questioned whether or not Davidson was an everyday player at the big league level due to his questionable defense and propensity to strikeout. His response was to the effect of, “The requirements to be a starting third baseman at the major league level aren’t as high as they used to be.” He was right." The same could be said of every position on the field. Offense is down across the league at every position.

I like the move a whole lot. I'm of the opinion that a young closer is not the most difficult thing to make. I am semi-surprised that the reaction seems virtually 100% positive compared to more mixed for the Eaton trade. I wonder if that is because people have higher expectations for Davidson than Eaton or they valued Santiago significantly more than Reed or a combination of both. Do people just like home runs? Personally I'd expect a more valuable year from Eaton than Davidson next year. I think there's a greater chance that Davidson is a bust. I don't assume he'll be a bust. I'd bet on him hitting enough to at least be league average at 3rd and hopefully more. But subpar defense combined with the high strikeouts leading to low batting average give me some concern. Hope he hits a ton.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Dec 14, 2013 -> 03:13 AM) Eaton is instantly my new favorite Sox player unless he Beckhams I have some hope that Eaton's grindergrit will have a positive effect on Beckham. Maybe Beckham will Eaton.

Red Sox DFA Alex Castellanos http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/red-...astellanos.html Upgrade over Gillaspie?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 12, 2013 -> 10:01 AM) Worst case scenario, the Sox keep all 4 and increase their depth on the bench. I don't see that happening, but that's not a bad worst case scenario. Agreed. I think it might be the best case scenario depending on what we're currently being offered. Someone could get injured and the other player slots in. Left fielders around the league are going to get injured, some for the entire season. It wouldn't be so bad to still be holding that trade chip when it happens.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 11:21 AM) Yet you have no problem with a DH by committee putting up much worse numbers. I would assume that what he meant was that by playing matchups you can do better than a .740 OPS. I agree with that. We all hope Viciedo has a breakout year, but if (if!) he puts up a third straight season with approx. a .740 OPS they can easily find someone better (and probably left handed) to take a majority of the DH at bats. I don't think Viciedo is ever going to put up a very good OBP. Perhaps he'll nudge his walk rate up a little, but he needs to hit for a higher average with more extra base hits to be a very worthwhile player with his zero defensive value.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 12:09 PM) Here is another assessment of Elmore's skills: http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2013/2/4/3948...elmore-start-at The more I think about this potential plan of batting Eaton and Elmore at the top of the order, the more I suspect that this has been Hahn's plan. They quietly acquired Elmore and now Eaton, whom they admittedly had targeted. That can't be a coincidence It seems to completely be a coincidence. They didn't target Elmore, the picked him up off waivers in November after the Astros (the Astros!) didn't want him. He adds a cushion in middle infield in the event that Beckham or Ramirez or (please!) Keppinger were/are traded this offseason. He won't be given the second base job over Beckham. As for Eaton, every team in baseball would have wanted him a year ago. Hahn wisely bought low after the arm injury and after Pollock supplanted Eaton as the Dbacks CF.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 08:45 PM) How much better is Mark Trumbo than Dayan Viciedo? They're the exact same guy if Viciedo can hit 30 - 32 home runs.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 02:00 AM) 1 more season and then what? Have a hole at DH and in LF? I agree we need to upgrade in LF, but I want that upgrade to take place next offseason when we can naturally move Viciedo over to DH, because there is no reason to acquire a DH when we have one on our team already. It depends on what Viciedo does in his 3rd full year. If he's still putting up a .730 - .740 OPS and and OBP around .300 why aren't we going to the market to find absolutely anyone who's better

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 07:45 PM) Likely not a casual fan loving blockbuster but consistent with the plan: cost controlled impact with high upside that's an improvement over a Gillaspinger 3B. Which begs the question, what's with the Uribe rumors? Gillaspuribe?

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 07:20 PM) The Sox didn't get enough back for Santiago, in my opinion. LAA and Arz both got a lot more. Strongly disagree. Arizona got fleeced. Sox got slightly improved value in my opinion. Angels robbed Arizona.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 07:46 PM) That's still not what I said though. Let me put it this way. The Red Sox could have given up their top ten prospects or one low A pitcher. Either way it would not have affected our signing of Abreu. You can't exclude the millions of dollars in cash when analyzing a trade.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 08:00 PM) I'd guess the mariners would have more interest in Viciedo, they are starved for power. I'd love it if we could send them Dunn.

I'd say hold onto Viciedo at least another year. If he hits a few more homers than he did in 2012, apparently he could net a haul like Trumbo did. Seriously what is Arizona thinking?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 07:12 PM) It's more like Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, Matt Thorton and Hector Santiago for Leury Garcia, Avisail Garcia, and Adam Eaton. It's more like Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, Matt Thorton and Hector Santiago for Leury Garcia, Avisail Garcia, and Adam Eaton plus a ton of cash. We used the ton of cash and signed Abreu.

Nevermind that Eaton hit .348 across 1500 plus minor league plate appearances (Joe Mauer, for example, hit .330), just the fact that he's put up a .332 OBP in his first 380 PA's which (very sadly) is better than anyone on our team last year should be cause for excitement. I hope we wait it out for the right offer for De Aza to come around. They can publicly say the right things like De Aza will "be in the outfield mix" and provide "lineup flexibility" and not dump him unless something good comes around.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 04:13 PM) The Lord giveth Mark Reynolds, the Lord taketh away Mark Reynolds. Lord reconsiderth, Lord reacquireth Mark Reynolds, moveth to OF hahaha

I like Eaton for Santiago straight up. What is Arizona thinking? Trumbo is Adam Dunn. They could have gotten him from us for a lot less.

It's a fake twitter account. Actual Joel Sherman is this: https://twitter.com/Joelsherman1 and he tweeted no such thing. Maybe change the post title to reflect that.

How nice would it be to send Keppinger back to Florida... http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-m...story?track=rss

Exactly the right type of move to make. Low risk, high upside. Adds depth to allow for the trade of (I hope) Santiago. Are there even any pitchers anymore who DON'T come back from TJ surgery?

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 9, 2013 -> 01:29 AM) The timing of this release is suspicious. Couple that news with our reported interest in Headley... and I see Hanh making a leverage play. Exactly.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 8, 2013 -> 10:07 PM) And I'm almost positive that El Duque was $4.5 or 5.5 million in 2005 and was going to cost $6.5 million in 2006 (before we dealt him with C. Young for Javy)...so definitely not a cheap contract for a 5th starter/long reliever, although the 3 outs to bail out Marte in Boston made it all worth it. $3.5 million in '05. $4.625 in '06

QUOTE (Dunt @ Dec 8, 2013 -> 11:59 AM) The White Sox have demonstrated interest in Chase Headley of the Padres, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. As Van Schouwen notes, that's a little odd, unless the White Sox think they can sign Headley to an extension -- the White Sox aren't expected to be competitive in 2014, and Headley is a free agent after the season. Van Schouwen also said this "The Sox prefer flying under the radar, and this is a long shot, but there are those who wouldn’t be stunned if Hahn came out of the woodwork to make a bid for center fielder Shin-Soo Choo." Daryl's reading my posts?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 7, 2013 -> 10:42 PM) 1) Choo is a bad CFer already, now, near the prime of his career....imagine in Years 3-4-5 of the deal, we'd still be looking for a CF Yes, I said the same, that he'd move to a corner. I don't expect the Sox'll actually do it, but I'll put my money on Choo to be a better player in 2019 than Ellsbury or Granderson (or McCann for that matter).