Vance Law

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 15, 2007 -> 03:33 PM) He actually strikes me as exactly the kind of guy the Sox might like. Sort of a slap hitter, not a ton of power, doesnt' take a ton of walks, but does hit with a good average. he'd fit in quite well at the top of the White Sox's lineup. Add in more of that disruptive speed Ozzie likes, and toss in defense. Also a switch hitter, which could be very useful. This sounds exactly like Alex Cintron, but probably with more speed and better defensive range (perhaps more prone to errors, though). We'd need to get another big piece in this deal for it to make sense and Figgins isn't good enough.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 14, 2007 -> 07:04 PM) True but again we signed good players who for one reason or another weren't worth as much as they could have been. A market inefficiency. Quality to all-star major leaguers who could be had at a very good price. The free agent market was way undervaluing these players. This is not the case right now. A career .300 hitting lefty catcher for $2.5 million. Maybe you could get him for 3 times that right now. More the type of prices we got JD, AJ, Gooch, etc, now you could not get players far inferior to them for anywhere near those prices. QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 14, 2007 -> 07:04 PM) So along with the signings of JD, AJ, Tadahito and El Duque we got Pods and Vizcaino in the trade, all major league talents furthure proving my point of Kenny's dislike for prospects. So all of a sudden putting so much stock in prospects is an about face in philosophy that has shocked and dismayed many fans. No. It's the opposite of that. It's a regular face in philosophy. Exploiting market inefficiencies. The market is rediculously overpaying for free agents in general and pitching in particular.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Jan 14, 2007 -> 11:58 AM) I have one question. Why can't Chicago, one of the biggest and best cities in the world with a recent world championship be able to afford players like Dye and Buehrle. It really is sad that Chicago has to try to win titles the cheap ass way. Very sad. Mark B and Dye should remain White Sox. You seen the figures on what the White Sox franchise is worth?? Sell the team Jerry if you can't pay the freight. What does "be able to afford" mean? In the case of Buehrle, there is no chance in the world the he will be worth the money he will command next year. It will likely be in the range of the Zito contract (depending on whether or not he's as awful in '07 as he was in '06). He will be offered 6 or 7 years and a ton of money. Does anyone think Buehrle will be better than league average in total over the next 7 years? The Sox did spend $$$ and years on Konerko, one of the top mashing first basemen in the league, something that you can count on from year to year with a much higher degree of certainty than a pitcher. Buehrle's year last year would be like Konerko hitting 13 homers and driving in 60 runs. There is a better chance of signing Dye. The years will be the issue. I doubt the Sox want to go more than 3 years, almost certain they wouldn't go more than 4. Some maniac GM, though, will likely offer something rediculous though- a price he' simply not worth.

.275 28 90

QUOTE(bjam44 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 10:36 AM) Can Toby Hall play 1b?? alot of fomer/older catchers do. Just a thought I would think Mackowiak would get most of the backup 1B duties. Konerko would get his days off against righties. Thome, I imagine would only be at 1B in interleague away games against righties.

Bests: Iguchi's grand slam to tie against Houston in June after hitting the 3-run HR a couple innings earlier. (several moments later when they beat us in extra innings was not good) First game I went to in July 1985 when I was 8, Baines hit a walk-off 3-run HR to beat the Indians. Fireworks.

'Zinsky 07 .309 14 68 (zero face-punches received)

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 04:56 PM) Except it doesn't have to be that difficult. While still hard, it's easier to find a LF that can just get on base rather than one that has a bunch of speed and is your typical lead-off hitter. IMO, we don't a need a guy in the 1 spot to steal 40 bags. If you can find a OF that can get on base at a .360-.370 clip, and has moderate speed( 5-10 bags) you have yourself a great leadoff hitter for the Sox. The difference between Pods bad year of .330 OBP (he had a .353 OBP in '05) and a .360 OBP over 600 plate appearances is 18 times on base for the season. Even if you assume that this replacement with mediocre wheels scores at the same rate as Pods (, you'd be talking about a difference of about 6 runs for the season. The Sox could make that up simply by intentionally giving Buehrle food poisoning on the day of one of his starts.

QUOTE(spiderman @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 12:13 PM) once the market got out of control for players not necessarily better thatn Podsednik, he decided to give him another season And I'm glad he did. And at that price. His upside is that high. The only guy to steal 70 bases in a season since at least 1999. I'm sure no one's done better than 44 in a half season either. Guy who is gonna disagree with me (who is one of the masses of people who make Podsednik the most reviled and complained-about player on the team despite the fact that they should be complaining first and louder about Buehrle, Garcia, Vazquez, Garland, Cotts, etc.): "But Pods is a no-tool player....bunch of other stuff......[joke about my grandma playing left field]." Me: that's what you're saying, but I'm saying what I'm saying. In the Bill James Handbook this year, The Fielding Bible awards rank him as the #9 LF in baseball. Off the top of my head, Rob Neyer ranked him 2nd in MLB. (Your overly emotional reaction to seeing him drop an easy fly ball for the home team is what makes you misjudge his fielding). Also, Podsednik funfact: Pods 2006 OPS .683 Minnesota Twins DHs 2006 OPS .680 And if Pods doesn't work out this year, as mentioned, we have a ton of cheap in-house options (Mack/Ozuna platuna maul right and left pitching well respectively, Sweeney at midseason, etc)

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 02:25 PM) Just my humble opinions. So what you're saying is, it's a good thing that every single other team in baseball has a lot of those same problems and likely a lot more.

Chas Haggar.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 26, 2006 -> 12:14 PM) The 2007 major league team hasn't been improved. ...but I claim that the team ERA will be better in 07 than it was in 06. That's without your Garcias and your McCarthies. in other news, I claim Dye will have a year somewhere in between '05 and '06- a .295 ba 37 homers 100rbi, which is rather awesome. Meanwhile, nobody knows what will happen. If they did they would have suggested putting McCarthy in the rotation instead of Buehrle in '06 (give him the year off). He would have been more successful than Mark was. So everyone's definitive assertions about the year (which hasn't happened yet) that Garcia orMcCarthy or Floyd or Haeger or ______ will have are pretty silly.

Yipes! I was surprised to see this trade after not checking the internet over xmas. I'm not one of these 'the sky is falling' types, but rather think the sky is going to stay where it is, in the sky. Seems to me Williams was overwhelmed by the offer. Masset plus potential ace Danks(up till now we didn't have one in the organization). It certainly leaves us with a little more of a question mark for th 5 starter. Who the hell beat us last year, though? Detroit, Minnesota- who the balls were they marching out there to pitch? Neither team certainly had at least 4 guys as presumably solid and dependable as the 4 veterans we stil have. Garza, Scott Baker, and a gentleman named Boof? 21 yr old Verlander and Zach Miner. Certainly staffs with those question marks couldn't outperform our 5 solid veterans. Except certainly they did. Is a 5th starter of Floyd, Danks, Haeger, or Sisco (or Thorton?) any different than those guys? What is the difference between 21 year old potential ace Danks in 2007 and 21 year old McCarthy in '05? Will our 5th starter, whoever it is, be worse than Duke Hernandez starting in '05. and the offseason's not over yet. Excitement!

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 19, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) Bernie doesn't have any speed, but he does know how to read a fly ball. No way Mack is better. Whether or not he's better would depend on exactly how much not-any-speed he has to go along with his superior technique. According to Baseballmusings, Mackowiak had a slightly better out ratio in CF than Williams had in RF last year. Williams ranked as 2nd worst RF, ahead of Burnitz. Mackoviak ranked at 5th worst CF ahead of Griffey, Lofton, Bautista, and Cory Sullivan. I doubt the move back to CF would improve Williams' #s. Also, this isn't going to happen.

I would bet MacCowiak plays a better CF than Williams at this point, and is better offensively.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 17, 2006 -> 04:53 PM) As I have said many times, I never had any problem with trading Garcia. BMac will fill his rotation spot nicely. But that trading chip should have been used to upgrade the current team. ...and how, when, and from whom do you suggest a better way of getting hot-shot pitching prospects, which most everyone agrees is extremely important given the market for pitching now (and considering how excited teams are to give up their pitching prospects), if not by trading a starter that we don't need anymore, in his walk-year.

thanks, ss2k5

Could anyone copy the article here? For whatever reason, I get a blank page from that link.

Beltran's the only one ranked higher who played pretty much a full season. http://baseballmusings.com/ Interesting, not just where BA ranks, but that Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter rank just below league average. Rowand above average, Sizemore below average.

QUOTE(scenario @ Dec 10, 2006 -> 05:19 PM) Sometimes I think I'm one of the only people who wants to keep Vazquez. I think Coops work on his stance fixed the 5th inning problem, and as a result he's going to have a big year for us. And no... I haven't been drinking. I like Vazquez too. He's the only one who's a strikeout guy (I don't think everyone realizes he was 4th in the AL in K's). Seemed like Coop helped straighten him out by the end of the year.

More evidence of how rediculous the FA market is for pitchers Jason Marquis: "...will seek an annual salary of at least $10 million. The right-hander went 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA with the Cardinals in 2006 and allowed a league-leading 35 home runs."

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 01:01 PM) Williams can't reasonably trade all upcoming FA's if he has any intentions of assembling a World Series contender. I believe it's possible, however, to have a balance. Balance? what balance? how could he possibly sign some free agents, and not others. he clearly just unloaded a guy with a year left on his contract. the only possible conclusion from that must be that all free agents, no, every player who's not a rookie will be traded. this will be called a "small market" philosophy, of the 2 types of philosophies (small and large market- never mind that we have a top 5 payroll). because this is "small market" philosophy and because the rules of a small market philosophy are that you ONLY have young, cheap players, it is clear that we will be trading all of our players. that is the conclusion. how could he do anything else? it is december and baseball starts in 4 months. if it hasn't happened in the past week , it will not, no, can not happen this year or in future years. we traded one of our extra starters who had a year left on his contract which we have been expecting for a year and a half and therefore it is clear that we are selling the whole team.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 07:53 AM) tell me this, why in the world are the SOX considering moving Jon Garland? it's how you define this particular 'considering.' these rumors come out and people go insane with assumptions. do these people really think Ken W. is selling off the team, tanking '07 when they have a team that won the world series, then under performed and still were better than the majority of the league. with all of the fan support they got, do you really think Williams is planning to tank 07? seems to me they're considering trading Garland IF they can get a ton for him is garland being shopped around? is Ken planning to sell him, no matter what, to the highest bidder? doubt it. the evidence points to the Sox saying, "you can have Garland......if you give us the top pitching prospect on our board plus 2 more pieces. too much for you? yes, we know. but you can only get him if you give us too much." we rented out one of our starters for a year for 2 prospects- something we've been expecting to happen for a year and a half. and people started going ape. there's a rumor about us asking for the moon in return for Garland, not doing the deal, and everyone jumps off the cliff.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 04:59 PM) You heard it right. If all of this pans out, it just means the SOX have quietly started a rebuilding plan... ...and on Soxtalk has begun the "the sky is falling" plan

Rob Neyer "More to the point, Williams has apparently taken note of the fact that even average starting pitchers these days are getting paid eight figures per season, which means there's absolutely nothing more valuable than a young, cheap starting pitcher who can post a league-average ERA (or even somewhat worse). Because if you don't have a few of those guys you wind up spending $40 million on Ted Lilly. (Really!) ...if the Phillies aren't serious contenders for the postseason – or if Garcia isn't traded for a good young player before July 31 – this deal could wind up being fairly infamous among Phillies fans. I guess it's a good thing they're not passionate about stuff like that."