Vance Law

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 01:18 PM) They gave up nothing to get a proven starter. I'm sure they're thrilled. They gave up prospects to rent a proven starter for 1 year who's coming off a bad year. This would be a bad deal for Sox if we only had 3 starters, but since we had the 6, we're in fine shape. Freddie and his E.R.Yikes of 4 and half would have been lucky to win 11 games if not for the Sox offense last year.

QUOTE(ptatc @ Dec 5, 2006 -> 07:52 PM) If McCarthy said this then I agree with Ozzie. A player with 1 year experience should not tell anyone what he should do. If you don't want to do the role we ask then the minors it is. McCarthy said just the opposite- that he'd rather pitch out of the bullpen than go back to Charlotte. Ken W. is the one who said he will not allow McCarthy to pitch out of the bullpen next year.

QUOTE(TheOcho @ Dec 5, 2006 -> 03:56 PM) You know honestly if every single offseason there's going to be rumors of Rowand returning to the Sox ... I think I might just ... well ... stop listening to or caring about or worrying about the rumors?

QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Dec 4, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) The shortage of pitching is no real surprise, since it seems that teams are always looking for more pitching depth, but what really is surprising me are the contracts being offered so freely to bad players. Just look at Adam Eaton, how many starts did he have last year? 13? and he has been injured frequently thruout his career...and Philly gives him a 3 year deal worth 24 mill? just insane ...this is why K DUB will wait and get the best, most desperate offer, because guys like Eaton are getting huge inflated contracts Kenny should be whipping some ass this offseason with the bargaining chips he has yes, not to mention some Wolf gentleman is being paid 8 millions of dollars to try to pitch

QUOTE(greg775 @ Dec 4, 2006 -> 05:06 PM) Too bad we had to give up Aaron in the first place. Anderson wasn't ready and it cost us dearly. I don't know why we had to trade him instead of "prospects" like the Yankees always used to do in deals. Lesson learned: Don't trade a guy unless you can replace him. You may hate Rowand, but his absence left a huge hole to fill. The 2006 combo of Anderson/Thome/Mackowiak (when playing CF) beats the 2005 combo of Rowand/Everett/Thomas in every offensive statistical category aside from having 26 more RBI in about 150 more at bats. Oh yeah, also Rowand got hit by a pitch more often than those 3 in 2006 combined. Thome, meanwhile, had more walks in 610 plate appearances (107) than Rowand/Everett/Thomas in 1311 plate appearances (90). Also A/T/M had .845 OPS compared to .754 for R/E/T.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Dec 3, 2006 -> 06:36 PM) Even during the 2005 season when everyone was calling him the ignitor of the White Sox offense, the guy that made the White Sox go, he scored 80 runs and drove in 25. He wasn't in the Top 50 in baseball in OBP or BA. If he was such a distraction on the bases, how come he only scored 80 runs? Because he missed 20% of the season, was injured for a lot of the second half and was getting thrown out stealing because of it, and the Sox offense was a subpar 9th out of 14 teams in scoring. Pods led the team in batting- nobody else hit .290, Konerko was the only other guy who hit .280. Pods stealing 44 bases in the first half was pretty amazing.

QUOTE(103 mph screwball @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 02:43 PM) Translation: Dear team X, your offer still is not good enough. You will have to overpay. Sorry, I don't have to give you any of my 6 starters. Start acting desperate. You will give me the extra prospect and do a little dance for me. Well said, screwball. That's what I think, too.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Dec 2, 2006 -> 01:43 AM) Is it me, or does this offseason really f***in' suck? It's you.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 01:09 PM) With below average hitting and pitching, it kind of makes one wonder how we won 90 games. By having the best offense in baseball carry us in the first half to the second best record in baseball, while Detroit's pitching staff carried it to the best record. Then having a sub-.500 second half. That will take a potentially 100+ win team and let them coast to 90 wins.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 12:46 PM) 16th out of 30 teams after the all-star break in 2006. Yes, and 10th in the AL. Sox were 9th in the AL over the whole year in 05. So while the offense went from the best to mediocre over the course of the season, the pitching went from bad to worse- 23rd in MLB in the second half.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 12:29 PM) Yep....and that 8/9/1 is one of the main reasons that we didn't make the playoffs last year. The pitching being absolutely brutal is the reason we didn't make the playoffs last year. The pitching being excellent in 2005 is why we even got into the playoffs, and then why we dominated in the playoffs. If the pitching had only been substantially worse last year than in 05 we would have made the playoffs, but instead it was drastically worse. Great pitching carries subpar offensive team into the playoffs. Really bad pitching causes an excellent offensive team to not be able to make the playoffs.

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 05:47 PM) Something to be said for those measly 40+ hrs too. Yes, obviously in regards to the contract. I was referring to his speed mainly in reference to it being a band-aid for his inexperience in the outfield.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 09:23 PM) i can just picture it, crawford running wild on victor martinez Last year Crawford vs. Cleveland: on base 11 times (no xbh) 3 stolen bases Podsednik vs. Cleveland: on base 19 times (no xbh) 9 stolen bases

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Nov 29, 2006 -> 04:22 PM) I know a team that paid a 31 year old second baseman, converted him to the outfield, for 8 years $136 Million That 31 year old's main asset in the outfield is his absurd speed which got him 46 stolen bases this year, not 6 like Durham.

At least Chavez didn't win the Gold Gl..........Chavez won the Gold Glove. Nice. http://baseballmusings.com/

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Nov 28, 2006 -> 03:02 PM) I don't see where this is a bad deal for the Angels. Whenever anyone in this thread says they don't see why this is a bad deal for the Angels and then proceeds to rattle of Garcia, Crede, and Santana's career and or '06 numbers they fail to address the very pertinent issue of the # of years the players are under contract and their salaries. Making the argument that "this is Freddie's ERA over the past x years, while Santana's is this, and look at how bad he was on the road," doesn't work if it doesn't also address "and the Angels only get Garcia for 1 year for $10 million and the Sox get Santana for 4 years for x hundred thousand dollars/year. " There are a ton of variables in the equation of this trade: past performance, potential future performance, current salary, # of years under contract, team need, etc., as some people have accurately pointed out in the thread. Either way, it's a crap deal for the Sox, and I'm glad Kenny sees it that way. If it were Santana for Garcia straight up, I'd say yeah, do it please. But throwing in 2 years of Crede and only getting in return a slight upgrade (or possible downgrade) on Podsednik who we've already got if we want, is unacceptable.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 08:26 AM) This team will not win the best division in baseball with Uribe, Podsednik, and Anderson in the lineup. They will if the pitching staff gets remotely close to their 2005 numbers. Those 3 dudes in the line-up and get rid of Thome and pick up Carl Everett again, and the Sox still win the division if the pitching staff can do what it did in 2005.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 10:44 AM) There is literally no debate - I want any other player - major or minor league - who is capable of playing left field next year and taking pitches. Podsednik is worse than any other major leaguers and a good deal of minor leaguers playing his position, taking pitches Podsednik was 27th in MLB in pitches seen per plate appearance. Only Thome and Dye had higher P/PA. As you could have guessed, A.J. saw the fewest pitches/PA on the team, followed by Uribe. There is so much silly, irrational, emotion-based talk about Podsednik being a major problem, a major reason for the Sox failure to make the playoffs, a terrible player, and now even not fast (while he was one of 10 players to steal 40 bases, and didn't even play every day). Whatever detriment Pods was with his subpar year, it is certain that he did not cost the Sox as many runs as Mark Buehrle, who gave up 31 more earned runs in '06 than in '05 in 32 less innings. or Jon Garland who gave up 20 more runs this year in 10 less innings. or Fred Garcia who gave up 21 more runs this year in 12 less innings. or the entire pitching staff who gave up 151 more earned runs in 06 than in 05. So Pods, if he's with the Sox next year will have little effect on whether or not they make the playoffs compared to the effect of the starting pitchers rebounding from last year's failure. There is no desperate need to improve the 3rd best offense in baseball. We won the World Series with the 14th best offense in baseball. With Pods upside; being one of the few elite speed guys in baseball (who stole 44 bases in the 1st half of '05), who lead the team on batting in '05 (yes better than Dye, better than Konerko, better than Iguchi) and cheap salary compared to comparable players (Pierre $9 million dollars a year) is certainly a good option and a bargain in left field. I still think Ken Lofton would be a better choice and probably relatively cheap.

QUOTE(Drew @ Nov 25, 2006 -> 02:04 AM) No thanks. Vizquel is a fossil, and does little to solve our biggest problem of a leadoff-hitting, table-setting outfielder. Except that Vizquel exactly solves that problem by being a leadoff-hitting, table-setting shortstop who hit .295 with a .361 OBP last year. As a 'fossil' he's stolen 24 bases in each of the past 2 years, while Uribe managed to steal 1 base last year. What's Juan's excuse? Durham's great too, but he'll probably cost $10 million. and his fossilized legs only manage 6 or 7 steals a year now. Kenny Lofton is another person the Sox should be looking at for LF. He hasn't told his fast-running legs that he's a fossil yet, and got 32 stolen bases out of them in 129 games last year, not to mention his.360 OBP.

I mentioned wishing we could get Freel earlier back in the Sarge Jr. thread. I agree he'd be great to get. On Baseball Musings, he's ranked 2nd among center fielders in the Probabalistic Model of Range behind only Ichiro. Among guys who stole at least 35 bases last year, his walk rate is second only to Felipe Lopez. Plus he really hucks his body all over the field. If we couldn't get him, I support picking up Kenny Lofton and sticking him in left field. Holy moley! 32/37 in stolen base attempts last year, 12 triples, 45 walks to 41 strikeouts. Holy moley, I say.

Sox should sign Lofton. Look at his GD numbers the past 2 years. He could play in left or center, would be an upgrade on Pods in the batting and OBP department and likely as well in net steals. Would come cheaper than Roberts- we could probably sign him for 1 year.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Nov 17, 2006 -> 11:58 AM) Of course, Pods is below-average defensively in LF (and couldn't play CF or 3B on a regular basis, either) and is constantly re-aggravating the strained groin that he suffered over a year ago. I'd take Figgins over him in a heartbeat. Pods had a worse year defensively last year, but is actually very good in left field. Look at The Fielding Bible, he was I think, ranked 3rd in 2005. All that fast running is good for getting to fly balls in a baseball game. Former CFs in LF are at the top of thet list. As I recall, Pods arm even ranked favorable among LFs. And it wasn't a strained groin, but 2 hernias that weren't discovered till after the season.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 14, 2006 -> 05:18 AM) And then you could trade Heilman for say Coco Crisp to fill that LF need, and a solid leadoff hitter in Crisp. Youch. Crisp is actually pretty bogus. Sox fans are frustrated that we didn't make the playoffs with such a good team and want to blame it on Podsednik, (who had a mediocre, not horrible, year and endured some bad slumps), who they saw struggling often during the year, rather than on our pitching (poo-tching, really), which took us to a World Series title in '05 by being the best in the AL all year, and then lights out in the playoffs, and in '06 managed to keep us out of the playoffs despite the having #3 run scoring offense in baseball, by giving up an ENTIRE RUN MORE PER GAME THAN WE DID IN '05. Whew, got it all in in one sentence. Crisp last year had a joke OBP of .317 and managed basically half the number of steals that Pods had.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) Once again, it all goes back to pitching. While the media will gush about 2005 and "SmallBall", plain, and simple, it's bulls***. "White Sox Smallball"=Pitching out your ass, hit bombs. Thats what they did in 2005, worked like a charm. It all goes back to pitching, and thats really it. You have the 05 staff and the 06 Offense, and you have a 115 win team. Hell, if you take any of those teams from 2000-2006, and put the 05 staff with the offense, and we are in the playoffs every year. We hit 200 HR's every year. We did it in 05, did it in 06, and will probably do it again in 07. If we pitch, the offense wont really matter... Thank you, Tony. Yes. It has nothing to do with the offense. You don't need to improve on the number 3 offense in baseball. The '06 offense beat the living crap out of the '05 offense (10th in AL) and they won the World Series because their pitching was tied for the best ERA in the league. In '06 the pitching gives up a full run more per game (10th best in the AL). An entire run per game worse. That's a joke. They'd probably make the playoffs even if they gave an extra .75 runs per game. They won the World Series with a crap offense and nobody said anything. Their pitching turns into s*** the next year, and everyone blames Podsednik, Uribe, and Anderson.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 4, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) A ridiculous upgrade. Sorry but I've seen a lot of Figgins and a lot of Pods and they are in totally different leagues (I don't care what the stats say either). You should care what the stats say. The stats say that in terms of getting on base, Figgins is a downgrade from Podsednik last year. Your opinion of Podsednik, like apparently a lot of Sox fans, is overly emotion-based. Frustrated from his not having a great year last year. Nonetheless, there are very few other elite speed-merchants in the game like Podsednik. A few of them are ones that have been mentioned as possibly coming to the Sox: Pierre, Figgins, D. Roberts. Of them, as frustrating as it was to see Pods struggle day and and day out, Pierre and Figgins did virtually no better a job at getting on base. We just didn't have to watch them every day. Pierre and Pods had identical OBPs of .330 last year, but Pierre will be asking for 78 gabillion dollars in free agency. Figgins sucked ass even worse as a lead-off man, and overall had only a .336 OBP. The only one who had a markedly better year was Roberts. .293 avg .360 OBP 49SB and a .292 avg against lefties. It is possible that Podsednik is 4th best of these. What will happen next year? I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows. Which of these players will have a year like they did in '05? '06? Is it worth it to gamble that Pierre (who had the exact same OBP as Pods) will be so much better than Pods to give him 4 or 5 million dollars more than Pods? Really? In '05 Pods played 33 fewer games than Pierre, but stole 2 more bases. What would we have to give up to get Figgins? Too much, so as to make it not worth it? Probably. Roberts would likely be relatively cheap in free agency, had a better year last year. What is the liklihood he'll be more injury-free than Pods next year? I don't know. Nobody knows. What nobody has mentioned. Why are we not trying to get Ryan Freel from the Reds? Why are we not trying to get Ryan Freel, who the Reds would not even play every day? Why are we not trying to get Ryan Freel who made $1.5 million last year and who the Reds would not play every day and who plays many positions in the infield and outfield and who plays like goddamn Rowand and who stole 37 bases and had a .371 OBP last year? Trade Thome? Oh my. Oh dear lord, why? Dump salary? What salary. He's one of the top maulers in the game and we're only paying basically $7 million a year for him ( or if you like $14 million last year, $14 million this year, and -$7 million in '08. that's negative $7 million in '08!!!)