witesoxfan

FWIW, Masterson's velocity is down about 3 MPH this year. That can be recuperated if he's not hurt, but it's not a good sign.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:43 AM) You've also just spent approximately $200 million. Good luck thinking JR will agree. The ending of the movie Magnolia (except it will rain down more Abreu's and Alexei's) is perhaps more realistic than that. How much do you think Tomas is going to get? I'm guessing you think somewhere in the range of $120-140 million. I don't think Martin will get anywhere north of $40 million, Masterson $6-10 mill on a 1 year deal, and that leaves $10-30 mill for relievers in the $200 million threshold you've set. In other words, I don't see any way that's possibly close to $200 million. Not sure it's a playoff team, but let's be realistic.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) Other than Alexei Ramirez (obviously there are arguments on both sides of this one), who are you willing to part with that has any value to another team? We all know the KW move would have been to fashion some sort of package out of our minor leagues for an established major league player...which worked well in 2004 and but didn't work so much after 2008. What would you be able to get back trading Conor Gillaspie? Probably not as much as we think, right? Viciedo's flaws have been discussed and dissected ad infinitum, so that's not going to accomplish much by trading him, either. Let's face it, unless we trade Tim Anderson, it's doubtful we can arrange a trade that will bring back a young, cost-controlled player in the vein of a Heyward or Stanton, and even that type of move's dubious if we have no way to keep them with the organization long-term. You don't have to bring in Heyward or Stanton. You don't have to trade someone from the major league team. You can, but you don't have to. The Sox right now have plenty of good prospects that, while nice to have, are non-essential.

QUOTE (TRU @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:39 AM) Why are you so convinced hes not? Just look at his body of work over his time in the majors. Im not going to look at a month of hitting .394 and say the guys awesome. He hit .245 last year and has hit .242 since the all star break. He had two months where he hit .394 and .333, those are outliers. It's best to say that he's good against RHP and virtually useless against LHP. It's the best simple way of defining his body of work in the majors thus far.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:23 AM) The problem with this line of thinking is that Anderson/Montas/Hawkins/Danish are all probably at least 1.5 seasons away. (Not to mention that Davidson for the moment doesn't look close to being a viable option at 3B, and likewise with Erik Johnson and the starting rotation.) That means they're probably not going to be ready to legitimately compete as part of the team until AT BEST the start of the 2017 campaign, assuming they get their feet wet from July-September, 2016. The White Sox simply can't afford to punt away two more years of Abreu and Sale, because Chris is a sort of ticking time bomb that as soon as it goes, it blows up with it any chance for the White Sox to be competitive. And we also aren't sure exactly how long Abreu can play without experiencing more serious foot/ankle problems as well. In 2008, before Quentin broke his hand...if you would have predicted the rest of his stats with the White Sox and then seen what we got in trade return, you wouldn't have believed it. You can never take ANYTHING for granted, ask the A's and Tigers how well that's going for them. At any rate, if they're left trying to compete with the likes of Rasmus, Markakis and Morse (one of them, guys not receiving QO's), that's just not going to be a big enough improvement offensively to move the meter. It might actually be a downgrade, for all we know. Probably not, but maybe. You are seemingly completely ruling out the possibility of a trade. I don't understand why. If they are going to get an impact player (or two), I envision it coming through trade, and I definitely see that happening. Who they give up is an entirely different question, but there are all kinds of possibilities on that front. This is a weak free agent class.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:12 AM) Tony Gwynn, although I'm not quite positive he weighed as much as Sandoval. Pretty close though. Tony Gwynn was also one of the best hitters of all time, and frankly he was the best pure hitter since Ted Williams. Both points (there have been exceptions but "fat" players typically don't age well) are still valid though.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) Sorry for not reading your response and typing out essentially the exact same thing two posts later. Repeat until they understand

Schwarber, considered to be an advanced hitting prospect, also had a K% of 19.9% in A+ ball. Tim Anderson, considered to be an extremely talented but raw hitter, has a 22.7% K% at A+. Maybe hold back on the Schwarber love. He doesn't look like a bad prospect, but you want to see a guy like that do it in AA before you consider him an elite level prospect.

QUOTE (TRU @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:26 AM) Hes perfectly fine as bench player and a guy to start against RHP. Not as a DH for a team that's trying to contend. Hes a .250 hitter with no power. Its cringe worthy to think about him as the DH next season. I would absolutely rather have Dunn. As a starting DH against RHP, he's just fine. His defense doesn't hurt you and he's solid offensively. If he can even be average offensively at 3B, he's probably a 2.0 WAR player, which is valuable enough. I do agree he shouldn't be starting full time, but if he gets all of the starts against righties, I wouldn't be upset.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:20 AM) I think the odds of winning the AL Central are actually higher with Adam Dunn as DH than Conor Gillaspie in 2015. Nevermind that Gillaspie is probably just as good, if not better, against RHP.

QUOTE (TRU @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:18 AM) Gillaspie has been hot garbage since the all star break, yet is continually praised as some great player around here. Slow clap for his surge to begin the year, now everyone take a step back and realize hes not that good and what we've got from him recently is more what he is than the .330 hitter to start the year. He's perfectly fine against RHP. He's virtually useless against LHP.

Gillaspie is weak defensively and he has not hit as well late into the season. Beyond that, it's easy to overlook the production, both offensively (even if below average) and defensively that Tyler Flowers has provided. Frankly, in today's game, if you have a catcher that can play close to 75% of the games behind the plate and remain a non-blackhole at the plate, you have a fairly valuable commodity. That he's also been productive defensively is an added bonus. I think, if Semien shows he's good defensively at 3B, Gillaspie is going to be a guy that sees significant time at DH next season. Not to say he won't play 3B or 1B next year (making the assumption, of course, that he'll be with the team), but if there's a better alternative at 3B, you go that route.

Teams are trying to get guys installed and accustomed to the offense in the pre-season in game situations. Even if it's a dress rehearsal for the regular season, they aren't going to be running their full offense at that point either on offense or defense. I worry and care so little about pre-season numbers, even for poor teams like the Browns and Bills.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 08:51 AM) Guys like Martin and Tomas will not cost picks (I dont imagine the Pirates will extend Martin a QO) Semi-active. If the don't cost a pick, I can see the Sox being involved. If they do, I do not. I don't think they'll completely abstain from free agency.

I made some in the winner thread yesterday, but we may as well keep a running track of it with all the youngsters up. -I'm much happier with Semien this go around. He looks more confident at the plate and he's putting better swings on the ball. -Carlos Sanchez looks like he should be able to stick at 2B. Confident, quick, short swing and he barrels the ball pretty well too. Liike I said yesterday, I can see him developing a bit of power down the line too, though I don't see him ever hitting more than 15 in a season. -I like Wilkins swing, but he's a guy that absolutely is not up to speed. He's late in recognizing and swinging at hittable pitches at this point. I want to see him get a good extended look for the remainder of the season to see if he can make those adjustments. -Snodgress's stuff looked OK, but I'll need to see more of him to make further observation. He was nervous and overthrowing and underthrowing last night, and then when he tried to throw a get-me-over to Vargas, he murdered it - I still don't think ball has come down yet. And, if that's all he has in his repertoire, he is going to be a loogy. -I like Bassitt out of the pen much more than I do out of the rotation. I think his stuff is good enough to work in short outings but it will expose him working multiple times through the lineup. It would be nice to see the curveball get refined a little bit as it's a little too slow and loopy at this point, but his fastball has nice run and velocity on it. Also, he should have rung Escobar up yesterday - Escobar was even slow getting out of the box waiting for the umpire to ring him up. Also, I think Viciedo showed again last night why he's going to get another chance with the Sox. I know we're all tired of him by this point, and it's September and all that, but guys like this that show flashes now and then can sometimes make one adjustment and everything clicks. It's hard to look at Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion in Toronto and say "See?!" but guys like that and Beltre and JD Martinez are exactly what can happen with Viciedo.

I was thinking of this last night - I'm not sure how much it will matter if the Sox have a protected pick or not. They will likely be semi-active in free agency, but as we saw last year, if there's a marginal talent that will cost the Sox even a 2nd round pick, they are not likely to pursue that option, and there is no one attractive enough in free agency this year for the Sox to concede either a 1st or a 2nd. Victor Martinez is the one that comes immediately to mind, but I think the Sox would be absolutely insane to give up even a 2nd round pick to the Tigers to sign a 36 year old player. If he's not offered a QO - which, why wouldn't he? - then I can see the Sox interested, but even that'd be a really short term deal. Given Hahn's signings in the past, with a tendency towards guys who produce ground balls, I also can't see them being interested in James Shields either. Basically, getting a higher pick isn't a bad thing, but they're already going to end up with a good pick, so the best thing to do is hope the young players hit well and keep developing, win or lose. (not trying to thread-jack or say this thread is stupid, as the work put into it is appreciated)

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 03:36 PM) Wonder who the two Russell Martin votes are There's 3 now. It's the safest, most logical move to me to guarantee an upgrade.

I'm still a bit timid about using Ridley just because it seems like he's always in Belichick's doghouse. Wayne and Hartline seem like better options to me, but I'm just a guy on the internet.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) Anyone have opinions on the following: QB: Brees WR: AJ Green WR: Cobb RB: Ellington RB: Vereen TE: Martellius Bennet Flx1: Ridley Flx2: Pierre Thomas Bench: Reggie Wayne Hartline Tannehill J. Stewart Dalton Bruce Ellington Anyone have an opinion on whether I should bench a patriot rb for Wayne? Its a 14 team league so my team is pretty loaded PPR or standard?

QUOTE (oldsox @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) How does Phillie GM Amaro keep his gig? I don't think he does. I think he's gone after the season.

Wait, who are we talking about hear? Alshonn Jeffreys?

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 12:04 PM) Don't post when you're drunk, Blake. Russell Wilson's about to go HAM on the NFL. LOL, I wish. I like the Muscle too, but I think the Niners have a really good team, injuries and suspensions aside.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 12:01 PM) To be fair, he did mention the Phillies would be paying most of his remaining salary. While that's true, it still doesn't change how bad Ryan Howard is now a days.

QUOTE (bshah723 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 11:51 AM) Not saying I like the move, it would suck and hes done. But IMO its going to happen when the philles do a overhaul they will look for an AL team...with a need... When the Sox traded for Thome, it was because he was a good hitter who was coming off an injury prone season and the Phillies had Ryan Howard come up and tear s*** up. Ryan Howard has been a bad and oft-injured hitter for 3 years now. It's not even worth considering. His contract is worse - like way worse - than Vernon Wells' contract was when the Angels traded for him.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 11:00 AM) I've got this dream scenario in my head where the Sox, Yankees, and Rockies hook up for a three-way deal this offseason that sees Alexei going to NYY, Tulo coming to Chicago, and prospects from us and NYY going to Colorado. Neither team maybe has quite the prospect ammo for Tulo alone, the Yankees won't want to take the big contract, but the Sox low payroll obligations would allow us to do just that. Among the prospect we would send would be a couple of the advanced MI guys that would be blocked by Tulo. But I know, dreaming. That would create quite a messy situation for me, personally.