witesoxfan

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 04:35 PM) Chicago Bears Nation The Bears are calling around the league to see if they can find a trade partner for DE Julius Peppers, per sources. Just due diligence. No one is trading for him.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 03:49 PM) Jeff Conine? I'll take it. Nice

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 01:40 PM) The Sox need a power hitter in LF. De Aza isn't it. He's average, and would I think have some value to a contender as a 4th OF- he'd be very good there. Otherwise, he's a decent placeholder for a non-contender like us. Viciedo COULD be the corner we need. Don't know yet. Saunders has 33% more plate appearances and sports a .295 career OBP. The chances of him improving are less than Viciedo. I wouldn't make that deal straight up. Trade De Aza for prospects; dump others in July. By the end of the season, we should have a much stronger farm, which could allow us to trade to fix more holes. I really dislike that logic. It doesn't matter what type of hitter is in LF, you just want them to be good. There have been several teams - the Pirates notably, but others as well - that have used non-traditional LFers out there and gotten great results because they've saved runs defensively. The Sox did this with Pierre for a year too (though the next, he was awful in LF). Frankly, I'd rather keep Viciedo right now because he's younger.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 12:13 PM) That'd be wild considering what Griffen just got. What's a pack fan doin following Biggs? There is one thing you are forgetting about the Griffen signing, and that's that Spielman did that and Spielman is terrible. I mean, I like Griffen, but that's too much money for a guy who has never been a starter. Like WAAAAAY too much. I feel like the Bills gave Aaron Williams too much money, but he was good last year as a starter and $26 mill over 4 years isn't nearly as bad as $42 mill over 5 years, even if DEs are more valuable overall.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 12:19 PM) I have always wondered how much cash is actually exchanged in these types of deals. about tree fiddy

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 12:12 PM) Nor do I, but there's at least as good a chance at him figuring out, probably better, than there is one of our projected catchers for this season emerging as starter-quality. Perhaps that's what this season is meant to be, in our pseudo-rebuild. The Yankee's Cashman has heaped praise on DV in the past. That's a team that also needs RH power, and moreso after Soriano's reported retirement after the season. Trade him there during his next 5 day "hot streak". I've felt all along that this season is designed for exactly that. Yes, if absolutely everything goes right, they can compete, but figure out what you have at several of these positions. Which young guys are going to pull through, which will need to be replaced? Is Paulino an actual option or will the Sox be in the market for a starting pticher? Which young arms in the pen will break through and become studs? Next year, they free up money and can have as much as $20 million available to them without any other moves being made - say, Alexei or De Aza getting trade this year.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 12:00 PM) Not nearly enough of either to be a real asset. Beckhamlike. Nowhere near peak Rios in either category, and I'm aware you weren't comparing him and MS. I'm all for trading Tank for a real return, or, even if they're flat out pissed at him, just giving him this season, to see if Abreu's influence can turn the guy around. I think we pretty much see eye to eye on this, and I'd rather give Viciedo a chance this year, I just don't hold high hopes. I feel the same about Saunders too.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 11:37 AM) Not. Even. Close. And Saunders is 27.5. He's likely AT his ceiling. And we're going to move Tank to DH ideally anyway. Makes NO sense whatsoever. Gotta be, right? Saunders can steal bases, hit for power, and play reasonable defense. He has a much better all around game. Compare Carlos Lee at his peak to Alex Rios. Lee was putting up better offensive numbers, but you'd say that Rios was the better player. Same thing. Viciedo is also 25, has shown virtually no signs of improving, is weak defensively, and has no speed. And just because a guy is 27 doesn't mean he's at his ceiling. Plenty of players improve at that age and beyond. I just don't want Saunders because I think his addition to the club would increase redundancy, which isn't bad when we're talking about really good players, but Saunders isn't a really good player.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:53 AM) It only matters though if Buddy and co will move him back across the diamond. Perhaps Barnum will come up and push him over as that would be a best case scenario. Maybe they moved him over after missing time so that he would get at bats while his defense may have fallen behind in his time off. Are there any indications where he is playing in ST? I'd like to see them play him there as long as they can, but it may be that he's not comfortable at 3B. The article alludes to it, but he wasn't blocked by prospects at 3B last year, so the fact that he is playing 1B is an indication of their confidence level in his defense at 3B, which is to say they have very little to none. Maybe they could get him some work in the outfield too. Anything to increase his versatility.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 10:46 AM) That's the key factor, power. He's needs to hit a lot more long balls. The good news, in addition to the videos from that article showing just how hard he CAN hit it... is the doubles. Despite having very little speed, he hit 31 doubles in 413 PA. Or look at it from this perspective - he hit 27 doubles in 84 games with Winston-Salem. Only about 15 guys had more in the Carolina League, and they all had at least 100 games played, most more like 120-130. If he had 125 games at a similar rate, he'd have hit about 41 doubles, good for a tie for leading the entire league (and the guy he'd be tied with had 133 games). Given those doubles are likely not speed-aided (many of the guys above him have double digit SB's), he's hitting the ball hard, a lot. That's sometimes a positive future indicator of home run power. Guys who hit .300 with 20 homers and 40 doubles typically do well in this league.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:53 AM) Nathaniel Stoltz with another very detailed piece, this one on potential sleeper prospect Rangel Ravelo. High contact rates, lots of walks, lots of doubles, hints of emerging power, playing young for level. Plays 1B though, and so far at least, few homers. Anyone else have this guy on their radar? To add a little color to the piece, he went on the Restricted List for personal/family reasons when he missed a half season. We have some information as to the cause, but aren't publishing it. Suffice to say it wasn't baseball-related, in case people were wondering. Ravelo is a player very much on my radar. While Barnum has the highest ceiling of all 1B prospects, I honestly think Ravelo is the most likely to be a regular.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:33 AM) No chance he is back if he has teams contacting him on the sly. Teams are able to contact and show interest in free agents at this point. He's just doing a solid to those teams by not mentioning them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) He did get 50 days on the roster last year, so in reality we are talking about more like the All-Star break, or later, to save that extra year. We may still see him around June. I'm not sure if the Sox care quite as much about the Super 2 eligibility, but they can manipulate the system enough to actually get an extra year of service time out of him. It could logically be around the ASB too. I wouldn't be opposed.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 09:28 AM) No I get you. I'm the same way. At some point though I just hit the wall and think "what's the point" and then drop it. But it was fun for a while. I've been that way. For a good 3-4 months, I loved Tapped Out, but I haven't played it in like 6 months. Instead of spending 5-10 minutes playing it, you end up sitting there for 20+ minutes just to collect everything. It starts to suck.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:26 AM) (If he were to hit, both of those would be poor justifications for keeping him in the minors, however him not hitting well so far could make that point moot. That said....him hitting poorly in ST was sort of the best option...which is a really weird situation to be in). I honestly don't think either is a poor justification even if he hit well in the Spring. It's still Spring Training. These numbers mean absolutely nothing. If you can save money and keep a player for a longer period of time by keeping them in the minors for an extra 30-60 days, I'd do it every time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:27 AM) It's the only obvious reason why the team would even consider this kind of deal. This one you can't help but read between the lines about. If you can get sufficient value, you will always trade someone. That value is subjective and it may be different for similarly valued players. I would take less for De Aza, but I certainly wouldn't take a low amount. It has to be a legitimate prospect.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:11 AM) I would want that competitive balance B pick. I would consider moving Viciedo for Saunders, a good young pitching prospect (Gohara), and their competitive balance pick. Viciedo could go there and end up thriving but maybe the Sox don't see him as part of their future. Interesting. We are still talking about Dayan Viciedo right now, right? I understand the guy has a high ceiling, but he's no where close to reaching it, and Saunders' ceiling is just as high or higher. There is some severe overvaluation going on here.

QUOTE (staxx @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:21 AM) All it takes is for him to get hot and that changes real quick. Given the roster crunch and service time stipulations, the likeliest outcome has always been for Davidson to start the year in the minors.

QUOTE (sammy esposito @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 12:30 PM) I'm watching Buehrle on Mlb pitch against the Rays. Wow it is a good calm feeling to see him pitch. They showed his stats for 2013, not so good. Regardless, I wish him the best. He wasn't bad last year. Not good or great, but he was an OK pitcher. He's said he wants to pitch for the Sox again, so I'm expecting him to be the 5th starter 3 years from now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 12:12 PM) Jerry Crasnick ‏@jcrasnick 10m #Royals have released Brad Penny, says manager Ned Yost. Well, time to hang it up big guy.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 09:17 AM) Wade didn't leave to be a #2, he stayed on his team. Derrick Rose has played like 3 games in the past 900 days. Anthony would absolutely be the #1 superstar in Chicago.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 05:47 PM) True or false: What are the Bears chances of getting Bennett? Purple

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) Keep in mind Keppinger was hitting about .450 the first few weeks of spring training last year. Jake Fox's career spring training OPS is around 1.100.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 09:48 AM) Shazier ran a 4.36 at pro day, could make him some cash. That's late 1st, early 2nd territory.