witesoxfan

The DBacks trading for Addison Reed was the 6th WORST move of the offseason according to Cameron.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 05:17 PM) I read this thinking it meant starting pitcher. I was ready to jump in on the whole fight and everything. QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 05:32 PM) cant imagine that's up for debate. Yeah, I don't understand this either, it's obviously going to be Axelrod.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 21, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) Thanks! If I had to order them in how likely they are to be on a 25 man roster AT ALL, I'd go... 1. Thompson 2. Mitchell 3. Hawkins 4. Walker I just think the org is so doggedly focused on Mitchell, they'll find a way to shoe-horn him in there at some point even if he clearly isn't ready. Now, as far as who I think has the best shot of being an every day player for at least a season or two... 1. Thompson 2. Hawkins 3. Walker 4. Mitchell With Thompson and Hawkins nearly interchangeable. And finally, chances of being an above average, possibly even star player... 1. Hawkins 2. Thompson ... 98. Walker 99. Mitchell Big gap there if you are talking about ceiling, in my view. I would actually rank Mitchell 3 behind Thompson on your very last list. Walker would still be 98.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 21, 2014 -> 07:46 AM) Is this true or not? I think it is and it's scary. I think little is the wrong term. They have adequate depth, but I do not believe they have enough high upside talent nor do I believe they have enough pitching. And, while I think that's always going to be true, I think they have a need for it more than most teams. It's not scary though. It's at a suitable level.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 21, 2014 -> 07:41 AM) He can stretch his arm out in the majors we aren't winning anything this year, it doesn't matter if it takes him three starts. This statement contradicts itself. You don't stretch an arm out by throwing in the pen; on the contrary, you (for lack of a better term) shrink the arm by putting it in the pen. He's 26 and has a chance to be a useful pitcher, but has only pitched about 2/3 of a season at AAA. Using him in the minors as a starter to help him get a better feel for his stuff is not going to end the world, especially with as many talented (though not necessarily proven) arms that the Sox have at the MLB level.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 02:23 PM) How far is JR Murphy from the majors? Probably not terribly far. Also, because I am a jerky jerk face: Murphy, minors, career (1709 PAs): .266/.331/.407/.738 Phegley, minors, career (1573 PAs): 263/.313/.417/.730

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 02:10 PM) Is this the one you're thinking of? Justin Maxwell from the Astros. http://m.mlb.com/video/v22185601/ Haha, Humber. CLASSIC

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 01:40 PM) How is a replacement player calculated? This is the biggest mystery to me in the whole WAR discussion. Assuming a replacement player is a AAAA guy, what is the baseline used to determine what that buys statistical profile should be? If you have a team full of replacement level players, are you predicted to be a .500 or middle of the road team? Is the replacement level figure adjusted daily, weekly, monthly, annually? Does WAR take into account you are facing Justin Verlander or Joe Saunders when it determines how you fair in comparison to other players? Does it take environmental or park factors into account? How about strength of league or strength of schedule? If a Cubs player has a 2.2 WAR at SS, does that mean he is viewed as an equal player to a White Sox with 2.2 WAR? If the same two players had identical stat lines, would their WAR be the same? Negative WAR is weird concept to me too, you are basically saying that Adam Dunn is worse than Ross Gload, because Gload is theoretically a replacement level player, but that just isn't true. (as a forward, these are awesome questions and should trigger good amounts of debate) There is a standard calculation for a replacement level player, but to think broadly of it, consider any player that is removed from the 25 man roster over the course of the year, given a $400,000 cost (meaning to consider, say, Jeff Keppinger, you are to assume he is making $400,000, not $4,000,000). Then imagine that you DFA that player and he has to go through the waiver process. If he clears that, meaning nobody wants to take him even though he is making merely the league minimum, then he is a replacement level player. Dylan Axelrod is a perfect example of a replacement level player. Here is a link that goes into further detail regarding that which explains it a bit better: http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/war/replacement-level/ As indicated at the bottom of that article, a team full of replacement level players would be expected to win about 48 games. Depending on luck or how much better or worse these players considered to be replacement level actually are compared to the replacement level, that team could win as few was 42 games or as many as 70. In the past 10 years, the Mariners and Astros have each had pretty bad teams overall win anywhere between 85 and 88 games, and I'm sure there are other examples of that as well. However, it's best to think of a replacement player as so bad that no team wants him at any cost. All of these numbers are context neutral, meaning they factor in everything, though I do not believe they would factor how often you are facing someone really good (as far as I'm aware, 0 for 4 against Justin Verlander appears the same in WAR as 0 for 4 against Dylan Axelrod). Negative WAR implies that you are worse than the calculated replacement level over whatever length of time. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are a bad or a good player, just that you have played poorly. Consider Dunn's 2011 - you can reasonably say that almost any player in AAA would be able to play better defense than him at 1B while also hitting better too. But, given using Andy Wilkins or Adam Dunn on your roster, you are going to take Dunn every time (except for one poster on here in particular). Adam Dunn is not a replacement level player because his expected contributions are positive, but he did have a very, very bad year in 2011.

What I got out of Konerko's statement was that he could be a great hitter for average and power. Meaning like he could hit .310 with 15 jacks or .260 with 40 jacks.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 11:47 AM) That is a personal attack. You should be suspended. I would like a moderator to explain why it is not a personal attack if you are not. Consistently manipulating and twisting words while putting words in people's mouths does the same. No point in continuing this, it's down hill from here.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) Alex Rodriguez is wearing a Yankees World Series ring. Timo Perez is wearing a White Sox World Series ring. I don't understand your point. That, because he won a World Series, his $300 million contract is suddenly justified? That's absolutely ridiculous logic. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 11:33 AM) I don't know why players are supposedly done when they hit 30. I think Carlton Fisk was 33 or 34 when he came to the White Sox. Mike Trout is going to get paid into his 30s with his next contract. If he were a White Sox, I guess you would want them to trade him instead of being stuck with an "albotross". A $50 million contract isn't an albatross to the White Sox. They still made moves when they had Adam Dunn signed to one. Konerko came back. AJ came back. They spent $68 million for Abreu and he will be past 30 when it expires. They were going to spend almost double that for Tanaka. Buy their line they are right at their breaking point. But remember when you do, you are ignoring their actions the past several years. You are the worst. I *NEVER* said people are done at 30. I implied that players in the early to mid 30s tend to be more injury prone. Are you going to disagree with that? I'm not going to bother responding to anything else before you respond to that. If you disagree that players in the early to mid 30s are more injury prone, then you are doing nothing but trolling at this point, which is a suspendable offense.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) The Yankees had a ton of injuries last year. They had nothing to trade for fill ins.Any team that has that many injuries are going to be playing some weaker players. When 75% of your regular infield is on the DL, guys like Jayson Nix get playing time. So you somehow think that players who are in their early to mid 30s tend to stay healthy? They were a bit snakebitten, but to expect a team that old to stay completely healthy all year is ridiculous.

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 10:54 AM) Wow, you talk about 4 guys that need to have good years. Mitchell and Walker---not going to make it. Thompson--maybe, but he needs to put up 5 good months. Hawkins--play well enough to get to Birmingham in 2015. If not, how's his pitching arm? I don't believe Walker will, but I want to see Mitchell one more year. The AFL was encouraging, even if it was younger competition. The bottom line is that it's still, for the most part, the best players in the minors. I think you want Hawkins in Birmingham in 2015, but he's only 20 this year. Even if he repeats again, he's still age appropriate for A+. That's how ridiculous that assignment was for him.

Last year, the Yankees received significant playing time from Chris Stewart, Lyle Overybay, Eduardo Nunez, Jayson Nix, Vernon Wells, Ichiro Suzuki, Travis Hafner, David Adams, and Austin Romine. Overbay's OPS was .688 and Hafner's .679, which were the best out of that group. Tell me some more about how Alex Rodriguez's contract didn't affect them. Now, considering it doesn't count against their payroll this year, while shedding a few other contracts, they were able to bring in a few new players while staying under the luxury tax. They won't be under it next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 11:00 AM) Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeymanCBS 9m Andrelton simmons got $58M/7 extension. #Braves @Ken_Rosenthal 1st Simmons breakdown: $1M sign bonus, salaries of $1M, $3M, $6M, $8M, $11M, $13M, $15M Jesus, if he can turn into any sort of a hitter, we are talking about one of the best deals in the league.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) I don't understand your position. You say ARods contract is an albatross, yet the Yankees spent half a billion this offseason on free agents. You say Fielder had an awful contract, yet Dombrowski was able to move it. If you are making a point that taking on these contracts will keep you from doing anything else, (and Santana or Jimenez aren't exactly at ARod or Prince's price level) I think you are using some really bad examples. If anything, they go totally against your point. No. The Yankees can afford a $30 million hit because, as you said, they can spend half a billion dollars and $200 million in any given year. That's the equivalent to $15 million in dead money on a normal team. It's not like it's a good thing or something easy to deal with. Dombrowski was incredibly lucky that he was able to get a declining 2B who is guaranteed $62 million over the next 4 years while still including $30 million on top of Prince Fielder's deal. Now, re-read that sentence slowly to take it all in. The only thing I may have done was not explain myself. If you are somehow suggesting that it's a good thing to sign Alex Rodriguez to a 10 year, $300 million deal or Prince Fielder to a 9 years, $214 million deal are GOOD things, then I have some ocean front property in my backyard to sell you too.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 10:42 AM) I love that photo

ESPN sucks and won't let me download the picture, but I wanted to post the photo of Viciedo and Abreu laughing. It's pretty awesome. It kind of looks like this :lol: and then they're like kinda bent over and it makes me all warm inside because BASE BALL

Thanks guys, got my sig updated with your thoughts regarding my posting abilities!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 06:17 PM) He's not going to be on the court enough to make a major difference offensively. They need another playmaker. I thought that was obvious enough sarcasm. Bynum is still talented because he's 8 feet tall, but the guy's a running joke at this point. Well, maybe not a running joke per se, but he's a joke.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) How about this other Cuban shortstop? Aledmys Diaz? Now I know people will complain that we have depth in rhe middle infield (Semien, Sanchez, Johnson) but it doesn't hurt to have more. Plus, you could always trade depth at one position for other team's young depth (like one of those guys for a pitcher in a deep system or outfielder or catcher if there is a team deep on catching). Also throwing this out because its been really boring on here... It really depends upon the cost, and with 6-7 or more teams interested in him, I think the cost is going to be prohibitive there. Normally the Sox would be interested, but there are likely going to be better ways to get spend that money moving forward.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 08:58 AM) Not to mention the Astros. The Cubs , Astros, and Mets are both going through extremely tough rebuilds exclusively because of poor long-term contract decisions. The Yankees have been mediocre the past few years thanks to an attempt to avoid the luxury tax threshold, and they are now living the nightmare of the end of ARod, Teixeira, and Sabathia contracts that they bought along with the earlier prime years. With all due respect, Marty, I have no idea how you can look around baseball and say that albatross contracts are rarely a factor in sustained success. 10% of the league is in full disaster recovery rebuild, and at least another 10% are aging contenders with their hands tied. And these are all medium to large markets. It took the Pirates 20 years to build a winning core of players without the luxury of affording an albatross, and the Rays have traded multiple franchise-level players (Price is next) in order to avoid having to extend them. The Twins (Mauer) and Brewers (Braun) are next in line as those guys start to decline. The Rockies could easily be heading that way with CarGo and Tulo too. With guys like that, it's hard to deny the talent that's there, and you have to pay them, but when the rest of your team is suffering as a result, you should almost work with a team to try and get said player moved. Look at what Dombrowski did with an absolutely terrible contract in Fielder.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 08:37 AM) Taking him is easy, signing him isn't. If you grab Gatewood in the second, you are going to grab a guy in the first that will sign for a decent amount under slot to free up money for Gatewood. I too am all for taking Gatewood if he is there, but I think it is moot as he wont make it that far. With the Tulo comp, someone will grab him. Well, you are either grabbing a very underslot player in the 1st or not spendnig anything on about picks 3-6, so yeah, underslot at 3. I could see some team doing this that already has a pretty good minor league system in place. Maybe the Blue Jays, Royals, Rays, Red Sox, even the Astros or the Marlins. I can't see the Sox doing this. They need to build the depth of the system. I would honestly respect the decision if they were to do that, but I just don't expect it to happen even if the possibility exists.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 08:39 AM) I don't know how steroids can make someone a HOFer vs. not even worthy of a spot on an A ball roster. Obviously Piazza had far more ability than was thought. Perhaps he wouldn't have been a major leaguer, I know Canseco said he himself would have been a fringe at best player, but teams missed the boat on Piazza. Even without steroids his ability was way better than where he was drafted,and he probably wouldn't have been drafted if there wasn't a relationship with Lasorda. CJ Edwards fits the bill there too, even if he's still just doing that at a young age. He was playing in a bush league when a scout from the Rangers saw him. They took a chance on him in the 48th round and he's blossomed into a pretty damn good looking prospect.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 07:31 AM) Yes, they are shocking figures, but it's the price of business. Rarely is payroll mismanagement a reason why a team is not contending. A-Rod's contract with Texas was the true albatross. Chronologically speaking, the Mets, Cubs, and Phillies fall in line with this too. You could make an argument for the Angels, but I think their primary problem is making poor choices in free agency rather than a payroll problem, but due to the two albatrosses they have in Hamilton and Pujols, they are going to be paying a lot more in the coming years if/when they lock up Trout, and even going year to year with him could get very expensive very quickly. Also, we can't act like ARod's contract with the Yankees right now is something that's easily movable or isn't an albatross of a contract, because it's not and it's very much a terrible contract. I also think the Dodgers could be in a lot of trouble in the next 3-5 years when some of these funds suddenly dry up because they've spent so much in luxury taxes.