witesoxfan

That entire theory is flawed. If Aroldis Chapman proves he can't be anything more than a middle reliever, are you going to trade for him assuming he is a starting pitcher? Along the same lines, if Chris Sale proves he can't be anything more than a middle reliever, are you going to trade for him assuming he is a starting pitcher? Is Aroldis Chapman a better reliever than Chris Sale? As a GM, the answers to those questions are no, no and yes (and yes, it's because the former can throw 104). If you do not start Chris Sale, whether in AA, AAA, or MLB, you are crippling his value. Just an FYI...pitching as a reliever can be just as hard, if not harder, on an arm than starting can. Just because you don't work as many "official" innings doesn't mean you don't throw as many pitches...those guys are warming up all the time. If the Sox believe that Sale has major league talent, they'd be very, very stupid not to try him as a starter. If he fails, you then know he can atleast be a great reliever. If he succeeds, then you have a great starting pitching prospect.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 16, 2010 -> 01:44 AM) Am I dumb for thinking Damon would be a good addition to our team? No, you are not. Johnny Damon would be a solid, last-piece-of-the-puzzle piece for this team, just as he would have last year. Johnny Damon not signing did not make or break the Sox, and he would have to be the final piece of the puzzle to really make a difference. If the Sox signed him in December, I would be scared; if the Sox signed him in late January or early February, it would be a blessing (given certain circumstances, such as assuming Thome resigned with the $!@#$ Twins) QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Oct 16, 2010 -> 02:04 AM) I hated the Pierre deal, but grew to like him. Go figure. Agreed. I expected Pierre to put a ball down the line for an extra base hit a bit more often, but I grew to assume that he'd work the count and then either get a hit or he'd ground out, no matter what. Honestly, so long as he's working the count, getting the hits he can, stealing bases, and playing stellar defense, the dude always has a place on my team...preferably in the 9 spot or on the bench. I'm not Ozzie, so.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Oct 15, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) Oswalt, Mr "I won't accept a trade to the White Sox", is a p****. I love how the Sox punked him out and put 5 on his punk ass in the 5th inning of game 3 of the 2005 World Series. That was great. I don't think you can blame either Berkman or Oswalt for not wanting to come to Chicago considering both of them are still playing. I did enjoy the Sox kicking the s*** out of him in game 3. That was awesome.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Oct 15, 2010 -> 09:17 AM) I will not argue that Gillick is good, but wasn't he the one that never gave Freddy Garcia a physical prior to dealing for him? Yep. Billy Beane is the same GM that traded Carlos Gonzalez, Houston Street, and Greg Smith for 4 months of Matt Holliday, and Kenny Williams is the same GM that gave up Ryan Sweeney, Gio Gonzalez, and Fautino De Los Santos for a year of Nick Swisher and then traded him for Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Nunez, and Jeff Marquez. GMs make assumptions and mistakes. Gillick is no different.

QUOTE (Fantl916 @ Oct 14, 2010 -> 07:08 PM) i still dont like it. his bat is his best tool and those stats are simply ok for a RF. as a 2b hes really good, but you can get similar numbers from many out there. Plus having never played OF hes likely to be a liability in RF. no good IMO. Figure we probably have Pierre in LF, Rios in CF, and Quentin DH. There are plenty of quality guys our there who can produce better overall than Johnson can, especially considering what he'd cost. For example, Brad Hawpe, Luke Scott, Crawford if we spend the money, maybe even put Quentin in RF and sign Carlos Pena. We have options cheaper/better than Johnson playing out of position Hawpe would be disappointing to say the least. Considering they didn't have interest in him after he was DFA'd and considering the disappointment he was all of last year, it'd be really unfortunate if he ended up starting in RF on opening day.

Well in that case, he's going to cost too much. A 2B who puts up an .865 OPS is far more valuable than a LF or RF who does the same. The Sox would be trading for him at 2B value, and that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially due to his erratic career statistics. Beyond that, Kelly Johnson is one of the streakiest hitters in the entire majors...you'll get a great April, and then mediocrity after that. Last year was his most consistent and best to date - he had 3 months of .900+ OPS, and 3 months of sub .800 OPS.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I don't want Quentin gone. I just want them to remove him from the outfield, because he hurts the team out there.

Derek Jeter and Juan Pierre both love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Beckham put up a .310/.369/.516/.885 line in his final 67 games, which consisted of 238 PAs. I'm not worried about him at all...just a bit of a sophomore slump.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 14, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) The pitching is every bit as good, if not better, than in the AL. Lineups are typically better 7-9 in the AL compared to the NL. That's the main difference. But some act like the difference between the AL and NL is the difference between AA and the majors. It's gotten really annoying and has pretty much become a crutch for fans of AL teams to use to pigeon hole NL players. I also think a huge difference between the leagues is at the bottom of the leagues. I'd say that the 5 worst teams in the NL are far worse than the 5 worst teams in the AL. If you want to compare the 5 best teams in the AL to the 5 best teams in the NL, I'd say it's pretty much a wash.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 13, 2010 -> 11:07 AM) Really? I wonder how many Republican Sox fans stopped rooting for them since Barack is such a huge fan Hasn't stopped me. I actually think it's kind of cool that the President is a Sox fan.

The only thing that was wrong with the Juan Pierre deal was that it was made with the intentions of having Juan Pierre leadoff, when in all reality, he should be hitting 9th. The White Sox gave up 2 borderline arms in Ely and Link.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 11:22 PM) You are right. They will do something. Pay arb raises and sign fillers. There's your something. When was the last time the Sox had an offseason that boring? 2004?

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Oct 13, 2010 -> 12:19 AM) Ha.. good to see you finally came around on Gio. He's a good pitcher for sure. Definitely needs to cut down on his walks. As mentioned above, he got pretty lucky on his flyballs - something like 7.3% of his flyballs were home runs. At the Cell, that would have certainly been higher and he could have easily been a 4.00-4.50 ERA pitcher. There's still nothing wrong with that.

FIP of 3.78, xFIP of 4.18...yeah Gio Gonzalez is legit. His ERA will probably go up next year because he was pretty lucky on flyballs this year, but he's a very solid starter.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 10:26 PM) I don't understand this assumption. Which gallon of milk are you going to pay more for: one that expires in 2 weeks, or one that expires in 2 days? Any team that would acquire Edwin Jackson will have him for one fewer postseason than the White Sox did when they traded for him. That takes value away from him. The White Sox also gave up a ton to get him, probably more than his market value indicated. That makes it less likely that the Sox will receive an offer of equal talent in return. It's a pretty sound assumption.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 08:37 PM) Young is a good starter. Richard is an NL only type pitcher. His peak is a good #4. Hudson is a good pitcher and at his peak(over the course of a final season) is a #3. Sweeney, we saw was a bust. Gio is at best a #4 pitcher(it saddens me to say that since I was a huge fan of his). I can't evaluate Allen yet. Same with Carter. McCarthy hasn't shown he's useful since 2006. Getz is nothing more than servicable. Cunningham hasn't shown anything worthwhile either. Sure, these guys are useful as bench players and back end starters, but let's not pretend like they are on their way to being great players while being dirt cheap. BTW, I do agree with you that they didn't trade Hudson at his peak value. Typically though, that doesn't end up happening. BTW, I can't believe Hahn thought Mackowiak could play CF. WOWWWWWWW I think you underrate the players, but it's not really worth arguing over. I think it is safe to say that the White Sox have not drafted and developed a star-type player since Mark Buehrle, but that they have drafted and subsequently traded players who have become good starting players, which will do away with the myth that the White Sox are an all-knowing organization that only keeps its good players and only trades away its bad players.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 05:29 PM) Im so sick of Twins getting by with B rate starting pitching like Slowey, Perkins and their prize FA acquisition Carl Pavano. Yeah we wont win if we play Castro/Flowers, Quentin, or Viciedo, but they can win with the epitome of average starting pitching, Nick Punto, Brendan Harris, etc. Garbage. The Twins organizational philosophy when it comes to starting pitchers is throw strikes, keep the ball down, and throw more strikes. It may produce "B rate starting pitching," but that B rate starting pitching has helped them win 6 division titles in 9 seasons. And, in case you were unaware, they didn't have any Punto's or Harris's in the lineup in the playoffs - their weakest hitter was probably Denard Span.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 11, 2010 -> 02:49 PM) I haven't found a hot chili that I really like yet. My biggest problem is that I don't like chili with beans, and a lot of places only offer chili with beans. Although it's not super hot, Lindy's makes a decent beef chili. I have an awesome recipe for a Texas chili (no beans) that uses chuck, bacon, a dozen jalapenos, chili powder, and honey porter. It's pretty hot, but has a very nice flavor thanks to the beer and some brown sugar at the end. That sounds mindblowingly good.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 08:24 AM) So let me get this straight. The "genius" Pats trade Randy f***ing Moss for a 4th rounder, then trade a 4th rounder for Deion Branch? BRILLIANT! All because he said Tommy Boy's hair looked like a woman's. To be fair, they got a 3rd rounder for Moss, and gave up a 7th round pick in 2012. A 4th rounder isn't in play at any point.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Oct 8, 2010 -> 08:09 PM) I dont disagree with you, I think the Phillies are a fine model. They seem to make moves with winning the world series in mind, not just winning the division or getting to the post season. However, I read a really good article I think in Forbes that highlighted how the Phillies were able to make a sustained playoff runs, become and stay a world series contender, and really cement themselves as baseball elite. The article highlighted the sacrifices and strategic planning that was set forth in the late 1990's that laid the foundation for the Phillies team you see today and the last 5 or 6 seasons. Basically the article said the Phillies success in 2008, 2009, 2010 all started when the team made a conscious decision back in the mid to late 1990s to be bad. They traded away their best player in Schilling, committed to reduce payroll, and planned to stock pile high draft picks for next several years. The idea was that they didnt feel they could compete in the current landscape, both economically speaking and player personnel wise. They felt trapped by poor attendance and a dilapidated stadium. So knowing that their new stadium was a few years away, they decided to bite the bullet, put up with fans and media getting on their backs about fielding a poor team and plan for the future. Low and behold they get their new stadium (I think 2003), revenue increases considerably, and they have draft picks such as Utley, Howard, Hamels, Rollins, Werth, Victorino etc on the rise. Their young picks turn out to be stars and they decide to both lock up their own guys with mutually beneficial long term contracts, but also begin to spend $$ effectively to surround their talented core with solid veteran and role players (Lee, Halladay, Ibanez, Polanco, Lidge, etc) . They make splashes for real impact players, the type than can win the World Series for you not just help you get past the Braves. Several 90+ Win seasons, division championships, 1 WS title, 2 NL Pennants later the Phillies plan has come to fruition and the city, team and fans are reaping the reward of effective planning and PLENTY OF PATIENCE!! Pat Gillick is pretty damn good too.

QUOTE (striker @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 09:01 AM) Patience. Remember, it was about this time last year that KW landed the new face of the franchise, Mark Teahen. I'm more or less already tired of people throwing out trade ideas and players that absolutely no team in their right mind would give up. Asking if Shin Soo Choo or Mike Stanton is available is like asking the Cardinals if Albert Pujols is available.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Oct 11, 2010 -> 11:38 PM) I think when the sox committed to pay Jackson something like $2M for the rest of 2010, $8.3M for 2011, and also committed $4M for 1 month of Manny to this payroll that our offseason was going to be very limited. I got the impression that that was our off season spending right there, instead of spending on the 2011 payroll the sox took a shot at 2010 bumped payroll in the 2nd half. That being said i expect the White Sox off season to be very quiet. Most likely AJ, PK, and Bobby are gone, its possible Putz and Vizquel come back because they are cheap. Your catcher is Castro and his $1.2M option, your 3B is Morel/Vizquel, your 1B is Viciedo, and your RF/DH combo is Quentin/Teahen. And with all that your Payroll is still about $95M. Williams has historically set money aside in the offseason to spend on free agents throughout the year. I'm sure he used some of his offseason budget to acquire Jackson, but he didn't use anything to acquire Manny. Further, if Williams needs to improve the team and doesn't have the money, he will find ways to free up money. Prior to the 2009 season, he traded Swisher for pennies on the dollar and dealt Vazquez for a solid, yet uninspiring package of prospects. I also don't know why you think Putz is going to be cheap. I think there is a real chance that he is going to be one of the most expensive relievers on the market and that he will sign somewhere that he can close. Perhaps that is Chicago, but I doubt he takes any less than $7 million annually, even if he only signs a 2 year deal.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Oct 12, 2010 -> 04:09 AM) I thought of that, and there would be a cap on draft/IFA spending as well. Nullify the East Coast advantages, makes for a better league. It would theoretically halt annual ticket price increases, but that is wishful thinking because the owners would get greedy. Something like this could honestly be the end of baseball. To actually follow through and get this type of plan into action, the owners and commissioner would have to be willing to wait out a 12-24 month lockout, because the MLBPA is not going to be on board for salary restrictions. Economically speaking, does it make sense to go through a lockout when only two teams are spending an exorbitant amount of money on their major league roster? The limit on the draft and international free agency is a bit different, but, again, they already have a policy in place to help restrict some of the overspending. Increasing fines and/or taking away draft picks from teams that go above slot is a possibility, but it ultimately may not stop teams from still doing so. It is also entirely possible that taking those picks away could work out to the higher spending team's advantage, as you could see players who normally go high slip and fall to the teams that spend. They take them in the 3rd round, sign them to even less (but still far above slot), lose their 3rd round pick the following year, but then get their 2nd round pick back at the same time. To actually get a hard cap into place, you would again have to be willing to go through a lockout. Is a lockout really worth curbing amateur signing bonuses? --- I also don't think you will see annual ticket price increases stopped simply due to evolving economic conditions. As more people enter the job market, the money supply increases and the value of money diminishes, and people need to receive more money to pay for goods and services. If you want baseball owners to stop increasing ticket prices, you need to convince the Fed to decrease the money supply.