witesoxfan

Great.

Is this really necessary?

QUOTE (mcgrad70 @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 10:55 PM) I'm looking at these teams in the playoffs. The White Sox are light years away from the quality these teams possess. You simply cannot get better with trades when you farm system is as woefully weak as the Sox. Reinsdorf has painted himself into a corner with this philosophy of non-aggression when it comes to FA. Until this paradigm changes by either Reinsdorf or a new owner (highly unlikely) get use to watching the post season as a casual observer. We deserve more but we don't demand it. You really, really don't like Reinsdorf. Beyond that, I don't think you can even make an argument that the Twins, Rangers, Rays, Reds, or Braves have been very aggressive on the FA market. In fact, unless you are adding one final piece to the puzzle, building a team through free agency is something that is not advocated, because that's one way to really hurt your franchise - signing a player to a huge deal, which handicaps you from making other moves and cripples you when the player goes down with an injury. The Mets made the playoffs like, what, once? twice? after their flurry of free agent signings (and trading a bunch of nobodies for Johan Santana, and then signing him to a monstrous deal) and now they are in a world of hurt because they have like $120 million tied up between like 9 players and they aren't anywhere close to being a competitive team. Drafting and developing talent is the best way to build your franchise up to a contender, and the White Sox haven't done that well. You can't blame Reinsdorf for that, considering Williams and company are the ones who trade them all away.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 09:39 PM) That's the NFL Draft. But they hit more than most teams that's for sure. If you have 20 scratch lottery tickets, you are going to hit more of them than someone else who has 10.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 06:55 PM) The Patriots do blow draft picks and reach on s***ty players just like any other team. Kevin O'Connell anyone?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 05:20 PM) It happens. I still feel like he was the only one who won a bloody game the entire stretch run in 08. He won almost half of his starts. He kept the team in the game and was a solid #3 starter. I remember that too, and I remember going back and looking at the numbers about a year ago and seeing the same thing.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 08:54 PM) This series is going 5. Only if New York wins both in New York. I think Duensing going in the opening game in New York is going to be a little scary for him, but if he can get through the first 2 innings or so, I think he'll be fine.

I think the Twins are going to win this series. I don't really like the Yankees rotation after Sabathia, and I think Pavano and Duensing are pretty underrated by a lot of people, and the Twins have a phenomenal bullpen. Honestly, I think the Twins are going to win the entire thing. That's a really goddamn good team.

Even the Yankees will bring up young players through their system as they go. I think quite a bit of their bullpen is home grown, Philip Hughes, Robinson Cano, and Brett Gardner are there too. I think it would be smart for about the next 2-5 years for the team to cut spending on the MLB team by about $5-8 million and use that money on amateur players and finding ways to develop them into quality MLB players. The Sox haven't drafted and developed a star player in a really long time (Beckham could certainly get there, but he is definitely not a star player at this juncture).

I seem to recall Martin being tied to PED's earlier. He went off them and lost a bunch of weight, and this past offseason he regained the weight (and I don't think it was regained in muscle).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) Like in 2008 where he was the only guy pitching reliably well down the stretch. Floyd's final 16 starts of 2008 - 7-4, 4.53 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 6.7 K/9, 2.4 K/BB He won some games, but that was because he was bailed out by the offense, not because he was pitching particularly well.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 11:48 AM) So sick of hearing this, the Patriots have a s***ty defense and their offense was lead by Moss/Welker both guys they traded for not drafted and Tom Brady who nobody could have predicted him being this good. Right now their head coach a supposedly defensive mastermind has one of the worse defenses in league and still people praising him like he is all that. Just because people didn't realize Tom Brady wasn't going to be this good doesn't mean you can suddenly discredit the Patriots because of that...he is still f***ing good. They also had Matt Cassel put up a QB rating of almost 90 for them, and he was a 7th round pick. They brought in Moss and Welker because they knew they'd be good...who cares if they didn't draft and develop them? They also have Brandon Tate and Julian Edelman who they can go to in a pinch, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski as tight ends (and Hernandez is more of a TE/WR hybrid), and BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead, who have been pretty great for them. Does it matter that they are run by a coach who used to be a defensive coordinator but have a young and inconsistent defense while having a monstrosity of an offense? I don't think it does. It's not like Belichick is completely guessing on the guys he brings in to lead his offenses and he's gotten lucky like 5 times. I would say after spending 40 years in the game, he knows what it takes to have a successful offense.

Dude, herpes doesn't kill you.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Oct 6, 2010 -> 11:46 AM) I really think Danks is the one to trade. He's lefty, about to become expensive and we have Sale waiting behind him. I think he has way more value than Floyd simply by being lefty and good. Lefty starting pitching is our area of excess. If Kemp is the one you're after, I think Danks for Kemp straight up is pretty close. I really don't understand why people are so hell bent on spending a ton to get Matt Kemp. He really seems to be the type of player that you are going to get for a good deal or you are going to have to overpay a ridiculous amount to get, and the Sox are obviously not in a position to overpay. Thus, I don't understand why people want to deal Danks or Floyd for him. Beyond that, I also think if you are dealing Danks or Floyd right now, you need to look to acquire 2-3 good players, not 1 potentially great player. The Sox have quite a few holes throughout the team and finding cheap replacements for a few of those guys would not be a bad thing.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 11:32 PM) John and Jordan Danks for Gerardo Parra, Mark Reynolds, and Clay Zavada. Seriously though, I am sticking with my prediction that we get Gerardo Parra some way, some how. Charlotte could use an outfielder.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 08:41 PM) He sure is look at the Twins, they lost their $12M shut down closer for the year and before acquiring Capps had something like a 31/33 conversion rate on saves. That just shows you right there that an adequate closer is good enough to win 95 games and get to the playoffs. Also, Capps blows, I think his ERA, WHIP, and BAA were even worse than the Twins in house candidates. And they still did fine and hardly blew a save. The closer is just one more quality arm in the pen, of course it must be a quality arm, not Andrew Sisco. You entire argument is a contradiction. You say that the closer is meaningless, and then say that the closer has to be a quality arm. Maybe it's just me, but by suggesting that the closer has to be a quality arm, then they can't really be meaningless, can they? Capps was also pretty damn good with Minnesota. ERA of 2.00, WHIP of 1.19, solid K/9, solid BB/9...Twins fans certainly aren't complaining.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 10:22 PM) We all know Kenny likes to trade to acquire talent more than sign free agents. This offseason more than most I think he's willing to deal his own impact talent to shake up the make up. Players likely to be on the Sox Block: Gavin Floyd Carlos Quentin Edwin Jackson Tyler Flowers The window for the current core closes after 2011. Time to build a new one. Some young players the team should consider trading for: Daric Barton - Young, quality lefty 1B, that can hit and get on base. Barton has walked 15.8% of the time, tops in the majors. .800 OPS in 2010. Quality glove as well. Matt Kemp - OF. Five tool player that needs a change of scenery. Power + speed. Kenny willing to risk to acquire young, big time upside with attitude? You bet. BJ Upton - OF. Another five tool talent that would upgrade the OF defense a ton. Power + speed. See above... Travis Snider - OF. Young lefty hitting power prospect. Could replace Quentin in RF. Leo Nunez - RHP. Had 30 saves in 2010. Intense competitor. They need starters and Floyd or Jackson would fit nicely. John Axford - RHP. Emerged as the Brewers closer in 2010. They desperately need starters and Floyd or Jackson would fit nicely. Kyle McClellan - RHP. Sinkerballer worked in the bullpen the last 3 seasons. His ERA/WHIP has lowed each year. Also had 2 saves for the Cards in 2010. I think it's relatively impossible to know who the Sox are looking to trade. I will say that I strongly doubt Floyd will be on the block due to a cheap price tag along with being under the Sox control for 3 more years. They would have to get a huge haul for Floyd, and I don't think other teams will have enough interest in him for it to be worth the White Sox moving him. I think Danks is a far likelier candidate to be dealt. On top of that, many of the players you have listed are going to be ridiculous hard to acquire. Billy Beane recently said that he feels that Daric Barton is the best 1Bman in the league. Matt Kemp is under control and ridiculously talented, and even if he gave the Dodgers a headache, they aren't going to give him away. BJ Upton is in the same exact boat as Matt Kemp and the Rays have a much more pressing need to keep him, as they will lose Crawford in the offseason (even if they have Jennings ready to come up). Travis Snider is under control for around another 5 years for the Blue Jays and is really good. Leo Nunez has never had a great year and, quite honestly, his peripheral statistics look a lot like Tony Pena's in Arizona. Axford looks like a very good reliever, and would cost more than it'd be worth to acquire him. I don't quite understand why the Cardinals would look to deal McClellan this offseason, considering he's their's for another 3 years, is good, is young, and they'll be competitive. You aren't going to get a lot of those guys dealing Carlos Quentin, Edwin Jackson, or Tyler Flowers. You might if you traded Floyd, but at what cost to the Sox? Jackson and Buehrle are free agents after this season, Peavy and Danks are free agents after 2012. Floyd and Sale are the only Sox starters under contract for 2013, and, though I have no doubt there will be new starters in the rotation before then, you need to make sure you have someone there.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 06:14 PM) I long for the day that the Sox look past the fact that Boras is a vermin and work with him. Its a fact of business that sometimes you need to deal with scum. Grin and bear it. They do when they have to work with him. They avoid it when they can because they don't want to grossly overpay nor do they want to deal with players who almost certainly end up testing free agency. I like that they avoid working with Boras.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 08:00 PM) I'm surprised that AJ is listed as a Type A free agent, not sure how that will affect our offseason plans. I'm sure he will not be offered arbitration though. QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) Can you explain this? AJ is a Type A free agent according to the Elias Rankings, which means he would net the Sox a 1st or 2nd round compensation pick plus another compensation pick during the sandwich round, which takes place between the 1st and 2nd round IF the Sox were to offer him arbitration, he were to decline, and another team would sign him (I think the player has to sign before a certain time period for his previous team to receive compensation, but I am not positive about that or when it occurs). However, because he made ~$6.5 mill this year, and he is probably only worth $4 mill at the most on the open market, it's highly unlikely that the Sox would offer him arbitration because he would likely accept, be due anywhere from $5.5-$7.5 mill, and would either have to be traded (which would be difficult to impossible due to AJ's 10/5 no-trade clause and his price tag) or the Sox would have to pay him that amount of money. Considering his worth on the open market is about $4 mill, and he may end up signing somewhere for around $3, it would mean the Sox would be paying AJ anywhere from $1.5-4.5 million than they really desire, and his salary alone would prevent the Sox from bringing in 1-3 players that could help the Sox in 2011. As such, it's not economically wise to offer him arbitration considering the cost and benefits of doing so.

QUOTE (The Bones @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 08:03 PM) No way in hell can you give a team home-field advantage for an entire series. Horrible idea. I didn't like that, but I think it does bring up a legitimate point about hurting too many teams and incentivizing the second playoff team, and I think that scenario comes up more than people would like to believe. I wouldn't mind an NFL structure in the playoffs where the 1 and 2 seeds get a bye, but then the season gets too long and you have to take games away from somewhere else (because baseball in late March or early November is just too early/late for teams in the northern part of the United States). I wouldn't be surprised if something was done about it in the next CBA though, for better or worse.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 04:25 PM) That's too much pitching for me. I'd rather see an offensive juggernaut against a pitching juggernaut. Reds/Giants would be my preference. Let's be honest, you'd rather see the Colorado Gonzowitzkis take on the Tampa Crawforia's

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 03:43 PM) Other than the Braves, I think you could make a legitimate World Series argument for any of the other 7 playoff teams. This is a really good field this year. Last year it was pretty cut and dry it would be the Phillies and Yankees. I'm really hoping for a Giants-Phillies NLCS. So.much.starting.pitching.

I actually think the Twins are pretty underrated by pretty much everyone. If they can get over their fear of beating the Yankees, I could see them getting to and winning the World Series with relative ease. Fantastic bullpen, good 1-2 starters, good enough 3-4 starters, and a great lineup.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/m...ns-count-again/ Not just a guy playing Devil's Advocate, but instead bringing up a legitimate argument against the 2 Wild Card system.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 11:50 AM) So you are saying Hahn is the one to blame for that horrendous Mark Teahen contract extension? It may have been a request from Kenny. If your boss tells you to get something done, you get it done. The contract itself is not overly burdensome until you realize that Mark Teahen is nothing more than an average player. When Teahen was brought in, he was viewed as average defensively at 3B and solid offensively, so the Sox probably got a decent deal on Teahen overall. The problem is that he was horrendous defensively at 3B and was a mediocre hitter, and then he got hurt, and so the contract looks absolutely terrible.