witesoxfan

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 4, 2010 -> 05:58 PM) The interesting thing is that they have studied violent sports that do not use helmets, such as rugby, and this trend does not really exist. The helmet in football is being used as a weapon rather than a safety device. Would you watch NFL football if they did not wear helmets (or at least not helmets like the current equipment)? I remember reading an article that talked about the NFL with no helmets. It basically suggested that the odds of someone dying on the field grow, but that head injuries in general would go down as a result because people would no longer want to use their head as a weapon. ------- JaMarcus Russell busted for possession of a controlled substance. The biggest bust in the history of busts continues his legacy.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 5, 2010 -> 04:46 PM) Why? Based on what? We have very few assets if our objective is to win playoff series'. Our only assets are long-term, and if you move those you very well may doom this franchise going forward over the course of the next 2-3 years. The only path I see is gambling on Hudson to replace on of your current valuable assets (Danks or Floyd) and adding a much needed BIG bat to improve the overall strength of this team. As much as I hate to say it, I don't think we have a chance to win with this current offense. As has been mentioned several times, the Sox have roughly $80 million committed to 13 players already for next year's roster, and that includes holes at C, 1B, DH, and one of the rotation spots. As of now, the Sox have cheap, if somewhat unattractive replacements for all 3 of those positions at this point in time for Opening Day of next year at the very least, and quite possibly the next 6 years if Flowers, Viciedo (who is part of that guaranteed $80 million), and Hudson perform well. They'll need to add some bullpen pieces (as Pena, Santos, Linebrink, and Thornton are about the only guarantees in the pen next season), they'll need a bench, and they'll need to find ways to replace others. It's not totally inconceivable that the Sox could go with some combination of Viciedo, Morel, and Teahen at 1B, 3B, and DH, but it's not very likely either. It's also relatively difficult to find cheap production at catcher, and the Sox could very easily have that with Flowers. It's a bit easier at 1B and the 5th spot in the rotation, but both can be hit or miss, and thus, Viciedo and Hudson have great value to the Sox as well. Trading, say, Danks for Fielder, adds about $7 million to that number (Danks at about $5.5 mill for next year, Fielder at $12.5 mill), so you'd be looking at $87 mill between 13 players. Since Hudson is replacing Danks in your scenario, there is still a hole at the back of the rotation. There's still a hole at C (since it's extremely likely that Flowers would have to be included in a deal for Fielder), a hole at DH, and holes in both the bullpen and bench that would have to be dealt with somehow, and the team would optimistically have $13 mill to replace all of those holes. That's fiscally unfathomable, and the Sox would either go into next year with a roster half All-Stars and half AAA fodder, or they'd have to trade some big contracts (such as Prince, Rios, Buehrle, or Peavy) to be able to fill the holes. Beyond that, adding smaller pieces, such as LaRoche, Johnson, or Uribe, wouldn't require Hudson, Flowers, or Viciedo to facilitate a trade. Well, maybe Johnson, since he'd still be relatively cost controlled, but definitely not LaRoche or Uribe. If Arizona is currently in "collect any and all talent" mode, as opposed to hole filling mode (which they should be in with how messy that organization is right now), Morel plus a lower level prospect should be able to get him. I'd also say it'd be possible for the Sox to get Uribe through a combination of semi-talented advanced prospects or talented raw prospects, and the Sox do have those - probably Jordan Danks at the very most, and I think you could get him for a combination of mediocre prospects, like Retherford and Torres...basically guys who could be serviceable players. I'm probably wrong in the actual values of what it would take, but you shouldn't have to give up any of the big 3 to make 2 minor additions. At the end of the season, both LaRoche and Uribe are free agents, so you still only have $80 mill committed. It's a similar concept to what the Sox did in 2003 when they added Alomar and Everett...adding Uribe would probably only be a marginal upgrade at 2B, and LaRoche would be a monumental upgrade at DH. All that said, I'm also not sure that you want to make a move. This team is generally hit or miss, but they've played well recently, Kotsay has hit relatively well recently (.261/.356/.432/.788 in his last 101 PAs, .298/.385/.474/.858 in his last 65, and .316/.395/.500/.895 in his last 43) and determining how he'll hit for the rest of the year is difficult. Beckham is obviously uber talented, and if he can return to any resemblance of what he did last year, his "addition" makes a world of difference too. All I'm really trying to say in this entirely clusterf*** of a post is that I'm not about to go and trade John Danks for Prince Fielder because I don't know if Fielder puts the White Sox over the top, and constructing a competitive baseball team for 2011 becomes a hell of a lot harder if you trade for him, regardless of what happens with Fielder and the 2010 White Sox.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Jul 5, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) Too ballsy and unwise. An extra year of Danks is more valuable. The casual fan won't perceive it that way though. On their current paces this year alone, Danks is worth more wins than Fielder. When you factor in the >$7M salary difference between the two, the gap separates further I've said previously that the Brewers wouldn't do that either because if they're trading Prince, they'd be going into a rebuilding phase, but that's not quite true. They'd hang onto Danks for this year, and then halfway through next year, and if they weren't in it, they'd unload him for prospects (or if some team were dumb enough, another player who is similarly as good as Danks with an extra year of service time). But I've also said what you said above, and trading Danks would be absurd. Trading Floyd is more reasonable, but even that's absurd. At this point in time, the Sox are better off making a smaller acquisition, such as someone like Adam LaRoche or, if the club feels that giving Beckham some time in AAA would be good and don't want to entrust Lillis*** or Vizquel as the full-time 2Bman, someone like Kelly Johnson or even the return of Juan Uribe if the Giants remain out of the race in the West.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 5, 2010 -> 12:55 PM) I'd remove the Yankees (who make little sense as a destination) and add the Phillies who seem to have quit a bit of interest in re-acquiring him. Lee ending up anywhere in the NL East would be a godsend to the White Sox.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) Yeah I was just thinking of guys who were on it last year. Now that I look at roster this year, Willie Banks?? Remember when the Cubs thought he was a stud... Raines is managing, Karkovice is a coach, and Banks is a coach too. I love the Newark Bears.

I just look at ARod's season numbers and think of how funny it is that the Yankees will spend $120 million on him in the next 4 years. He hit 595 today. Only 167 to go.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) Everett, Mackowiak, Benitez... We missed out on Benitez, he got signed by the Marlins. It's always funny looking over the Bears roster...constantly get flashbacks and remember certain players you'd completely forgotten about or wondered what they were doing. Edgardo Alfonzo, Scott Spiezio, Brian Barton, Daryle Ward, and obviously Everett. Kala Kaaihue is on the team too, but they list him with his given first name, Isaiah, rather than by Kala. That's fun stuff.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) The HGH/Steroids thing is key. It'd be worth 750 million dollars just to keep that quiet if his wife knows about it and is willing to chirp, because Tiger and everything he's done is irrelevant if he was on that stuff. He'd just be another Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. I think his would be far worse than Bonds or Clemens.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 01:47 PM) A .261 on base, particularly when paired with a .248 average, doesn't really resemble a major leaguer IMO. You got something against Juan Uribe?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 12:33 PM) He's not really walking anymore at all, which frightens me a bit. Not sure how much of that is the pitchers going right at him and he just isn't punishing them for it, or if he has indeed been swinging at everything even marginally close. O-Swing% and O-Contact% track pitches swung at and contacted outside of the strike zone Beckham's O-Swing% 2009 - 24.7% (LgAvg 25.1%) Beckhams's O-Swing% 2010 - 30.9% (LgAvg 28.5%) Beckham's O-Contact% 2009 - 59.3% (LgAvg 61.7%) Beckham's O-Contact% 2010 - 60.3% (LgAvg 66.5%) He's swinging at more bad pitches this year, and making contact with them at roughly the same percentage. He's still swinging at pitches in the zone, but he's overall just swinging more often than he did last year too (he swung 47% of the time last year, opposed to 49.2% this year). His approach at the plate this year has most definitely become worse.

Greg, the reason people don't idolize Scott Podsednik on here is because Sox fans look at the bigger picture. The entire 25 man roster did something that contributed to that legendary postseason run. Even Dustin Hermanson's contributions, his negative contribution, allowed for a hero in Geoff Blum to appear from the bowels of Minute Maid Stadium and thrusted him into a legendary category (without Play Index, I can't see those people who have a career OPS of 5.000 in World Series history...Kirk Gibson is one of them). Carl Everett grounded out to the right side, which allowed Willie Harris to get to 3B and helped him score the World Series winning run from 3B, and he was driven in by Jermaine Dye - who drove in the 1st run of the World Series. Without AJ Pierzynski's crafty baserunning, Pablo Ozuna doesn't have the opportunity to steal 2nd base and allow him to be driven in by Joe Crede. We all know that Paul Konerko hit a huge grand slam, but we often forget about the 3 run homers he hit in the first inning in back to back games in the ALCS. Orlando Hernandez worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in game 3 of the ALDS, and he has one of the most fascinating playoff lines of all time (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 2 K). Bobby Jenks was a raw, 24 year old fireballing reliever with a checkered history who was cleaning his act up and becoming a huge part of the big league club. Cliff Politte and Neal Cotts were having the best seasons they ever had, and, really, 2 of the best seasons for any non-closer the Sox had within the past 10 seasons. Tadahito Iguchi didn't have a postseason to write home about, except for the 3 run homer he hit off of David Wells in game 2 of the ALDS to cap off a 4 run comeback in the bottom of the 5th after it looked like the Sox had let their guard down. The entire starting rotation was phenomenal - Jose Contreras continued his run of success into the postseason, Mark Buehrle threw a complete game 5 hitter when the Angels used 4 pitchers and he got a save, Jon Garland threw a complete game, 4 hitter and pitched well enough in game 3 of the World Series to keep the team close, Freddy Garcia threw a 6 hit complete game in game 4 of the ALCS and then threw 8 shutout innings in game 4 of the World Series, only to be relieved by Bobby Jenks, and he got the greatest defensive inning in a World Series from Juan Uribe to win the whole thing. Do you know why I don't put Scott Podsednik on a pedestal? It's because that entire TEAM made contributions to the 2005 World Series, and I look back on that TEAM as something special and incredible, and I don't isolate one or two players from that and treat them as if they are living legends, but rather look at the collective whole and realize its place in history and how great it was for me to actually see that team win the World Series. --- And this October 26th, it will be 5 years from the day that the White Sox won 2 World Series games in the same day. Of course I loved that team, but it was 5 years ago, and most of those guys aren't in the league anymore. Those that are still around are generally mediocre players, and I can look at that and recognize that. Just because I criticize players doesn't mean that I've suddenly forgotten what they've done. It just means I'm not living in the past.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) You don't think this team can handle more ex Royals and ex Nat'l leaguers? If they're good players, I don't care if they played for the Newark f***ing Bears, I want them on this team.

That is BS.

QUOTE (since56 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) We got rid of Thome ( a left handed home run hitter ) so Ozzie could get away from an everyday dh. Now we are going after Dunn ( a left handed home run hitter ) to make him our everyday dh? I don't get it. If we are committed to a new style of play then lets commit, and get past the slow strikeout guys in the middle of our lineup. Because it's quite obvious that the White Sox offense is mediocre and that, without going 14-1 over a 15 game stretch, this team is 10 games below .500 and a lot of that has to do with the offense (it's probably equal 50-50 pitching and offense). If the Sox could improve their offense in any way shape or form, you must do it at this point in time. QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) The Sox will add a bat but i don't think it necessarily has to be a LH bat. That would be ideal but any good bat is an upgrade over having to see Kotsay and Jones in the DH spot. I'm still holding out for/suggesting Corey Hart. Put him in RF, Quentin to DH, and get Viciedo more time at 3B,with Omar coming in for defense, and the lineup looks alot more potent. I know i'm in the vast minority but the return of Teahen, i think, will also have a nice impact on the lineup from the LH side of the plate. You could move Omar back to a rotating reserve and platoon Viciedo/Teahan at 3B. Calling up Viciedo to have him platoon for the rest of the season would be absolutely terrible for his development. However, I do think some, including myself are overlooking the return of Mark Teahen.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) Yes, yes I do. Jones has put up a sweet little .138/.248/.230/.477 number in his last 101 PAs, and .075/.213/.150/.363 in his last 47. You think he's suddenly going to snap out of that and go all retro-Andruw and hit 3 homers against Greinke or something? Kotsay is the best option at DH.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:58 PM) I'm not opposed to offering the Brewers Danks + Flowers for Fielder, or some package around Danks. Why on earth would you deal the White Sox second best starting pitcher for a 1B? Because he's not going to resign in 2 and a half years? That doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense, considering Prince Fielder isn't going to resign in 1 and a half years.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:39 PM) Well your f***ing not amazing so there. I will contest this argument until the very end.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) I don't know of any easy way to compile this, but is it possible to look at first/second half pitching and first/second half run production stats? I'm wondering if there's an "overworked pitcher" effect somewhere buried in there. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/sp...W&year=2009 http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/sp...W&year=2009 as I said earlier today, b-r is f***ing amazing

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) The Dunn talks could just be a smoke screen, while KW goes into stealth mode and aqcuires Prince. You never know? I've been suprised before. Milwaukee is going to want a HUGE return package though. We are talking one of Danks or Floyd and Hudson plus more!. . Yeah, they can't ask for that. For starters, if they're trading Fielder, it wouldn't be to acquire guys that are 2 years away from free agency anyways, and the Sox wouldn't give up either Danks or Floyd for Fielder anyways. Any package begins with 2 of Flowers, Viciedo, and Hudson, and it's entirely possible that all 3 would have to be included.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:22 PM) What are the players that Cle got for CC doing? Rob Bryson is putting up some crazy peripherals in the low minors for Cleveland as a reliever, so it's hard to take much out of it without actually knowing his stuff. Zach Jackson sucked and is back in Toronto, stinking up their AAA joint. Michael Brantley had a decent stretch for them at the end of last year and is hitting well enough in the minors, but he looks like a Jerry Owens clone. Matt LaPorta was the prize of the whole deal, and he's put up a whopping .241/.302/.386/.688 line in 341 career plate appearances, including .223/.294/.308/.601 in 143 PAs this season. He continues to murder minor league pitching though, putting up a .299/.388/.530/.917 in 399 PAs last year, and a .362/.457/.638/1.094 in 81 PAs this year. He should be getting a legitimate shot to claim the 1B job for the future this year since the Indians dealt Branyan to Seattle, so we'll see how that works out for them.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:17 PM) So is there any hope of a Fielder deal getting done? There's no way Milwaukee can afford to re-sign him. It'll take quite a bit for that to happen, and Fielder's not a free agent until after next season, so Milwaukee has some time to deal him.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) It's going to take more than Torres, Lillibridge, CJ Retherford or John Shelby III. They're going to ask for Danks, another pitcher not named Hudson and maybe a low minors arm at least. sign me up

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 02:59 PM) The Gammons article today on Lee (mlb.com) mentioned specifically about the haul(s) the Indians got for Lee and the Blue Jays for Halladay...that almost none of those guys has made an impact worth mentioning for those two respective clubs. That most teams are fearful of giving up really high quality young prospects, even for two of the best pitchers in the game today. To think that the Nationals can get the same for Dunn, no way! The hauls for Lee have both been pretty mediocre. Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, Lou Marson, and Carlos Carrasco have all looked pretty mediocre both in the majors and in the minors for Cleveland, and Gillies, Aumont, and Ramirez have all been pretty terrible for the Phillies. The guys Toronto got for Halladay have been pretty solid though. Drabek has struggled with his command a bit, but he's been pretty solid otherwise, d'Arnaud has performed quite well (even if it's High-A ball), and, though Michael Taylor has struggled with the Athletics, he was traded for Brett Wallace, who looks like he's atleast close to MLB ready - .301/.363/.507/.869 in 339 PAs this season, and he put up .302/.365/.505/.870 in 203 PAs with the Athletics' AAA team too, and, though he's striking out in about 21% of his plate appearances, he can afford to strike out a bit due to his ability to actually be a significant offensive piece. The Nats have to do their due diligence though and ask for the moon, because if they can resign Dunn to an affordable deal, that team could quite conceivably be competitive in 2-3 years.

On June 2nd, Kotsay's OPS reached .643, which was the lowest it had been in 10 days (it got to .638 on May 24th, raised to .733 within 2 games, only to plummet back down to that low point). Since that point in time, which consists of 58 plate appearances, Kotsay has put up a .271/.397/.438/.834 line. So, small sample size and all, I don't have a huge issue with Ozzie playing Kotsay right now, especially since he isn't hitting high in the order.

QUOTE (goblue5699 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 02:51 PM) With Pedroia going down .327 with 14 homers just might land him a spot on the team. 45 hits in a row, that'd be a record or somethin