witesoxfan

The league was adjusting to Floyd all season long. He was adjusting to their adjustments and he became a better pitcher; his peripherals got better as the year went on and his confidence is at an all time high. If the number of innings thrown for both Danks and Floyd don't catch up to them next year, I expect both to have very good seasons. Today, Floyd left a fastball up to Upton on his second homer and it was a huge mistake...he doesn't have the fastball that can blow hitters away and he has to work down in the zone, and he knows that. I didn't see much of the game due to prior engagements, but from the replays it looked like he had good velocity at the very least (and the difference in rest between starts for him at the end of the year was undoubtedly a factor). However, it looked like a typical regular season Floyd start where he's not his sharpest but battles through 6 innings and keeps the team in the game. Also, comparing Vazquez to Suppan, who was the NLCS MVP in 2006, isn't quite valid. Suppan is a pretty gutty pitcher who got rocked because he just doesn't have good stuff anymore.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 12:16 AM) Name a starting pitcher who received a 4+ year big money deal and was consistently good over the life of the contract. Now name some starting pitchers who received 4+ year big money deals and BOMBED. CC is looking at 6/7 years at $17M+ per. Sure he looks worth it right now but history says such a contract would be a mistake. Sure CC looks like the exception but Mike Hampton and Barry Zito were also supposed to be fairly safe bets as well. Mike Hampton went 8 years without suffering a single injury and was considered to be the most athletic pitcher in the game. When he signed his mega-deal with the Rockies in 2000 he was pretty much a better version of Mark Buehrle. (some would actually characterize CC the same way) 8 years later and that deal is considered to be the worst in the history of the game. One of the last pitchers to pitch 500 innings over a 2 year span, including the playoffs, was Buehrle in 04-05. We all know how 06 ended up. I think I read that on rotoworld, and there were more examples than that, but I'm not positive...it's scary nonetheless.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 7, 2008 -> 02:03 AM) The fact that his batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage were all down significantly from his previous 2 seasons says otherwise. His OBP and SLG were down because his average was down. Plain and simple. Thome isn't bad, and people need to stop thinking he's a hole in the lineup.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 09:25 PM) I figured that much when you came to my place and went straight for the Busch rather than the Miller or Corona that was in the fridge. hey, he's a considerate drinker, it happens. I so happen to have a 24 pack of Hamm's waiting out in someone's trunk ($11 for 24 cans of beer? You bet your sweet ass that's what I'm buying). anyways, it's homecoming week here...I wasn't even going to drink tonight and I've had 5 or so. Just hope and pray 5 doesn't turn into 13.

Tampa was 10-8 vs Boston this year, and they won their last 3 series against them. Let's hope Upton stays hot. Go Rays.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) How about: Getz Swisher Markakis Mora Jones Scott Huff Hernandez Castro ...for the Orioles so what pitching prospect are you giving up?

The organization loves Konerko, but they love Dye too, and it's always been thought that the next move for Dye would be to 1B, not DH. Depending on who you get more value for, I see one of those two moving next year. Konerko's NTC is dampening a bit, but it's not something that automatically says you do not get moved. These people suggesting Konerko/Dye for Figgins do need to open their eyes and realize that Figgins really isn't a great hitter when he doesn't hit .300 or so. I don't really know how Justin Speier looked this year, but he's always been a damn good reliever (other than this year), and if Anaheim ate most of his contract and then threw in a boom or bust pitching prospect, I might be OK with it, so long as Dotel is traded for value of some sort.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 10:43 PM) I have a feeling there are about 5 or 6 other teams that feel the same way. One of them being the Twins, which would suck. Buscher looks like a solid 3Bman too, and I'm pretty sure he's a more valuable commodity than Josh Fields right now. Beltre is a player I really wouldn't get butthurt about if the Sox had to overpay for, even if for one year, because I imagine there's a possibility he'll be a type A free agent, he's fantastic defensively, he has great power, and he has shown that in a contract year, he'll explode. He just seems like the perfect candidate to me.

Believe it or not, I really want to think that Adrian Beltre is the most likely 3Bman for the Sox next season.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 10:30 PM) I just keep trying to think of ways to get rid of Thome and I just don't see how we could. Jim Thome had the 3rd highest OPS+, 3rd highest SLG%, and 2nd highest OBP on the White Sox this season, and he hit .245. Why do people want to get rid of him? He hits homers, he walks, or he strikes out...you can deal with players like that when they're as productive as Thome is. Dye I understand, because his value is high, his contract is reasonable, he's a generally impatient hitter when it comes to walks, he struck out 104 times this year, and he's mediocre defensively (when there's a superior option in RF). Add to it that the Sox have (including Dye) four right handed hitters in the lineup that have considerable power...unless you count Griffey or Pierzynski (and it'd be dumb if you did), the Sox have one left-handed hitter that has good power. Why people want to get rid of Thome is beyond my comprehension.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:39 PM) Well, you want your VORP to be as high as possible (see: Cliff Lee: 75.0, John Danks: 52.8 and Carlos Silva -17) so yeah, Jon Garland's value over a replacement level player was only 7.6 this past season which is just about as bad as it gets for a guy who pitches as many innings as he does. yeah that's me forgetting how VORP works and misunderstanding what you were saying so you do agree with my statement about trading Garland, regardless of your feelings of OC

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:34 PM) For the Reds? with Brandon Phillips showing up in Arizona for the Sox

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:24 PM) RISP: .261/.289/.343/.633 (s***) RISP & 2 out: .208/.278/.264/.542 (EMBARRASSING) Close & Late: .239/.283/.315/.598 (DREADFUL) Tie Game: .242/.299/.290/.589 (HORRIBLE) His situational hitting was a f***ing joke. Coincidentally, Jon Garland had the 6th lowest VORP of any starter with at least 180 IP this season, bump that up to 186 IP and he's #1. How the hell does that work? Garland almost put up an ERA of 5 and his ERA was like 6 in the second half. I don't think anybody can complain that the team traded Garland. Trading Garland got Floyd into the rotation and he won 17 games.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:30 PM) Aww, for the 1st fake lineup for 2009! Only hours after the season ended no less! 3B-Figgins(I'm not even sure how this one gets done, but it does make all the sense in the world) SS-Hardy(traded for Vazquez) RF-Quentin DH-Thome 1B-Konerko 2B-Ramirez LF-Swisher C-Pierzynski CF-Anderson SP-Buehrle SP-Floyd SP-Danks SP-DyeTrade SP-Garcia The team defense is improved a lot in that scenerio, and the core is still fairly young. I would be atleast OK with it, I just think Figgins is overrated as hell. If he hits .310 though, he'll be a damn good player. I also don't know what all you can count on from Garcia, so it'd be interesting to see if Richard could hang as a 5th starter. I also wonder about the futures of Poreda and, to a lesser extent, Egbert.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 08:27 PM) Didn't Rios just get $100 million from Toronto?? that was Wells. Any team that gave Alexis Rios $100 million right now would have an alienated fan base.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) And I love you too shipps, now buy me another beer and a Jagerbomb Jagerbombs...I f***ing shower in that s***

I don't mind Toby...he's got a piss poor arm but he hit .377 against lefties this year. You can ask for more than that, but he was an adequate backup. It's just that he hit literally 200 points worse against righties and got more plate appearances against righties. If Toby's brought back, I'd ban the shaving cream pie unless it was something awesome, and I'd really try and limit his plate appearances against righties to under 40.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 03:57 PM) I would guess you would need to go 100MPH about 1 time in your life when Godzilla is chasing you. or if you need to impress a chick...that is also an acceptable answer

QUOTE (DaGame2584 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:24 PM) Yeah I know, what was KW thinking when he traded Lee for Pods. lol, it's the same idea. Also I would try to sign Punto to replace Uribe. Because the Sox are still a poor organization with several holes to fill and only so much cash left to fill them...? Paul Konerko is going to make like $12 mill and I'd imagine Figgins is going to be somewhere around $5-7 mill. That's not enough salary disparity for the Sox to get anything super beneficial out of it. Lee was making $8 mill while Podsednik and Vizcaino combined were making $2 mill in a market that was not nearly as crazy as the current free agent market is. The comparison isn't valid. I'm also going to puke merely at the suggestion of Punto for Uribe. There'd be virtually nothing he could do in a White Sox uniform that would make me like him. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:28 PM) The thing that people forget is that our payroll was so low that year, compared to what it has become since 06. That

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:26 PM) I don't know if he'll find a starting spot, but how about Pudge Rodriguez? If he actually understood that he was the backup, I'd be just fine with it. I also think that Ozzie likes and knows how to use AJ well enough that you could save his body and Ozzie wouldn't show the potential hall of famer any undue love. With Erstad and Griffey, it was atleast understandable, but with a veteran firmly entrenched at the position, Ozzie should be OK with it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:22 PM) It makes sense only from a Lee/Pods sense, depending on KW does with the money saved. If it was Figgins and reliable 5th starter=Konerko, then maybe. Or solidifying 2B, 3B and CF. Like the Garza/Bartlett for Delmon Young deal...same idea. The Twins got Brendan Harris and gave up a damn good relief prospect in Eduardo Morlan (who they could have dearly used this season). I don't think that trade holds the same grounds. I also think Lee was dealt because Ozzie no longer liked him and the Sox needed the financial flexibility, and that it was strictly a cost-cutting move while plugging a couple holes at the same time. I wouldn't care if Konerko was traded or not, but I just strongly doubt it's going to be with the Angels. I also still don't understand the fascination with Chone Figgins...he's versatile and can draw a walk. Figgins and Willits can stay in Anaheim for all I care.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:15 PM) Danks does a mediocre job of holding runners for a lefty pitcher. He's still left handed, so I'm not going to fault him too much. He's also pretty quick to the plate which helps him too.

QUOTE (DaGame2584 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:13 PM) Sign Hudson, trade PK for Figgins. PK for Figgins would be an absolutely horrendous move. Add to I could very easily see Anaheim resigning Tex and it just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Buehrle and Danks are also left handed and kind of look at 1B the entire time. Both also have pretty good moves over there and quick deliveries. That's part of the reason they hold runners so well.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:46 PM) agreed. QUOTE (Felix @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:50 PM) winnar I would not be opposed to giving him the $4.5 mill he got this year too. He's just that valuable to the Sox. You take him for what he is - a bad starting player, a great defender, a poor contact man, a generally smart ballplayer, and a guy who hits for power. When he is thrown into a starting position or he has to work for his playing time, he usually hits pretty well too (.271/.319/.418/.737 in the second half...not great but as a 8 or 9 hitter, that's perfect). I'm afraid that a team is going to give him a multi-year deal to be a starter, and if the Red Sox can find someone to take Julio Lugo (and I hope to all that is holy that it is not the Sox), I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it's them. Then again, they have Lowrie, so probably not.