witesoxfan

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:09 AM) Yeah, it's short-sighted to say we don't want anyone who was ever associated with PEDs on the Sox. There are more guys out there who were taking that stuff than we will ever know. Cabrera got caught, and his case was more high-profile because he lied. But, he's still a good hitter and would immediately fill a need and a wish at the same time. There are some really shady circumstances around his, including trying to forge a website to attempt to clear his name, but it wouldn't stop me from pursuing him for the White Sox.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs...comment-4821345 This is a great read from Kiley McDaniel again and it really drives home a few points. I think this is a very good thing to read especially when we consider guys like Matt Davidson and Erik Johnson.

I'll just basically say that I'd prefer they avoid trading Quintana under any circumstances, but will reserve judgment on that.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 09:25 PM) He has, what, one more option left? Pretty sure he has at least 2. It's hard to find info on options, but as I recall, he wasn't added to the 40-man until Dunn was shipped out.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 05:59 PM) I hope they don't sign him, I don't want guys who have any connection to PEDs on the team. I just want to say this, and it will not be the last time I say this: if people do not want the White Sox to bring in people connected with PEDs, then they may as well DFA Tyler Flowers and Jose Quintana now.

Robin had nothing to do with Belisario imploding. Belisario leaving fat pitches out over the middle of the plate had to do with Belisario imploding.

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 01:01 PM) Sounds like quite the case of 'dead arm'. And with that, I'll return to the shadows. I laughed. That's good punning.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:04 PM) Cool article I will point out that had this been written 3 months ago, the Sox longest tree would be a mundane Mike Cameron---->Paul Konerko. I wonder what the longest tree in the major is, including crossing teams. Frankly, it's amazing to think that those two were traded for each other and then went on to have the careers they did, because they both had really good and really long careers.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 04:23 PM) On what planet are we living on where Andy Wilkins provides value? He's a 27 year old non prospect that was absolute trash in his cup of coffee. He looked completely overwhelmed by MLB pitching. He struck out in half his 45 AB! Come on people. He provides value in that, as the rosters are currently constructed, he is currently the #2 1B and probably the #1 DH on the team. Those will change in a matter of weeks, but he's blocking absolutely no one, and the guy hit 30 homers in the minors last year. He's also not the first guy to look overwhelmed by MLB pitching in his first call up either. He's obviously not going to have the career that Paul Konerko did, but Konerko put up a .214/.275/.326/.601 over his first 247 plate appearances before having an almost hall of fame career. Frankly, I'm going to be surprised if Wilkins is DFA'd. I wouldn't be surprised to see him traded, but he's under control and he's young enough that he could still provide value as a bat off the bench. And I don't disgaree that he's probably a AAAA player - I'm pretty sure I mentioned that and that I've always believed that - but that doesn't mean you get rid of him.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 03:52 PM) Nobody right now but he's the next man for the chopping block when they make their next FA signing and/or trade. I put that odds at 90% that if they need to clear 40 man spot, he's the guy to go. edit: or when they resign Kong. I think Phegley makes a hell of a lot more sense for that chopping block. The Sox have very little first base depth at the moment. At least as a AAAA player, Wilkins has enough talent and upside that he could get hot for a month and perhaps keep the Sox afloat. Maybe his ceiling is Garrett Jones, maybe it's lower than that, but the guy can hit the ball out of the park. EDIT: Also, Raul Fernandez, Andre Rienzo, and Maikel Cleto.

Who is Wilkins blocking at the moment that people want him DFA'd and gone so badly?

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 03:21 PM) Wilkins and Carroll won't be around much longer. I really couldn't disagree more with this. I think Wilkins and Carroll's 40 man spots are really quite safe. Rienzo I don't think has a lot of life left, nor does Phegley. Regarding Rienzo, I'm just not sure he's a good pitcher (but it was worth getting a look at him this year). Phegley I think can be an OK player at the MLB level but there's just not a lot of room for a player with his skillset on the Sox roster. He is a guy that might go for a guy like Raul Fernandez but who doesn't need a 40-man spot...he can throw it through a brick wall but has no idea where it's going. In a lot of ways, Phegley's situation kind of reminds me of Gillaspie in that he keeps hitting in AAA, there's no room for him at the MLB level, he's running out of options, and he's not hitting a lot at the MLB level. Wilkins hits left handed and crushed the ball the second half of last year. There's no need to get rid of a player like that. He might be a pinch hitter or AAA depth and he may ultimately be a AAAA player but there's no need to get rid of a youngish guy who hit 30 homers in the minors last year. And Carroll pitched well enough that he can be counted on to be 7th starter or 9th guy out of the bullpen, or perhaps he finds a role as a swing man in the bullpen.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 03:14 PM) My favorite Belisario memory was attending the Sox-Yankees game he blew after Danks threw 8 shutout innings. Also I kept wanting to put Bottles the Mole from Banjo-Kazooie's head on Ronald Belisario's body and calling it "Bottles the Moleisario" because I think they kind of look alike but I never got around to it and now it's too late. God what a comparison. It's never too late for something that amazing. I would say do it.

I remember seeing him early on and thinking "this guy was a great signing, look at how much his stuff moves." And then everything was up, up, up.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 02:57 PM) I don't really understand the Mitchell move. He had a very good 2nd half last year and isn't a proven ML failure. The Sox just chased Michael Taylor for 1 year of his services. They keep such luminaries as DeWayne Wise clone Jordan Danks on the 40 man (the Sox are a sentimental organization). They must just not like the guy. They still have Jared Mitchell, they just cleared him from the 40-man roster. If I'm understanding correctly, he'll be a minor league free agent after this season if he's not re-added to the 40-man roster. There's still time for Buddy's buddy.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/...for-assignment/ Just so we can have it somewhere. My initial reaction to this was HURRAH and my reaction after thinking about it for a little bit is HURRAH Also, my favorite Belisario memory was when he gave up all those hits to the Twins because I was at a bar and I was like "this sucks, I've totally been jocking this guys balls on Soxtalk and he's going to blow this save" and then he blew the save.

Onelki Garcia pitched in 1 game between the majors and minors last year. He had elbow surgery in Nov of 2013, but that's all I can find right now. QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) Also DFA'd Belisario per MLBTR, so that has the 40 man at 36, leaving 4 spots to be protected for the Rule 5. Unless I'm mistaken, those went to Ravelo, Smith, Saladino, and Montas.

Jason Parks on Onelki (from January 2014): http://www.truebluela.com/2014/1/31/536402...ia-victor-arano

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/whit...d-mitchell.html 25 years old, 6'3, 225, numbers in the minors seems like he has good stuff and mediocre control/command. 64.2 IP, 49 H, 22 ER, 3 HR, 36 BB, 71 K

The Sox have taken someone in the Rule 5 draft the past 2 seasons, so I would assume that they'll look to do the same again this year. It's $50k which is chump change for an MLB team and if you don't want the player, you don't owe anything beyond that and can even recoup some of that cost.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 01:25 PM) I am really not trying to start anything, but if this is how you feel, how can you say in another post we HAVE to like the deal when it is for 3 years for a guy who if he pitched the other 38 innings like he did his last 20, even with a nice xFIP, would be lucky to get much more than $1 million guaranteed? I'm sure there are players out there that if they had one good year, you wouldn't like it if the White Sox gave them $15 million for the next 3. It's not a ton of money relative to baseball players, but I can't see how anyone can come to the conclusion there is a decent chance this guy is pretty good the next 3 years. I don't think anybody is saying you have to like it, just that there's not a lot of reason to be upset about it. You can feel, as I know you do, that Duke is a fluke and it won't work out, but I think this will at least provide more utility than the Keppinger signing as he can be, at worst, a swingman for the Sox and at best he is going to be a nice set up guy. We did think Keppinger would be able to play around the field a bit better, but he seemingly lost all usefulness after that first year. FWIW, I think that signing ultimately ended up being worse than the Dunn signing, all things considered.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) That's comparing apples to oranges buddy. 20 IP for an arm in the pen could represent over 25 percent of a season where as 20 IP for a starting pitcher idealy is only a 10 percent or less sample size. That's not at all apples to oranges. It just goes to show you how a reliever's counting numbers can fluctuate in a small sample size. Over 20 innings, is there going to be a significant difference between a reliever giving up 6 runs or 8 runs? Probably not. But his ERA goes from 2.70 to 3.60 in those 10 innings. If the bullpen is worn thin and they ask him to work 2 innings and he gives up 5 runs in one outing simply because they needed to get the inning eaten, it affects those numbers a great amount. But if you looked at his splits, you can see that they weren't really that bad. I really am not worried about those. I worry more about the fact that he's only done this a year and that's a very small sample size too.

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) I'm no doctor, but where do they get the ligaments from on the third surgery? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_John_surgery

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 10:59 AM) It's an interesting case, for sure. His salary is going to be JUST high enough that it feels like it costs something to keep him. Even though I'm as big a Viciedo-hater as anyone, I think I'd tender him a contract. If we fail to land a real solution in LF/DH, giving him another year probably IS the best choice. And worst case, if we DO get a real solution and you can't trade Viciedo, you can DFA him and only be out $4m. Seems like a good insurance policy. This feels a lot like the Gordon Beckham situation again. We are pretty sure we as fans know what we have, but we can't say for certain and it'd be better to give him one more shot and make him fail again than to give him up and see him finally turn it around and succeed.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 20, 2014 -> 10:13 AM) I was just stirring the pot a bit since no one else checked his splits. Guess I stirred it too much since the thread got closed for a bit. If I had to draw any conclusions from what I see there it would be this. When you completely reinvent yourself by changing your arm angle drastically maintaining command would probably be pretty hard. He struggled with his control with a walk every 2 innings and 3 wild pitches . This was Downs problem. He just couldn't throw strikes. I am satisfied they addressed a need with this signing. Another point. When talking about relievers you live in the small sample size world. A successful set up guy or closer makes his living on small sample sizes. If you can manage to not give up runs just 1 inning per appearance you are a great RP. The reason RP numbers fluctuate so much from year to year is small sample sizes where a few bad outings can ruin your stats for the whole year. A starter like Quintana can overcome bad outings stat wise by piling up good innings ( 6-9 innings per appearance ) to offset the bad. A RP can't. These are very valid concerns. How much do we think a guy like Putnam or Guerra would get on the open market right now? It wouldn't be be 3/$15, but their years weren't quite as good and they aren't left handed, so those influence it as well. The small sample size works the other way too. How do we know he didn't just get hot and that he is going to lose his command? Perhaps he's similar to Donnie Veal. It's hard to know the true talent of a guy like that based on 50 some innings. The Sox believe in his talent. All we can do is hope they're right.