caulfield12

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/07/2017...rankings-4.html Obvious White Sox FA targets: Bautista/Encarnacion (both too old but won't stop a team from overpaying) Josh Reddick Ian Desmond (this time the cost will be 4-5 years and $60-80 million) Kenley Jansen or Aroldis Chapman (if they trade Robertson, which is highly unlikely) Wilson Ramos/Wieters (two obvious catching targets) Dexter Fowler Mark Trumbo Michael Saunders Carlos Gomez/Colby Rasmus Neil Walker Rich Hill Not a whole lot of talent at all to spread around the entire majors, this time around. Almost nothing on the starting pitching market, just a lot of spare parts and veteran relievers...

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/...t-to-his-father Of course, the obligatory "feel good" All-Star story for Chicago is Bryant and his father getting revenge on Chris Sale...

East Coast Media/Gammons/ESPN cannot turn on one of their own "heroes." It would undo too much of 2004/07, the Boston Marathon stuff...and they've already lost Manny Ramirez from prior icon status for that same reason.

Which is, once again the reason why Lawrie, Frazier, Cabrera and Robertson won't be traded. The ONLY one of those that's defensible is Robertson, based on: 1) Clearing $22 million in salary (which can be used for a hitter/hitting/bench) 2) Believing Nate Jones is ready to step in 3) Having confidence that Fulmer/Burdi/Hansen/Danish/Ynoa/Guerrero/Stephens can help to fill the bullpen void this year and next 4) Getting back some additional pitching help in that deal...although hitting's the primary target as outlined below 5) Belief that one of Putnam/Petricka makes it back for next season (at the same performance level) Of course, if you're trading with the Cubs (for Robertson), you're asking for Baez or Almora, Jr., back in return. Almora can play CF, so you keep Eaton in RF. Not sure how ready they are to trade Baez. I think they're hedging their bets, and have already moved on from the idea of Soler being a significant contributor. That said, there's going to be a jam of DH/corner outfield types if Contreras doesn't stick at catcher and Schwarber isn't traded. I guess McKinney's the other player they would be targeting....as well as Vogelbach, although he seems to be one of those guys who puts up huge numbers in the minors but ends up a AAAA player in the end. Then again, he could surprise everyone, the "overlooked" prospect who made good despite being hyped less than guys like Lake and Alcantara.

I don't disagree with the assessment Anderson is the better SS and has MORE potential (at that particular position) than Semien. That's not the debate. It's whether Semien could have played 2B or 3B....which would have preserved the longer window of contention. That clocked started ticking as soon as Frazier was brought on board, along with Melky's contract expiring. Even if they didn't sign either player to an extension (freeing up $25-30 million), it's not going to be easy to fill those TWO holes in the free agency market in 2017-18. With how things are trending financially, you get two second tier FA's at overpriced rates or you really overpay for one superstar type (like Cespedes this year) and try to fight to fill in the other holes for a pittance. I'm also not questioning what they gave up to acquire Lawrie. It was a risk worth taking, and nobody wanted to see Sanchez given the starting job, at least not many. (Now you can debate whether Saladino could hold down 2B and do it better than Lawrie, but there's not much evidence to support that...because Saladino's seeing favorable match-ups in his part-time work and Lawrie has already put up some quite strong WAR years at a young age at the big league level). I guess we'll see how it all plays out....whether Saladino (as a starter/supersub), Semien, Sanchez, Thompson and Montas would have given them a better chance to win (or make further trades) than what they have right now. You can also argue that Phegley's bat would have come in quite handy this year.

They can't trade Frazier anyway. Not if they want to compete in 2017. Unless they're counting on Saladino again at that position. Or Davidson. At any rate, it won't happen as long as Hahnilliams is still around to make the decisions.

The obvious next interview has to be an in-depth one with Hansen...whenever he ends up with one of the A teams, in Kanny or W-S.

Yes, the White Sox have much more flexibility and could actually pull off a rebuild a lot more effectively than the Tigers. The main similarity is both teams seem to be "stuck" going into the final two weeks of July with no clear direction to go in...same applies to Kansas City as well, who will look to go "all in" at the beginning of 2017 or have the greatest sell-off in the history of the MLB in July next year (for one team): Cain Hosmer Moustakas Wade Davis Volquez Duffy Escobar That's almost the equivalent of this year's free agent class coming from just one individual team.

With Fulmer, there you have the typical "rookie will pay his dues" thing, just shut up, smile and be happy...which I'm sure is exactly what Fulmer is doing anyway. He should just be contented his career wasn't jinxed by remaining with the Mets and ending up in their mobile M.A.S.H. unit. Using a knuckleballer for one inning as a reliever in a tight game you're trying to win for your league is also pretty dumb.

David Ortiz is supposedly really pushing for the Red Sox to sign Encarnacion as his replacement. Guess they're very good friends. MLB starting to follow some of the NBA player movement trends...

The headliner was RHP Nelson Acosta, who was the sixth-youngest player in the league. For a just-turned 17-year-old, he had a solid line: 14 G, 12 GS, 46 IP, 25 H, 28 BB, 36 K, 7 HBP, 7 WP. Achieving an almost-league average 18.7% strikeout rate was a good accomplishment, though his 14.5% walk rate obviously could use some work. Can't ask much more of a guy signed for $50K. This is from SSS, review of 2014 DSL season. You can also see the control issues there with the hit by pitch/wild pitch numbers. Seems like he's progressing nicely so far, and still incredibly young for his level of competition.

Chances of scoring multiple runs against this line-up of relievers is slim and none... Started out as a pretty entertaining game but now has reached the Bataan Death March of Dominating Relievers shutting down offense.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnis...tions/86974920/ Tigers in almost the exact same position as the White Sox. Their most desired trade assets are key parts of their "two year plan" which goes through 2017...they also are stuck with $38 million in bad contracts for Sanchez and Lowe, not to mention the Verlander/Cabrera contracts keeping them permanently suspended in "win now" mode. So you've got the White Sox, Tigers, Royals and Yankees that are "stuck" in a position where adding anything of significance might not make any sense financially or prospects surrended-wise. You've got Baltimore, Boston, Toronto (depleted minor leagues but drawing huge crowds so the revenue's there to make at least one move), Cleveland, Texas and Houston really looking to make a move. And Angels are also basically "stuck" for a number of reasons. That leaves the Seattle Mariners as the one big mystery team in this wild card race, because they already have Cano/Cruz and a gold mine with their new ROOT tv deal providing them $118 million per season. OAK, TB and MIN are your three rosters to pick from on the AL side.

QUOTE (StrykerSox @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 08:08 PM) Dunno, dude. Maybe it has something to do with Sanchez having a better ERA, ERA+ more quality starts and high quality starts, more IP/GS, and a lower homerun rate than Quintana. But hey, he did as poorly in the pointless AS game (we won't be in the World Series, so this game is effectively pointless for us) as "the best lefty in the game not named Clayton Kershaw". So f*** him. Yeah, he definitely has one of the Top 10 arms among starters in the AL. No doubt at all.

I honestly think Yost was doing to the "typical" manager's thing of honoring or recognizing players from the best teams at that time...like Kluber and Sanchez. Not to mention Salazar wasn't going to perform. So he had to choose between Carlos Carrasco (perhaps more deserving than Kluber, but without a Cy Young on his resume), Tomlin and Bauer. If I were Yost, it would have been Carrasco instead of Kluber, but it's kind of meh/whatever decision that could go any direction. Tomlin has clearly overachieved and certainly deserves the recognition, but only Indians' fans want to see him pitch, just like only Reds' fans cared about Adam Duvall in the home run battle last night.

Now back to Tim Anderson Talk...

Cue the Biblical references if he actually does something to help the Bulls win a game...

Look at his stats. Sanchez has great stuff and has been a key cog in Toronto's starting rotation. It's also his first extended run as a starter after being converted from the bullpen. I mean...Johnny Cueto's on track to win the NL Cy Young and he got absolutely lit up....just like he did last year pitching in the AL, and specifically the AL Central. Same thing happened with Samardzija. Transport them to SF and magically they're playing on another World Series team if the Nationals/Cubs don't make it. Even numbered year, etc. QUINTANA in...no disrespect from Ned Yost card to play here.

When have you gone out and staked a position on a player? It's easy to question others when you so rarely do that. Ubaldo Jimenez? Gordon Beckham? John Danks? Do I really need to write that "everyone knows how the White Sox operate when it comes to young players, that it's clear they have given up on Marcus Semien as an everyday player and might as well get something of value back for him?" Once again, should every thread be bifurcated into 1) our own personal thoughts about a player or trade, 2) our anticipation of what the White Sox will actually do, 3) our own idea if we were running the White Sox, what they SHOULD or SHOULDN'T DO? Those are not necessarily mutually exclusive concepts. In the end, I'll leave it up to "SoxTalk" land to make their own appraisals. None of us are being paid by the White Sox to make these decisions, anyway, so it doesn't really matter, does it? It's just for fun and entertainment. If you think about ALL the time you've wasted trying to convince everyone that I'm this or that...wouldn't your energies have better been applied to "growing the White Sox fanbase" in Chicago by sponsoring an RBI or Jackie Robinson League team so that all those kids ended up cheering for the Sox in the future? Are you really going to change the minds of Balta, Greg775, Flash Tizzle, Thad Bosley, GreenSox or ANYONE else? For the record, thanks in advance for your time and consideration in spending an inordinate amount of time delving into every single post someone has made!!! Flattering, in a way. Impressive diligence in your quest for righteousness. I'll leave it like this. The current and prevailing message board defense of almost any move made by the Sox was "that it made sense or was logical enough at the time." If JR wants to support that type of thinking and ignore the team's record or lack of playoff appearances, that's really great. LOYAL. If he wants to end up with 18-21,000 fans per game despite never doing a total rebuild, and STILL having the worst TV ratings in all of MLB despite starting the season 23-10, he's more than welcome to enjoy that, since his team will still be worth $1 billion or more anyway, no matter how badly they mess things up.

Balta- It is absolutely worth considering whether with his aggressive style of play and injury-risk, if Adam Eaton will continue to remain a TOP 5 MLB outfielder by OPS. Not to mention whether or not they will be able to find another CF (Colby Rasmus?) for 2017 so that they can keep Eaton in RF, where he's establishing his highest value due to defense and his arm, not to mention general comfort level out there at that position. He has a very favorable contract. But it's hard to imagine the White Sox getting "fair value" back for him, compared to what they would get from trading Sale or Quintana, not to mention the obvious point that the longer you hold onto young/dynamic starting pitching, the higher the risk for significant injury (as the Mets are currently learning w/ Harvey/Wheeler/Syndergaard, Rangers w/ Darvish, etc.) Rock/hard place.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 01:47 PM) Why do we have to trade THOSE guys. I prefer keeping those 3 and Anderson, Eaton and Abreu and Sale/Q and dumping the rest: Frazier, Robertson, Melky, Avila, Navarro, Duke, Avi, Lawrie will bring a NICE haul. Because 1) you're not going to get back what you paid in prospects for Frazier, 2) Robertson and Melky will get you another Avi Garcia and B prospect probably because their high salaries preclude mid-market teams from acquiring them unless you eat salary for prospects, which we rarely rarely do, 3) there's no market for Avila and Navarro 4) Duke and Lawrie will get you a B prospect back and 5) Avi Garcia has literally ZERO VALUE to any contending team right now, and could only be traded to an AL club at any rate. If you combined Frazier and Robertson in a package...some combination of Frazier/Robertson/Melky/Lawrie...for a large market team desperate to fill two or three of those holes in one fell swoop, that's where you can get some good talent back (and because the FA market next offseason will be abysmal.) We trade Cabrera, we end up signing Colby Rasmus for the exact same price or higher than we were paying Melky...and then probably have to replace him again in 2018 OR we take an even bigger risk and give someone like Rasmus a $60-75 million contract because we're forced to overpay in an absolutely brutal market.

15:$0.85M, 16:$2.75M, 17:$4M, 18:$6M, 19:$8.4M, 20:$9.5M club option ($1.5M buyout), 21:$10.5M club option ($1.5M buyout) Eaton's contract

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 05:36 PM) No. You said it was a trade that had to be made, and it wasn't clear the organization had given up on him. Nice spin. But a total lie. You just had a couple of mods in this very same sequence of posts say the organization had clearly given up on him. It's not just me. It's what the White Sox ALWAYS do. The same thing happened with Daniel Hudson after 3 starts. Micah Johnson got about 3 weeks. Carlos Sanchez got about half a season as well, despite being only 22 or 23. They give up on players too quickly or they play them 1-2 seasons too long when they can't believe they were so wrong in their talent evaluation (Beckham, Viciedo, Flowers, Avi Garcia). Somewhere in there is a middle ground that they can't seem to find, a sweet spot, where patience has to be met with results. Marcus Semien had 300 career at-bats with the White Sox. That's essentially half a season. And then they decided he wasn't going to make it. So what's the point of not trading him at that point? They weren't willing to play him everyday, even though that's exactly what rebuilding teams do. That's exactly what Billy Beane did (see below). http://m.mlb.com/news/article/188565220/as...lays-every-day/ But thanks for playing, Dick "Stalker" Allen

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:05 PM) We have a very forgiving fanbase. The Shark trade on paper is a disaster right now with Semien performing and Phegs serviceable. Didn't we give up a third piece as well? Shark was a monumental colossal disaster even if the trade may have "made sense." A lot of us don't like giving up our "name" prospects in deals. For example, if we were to trade Robertson and Frazier and Melky and Lawrie soon, I'd like to get back players just like Semien and Trayce plus more than that. Chris Bassitt, who pitched well for them last year, struggled this year and has since gotten hurt. Trayce Thompson, by the way, has 13 homers...not 11. I've also noticed in retroactively talking about Shark, some are calling him an "innings eater," (like James Shields), some are calling him an ace or #2 starter. Some a 3.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:05 PM) We have a very forgiving fanbase. The Shark trade on paper is a disaster right now with Semien performing and Phegs serviceable. Didn't we give up a third piece as well? Shark was a monumental colossal disaster even if the trade may have "made sense." A lot of us don't like giving up our "name" prospects in deals. For example, if we were to trade Robertson and Frazier and Melky and Lawrie soon, I'd like to get back players just like Semien and Trayce plus more than that. Chris Bassitt, who pitched well for them last year, struggled this year and has since gotten hurt. Trayce Thompson, by the way, has 13 homers...not 11.