caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 08:08 PM) What you have taught us is the White Sox need to be more like the Indians and Royals. Who did They sign? No, not at all. They signed almost all of their Latin American talent without giving them $1 million plus bonuses, before the system changed to the point where all those under 21 players became overvalued. Cuthbert might be the only L.A. player on either team with a $1 million bonus, and his was that number, exactly. Lindor was drafted out of Puerto Rico.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 08:35 PM) On June 28th, you pointed out the Indians bullpen as a weakness. And how many other weaknesses did I list? 9? But the same point can be made about the White Sox, and Omarscoming tried to argue it isn't...that it's actually a strength. And just because it's a COMPARATIVE weakness to the other elements of their team doesn't mean it's bad/terrible/preventing them from becoming a playoff team. There's no team (this year) in the Central without bullpen problems, the Royals included. Hochevar and Soria haven't been as good as expected, Duffy had to be moved back to the rotation and Collins still isn't back from TJ. So I would say KC doesn't have anywhere near the pen they did in 2014-15, although calling it an actual weakness might be pushing the definition of weakness a bit. Let's just say even the Yankees would like to improve the back end of their bullpen (hence, moving Eovaldi and possibly Pineda there).

Yeah, whatever team (already possessing two star quality players) adds Westbrook, they instantly become the final leg of the GSW/CLE/ triangle, with Boston rising now with Horford. SA? LAC? TOR? Boston? Philly? ATL? NOLA? The major problem is teams wanting to compete aren't going to want to give up too much of their young core, so it's going to be more draft-pick/future considerations based.

I'm not sure that we really have any position prospects the Brewers would want...if you were Milwaukee's GM, what position prospect other than Zack Collins looks like a sure-fire big league starter? If you're willing to trade Fulmer + Adams...but Hahn probably doesn't want to risk destroying his pitching depth that he just attempted to replenish with the recently-completed draft.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 08:23 PM) Gorzelanny faced one batter with nobody on... The LARGER point is that they brought in five established veterans from other big league teams in order to improve their pen, which was a huge weakness last year before you got to Shaw and Allen. Hahn decided that the risk of not having any experienced depth there was worth taking...which turned out to be a challenge with Petricka and then Putnam going down, and Albers becoming ineffective. In 2012, all of our rookies got the job done for 85-90% of the season. That hasn't been the case this year with our minor league depth.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 08:25 PM) Would love to add a couple arms in the pen (I know we have some options in the minors as well) like Rzepczynski-OAK and Vizcaino-ATL, then a bat and let's see how this team does to finish the season. The asking price for Vizcaino is going to be pretty significant...above our system's ability to meet their price, and they're unlikely to trade a future starter in Fulmer for a reliever unless they also believe that's Fulmer's future in the big leagues.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 07:42 PM) Gorzelanny pitched 3 innings. Had an ERA of 21.00. And here you are moving goalposts again. Did you break up with Dayton Moore? It uses to be all Royals all the time, can't do anything wrong. Now your new favorite team is Cleveland, they get praised for signing s***, then praised for letting it go. White Sox fan my ass. They get praised for improving a team even when that reliever's ERA would have been one of the best on the White Sox in around 20 appearances. Maybe #1. As far as the Royals go, very few teams can surviving losing four All-Stars at different points in the season (Gordon, Moustakas and now Cain for significant stretches), but I'm pretty sure they do something before July 31st to make a run at it again in the 2nd half. Probably another starting pitcher and bat. Actually, Moore's probably done his best job since joining KC keeping this team within 1 game of the WC spot with so many injuries. If you want to blame Dayton Moore for all of those players getting injured, have at it.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 07:48 PM) How was letting Chamberlain go a good move? We could use him over Ynoa or Beck. It was a good move for CLE because they wanted to give a younger player an opportunity, someone who could be part of their bullpen long-term going forward. Now we'll see how other GM's value Chamberlain, and whether the White Sox pick him up or not. http://espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=360701114 That one strikeout and Chamberlain surviving that single inning were enough to justify the tiny amount of money they were paid. It wasn't really deserved, as Chamberlain owns a 2.25 ERA in 20 appearances this season, but the Indians are in need of some fresh arms in their bullpen. Mike Clevinger and T.J. House were called up Monday. Jul 4 - 4:05 PM He was signed on a minor league deal. Was throwing 94-96 MPH in that inning last FRI.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 07:20 PM) Royals lost. Tigers v Indians in a delay start time about 9:30 est. Already factored in before it was over.

+8 Boston 2. DET/TOR +6 4. HOU +5 1/2 GB 5. KC +4 1 GB 6. CHW/SEA +3 1 1/2 GB (but DET and TOR are tied, DET/CLE just starting after long delay) 8. NYY -2 4 GB Six teams within 1 1/2 games of each other.

That's my point. Veterans don't have to stay on the roster all season to make contributions to a winning team. Citing the back two arms of the Indians' bullpen as "failures" because they were let go isn't proof that they didn't help hold down the fort and get CLE to the point where they now are...in fact, if either of them failed in that 18 inning game, they'd have one less win. That alone is worth the minimal amount of money spent on them (compared to $1.5 million for Jacob Turner, who won't even pitch for the Sox this season.)

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 06:29 PM) Oh I agree. But we cannot stand pat this season considering this is year 2 of 3. Last year sucked but I understood it. Trading Anderson for someone would've been awful. Reddick has been the guy I wanted. Wonder about a Reddick and Rzcepczynski package. That's where you have to decide if you want to risk trading Fulmer...as it's highly unlikely Reddick wouldn't go for the big FA riches in the offseason, so odds on him agreeing to an extension would be pretty minimal. Guys like Engel, Trey, Jacob May or Jordan Stephens aren't going to be enough to pry Reddick away. And neither will Adams with his reduced velocity. Beane will want a player who can contribute next year at some point.

Yes, perhaps Rick Hahn's BEST move in the last 12 months is NOT trading Tim Anderson a year ago. Of course, we'll never be privy to knowing the exact players that were on the table for Anderson. We might be horrified or pleasant surprised.

No, he doesn't. He just wants you to commit to naming some names (of course, none of us have videos of their workouts accessible) so he can show up 2-3 years later and say ".......... was supposed to be a future star according to Thad Bosley." Because Thad Bosley missing a prediction on a young player at age 15-17 he's never even seen before (besides reading internet hype) is exactly the same as Hostetler and Marco Paddy having the professional responsibility to analyze the same players, having monitored them for years. And you can be sure if we blew past our spending limits and had, let's say, 3 out of the "consensus" Top 10, it would be used as justification of how the White Sox were totally turning over a new leaf and were really experiencing a sea change in how they do business with talent evaluation and development. Either they don't want to spend the money (in the lottery, essentially) or they don't feel they can confidently assess its value to allocate precious resources for some of the very top bonuses (see Moncada with Boston).

We all give Hahn credit for Matt Latos and Jimmy Rollins... So Gorzelanny and Joba were simply placeholders in the same vein, and they were effective ENOUGH. The game that Bauer pitched 5 innings that went 18, Chamberlain and Gorzelanny both played huge roles. And they both probably cost about the same as Jacob Turner to sit in Charlotte and get bombed. The fact of the matter is that Clevinger is potentially part of their future and has more upside. Have to applaud the Indians for not resting on their laurels but continuing to find ways to improve their team 1-25.

Bruce has been cooling down a bit recently (he's still at an 854 OPS) and he's terrible defensively in RF, so he should only be targeted by AL teams looking for a DH. That lowers his market significantly. The Rangers could use an improvement on Cecil Fielder, but they're pretty much stuck with that contract. Also not sure about Josh Hamilton's status. KC is looking for another OF with pop. Morales has really come around the last month and has been their best hitter. Boston, Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland are set at DH. Houston might be looking for another bat as well, especially if AJ Reed doesn't stick. http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/batting?posi...S&minpa=150 Plus, Beltran can play RF/LF much more passably. Even CF, in a pinch.

Let's not forget they can pick up players in that August waiver wire period as well... Although the big DH/OF bats on the market like Bruce, Reddick, possibly Beltran, possibly Cargo, etc., are likely to move now. CoCo Crisp would be a nice veteran to have on the bench, but Austin Jackson will get the first shot to prove he's back before they make that kind of a bench/depth move. But he's used to the AL Central wars, that's the kind of player who is helpful in August/September.

Who is the center now for GSW? Varejao? Do they have any money left over to replace him? One of their weaknesses will be interior defense without Bogut. Very popular player, organization was basically forced to part with him for financial reasons. Ezeli's out too, guess they'll come up with someone, as every C in the world not currently attached to an organization will want to play for them. Greg Oden, come on down. Joking about that one. Maybe Rush can get some more playing time with their smaller line-ups. He's a very solid defender as well, at least he was at Bishop Miege and at Kansas.

Beltran would seem to be more likely. Or Bruce. Knocking the Yankees back would be helpful to their own chances of picking from their roster. The Yankees just aren't getting a cohesive attack from that combination of all those veteran hitters in the middle of their order. And their starting pitching after CC and Tanaka has been a complete mess. Eovaldi, with all his talent, is close to being banished to the bullpen. Pineda might belong there as well. If one or both of those elements (middle of order/starting pitching 3-5) don't come together soon, they'll have to sell.

Avi needs to be gone, a 650 OPS at DH is embarrassing, it would be pretty bad for a middle infielder even. Second point, that LaRoche money is free and HAS to be spent, at least for the remainder of this season. If they find the right fit for a player whose deal goes through 2017, great, because the offseason FA market is crap and will force more overpays. Finally, you're probably right about the Sox not wanting to give up top talent for a veteran RH reliever. They'll monitor Burdi, Danish, Jordan Stephens, Alec Hansen (that's a very low probability event) and Fulmer and hopefully one or two of those guys really click in the next month or so. Maybe, just maybe, Ynoa takes the next step but that's asking for a lot. Albers is almost at the end of his rope. His last 20 or so appearances have been terrible, and Ventura pulled him after just one batter today. His patience is now at zero to turn things around for Matty.

Predicted record-breaking season again for GS? The biggest benefit is that this takes some of the pressure off Curry. And he showed in the playoffs he's capable of playing defense when motivated. Being around Green, they will push him to up that side of his game. He has the wingspan to be more of a presence.

Morneau has grounded out softly on the infield and hit into a double play so far. 2 LOB. http://www.milb.com/gameday/index.jsp?gid=...mp;mode=gameday Jacob Turner rocked pretty hard.

Navarro was only hitting .182 with a 619 ops against lefties in 50+ ab's, although that should be higher after today. .239 and 667 OPS vs. RHP. (675 overall now) Avila at 706 vs. RHP with a 228 average...just 7 AB's vs. lefties. That's at least workable now. One of the main reasons we're only 10th (still, after today) in the AL in runs scored is Avi Garcia. They need to be in that 7-9 range of having close to an "average" offense if they want to have a real shot at the Wild Card. Tim Anderson at 833 vs. Garcia at 650 is embarrassing.

Wow, Anderson golfed out that sinker to CF. Got all of that one. 2-2.

At least the 9 ERA so far this game's still lowering his 11.07 with the Sox. So there's that.