caulfield12

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 07:53 AM) you seriously have named them multiple times in this thread. the pool of Sanchez/Davidson/Saladino/Anderson/Johnson were all thought to be possible replacements or trade chips for replacements. You are just arguing anymore to see yourself argue, with hindsight points that change from sentence to sentence. But how can we honestly say Semien was traded "out of depth" when none of those players were clear/sure-fire/ready-to-go replacements at either 2B or 3B? They were possibilities. Actually, you'd have to believe the White Sox valued Conor Gillaspie and Gordon Beckham more at 3B based upon their actions (or lack thereof). Isn't that also part of the reason Emilio Bonifacio was acquired, to share time at 2B and give Micah Johnson some competition (PR/outfield, 3B, etc.) We said all along that if you merged Saladino/Micah/Carlos/Leury into ONE player, then you might have a major league regular. Saladino was also coming off an injury that was going to limit him heading into 2015 (at least there was the idea he wouldn't be ready to start the season or even maybe be ready to go in May). Trey wasn't even close to the majors (he still isn't 1 1/2 years later) and Davidson had a 644 OPS in AAA, so it would have been nearly impossible to project him as a starter coming into 2015.

Apparently FOX NEWS and Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio do not exist. And about 85% of small/regional newspapers in the US. By the way, it's AG (Attorney General), not DA (District Attorney). Slight difference!!!

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 07:46 AM) The Sox did not "give up on" Marcus Semien. They wanted Samardzija and they traded from depth. It costs talent to get talent. Who were their future 2B and 3B at that time?

QUOTE (FT35 @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 06:29 AM) See I disagree with this perspective. I don't think the Sox set out to actively trade the guys you mention nor do I think they gave up on the process after too short of a sample size. I think they USED the young guys to get what they wanted at that time--then got STUCK with the guys no one wanted! (Beckham, Viciedo etc). I could be wrong, but I am assuming that there are not many teams calling Hahn trying to get Carlos Sanchez nor is Rick Hahn actively shopping Sanchez as a centerpiece of a trade because he hasn't panned out. But if Hahn was looking for a Jay Bruce type player, the Reds might think to include Sanchez-- a young, cheap player with MLB experience--especially with an aging 2nd basemen on their MLB roster. Same goes for Shark. They weren't looking to trade Semien, they were looking to acquire Shark because they thought he was a top of the rotation RHP that could compliment who we have. It was a GREAT thought and one worth overpaying a little on the prospect side to get done. Semien had showed something to everyone--including the Sox. We didn't MISS the boat on him, we leveraged him. Now...that didn't pan out the way we had hoped because Shark bombed here, but I bet you a dollar, Hahn would make that trade again because the logic was sound behind it. Or they undervalued Semien and overestimated how easy the transition to the AL Central would be for a two-pitch NL pitcher. Cueto learned the hard way. He almost had a 5 ERA, now he's likely to win the Cy Young the next year. Think he got reminded again last night why he's better off in the NL West than the American League.

Should be 1-3 game playoff (usually sudden death) to eliminate one team if they had different division winners in the 1st and 2nd half...then go on to the championship series. We had to play Columbus in 1995 (sudden death playoff) on the road against Jaret Wright, and somehow managed to beat him, then wiped out Piedmont (used to be Spartanburg) in the championship series (Phillies).

LF--I'll cede that to the Cubs CF--Bradley, Jr. over Fowler RF--Betts clearly over Heyward 3B--Bryant SS--Bogaerts 2B--Pedroia over Zobrist, close battle, could go either way...Zobrist isn't the strongest infield defender 1B--Rizzo over Hanley DH--clear advantage to Ortiz over anyone the Cubs have (Baez/Soler, etc.) C--slight advantage to the Cubs, Swihart and Vasquez have been disappointments, but so has Montero...win this one because of the last month of Contreras 4 go to the Cubs. 5 to the Red Sox

Is unobjective even a word? Unless the Cubs are playing the White Sox, they don't have a marked advantage in the DH category. Seriously, the Rangers have better hitting than the Cubs, up and down that line-up.

Contending for 3-5 years would be a minor miracle. So let's worry about "half a decade" or merely getting back to the playoffs before the Marlins, Padres or Mariners. Two of those teams (Miami/Seattle) probably have better opportunities to make it (to the playoffs) than we currently do. It's only SD that is totally screwed, although they'll get some nice pieces back for Drew Pomeranz should they choose to trade him this July.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 13, 2016 -> 05:42 AM) Saladino can't play the OF anymore. Because of the surgery? That doesn't exactly make sense, because if he can play SS and make a throw from the hole flat-footed, why wouldn't he be able to play LF and maybe even CF?

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...