caulfield12

Well, at least for today, the solution was Eaton at DH, but that really doesn't help our outfield defense much when you have Garcia and Cabrera both playing. At some point they're going to have to decide which is the best option, Eaton in LF and Cabrera DHing with Garcia in RF, trying to move Cabrera to RF...then there's the options in the form of Sands and Shuck, but that's not ideal, either. The most LIKELY solution would be Jay Bruce, because of the LH preference, but then you still have to put him or Garcia or Cabrera in RF...which couldn't be any worse than last year, I guess. Is Dominic Brown still available? Nope...looks like he's with the Jays, who still have a surplus. Michael Saunders? Travis Snider would have been another possibility, but the Royals control his rights for now. There are plenty of LH options, but not many are what you would consider "power" hitters or middle of the line-up guys.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/mlb-big-...-182055837.html Yahoo Sox season preview/profile...progress, we're now 17th with 6 AL teams behind us

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/colum...737174/?ref=yfp

Let me ask this question...would we still have Donald Trump leading the nomination process at this point without ISIS and the Paris attacks? The more and more you think about it, this phenomenon isn't about China either, because China has been trending downward economically since last June and looks like it will end up somewhere between late 80's/early 90's Japan and 1997-98 and 2008-09 financial crises. Backlash against Mexicans and illegal immigration? Well, Lou Dobbs pounded that drum for years and didn't get anywhere. Pat Buchanan as well.

What I don't get is how Trump barely even registered as a blip on the radar screen in the race four years ago. Basically, the economy, in terms of unemployment or the stock market, has been trending upwards. Obama's got the highest approval ratings he's had in at least 3 years. If I had to guess, I'd say one element of it is the backlash that started with Ferguson, Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman, the South Carolina church shooting, BLM, political correctness on college campuses...mixed in with the gun rights/self protection issue. Or the situation out in Oregon with the occupation of federal lands. Just seems like one polarizing event after another fanning the flames. Observing from afar, every day brings something new. Staging rallies at sites that you pretty much have to know you'll cancel ahead of time to score political points. Secret Service officers in 1960's mode. Members of his own party like Rubio and Kasish openly talking about not supporting the nominee due to the toxic environment that has been created. Nazi salutes? It might work to strengthen his current base of support, but he's playing with fire and at some point...lives will be lost. Maybe he's secretly hoping for that, although I would hate to think so poorly of any human being. It's getting to the point where implausible television programs like Scandal and House of Cards are getting outdone by reality. What fiction writer could come up with this stuff on a daily basis? It's getting pretty ridiculous when China can be ALMOST on a moral high ground pointing out the hypocrisy for condemnation of Chinese human rights violations by the US compared with what has been going on in the US the last 9-10 months since Trump took over the race.

But didn't they also give Turner something like $2.5 million? More "insurance" guys now. Which is better than the last couple of years at least when Carroll was one of the top options, along with Noesi.

Yeah yeah Wilson Betemit, Ryan Sweeney, etc. Just surprising Johnson isn't pitching with a bit more sense of urgency...or at least not prepared to hit the ground running in the most important spring training of his career. That's twice now he has gotten rocked. With Quintana and Latos, they had/have big league track records. If he was throwing at least in the lower 90's, there would be less cause for concern.

Scouts weren't too impressed with Latos, either. Johnson at 85-89 mph is merely batting practice fodder. https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/fantasy-roto...-133106885.html Latos made another dubious listing...

There's room for Sale and Rodon to improve from last year, especially Rodon. Danks might regress a bit, but we've long come to expect little out of him. So then you're essentially comparing Latos/Erik Johnson with Shark's 2015. All things considered, they should be a notch or two better, especially if we get our expected improved defensive play in the outfield.

Agreed. Latos as 4th, Danks as 5th, both with roughly six weeks to prove themselves. Either one struggles or is injured, it's Johnson as the band-aid until the trade market defines itself. Not sure they can afford to go with Beck, Turner or Carroll, but clearly overpaying in May/June has its own cost/benefit ratio. Think we would also see Danks as the 2nd lefty/long man out of the bullpen before they would completely pull the plug...believe based on history they'll continue to look for SOME type of return on investment like they did with Adam Dunn or Rios. Maybe it's simply cost savings, with another contender (probably in the NL) picking him up for the last spot in their rotation.

85-77

Save some of that offense for the regular season/cold April weather in Chicago!!

Interesting that the "empirical evidence" is based on Garcia starting and Austin Jackson on the bench? Are they already adjusting for Garcia's spring training bomb today? Btw, does Davidson hitting one all the way over the hitting backdrop count for anything?

And, in all fairness, Japanese-Americans were treated much differently than German-Americans during WWII. Of course, some will make the argument that Japan directly attacked America at Pearl Harbor. I think a lot of it does go back to that perception that for the last 20-30 years countries like Japan, South Korea, China/Taiwan, Singapore, etc., have been eating our lunch from a competitive economics standpoint. Then, you look at the worldwide educational attainment/PISA/SAT, etc., scores and Asians are also dominating "white" Americans and being reverse-discriminated against in college applications for doing too well. So, because Asians (including Indian-Americans as well here) are doing better, economically, on average, than whites, African-Americans and Hispanics, therefore they're now part of the dominant power structure moreso than "subjugated" minorities...of course, ignoring the abuse of Asian coolie labor in building the railroads and much of California or the WW II internment camps.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Mar 7, 2016 -> 04:12 PM) I agree with this. If you went in with the budget the Sox have spent, it's hard to imagine anything better than what's turned out. Everything else people have clamored for would have cost more, perhaps a lot more. You can argue Desmond would have more impact than Rollins/Latos/draft pick...but that argument is also based on the belief Desmond would play well enough to be given another QO at the end of the season, AND, that another team would sign him before June, 2017. That would be for him to play SS (where he arguably has more value), rather than OF. The other unknown here is the draft pick compensation itself, which I guess can't be changed until December of this year, and certainly that would have to apply to future offseasons and not the immediate 2016-17 one. You also run the risk of having the QO accepted, which would leave you with a $17 million SS blocking Tim Anderson's path at that position. (Obviously, they'd still have the option to play Desmond at 2B, OF, DH, etc.)

They lost each game. My wife was upset that we spent that money on that team and refused to let me get another plan for this year unless they got a 3rd baseman and another outfielder. Done and done I told her last night! See ya all at the ball park! Quite amused at the idea of wives or girlfriends complaining about the "entertainment value" of Sox baseball but men can't make similar comments about the need of some women to buy new handbags, jewelry, cosmetics and shoes every month??? Btw, if they had won all those games, seemingly that would have given you more justification to spend even more money on the Sox, right? Undoubtedly, it doesn't quite work that way. Fwi, heard a crazy stat during the Angels broadcast today. The White Sox didn't get a single homer from a LHB against a LHP all season in 2015? Really?

If it's the same Jackie Bradley, Jr., from last year...but nobody is 100% convinced what they'll get from him offensively with everyday playing time. The same applies to Rusney Castillo, for that matter. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/rick-h...ay-cf-white-sox Hahn: Jackson will play mostly CF

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 11:03 PM) Kansas City (would have to be RF though), Detroit (over Maybin/Gose), Cleveland (while Brantley is out)... basically any team but Minnesota. edit- lots of posters beat me to it- I'd say no to Minnesota because Rosario is probably better And Rosario put up a 748 OPS last year, but was WELL under .700 OPS-wise in almost 700 AA and AAA at-bats. I'd put him in that category like Santana the previous year who had all the APPEARANCES of a big league ballplayer, and a keeper, but was also 2-3 bad months from playing himself off the roster. That said, Rosario was a four-time Top 10 prospect in the Minnesota system who had largely underachieved until last season. All things considered, Rosario is the better bet because he's still just 24, but nobody around baseball would be shocked if Jackson put up a 725-750 OPS and Rosario ended up in the mid 600's.

Thad, it's not about PA's as much as defensive improvement and base running as well. It's a bit of the 2005 formula, a bunch of hungry and under appreciated veterans like Latos/Rollins/Lawrie/Jackson replacing some of the more complacent ones like Alexei (back then, Carlos Lee and Magglio/Valentin to a lesser extent.) If Jackson can put up a 2-3 WAR season, that's a HUGE lift. No guarantees of course, but at least now there's options at most positions, other than missing that certainty from the LH side that LaRoche and Dunn were both supposed to provide.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:20 PM) Don't care, he fills a big need on this team at a great price. Sure. Orlando/Dyson (injured)/Snider are the three RFers in KC. Rajai Davis and mystery person (with Almonte out, maybe Tyler Naquin) in CLE. There's two spots. And that's including Michael Brantley as the starter, which is far from certain in April. Rosario has to put two solid seasons together in MN. DET has Upton/JD Martinez but then Maybin (injured)/Gose in CF, so you can definitely make the case he would/should be starting in 3 ALCD outfields and possibly Minnesota as well, especially if Buxton's deemed not ready health or performance-wise. Also, depending on whether Sano is LF/RF or DH.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:07 PM) Not really, considering both his CF defense and the production of the other outfielders on the roster. Avi managing to hit/defend well enough to justify taking playing time away from Jackson is way harder to imagine. There seems to be no consensus on whether Eaton would be better in LF or RF, Cabrera in LF or RF or Garcia in LF instead of RF. Lots of questions to be answered over the next month. With the rehab situation, Eaton's eventual position destination is especially up in the air.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 6, 2016 -> 10:00 PM) Jackson becomes the 4tg outfielder unless we have another move in the works. I think Garcia stays no matter what Like with Rollins, I don't think they brought in Jackson if they didn't promise Scott Boras every possible opportunity to give his client regular playing time to rebuild his value for next offseason. Also the idea we never work with Boras clients is taking a bit of a hit, although obviously this wasn't a headline $100+ million contract. It's Jackson and Rollins with the early built-in veteran advantage, and Garcia/Saladino have to clearly win those jobs to earn playing time.

Looks like AAA outfield will be Daniel Fields, Jacob May and Sands/Shuck (if JB doesn't end up catching on with another org)...MAYBE Avi if they keep Sands to DH with LaRoche? Leury Garcia and Sanchez as infielders, among others.

Trading Avi and a reliever for what? LH bat? I'm still having a hard time imagining what Avi and Albers/Putnam/Petricka would actually bring back...better to give Avi full-time at-bats in AAA and then bring him back in case of an injury if they want to increase his trade value. Going to be interesting to see who ends up at the corners, and/or whether Jackson stays in CF for the entire season...obviously he's got to hit much better than over the last 1 1/2 seasons to justify full-time opportunities. The other part of this is actually having a bit of a roster crunch between Shuck, Avi Garcia, Sanchez and Jerry Sands. Nice to have some options at least, rather than being "stuck" with less than ideal guys like Olt/Davidson/Beckham/Bonifacio/Leury Garcia. Fwiw, I wanted Desmond and Jackson from the beginning, but certainly understand that Latos/Rollins/Jackson is probably going to be a better bet from a risk perspective than $8 million and a lost draft pick at 26. This was the final move they needed (at least until mid-season) to improve the outfield defense and also improve the DH position as well. Would imagine the payroll now is in the $130ish million range, maybe a million or two over. A 6.5% increase is reasonable, all things considered. Now obviously there's a chance that all three of those guys backfire, just like Desmond in Texas, but the odds of success with at least 1/3 should be pretty good, if not getting meaningful contributions from 2/3. Good luck, Angels...wouldn't be buying oceanfront property if I was the new GM out there just yet.

http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2016/3/3/11154...6450.1454651730 Dyson now out six weeks. Jackson is the obvious target.