caulfield12

I think we're all being a bit overly optimistic about Morneau. There's a reason he signed for only $1 million. Let's not forget what happened to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales in 2014 when they were both forced to wait until June to sign because of QO's being attached. Maybe he can fight both Father Time and the concussion syndrome simultaneously, but it's far from a sure thing. That said, while at least the financial risk is quite low, but they STILL need another bat to be honest.

Herrera gets his chance to "early audition" for the role he will eventually take over anyway. Five All-Stars out for a significant period of time and counting.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 5, 2016 -> 06:55 AM) Really, no one cares about Junior Guerra. He's 30 years old and having a good year, not the first to do it. How do you think the O's feel after Arrieta's success? What about Loaiza and Contraras to the Sox? I'm sure there are many more examples that I can't think of right now, but teams miss on players all the time, and it will keep happening. They feel like idiots, and kick themselves at least once a week. The problem is when teams miss 60% of the time or more, instead of being successful hitting 50-60% of the time. Do you honestly believe that more than 50% of the moves that Hahn has executed since becoming GM were "hits"???

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 5, 2016 -> 06:49 AM) The only one on this board who would have a beef about Guerra is Feeky. Other than that, no one said anything when the Sox let him go. He will go south at some point. I wonder how Dayton Moore missed on that one. He could have saved the $70 million he gave Ian Kennedy for some of his free agents. I don't think Feeky is responsible for who stays on the White Sox 40 man roster, any more than he was responsible for scouting Quintana with the Mets and Yankees in their respective systems. But, if he spotted something, more power to him. Maybe the White Sox need to sign him to a contract. And that kind of "everyone else missed it" thing was no comfort to Cashman on Q or Contreras, nor was it to all the teams who passed on drafting Mike Trout.

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2016/6/23/1201...f-junior-guerra There’s really no indication that Junior is going to slow down anytime soon, either. While some might point to his low .262 BABIP, fly-ball pitchers like Guerra tend to have a lower than average BABIP and he’s shown to be adept at producing an above-average amount of pop-ups. He generates plenty of swings-and-misses, especially with his devastating splitter, a pitch that can catch throw hitters for a loop since only 43 of the 582 pitchers that have appeared in the big leagues this year have been recorded as throwing one (according to Pitch F/X data from Fangraphs). Junior’s walk rate, which has plagued him on occasion during his ascension to the big leagues, has been kept well under control. He has great poise and composure on the mound and has certainly carried himself as though he belongs near the front of a major league rotation. It’s not altogether unreasonable to think that Juni G may improve upon his already impressive numbers, as well. Guerra has certainly followed a non-linear development path, originally signing as a catcher in 2001 and not converting to the mound until 2006 at age 21. Not only did Guerra need to learn an arsenal of pitches to come after hitters with, but he needed to find proper mechanics, had to be taught how to control the run game, how to field a new position, etc. The bulk of this development, including the addition of his split-finger to his repertoire about five years ago, took place while Junior was pitching in independent ball. Now that he’s found a foothold in the major leagues and gets to work with some of the best coaches on the planet on a daily basis, Guerra should be able to continue refining his process and improving his performance. In spite of his relatively advanced age, Guerra is still a “young arm” in terms of workload, as well. Since he’s only been pitching for about 10 years, he has much less mileage on his right arm than the typical 31 year old would. According to his pitching register at Baseball-Reference, Junior has thrown less than 780 innings during his professional career, or roughly the same amount of pro innings as Wily Peralta had logged by age 23. That should no doubt bode well for Guerra’s chances to defy the typical aging curve and stave off father time while remaining effective as he enters his mid-30s. Something about the 31 year old with four big league innings piqued the interest of Slingin’ David Stearns back in October, when he was claimed off waivers from the White Sox with Stearns’ first transaction as GM. Thus far, the move has paid off in spades. Guerra has ascended from waiver claim on the fringes of the big leagues to a workhorse starter that is occupying the role of #2016BrewersAce, and there is a distinct possibility that he’ll continue to improve at the major league level. One never knows where exactly a team will find valuable talent, and perhaps Junior Guerra is on his way to becoming the Brewers’ version of Jake Arrieta - a buy-low pitcher who morphs into an unexpectedly dominant front-line starter.

If the White Sox are going to get a ton of credit for Jose Quintana (actually, quite similar circumstances to Guerra, except Junior's age and even more traveled history), then they should have to answer for why they didn't see Junior as having a future with the team. He's got a 2.1 WAR right now. Now we can't guarantee those same results were he pitching with the White Sox, but looking at all of the other pitchers the White Sox were protecting on their October 5th 40 man roster...it's a bit befuddling. The Yankees/Cashman always said Quintana got caught up in a numbers game and that they had a number of better, more highly touted prospects than him in their system...but who exactly from the White Sox system so badly needed to be protected?

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...ept-dream-alive Where was Paddy's assessment??? Venezuela is supposed to be his first country of expertise. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/331117601.html The pickup of Guerra is interesting in that he'll be 31 years old by the time the Brewers open spring training, and he was out of affiliated baseball from 2009-'14. Neither would seem to mesh with a team in the midst of a rebuild. Guerra, a native Venezuelan, made a total of 31 appearances between Class AA Birmingham and Class AAA Charlotte in Chicago's system – including 11 starts. All told, he went 4-7 with a 3.13 ERA and a WHIP of 1.10 with 105 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings. From 2008-'14, Guerra played in the Venezuelan Winter League as well as a number of other foreign and unaffiliated leagues. He began his career in 2006 and spent that year in the system of the Atlanta Braves, then spent the 2008 season in the New York Mets' system before being suspended 50 games for PED use. The White Sox signed Guerra as a free agent last October, and he went 6-4 with a 3.46 ERA in 15 starts in the Venezuelan Winter League.

It's one thing to use Wilder as the Dominican excuse. It doesn't or shouldn't have anything to do with Puerto Rico (which is part of the June draft now anyway), Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Central America, Asia/Australia, etc.

If I really need to WRITE OUT TB IS SEEKING ONE OR TWO OF THOSE THREE, SPECIFIC PLAYERS, AND ODORIZZI'S ALREADY ON THE RAYS...this "gotcha" thing is getting old. Shouldn't you be castigating the majority of SoxTalk for not believing their team will make it to the playoffs? Calling them all "bad fans" for being pessimistic/realistic/pragmatic?

Time will tell whether the Shields move was the right one. That one did feel a bit desperate at the time....and their situation wasn't like the Indians with a 5-7 game first place lead. He's still given up 27 runs in 26 1/3 IP for a 9+ ERA with the Sox. Even his "good" version the last 2-3 starts might not be worth $22 million over 2 years (please, no references to how we were paying Danks even more to do about the same).

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/sports/b...p-news&_r=0 New NBA trend in team-building?

UPDATED WC STANDINGS +8 Boston 2. TOR +6 3. HOU/DET +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 Five teams separated by 1 game. Six by 1 1/2 games. Seven by 2 1/2.

Indians clinch the season series over the Tigers with 9 games still remaining this season. 10-0 on the year. Game ended on a replay challenge...overturned a safe call on a DP ball that would have allowed future HOF 2B Ian Kinsler a chance to tie it with a homer off Allen. A bit of a make-up call after Saturday when the Indians' Naquin thought he had cut down a runner at the plate to preserve a 6-6 tie against the Blue Jays. Sellout crowd.

their primary trade targets. Need to shore up their starting pitching for the 2nd half of the season, with all their injuries/staff uncertainty. http://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/ran..._12680_21247018

It's just a matter of which teams are willing to give up the best prospect/s for Beltran....as the Yankees never have needed to make a pure salary relief play. They could choose to go in the same direction with Gardner, McCann, ARod, Tex, Headley, Ellsbury, etc.

AJ Pollock was the primary reason the DBacks parted with Eaton, FWIW. Still not so sure you aren't undervaluing Peralta, though. How much would it cost for us to reacquire a 31 year old Junior Guerra, right now? Not sure his age makes a "must trade" as long as he's still in the prime of his career. Plus, the DBacks have been seriously disappointed with Yasmani Tomas. If anything's on the block, it's that big Cuban contract. Remember, those trades for guys like Eaton/Carter were under a different regime...not LaRussa/Stewart. Plus they took a TON of criticism for the Shelby Miller deal, in terms of the young talent they surrendered. They're going to be wary of committing the same type of mistake, undervaluing young(ish) talent.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Jul 4, 2016 -> 10:18 PM) He has another year left on his deal he will probably be the most sought after guy on the trade market after Cargo. Any package to get him would have to include Fulmer, Saladino, and more don't think it would be enough. Why would they want Saladino when they got Segura for virtually nothing?

Front end, back end...whatever. The Yankees' middle relief sucks. The fact of the matter is that we've been using Matt Albers for WEEKS when he was terrible. He has a 9+ ERA over almost his last 20. Chamberlain has a low 2's ERA, throws 94-96 MPH consistently...and the Indians still feel they can improve that spot. Tells you about their sense of urgency.

Zimmermann to the DL. 40% of DET rotation out, as Daniel Norris left his start early with an oblique strain and will likely also land on the DL. Means they would have to go back to Boyd and Sanchez, along with Verlander/Fulmer/Pelfrey. That's just not going to work unless they add another pitcher.

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.