caulfield12

QUOTE (TheTruth05 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) There is literally no need for Volquez, would be wasted money We can pick apart McCarthy, Erwin Santana, Liriano and Peavy just as easily. The fact of the matter is we spent much of last off-season on this topic. The difference is that IF IF IF you could offload Danks' contract (and you're going to take back Ethier, Crawford, Kemp or Victorino in return, so you're not SAVING money)....it would be a pretty critical get to add one more veteran piece to hold down the 4th starter's spot. We all saw what happened with Erik Johnson, Paulino, Rienzo and Carroll out there last year. There's no guarantee that Noesi won't end up like Phil Humber. On the other hand, there's a good chance he will pitch better than Rodon this season. Who really knows?

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 06:34 AM) They spent $60M to get Addison Russell. Over the life of that contract JS will out perform JL. They got a top flight pitcher with a lot of wear and tear who may decline as these hitters start to excel. Going after Longoria will cost Harvey plus Russell. It was a move they had to make. Who is Harvey?

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Bruce is going to be expensive prospect-wise. The other three - not so much. I think Victorino could be had for very little. Problem with him is that he only had 1 year left on his contract (at $13M), and then we're in the same position again next year. But hell, it lots like we're going for it, so why not. Victorino would only make sense to clear Danks' salary. Then you'd have to pray he's healthy AND sign Volquez/B.Anderson/Masterson. Most of the other pitching options are going to be too expensive or even riskier, guys like Medlen, Beachy, Floyd, Josh Johnson, etc.

There's just no way McCarthy comes back. Too much water under the bridge with that one.

I know what Balta's going to say.... 1) We can't entirely trust Ventura with a potential playoff team saddled with high expectations...for example, Francona's made a pretty big difference in CLE (seemingly) and despite their critics, Yost and Ausmus have guided teams to the playoffs/World Series as well 2) Baserunning....Eaton hasn't established himself as a stolen base threat, Ramirez is aging and we just lost Semien's speed as well...seemingly the main hope is going to be Micah Johnson and Tim Anderson in the future, unless we add another speedster in LF 3) Goes with #1....with DeAza/Dunn/Beckham/Konerko already gone and Viciedo on the way out the door, are we going to see better execution (for example, runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs) and more "team play" from an almost completely different roster....or will the same mistakes keep cropping up?

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 09:58 PM) Exactly what I was thinking... Oh well. No one is going to burst my bubble. With a better closer, this was close to a .500 team last year. Good pieces so far this year lead me to believe they can contend. We're a 79-83 win team right now. Not 87-88 or even 90+. That's the main point. It's easy to play the Devil's Advocate part and talk about the negatives. Obviously, there are an equal or greater number of positives, and I've pointed them out in both the Robertson and Samardzija threads as well.

I wouldn't go past four years with Samardzija, but maybe JR will change his mind...depending on how this season goes financially. They did give Danks five years and they've been willing with Buerhle in the past to go 3-4, but five would be a shocker for a pitcher in his 30's (for the White Sox organization).

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 02:57 AM) "The Mariners have renewed interest in outfielder Dayan Viciedo, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports." Must be their back-up plan in case they can't sign Melky Cabrera. Adding him and Cruz in one off-season would be quite expensive, no doubt about that....on top of Hernandez and Cano. Luckily, Paxton and Walker are cheap and have a ton of promise if they can stay healthy.

Rays would be stupid to sell off Longoria coming off his 2014 season when they're going to expect teams to ante up MVP-caliber minor league pieces in return. It does make sense if they're going TOTAL rebuild. Desmond Jennings is a player that KW has always coveted and would be available for the right price one would think...getting more and more expensive and his salary's steadily increasing.

SOA finale was a little predictable...the previous episode was better, although the scene with his kids and Nero was pretty heartbreaking...along with Chibbs' reactions throughout the final few episodes. Losing Bobby and Opie really wiped out the heart of their gang...there was almost nobody left standing in the end, which is kind of the point of that outlaw/criminal lifestyle...eventually it catches up with you, the "bad guy always loses in the end," as he so eloquently put it. There was another reference to the Original Redwood/First 7 in his back and forth with the DA (CCH Pounder). She's on NCIS: New Orleans now...first time I saw her was ER, one of my favorite 90's shows.

Maybe it will be the end of Buddy Bell if some of these players like Semien, Thompson and Mitchell actually enjoy some success playing for other organizations. Will believe it when I see it, though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:50 AM) Lester to the Cubs. You're as late to the party as Gordon Beckham on a letter high heater. On the plus side, Balta should temporarily add 34 to his board name based upon his reaction to everything going on this week. Fun times.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:39 AM) Soler, Coghlan....to be announced I think we'll start hearing that they're interested in Zobrist or CarGo pretty soon Can't believe I forgot about Soler. Maybe I just assumed he'd be injured or they would be treating him with kid gloves, but he was as impressive as Baez was a disappointment last year. Alcantara's kind of in the same boat as Semien. Is he a CFer? A 2B? SS? 3B? Trade bait? Insurance for moving Bryant to LF or RF so he could play 3rd, or Baez there (with Russell/Castro up the middle)?

What's their OF going to be? Alcantara, Coghlan, Sweeney, Gomes, Junior Lake?

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/...-get-jon-lester

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:14 AM) Upton would be quite the get. And the biggest gamble. You'd have to give up Anderson and Montas OR Danish and maybe even one more secondary piece...in the Top 11-25 range, someone like a Matt Davidson. At the VERY least, Hawkins and Montas OR Danish and another piece. That's just too high a price unless you're sure that you can keep him past 2015.

Forgot about Justin Upton being on the market...

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:44 PM) I agree, which brings the question... Who? What are the options? Ethier/Kemp/Crawford/Van Slyke Rasmus Morse (that would be the equivalent of Viciedo, or worse) Aoki Melky Cabrera Jay Bruce Alex Rios (haha) Snider/Lambo Parra Carlos Gonzalez/Dickerson/Blackmon

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 01:51 PM) It's philosophical difference. What's more important, the knowledge and skills he gains this year by pitching to MLB players and Coop putting him in advantagious situations, while postponing his full time starting assignment a year. Or starting him the minor to buld up his innings to start his start assignment earlier but have to learn the MLB pitching in all situations where he could get his brains beat in while learning. The other variable would be the Sox wnning, the team is much better if he is in the pen as opposed to the minors. If they don't extend JS and next year is the year, it may be the only option. All depends on whether they spend to add one more veteran "insurance" policy like B.Anderson/Masterson or go into the year with Danks/Noesi at the back end written in stone. If Noesi pulls another Erik Johnson April 2014...then there's going to be a lot of pressure to use Rodon (sooner rather than later) when Beck or Johnson are your other best options available.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 01:30 PM) I'd be totally ok with that, but that's not how I hear those statements. I hear them as "like Sale did in 2011" meaning "full season wasted in the bullpen throwing 60 innings like Sale did in 2011". Also, what happened with Santiago. Long man. Starter. Closer. Forgotten roster spot. Starter.

QUOTE (toasty @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) 2005 says hello. Or 1983. Or 1959. Or 1915-1919. McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez, Jason Bere and Greg Hibbard would disagree, too.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:05 PM) Great post. It's always good to have a closer with a track record. Not meaning to start a fight here, but is this guy a LOT better than Addison Reed? But having a closer is great cause we can put some of those other guys in the battle for setup guys. It really was annoying last year seeing our guys blow game after game. I hope he gets off to a good start and is an effective closer all year. Great point. Just imagine if Davidson wins the job and fulfills the promise the Sox obviously thought he had. Would be amazing if we had a power bat at third and he could field at least as good as Gillaspie. They can't afford to have that kind of a sieve at 3B unless he's going to hit 25-30 homers and not strike out 200+ times. Davidson's a LONG shot right now to be on the Opening Day roster. He's going to have to get white hot for at least 2 months in AAA before that trust is regained...unless Conor just starts hitting like Robin Ventura his first two weeks as a rookie and can't get out of it.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 06:53 PM) I think it's safe to say with a legit closer like Robertson, this team would have been around a .500 team last year. Couple that in with players like Avi being healthy and a better overall bullpen, plus LaRoche providing better protection for Abreu, who will in-turn be used to the work load this next year and you have yourself right around a 88-90 club just doing what they should do. Then you factor in Samardzija who should be better than anything we had after Sale and Quintana and I think that's good enough for close to 5 or more wins. Call it the short side and you have about a 92 win team. 1) You still don't know what you're going to get out of LF, Avi Garcia, Conor, 2B and Tyler Flowers. That's a TON of line-up uncertainty for a contender. 2) The only positions where we're getting average or above defense are CF, SS (and that's slipping) and C. 1B should be better with Abreu more experienced and LaRoche's presence. But unless we employ Sanchez (who will have his offensive struggles), 2B with Micah Johnson will be downgraded. Will Conor and Tyler continue to improve? What about Avi, who looked as bad as Viciedo or even worse at times. I guess things can't get much worse than Dayan/DeAza, so that should be an upgrade as well. 3) You don't have a proven lefty unless you think Duke's going to be another Thornton or Marte (pre-2005). Your loogy is even more of a question mark. 4) You're relying, at least until Rodon arrives...on Danks and Noesi at the back end of the rotation. At best, that's a mixed bag, at worst? Plus, our best insurance policy at #6 in Bassitt was just traded away. Beck and/or Erik Johnson aren't going to inspire much confidence in anyone. 5) We were pleasantly surprised with Conor, Putnam, Guerra, Noesi and Eaton. Will they continue to progress, or will they fall off the map (especially the first four guys)?? Can Tyler Flowers be at least a league-average catcher? Will the second half declines of Ramirez and Abreu trend into the first half of 2015? How long will it take LaRoche to adjust to the AL?

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:03 PM) This is really important and is being greatly underestimated, imo.....we have truly solid veteran leadership on this team now. Robertson, Mo Rivera's understudy, spending atleast 8 innings a game with young guys just sitting in that bullpen chewing the fat....this will have an impact. Samardzija and Sale, both fierce competitors, will be the media's elected leaders of this team....they'll set a "fun" tone but will be clear that when it comes to winning, you do what needs to be done. LaRoche is a notoriously great clubhouse guy and has spent enough time in the league that our younger hitters will listen anytime he's willing to talk (which will be often). We know that Avi is a fun guy and puts everything he has into his craft....mix that with Abreu, who really impressed me last year with his willingness to become a leader in not only his first year in MLB, but his first year in America. For more than a decade we had Paul Konerko as our leader......Paulie is a helluva guy and great teammate, but I never took him as the type of player who was a natural born leader. This roster is now full of them and it WILL make a difference. Eaton too...sets the tone with his style of play and enthusiasm.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 05:47 PM) Lol JS a #3 is going to make more than Q and Sale combined. At this point, you have to extend him. I think Semien is actually from California so it's returning home for him. And actually played together with Erik Johnson at Cal, right?