caulfield12

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 11:54 AM) Care to elaborate? No one will deny the guy has warts, but with what you've seen from this offense, are you comfortable w/o adding a bat? If you aren't, what bat do you think we're going to get in this market? We need to luck out again like we did for 3 weeks with Youkilis in 2012. A team who's being forced to make a move with a popular veteran...and willing to dump salary for a guy going into FA. Middlebrooks was emerging that season (obviously it didn't last) and the Boston front office was backed into a corner. Of course, we didn't get such great results from Orlando Hudson (one game winner I remember, or was it 2?), Myers and Liriano, who of course has gone on to become a much better pitcher in the NL, away from the AL Central.

The better question is can the White Sox afford to take on $42.3 million in salary commitments (including two months this year) without it having a negative impact on their future competitive window? Would we be happy if KW claimed him off waivers "for free," ala Alex Rios? One obvious thing it does is force Avisail Garcia or LaRoche out of the picture, although some are going to argue that Gonzalez needs to DH part-time to prevent more injuries. That's an awful expensive DH "combo meal," although we're not unfamiliar with that after Dunn and now LaRoche. Fwiw, Cargo is just 12/74 with an incredible 398 OPS against LHP this season. What does Adam LaRoche not do? Hit LHP. So I suppose you could sub Avi in against LHP, but you're still going to have a terrible match-up with either Cargo or LaRoche in there, one way or the other. Over 421 AB's from 2012-2014, he's a much better 765 against LHP, but there's always the home/road splits consideration, the injuries and the fact that he'd be coming from the NL to the AL, so that initial adjustment that never seems to go well for the White Sox. As a plus, he's 29 years old, but with that injury history, you almost have to treat him like he's 32-33.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 09:24 AM) Word out of LA is that Puig never asked anything about the trade and is denying this story in general. Basically, he was upset people thought he was concerned about being traded and talked to the front office. Yesterday on the radio, the local sportscasters were hilarious at how little they value Puig. They wanted to trade him for Craig Kimbrel or Aroldis Chapman. Castrovince had him all the way down at 17 in the top 25 players 25 and younger. No Rodon, either. Pretty crazy to put Machado that high when he's been so up and down the last couple of years. Just as it's pretty crazy IMO to have Puig that far down after four months of 2015, after the numbers he put up in his first two seasons. He also has Joc Pederson ahead of Puig, and Nolan Arenado way too low. Then Fernandez at 6 when he has just come back from TJ surgery? Mookie Betts ahead of all those young pitchers with the Mets, for example? No Gallo. Bogaerts is finally hitting again (but limited) power and he's ahead of Rodon? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/139014786

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) To be fair...borderline all-star/replacement this year isn't half bad. Actually, logic and the law of averages says that 50% of our predictions won't work out, 25% will be "meh" and if we're lucky we'll be really right about 10-25% of time. Otherwise, all of those baseball writers who predict/project the final standings at the beginning of the season would quickly be out of a job. With Greene, I never had even seen the guy pitch and that was said out of irrational frustration with everything Dombrowski does working out for the Tigers (such as JD Martinez becoming an All-Star, exactly the kind of player we could have used and would have saved us the money we spent on Melky or at the very least provided insurance for Avisail Garcia busting). I also predicted Jeff Banister would be a fine major league manager because at least I had firsthand experience working with him for a year...and while the Rangers have slipped back a bit, I don't think anyone projected them to still be part of the wild card race at this point in the season with so many injuries to that rotation, and for them to be shaping up as the preseason favorites to challenge the Astros in 2016 if they can acquire Cole Hamels or another frontline starter like a Price or Cueto. thanks, douglas

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 11:23 AM) Puig is cancer, has s***ty numbers this year, and I think there is more value in Quintana's contract. Quintana is signed for two additional years (afforadable team options) when Puig will already be gone via FA. And Puig is more expensive than Quintana for the next 3.5 years. I don't hate the idea, but I want more than Puig back for Q, not a 1-1, and I think a package of prospects would be better than trading for a guy that widely known as a complete clown. Because acquiring expensive veterans like CarGo, Ethier, Reyes or Tulo that further hamstring the organization from a financial standpoint works as a better model? Sometimes you have to roll the dice with young talent. The bust rate is high, look at Beckham, Viciedo and now it's likely Avi is heading in that direction as well. With Puig, you have a track record of results in 2013 and 2014, and he's only 24 years old. Frankly, I'm not sure that Robin Ventura is the right guy to control him, but I do have some confidence with Abreu and Ramirez around (and even moreso if we brought in Guerrero as well).

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:31 AM) I agree with DA's points too and him and I have been beating that drum for a while but I don't agree on your conclusions. How does Rick Hahn not having full control take away from his potential as an executive? He's a modern baseball man. KW is not and frankly acts irrationally for an attempt at a quick win. Besides, there are very few front offices where one guy has full control. The difference between our front office is that there are two guys running it and they are on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to operations. That's a big difference from what you see in Oakland with Beane having Zaidi (now Forst) as his side kick, different than Theo and Jed on the North Side and different than Jon Daniels and Preller before Preller left, Friedman and Zaidi in LA, LaRussa and Stewart in Arizona, and on and on and on. Besides, this type of structure allows for them to both be insulated. What more would you expect from the most loyal org in all of baseball? I'm not sure how much you want to be praising Preller when he was cited for ethics violations and has done a much better job than KW on his worst day could have done quickly running that franchise aground. Of course, KW had his own scandal in LA, with Dave Wilder, depending how much of that you want to blame on him for being the chief executive in charge at the time, and occasionally showing a lack of insight about specific prospects like Nestor Molina. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2...-latin-america/ I also think that citing LaRussa/Stewart as being sabrematricians or anything but non-"old school guys" isn't quite accurate. AJ Hinch got run out there on a rail once upon a time and many believe he was the perfect mixture of a modern baseball guy in terms of mixing the two sides, and it's certainly paying off in spades for the Astros this season. Time will tell. If you replaced Buddy Bell with someone more in touch with the modern game, then the White Sox would be fine, when/if they decide who to ultimately run things at the top.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:10 AM) Caulfield was calling him a Cy Young candidate in April. LOL. And Rabbit has been 100% right with all of his predictions, LOL. Should I bump the thread where I predicted Hector Santiago to be a future stud/starter after his first relief outing with the White Sox? If there had been a Cy Young vote in April, Simon and Greene both would have been up there.

The only sportswriter who really likes this deal for Toronto is Tracy Ringolsby, who, ironically, wrote for the Rocky Mountain News for a long, long time. Don't count out Tinoco, either. In their minds Colorado, got a cost-controlled frontline starter and potential ace in Hoffman, a future closer in Castro (basically the equivalent of Frankie Montas) and another intriguing arm in Tinoco with big stuff. Considering they just wiped out almost $50 million in salary commitments and SHOULD be able to dump Reyes on someone who gets desperate for an experienced SS in the next month (waiver claim), it's win-win. As someone noted they have two top SS prospects in their pipeline, one in AAA and one just recently drafted. Tinoco is a very savvy addition to this trade for the Rockies. He’s much further away than Hoffman or Castro, but his stuff is similar as he has the potential to have two above-average or better pitches and he has a clean delivery with some remaining projection. Tinoco has what what one scout described as an idea pitcher’s frame at 6-foot-4, and a few pounds more than his listed 190. He pitches off a 92-97 mph fastball that comes out of the hand easy with very little noticeable effort. He has shown the ability to maintain 94-95 mph deep into games recently. His slider gives him a second above-average pitch as he has demonstrated the ability to locate it in the zone or bury it when he gets ahead in the count. His changeup isn’t as developed but he’ll flash an average offering every now and then. http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/trad...ove-tulowitzki/

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 01:33 AM) No more Hoffman? My desire to deal with the Jays just about died. That and the fact that they're co-competitor 1A (along with the Twins) for that WC spot. It would be pretty unusual for a team to make a trade that will be perceived as diminishing their own window of opportunity, vs. a trade to the Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs, etc.

QUOTE (kwill @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 12:49 AM) Would you trade Rodon+Shark for Tulo? No way. I wouldn't even be willing to take on that contract if he was run through waivers. KW would claim him, but it's a huge risk from an age and injury history standpoint. Certainly wouldn't be sending Rodon to get it done...unless the coaching staff was 100% in agreement with ptac that the mechanical side won't lend itself to repeatability in his delivery and there's significant risk that he'll always be an inconsistent starter with great stuff but spotty command and an underdeveloped third pitch.

Please get injured more often if you're going to continue to perform at this level.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 12:43 AM) I find that very hard to believe. 3 of their top 5 prospects for a 28 year old with an ERA over 4? I know he has multiple years on his contract but still Perhaps he meant they were all offered individually....or take 2/3, but not all three? Not sure. It does seem way too steep a price to pay, regardless of Carrasco's stuff, he hasn't emerged as a frontline starter in their rotation. More of a 3/4 guy, not unlike an Edwin Jackson.

Bottom line is that the A’s and the Reds didn’t exactly get blown away by the offers that were made (for Cueto and Kazmir, both teams wanted Stroman/plus/plus), yet in discussions with the Jays, they seemed to be shooting much higher than they actually got in return. Either that or neither team holds Toronto’s pool of minor-leaguers in the same high regard as the Blue Jays do. Time is running short and a creative way for Anthopoulos to make his team better would be to make the late innings a lockdown situation for years to come, rather than overpay for a starter who, at best, is going to make a dozen starts for him at an exorbitant cost. http://www.torontosun.com/2015/07/27/blue-...go-for-a-closer

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 12:38 AM) [/b] Where did you hear that? Indians would be stupid not to do that deal Toronto Sun sports columnist

Wow...Hoffman changes things quite a bit. Looking better and better from the Rockies' side of things at the moment, without even taking into consideration the 4th player. Essentially, they're saving about half the money they would have had to pay Tulo, they're getting a player in Reyes who might be just as if not more productive and adding essentially a Top Five caliber arm in Hoffman, a top young reliever and another piece. Good move if you're the Rockies, although he was their franchise player. Someone was guessing Marcus Stroman (asking price for Cueto), but that would be insane for the Blue Jays unless they know something nobody else does about his medicals. The Jays did offer lefty Daniel Norris, No. 1 pick Jeff Hoffman and outfielder Dalton Pompey in talks with the Cleveland Indians for right-hander Carlos Carrasco. Thought that was interesting, from the Toronto Sun. We also were offered a better glimpse into the true value of Quintana and Sale. Some of their sportswriters in TOR are giving up on acquiring a starter and begging AA to go after Kimbrel instead to solidify the bullpen and copy the KC model/blueprint, pairing Kimbrel with Schultz, Osuna, Aaron Sanchez and Brett Cecil for innings 6-9.

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:33 PM) I've seen a number of places that Hoffman, Pentecost, and Norris will not be in the deal. Toronto got a steal in my opinion. Only issue will be Tulos health playing on the turf. CarGo is on fire right now I'd love to get him, just have no faith in RH or KW to get it done. Are we really going to judge this on his last 28 at-bats? From 2012-2014, he was a .759 hitter on the road. More alarmingly, his OPS during that three year time frame is only .720 after the All-Star Break. 644 in August, 718 in September. 12/49 against AL teams this year, 3 homers and 9 RBI's (AL West). Is it worth spending $42.3 million and dumping Avi for a player who's already peaked and has proven to be injury-prone for most of the last 3-4 seasons? It's a huge gamble. It's not one that Rick Hahn would take. Kenny Williams, probably, because he's a "name" player, 29, was once more or less close to a superstar, etc.

Puig trade possibility a mystery should be the new and improved thread title.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:33 PM) Dodgers are trying to trade Guerrero, any interest? Sure, but the problem is he's not a SS, so he would have to play 3B or DH. Supposedly, his defense has been very shaky. Would totally depend upon the cost, obviously. Trading Shark for him would be interesting, though...but he has that escape clause in his contract that would be hard to justify acquiring him. You'd have to go to Abreu and Ramirez and ask their opinions about both Puig and Guerrero, logically.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:26 PM) Declining K rates from Samardzija are concerning. Overall, he hasn't been super duper this year. Dodgers seem to want to deal Puig, so wouldn't give up more than Q. While a fair deal, I would do it. Great talent, but don't trust Puig. You sound like Balta now. Actually if you correct for moving from the NL to the AL (two less at-bats from pitchers), and also moving from the AL West to the AL Central...his performance is pretty much in line with expectations, especially if you take away April (like with Eaton and Melky) and follow the general trendline for those three. He's also pitching longer into games, which is important in terms of resting tired bullpens in the dog days of August. In fact, he's pitched at least 7 innings now for nine consecutive games. He has been far and away the most effective this past month, 20 k's in 31.2 IP but a stellar 1.71 ERA. He started in April with 22 K's in 32 IP, then ramped it up to 32 k's in 36 IP in May but wasn't effective at all for the first half of June, as he was striking out 34 in 40.2 IP but nevertheless had an ERA of nearly 6 (5.75).

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:34 PM) Saved many lives. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/27/cinci...oncealed-carry/ And what's the ratio of successful interventions compared to the situations where someone else at the scene is shot by the civilian/good guy shooter? I'm guessing nobody has that useful statistic.

QUOTE (BigFinn @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 11:22 PM) How about Wilbur28? Something historical. Too old school? Has there been another major leaguer with that first name since Wilbur Wood?

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:55 PM) Deals for Shark to TOR and SF in place. The deals are sitting there. KW is still "all in" on '16 and Rick is not so there's that drama right now. The problem is that the Giants have too much respect for Hudson and Vogelsong to push them out of the rotation at this point. Although surely we have interest in Susac/Sanchez (catchers) for one...

15:$22M, 16:$22M, 17:$22M, 18:$22M club option ($4M buyout) Reyes is owed basically another $55 million, including the remainder of this year. The price tag for CarGo's around $42.3 million, or a Melky Cabrera contract.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:57 PM) They might trade him to us to try and get Anderson now They're not going to just dump or bench Alexei Ramirez now with how he's been playing recently. (Now it's getting confusing, I meant turn around and trade Jose Reyes to the Sox....there's two issues, getting CarGo for Avisail and figuring out who our SS for next season will be without screwing up our chemistry/morale from the last month. Kind of a delicate situation.)

How long before Tulowitzki gets injured on that stadium turf? For all of those wishing he'd get back into playoffs contention, it's not like he was traded to the Cardinals, Royals or Pirates. Without some more pitching, TOR has far from an automatic path to the 2nd WC.