caulfield12

Before that, you have to go back to the now-forgettable Jon Rauch in the infamous 1999-2000 class that ended up essentially being Buehrle, Josh Fogg and Rocky Biddle, who were actually 3 of the lesser rated guys (Jon Garland was the one exception of the higher-ranked ones who had a pretty darned good career).

Can only go by the two Sox examples where shedding payroll before 2005 and spreading it out over 7-8 guys (plus Garcia and Contreras the prior year)...as well as bringing in Ramirez/Quentin/Floyd/Danks in 2007/08 led to a single-season turnaround. I'm 98% sure the Tigers and Royals are going to try to win next year without Scherzer and Shields, so we'll have an experiment in the AL Central to see how well they cover those losses. You can argue that the "superstar" route hasn't worked at all for the Yankees or the Angels, although in fairness the main players they've acquired (CJ Wilson, Hamilton, Pujols) have been aging vets whereas Trout, Richards and Weaver (to a lesser extent) are/were younger. The Dodgers are loaded with superstars but have folded when pressured by the Cardinals or Giants in recent years. What the Orioles have done is one of the better models for the Sox...developing Gausman, Tillman and Britton (granted it's a bullpen role), moving Arrieta (perhaps prematurely), but covering the difference in free agents/waiver pick-ups/savvy trades like Chen, Nelson Cruz, Pearce, JJ Hardy (worst trade in recent Minny history), etc. It was pretty amazing they lost Wieters, Machado and Chris Davis and still didn't really miss a beat.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 11, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) I'd be shocked to see the Sox take on any bad contracts. There are enough guys on the FA market who will provide value that won't break the bank. Lot's of guys who will be 3 yrs around $30-40M and less for most relief pitchers. That seems to be the going rate for Michael Morse. If Nelson Cruz in his mid 30's is headed for $51 million over 3 years, Russell Martin at $75, Sandoval at $100+ million (along with H.Ramirez), Aoki's getting $7 million, etc., then almost every FA contract is pretty much starting out as a bad contract unless you're dumpster diving for pitchers like B.Anderson, Floyd, Josh Johnson and hoping one of them can turn it around. Let's just put it this way. There's not a quality hitter out there 1) who's going to get much less than $15 million or 2) isn't coming with major warts or red flags (thinking of hitters like Markakis, B.Butler, Hunter, Cabrera and Rasmus here). Add Verlander, Cano and Miggy Cabrera, although those are all completely unrealistic adds at the moment.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 11, 2014 -> 06:16 AM) you are using too much logic with this. the cost is going to be what the 2 teams will agree. if I was receiving Kenp, Crawford I want the dodgers to eat more salary, to entice me to do the deal. Given what aging vets like Martinez, Cruz, Martin and Sandoval are asking for, Kemp's sticker price with a subsidy is becoming more and more attractive by the moment. The more money the Dodgers eat, the more competition the White Sox face from other teams in terms of the talent they're willing to surrender. The huge advantage the White Sox have RIGHT NOW is the financial flexibility that only a handful of teams have outside of the 3 major markets to assume the Matt Kemp contract.

Since Hahn is now Vietnamesed to Hanh, he's a spring roll to KW's filet mignon until he gets us to the playoffs once. Or minion to KW's Dru.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 11, 2014 -> 06:21 AM) Why would one be compelled to take on a "bad contract"? If the other team is throwimg in money, then maybe it isn't bad anymore. But you would have to know how much. Of course, but that's like arguing for and against Victor Martinez. There's the argument about how he will perform from here on out. And the argument for whether he's going to be worth the money over X number of years. Is it better for the White Sox to sign Nelson Cruz or Victor Martinez and lose a 2nd round draft pick or to trade for Matt Kemp with a $20-30 million subsidy attached and lose Tyler Danish and Marcus Semien, knowing Kemp's younger but the commitment to him will be 1-2 years longer?

I'm surely leaving some others out...that couldn't fit into the Top 10 Pujols Jayson Werth Cliff Lee Masahiro Tanaka (we won't really know until next year on this one) Edwin Jackson

Let's equate Nelson Cruz at age 34 with Matt Kemp at 29. They're basically saying that Cruz will get $17.1 million per year for 3 years, for a total of $51.3 million. Kemp's going to get $64 million over those same 3 years, for an average of $21.3 million over the same time period. If you viewed Nelson Cruz, despite being five years older and the PED's bust background...as being roughly the same player, then the Dodgers would need to send an additional $12.7 million for the "fair market" value of Kemp as of today. For the full five years (which would be getting Kemp to the same age, 34, as Cruz is now, and notwithstanding how much better Kemp was than Cruz the 2nd half), you're looking at the roughly $20-25, maybe $30 million going to another team without a major prospect being traded to LA. That would make Kemp's pricetag essentially $82 million for 5 years, or less than Pablo Sandoval at the same age and with his numerous potential health/weight issues (and Kemp has baggage of his own). HECK, a 35 year old Michael Cuddyer, a player without a position who hasn't been able to stay healthy, is now being valued at $10.5 million per season in addition to surrendering the #15 pick in the first round of the draft. I think the White Sox SHOULD be interested in Matt Kemp in that range ($16.4 million per year) compared to Victor Martinez, Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, etc. The Dodgers could then use that $82-85 million in savings to make their rotation: Kershaw Scherzer Greinke Ryu Dan Haren

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-he...t-they-will-get With all the debates we've been having about how much "such and such" will receive on the FA market, I thought this would be helpful. A couple of early observations: Shields and Tomas are going to end up with more money than earlier imagined. Martin's probably too expensive for the Sox at his age if he's asking for $75 million. Victor Martinez is probably out of play. If we do want a mid-tier pitcher (Santana, Liriano, Volquez, McCarthy, Peavy, Hammel, Vogelsong, Masterson, Brett Anderson, Brandon Morrow, etc.) we have a much better idea about the potential price tags, which are in the $9-13 million dollar range. Colby Rasmus in particularly is receiving a wide range of opinions about his value. We saw another article recently that priced him at 3 years/$36 million. JD Drew II or the wisest investment of the offseason? Markakis without the qualifying offer becomes more attractive, but he's not a "cornerstone" bat you can build around...see the comps with Aoki, who's expected to receive close to $7 million. (Is anyone else having a hard time finding Billy Butler and Justin Masterson?) I would go for Volquez, Morse (primary DH), Rasmus and trade Viciedo + B/C prospect for Saunders. If you want to add Romo or two very solid set-up guys, you cut out either Rasmus or Morse from the equation. (You'd want to add another veteran LH set-up guy if you were making all these moves). Realistically, Volquez, Rasmus, Michael Saunders, Romo and the LH set-up guy can be done for roughly $35-40 million. Morse would be GREAT (probably too much of a luxury) to have, since that would give you Saunders/Rasmus/Eaton/Garcia for the outfield, but three fairly limited guys in Garcia/Abreu/Morse might be one too many. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...ent-predictions Scherzer to the Dodgers, Lester and Russell Martin to the Cubs and Hanley Ramirez to the Tigers. Sandoval back to SF. Shields to the Red Sox. Interesting. Nelson Cruz to Mariners.

With prices of impact bats being in the $75-130 million range these days, I think you HAVE to bring up Anderson if the dynamic nature of his bat and overall offensive game (running, XB hits) force him into the line-up. It's a bit like Beckham (and it was something of a mistake, in retrospect) being moved from SS to 2B to 3B in the span of two years because of the desire to get his bat into the line-up as well.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 11:43 PM) really I thought he had something fix in another country and it was screwed up. I guess I was wrong. thanks. That was Ordonez...in Switzerland if I remember correctly. Maybe something like a sports hernia?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 10:30 PM) TCQ's wrist will forever be one of those What If? moments. Wasn't the original 2008 injury to the hamate bone when he hit the bat with his hand? He went from the odds-on favorite for MVP at that point to quite a pedestrial career overall, largely due to injuries. A bit reminiscent of one of my favorite all-time players, Eric Davis, who never did put it all together for anything more than blips or stretches.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 03:39 PM) Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 2m2 minutes ago #Athletics are looking at Asdrubal Cabrera and Stephen Drew as shortstop replacements. Story via @jaspsch: http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2014/11/10/718...nd-stephen-drew … Forgot about Cabrera. With the Cubs (Castro/Baez/Russell), Lowrie, Drew and then Punto/Sogard as internal options, Alexei Ramirez has some competition.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 09:50 PM) I read somewhere that a decent amount of his errors are on throws where his feet aren't set, so that would be mechanics wouldn't it ? Yes, and getting rid of some bad habits he developed playing in high school and junior college...where he could get away with not planting his feet firmly or making unorthodox/athletic/showy plays that nabbed the runner by a step or two at that level but don't work against faster runners in the pros.

If we didn't already have Eaton on the roster, Crawford would be more interesting. Kemp doesn't make so much sense. It will come down to the asking price (prospects or salary subsidy) for Crawford and Ethier, if they look in the direction of the Dodgers.

http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/willia...&ocid=yahoo More thorough commentary from KW about where the team is headed in 2015 and off-season strategy.

Montas, for sure, is the one with the best shot of exploding into the Top 100. Adams, until he proves himself for a full season in A ball, should be behind him. Just for that average fastball velocity alone, Montas deserves some serious consideration.

Semien MIGHT be "okay." I don't think anyone really wants to see Leury Garcia out there for 140-150 games in 2015. Sanchez would be better defensively than Semien but has a limited offensive upside and profiles more like Eduardo Escobar, a supersub/utility guy. Then you have Saladino coming off TJ surgery, so no way he could be counted on at SS.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 10:55 AM) Brady Aiken? caulfield what are you talking about, that has to be one of the most unique physical situations that has ever happened, and Aiken wasn't even injured. Totally unrelated and I highly doubt that situation has any impact on physicals going forward. Well, let's just hope the White Sox are capable of doing more due diligence than the average message board poster. And a "bulging" or protruding disk is usually different than a herniated one, whereas one might respond to muscle and spinal treatment/strengthening/physical therapy and the other might require some type of fusion surgery like the Crede situation. Is it degenerative? Even in that latter scenario, it was reported numerous times that Paulie's physical problems would end his career in his late 20's/early 30's and that never transpired.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 11:11 AM) bad backs, bulging disk, no freaking way i would trade into that situation. didn't the sox have a pitcher who had a bad back / disk problem? Dustin Hermanson (sp). that kind of recurring problem can shorten a career quickly. Not to mention Crede and Jenks.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 10:36 AM) Gattis had a buldging disc in his back last year, thats just a bit concerning if I'm trading for him. I can go either way really, just depends what the Sox would have to give up. With that knowledge out there, he'd clearly have to pass an extensive set of physicals to be dealt. And you know if he's traded once and then rejected while going through this increasingly rigorous process (in light of the Brady Aiken fiasco), he's going to be stuck in Atlanta until he proves to be 100% healthy.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 10:39 AM) Just like it was last time for Hillary. A national lovefest. If she doesn't face any credible opposition in the primaries, that opponent will become the media. Of course, if the Republicans don't find any strong candidates and their policies/platform are essentially the same, then the media will probably favor a return to the "comfort" of the Clinton Era story lines and scandals because anything's better than what we will see the next two years of a lame duck Obama administration and Republican Congress.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Sep 19, 2014 -> 10:38 AM) They just need to dangle a minority out there that actually has a shot. You can't keep trotting the likes of McCain and Romney and expect to win an election. Susana Martinez. The Hispanic and Asian vote are going to be THE huge battleground in future elections.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 10:37 AM) I have no clue why the Dodgers would have any urge to take on a $4 million bill for Viciedo. Their 1b slot is full, they already have too many outfielders, they don't have a DH slot, and he's a terrible guy to have on the bench for an NL team because he's not versatile and terrible on defense. Yeah, Van Slyke fills that role much more effectively, and they don't even have any playing time for him with Pederson pushing up.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Nov 10, 2014 -> 08:12 AM) I would be all for an Ethier, Danks swap if it could happen. Ethier is owed 56 million over the next 3 years (with his 2018 buyout) but subtracting Danks' contract makes it a much more reasonable 27.5 million over 3 years. He had a bad year last year, but before that he was a consistent 120-130 wRC+ hitter that plays decent defense. Then go and sign Sandoval/Headley, a FA righty starter, a couple bullpen guys and call it an offseason. A lineup of 1. Eaton (8) 2. Ramirez (6) 3. Abreu (3) 4. Sandoval (5) 5. Garcia (7/9) 6. Ethier (7/9) 7. Semien/Sanchez/Johnson (4) 8. Gillaspie/Tank (DH) 9. Flowers (2) and a rotation of 1. Sale 2. Righty FA (Masterson, Shields, McCarthy, etc..) 3. Quintana 4. Rodon (if they deem him ready) 5. Noesi looks pretty good to me and puts the payroll in a seemingly doable $95 million range. Just switch 2 and 3 in the rotation around.