caulfield12

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 09:53 PM) Which needs? C, DH (LH), 5th starter (possibly), SS (possibly)

“You’ve seen the magnitude of what some of these deals have gotten to in free agency,” Hahn said. “It makes sense to try to get out in front of that sometimes, to try to get the price points locked in before the market continues to grow and not only is the risk heightened of the cost of signing the player, but quite frankly the chance the player moves on somewhere else also becomes heightened. In our opinion it makes more sense to move quickly and be proactive in these situations.” Sale and Quintana are two centerpieces of a young core that the Sox have been trying to build since midsummer, and Sox manager Robin Ventura said Monday he is happy the duo will be around for a while. Hahn said the deals enable the club to focus on other needs. “It frees us up to allocate our resources to other needs, which is beneficial, and takes a couple of other things off our to-do list, which is always nice,” Hahn said. www.chicagotribune.com/sports

Change the title now... Should we trade Beckham to the Rangers?

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 08:42 PM) CHECK THE FLIGHT PATHS Check all private charters from Milwaukee to the closest local airport to the VCU campus. Call in NCIS investigators.

REALLY?

Jeff Passan's Take on Why Scherzer Turned Down the Money, and Why it was the right decision http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-max-scher...-045448374.html After Max Scherzer turned down a contract offer from the Detroit Tigers that would have made him one of the seven highest-paid pitchers in baseball, the team threw their star pitcher under the bus with a statement and called off negotiations. Scherzer, who will be one of the top free agents after the season, rejected a 6-year, $144 million contract according to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports. Afterwards, the Tigers released a statement placing all the blame on Scherzer. "The Detroit Tigers have made a substantial, long-term contract extension offer to Max Scherzer that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball," the statement reads. "And the offer was rejected." The statement went on to say that the team wants to focus on the season and that there will be no more in-season negotiations. At $24 million per season, the offer was comparable to other deals signed by top pitchers in recent years and only four pitchers have a higher annual average on their current contracts. However, the offer is still way behind the $32.2 million Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will average over the same six years. Even if it is ridiculous to think Scherzer deserves more than $24 million per season, it was a risky move on the part of the Tigers to make such a public statement and alienating one of their best players a week before the season starts. The statement also makes it much more likely that Scherzer will be pitching for a different team in 2015.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 06:34 PM) Jon Morosi @jonmorosi 44s Breaking News: #WhiteSox pushing for the following players, are willing to offer Adam Dunn: Yonder Alonso Yuniesky Betancourt Francisley Bueno Yoenis Céspedes Aroldis Chapman José Contreras Yunel Escobar José Fernández Onelki García Yasmani Grandal Alexander Guerrero Adeiny Hechavarria José Iglesias Leonys Martín Yunesky Maya Kendrys Morales Brayan Peña Yasiel Puig Henry Urrutia Raúl Valdés Erisbel Arruebarruena Is Contreras still in MLB? I thought he got hurt.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 07:20 PM) For the sake of the argument, let's assume Q "settles in as a #3," which I am not agreeing to. But if he's a #3 starter, why in the world would you trade a #3 starter with a very team friendly contract for a slightly better pitcher and throw one of our top pitching prospects??? If Johnson slides in at #3 and you trade Beck who would be our #4 and #5 in that scenario? Hahn gave Q this contract because he is going to pitching with Sale at the top of our rotation for a long time. He's not going anywhere. It only makes sense if you're setting up a playoff rotation. For a 162 game season, you need an ace, three solid starters and a fifth who gives you a chance to win 50% of the time...at least not a black hole like in 2003.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) I know this probably won't be a very popular thing to say and I admit may not be the wisest of decisions but if Keppinger and Beckham are going to start the season on the DL then I would seriously consider releasing them both and move forward with Semien at 2B with Leury on the bench. I've just had enough of both Keppinger and Beckham. Forget trying to get anything for them and just move on. Beckham would likely get picked by another team so the Sox end up off the hook for his salary which means were only stuck paying Keppingers salary until he got picked up. Ummm, no, or we already would have done it with Dunn and Danks, Blue Jays with Santos, etc. Like it or not, we're stuck with DeAza, Beckham and Kepp until they're traded.

First team with four Cubans on an Opening Day MLB roster, surely. Where's Cubano? Didn't he return briefly when all the news was going on about Abreu, then disappear again?

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) Shaw is smoking. Amy Acker (Root) is pretty darn attractive too, though. Just realized Sarah Shahi (Shaw) is married to Steve Howey, AKA Kev from Shameless. Different frames. Acker is a lot more slim, model-esque. Her flirting with Shaw gets more and more hilarious every time. She says just about anything these days. I would bet $1 million that Shahi has implants. That's the only thing I don't like, that cliched Hollywood thing. I get it. Everyone does it, just like Emmy Rossum did to boost her career when it was flagging, the FHM spreads, etc.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) Shaka is going to Marquette. Wasn't one of Williams' reasons "disappointment" about the new conference alignment? What does that even mean? He was upset because he missed out on the NCAA's the first time in quite awhile? What is it with WI? Seems they always get coaches like Pearl (roots at UWMilwaukee) and Smart who play uptempo/press or coaches with very deliberate styles like Bennett and Ryan (although this WI team is much more uptempo).

Time and time again with toolsy high school outfielders, for every Buxton or Trout or Griffey, Jr., there's at least 10-12 flameouts in the first round. Other than high school pitchers, it's one of the riskiest picks, and the most tempting ones because of that potential word. Domonic Brown is about the best outcome we can hope for at the moment, unless he can somehow change his swing mechanics and pitch recognition skills. Eyeglasses? I guess the other thing to keep in mind is his relative lack of experience playing baseball...he was a football player first, and he's also gone through some dramatic body/weight/frame changes.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 05:32 PM) Haven't seen him, but he has an erratic minor league career and in his cups of coffee, averaged about 91 with the fastball. Does not seem like closer material, though it's still worth noting that I have not seen him pitch. Then again, with Foulke, Takatsu, Hector Santiago, Tom Gordon (used curve to set up FB)...or Mr. Grilli with the Pirates last season, almost anything is possible. For the record, I'm not stating Putnam is/will be/should be the closer. Veal definitely didn't win over Ventura today if he was on the bubble, although Purcey's also a possibility.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 05:35 PM) I guess you mean hurts the ability to compete more than a $68M bust? My answer to that is it depends on the owner. Sox ownership has cried poor for 30 years and blamed fans for not being "able to spend $1 because we only have $.50" How recent was that? Should we bring up the White Flag trade, Bill Veeck, Disco Demolition Night, urban legends of the dangerous/scary Southside and the 24 year gap from playoff appearances as well?

I just said that to plant an idea, a possibility. Sale's an exception, and of course, it was because the White Sox desperately needed relief help in 2010 to stay in the race...and Sale also was attracted by coming to a team where he could contribute right away, so it was a unique set of circumstances. That said, the likes of McDowell and Alex Fernandez spent little to no time in the minors back in the day, it's not unheard of, David Price, etc. We are in a position where we could be drafting the first or second best collegiate pitcher in the country. And I'm tired of hearing now we need MORE pitching. Plus, we started Buehrle and Sale in the bullpen...we wouldn't want to use a college arm to start many games after his university workload, especially if it's elevated.

What do we know about this Zach Putnam kid? Anyone seen him pitch this spring?

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Mar 24, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) Beckham to the DL please! Wally Pipp. I'm not sure how helpful that's going to be for his trade value, BUT, it will be nice to see Semien does playing everyday the first few weeks of the season. We'll have a much better sense of his defensive skill set. And where he stands in terms of plate patience, walks vs. K's, SB's, XBH's, etc.

Kenny Williams is smiling at LaRussa, haha. Just showed up in the KIRO radio box and, poof! 5 runs. Didn't realize he was just another half season from passing John McGraw for most wins, still far behind Connie Mack. Lots of good stories from 1983.

Love that KIRO is promoting the acquisition of Fernando Rodney as one of their core pieces to excite the fanbase.

THE PAST, same director of the excellent recent movie A SEPARATION, Iranian director...superb watch.

What seed was Kansas the year they beat OU in the national championship behind Danny Manning? I think that KU team lost twice, if not three times, to OU in the regular season and B8 tourney. Or NC State in 1983?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/detroi...p;vkey=news_mlb Tigers trade for 37 year old Alex Gonzalez...let's see how that one goes.

Tradable assets: Ramirez Danks (if he returns to form) Paulino/Rienzo/Beck/Bassitt Dunn DeAza/Viciedo Beckham Gillaspie Keppinger (unlikely to get anything for him before he proves he can bounce back and be productive) basically our entire bullpen whoever's left from the Semien/Micah Johnson/Leury Garcia/Sanchez logjam essentially the majority of our minor leaguers who Hahn doesn't consider a future part of the core Plus a TON of money to play with now in free agency for the RIGHT fit, such as Tanaka or McCann... The advantage with lots of Cubans out there having Abreu/Viciedo/Ramirez/Nieto all on the same roster

Liddi can play all over the field, ala Oquendo/McEwing. He's got a nice amount of pop, the human interest story being Italian and an Olympian...but he's going to end up at Charlotte in all likelihood. Who knows, though, Ventura might like him more than Leury Garcia.