caulfield12

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 02:25 PM) I would gladly take Joe Kelly in a possible deal for Alexei. Kid has electric stuff It would take at least Ramirez, DeAza and Semien to get that deal done. Maybe one more piece....anyone in our system not named Erik Johnson.

Anyone out there interested in Ender's Game? I enjoyed the novel, like surely many here also did, but am unsure about the movie. Saw Don Jon this week....it was hard to enjoy because JGL and Scarlett Johansson played such one-note, unsympathetic characters. It was a bit redundant/repetitive and I was disappointed he went for the typical formulaic/Hollywood story arc. Then again, he's made movies where he was so unsympathetic (like Hesher, to name one) that most studios would shy away from financing the project. He was basically a caricature of a Jersey Shore cast member, which was just too one-dimensional. Julianne Moore was the only saving grace of that script. And We're the Millers, Sudeikis is on a roll...and Jennifer Anniston's really developed into a strong comedic film actress as well. Finally, is anyone else getting tired of Vince Vaughn movies where he's essentially playing the same character (see Adam Sander, Owen Wilson or Michael Cera) over and over again?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 02:06 PM) I think they'll look to move Lynn before they look to move Martinez. So perhaps Lynn and Kelly are the pitchers that other teams would/should be targeting. Only Mozeliak would have the answer to that question.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 11:57 AM) So you said all this without answering my question...what do they have that might be available for Alexei that could make sense as a return for him? In another thread, I suggested Martinez and Wong for DeAza/Ramirez, but that's not going to be enough from our side and I'm not sure who else the Cardinals would want. They don't need pitching. And Tavares is going to play CF for them in 2014, I forgot they had depth behind Jay/Robinson. Craig will probably be in RF and DeAza's best position is LF, and Holliday's not going anywhere. Martinez is locked out of the rotation with Wainright, Wacha, Garcia, Miller and Lynn ahead of him. That would leave their 3rd starter in the post-season, Joe Kelly, without a starting role.

That was because of all the Hawk Love for Crawford for nearly a decade, and the KW Crush. Sure, Crawford was nearly an MVP type talent in his mid 20's, but the price and wear and tear from playing all those games on turf was due to catch up with him in his 30's. And his baserunning numbers were already starting to decline, albeit some of that was being moved from the leadoff position to the 2nd/3rd spot in the order.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 01:47 PM) Priority number 1 is to get rid of De Aza sure as hell seems like the Sox need to get rid of De Aza no matter what. Priority number 1 has to be the catching position now. (The DeAza hate is mostly an emotional reaction or scapegoating thing.) Just watching the Cardinals and Red Sox this past series, it's clear what having a Top 5-10 catcher/combination will do for you. Molina's the best catcher in the majors and possibly the NL MVP. Salty/Ross were very solid. Everything on the entire field starts with that position, and it's testament to AJ's influence they only had one season in the past decade where they were at 90 losses (2007), and that was seemingly an anomaly. 3B would be second (most still see Semien long-term at 2B or possibly SS)...then you could argue between 2B, LF/CF, replacing Alexei Ramirez and the bullpen. Somewhere in there, you need to add more LH hitting/defensive ability/speed.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 11:00 AM) What all are we considering here then? I mean, costs do matter at this point, so you can rule Dunn out, and current production matters, so that rules Viciedo out (and possibly/probably Garcia too) for a few teams. The fact that he's an outfielder matters as well. I think Eminor's list is perfect. As of this moment, simply non-tendering or trading De Aza just to be rid of him would be one of the absolute worst things the Sox could do. Nobody's saying to non-tender him, though. Or Beckham... Obviously they both played big parts on the 2012 team, they're capable of playing on a playoff team, in theory. That said, I'm sure that Hahn won't get back what he wants in return in trade. Probably with Beckham, it has to be another busted prospect, like Dustin Ackley, change of scenery type of trade like the Borchard/Thornton move. If the choice is DeAza at $4.4 million for one year or committing to 3-4 years of Granderson at $12-16 million per season, then it's a no brainer. It would be a LOT better if one of our athletic outfield prospects actually put together a solid season. Even then, Thompson might be the only one capable of playing CF everyday, and then his bat looks like it will end up suspiciously similar to Brian Anderson's.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:50 AM) Hillary is a lock to win in 2016 (unless some Democrat makes a strong primary challenge) because the Tea Party will ensure that an absolutely unelectable candidate wins the Republican primary. Except Rubio is at least 1/2 a Tea Party guy right now. I don't think he's unelectable at all....if he can continue to move to the middle without completely alienating his former sponsors. After 8 years of Obama, surely they'd take him over another Clinton, notwithstanding the fact that the economy actually prospered while the Clintons were in office after recovering from the early 90's recession.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 07:16 AM) Alexei would be a huge upgrade for Cards. They might come calling. If so, Hahn will have the edge in the negotiation process and will not have to give up much else. Trouble is, we don't need Adams as much as we did two weeks ago, and Wacha is probably off limits, and they probably don't have a catcher that can step in and play. Maybe they will take Dunn off our hands. Matt Adams looks like a beer league softball player. Wacha is DEFINITELY off limits. I would have said untouchable, but he finally got dinged up in Game 6 a bit and it will be interesting to see how he bounces back. They have Wainright, Wacha, Kelly, Lynn, Shelby Miller, Garcia (when he returns to health), Carlos Martinez and a couple of other options. Chris Carpenter will probably come back for the 6th time, lol. I think the Cardinals move Carpenter to 3B, Wong is at 2B (or Jackson), they might STIL go after Tulowitzi or Asdrubal Cabrera to improve the SS position, Allen Craig in RF almost everyday and Oscar Taveras in CF. The only sure things are that Holliday, Carpenter, Craig, Adams and Molina will be playing at some position nearly everyday.

QUOTE (coco1997 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 08:30 AM) How about Wong? He would fit right in with his baserunning.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 10:29 AM) I disagree with this notion, especially regarding Dunn, Gillaspie, and Beckham. If you took salary considerations out of it, I'd guess 15-18 teams would take a risk on Dunn over DeAza. The comment was specifically that there were 8 players WORSE than DeAza. We're not arguing about "value" or ROI or anything like that. I'm not going to argue that DeAza wasn't BETTER than Conor overall in 2013 if you take everything into consideration....but who is likely to be the better player in 2014 or 2015 or 2016? That's far from clear. Most would argue both of them should be platoon players. Probably, the White Sox are one of 5-7 teams that DeAza and Beckham would both be starters...until Semien pushes out Beckham, they can afford to give him one more season. Same thing with Thompson and DeAza/Viciedo. Maybe after the way the Cardinals played down the stretch in the World Series, they would give some serious consideration to DeAza and Ramirez in a package deal...for Wong and Martinez.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 07:37 AM) No, I totally get you here. You can argue that everyone on the team sucks and so they should all go if possible and you can make a lot of sense -- but this guy is arguing that the Sox need to be spending more money on big free agent signings so the team can be better next year. You don't add a couple nice players and then get rid of of one of your best to offset it, even if he isn't THAT good. There's just no way you can argue that the team should get better NEXT year by losing De Aza at all costs when there are 8 WAY worse players that should obviously be replaced first. Very few teams in baseball are going to choose DeAza over Ramirez, Abreu, Viciedo or Avisail Garcia. If money were no object, they might also select Dunn, and some would take Gillaspie as well. Half those teams would rather have Beckham at $4.4 million than DeAza to be a back-up/4th outfielder at the same price.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:29 AM) What is this infatuation with Andre Ethier? Hey look, a 32-year old platoon player who is still owed $70+ million!!! Where do I sign up? Because he's a "name" player, just like Curtis Granderson. Now whether he's too expensive, too vulnerable to LH pitching and can't play CF regularly, well....those issues are not so important. That said, I would still trade him for Danks if the Dodgers sent us $20 million along with the deal (which they wouldn't do). The Dodgers also know they have 4 outfielders but that Kemp and Crawford struggled to stay healthy last year...so they're not exactly compelled to deal Ethier, Kemp or Josh Beckett, etc. Not unless they get the exact return they desire.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 07:00 PM) Davis would generally fit what we're trying to do, but I wonder how advisable it is to continue adding right handed hitters. We have: Abreu A. Garcia Viciedo Semien as young guys that we think will definitely be long-term pieces, plus Alexei Beckham Keppinger Flowers/Phegley and then our lefties Dunn De Aza Gillaspie Jordan Danks L. Garcia as LHH that have a chance to be on the roster next year. Dunn will be gone in a season at the latest and it seems we're trying to force de Aza out. That leaves us w/ Gillaspie, who might be a serviceable starter but not at the expense of Semien. Danks is fighting for backup time it seems and doesn't look like he is really much of an asset even in a platoon at the plate. Leury...I don't know that which hand he's hitting with really matters. Even if he hits well enough to have around, his value is never going to be his bat. I'm happy for us to pursue the best young guys we can get, but we're looking at having no decent left-handed bats on our roster in the very near future. Micah Johnson is our best lefty in the minors, but he will probably need at least another year of seasoning, if not two. In that case, you're looking at Semien and Johnson potentially competing for a spot. Other than that, the only LHH in the high minors with a remote chance of playing in the bigs are Andy Wilkins (first base/DH), Carlos Sanchez (switch-hitter), Jared Mitchell, Dan Black (first base/DH), Keenyn Walker (switch-hitter). All of these guys either had bad years last year or are playing first base and have low ceiling bats. And all those guys who hit LH/SH on the market are going to be too expensive: Granderson Morales Cano Ellsbury Choo McCann Salty Everyone's chasing after the same thing. For some reason, I have a feeling Justin Morneau will be the DH in 2015, lol. And you can't see them signing AJ for just one year, that doesn't make much if any sense (except to Greg).

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 05:14 AM) Sounds like the Red Sox might not offer Salty a QO. If that's the case, I'd like to see the White Sox pursue him aggressively, even if they feel he's only the strong half of a platoon. Here are his stats against RHP last year: .294/.350/.523/.873 with a wRC+ of 135 Those numbers would be a HUGE upgrade for us at the catcher's spot and address multiple offense needs. Plus with the amount of RHP in the AL Central he could easily get 120 starts, so the platoon aspect would be somewhat overrated. He turns 29 next May, so a 4 year deal would take you through his age 29 to 32 seasons. I would be willing to throw $36M in that case. If he could repeat his total production from 2013 that deal would be a complete steal. http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2...keep_jarro.html Arguments why they would/should keep him. The only reason they won't keep him is if they're going to bring in McCann instead, IMO. They're likely to lose Ellsbury, Napoli and Drew. That frees up a TON of money. FWIW, they would be the perfect team to trade Alexei Ramirez to, if not's going to be the Cardinals or Pirates.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 04:55 AM) Not disagreeing with you on Arenado, just saying that Santiago is easily a 2 WAR player with minor improvements with the potential for much, much more. The Rockies aren't going trade Arenado for Santiago...so it's a moot point. They wouldn't trade him for Quintana, either. I do think they would prefer Santiago over Quintana, simply because Hector has better stuff and in their minds might be more likely to succeed at Coors. He has the higher ceiling/talent/ability level. Still, he's also a flyball pitcher, and that's dangerous. I don't understand why they don't work more with Hector on refining his repertoire of pitches down to just three (Wacha throws 90% fastballs and change-ups, granted, they're heavy fastballs and coming in at 94-97 mph) and focus on the two-seam/sinking fastball, which proved to be a huge weapon for Francisco Liriano this season with the Pirates. If Hector can stop worrying about velocity and pitch with better movement/location, he'd be a much more effective pitcher and could get his pitch counts down where he could go 6-7+ innings nearly every start.

To answer your question, I'm sure the Las Vegas odds would put her at 75-80% to win in 2016. (To predict two terms would be crazy). That said, there's a TON of time left for things to change, and change, and change again. If the ObamaCare program/s become more and more unpopular, that's going to be one of the most credible attacks used against her, as she and her husband made health care (unwisely it turned out) their number one priority in 1993/94, and it ended up with one of the most resounding mid-term defeats in recent memory. She's also vulnerable on the age issue, and the fact that, like Obama, she's hated/despised by 20-25-30% of the US population already. She's polarizing. She won't bring as many young voters and minority voters into the field of play like Obama did. She has age going against her. (She does have the "first female president" on her side to mitigate all that). It all depends on how the economy is faring in 2015-16. It's just as likely that things are pretty stagnant or growing at only a 2-3% rate with unemployment still hovering around 7% or more....nevertheless, as the co-President (in a way) during the last period of economic success and well-being in our country's history, that could actually work to her advantage. Greg's right in one sense, running Rubio against her would be another version of the 1960, 1992/96 and 2008/2012 elections, where the younger/more appealing/more energetic candidate carried the day. It's not just about appearance. If Sarah Palin ran against Hillary (which won't happen), she would get crushed. The problem to me is that the Republicans need to stand for something...and they need to move past immigration and find issues which will resonate with the middle class again. They lost a lot of the Reagan Democrats, and they've alienated most of the women, ethnic minorities, lesbian/gay/bi-sexual, etc., in this country with McCain and Romney and the Tea Party. Frankly, I'm not so sure she's going to be capable of being a great leader at her age...and, from having observed her for 20+ years, she's not nearly as likeable as her husband, George W. Bush or Obama (to a lesser extent). She just doesn't have the ability to inspire and elevate...not even compared to past politicians like Mario Cuomo or Jesse Jackson. She's Bill Bradley or Al Gore or Bob Dole, but a woman.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 01:08 AM) If I am Rick Hahn and there is a possibility that I can add Angel Sanchez to the White Sox, and get rid of Gordon Beckham, I am doing everything in my power to make that trade happen. ??? I hope you're being sarcastic, unless there's ANOTHER Angel Sanchez who plays on the Cuban National team.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 03:48 AM) Really??? How many games did this dufus cost us with bad defense, bad baserunning and overall being stupid? He's Carlos Lee part Deux. Tell me what was CLee's WAR in a sox uni? And I recall vividly how 95% on this board wanted him gone... Think outside the sabermetrics box sometimes.... He was fine until he started making $10 million plus per season and got lazy/attitude issues. Never quite as a good of a hitter or overall player as his statistics LOOKED, but he wasn't the main problem, either.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 11:07 PM) I can understand why Sox aren't going to get Ellsbury and McCann if those 2 get ridiculous contracts, which they probably will. But I hope the trades and moves they make are for this upcoming season and not just for prospects. Our division is pretty horses*** (I'm not a believer in Cleveland and KC) and it's hard to fathom that we can't compete with Detroit. I know we currently can't beat anybody in our division, but we need to revamp the lineup so we can start to win divisional games again. I love the Grobber and he said last night on his show the Sox pitching is good enough to win with. He said, 'they just have to take care of that lineup, change that lineup.' I agree. Writing off next season is stupid. Make some trades, sign AJP as stopgap catcher on the cheap. Without Santiago/Quintana, who they would probably have to trade to get a legit 3B, they would go into next season with a starting rotation of: Sale Quintana Danks E. Johnson A. Rienzo Compare that with Verlander/Scherzer (co-aces), Sanchez (who was one of the top ten pitchers in the AL), Fister, Porcello and then Smyly could easily be inserted into the rotation. There's just no comparison. And you're forgetting the Indians, Royals and Twins all improving. If you can't make a case for them being better than KC, they're better off waiting until Dunn's gone. The only reason the Tigers are vulnerable is because of Fielder and Cabrera's health and psyches...along with their lack of a bullpen, speed and fielding (outside of Austin Jackson, who was a huge disappointment this season). But they'll figure out how to replace Victor Martinez and shore up that offense by adding a LF in free agency. For the time being, they're just going to have to find "rent-a-veterans" and hope for the best. Obviously, that didn't work too well for the Royals the past two decades...trying to hold the fort down while mixing in players like Ankiel or Bloomquist or Jose Guillen or Francouer, etc. That means signing a couple of pitchers like Gavin Floyd or Edinson Volquez on the cheap. Maybe Josh Johnson. There are probably 5-10 names out there. It doesn't mean overpaying for the likes of Victorino, Choo, Ellsbury, Granderson, Ethier, etc. This is the last season for Viciedo, Beckham, DeAza (and Ramirez) with the White Sox unless they can turn their careers around. I don't think anyone really cares one way or the other what happens with Gillaspie, Keppinger, Flowers, Phegley or Dunn (I will only say that Conor decides the starting job coming into ST until someone unseats him or there's a trade/FA signing). Even if the White Sox signed Ellsbury AND McCann, they would still have issues at LF, 3B and 2B (and god knows what Dunn will do). We don't even know what we're going to get out of Garcia in a full season, either. It's just not the right time to hand out $250 million in contracts for just two players. Here's another way of thinking about it... CF Ellsbury LF Gordon 2B Cano RF Choo 1B Hosmer C Perez DH Cain (whoever's sitting in OF/Perez/Hosmer) 3B Moustakas SS Escobar Besides being too left-handed, with Santana leaving, I still don't think the Royals would have enough pitching even with that line-up that's going to add $375-450 million in salary commitments ($100-125 for Choo, $125-150 for Ellsbury, $150-175 for Cano). Granted, it would be a REALLY fun team to watch, but I still believe the Tigers' pitching would prevail, leaving the Royals fighting for one of two wild card spots. (And was it really worth it for the Indians to fight so hard all season long and end the season the way they did only to end up getting knocked out in a single game?)

Not to mention Ethier's not an everyday CFer. Giving away Beck OR Santiago is way too much. Beckham, fine. Whatever.

So with that extra $25 million per team being allocated, where would the idea come from that teams will not give out another Crawford-esque contract come from? Higher supply of money, more teams fighting for fewer quality free agents = higher demand.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 11:12 AM) Usually there is a little time before that starts. I'll say game 2 next season. Spring training, if Abreu/Viciedo/Garcia/Dunn are all struggling.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 30, 2013 -> 08:39 PM) Why not ? As it currently stands I think our payroll is somewhere around 72M if I include arbitration raises for the eligible guys. If the Sox paid $118M last year for a 99 lose team , who's to say we can't spend another $40-50M to improve the club for 2014 . That's plenty of room to sign an Ellsbury or McCann or trade for a guy like Kendrick . So it's not ideal to give out huge contracts for guys over 30. but you have to pay for quality players. That's the way the system was set up. Somewhere along the line in order to win your calculated risks have to pay off. We will never have enough good young players that all end up jelling at the same time to win a title semi - cheaply. The Sox payroll should be at least $120M unless you think you can't compete or see better options next year.. Remember, Dunn comes off next year so a big contract given out now to an Ellsbury (who is a speed , defense, old days Go-Go Sox player if I ever saw one) looks even better next year and would generate a lot of buzz , way more than Abreu. Just have to see what we're talking about as far as the years and money but to dismiss it outright is wrong. Note. The Tigers arent resigning Cuban Catcher Brayan Pena who is a switch hitter and had an .800 OPS against RHP. He will be 32 in January, 2014 so it's another option . Why would the Red Sox let Ellsbury go and lose him in a bidding war to the White Sox?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 30, 2013 -> 08:10 PM) Cubano, if you were to rate Puig, Soler, Cespedes and Abreu 1-4 based on their hitting only, how would you rate them? You should throw Despaigne in there as well. By the way, whatever happened to Gourriel (SS)? Wasn't he the best player on those teams 3-4-5 seasons ago? What about Viciedo, haha?