caulfield12

All I know is that Hahn better be right on this guy. They were already "half wrong" about Viciedo. Now nobody has proven that Cespedes and Puig and Soler are going to be the better, more dynamic players...but when you play a position like 1B/LF/DH, you absolutely have to hit. It's not like he can build extra value for the team anywhere else (yes, I know Puig had two errors in game six and overthrew another cutoff man so it could have been three actually)... But, in general, a toolsy OF can at least provide defensive value and something on the basepaths. This is "all in," all or nothing. It also just goes to show you how difficult in these offense-starved times we're in that it is to find an excellent LF/1B/DH for anything less than $10 milllion. "...and if the Dodgers don't do anything else next spring, they need to teach Puig how to field smarter. "That's kind of what we're playing with, with Yasiel," A.J. Ellis said. "He's got that great arm, the ability to throw everybody out, that aggressiveness and passion, and 95% of the time that plays through. But this was one of those times when restraint was needed." For those who want to pile on Puig (latimes.com/sports)

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 04:28 PM) How much does Tampa(or Miami) get in local tv rights? Part of Einhorn's reasoning for Florida was his claim that the tv rights would be worth more than any loss of ticket sales. Not nearly enough to offset the differential I'm guessing... Or they wouldn't be about to trade David Price. Or maybe they still would be, just as an astute organizational philosophy with any player who becomes too expensive from a cost-benefit analysis perspective.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 10:12 PM) http://deadspin.com/why-your-cardinals-suc...dium=socialflow This has to be said People seem to forget that the Cardinals are only popular by default. Apparently the benefit of having a giant f***ing transmitter that broadcasts to like 30 states is that everyone's Dad was a Cardinals fan in the 60s and now there are 8 billion little Cardinals babies running around acting like they were voted America's team by the Mount Rushmore presidents. 10/10/13 2:26pm Joseph FinnUFartsmello Anthony141L You've also just explained the Cubs fans outside of Chicago (leaving aside those who've moved elsewhere to die). Having WGN-AM blasting them over half the continent when there were basically no teams west of the Mississippi had something to do with that. 10/10/13 2:37pm I think this has a LOT to do with it....not having the Rangers, the Astros, the Rockies, the Braves (to compete with in the SE)...and with a ton of their minor league affiliates spread throughout the South, KMOX and their extensive radio network ensured the development of legions of fans (and their children and grandchildren). My comment/s Puig enrages NLCS umpires... http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2013/10/18/485...dgers-cardinals

You'd also have to have a situation where Konerko was 100% in synch with the new major league hitting instructor... How likely is that? Obviously, it's not going to be Paulie's good friend, Jim Thome. Or Frank Thomas. Realistically, it SHOULD be an outsider to the White Sox organization for once. Konerko coming back doesn't many any sense at all. Putting Adam Dunn in LF and blocking/trading Viciedo makes even less sense for the future.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 10:07 AM) AJ never did that stuff. He may have talked s***, but he didnt stop a player from crossing homeplate because he celebrated a homerun. AJ was an agitator, not a policeman. If you want policemen, bring in Fisk or McCarver, lol.

Buck could definitely figure into the catching situation, although it's not ideal. DeJesus isn't a fit right now unless they trade DeAza. Pretty sure I heard Reddick needed surgery...not sure if they're willing to sell super low on him, BB's not stupid. Suzuki is going to have his option declined, so he and Buck would be lesser names for catcher. Still think they're not going to spend to solve the remaining problems (maybe a veteran LHP if we get closer to legitimacy)....they are going to have use either Santiago/Quintana, Beckham, Ramirez and/or Reed. Ideally, Semien would be at 2B. Someone mentioned Headley, Hanley Ramirez and Sandoval....those are all high-risk players. Sandoval for his weight and getting older and changing leagues, Ramirez will probably stay in LA if they're happy with him or he will be injury-prone and Headley just had a dismal season. The Blue Jays' Lawrie (not Jed Lowrie or Mike Lowry from Bad Boys) remains an interesting/controversial name that might be in play.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 09:35 PM) Thanks. Doesn't hurt to bother me too. I think fathom got the most info on this deal than anyone since he bugged me to go and get him some. Fathom begging? It has been a really tough five months for everyone.

Definitely would seem that Ramirez is going nowhere if this does go down...

At mlb.com, it currently has the Astros, White Sox and Red Sox as the 3 favorites... Obviously Boston's not going to announce it during the post-season with Napoli directly affected by that decision.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 09:39 AM) Put it in context, and put up your post I was responding to. Then you will once again see that I am poking fun at your Puig stalking obsession. Kind of like when I proclaim that Puig is the best centerfielder ever to play right field in the history of the game except for Roberto Clemente And the White Sox stopped factoring in to my stress way back in May. No need to get upset when they clearly were not going anywhere. THIS IS WHAT I ACTUALLY SAID, BY THE WAY The only reason I said "best left fielder in baseball" was not about his overall ability, but simply the fact that fielding-wise, and arm strength, I can't think of anyone who has a better set of tools. (And it was the first game he played in LF, after starting all those games in RF with Crawford and Kemp out). And later on, I also acknowleged that Bourjos/Trout were better right now, depending on who was playing LF/RF at that time for the Angels.

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 03:09 PM) Sox attendance, for a horrible horrible team, was actually much better than playoff teams tampa and cleveland. and we were not that far behind oakland. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance This should not be surprising at all. It has been a trend for the last 5-10 years. Oakland has a terrible stadium to play in. Cleveland, the fans are still pissed at Dolan and two total rebuilds...so what do they do, turn around and charge by far the highest for playoff tickets to show their appreciation to the fans. Rays' problems are well-documented and familiar to Sox fans since that would have been the home park for the White Sox if not for James Thompson and the mysterious midnight+ vote.

Why do I have this sneaking suspicion it will be Kurt Suzuki as the starting catcher for 2014?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 12:23 PM) jon greenberg ‏@jon_greenberg 25m Just got my 2013 baseball attendance analysis from David Kronheim from http://numbertamer.com . Will post two Chicago notes of interest. White Sox attendance dropped for 7th straight year, tying Major League record with 4 teams, most recently 1998-04 Braves. (Kronheim) According to Kronheim, Cubs had "the highest attendance ever for a team that lost 90 games for at least 3 straight years." Um, congrats? How many of those Braves' teams went to the playoffs? It makes sense in one regard. The newness of the stadium after the Olympics started wearing off and they returned to the trend of not even showing up for the playoffs consistently.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 12:00 PM) Find a quality first baseman. http://www.piratesprospects.com/2013/10/ja...first-base.html For the Pirates, Loney/Gaby Sanchez actually makes more sense because of the risk of Abreu busting. In other words, there's a lot less risk to them spreading let's say $70 million between Loney and Sanchez and getting a "decent/predictable" OPS versus the unknown with Abreu. For the White Sox, you have to go all out for Abreu. Theoretically, you could sign Loney and then platoon him with Viciedo at 1B. In that scenario, you'd have someone like Granderson and also Loney facing the toughest righties (along with DeAza)...although aren't Viciedo's splits this season a lot more balanced, compared to the struggles he had with tough righties in the past? Of course, the problem is that do Loney and Granderson accomplish much more than adding $100 million to the payroll? Maybe they turn us into an 80 win team, but is it really worth it in 2015 or 2016? Obviously, the White Sox are in an incredibly difficult position to be in...where spending can put you back into decency perhaps, but still far away from contention. We know they're not going to spend for potential impact players like Ellsbury, Choo, McCann...etc. Napoli and Morales even are seemingly out of range in terms of salary. Salty is likely to return to the Red Sox or become too expensive. And then if you don't have either McCann or Salty catching 120 games, how in God's name can the White Sox be competitive unless they got totally lucky like the A's did with their postseason hero (Vogt) at that position. This also leaves the White Sox in their traditional position of taking fliers on guys like Corey Hart or Chris Young

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:03 AM) Have they ever paid big money for a free agent? Knowing them they'll sign Casey McGehee at a bargain basement price and he'll end up putting up 'good numbers". Pat Burrell?

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 10:36 AM) I kind of have a hybrid, if you will: Do the Pittsburgh approach, fire Buddy Bell, and replace him with Larry Beinfest. Could KW and Hahn deal with the perceived threat of Beinfest in their same organization?

http://mets360.com/?p=19257 Would anyone want Juan Lagares in CF over DeAza, for example? (I liked this article simply because Brian Anderson appeared in it, along with a host of other forgotten players) But it's bringing up an interesting debate about how good a defensive player has to be at a premium position to be tolerated putting up a 650-ish OPS. I think it's also informative on the Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez debates, although one would be hard-pressed to put their defensive seasons in the same category as a Lagares or F. Gutierrez in 2009. Will managers of the future tolerate the likes of Darren Lewis or Wily Taveras moreso than 5-10-15 years ago? With the success of the Pirates' defensive metrics, can you really build a small ball team at USCF? (It hasn't worked well for the Twins in their big stadium, although pitching issues have a lot to do with their poor results as well. The Mariners were seemingly the last team to really try to corner the market on outperforming defensively to mask offensive issues, and it didn't get them into the playoffs, just an improvement from where they were which eventually regressed). Can simply having intelligent shifts mask the problems of poor defensive players, to an extent?

QUOTE (flavum @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 09:27 AM) In a nutshell... Don't do anything dumb in an effort to win 79 games in 2014. That's the problem. They didn't do anything coming into 2013. Just stood pat. What's that about the definition of insanity and repeating the same mistake repeatedly while expecting different results? I guess they do have Garcia now.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) No, KyYlE was the one poking fun at your Puig stalking obsession QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 15, 2013 -> 05:40 AM) * Amazingly inept at the plate kind of like 0/11 with 7 k's(5 in a row) before that triple? Amazingly boneheaded like staring at a ball and posing when you think the ball is out of the park? It's a wonder you get much more upset about what he does than the White Sox players this season, lol.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 09:19 AM) Send a pile of money, Sale, and whoever else it takes to LA for Puig. Problems solved. I knew you would come around. Didn't think you had such a sense of humor. Of course, when you have posts like this one...it almost is daring Chris Sale to go down to injury and then our franchise future might actually be the bleakest in the game, would you agree? (That's going on the assumption many currently have that A. Garcia, Viciedo and Courtney Hawkins all fail to be breakout stars.) For example, there's NO WAY the Angels would trade Trout for Sale, NO WAY. That's crazy talk. Because the only logic behind it is money/contracts, and that will never stand in the way for Moreno, especially now that the Dodgers are making him look silly (mostly the spending on Pujols/Hamilton).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:28 AM) #1, I'm pretty sure Cris Carter is working at ESPN and that he is far too old to be picking up baseball #2, I'm also pretty sure that, if Abreu is a Chris Carter clone, the A's and Dodgers both have a Chris Carter clone too At least Cespedes, Puig and Ozzie Guillen are entertaining and good for selling newspapers and generating page views, lol. I think the White Sox would be more than happy if Abreu put up a 925 OPS, however. That damn guy always used to kill the Hawkeyes, btw. Well, every Buckeye, pretty much. Except for the one year we had a crazy/insane school shooting and the team wore all black helmets that weekend and somehow won in Columbus, I think it was 1990.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:55 AM) LOL. Do you realize how ridiculous you come off sometimes? To actually compare playoff numbers between players is absolutely absurd. You need large sample sizes to be able to come up with a significant sample size to determine whether or not a player is "clutch" because it's the postseason, and the absolute most you could really get in 1 postseason appearance is 100, but that's if you played in the Wild Card round, 5 games in the LDS, 7 in the LCS, and 7 in the World Series. That's never happened. More likely, you get a guy who ends up with anywhere between 10 and 60 plate appearances. But really, you should compare what he did to Danny Bautista in the 2001 World Series. Or compare his World Series stats to Geoff Blum's. Nobody compares to Geoff Blum. NOBODY!!!! Jesus Mary and Josephine...that's crazy talk.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:55 AM) LOL. Do you realize how ridiculous you come off sometimes? To actually compare playoff numbers between players is absolutely absurd. You need large sample sizes to be able to come up with a significant sample size to determine whether or not a player is "clutch" because it's the postseason, and the absolute most you could really get in 1 postseason appearance is 100, but that's if you played in the Wild Card round, 5 games in the LDS, 7 in the LCS, and 7 in the World Series. That's never happened. More likely, you get a guy who ends up with anywhere between 10 and 60 plate appearances. But really, you should compare what he did to Danny Bautista in the 2001 World Series. Or compare his World Series stats to Geoff Blum's. KYLLe was the one micro-analyzing Puig this series. Just thought I would return the favor to show how ridiculous that is, as well. If I was actually being 100% serious, your point would be well taken, thanks.

Fire away.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:25 AM) Protection has been proven time and time and time again to be a myth made up by ancient baseball gods to get people to pay more for players. Or, at the very least, it's a myth, because that protection sure worked well in 2011, didn't it? And if you're afraid that he'll underachieve trying to earn his contract, then there's no point to ever sign anyone to a multi year deal and you may as well go with pre-arb players every year. Of course, then you run into the conundrum of those players trying to hard to earn their salary every year, and then you're left with a 120 loss team and s*** how did I get here? uhhh, Chris Young? Same guy who's put up .225/.312/.412/.725 over his last 1400 plate appearances and can't hit right handed pitching? Yeah sure sounds like an upgrade WHAT? Chris Young is a backup. He hits left handed pitching and that's about it, and he doesn't do it particularly well. Why do you keep bringing him up? THE ARTICLE DID.... as an alternative to overspending on Granderson.