caulfield12

Rays would be stupid to sell off Longoria coming off his 2014 season when they're going to expect teams to ante up MVP-caliber minor league pieces in return. It does make sense if they're going TOTAL rebuild. Desmond Jennings is a player that KW has always coveted and would be available for the right price one would think...getting more and more expensive and his salary's steadily increasing.

SOA finale was a little predictable...the previous episode was better, although the scene with his kids and Nero was pretty heartbreaking...along with Chibbs' reactions throughout the final few episodes. Losing Bobby and Opie really wiped out the heart of their gang...there was almost nobody left standing in the end, which is kind of the point of that outlaw/criminal lifestyle...eventually it catches up with you, the "bad guy always loses in the end," as he so eloquently put it. There was another reference to the Original Redwood/First 7 in his back and forth with the DA (CCH Pounder). She's on NCIS: New Orleans now...first time I saw her was ER, one of my favorite 90's shows.

Maybe it will be the end of Buddy Bell if some of these players like Semien, Thompson and Mitchell actually enjoy some success playing for other organizations. Will believe it when I see it, though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:50 AM) Lester to the Cubs. You're as late to the party as Gordon Beckham on a letter high heater. On the plus side, Balta should temporarily add 34 to his board name based upon his reaction to everything going on this week. Fun times.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:39 AM) Soler, Coghlan....to be announced I think we'll start hearing that they're interested in Zobrist or CarGo pretty soon Can't believe I forgot about Soler. Maybe I just assumed he'd be injured or they would be treating him with kid gloves, but he was as impressive as Baez was a disappointment last year. Alcantara's kind of in the same boat as Semien. Is he a CFer? A 2B? SS? 3B? Trade bait? Insurance for moving Bryant to LF or RF so he could play 3rd, or Baez there (with Russell/Castro up the middle)?

What's their OF going to be? Alcantara, Coghlan, Sweeney, Gomes, Junior Lake?

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/...-get-jon-lester

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 01:14 AM) Upton would be quite the get. And the biggest gamble. You'd have to give up Anderson and Montas OR Danish and maybe even one more secondary piece...in the Top 11-25 range, someone like a Matt Davidson. At the VERY least, Hawkins and Montas OR Danish and another piece. That's just too high a price unless you're sure that you can keep him past 2015.

Forgot about Justin Upton being on the market...

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:44 PM) I agree, which brings the question... Who? What are the options? Ethier/Kemp/Crawford/Van Slyke Rasmus Morse (that would be the equivalent of Viciedo, or worse) Aoki Melky Cabrera Jay Bruce Alex Rios (haha) Snider/Lambo Parra Carlos Gonzalez/Dickerson/Blackmon

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 01:51 PM) It's philosophical difference. What's more important, the knowledge and skills he gains this year by pitching to MLB players and Coop putting him in advantagious situations, while postponing his full time starting assignment a year. Or starting him the minor to buld up his innings to start his start assignment earlier but have to learn the MLB pitching in all situations where he could get his brains beat in while learning. The other variable would be the Sox wnning, the team is much better if he is in the pen as opposed to the minors. If they don't extend JS and next year is the year, it may be the only option. All depends on whether they spend to add one more veteran "insurance" policy like B.Anderson/Masterson or go into the year with Danks/Noesi at the back end written in stone. If Noesi pulls another Erik Johnson April 2014...then there's going to be a lot of pressure to use Rodon (sooner rather than later) when Beck or Johnson are your other best options available.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 01:30 PM) I'd be totally ok with that, but that's not how I hear those statements. I hear them as "like Sale did in 2011" meaning "full season wasted in the bullpen throwing 60 innings like Sale did in 2011". Also, what happened with Santiago. Long man. Starter. Closer. Forgotten roster spot. Starter.

QUOTE (toasty @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) 2005 says hello. Or 1983. Or 1959. Or 1915-1919. McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez, Jason Bere and Greg Hibbard would disagree, too.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:05 PM) Great post. It's always good to have a closer with a track record. Not meaning to start a fight here, but is this guy a LOT better than Addison Reed? But having a closer is great cause we can put some of those other guys in the battle for setup guys. It really was annoying last year seeing our guys blow game after game. I hope he gets off to a good start and is an effective closer all year. Great point. Just imagine if Davidson wins the job and fulfills the promise the Sox obviously thought he had. Would be amazing if we had a power bat at third and he could field at least as good as Gillaspie. They can't afford to have that kind of a sieve at 3B unless he's going to hit 25-30 homers and not strike out 200+ times. Davidson's a LONG shot right now to be on the Opening Day roster. He's going to have to get white hot for at least 2 months in AAA before that trust is regained...unless Conor just starts hitting like Robin Ventura his first two weeks as a rookie and can't get out of it.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 06:53 PM) I think it's safe to say with a legit closer like Robertson, this team would have been around a .500 team last year. Couple that in with players like Avi being healthy and a better overall bullpen, plus LaRoche providing better protection for Abreu, who will in-turn be used to the work load this next year and you have yourself right around a 88-90 club just doing what they should do. Then you factor in Samardzija who should be better than anything we had after Sale and Quintana and I think that's good enough for close to 5 or more wins. Call it the short side and you have about a 92 win team. 1) You still don't know what you're going to get out of LF, Avi Garcia, Conor, 2B and Tyler Flowers. That's a TON of line-up uncertainty for a contender. 2) The only positions where we're getting average or above defense are CF, SS (and that's slipping) and C. 1B should be better with Abreu more experienced and LaRoche's presence. But unless we employ Sanchez (who will have his offensive struggles), 2B with Micah Johnson will be downgraded. Will Conor and Tyler continue to improve? What about Avi, who looked as bad as Viciedo or even worse at times. I guess things can't get much worse than Dayan/DeAza, so that should be an upgrade as well. 3) You don't have a proven lefty unless you think Duke's going to be another Thornton or Marte (pre-2005). Your loogy is even more of a question mark. 4) You're relying, at least until Rodon arrives...on Danks and Noesi at the back end of the rotation. At best, that's a mixed bag, at worst? Plus, our best insurance policy at #6 in Bassitt was just traded away. Beck and/or Erik Johnson aren't going to inspire much confidence in anyone. 5) We were pleasantly surprised with Conor, Putnam, Guerra, Noesi and Eaton. Will they continue to progress, or will they fall off the map (especially the first four guys)?? Can Tyler Flowers be at least a league-average catcher? Will the second half declines of Ramirez and Abreu trend into the first half of 2015? How long will it take LaRoche to adjust to the AL?

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:03 PM) This is really important and is being greatly underestimated, imo.....we have truly solid veteran leadership on this team now. Robertson, Mo Rivera's understudy, spending atleast 8 innings a game with young guys just sitting in that bullpen chewing the fat....this will have an impact. Samardzija and Sale, both fierce competitors, will be the media's elected leaders of this team....they'll set a "fun" tone but will be clear that when it comes to winning, you do what needs to be done. LaRoche is a notoriously great clubhouse guy and has spent enough time in the league that our younger hitters will listen anytime he's willing to talk (which will be often). We know that Avi is a fun guy and puts everything he has into his craft....mix that with Abreu, who really impressed me last year with his willingness to become a leader in not only his first year in MLB, but his first year in America. For more than a decade we had Paul Konerko as our leader......Paulie is a helluva guy and great teammate, but I never took him as the type of player who was a natural born leader. This roster is now full of them and it WILL make a difference. Eaton too...sets the tone with his style of play and enthusiasm.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 05:47 PM) Lol JS a #3 is going to make more than Q and Sale combined. At this point, you have to extend him. I think Semien is actually from California so it's returning home for him. And actually played together with Erik Johnson at Cal, right?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 02:14 PM) The Sox didn't give up anything really special; but they shouldn't for 1 year of a player. They also didn't give up a bunch of chumps either. Ravelo is a high OBP guy that will be able to play 1B for some teams (who have power elsewhere). Semien is a nice infielder. Bassit was really improving. I wouldn't have done this deal for 1 year of Shark. But they've certainly done worse trades. The pitcher they got back is the type they've been loading up on - high K, but no control. And another draft pick that has turned into the likes of Beck, Reed, Danish and Adams in recent years at worst case and could end up even higher depending on who signs him if we're unable to work out an extension...? With Abreu and LaRoche blocking for the next two years, Ravelo deserves an opportunity in another organization to become a starter. Theoretically, we could have held onto him or made him a platoon partner somehow, but it's also a good thing when a team can make trades of their prospects so they can play everyday in other organizations. That's a nice luxury to have....spare pieces....instead of giving up something from our future core.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade. Let's hope he is the next Nestor Molina/Zach Stewart... From another point of view, at the Winter Meetings last December, if Erik Johnson and Semien were traded for a one-year rental player, everyone on the board would have gone insane saying Hahn was pulling another KW and bankrupting the farm system. We're to the point where this type of move makes a lot more sense, especially if they can get an extension signed. If not, you don't have to worry about another $100+ million pitcher's arm falling off at least.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:59 AM) Basically I think you made my point for me. This is a sub .500 team still as it is barring lots of improvement, and just to bring it up to mid 80s and contention they still are probably a starter and a corner OF short. And it testifies to how little they cared about actually building a solid roster last year that they brought in a top 5 hitter in the league and still were a very weak club. no we didn't expect Jones to get hurt, but we didn't expect improvement from Gillaspie or Flowers, we didn't expect guys like Putnam to be surprisingly non terrible, etc. If you look at defense (Gillaspie, Viciedo, Garcia, DeAza, Abreu/Konerko)...baserunning/fundamentals...but especially the back end of the rotation, there's a LOT of room for improvement. Carroll/Rienzo/Danks basically pulled down our rotation to the point where it was below average, then you couple it with the twin Paulino and Erik Johnson disasters. Nobody thought Johnson would completely fall off a cliff. He looked like a solid back-end piece at worst, and a 3 at best. Sure, Putnam, Alexei, Noesi and Conor played/pitched better than expected, and Flowers in stretches as well. But you can point to a lot more disappointments than surprises on the positive side. I know Marcus Semien has a lot of fans here. And it's always frustrating to see a young prospect we've watched developing for 4-5 years get dealt away. We should just be thankful that we have enough insurance/depth now to make this type of move without bankupting the future of the franchise like Williams did at the end of his tenure.

QUOTE (OsweGo-Go Sox @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:55 AM) Signing Abreu and trading for Eaton had me pretty excited. If you consider deadline stuff in 2013, the Garcia acquisition. Sale being Sale. I was pretty excited--I wasn't expecting them to contend but I think most of us enjoyed 2014 a decent amount, and it was a pretty good offseason. The best thing Jake Peavy ever did for this franchise was signing an extension, which led to the Sox acquiring Garcia, Montas and Rondon. It certainly wasn't his health, bulldog personality or performance against the Tigers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:49 AM) If they do disappoint, will you join me in calling for Robin Ventura's job? Yes, unless there are significant injuries to the likes of Abreu, Sale, Eaton and Quintana...or Robertson going down, probably LaRoche, Ramirez and Samardzija as well. If the team has decent health and isn't competitive, Ventura's neck will clearly be on the line. Most likely, he would fall on his own sword instead of waiting to be fired.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 07:37 AM) Eh, still don't like it and fully expect the team to disappoint, but I'm a lot less annoyed with actually trying to win than throwing in the towel like we did last offseason. There wasn't much of a choice. And they didn't throw in the towel, they brought in a Top 5 MVP caliber hitter. Except we didn't know it at the time...and certainly without enough confidence to roll the dice by throwing money all over the place. As has been mentioned many times, nobody expected Nate Jones to be hurt or the bullpen to be such a disaster or Reed wouldn't have been traded....but that's all hindsight. We knew that we needed to give Flowers, Beckham, Viciedo and DeAza (to a lesser extent) one more season. All the answers aren't there...about Flowers, Conor, Garcia (thanks to the injury) and 2B (Sanchez/M.Johnson), but, at the very least, Hahn has managed to pull this team to respectability within the span of two seasons. Eaton, when healthy, proved he could be a significant force offensively and defensively, and he accomplished that without stealing many bases. That's a heckuva lot more than the Cubs have been able to accomplish in 4-5 years. Let's keep in mind that our core group of prospects in Anderson, Montas, Danish, Hawkins and Micah Johnson still hasn't been touched. We have a set of two distinct gambles going on here, one is winning within the next two years with LaRoche, Duke, Robertson, Alexei Ramirez and Samardzija....and then the next wave will arrive and make an impact beginning with Rodon and extending beyond those five prospects already named. It's still a 79-83 win team as currently constructed, but it's arguably one more starter and LF away from being at that magical 86-88 win total that ANYTHING can happen, as proven by the Royals and Giants as recently as last season.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 9, 2014 -> 01:51 AM) MLBTR via Susan Slusser says Semien, Bassit, and TBD. Beane must like Semien a lot, otherwise he just traded Addison Russel for half a season of Samardzija, Hammel, Semien, and Chris Bassit. Plus, McKinney's a Top 10 organizational piece and Straily MIGHT end up as a 5th starter or long man out of the pen.

The White Sox do not have time for your so-called "rebuilding process." Their Monday night acquisition of starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija via trade and signing of closer David Robertson continues Chicago's acceleration back into contender range, probably to the point that they're comfortably a .500 team (assuming a healthy rotation), while addressing the two biggest needs from the 2014 roster. www.espn.com Keith Law Insider