caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 05:44 AM) Victor is having his best season. Still he is a lifetime wRC+ 125 . If he has an average for him year that is a lot more help in a spot the team has nothing than if Wilson has an average year for him vs. Flowers. Except there are 20-25 alternatives to Victor Martinez (of course, not the same level of production, but age and cost/production are just as revelant....along with future projected production), and only a few to Wilson. Of course, that's why Wilson will end up with 9-12 bidders for his services and Victor Martinez only 3-4 at 3+ years and and $16-22 million per season. In the end, the Sox won't go after either player because of the prohibitive cost of outbidding too many other teams.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansa...cle2279444.html Dayton Moore, and the playoff appearance 8 (or 29) years in the making...

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 12:33 PM) It would be cool to get a winners season, if you can't get them all back then try to get some people from the international big brothers and bring them over. Would be very interesting They should do like Africa big brother where they have players from diff countries....except it would be states/regions and they would have competitions in each area to get to the national show.

The defense and bullpen absolutely must be addressed for this franchise to go anywhere besides .500

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 08:20 PM) Damn Chinese Google! Technically Hong Kong google

Handing the royals a game yet again... That would be 0-6 or 0-7 for Quintana decisionwise against kc the last two years despite a strong era.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 07:27 PM) Sierra almost killed himself hitting 1B with the wrong foot. That dude is so far behind the baseball IQ curve it isn't even funny. Hopefully he catches up, because he has some talent, and seems to be a guy that everyone loves. How is that possible when Ruben Sierra is your dad?

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 03:37 PM) How is he a corner OF. He has started less than 10% of his career starts in LF and in half those games he was pulled late for defense. He got moved to IB and he is a pretty good defensively there. We need an above average corner outfielder defensively to offset Avi on the other side. I'd almost rather have lo mo or smoak since they already know the al and would come at a fraction of the cost.

We all know it's a LOT different getting those 3 outs in the 9th than the 7th or 8th. Sure, there will always be anomalies like Grilli, Jim Johnson, Frieri, that rise up for a season or two...but very few (maybe 8-10) can sustain successful closing roles for a minimum of five years or more. It's the reason Dotel and Linebrink struggled when pushed back in the pen (although Dotel was better after leaving the Sox with DET)...and we've seen what happens with guys like Belisario, Petricka and Putnam when they're out of their comfort zone and in uncomfortable positions they're not familiar with. My biggest concern with Jones is simply his lack of movement when he overthrows and his control, which would end up looking like the Bobby Jenks Tightrope we saw the last 2-3 seasons of his Sox career (or Joe Nathan in 2014). If I was a gambling man, I'd guess that Jones wouldn't have lasted a full season (as closer) unless he really refined his offspeed stuff, added a third pitch and/or learned how to consistently get ahead of opposing hitters. Nobody ever confused him for a strike thrower, like a Foulke. I do think Jones would have done better (if healthy) than Lindstrom or Belisario, but consistent enough to nail down the job permanently....probably not.

If we had one full year to assess where Rodon was development-wise, signing Victor would be the right idea for 2015...but, due to his signing late (partially) and the fact that he didn't follow the 2010 Sale route (or even 2014 Finnegan with KC), I'm not read to count on him being a 3+ WAR guy until we actually see him at the major league level. For every Kershaw or Sale, there's 50 Andrew Millers who are high draft picks who never amount to quality starters. Signing Martinez, you're at least one year away and you're already expecting a decline in 2015...so what will we actually have in 2016 and 2017 when we really need him to hit like he has for DET this year? I'd say something more like his numbers from 2011-2013, subtracting 10-25% for aging/wear & tear.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 09:02 PM) Gavin Floyd coming back from a fractured elbow could be converted to a reliever. Tom Gorzelanny will be available as will Luke Gregerson. Gregerson's going to be too expensive for another "rebuilding" year. I don't think we're ready to pay top market value for relievers like him, Miller, and some of the closers out there on the FA market.

Forgot about Nolan Sanburn from the Dunn/A's trade for the bullpen...although it would be pushing it to go from the CAL League to the majors. Nolan Sanburn, rhp Age: 22 An Athletics second-round pick in 2012, Sanburn had the potential to be one of the organization’s best pitching prospects, but he wasn’t healthy enough to show much since turning pro. He moved back to the bullpen this season after working as a starter in 2012 and part of 2013. A reliever at Arkansas, Sanburn signed as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2012 and has pitched just 120 (innings) in three seasons. When healthy, he has an electric fastball at 93-94 mph and can touch 96 with riding life. His curveball also shows impressive depth while coming in hard in the high 70s. www.baseballamerica.com

Forgot about Nolan Sanburn from the Dunn/A's trade for the bullpen...although it would be pushing it to go from the CAL League to the majors. Nolan Sanburn, rhp Age: 22 An Athletics second-round pick in 2012, Sanburn had the potential to be one of the organization’s best pitching prospects, but he wasn’t healthy enough to show much since turning pro. He moved back to the bullpen this season after working as a starter in 2012 and part of 2013. A reliever at Arkansas, Sanburn signed as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2012 and has pitched just 120 in three seasons. When healthy, he has an electric fastball at 93-94 mph and can touch 96 with riding life. His curveball also shows impressive depth while coming in hard in the high 70s. www.baseballamerica.com

http://www.baseballamerica.com/internation...ra-leaves-cuba/ Another Cuban on the market, one of the Top 5-6 remaining guys, 2B Hector Olivera. He's already 30. Wonder if he can play LF?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 03:34 PM) MLBN had the Tigers broadcast crew. I saw Sale talking with Konerko and he was making motions like binocs or glasses or something. Tigers announcers said something about it but I didn't catch it all. Of course I don't remember then panning the cameras out that aways. I just want a real Sox bullpen next year. Must be the idea there's a person affiliated with the Tigers out in CF using binoculars to read the catcher's signs that Sale apparently picked up on and got upset about...or the Sox coaching/video staff picked up on it and passed the information on to Sale and Flowers.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 01:35 PM) But the White Sox did replace Reed as closer and their current closer, Jake Petricka, has been just as effective as Reed was and has been. Except they went through using Lindstrom, Belisario and even Putnam to disastrous results....only to get to the point where we now have a reliever NOBODY believes should be the heir-apparent closer going into 2015 (unless they don't care about competing for the playoffs until 2015).

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 02:38 PM) Verlander even in down year handled the Sox. He has been pitching very well the last month...not back to Cy Young form, but he's figured out how to be more effective at 93-95 MPH. Still has that snapdragon curveball on occasion, as well.

"That's your boy out there..." Sale, according to the Tigers' TV lipreading crew. Something about someone in CF is signalling to the DET batters somehow about the pitch calls/signals from the catcher.

Martinez 15/28 lifetime against Sale. That's one strong argument for signing him, lol... 25 walks and now SIX K's in his last 173 plate appearances for Martinez....you don't sign a TOP FIVE AL MVP guy at that age, it would be just about the definition of insane. For the Royals though, he makes perfect sense if they can also bring in a replacement for Shields. Sale with way too many pitches to make it past the sixth at this rate. Abreu seemingly running out of gas the last 6-8 weeks. Not hitting the ball with any type of authority...but still getting singles and doubles.

Why would we just magically assume Ethier's going to put up a 2 WAR converting to the American League when he's a 0 WAR or slighly negative player right now...? And that Dayan would be a -0.7 again in 2015 when he's the far younger player? That's not even taking into consideration WAR/$. If Viciedo has another bad season, you non-tender him, but you're stuck for years with an aging Ethier (see Dunn/Rios/Danks). Believing that playing Carlos Sanchez over Gordon Beckham next year will make much of a difference...not buying that one, either. Joba? Yikes. I'm not even going to buy that Santana's going to pitch that well as is being projected, back in the AL again with how tough the Tigers, Indians and even Twins (Buxton and Sano) and Royals (only losing Butler and Aoki, Perez and Hosmer should be better, along with Moustakas) look offensively. The Twins have a bunch of guys in Vargas, Arcia, Salazar, Plouffe, Dozier, Suzuki, Mauer, Buxton, Sano, etc., that will be able to hurt you.... Finally, assuming Rodon's already going to be a +3....well, we would have said the same thing about Erik Johnson heading into this year. I'm not counting on those numbers until 2015.

Two "easy as pie" innings now for Sale. ERA down to 2.17. If he could end the game in the 2.00-2.09 range, that would give him a bit of a stronger case for the Cy, although probably the only way he was going to win was ending up below 2.00 because of the 7-8 missing starts compared to the other contenders. Scherzer and Lester will get consideration as well.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 11:33 AM) Game thread... I don't think anyone cares anymore at this point. It's also relevant since Sale/Kluber/Felix are the three relevant names in consideration at this point for the Cy Young. Sale throwing an easy 96 MPH in the first...great move by Ventura to walk Victor Martinez and not let him beat you, despite how good JD Martinez has been this year. Maddon would routinely walk Miggy Cabrera with a runner at 1B and two outs to put two runners on, with one pushed into scoring position.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) These are my guys that I'm targeting. I would target Dickerson and Rex Brothers from the Rockies and try to get Jay Bruce and Mat Latos from the Reds. Latos will be too expensive in terms of minor league talent surrendered. Bruce, there's no way they're going to sell so low unless they believe he's never going to return to his previous form. Finally, would the Reds really be interested in Alexei Ramirez when they have Zack Cozart already? Ditching Latos/Bruce/Phillips doesn't make logical sense to then turn around and bring in another aging veteran and block a younger/developing guy at a premium position.

Does Kluber win the Cy Young over Hernandez and Sale if the Indians were in the playoffs instead of on the outside looking in? Hernandez is one more terrible/fading out of gas starts from being in a bit of jeopardy vis a vis Kluber for the Cy.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Sep 24, 2014 -> 11:11 AM) Not necessarily. Tampa would be giving up a 33yr old $7 Mil # 1 0r 2 batter for a 25 yr old # 5 or 6 batter who makes less than 1/2 what Zobrist does. Tampa got 2 young infielders in the Price trade so they may make Zobrist available. Except Zobrist is 10X more valuable WAR-wise because of his versatility, better defensive abilities and overall offensive superiority except in homers. To call Viciedo a 5/6 hitter doesn't really jive with that WAR. Just because Ventura's hit him 5-7 for most of this season doesn't mean he's lived up to that expected level of production. Considering the fact that half or or more of the board don't even want to tender Dayan a contract for 2015, why would the Rays give up ANYTHING for that level of production or MORE when they can get it for free on the waiver wire (see JD Martinez or Steve Pearce, McHugh or Noesi on the pitching side, etc.)?