caulfield12

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 06:47 PM) I second this. Not that I'm against Stanton, dude is a f***ing stud, but I'm not willing to give up an outlandish price for him. Fortunately there are others teams that would and have more to offer. Someone ,I forget who, mentioned Boston. This is the likely team considering Boston has the desire, the prospects and the history of making big trades with the Marlins. Fathom, and I also said Giants/Dodgers/Cardinals/Red Sox. Well, LA just doesn't make sense unless they clear that OF logjam, as it is, they can't find a place for Joc Pederson to play. So we'll be offered Andre Ethier, Kemp and Carl Crawford again, with salary subsidies attached. The Giants and Braves (although I doubt they'd spend that time of money, not to mention they have to consider what to do with Heyward)....always seem to have the pitching but lack hitting. The Cardinals, it's scary to think of him there, but they have never been a franchise to give out a $175-250 million contract (see their own home-grown superstar, Pujols' exit). The Red Sox make a TON of sense. You have Cespedes just for one more year, Ortiz/Pedroia/Napoli aging, if they could bring back Lester and pair that with acquiring Stanton, they'd have a real shot next year. They would definitely have to part with Bradley/Bogaerts/Middlebrooks and 2-3 more pieces, like De La Rosa or one of their other young pitchers, Ranaudo, Workman, etc. I'm the Marlins, I would probably go after Swihart, Bogaerts (buying low), Mookie Betts and two pitchers.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 06:47 PM) I second this. Not that I'm against Stanton, dude is a f***ing stud (BEAST MODE), but I'm not willing to give up an outlandish price for him. Fortunately there are others teams that would and have more to offer. Someone ,I forget who, m Fathom, and I also said Giants/Dodgers/Cardinals/Red Sox. Well, LA just doesn't make sense unless they clear that OF logjam, as it is, they can't find a place for Joc Pederson to play. So we'll be offered Andre Ethier, Kemp and Carl Crawford again, with salary subsidies attached. The Giants and Braves (although I doubt they'd spend that time of money, not to mention they have to consider what to do with Heyward)....always seem to have the pitching but lack hitting. The Cardinals, it's scary to think of him there, but they have never been a franchise to give out a $175-250 million contract (see their own home-grown superstar, Pujols' exit). The Red Sox make a TON of sense. You have Cespedes just for one more year, Ortiz/Pedroia/Napoli aging, if they could bring back Lester and pair that with acquiring Stanton, they'd have a real shot next year. They would definitely have to part with Bradley/Bogaerts/Middlebrooks and 2-3 more pieces, like De La Rosa or one of their other young pitchers, Ranaudo, etc.entioned Boston. This is the likely team considering Boston has the desire, the prospects and the history of making big trades with the Marlins.

Everyone's suddenly forgetting how we won a championship in 2005. That team didn't have any superstars or HOF players, other than Thomas on his last legs and sitting out. Pitching, pitching, pitching. And solid players at every position who played together as a team, and played the game the right way. And an amazing bullpen, a once in every 20-30 years performance out of all the pitchers. Creating this superstar-driven team with Sale, Abreu and Stanton just isn't the way to get there.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 02:23 PM) Giancarlo Stanton is 24. You would only make this move if you felt 95% sure you could extend him, and there's no way that would be less than a seven year deal at the absolute minimum. That would absolutely be a better bet for production than all of those guys. Can you think of a better and more likely sourced of sustained production than Stanton's age 25-32 seasons? I like Anderson, but I'd be shocked if the chances he ever becomes as productive as Stanton are more than 1%. And what makes you believe the White Sox, as of right now, or going into this off-season, would be in a position to convince him to sign that type of long-term extension to a 95% degree of certainty? If he's not happy with the Marlins and they managed to compete all season without Jose Fernandez, why wouldn't he want to sign a contract with a team like the Cardinals, Giants or Red Sox that are setting up to compete for the playoffs each and every season? It's POSSIBLE, merely because of the presence/s of Sale/Abreu/Rodon, but Carlos would have to emerge by June/July next year as a legit #2 already for this type of move (and accompanying extension) to work out. And maybe that's why Stanton hesitates. On Monday afternoon, he declined to discuss something so wispy as an MVP award, but did talk about the dedication to an offseason program that has kept him on the field. He's played in every game, starting all but one. "The way I felt last year, with the whole situation of losing and not playing my best, that was one of the worst feelings I ever had," he said. "I put it as a waste of time. I spent all that time in the offseason. To lose 100 games and to not do my best? It was like, 'What'd I do all that in the offseason for?' " Now he's a .300 hitter, .322 with runners in scoring position. He leads the National League in on-base percentage, in part because he leads the league in intentional walks, and OPS. He's become an elite right fielder. He walks by and big leaguers look him up and down, shake their heads and mutter a single word: "Beast." So, who's with him? The Marlins? Loria? And what about tomorrow? How about then? "We've definitely done better than anyone thought we would do," Stanton said. "At the same time, we're still not where we need to be to keep playing beyond the designed schedule. …I want to be the only game on TV at the end of the day. (sounds a LOT like the White Sox right now.) "We're definitely in a positive direction. But we have a month to go to make the playoffs." The question, then, again: Does this season, one that is just OK but brighter than most, change anything? He thought again, perhaps of these five months, perhaps of these five years. "There's still a long ways to go to be in the same conversation with the best of the best," he said. "I'm hungry for that." Tim Brown www.yahoo.com/sports

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 02:11 PM) Sorry to cross sports here, but this logic sounds exactly like the Bulls under GarPax. I truly do believe that Tim Anderson will be a good shortstop at the major league level, but if you were put into an opportunity like that to acquire (another) bonafide superstar, you absolutely pull the trigger and you don't look back. In this instance, it wouldn't solely be a win-now move because Stanton is going to be 25 years old next year and you would re-sign him to a huge deal - sometimes, that's the price of business. It would be a move for the short-term and the long-term. This does fit sustainable success because you'd have 2 top 30 hitters in the game and 2 top 30 pitchers in the game for like the next 5 years at the very minimum. You can seriously fill in around that and let it roll for a while. Plus, that intial offer wasn't including Rodon either, who could be good. You constantly criticize and say that the plan wouldn't be to compete until 2017 or whatever and then wouldn't trade 4 prospects for Giancarlo Stanton because those prospects could be good? That is why the phrase "talking out of both sides of your mouth" was invented. There's no need to talk about Stanton anymore because it's beyond a pipe dream. Now we have no choice but to universally praise the front office around here? Two months ago, most of SoxTalk was TALKING about the possibility/probability of competing as early as next season. Now that talk has pretty much been completely shelved and we're revising/walking it back to say that it was 2016 all along, which does sound a lot like what the Cubs do, and why it won't play with Sox fans. But c'mon. This is stupid. Because the White Sox are never going to give Mike Stanton the $150-200 million that some other team will give. (btw, didn't our owners just try to lead a rebellion of other owners because he believed Manfred was too chummy with the players' union and wasn't dedicated enough to controlling the escalation of salaries???) You call it the cost of doing business, but the White Sox have proven time and time again more than MOST teams that business/profit/sustainability comes before the anomalous Albert Belle and Adam Dunn-like splashy moves and signings. Of course, in a VACUUM not connected to reality, if I knew I would control Mike Stanton's rights through 2021 or 2022, I'd make that trade. It's not my money. I'm not Mike Ilitch or Mark Cuban or Arte Moreno or the LA Dodgers/Walter/Guggenheim partnership. Essentially, we've made essentially two prospect trades like this in the past 10-15 years, for Freddie Garcia (because we knew we could extend him) and for Nick Swisher, which obviously was a disaster. And then there was the White Flag Trade. So three.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 01:10 PM) But Schwarber was an overdraft by the Cubs and Theo Epstein, therefore good. Tim Anderson was a draft pick by the Sox, therefore bad. It has been true of nearly every Sox hitting prospect since Rowand and Crede, pretty much...but maybe Anderson's the one guy who finally escapes the Buddy Bell Bermuda Triangle of unrealistic expectations and praise for position players. Scouts love him, moreso than anyone else in our organization, other than Rodon. Even if Schwarber "should" have gone 10-20 or whatever, that doesn't mean he's not going to be any good...we all know where Mike Trout went in the first round, it doesn't mean much at all until you pick up that wooden bat and head out to the minors to prove yourself. Right now, looking at results/performance/trends, the one who looks to be an overdraft of all their prospects was/is Almora.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 01:10 PM) But Schwarber was an overdraft by the Cubs and Theo Epstein, therefore good. Tim Anderson was a draft pick by the Sox, therefore bad. It has been true of nearly every Sox hitting prospect since Rowand and Crede, pretty much...but maybe Anderson's the one guy who finally escapes the Buddy Bell Bermuda Triangle of unrealistic expectations and praise for position players. Scouts love him, moreso than anyone else in our organization, other than Rodon. Even if Schwarber "should" have gone 10-20 or whatever, that doesn't mean he's not going to be any good...we all know where Mike Trout went in the first round, it doesn't mean much at all until you pick up that wooden bat and head out to the minors to prove yourself.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 10:24 AM) I don't know, and I don't know why you're limiting it to just those guys. If you offered Semien, Montas, Hawkins, and Michaczewski for Stanton, and they said they'd do it if you substituted Anderson for Semien and Beck for Montas, are you really going to say "NO ANDERSON IS OUR FUTURE WE CANNOT DEAL HIM AT ANY COST!" when Stanton is that good? Of course, not, you'd make that move in a second. (they likely wouldn't say that, this was merely a hypothetical example of when you'd trade certain players). So much of what you are saying is subject to the teams with whom you'd be doing business, how they value the players, and who you're trying to acquire. A team like the Astros or Padres are likely going to value prospects over established players, while you may be looking to make 2-3 smaller upgrades or looking to acquire a bad contract or a lesser player via trade instead. Speculation like this is idle and pointless. I'm saying three things - that the Sox are almost certainly not going to sign a free agent tied to draft compensation, they will still be active in free agency otherwise, and that they will likely seek upgrades through trades. I'm really not saying anything else. It's not profound or bold in any way. No, I wouldn't. Because we'd still be left with our crappy crappy bullpen that lacks any leadership, Ventura as manager, expected/predictable below-average offensive production from every position in the line-up going into 2015 but Stanton/Abreu/Eaton and maybe Ramirez and Avisail Garcia...stuck with John Danks in the rotation for two more years and also not 100% sure what Noesi's going to produce, and lacking plus defenders all around the diamond and not an extraordinary amount of team speed or fundamentally-inclined players. Heck, we don't even have any type of guarantee that Rodon's going to be a #2 as early as 2016. Assuming Micah and Semien both played a lot and gained experience in 2015, they'd have enough speed finally...which means that acquiring Mike Stanton would be the ultimate "win now/all in" move for one season only, 2016, even moreso than Adam Dunn was. If I firmly believed that Anderson was going to be a franchise player and cornerstone to build around and would stick at either SS or 2B, there's just no way I'm making that gamble if I'm Hahn. It's only an interesting question because of that final 2016 contract year. That's where the calculus of risk of NOT doing anything significant and having Abreu/Sale/Quintana/Eaton/Avisail get injured starts to weigh on your mind as a GM. However, it's not the kind of move that fits Hahn's suggested pattern of "sustainable success" by any sort of definition.

QUOTE (The Wiz @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 11:42 AM) Sign Victor Martinez, Justin Masterson, and bullpen arm. Trade for Matt Holliday (need to make room for Piscotty and their glut of OF prospects) and other minor deals for relief pitching help. Trade Alexei and let Semien/Sanchez/Johnson/Gillaspie battle it out for PT from the 2B/3B/SS positions. Offense will be much improved with two impact bats behind Abreu. While they are older and expensive, they will only be on the books for a couple years so you can compete with them and have time to find younger replacements. Rodon will be up sometime in June most likely. Whatever you do, hold on to Danish, he will be good and get a cup of coffee in September. 1. Eaton, CF 2. Semien/Sanchez/Johnson/Gillaspie, 2B/3B/SS 3. Abreu, 1B 4. Martinez, DH 5. Holliday, LF 6. Garcia, RF 7. Semien/Sanchez/Johnson/Gillaspie, 2B/3B/SS 8. Flowers, C 9. Semien/Sanchez/Johnson/Gillaspie, 2B/3B/SS Also look for a left handed hitting catcher who can platoon with Flowers. Easier said than done. 1. Sale 2. Quintana 3. Masterson 4. Danks 5. Noesi Bullpen still a crapshoot but can't get much worse. The Cardinals love Holliday, he's their leader now in many ways, along with Molina. Despite his age and somewhat diminished production (around an 800 OPS, which is still pretty respectable), they think his body type and notoriously brutal and grueling off-season workout habits will push his productive years into the mid or even late 30's.

Especially since the even more injury-prone Josh Johnson, for example, received more. So who's the fourth best free agent pitcher in the game, after Scherzer, Lester and then Shields? Coming into this season, it was definitely Masterson. And that would have put him in that $12-16 million dollar per season category. Now he's suddenly down to a mere $6 million? That's about as conceivable as $16 million.

Starting pitching, dominant/lockdown bullpens and defense win you championships. Trout's part of all 3 elements working together. That said, the Angels are going to really be in trouble without Richards in the playoffs IMO.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) How much do you think Tomas is going to get? I'm guessing you think somewhere in the range of $120-140 million. I don't think Martin will get anywhere north of $40 million, Masterson $6-10 mill on a 1 year deal, and that leaves $10-30 mill for relievers in the $200 million threshold you've set. In other words, I don't see any way that's possibly close to $200 million. Not sure it's a playoff team, but let's be realistic. $85-90 million for Tomas, maybe $95 Masterson for at least $30 million Martin for $50 million, based on the complete dearth of other catchers available, the Salty/McCann deals last off-season, etc. RP basically $15-20 million. Maybe off by $10-20 million, but I might just as easily be right.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) How much do you think Tomas is going to get? I'm guessing you think somewhere in the range of $120-140 million. I don't think Martin will get anywhere north of $40 million, Masterson $6-10 mill on a 1 year deal, and that leaves $10-30 mill for relievers in the $200 million threshold you've set. In other words, I don't see any way that's possibly close to $200 million. Not sure it's a playoff team, but let's be realistic. $85-90 million for Tomas, maybe $95 Masterson for at least $30 million Martin for $50 million, based on the complete dearth of other catchers available, the Salty/McCann deals last off-season, etc. RP basically $15-20 million. Maybe off by $10-20 million, but I might just as easily be right.

AMERICAN LEAGUE Top 10 vote-getters, with first-place vote tally in parentheses 1. Mike Trout (35) 2. Robinson Cano (1) 3. Felix Hernandez (2) 4. Jose Abreu (1) 5. Josh Donaldson 6. Alex Gordon 7. Victor Martinez (1) 8. Jose Altuve 9. Nelson Cruz 10. Adrian Beltre Trout, clearly, has graduated from hero of the calculator-carrying crowd to a more mainstream MVP acceptance, and if our panel is any indication, he will get the honor so many believe he was due in 2012-13, when Miguel Cabrera beat him out both times with more traditional MVP stats. With a career-best 31 homers and 98 RBIs entering Thursday -- and so many plate appearances still in front of him -- Trout fits that traditional formula. It certainly doesn't hurt his cause that his Angels are in line for their first October entry of his career or that Cabrera's physical issues have caused a statistical setback. What's particularly interesting about Trout's candidacy is that his stolen-base tally has taken a drastic dip, and the defensive metrics aren't quite as kind to him now as they were in '12 and '13. But the power numbers and the legitimate postseason hunt have undoubtedly augmented Trout's case, while guys like Donaldson of the A's and Gordon of the Royals seem to have taken his place as the candidates whose value is a bit more nuanced -- they ranked first and third, respectively, in the Baseball Reference WAR calculation, sandwiched around Trout and getting a big boost from their sensational defense. Neither Donaldson nor Gordon received a first-place vote in our poll, but two Mariners -- Cano and Hernandez -- did. It will be interesting to see how the voters handles those dual candidacies, because you can make a strong argument for both guys as the primary catalyst for the Seattle's rise to contention. They'll have trouble overtaking Trout, though, in large measure because they're likely to steal votes from each other. Abreu will also have difficulty, albeit for a different reason. Since the 1995 postseason expansion, the AL MVP has come from a non-playoff team just once (Alex Rodriguez, Rangers, in 2003). So while Abreu's .322 average, .985 OPS, 33 homers and 99 RBIs all compare favorably to Trout, his team's spot in the standings -- the White Sox are in fourth place, 13 games under .500 -- is likely to render his cause moot (and Trout, of course, plays a more demanding defensive position). There is time for voters to get swept into the late-season story lines. Gordon, who is already getting "MVP! MVP!" chants from the Kansas City faithful, can present a compelling case if he leads the Royals to their first October berth in 29 years. Right now, though, the AL MVP Award is Trout's to lose. from mlb.com FWIW, I didn't include Beltre since the Rangers are the worst team in baseball, and Altuve for the same reason, although both are having pretty brilliant seasons. Donaldson and the A's are REALLY struggling, 6 weeks ago he would have been considered a Top 3-4 candidate surely. Cano has risen with the Mariners in the standings, and Seager's deserving of some credit there as well as King Felix. Interestingly, nobody voted for Cano in the poll, although I probably did him a disservice pairing him with Seager.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:42 AM) You don't have to bring in Heyward or Stanton. You don't have to trade someone from the major league team. You can, but you don't have to. The Sox right now have plenty of good prospects that, while nice to have, are non-essential. Sure, at least one of Semien/Johnson/Sanchez. One of Danish and Montas. Probably Hawkins, although is power is badly needed in the major league outfield, it's at least 1 1/2 to 2 seasons away. Barnum would be nice to hold onto to see if he can develop, just like Rondon. So if you traded Semien or Sanchez, Danish or Montas (choose the one who becomes either a starter or closer, trade the other), Courtney Hawkins and let's say Trey M., what exactly does that get you? We'd still hold onto Rodon, Adams, Timmy Anderson, two of our middle infield prospects, Danish or Montas, Davidson and Erik Johnson, Beck, etc., but what would you realistically expect to get in return for those guys?

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:21 AM) People fail to realize Verlander was injured this past offseason and may not have been fully healed or back to 100% the entire season. Everyone in Detroit knows he had the now infamous "core (abdominal) muscle repair" surgery in the offseason. It's just hard to determine if the performance dip is related to that (at all) or 100% about Leyland putting too much wear and tear on his arm from 2006-2012. One can at least imagine he's not getting enough drive and whip from his torso....we all know everything's connected, that a lot of Verlander's fastball comes from leg drive, which is related to your abdominal muscles flexing as well.

QUOTE (staxx @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) Tomas, Masterson, Martin and RP. playoff team. You've also just spent approximately $200 million. Good luck thinking JR will agree. The ending of the movie Magnolia (except it will rain down more Abreu's and Alexei's) is perhaps more realistic than that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:31 AM) You are seemingly completely ruling out the possibility of a trade. I don't understand why. If they are going to get an impact player (or two), I envision it coming through trade, and I definitely see that happening. Who they give up is an entirely different question, but there are all kinds of possibilities on that front. This is a weak free agent class. Other than Alexei Ramirez (obviously there are arguments on both sides of this one), who are you willing to part with that has any value to another team? We all know the KW move would have been to fashion some sort of package out of our minor leagues for an established major league player...which worked well in 2004 and but didn't work so much after 2008. What would you be able to get back trading Conor Gillaspie? Probably not as much as we think, right? Viciedo's flaws have been discussed and dissected ad infinitum, so that's not going to accomplish much by trading him, either. Let's face it, unless we trade Tim Anderson, it's doubtful we can arrange a trade that will bring back a young, cost-controlled player in the vein of a Heyward or Stanton, and even that type of move's dubious if we have no way to keep them with the organization long-term.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 07:55 AM) Semi-active. If the don't cost a pick, I can see the Sox being involved. If they do, I do not. I don't think they'll completely abstain from free agency. We can practically guarantee the Micah Johnson isn't ready, that Carlos Sanchez will be adequate but not great at 2B (650-675ish OPS)....the big wild card right now for next year is Marcus Semien IMO. If he can become a legit force, then the line-up starts to take shape, along with the emergence of Avisail Garcia as a legit force in the middle of that line-up. If not, they're in a world of hurt, and you start having conversations about either spending their way out of the mess going into 2016 or trading Abreu/Sale/Quintana and building around Rodon, which I'm sure NOBODY wants to ever see happen. It's unlikely that Wilkins even ends up as even the part-time DH, from everything scouts have said about Wilkins' flaws/defects. Many are also calling for a Gillaspie regression....Alexei can't be any better than this season, anything can happen with Flowers and it's hard for Abreu and Eaton to be much more productive (Adam just has to stay on the field for 145-150 games).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 07:33 AM) I was thinking of this last night - I'm not sure how much it will matter if the Sox have a protected pick or not. They will likely be semi-active in free agency, but as we saw last year, if there's a marginal talent that will cost the Sox even a 2nd round pick, they are not likely to pursue that option, and there is no one attractive enough in free agency this year for the Sox to concede either a 1st or a 2nd. Victor Martinez is the one that comes immediately to mind, but I think the Sox would be absolutely insane to give up even a 2nd round pick to the Tigers to sign a 36 year old player. If he's not offered a QO - which, why wouldn't he? - then I can see the Sox interested, but even that'd be a really short term deal. Given Hahn's signings in the past, with a tendency towards guys who produce ground balls, I also can't see them being interested in James Shields either. Basically, getting a higher pick isn't a bad thing, but they're already going to end up with a good pick, so the best thing to do is hope the young players hit well and keep developing, win or lose. (not trying to thread-jack or say this thread is stupid, as the work put into it is appreciated) The problem with this line of thinking is that Anderson/Montas/Hawkins/Danish are all probably at least 1.5 seasons away. (Not to mention that Davidson for the moment doesn't look close to being a viable option at 3B, and likewise with Erik Johnson and the starting rotation.) That means they're probably not going to be ready to legitimately compete as part of the team until AT BEST the start of the 2017 campaign, assuming they get their feet wet from July-September, 2016. The White Sox simply can't afford to punt away two more years of Abreu and Sale, because Chris is a sort of ticking time bomb that as soon as it goes, it blows up with it any chance for the White Sox to be competitive. And we also aren't sure exactly how long Abreu can play without experiencing more serious foot/ankle problems as well. In 2008, before Quentin broke his hand...if you would have predicted the rest of his stats with the White Sox and then seen what we got in trade return, you wouldn't have believed it. You can never take ANYTHING for granted, ask the A's and Tigers how well that's going for them. At any rate, if they're left trying to compete with the likes of Rasmus, Markakis and Morse (one of them, guys not receiving QO's), that's just not going to be a big enough improvement offensively to move the meter. It might actually be a downgrade, for all we know. Probably not, but maybe.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 08:17 AM) Agree fully. I don't even think most posters here can identify the Sox beat writers at this point. It's nothing like when Gonzales and Sullivan were covering the team before, and they weren't even THAT great.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 08:27 AM) Also, I've always liked Pablo Sandoval, but there are maybe actually NO examples of guys that fat being good in their 30's. And he's kind of famous for being really difficult to convince to lose weight. I'm not trying to be mean, but with a trend that stark, that's a very high level of risk. These types of deals are so risky anyway that I don't like the idea of taking one that comes with more risk than usual. You guys are right, this FA class sucks. That's why it's Russell Martin or bust to me. Tony Gwynn, although I'm not quite positive he weighed as much as Sandoval. Pretty close though.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) Your variety is naming cubs prospects in any thread you can. And trying to pose them in an argument against another point. Gillaspie vs Flowers? Schwarber hits a lot, but Almora? Hawk cutting back on road games? Bryant will hit 40 homeruns guaranteed, but what is Baez OPS if Hawk isn't calling the game? Spencer Adams or Chris Bassitt? The answer is Arrietta, or is it? Maybe it is not, maybe it is Hendricks, Alcantara or Vitters I sincerely hope you are entertaining yourself.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 4, 2014 -> 08:18 AM) Gillaspie is weak defensively and he has not hit as well late into the season. Beyond that, it's easy to overlook the production, both offensively (even if below average) and defensively that Tyler Flowers has provided. Frankly, in today's game, if you have a catcher that can play close to 75% of the games behind the plate and remain a non-blackhole at the plate, you have a fairly valuable commodity. That he's also been productive defensively is an added bonus. I think, if Semien shows he's good defensively at 3B, Gillaspie is going to be a guy that sees significant time at DH next season. Not to say he won't play 3B or 1B next year (making the assumption, of course, that he'll be with the team), but if there's a better alternative at 3B, you go that route. I think the odds of winning the AL Central are actually higher with Adam Dunn as DH than Conor Gillaspie in 2015.

http://www.freep.com/article/20140904/COL08/309040066/ Detroit columnist addresses the impact of the photo hack/leak on Justin Verlander and the Tigers' season. Taking some really pointed comments from the fans in the comments section...not one supporter that I can see. Lots of jealousy, though.