caulfield12

The other hurdle with Soriano is his is contract, and what Cubs President Theo Epstein will likely look for in compensation. According to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com “The compensation for Soriano would likely come in the form of relief for some of the $54 million still owed over the next three seasons. The Cubs would eat 80 percent of the money as long as they got back a decent prospect.” To his credit, Soriano is a known as a terrific clubhouse leader, however even if the Detroit could get Chicago to eat most of his salary, they would surely have to include a top level prospect like Jacob Turner who is currently ranked as the 22nd prospect in MLB.1 So the question is, is it worth taking a flyer on Soriano while players like Yoenis Cespedes or and Carlos Lee might be all-around better alternatives? The problem in dealing right now for any player is that Dombrowski would be doing so without any leverage. Other executives — Epstein especially — know the Tigers’ need, and might more willing to play hardball in terms of a trade. Perhaps the more prudent option is for the Tigers to try and fill their need with older, more cost effective veteran such as J.D. Drew, Carlos Pena, Cody Ross, or Ronny Cedeno, and reassess come May or June, once they can accurately evaluate their roster. http://thefanhub.com/posts/detail/274097/W...Fit-In-Detroit-

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 01:39 PM) With Drabek tearing his elbow, Morrow getting hurt and Hutchison leaving the game with an injury tonight, KW should be on the phone with AA discussing Gavin Floyd. So you would be looking for future pieces or someone to help the team win this season? After the Santos/Molina trade, I'm not sure how comfortable AA would be taking another pitcher from the Sox so soon. On the other hand, it looks like we got fleeced by agreeing to take Stewart and Molina as major pieces in return, so who knows... Ultimately, you could argue we would have been much better off had we dealt Gavin Floyd and Matt Thornton in the offseason, as many wanted and advised. At the very least, you would have an extra $10-15 million on top of what you have left to spend right now to fix all the problems springing up everywhere. That's not even taking into consideration the talent we could have acquired in return. Now, we'd be lucky to get anything resembling a B prospect and salary relief. Heck, if you could get Beck to slim down and fix his mechanics quickly, he might be the best pitcher in our system right now to just into the breach.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 02:00 PM) The Royals are four back in the loss column. Will they ultimately pass the Sox? 15 games remaining vs. KC I think. Any team in this division, except perhaps the Twins, could finish in 1st. Any of the other teams could finish in 1st or 5th. If Liriano got superhot, they could even make a run at it, although I just don't see it all coming together for them...stranger things have happened, which much less time left remaining in the season. However, most would be shocked if the Tigers, no matter what happens with their rotation, Valverde and defense, finish lower than 3rd. They just have too much offensive talent with Jackson, Fielder, Cabrera, Avila and possibly Victor Martinez.

Is that it should be making it painfully obvious to JR and KW that the team as presently constructed isn't going to be good enough to win the division. Hudson has largely been a failure, and cost the White Sox again defensively in the 6th tonight. We can't afford "on the job" training and the painful lessons that come with it. On the other hand, neither the Indians and even the Tigers (because of defense and pitching injuries) right now have the teams to run away and hide. So fix 3B and add a starting pitcher largely by adding on salary and not sacrificing major league talent from the 25 man roster or you watch the White Sox be doomed to near irrelevancy and even lower attendance the next couple of seasons. Management has a clear choice now. They can't just wait for Morel and Danks. There's two gaping holes in the dike that have to be fixed, and that's operating under the assumption that Quintana will continue to be a consistent performer (there's very little chance he'll keep up his ERA of nearly 2) going forward. They can't go "all in" and trade for likes of Greinke by sacrificing Viciedo, Nathan Jones and Mitchell. They can decide to do what's in their power to fix the two broken parts of this team or end up falling back in the pack by the end of July. The other reason they have to add a pitcher is 1) to protect Chris Sale in August/September and 2) the odds right now are against Floyd returning, so you need at least one more experienced starter or you go into 2012 with Sale, Danks (if healthy), Quintana, Axelrod and Castro/Molina as your rotation. That simply can't happen if you want to compete, to break in essentially 3 rookie pitchers.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:40 PM) I think the Sox would have been happy to give him a chance when the spot came up, but it never happened. He was sick of waiting and could make much more money in Japan so he asked to be let go. We obliged him because at this point the odds of him even getting a cup of tea were low. Let the kid make some money, if he pitches well over there we can pick him up as a FA someday Colby Lewis went to Japan and came back to have quite the successful career.

This loss really hurts. Huge start for Humber tmrw to try to stop the bleeding. Before tonight, 6 of Chris Sale's 8 victories came after Sox losses. 3-7 now, staring 3-8 right in the face. Bottom line is that no team, even in the AL Central, can win the division when you have two automatic losses in your rotation and a kid 6 months removed from pitching for Tampa in the Florida State League. Danks is the only "savior" on the horizon...at least until one month from now when the trade market clarifies.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 01:05 PM) AJ hustles more than the average MLB player, absolutely for sure. I'd venture to say that his career doesn't get this far if he hadn't had a reputation for hustling and being in the right place at the right time. His defense lately has been getting lazy though. I have to wonder if it is because he gets far less rest than your average MLB catcher Not when running down to 1B on grounders or playing defense.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) Seriously? Those guys aren't major leaguers. We're not going to bid for Napoli. That means the BEST we could do would be either Doumit or Iannetta. I think they'll give Flowers a shot to see if he can hit at least .210 or .220 with power and not K'ing more than Dunn. DeAza's 7 game hitting streak in jeopardy.

I'm just ready to turn the page with AJ and Thornton and go with younger players. It's going to suck to watch Flowers and Phegley struggle, but at least they'll hustle and not take every day in the majors for granted. Yeah, AJ's been great offensively, but you just know that won't continue and then KW will end up overpaying or extending his contract again and he'll be mediocre and rebuilding will never occur with this team.

I hate Matt Thornton sometimes...especially in tie games. AJ, once again, never can move his feet and get in front of a pitch. That's the second time this has happened tonight. You just can't give up that run there....JESUS

Abreu 3/8 lifetime against Thornton. Walk him if Herrera steals 2B? Adam Dunn is playing super short.

You're paid $6.5 million to at least get LH hitters out. Jesus.

Somehow the ball still finds 3B, lol.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:49 PM) Double switch, I assume. Only problem is you have to have Escobar lead off in the 9th I'd almost cross my fingers and pray Lillibridge could close his eyes and hit one out, but Escobar's been at least pesky. And having Lillibridge play over there defensively isn't the greatest idea in the world, either.

Matt Thornton in tie games scares me. 3 lefties to deal with here. RV was smart enough to pull Hudson and stick Escobar over there for defensive purposes.....and Eduardo's not a natural 3B either, his position was always SS before the last 6 months where he's been playing all over the infield.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:41 PM) I would throw Molina into a package of whatever we are trying to trade for. That guy to me has bullpen at best written all over him. Bullpen pitchers should be able to get strikeouts when they need one. That's not Molina's strong suit this year. The only positive is his control and the fact that he's managed to limit damage when giving up about 20+ more hits than innings pitched.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:41 PM) No offense to Hudson, who won us one game, but he's another KW fail. I mean he's not getting it done. Bad acquisition. How many bad decisions does KW make compared to his good ones???? Greg, there was no other choice at the time, other than playing Dan Johnson or McPherson there... Johnson hasn't hit well in the big leagues for a half decade. We didn't give up any talent, the Padres are paying all but the minimum salary. Otherwise, we'd have Escobar or Lillibridge playing there and things might even be worse than they already are...he did inject a little life into the line-up with his energy and had some pretty clutch hits, it hasn't been a complete disaster but it's like putting your finger in the dike trying to keep the flood waters back while waiting for reinforcements.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:39 PM) If you trade for a starting pitcher because you've given up on Floyd and Humber, then you better make sure that player has at least another year left on their deal. If not, you're looking at Sale, Danks, Quintana and nothing in the rotation next year. Cue Marty34 joining the thread and asking why Nestor Molina isn't yet ready to contribute in August/September.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:33 PM) I disagree with the take on the play at 3B. I don't think that's a play anybody squares up, it makes the throw impossible unless you can throw flat footed like Juan Uribe. He just needs to be able to make the backhand play -- he didn't read the ball well for whatever reason, possibly incompetence. Not the type of play 2B's make because they get to square it up and have a short throw to make with flat feet His reactions just are just a split second too slow. Consistently. Part of it's age, part of it's lack of repetition and game speed action at the position. Two years ago with the Twins, he wasn't much of an offensive player.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:32 PM) Mitchell, Danks, Petricka, Castro and Molina all gotta have some kind of value I'd imagine. All of them together wouldn't get you Greinke. Not that it would be smart to go for broke anyway, because we wouldn't end up resigning Greinke anyway against an open market. Petricka's injured, and mentioning Danks or Lillibridge right now would get KW laughed at. 100 MPH fastball by Nathan Jones there.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:30 PM) And the question is, who on the Sox (of their prospects) even has trade value? Sox best bet to get a big time player via trade is if they pick up the remaining salary. Nobody. Mitchell's been slumping recently, he's one more bad game away from the .260's. Everyone's going to target Viciedo, Reed and Nathan Jones.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:29 PM) Has the NL passed the AL as the better league? Sox having troubles with everybody not named the Cubs. No, no and no. The White Sox have the second best record in MLB in interleague play behind the Yankees 159-115. If we had a real 3B, we wouldn't even be having this conversation because the 6th inning would have been over with us still holding the lead.

Now Konerko not being able to score from 1st on Rios' double and DeAza leaving the runner at 3B with one out....some more big plays in this game. Sale's walking Hairston 3 times, Hudson's inability to react quickly enough at 3B. Flaws all over the field for this team.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 16, 2012 -> 12:23 PM) I must catch him on his bad nights. Seriously, when I watch him pitch he sucks big time. He earns a fat paycheck, too, doesn't he? He's very well paid for a set-up guy, but he's pitched better than Linebrink and Dotel did with similar salaries.

Just missed it. Harrelson must not be very happy about right now. Elbert in to face Dunn. Chris Sale's ERA up to 2.46.