caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) But he also wouldn't improve their offense. Maybe they're just going for the "slight" improvement and they're now confident enough in getting to the playoffs they're just counting on some of their struggling position players getting hot at the right time. (Like we've been doing for 4 months). Maybe...

Crisp, Ludwick, Upton and Willingham All in the field with CQ.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 08:19 PM) or Ludwick and we're f***ed. They might be more comfortable since Ludwick's already more familiar with the NL and they're determined not to give up any of their top pitching prospects. Ludwick wouldn't even cost them Beachy.

How badly do we need Beachy with Stewart already in the fold? Does this mean they still go ahead and deal Floyd or Danks and go with two unproven pitchers at the back of the 2012 rotation (Beachy/Stewart/Sale).

Last 8 game winning streak against the Red Sox? 1964. Harrelson was working on inventing the batting glove back then...on flatbread with arugula. BTW, the other two players in the Pence deal are not expected to be "top" tier prospects. Pence would be under their control through 2013, not just 2012? That would explain why they (Astros) could ask more for him than the current bidding price for Carlos Quentin.

Hostile Offense? Sounds like a character from Captain America, Red Skull's minion maybe.

Teams always look bad against guys like Chen, Moyer or Wakefield if they're in a good rhythm. The biggest concern is not going into a team-wide offensive slump after facing a knuckleballer, but that certainly can't be the case for our offense since we're already so bad. Tigers up 7-2 over LAA. Indians really slumping. Wonder if they'll make a desperation deadline move (beyond Fukudome) or stay the course?

When is Viciedo expected back?

QUOTE (kageman129 @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 07:54 PM) Okay, Phillie can take Pence. Lets get Quentin over to Atlanta tonight too . . . Get Beachy and whoever else we can. I will never doubt prospects from the Braves. They definitely know how to scout. Still waiting patiently for Santos Rodriguez, Gilmore and Tyler Flowers to show something.

Wow, the mood changed around here pretty quickly! Must be the four runs the Tigers just scored. So everyone's on board for trading Quentin/Thornton and possibly Danks? BTW, Ramirez and Pierre REALLY need to work more on those balls hit in-between them. For now, Pierre's just deferring to Alexei and forcing him to cover 40% of LF. That just can't happen...Pierre is the one who has to be taking those balls. It didn't bite us this time, but that communication issue should have been ironed out in the spring. Wonder if it's related to all the errors/mistakes Juan was making earlier in the season, that Alexei's trying to cover everything...?

Have yourself a game, Trumbo. Triple/double/homer....nice internal replacement for Kendrys Morales. Turned out a lot better than Hank Conger.

Have yourself a game, Trumbo. Triple/double/homer....nice internal replacement for Kendrys Morales. Turned out a lot better than Hank Conger.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...11&c_id=mlb Done deal, but prospect names not yet announced...nor the exact amount of money going from the Cubs to CLE.

If Pence if off the market, that means Josh Willingham and Ryan Ludwick are the only ones competing with CQ. Possibly Upton, but you'd have to imagine that the Phillies would go with Quentin as a surer pick offensively than Upton.

Considering the last couple of offseason's there has been significant talk about possibly non-tendering CQ because of his streakiness/injurires/outfield play, you simply can't turn down Domonic Brown because Carlos has gone on a hot streak again. You have to strike while the iron's hot, like they did with unloading Teahen as part of the Jackson package. A month ago, you might have had a somewhat difficult time just getting someone to pay the rest of Edwin's 2011 contract. With the comp pick, there was the idea you could get something, but it wasn't worth another comp pick, $10 million in salary savings and a top pitching prospect in Stewart.

That's all fine and good, but they really can't part with AJ right now, can they? So they're really stuck with him for 2012 (at least 3-4 months) without having a replacement in sight. (And yes, even though you can dollar-cost-average his contract over the two years, it's still a pretty good sized commitment for 15-18 major league teams to take on AJ). Unless we're about to trade AJ along with Quentin/Thornton/Danks/Floyd for a new catcher as part of a massive package. The All In thing creates a roadblock unless you just trade away everyone but Humber/Sale/Peavy and start over again philosophically next year. And how likely is that to happen with KW in charge?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 08:50 AM) Ugh, no. The reason why that Hudson/Jackson trade was bad was the contracts. Jax had 1.5 seasons left at about $8 per. Hudson had 6 seasons of team control, 3 of them league min. So for the trade to be anything close to even then Jax would have to pitch like a HOFer and Hudson (and Holmberg) would have to blow their arms out and not even pitch at all in the bigs. But if you just say the trade was Humber/Frasor/Stewart for Hudson/Holmberg, that doesn't sound nearly as bad. It's a very creative way to look at it....and obviously if we go to a $85-105 million payroll, it will be even more abundantly clear (how much losing Hudson is costing us from a financial flexibility standpoint), but let's not project Holmberg as being special (yet) until he repeats his 2011 success at the AA level.

Nobody knows if Beckham or Morel will be with the White Sox in 2013, that much is obvious. KW has always tended to move players around in order to adapt to needs at the major league level (see Viciedo), then overcorrected too quickly when things didn't work out (see Teahen) as originally planned. Another example would be paying AJ $6+ million in 2012 when we should have been turning over the catcher's position. In all honesty, I've never even seen him play the position. Someone who has (this season) would have a lot better take on projecting him down the line. Error totals in A ball don't mean very much at all...

Going forward, they've got Chisenhall/Cabrera/Kipnis/Hafner-LaPorta-Santana in the infield. That's strong. The problem is obviously whether Marson will hit enough to stay as a starting player or whether you have to play Santana at C everyday to get more offense. Brantley's not going to kill you at all in the outfield, but he's clearly a complementary type of player. Losing the presence of Sizemore/Choo in the line-up really hamstrings them offensively. And it's never a great idea to break in 2 rookie infielders in the heart of a pennant race unless the FO is absolutely certain they're both 100% ready.

I think KW could have had Rasmus had he really wanted him. Clearly, after the experience they had with Swisher and the same issue, they were steering clear of bringing the same type of distraction into the clubhouse again. Doesn't seem like the player you want on your team when things are going bad for him personally.

One more name off the KW radar for 2012. Makes sense, with Sizemore and Choo injured.

Clearly. I'm only saying there has to be a fear on the part of KW and Ozzie the Rios won't be Mr. Sunny and Happy Disposition on the bench or in the clubhouse. Can he force a trade? No, of course not. But you just have the feeling it will get even uglier before we see any light at the end of that particular tunnel, particularly with DeAza basically winning the first game he'd played for the Sox after Rios had gone for about 6 months of games without winning more than a handful of games memorably. Remember when KW and Ozzie basically protected Rios by benching the soon-to-depart Jermaine Dye for stretches in late 2009? Rios is clearly one of the most sensitive/rabbit eared players in that clubhouse.....to everything that is written and said about him.

I'm just saying...it ALWAYS comes up with shortstops. It was talked about with Beckham from the moment he was drafted, and he's played all three of those positions now. Very good in college or A ball might not be the same thing as "very good" at the next level. Nishioka, for example...is/was a Gold Glove winner in Japan at SS, but he's been struggling all season long with both range, arm strength (very mechanical throws) and pretty much every aspect of quality infield play this season with the Twins. A number of people even suggested Lillibridge at 3B for the Sox, and he'd never played the position at all before...and would have been learning for the first time at the MLB level.

Jackson's clearly been a much better pitcher at USCF than on the road. ERA difference of nearly 2, better K/BB ratio (not even close), better IP/H ratio, all the metrics show he's better at home than away. Essentially, the best case scenario is that Hudson would have put up the same numbers as Jackson (had he stayed with the Sox)...but not sure how many are buying that. It's 2012-2015 that was always where we'd get burned on this trade, but KW did come up with Humber out of thin air, and there's simply ZERO possibility Hudson would have put up Phil's consistent numbers, right? The problem has never been losing Hudson/Richard. It has always been Dunn/Rios/Peavy, moreso than anything else. There are very few teams in MLB that could compete in their divisions with 3 of their top 5 payroll guys having abysmal seasons statistically.

The moment when our future is crystal clear at both 3B and 2B, that's when you can fully nip it in the bud. For the next 18 months, definitely he stays at SS...that's where any player's highest value is, as long as he can sustain it defensively. It certainly makes him more valuable as a trade chip as well. Obviously, he needs to pick up that batting average as well, at least into the 260's. That's where so many seem down on Kuhn. First, the CJ Retherford comparison/s, fair or unfair. Also, the fact that if he's a utility player of 2B/3B, he's not worth anything like a legit SS. Unfortunately, you can't combine Escobar/Kuhn into one hybrid player or you'd really have something.