caulfield12

To think Cowley would ever be offered a job by the NY Times is laughable. He's more like Jayson Whitlock in KC, a bomb thrower whose following numbers himself and a handful of others that agree with his guerrila style.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 01:26 PM) The Federal reserve and the Chinese need tax breaks? Seriously...we're at near record low interest rates on US Treasury bonds and have been for well over 2 years now. That suggests that the global market has yet to satiate its appetite for that particular safe investment. The bond market wants more US treasuries out there. But haven't the prices and yields been going in the exact opposite path as intended by the Federal Reserve since QE was announced? It's like the Twilight Zone. No economic theories can be applied here....it's all new territory.

Maybe we should ask the corporations who are sitting on top of $2.5 trillion in reserves to pay higher taxes, lol... That's almost 3X what we owe China. And actually, Krugman in the NY Times on Thursday described it as "hostages" that Obama was creating and surrendering on...and that obviously the fight would go into the 2012 election when the White House feels the economy will have turned AND the deficit will have grown enough to at least go down to $500,000 and above, if not $200-250,000, Obama's original intention. Some of the moderate writers like Brooks actually feel this week was quite a victory, even though it certainly doesn't feel like one. The big concern is the triple dip recession hitting at the end of 2011 and going into 2012. The GOP will fight tooth and nail to prevent the Fed and Bernanke from mixing monetary policy with fiscal policy and lowering unemployment to 8. 8's the magic number....the only President to survive a number that high in his re-election bid was Reagan, and then it was 8.2 and clearly coming down. The QE Round 2 is expected to bring it back down 0.1 to 0.3, but that's not enough. Not to mention when all these states like CA and NY and IL start defaulting....the Federal government will have to print more money and the fiscal landscape might look worse than Europe after Greece/Ireland/Iceland/Portugal/Spain/Italy/Belgium like dominos, except it will be individual states at the verge of collapse instead of countries, but same net catastrophic effect.

He's better than Luis Polonia or John Cangelosi, lol.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 10, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) Any reliever you get for 3, maybe 4, out of those 5 guys you listed at the end will almost certainly be no better than anything the White Sox currently have in their system, and that goes doubly for Lillibridge and De Aza. Williams is going to be a little more creative than that. You obviously can't trade Mitchell with his value down and Pierre leaving after 2011. It does leave quite a conundrum...the only pieces would have to be Quentin (but you can't replace his POTENTIAL production very easily, and I'm thinking with his plantar fasciitis healed he could have another great season), Viciedo and Danks/Floyd/Jackson. The Brandon Shorts of the world are nice throw-ins, but they're not primary puzzle pieces to a trade. And CJ Retherford went from the next Aaron Miles to oblivion. Teahen's got to reestablish himself as well. Seems they'll try to hope that Carter and Santos Rodriguez can contribute as well. Maybe someone will have another Boone Logan/Scott Radinsky ST and jump from A ball to the bigs.

Omogrosso looked good before 2009 but he's coming off a major injury...and I think his secondary pitches weren't exactly making Adam Russell jealous. We'll see. I guess I'd prefer him over say, Lucas Harrell or brothers of NFL QB's. Speaking of QB's, it would be nice to have Clayton back. But that ship sailed with Konerko and Cowley and KCP Version 2.0

LHR Candidates Downs, Rhodes (probably too expensive, and have to surrender draft pick) Choate, Randy (Mauer and Morneau combined against) 1 for 7, 2B Hendrickson, Mark=0 for 3, can also start, but never been that impressed with him...more an NBA player Feliciano=too expensive and overworked, not familiar with AL, of course, AL not familiar with him either Takahashi=can also serve as a spot starter, pitched 122 innings last year, too expensive? Denys Reyes=always hell on the White Sox, obviously familiar with the Twins Byrdak=0 for 5 Ohman=1 for 6, BB JC Romero=1 for 8, 2B former Twin, steroids, killed the Sox from 2002-2004, coming off $4.25 million with Phils last year Beimel, Joe=1 for 4 Mahay, Ron=4 for 25 2 HR's (both Morneau), was on the Twins in 2010 so he has familiarity with them, $4 million last season, most experience by far against the M&M boys Preferred=Downs, Rhodes, Feliciano and Takahashi Most Likely=Choate, Reyes, Byrdak, Ohman, Beimel, Mahay Possibility=Romero, Hendrickson

"The Rays and Twins decided to trade their starting shortstops" I'm doing about as well as Cowley, I just saw that line at MLBTR and just assumed they traded between the two teams without even reading the rest of the blurb... Oops. That's what happens when you start following off-season baseball with the Dunn signing, lol. I didn't even know that Orlando Hudson declined arbitration...so the Twins will get a sandwich pick since he's a Type B, undoubtedly a MLB-ready collegian who will probably turn into another Brian Duensing or Piranha and somehow hurt the White Sox in 2011. At least Bartlett won't be going back to Minnesota. I hated that guy when he was on the Twins, and he wasn't even as good as he became in TB.

I didn't even notice it was for that darned Bartlett. Great, another Piranha back in town...coming off a down season, of course he'll end up being an MVP candidate again next year. However, on grass, Bartlett's game isn't quite as effective IMO. Interesting they're going away from power in Hardy and back to their old SS. So that leaves the new Iguchi for 2B, Bartlett at SS, Mr. 2nd half ROY at 3B...not altogether bad, but they still have to find at-bats for Cuddyer, hope for a rebound from Span and pray that Kubel and Young don't play any worse defensively. Of course, Cuddyer could end up at 1B with Thome DHing depending on Morneau's status.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 9, 2010 -> 12:05 AM) That one's OK, but I think Crawford has more power than that (especially moving into Fenway). It's better saying Paul O'Neill than Roberto Clemente too, to whom B-R says Crawford compares pretty favorably. That's a complete joke. Clemente had the best RF arm in the history of the game. Clemente also played a much more demanding defensive position at HOF level until he died at age 38...especially at Forbes Field. Sure, the modern offensive statistics and the fact that he plays on turf have padded Crawford's doubles and triples numbers, but he's never had close to the raw explosive bat of Clemente (like Viciedo's laser beam liner at DET)....even though, like Ichiro, for most of his career he did what the Pirates most needed, which was hitting for a higher average and driving in runs. I think Clemente's career average was something like .317. If he wasn't Hispanic and suffering from such an antagonistic relationship with the baseball writers who deliberately misquoted him phonetically....if there weren't Mays/Mantle/Aaron playing in bigger markets (the first two in particular), he would have been one of the most famous players of all-time. Playing in Pittsburgh for his entire career, I guess we'll never know. Amazing to think what would have happened had the Brooklyn Dodgers been able to keep/hide him.

But we're all still operating under the assumption Morneau will be back next year...is that really a certainty? Chicago GM Kenny Williams, after announcing Konerko's new three-year, $37.5 million deal, stated that his bullpen needs to be M&M proof. ``We'll take a look at maybe a third left-hander, situational guy,'' Williams said. ``Someone who can get Morneau and Mauer out and then another right-hander.'' startribune.com (L.NealeIII)

And it seems they offered arbitration to Orlando Hudson....so that makes Casilla the utility player, and Harris/Tolbert are/were expendable. So the Japanese player would definitely be at SS, they already paid $5.3 milllion for posting rights.

http://sportifi.com/news/Twins-win-bidding...der-175279.html It all depends on whether they sign that Japanese player for SS/2B. Remember how big of an effect Iguchi had on the Sox in 2005/2006? Japanese players would seem to fit exactly in the Twins' system of being unselfish, fundamentally sound players who do the little things. Hardy and Hudson had "so-so" or okay seasons, but the Twins might end up being better off investing that money in the pen. Casilla has also shown in the past he can be a pretty decent offensive force, although not recently. They have a lot of issues, Mauer's and Morneau's health, do they keep Cuddyer and where does he fit (OF/3B/1B/DH), can you have Kubel/Young/Cuddyer all on the field at the same time, is Kyle Gibson ready, is Nathan going to take at least a year to be back in true form....how do they replace Guerrier/Crain/Rauch, do they dare not retain Capps, etc. I guess the first domino to fall will be Pavano, though. Without Pavano, it's Liriano, Duensing, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey and Gibson, still six deep. How much are they willing to pay Thome? He's going to get more than in 2010....but how much more are they willing to go to? They have to be careful not to insult him with a lowball offer after the numbers he put up for them, basically saving their butts when Morneau was out.

Not to mention that $1 million might only be worth 1/4th or 1/5th that in just 3 years, thanks deficit busters in Congress. But I digress.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 06:01 AM) That ship not only has sailed, but pretty much drowned. Couldn't you have made the exact same argument against Thome for his second half 2009? And he's at least 3-4 years older.

It's not a bad deal at all...not for one season. You'd like to have gotten it down to $7-8-8.5 million, but I think with the Werth signing and the fact that they really weren't all that interested in LaRoche, it makes sense and doesn't have the backside risk of the dopey long-term deals they gave out like free crack samples.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 01:14 AM) I would like to know where people get this idea that Dye can actually play 1st base and be passable. This is a guy who sat out all last year, and has been an OF. Taking an older player, moving him to a new position and paying him more money than other teams were willing to pay him last offseason sounds like a recipe for disaster. I would rather pay for a proven quantity than to roll the dice. #1, because of his size, he's not fast, but he's definitely quicker than Konerko. I think he played basketball out in California, in high school or junior college. He has a bit more leaping ability, although that's not saying much. #2, he wouldn't cost us any draft picks AND we'd get the 2 picks from Konerko (of course, with the D-Backs it would be protected, so 2nd round) #3, we'd be in on him for only a one year deal, so we'd have flexibility going forward we didn't with the likes of Teahen, Linebrink, Pierre, Buehrle coming off the books or being traded, the certainty that we'll know where we are with both Peavy and Sale (well, hopefully this time next year their futures will both be clearly defined)...in other words, it doesn't force our hand with Viciedo seemingly unable to play 3B, although LF/RF are still possibilities for 2010, surely he'll get a Josh Fields-like shot at one of them just to see how good he could do out there, which can't seemingly be worse than Dye or Quentin the last 2 seasons I don't know, I'd rather sign Dye for just one year and work all off-season on transitioning him to 1B (let's say it's a contract for $5 million) and spending that other $10 million on relievers, spreading it among 2-3 veteran guys and knowing/predicting one will go bust. I'm thinking of pitchers here like Guerrier or Crain, maybe a notch below what Crain will get, because I'm expecting coming off his 2010 season that he'll get at least $4.5-5.5 million from some team...I would be shocked if he signs for under $4. Guerrier should come in at that $3.0-4.0 range....I want no part of paying the type of money we gave to Linebrink and Dotel...give me 3 guys at $3.333 instead of two at $5 million per.

What's the highest you go on Derek Lee for one season? $8 million? $6-6.5 + attainable incentives? Mutual option for year 2 at $10 million and/or buyout?

I also wouldn't be opposed to giving Jermaine Dye $3.5-5.5 million to play 1B for one season. It would carry some risk with it though, but not as much as bringing in Pena or LaRoche for a lot more money/years (2-3) and possibly forcing Viciedo's departure. If they can get DLee at $6-8 million though, go ahead and do it. I'd almost think about bring Fielder into play, but that would entirely gut our system. KW might be willing to part with Viciedo and Floyd, but no way he will let Sale or Beckham be part of that deal. And trading Floyd blows another hole in our rotation. We can't do that until we know for sure Peavy can pitch next year, and effectively.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:28 PM) Maybe it's my old age but I cannot even recall our previous first baseman before Paulie took over. Was it Frank or was there someone in between? Jeff Liefer? Mario Valdez?

I am a little bit surprised that Konerko's ego got in the way of this, with Dunn's contract numbers. So if Paulie was on the Nationals, he would want 1/2 of Jayson Werth's contract numbers to come back? You kind of had a feeling when Thome left that Konerko might not be long for this organization....but I also have the feeling that KW was setting this up as a PR situation for the club not to look bad and he never really had a second thought about giving him $15 million per season. Well, if you go back to pre 2005, when we could split contracts up and bring in smaller pieces...2-3 veteran players instead of 1 star like Lee/Ordonez, that seemed to work well last time. Let's hope KW can do as well as he did with Putz, Vizquel, Andruw Jones and even Castro last year.

Huh? Konerko's staying or going? Quite contradictory updates in the last half hour. Wonder if Dunn and AJ will ask for their money back, lol? I guess I'm relieved we didn't overpay for Konerko in years or average salary, but it still sucks, especially if he comes back like every former member of the White Sox to victimize us again in head-to-head. So let's just hope Konerko doesn't end up at 1B with the Twins....that Thome shot against Thornton was agony enough.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 04:32 PM) What about letting him be a player/coach in his 3rd year if his production declines sharply? *runs for cover* Konerko seems a lot like Ventura or Buehrle. He's set for life with cash, he'll want to spend time with his family (at least 5-7 years) before he even thinks about coaching or a significant role with the organization.

I think it was before 2006...we had 12, yes 12, LHR prospects coming into ST and none of them panned out. The only one who actually made a career of it was Javier Lopez, who ended up getting traded to the Red Sox in June of that year for David Riske Business (which was amusing since Riske gave up the tide-changing Crede homer if memory serves).

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 04:20 PM) And that KW would then overpay in a trade of Quentin for some hard throwing, not as effective as should be reliever. Koch is the only time this has happened in recent memory. I can't think of a time where we lost a position player who was of Quentin's ilk for a reliever, can you? I guess if you want to throw out B. Allen for Pena in the discussion, but the jury's still far from out on Allen.