caulfield12

We can't ADD Rios' contract AND get into a bidding war in the vicinity of 3 years and $24-30 million for Figgins. That's just way too expensive, Figgins will decline soon, speed players in their 30's always do...and he's possibly playing at a higher level this season as this will be his last opportunity at a pretty big, extended year contract. Sure, we can offer him 1-2 years, but it would be pretty silly to be locked into Figgins at 3B or CF when we have Viciedo, Danks and Mitchell all in the pipeline. A great piece to have and KW has coveted him for five years seemingly, but not at ANY price or not in a bidding war situation with 10-12 other MLB clubs. It's not like 3-4 "elite" leadoff men will be on the FA market this offseason, either.

The thing is, do we really believe someone like Hudson has the ability/talent to go on a Brandon McCarthy-esque 2005 roll down the stretch? REALLY? I mean, Brandon was pretty much our best pitching prospect, and, if not, 1A...but I would think he was more highly coveted than even Hudson...we were trying to package him for Soriano if the memory serves me correctly. Contreras is inconsistent, sure, but do the likes of Carlos Torres, Whisler, Egbert, Ely, Harrell, etc., have the ability to pitch the way Brandon did down the stretch (along with the Count) in 2005? You have to think Colon is done again, and that Ozzie will go down with his veterans before he turns that role over to someone like Torres, who's far from a spring chicken himself at age 26.

Why would the Tigers want to go after Rios when they're already on the hook for the salaries (this season) of Sheffield, Nate Robertson, Dontrelle D-Train Willis, Ordonez (he will definitely not qualify for his option year), Bonderman, Carlos Guillen, etc.??? They are going to have to spend a pretty penny to keep Edwin Jackson around next season, that's for sure. He will undoubtedly get a huge boost in salary, and Inge and Granderson are starting to make some bank as well. With Clete Thomas (actually his stats aren't incredibly different from Beckham's, overall, but he is a corner outfielder, not an infielder) and Ryan Raburn (and they already traded away Joyce and brought in Josh Anderson as well), there's not really a compelling need to break the bank on Rios, although the money (for 2010) could theoretically be shifted from Magglio to Alex Rios. I do think, however, that Dombrowski has to be very careful with his spending this offseason...you gotta give DET fans credit, coming off a terribly disappointing 2008 season, they've supported their "average" team to the tune of 31000+ fans per game this season. All this despite the economic calamity poster-child syndrome that is DET, CLE and PITT. Heck, look specifically at those last two teams being completely blown apart...as well as the Jays and potentially Padres to a lesser extent.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_leagu...?urn=mlb,181651 Would KW dare go after Josh Hamilton??? It's the kind of medium-risk, high-reward move he loves (I say medium risk because we'd STILL have to give up something very decent like Hudson or Flowers in return to get Josh Hamilton, IMO) I would be surprised he takes on that amount of long-term risk (if Alex Rios doesn't perform again at 800 OPS levels) versus taking a much smaller contract risk on someone like Rick Ankiel...on a two year contract.

The only team to top the Rangers during this era? The Chicago White Sox, who won the team homer title in 2004 and again in 2006 on the strength of Paul Konerko(notes) (41 homers) in 2004 and Jermaine Dye(notes) and Jim Thome(notes) (both with 44) in 2006. Fittingly, in that in-between year of 2005 when they didn’t win the home run title, the White Sox won the World Series. Last year it was the White Sox who ended the ignominious drought of home run title teams, making the playoffs after bashing a league-leading 235 home runs. Then, of course, they lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Rays. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ApFr...o&type=lgns

Wonder if they will convert Jayson Nix to catcher now? LOL. Not sure if this should be TEAL or not, but they've stuck him almost everywhere else on the diamond besides 1B and C...by the way, did anyone see where Nix's predecessor in the versatility department (Pablo Ozuna) just got released by the Phillies' organization from their AAA team (Lehigh Valley)??

If we offered Dye arbitration, why WOULDN'T he accept it? There's no way we could possibly cut this year's contract by 20%, and that would STILL give you $9.2 million BEST CASE SCENARIO, for one year of JD as basically your DH...based on his defensive play the past season. Let's say we offered $11 million and he countered for $12.5 million, certainly, based on the "most RBI's and HR's of any MLB RF" over recent periods productivity stat (maybe he's Top 3-5 for all AL OFers in production OFFENSIVELY for that time period), he will CLEARLY be awarded $12.5 to $13 million if the White Sox tried to "low-ball" him, which doesn't seem to be their style with a player as well-respected in the clubhouse and FO as JD has been for five seasons. Is there any team that going to offer 2 years for $18 million or 3 years for $24-27 million on JD??? I highly doubt that will happen. I think it's a tough choice to keep Thome for one more year (as DH) over Dye, but the odds are higher we can pay Jim Thome $5-6 million (he's overpaid this year, for sure) rather than getting away with paying JD the same amount.

QUOTE (Fedor @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 02:56 PM) Scott Linebrink doesn't want or cannot throw that nasty splitter anymore. That is why he is no longer one of the better relievers. That is why guys like Jeter can sit on his straight mid-90s fastball in clutch situations and eventually do some damage with it. It's his shoulder most likely. And that rarely goes away at his age. Sox should try to sell high no him and maybe even Bobby Jenks in the off-season. Meh. Then we missed the sell high bus on Linebrink in July 2008 and with Dustin Hermanson at the same time in 2005. Those days of getting anything significant in return for him without eating salary are long gone. As noted, probably he is protecting himself from further injury by steering away from one of his most effectives pitches that puts the most torque on his shoulder (like Liriano's slider on his elbow).

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 6, 2009 -> 09:33 PM) Well obviously. I can't or won't post a link or her real name (she's Filipina but living in Europe now)...but she's definitely in my all-time top 10 "slayings" lol. Beckham would be lucky to have her. "Davon Kim" Google is your friend, embrace it. And no, she's not Korean, she's a Filipina. So top five (not Shawn Johnson either)....girls from Philippines, Thailand, Czech Republic, Russia and Colombia (although you could definitely substitute Brazil, Argentina or Brazil and never go wrong!) Actually, my students are all in love with Korean culture and dramas. Their two favorite groups are "Wonder Girls" and "Girls Generation" (see video)

It's pretty hard to be TOO rough on Beckham and Nix because they're both playing positions they have very little experience at...but their error totals would be mind-boggling if projected over a full season, like what you'd expect to see from South Atlantic or Midwest League prospects over a 140-142 game schedule.

I want to know why the Tigers and the Indians can beat the Twins more easily than we can...well, I know the answer, wait until we play them at home. We're almost exactly 50/50 (.500) in the series against them over the last decade, and those results were really skewed from 2001-04...otherwise, we've played them very tough over the last decade. So even if we keep getting swept there, other teams will take care of them...although I can't imagine they wouldn't be improved with Cabrera having a VERY strong 2nd half and OPS numbers similar to Alexei Ramirez this year. That's a tough line-up with Span, Cabrera, M&M, Kubel and Cuddyer...and then you have Crede as your 7th best offensive player. But Casilla, D. Young, Tolbert, Buscher, Punto and Gomez have all really killed the Twins offensively (Brendan Harris is a so-so regular, great bench player)...and they still don't have anything resembling an ace or a decent bullpen in front of Nathan.

Linebrink isn't going anywhere with Dotel exiting the team... Who knows, they might have to try Pena as a starter again if they don't have any money left to spend on the 5th starter, Hudson/Torres are deemed NOT ready and they decide to leave Carrasco in the long relief role. Or we could try Yadel Marti to replace Jose.

Is this one of those "happily content to take 2/3" games where we just don't seem to have the burning/driving ambition to put our foot on the neck of the opponent and crush them?

Who was arguing the other day about picking Danks over Floyd to start the 3rd game of a playoff series? The 3-2 lockdown curve on Nix might turn out to be the pitch of the game. Danks just not pitching well...we have to leave him out there a little bit longer to try to work through his problems, but we also shouldn't let the lead get bigger than 3 either. CLE played well against the Twins and they're relaxed now with all the trades over, so they don't have pressure to do anything but be a spoiler. Those teams are always the most dangerous to contending teams.

White Sox, 26th in MLB Fielding Percentage at .980. 3rd in total errors committed (leading the entire American League), with 82, trailing only: 1. Washington Nationals, 98 2. Arizona Diamondbacks, 88 Besides moving Dye to DH, where can we get improvement in this area? Signing a leadoff hitter who can play CF at a high level? Keeping Beckham at 3B, Ramirez at SS and Nix/Getz at 2B? Or moving Beckham to 2B, leaving Ramirez at SS with Nix and/or Getz traded and a veteran 3B brought in (along the lines of Herbert Perry in 2000)? Are we sure we wouldn't be better off with Nix playing more against RHP than he has been, because of the clear advantage he provides defensively over Getz? How much can Getz improve defensively? Finally, with Fields and Viciedo defensively-challenged, dare we come into the season with either one of those players pencilled in as the starter in 2010, if they did make the internal decision to move Gordon over to second?

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Aug 5, 2009 -> 07:36 PM) Disagree. I think BA had decent ones....as long as he wasn't hitting. I think Ramirez gets by on athletic ability rather than any baseball instincts. I won't argue you on the other two guys though. Alexei can adjust better than any batter on our team from pitch to pitch...he has the quickest hands and bat speed. Anderson has NO offensive plan or instincts whatsoever. He had no concept of situational hitting or shortening his swing. Defensively, both are capable of the spectacular and brain cramps. BA missed quite a few cut-off men and despite his "strong" arm it was never a weapon that struck fear into the hearts of opponents. Ramirez has a better arm, comparatively, for his position. Anderson is arguably a less instinctual baserunner than Ramirez, although both have their moments...Valentin and Ventura were two of the best I've seen with the Sox, although neither were close to fast...

Quentin's swing is getting closer and closer....just missed it.

Alexei's baseball instincts are fine, it's just his concentration and focus that are lacking. But his baseball "instincts" are a lot better than the likes of BA, Fields or Borchard, etc.

Minnesota has the best defense now in the ALCD with the addition of Cabrera and moving Punto over to 2nd...very solid OF and Cuddyer has a strong arm. But their rotation is very, very bad...and no offense outside of their Big 4. The Tigers have the starting pitching, but not enough offense (unless Guillen and Ordonez really pick it up, and Thomas/Raburn continue to progress) and a similar bullpen to ours. And they have so many pitchers with high IP and pitch counts (Verlander/Porcello/Jackson)...which will come into play down the stretch.

Francisco Liriano getting torched again. Interesting, the Jeff Passan article today argues that it's almost 100% because of his "horrible" fastball and not because of the diminished torque on his slider...which is down in the mid to low 80's from 86-90 when he was so dominating in 2006.

Is this the worst White Sox team defensively you can remember? Worse than 2000? Also, what's the worst defensive club to win a World Series? Seems pretty impossible to win it all with our defense and shaky bullpen...hopefully, this too, shall pass. But JD needs to be a full-time DH. 5 errors and countless missed catches or balls falling out of his grasp just foul that should have been outs...not good. 12th in AL FIELDING PCTGE.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../OPS/order/true Trailing only Hawpe and Justin Upton in OPS for RFers this season. Of course, if you take defense and throwing into consideration, someone like Ichiro would be perfect to have...but that's never going to happen until he's 40+ years old, like all the Hall of Famers who blow through Chicago about 5 years past their primes.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Aug 4, 2009 -> 01:24 AM) What about resigning Pods for one more year and hoping Mitchell has a really quick year in 2010 in AA/AAA? I kinda think if he keeps doing well in Kanny he will go to the AFL and tear it up and then get a ST invite and then AA. Kinda like Beckham. It seems Mitchell (despite SEC pedigree too) is more of a raw or unfinished product who will need at least two years in the minors from all reports.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 10:24 PM) Gordon had the most saves in 2003 and Marte was in double digits. Bob James was his name; and yes, I did include him - he was the main closer in 1985 and parts of '86 and '87. Dennis Lamp and Salome Barojas were the Sox's closers in '83. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/1983.shtml Isn't Salome Bajoras dead? Or was it Ernesto Escarregga or something like that who died? Joe DeSa...one of them or two.

Nix, Getz=more value to Sox than a return in trade, like a pitcher. Nix can't play everyday, he's a platoon player in all likelihood against LHP. If all three were on the market (including Fields), Josh would bring the most back in return, by far.