Marky Mark

Maybe this Cespedes/Gordon hoopla is just a big negotiating strategy for us to land Will Venable at a reasonable price.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 12:03 PM) How crazy would it be if Hahn found some way to sign both Gordon and Cespedes? That would be so awesome. It would be crazy. But I'm surprised the Sox are even willing to give out 1 of these big contracts. 2 seems pretty much impossible.

Backloading just moves with the flow of inflation too.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 10:51 PM) If we're talking about which one worries me the most it is Upton because of being a career NLer . Gordon and Cespedes know the AL. The Sox really don't need another guy having to adjust to the superior league and hitting way below career norms. They need a guy who can be a hit from day one. Light the fire , have people dancing in the aisles talking about our awesome pair of Cuban powerhouses. Our own Bash Brothers. Pito and La Potencia ! Last year he played at Petco. Even against superior pitching in the AL, I don't think you lose much of last year's stats, if anything in that transition.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Dec 22, 2015 -> 02:21 PM) Uhhhhh...he is EXACTLY what this team needs. Literally the only negative about him is that he's 32. The thing that makes me nervous that goes with his age, is that he just came off his first injury shortened year. I feel nervous that injuries could become a regular occurrence now and if we are giving out our largest contract ever, I'd feel much better doing it to Upton for his age/health/other things.

You need Wrigley Field to crumble to win the town.

If Saladino is our starting SS in '16 and gets 500+ PAs, what is your realistic expectation of his offense? Although we could see him completely flop or hit way better than this, I'm thinking we could realistically see ..... 8-10 HR 45-55 RBIs 12-15 SBs .235-.245 AVE .300 OBP With his strong defense and minimum salary, I'd definitely take it. Especially if we use $ to bring in one more high caliber player. What do you realistically expect to see from Saladino offensively if he gets 500+ PAs next year? And would you be happy if your projection is true?

QUOTE (oldsox @ Dec 17, 2015 -> 08:52 PM) That is partially explained by the fact that Frazier had little support behind him in batting order. The only other really good hitter was Joey Votto, and he batted ahead of Frazier. That likely resulted in our guy swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. Of course, I don't know who will be hitting behind Frazier -- Lawrie, Avi, ? Probably Melky or LaRoche

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:25 PM) and you'll be the only one. Congrats. I would prefer Eaton with the contract differences.

Andy Gonzalez. I'm still angry to this day about how much playing time he received.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 12:51 AM) I'm going to guess one of the better arms Adams/Danish/Guererro and Coats. I'll go Guererro and Coats. Guererro has SoCal roots. I'd be so sad. I love Guererro.

I would much much rather have Frasier, but that price may be too high. If we get Lawrie without giving up anything major, it will at least be better than last year at 3B.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Oct 23, 2015 -> 08:32 PM) How sure of a thing is Frazier's offense. This was the first year i heard of him. Was he steady.? How good were the good months and how bad were his bad months? Are you concerned about him feasting on junk NL pitching? Frazier is definitely a 20+ HR guy. I wouldnt expect him to be a 30+ HR guy every year in AL. But he definitely brings some speed and clutch hitting to the table. Would be great to have him

For some reason I have a feeling that something is broken in Rizzo's hand after the ball hit it. I predict we won't hear about it until the Cubs finish their postseason.

If they weren't on CSN so much I'd watch a lot more games. But it seems like practically every game is on cable during the week. If only there were no mlb.tv blackouts.......

Most definitely. We have a much needed leadoff man who can put up a .350 OBP or better in CF. He didn't set the world on fire, but he provides us what we all needed.

Why don't they give him the QO and tell him not to accept it or else he will be put in a long relief role and blah blah blah..tell him basically everything you can legally, to get him to decline it.

I grew up raised in a Christian family. I was committed and took my faith seriously my entire life. When I got to college, I wanted to back my beliefs by learning more about what I proclaimed as truth, so I majored in bible and theology and minored in 1st century [biblical] Greek. Unlike my peers, the more I learned, the more I started to realize how much less reason there was to believe in Christianity and God. By the time I graduated, I still believed, but only because I was holding onto "faith" that I had built up throughout my whole life. As I met more people after college, I started to meet others who had "faith" and started to really question what the point of faith without any backing is. When I met someone with unwaivering faith in Sai Baba (youtube him), I think I started to get perspective of how pointless faith alone is. It's been a bit difficult, because most of my family and friends that I grew up with were all Christians and I've lost a lot of those friendships (not because difference in beliefs) because I'm not involved in a lot of church/faith based activities I used to. I wish God exists, I wish Christianity was true. But I also am not going to live a lie because I want it to.

Easterling with another great game. I hope they actually give him a chance next year in Kannapolis. I know he's old, but he should have started there this year.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 11:03 AM) I don't know if I just missed this, or had forgotten it, but I did a double-take when they mentioned Billy Beane had come out. Yes, but not the A's GM and former player. Different BB.

No reason to try to replace LaRoche. Most of his career, he was a significantly better player in the latter half of the season. When we look at the chance of him repeating history and picking it back up versus the chances of us winning the WS by trading away prospects to replace him, I think the better move is waiting for him to improve and/or sticking with in house options. Just bat him lower in the order if he's still slumping. If we had an option to replace Flowers with Wieters or a unanimously better catcher than Tyler, then do it. We know what we are getting in TFlo. Otherwise, we made enough offseason moves to just let it ride out from here without buying or selling.

So I haven't seen anything on here or milb about his injury. What happened?

Maybe the Sox have too strict of an internal policy against PEDs. Although I get this general feeling described above too, I think as far as free agents go, it is very common for them to not pay off. I'm happy that the most expensive FA bust we've had is Dunn, because some teams have had some ludicrous ones that were well into the 100 million+ range. A couple of expensive busts....Carl Crawford, Josh Hamilton, Matsuzaka, Alfonso Soriano, Gary Matthews Jr, Barry Zito, BJ Upton to name a few.

I wish the Sox weren't on cable the majority of the time. I barely get to watch their games cuz of it.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 09:23 PM) gotta be robertson. edit: nope It is Robertson. (& SammyZ)