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QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) Ventura has not done enough to get a extension at this point. Why the hurry to get this done? Probably something about stability for the new young core. Can't disagree, though.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) I mostly just think the manager isn't super-important so I guess I feel very 'meh' about it. I'm in this camp. Would like to see less robotic bullpen mgmt., though.

I'm told his wife pushed for the surgery.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 10:44 AM) Also, DA, I really am curious whether or not you liked the EJax signing? Personally, I hate it because the potential for exactly how it's turned out (so far), but I really see the situations as parallel. Yeah, EJax is so flippable isn't he? Santana enjoyed the HR-unfriendly confines of Kaufmann in a way that he couldn't at the Cell - Jimenez would be a better fit. Either or both could become EJax here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 10:25 AM) It is reasonable because if you suck, its a $5-7 million commitment and all you need is a solid 3 months of production and you acquire prospects who have already developed, instead of waiting for a guy for years and years and years. If you don't think the Sox need a catcher, you are kidding yourself. I'm totally with you, DA, on this part of the argument. For all of the "legitimate-to-varying-degrees" excuses for Phegley, he put up a .522OPS - that's 200 pts. lower than Tank, who we also complain about. Coupled with lousy catching skills, Phegs doesn't need to merely improve, he needs to become a completely different player. And he's not all that young. I'm not holding my breath. As far as adding a pitcher now, if we must, I'd rather go Arroyo for two years if possible, with the intent to flip. A more consistent producer who won't cost the draft pick. Hahn's played these scenarios out in his head more than all of us put together. I'm sure he doesn't want 2 Danks situations at the same time, and doesn't want a guy he doesn't want to be stuck here forever. I trust him, and there's still time to make moves, even if he's screwed the pooch on the C position to this point.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 12:14 AM) I did not want Santana. Bummer on Jimenez. Had totally forgotten that Garza was not eligible for a pick. He would have been a great pick up for us to trade midseason or next offseason. The bloom is off that rose, sorry. His new salary reflects his results and health, no longer some misty-eyed memories of '08. He MAY have good trade value, or he may get hurt again and become the mini-albatross I expect him to be for the Brewers.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 07:55 PM) For the record I've been saying Santana the whole time not Jimenez but..... Why is 2015 not a factor? Why not sign a really good #3 starter now for 12 or 13 mil per year? Can we agree that if the team wants to compete in 2015 another SP is going to be have to signed or acquired somehow? Why wait and pay a premium price when there is a more than serviceable SP now at a bargain price? Santana is 31, not 37, I think its more than reasonable to say that he should pitch at a high level for another 4 years. If you would have asked me 2 months ago whether or not I thought the Sox should sign Ervin Santana I would have said heck no without hesitation. But at some point you have to factor in value and capitalize on a buyers market. And do people really think this organization is going to spend 90+ million on 1 of the top SP's being mentioned for next years FA class? Not going to happen. No, we're still more likely to have positional player needs, and the chances are at least reasonable that we WON'T need an SP depending on how things advance internally, AND the players available next year are guys I actually want, who can actually make a significant positive impact.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 05:53 PM) Exactly. The other thing about adding a SP is it will give them flexibility to deal a Danks or a Quintana after next year. I'm not happy about the idea of giving up a 2nd round pick for Jimenez, but that will make him cheaper and the value of that 2nd round pick can be recouped by what they receive back in a trade for Danks or Quintana. Market schmarket - Why do you want to spend money on guys with so many fleas, guys that you don't really want? Not huge money, necessarily, but big enough to hurt your ability to make moves for actual needs next year if your signee bombs, which isn't unlikely with these two. You're mainly talking about Jimenez/Santana, no? Anybody lower is cheap enough that I'll be able to deal with it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) David Price should darn well be the biggest price SP next year unless he is out of shape or something like that. The fact that he's left handed should be a selling point even if he and MS put up the same numbers next year. Has one more arb year - not FA til 2016. But,yeah, if he signed an extension in the interim, that would set the market, yes. And he's younger than the others.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 05:37 PM) The were outbid on Tanaka though and the biggest spenders weren't in on Abreau. Next year, Scherzer (or whoever has the best 2014) will set the market and the rest will fall, more cheaply after that - and it will all happen earlier in the offseason with no Tanaka situation holding it up. There'll be plenty to go around, even after the "big spenders" have had their bites, imo, obviously you don't agree - we can afford the guy we'll want and Rick will get him. I like all of those guys better than what's available currently. Tanaka was simply not a typical situation.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 04:00 PM) I think it's safe to say the Sox will be outbid for the top of the market, Lester, Scherzer, Bailey, Masterson, and Shields. I don't. They just spent $68 million on an unknown, and were willing to spend $140M more had they landed MT. That's $208M bucks! We've got great even better payroll flexibility to go after one of those top guys next offseason, if that's our big need for '15 and beyond. I like all of them.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) I've warmed up to Kolek for a variety of reasons. The top of the draft is where you can and should be looking to take very high upside pitchers. The cost of quality pitching has gone through the roof in the past five years and you can never have too many quality young arms in the system. After Johnson we don't really have much in terms of starting pitching talent in the farm system, so adding Kolek would be a major boost to future pitching depth. I wouldn't be upset with selecting Turner, but I'd rather shoot for the potential #1-2 starting pitcher and develop him. Sale - Kolek - Quintana - Johnson - Danks could be the rotation of a serious contender in a few years Agreed with you up until this point. We have a few, and I would expect one or two more to emerge as real prospects by midsummer. Still, BPA is the only way to go, and I kinda hope that turns out to be a pitcher.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 03:14 PM) Problem is the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Rangers, and Cubs will be looking for starters too. It will be a Tanaka situation all over again for the Sox. Why spend $16M or more next year for a pitcher you can get for $12M or less this year. We really don't know what the market will command. Garza might be relatively cheap because GM's finally came to their senses. They ALL might be relatively cheap, this year and next, due to the escalating perceived value of the draft pick. I look back at our last three 2nd rounders, EJohnson, Beck and Danish, and I wouldn't want to part with any of them - this year's 2nd round pick will be higher than any of those, in a supposedly deeper draft.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) You apparently hate Brandon McCarthy, Jake Peavy, and Homer Bailey, among others. Also Shields, Masterson, De La Rosa (underrated), maybe Scherzer, Lester... next year is a relative bumper crop. I don't see the hurry. The catching situation, OTOH, looked better from an opportunity standpoint this year than next. We need to make a trade at some point - no later than mid-season, hopefully.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 12:50 PM) Well, you'd have to struggle to get pulled over for a DUI in Chicago. Maybe wrong way down Lake Shore Dr in reverse with your left turn signal on would get them to at least breathalyze you. This is actually true. What is also true is that you never get parking tickets when the weather is bad. Cops just won't get out of their cars. If it's stormy enough, you can literally park on the steps of city hall. I now live in a Colorado county where DUI's and related charges are the local cottage industry. It's like running a gauntlet coming home from the bars or nearby casinos. The opposite of Chicago - I'm referring to the city, not the burbs.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) Not that amazing. First of all, you have to be both really, really good at defense and really, really bad at offense to accumulate a lot of plate appearances batting 9th. Otherwise your are either batting higher in the order or out of a job. Also, RBI is a worthless stat. However, Ozzie did have a career .285 AVG and .374 career SLG with RISP compared to his overall .264 AVG and .338 SLG so he did have that going for him. Even less impressive when you realize that the "since 1916" is purely misdirection - until 1973 it was almost exclusively pitchers who batted 9th, and none of those played everyday, obviously.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 09:27 AM) This is closer to what you're looking for Jake. "Hoffman dominated the Cape with sharpened stuff that produced 12 strikeouts per nine and a 6.6 strikeout-walk ratio." “I pride myself on the sink that I get, and that helps me get a lot of ground balls,” Hoffman said. http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/eas...y-jeff-hoffman/ Ah, the Cape Cod League. I remember when the Great Brian Morgado looked so good there, and so many here were bummed when we couldn't sign him after the draft.

QUOTE (CyAcosta41 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 10:52 PM) Bad? You think he looked bad? Not me. I thought he looked ... "promising." I saw nothing that made me think he was yet another minor league stud with no real major league future. Instead, I saw a promising rookie ... up for his cuppa joe in the Bigs ... running on fumes at the end of a really long season for him. He looked like he had a plan. He competed ... hard. He didn't look overmatched. In fact, to me he looked like a tough SOB who wanted to be in control, and will often be in control once the butterflies are gone and he has that inner confidence that he can have success in this league. I know it's the popular view to view EJ as an innings-eater #4 type. I see him more of a solid #3, with an opportunity to get into that #2 terrain during his best years. QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 11:13 PM) In the 3 or 4 starts I saw of his, he looked okay. But statistically speaking, he was not very good in those 5 starts. The starts I saw reminded me of Axelrod. I'm sure he will end up being better than that though. It won't be hard to surpass that bar. Exactly, and his 27 innings here were after he'd already blown by his previous innings max by 60. Please don't judge him by that. The braintrust has high hopes for him. He'll be solid or better.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 11:17 AM) Completely agree. No one talks about his defensive struggles last year - he seemed to have trouble finding the ball if it hit the dirt, and at times just catching pitches. For me he has to hit a ton if his defense doesn't come up to MLB standards He's not too good at the catching part of Catching. I just don't want to waste the whole season finding out who's going to be the best backup. Still some time to make moves, though, and if we go with Phegley on opening Day, we don't necessarily have to give him the whole year, if he blows.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) I think it would be better to address the rotation this year in an effort to save money. As shown by the Tanaka pursuit, it's going to be difficult to get a true top-of-the-rotation via free-agency. If Jimenez is terrible at least he'll be relatively cheap. Jimenez won't be cheap, relatively or otherwise. There's a higher quantity of quality in next year's FA SP crop, IF we need one. Tanaka had unusual leverage and the allure of the unknown - things may not be too crazy next year. There's a good chance we won't need a FA, imo, and we'll probably have a good idea just a few month's into the MLB/MiLB seasons who's going to emerge and if EJohnson/Paulino/Rienzo are up to holding up the back end, and if Danks is a mini-albatross, a trade chip, or something in between. I don't think they should be in the market. I hope that's the plan.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 09:29 AM) I was always told on television and radio everyone wanted to play for the Cubs. Well, this is just another meathook reality that Theo has to face - easy to sell a team that's "knocking on the door" to FA's as Boston was when he got there, vs. a team in a long-term losing stretch. Another consequence of the "total rebuild" that many don't account for.

Boys and girls, take solace in the fact that while we're various shades of bummed here, there's genuine mourning in Wrigleyville.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 08:11 PM) ERA: Bailey - 40th. Quintana not top 40. Sale 17th BB/K: Bailey - 18th in MLB. Quintana not top 40. Sale 5th K/9: Bailey - 21st in MLB. Quintana not top 40. Sale 9th WHIP: Bailey - 16th in MLB. Quintana - 39th in MLB. Sale 10th BAA: Bailey - 22nd in MLB. Quintana - 38th in MLB. Sale 14th OPSA: Bailey - 23rd in MLB. Quintana - not top 40. Sale 13th Bailey actually measures closer to Sale than he does Quintana. 1 year of (expensive) control, vs. 4 (or is it 5?) years for Q should render the value argument moot. But maybe you folks are just talking about who's better, or will have the better overall career, which are arguable, imo. GMs love to chase the ace-potential guy even for shorter terms, feeling they can be the playoff difference maker. Understandable. Guys like Q have always been undervalued, UNTIL they do it multiple years. If he gives us 220 innings of similar quality in 2014, then that GM might view him as a WAR stackin' / innings eatin' machine that won't break the bank and still has a lot of control, something necessary to GET to the playoffs. I don't think Q will get appreciably better, and last year MAY have been a career year, but incremental improvements, like last year vs. 2012, most notably, stamina, imo, could result from further refinements, and magic Coop Pixie Dust. He stronger than he's been heading into any season, so why not another excellent campaign? It seems to me that Coop has taken it on as a project to turn Q into as Buehrlesque a pitcher as possible, and to fill that role on the team. Not comparing the two, of course.

As much as I love this game, wouldn't mind Alex going all "scorched earth" on the Yankees by showing up at ST. What an awesomely huge distraction that would be. Would also not mind seeing him finish what his attorney started by outing his fellow roiders, starting with Ortiz.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 12:53 PM) I'm picking Wendesday, 1/22 for the announcement. No such option in the poll so I'm just posting it here. A very good guess, considering we're hearing 2 days are necessary for the medicals/paperwork.