ChiliIrishHammock24

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:56 AM) If the sox are true on competing then they need a good closer. Hahn had said something about going without a set closer by committee but I don't think the sox have enough dominant pitchers to do that so signing a set one is might be the only way. I feel a bullpen is something you spend excess money on, not primary money.

This thread could use Rock and Bucket. Can someone please set off the signals? I haven't seen anything from them since a week or so ago.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:22 AM) Korea's league and Cuba's league are closer in talent level than Korea and Japan. Cuba seems to do be doing just fine with their infielders. So you think his numbers will translate over then? You must be on board for the peanuts it will cost versus those Cuban infielders.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:37 AM) The way he brings his hips through is obviously where the power is coming from. I also suspect this part of his mechanics will leave him a sitting duck for breaking stuff low and away. While I would tend to agree, I believe they throw a lot slower over in Korea, so I'm sure he's seen his fair share of slow breaking pitches. What actually worries me is him having to adjust to 95+ MPH fastballs, and THEN account for the slow breaking pitches. I would have to think he would need to tone down his leg kick.

QUOTE (Sockin @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:37 AM) White Sox setting their sights on David Robertson Ugh. I know our bullpen sucked last year, but I hate giving big money to relievers, especially on anything over 2 years. Robertson is a fantastic pitcher, and has been for quite a few years, so I wouldn't worry about him busting like I would with Duke, but Duke is only making $5M a season, which isn't a crippling amount. I would hate to see us pay a reliever $12M+ a year. That's insane to me.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:18 AM) That A's trade last year by Theo is one of the better ones in a long time. It was a good trade, sure, but Addison Russell hasn't even made the majors yet, and the A's still haven't traded Samardzija yet. Looks good on paper so far, but the Cubs haven't reaped any benefits yet, and the A's could re-coup some of that lost talent back.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:07 AM) The Cubs are about to sign Jason Hammel and now each Cub fan on Twitter thinks Jon Lester is a lock for their rotation... The winter meetings have officially started. So they essentially got Billy McKinney and Dan Straily for free. I wonder who the Cubs trade Hammel to in 7 months.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 8, 2014 -> 12:11 AM) He's the first non-pitcher to come over from the KBO. I doubt the market for Korean infielders is evaluated in a vacuum with Japanese infielders because they're both Asian. I'd bet if they believe they play on similar talent levels they would. And from what it seems, the KBO is inferior to Japan's leagues.

I'm going to avoid The Sacko this year! Yay! lol, what a terrible accomplishment after how solid my team looked after the draft. So sad. I think my team is like 4-1 in weeks Calvin Johnson was healthy, and 0-8 in weeks he was not healthy. Sigh.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 07:59 PM) The Rams beat the Redskins 24-0, but that wasn't the best part of the story. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher sent Stedman Bailey, Michael Brockers, Janoris Jenkins, Alec Ogletree, Greg Robinson and Zac Stacy out to midfield to handle the coin toss. What do those six players have in common? Jeff Fisher is my hero.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 5, 2014 -> 06:30 AM) Nice try... Does having 2 favorite teams just completely shatter your reality?

QUOTE (mataipaepae @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 11:35 PM) What a let down this would be. In what way?

Long story short, I used to create mix CDs for the myself and the girls that I lived with through college. The first year I started doing this, I made an Xmas mix, so that's what I listen to each Xmas for about 2-3 weeks straight. I probably need to bust out that CD soon, actually. But that CD consists of like 23 tracks. The first 12 or 13 are old, classic christmas songs. Bing Crosby, Chipmunks, Elvis, etc. The next 7 or 8 or so are modern twists. Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Train, Maroon 5, N*sync (one the girls requests, trust me) and then the last few songs are Christmas rap songs that make me laugh. They include, Merry Motherf***ing Christmas by Eazy-E, one by Ludacris, and one by Kanye West and Cyhi the Prince called Christmas in Harlem. So who wants a copy?

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 11:11 PM) There ya go man. I didn't even know the blokes name. Watching a winter meeting hot stove report while entertaining a nine month old baby doesn't leave much time for details... Just poop. Edit: I haven't felt like this since 2004. Really feel like come March, we're all gonna be really excited. The starting pitcher bar for me is of the Freddy Garcia type. Really thinking we're going after some HIGH impact players. I'm hoping for Brandon McCarthy and a trade of an OF. Sale-Quintana-McCarthy-Rodon-Noesi/Bassitt could be a really quality rotation. That's a very solid 1-3, Noesi and Bassitt battle in the #4 and #5 spots until June when Rodon comes up, winner takes the #4 spot, loser takes long man job. I could definitely live with that if Hahn can get us an impact OF bat.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 01:51 PM) What did we learn from Williams to TOR reporting? Chicago sports media is more worried about protecting sources than reporting. Will McAvoy approves.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) If he goes to Toronto all of his Sox connections vanish. He won't help two teams. I don't mean help like he would give the Sox good deals, obviously, I am saying that they could be a friendly trade partner to do business with and maybe if the Sox are looking for a 3B, and the Blue Jays are looking for a SP, they would be each other's first phone calls to work out a deal. It's always beneficial to have good connections.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 08:57 PM) One of the reporters on MLB Network called the Sox his "sleeper team" for the meetings. Also brought up Scherzer again. To give people more context, I assume you are referencing the MLB Hot Stove segment that Greg Amsinger hosted with Sherman, Heyman, and Rosenthal on the panel. Each picked a sleeper team, and Joel Sherman said he thinks the White Sox could be a huge sleeper with all the money they've said they have to spend, and he brought up that he thinks they could be a dark horse in the Scherzer sweepstakes. Rosenthal was nodding all the way and said that even if they don't get Scherzer they are "DEFINITELY" in on right-handed starters right now.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 10:05 PM) That does sound better....but would still depend on whether JR would count that $8M(I assume it has to be paid upfront) against what he's willing to spend on the team in 2015. Not sure if I'd be willing to risk $12M of whatever we have to spend on such a risk. I don't know when the fiscal year starts and ends for the Sox, but it's possible that the $8M posting fee could be figured in for 2014's costs, if the fiscal year ends on December 31st. I have no idea, but I don't think a 1 time cost of $8M would/should defer them from signing him. I'd rather it be because the Sox scouts don't believe in him to translate well enough in the MLB.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 09:15 PM) So $5M posting fee and 3 years $15M seems to be about the consensus? I'd have to be pretty convinced he could definitely start at either 3B or 2B for that. Realistically he'd probably be a UTL infielder and the right handed platoon at 3B. I think there are better uses of $20M for this club ultimately. Based off those 3 opinions, more like an $8M posting fee and a 3 yrs/$12M deal, which I feel is absolutely worth risking on the best player in Korea. That's basically the cost of a 7th inning reliever.

Ok, I found some guesses here.... http://riveraveblues.com/2014/12/guide-pos...ho-kang-110961/ "C.J. Nitkowski of FOX Sports, who played with Kang in the second half of the 2010 season, is calling for a range of $5-8 million in posting with a “reasonable big league contract” to acquire Kang. Ryan Sadowski, another former major leaguer who played in Korea, wrote for Global Sporting Integration that he expects around $6-9 million range" The author of that article also cites a much lower contract than I had randomly guess. He says maybe 2-3 years at $12-$20M TOTAL, after the posting fee. I guess the recent failures of just about every Asian infielder recently has soured his outlook. If we can take a chance on him for 3 yrs/$20M TOTAL, I would absolutely like to see that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 08:45 PM) Keep in mind the posting limits only apply to players from Japan. I actually had totally forgotten about that. I guess on the bid just based on MLBTR's comment about some scouts think his power won't translate at all and that they also think he may not be able to handle SS. Seems there may be enough doubts to keep the bidding down maybe? I'm not sure, I'm searching and I'm not finding anyone else even giving a guess on bid price or contract price, other than his agent saying "If he were Cuban. he'd be getting $100M", which leads me to believe his agent thinks he WON'T get $100M. So I went with 5 yrs/$50 just to justify the additional $15-20M posting bid I guessed on.

Will be posted next week apparently. So hopefully some shortstops get traded during the winter meetings and thins out the market for Kang. I'd be okay with the Sox signing Kang and then trading Alexei. Or maybe just move Kang to 2B immediately and try him at SS once Alexei is traded in July or next winter. Or even put him at 3B and trade Gillaspie. The one thing I can't find is a price to win a bid on him. $15-20M? Then sign him for something like 5 yrs/$50M? I have no idea.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Dec 7, 2014 -> 07:08 AM) Who were the other 7 worst? He was going by wRC+, and it's actually 6 players.... http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...0&sort=17,a

I like this for 2 reasons..... 1) It will help answer the question some of us have had about how much of the things that get done are 100% Rick Hahn, and what are being pushed by Kenny. We could finally stop wondering. 2) We will have a friendly face in another organization, possibly becoming a convenient trade partner. I wonder if KW would still have a say in construction of the team as the CEO in TOR, so maybe Hahn and KW would have a strong enough relationship that they could help each other out with trades in the future? It certainly can't hurt, at least.

If we are picking up a scrapheap SS w hopes of find lightnig in a bottle to replace Lexi, I think I'd take my chances on Jed Lowrie. This is all barring we get some sort of major league SP or LF or C in return. I don't want to trade Alexei for prospects if we are truly "going for it" as signing LaRoche indicates strongly.