Kenny Hates Prospects

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:49 PM) I'd love this draft if we go crazy and sign Goodwin and Dane Williams... not gonna happen, but signing them would be f***ing fantastic. They'd have to offer Goodwin a lot, like probably late first money. Borass makes it even harder. Since the Sox aren't rumored to be going after anyone during the international signing period, I'd love to see them toss some big money at this kid. Realistically, I hope the Sox make a positive impression on Goodwin and then three years from now he's an easier sign for us should we be in a position to draft him. The Williams pick I'd be a lot more optimistic about.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:41 AM) http://mmamadness.com/insight/news/3936 this isn't a site I'm use to, but I've seen the rumor numerous places, so I'm linking this one... apparently Roy Nelson and Wes Simms are on the next season of TUF... if so, Roy Nelson has to be the big fav. Looks like the UFC stacked TUF to build people's awareness of some of the fighters so if they don't win it they can keep them around and stock up the HW div a little If Nelson does well on the show and ever picks up a remotely interesting striking game I think he'll win over a ton of fans in the UFC. He has that fatass Tank Abbott look that you know will sell. Just watching him take someone down and then rub his belly all over his opponent while looking for a sub is laughably sick. I'm sure he's a future draw if he can KO a couple cans along the way.

Franklin KO/TKO within first 2 rounds Davis UD Swick decision.... but this could be a very close fight, and this is the fight I'm most looking forward to. The winner here should be close to a title shot IMO - maybe Swick/Saunders winner vs. Anthony Johnson or Kampmann for #1 contender or something. Uno-Fisher... toss-up, but probably taking Fisher via stoppage because Uno has slowed down, but his wrestling could still be a problem for Fisher... tough fight to call I think CC-Al Turk... have to go with CC again but Al Turk is fired up for this and CC is a shell of himself, maybe an upset here? Velasquez - CV has been hyped up far too much and IMO he's not even the best prospect in the UFC HW division, much less the best fighter, much less the future of the sport and all that stuff - but he does have a strong wrestling base so if he uses it against Kongo he should get the stoppage. Rooting for CupCheik here though, can't stand the hype around CV.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 10, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) This is our Danks2 I guess, I'll be very happy if we sign him. From what I read he has huge potential. I hope so. I was just about to turn this thing off after that pick and then I hear Goodwin's name called. Maybe there's some hope that he secretly wants to play now and he'll drop Borass. Very wishful thinking, but hey...

Okay... THROW MONEY AT GOODWIN!

QUOTE (striker62704 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) - We are in a terrible division and we are 4.5 games out in JUNE - Our team is primarily old players that no one wants or young players that we would be foolish to trade - Most of our free agents in 2009 are type A: Dotel, Dye, Thome If Kenny makes a move it would be to improve the team not dump players (see Jake Peavy). As dissapointing as this team has been they still have a chance. KW will hold his cards and see if he can win with a bluff. Type A distinction doesn't matter for those players because they're not getting arb at their salaries. Also, some of our veterans are very good and would be worth some very good young players, although I think in any deal we're far more likely to end up with projects who need a change of scenery and/or prospects who are 2+ years away. I could actually see Kenny both buying and selling. He did that in 2007 where he traded Iguchi & Mackowiak but also extended AJ, Buehrle, and Dye. Plus Kenny showed in 2004 that even during a bad season where the playoffs were unlikely, he'd still make a big addition to bolster the next season's team. He tried to acquire Carlos Delgado after we were basically out of it and he did pick up Contreras then. Overall I agree that it's unlikely we'll be moving the veterans right this minute.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:37 AM) No it isnt obvious. Im not saying they could be traded in a 1 for 1 deal(that would actually help the Sox), but either of those two could go in a larger deal and add rotation depth to another team. Teams like the Brewers are always looking for arms Maybe the Brewers would take Jose if it allowed them to dump Bill Hall in the process. I wouldn't touch that one though. The only deal I can see for Contreras is a deal that brings us another large salary in the process. A deal between two teams who each have a player they view as immovable sunk costs with the difference in ability being made up in prospects I could see as possible. Contreras IIRC passed successfully through waivers 3 straight years in a row (2006-2009) and two of those years were in better economic climates.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:38 AM) That's why I suggested (in another thread I think) we do Dotel+Anderson for Johnson+Prospect. I think the reality is, Johnson is a large upgrade over Anderson, we don't know what Quentin's health will be like, and the numbers Johnson puts up aren't far below higher paid guys like Fukudome. If we can get him and a prospect, for Dotel, if the prospect is the right one, I'd do it. But then, I also think that Dotel is likely to go downhill the rest of this year. We'd totally make that deal if we were the Pirates of a few years ago. Reed is a solid player but he's not worth Dotel alone, much less more than that. Dotel has been nails since fully recovering from TJ and he was nails before getting hurt. The only obstacles in trading Dotel are his contract amount and the fact that due to his salary he's an unlikely candidate to be offered arb, even though he is a no-brainer Type A after the season. Still, if Dotel has say $4M remaining when we trade him, if we agree to cover some of that salary or take back a similar salary on a 1-year commitment we'll get good players for him even if we're dealing with a team that is hamstrung by payroll.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:11 AM) Kendry Morales is cheap, has 8 home runs, and an .800 OPS. Konerko is expensive, has 8 home runs, and an .830 OPS. The Angels just don't have a place for him. That's what the 1's are for. And actually, Atlanta is a better place for Paulie than LAA because Casey Kotchman is glorified mediocrity, always has been and always will be. How funny would it be if PK was traded to ATL and took Kotchman's spot after years of hearing rumors that PK would be traded to LAA and take his spot?

Contreras' expiring contract + small amount of cash + negligible players/prospects for Randy Winn's expiring contract ...but I'd rather just play BA if we're not going to contend.

No way Dye brings anything like Schaffer. I would have liked Morton back but now that he's in Pittsburgh, Atlanta might not be the best place for Dye. PK to the Angels!1!!!11!!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Exactly. No one is going to want to take on the huge contracts the Sox would like to rid themselves of, and if you are packing it in, it really makes no sense to trade guys like Getz who probably have little value. You might as well see if he can make something of himself. Firesales, picking up huge pieces at or near the deadline, have been rumored for years. But KW hasn't made too huge of a splash since Garcia in 2004. Griffey was a big name but not much of a player. Agree, and on Getz I think that normally we'd stick with him because he's the type of player that eventually I could see thriving under Ozzie, but I want Getz gone. I like Getz and I think he'll be a solid player, but I want Beckham at 2B long-term, and if Gordon is up here then I want him playing and learning at his future position every single day. But I do agree overall on the fact that Getz probably won't bring us what he's worth, but I'm willing to eat the difference in order to clear the way for Beckham since he's up here. I think Seattle is a great destination for Getz. Jose Lopez is terrible and I believe Triunfel is going to end up replacing Betancourt, so they probably need a 2B (unless they've got someone close that I don't know about).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:48 AM) With the exception of Konerko, there's a lot of teams that could go after those contracts. Linebrink's somewhat expensive...but he's also a very reliable RHP setup man. Dotel's expensive but only for this year and will be a type A guy if you're willing to risk offering him arbitration. JD's expensive but he's only for this year; if you're really in the race he's darn useful. Thome's expensive but he's only for this year, although he does have a full no trade clause. Konerko...I don't see him moving. The problem is though that even the Yankees say they can't take on salary right now. The Cubsessed members of the media think they'll get Peavy, but the Cubs can't even take on the remainder of DeRosa's contract. I probably would have said 2 weeks ago that moving Dotel who is a FA (I strongly doubt he'll get an arb offer) would bring us something good without us having to eat salary, but now I'm not so sure. Everyone seems to be saying they're broke. We happen to be one of the few teams who can actually take on salary right now, but because we suck so much ass there's no reason to. I think we'd have to get very creative to get something good out of our players. I think we'd have to play the NBA game where we're dealing with expiring contracts and so forth and try to get within a certain percentage of total salary to make a deal. Some teams might be able to take on a few million, but how many of those teams with flexibility see themselves as contenders right now?

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:36 AM) Joe Cowley predicting a firesale coming. Firesale of who? These guys I'd put on the bubble right now: Count, Colon, Betemit has already been DFA'd, Gobble, Fields, Getz, maybe Nix but I think he's our UT player Count is the only one who is expensive and we can't move his contract without taking on another bad contract. The other players make very little if not the minimum. Moving any or all of those guys wouldn't constitute a firesale IMO. If we're going to run off a firesale then I'd expect to be hearing about Thome, JD, PK, Linebrink, maybe Jenks, Dotel, but who can take on those contracts? I guess I just don't see it. I see activity, and lots of it, but shedding major contracts of players who are coming off the books anyway doesn't seem to make a ton of sense when there's no one to replace them with.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 10:01 AM) To paraphrase a former colleague, McCarver is one of those people who you'd like to buy for what he's worth and sell for what he thinks he's worth. Not allowing a DH into the HOF is about as stupid as disqualifying somebody who plays 1B or RF. I realize that some of the Puritanical old-timers still can't get over the rule change from 30+ years ago, but they need to dig their heads out of their asses and get with the program. Baseball puritans would put Frank in the Hall because they understand just how awesome he was as a hitter. The Big Hurt spent his last 8 seasons hitting well below .300 and still finished with a .301 average. His 1994 season might have been one of the single greatest offensive seasons in baseball history had it not been for the strike. If players like Ozzie Smith can get in (and deservedly so) as an all-defense player, then an all-offense player like Frank can get in also. People who try to make cases against the DH are not baseball puritans. They are actually angry, biased dickwads who clearly do not enjoy or appreciate the sport enough to actually be involved in it. Edit: Just to show how awesome Frank was in 1994, if you compare that to Albert Pujols' best season (which came last year in the National League) Frank blows him away. And NOBODY blows Pujols away. Frank in 1994: 113 G; 399 AB; 517 PA; 141 H; 34 2B; 38 HR; 101 RBI; 109 BB; 61 K; .353/.487/.729/1.216 Pujols in 2008: 148 G; 524 AB; 641 PA; 187 H; 44 2B; 37 HR; 116 RBI; 104 BB; 54K; .357/.462/.653/1.115 So Frank had 124 less PA and equalled or exceeded Pujols' numbers pretty much everywhere.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 09:40 AM) Look at Haren's contract. Its very reasonable and he's an ace. You don't "reload" by trading your reasonably signed young ace. All you have to do is look at what the D'Backs gave up to get him in the first place, and now he's an even BETTER bargain given the extension he signed with AZ. It would be an insane package that we're not going to pay. And why would AZ ask for anything less? One of the best pitchers in baseball with one of the best contracts in baseball and he's young? He's their cornerstone. I think many Sox fans would have had a hard time giving up Chris Carter, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland, and Aaron Cunningham in a deal for Haren if we had those guys in our system back when the trade was made. Imagine giving up all that PLUS Brett Anderson and Carlos Gonzalez. This board would f***ing explode. And now he's even more of a bargain. Imagine if we gave up Poreda, Richard, Danks, Allen, Viciedo, Shelby, and Fields, or something like that. Would anyone here actually make that trade? I wouldn't. I think it's foolish to imagine acquiring Dan Haren for anything that we'd be comfortable giving up.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 7, 2009 -> 10:40 PM) very good match and over all very entertaining night for the WEC, as is par for the course for them. When it comes to action, technique, and heart, plus overall production, energy, and value, IMO WEC is the best promotion out there. My pick for FOTY last year was Torres-Maeda with Faber-Pulver I in the top 5 or 6, and this year so far it's still Torres-Mizugaki with Brown-Faber II up there as well. Can't wait until they bring in the flyweights.

It appears Reed Harris is still non-committal about Brown-Aldo being made soon, but that fight has to go down. I guess Fabiano is Aldo's training partner, so they're not going to make Aldo go through him. There's no way they'll risk Faber and Aldo both by making that fight when it could easily be a big title fight, so Aldo should fight for the belt in his next fight. There's probably a 98% chance Aldo-Brown is next and the 2% chance it isn't can probably be chalked up to a surprise injury. Aldo-Brown, when it does happen, is going to be a f***ing war. Even more excited about that one than Faber-Brown II because it will answer a lot of questions about both guys. Brown is freakishly strong and powerful for his size so he can get Aldo down and hurt him or press him up against the cage and basically have his way with him, but that's only if Brown can catch him. Urijah showed how vulnerable Brown is to the speed game, and Aldo IMO is even quicker than Faber and has more powerful, more accurate strikes - although Urijah showed again how deadly he is with his elbows standing, probably the most dangerous elbow guy outside of top position I've ever seen. So will Brown look to take the center of the cage and fight the same way he fought Urijah, hoping to catch him coming in and then clinch or shoot for the takedown? Or will he maybe try something else, and go after Aldo the way he went after Leonard Garcia, and try to drawn Aldo into a brawl or something? That's such an awesome fight. And what's so great is that if Brown loses, we can get Brown-Faber 3, or if Aldo loses, we can get Aldo-Faber which would be about as much speed, power, and technique that you could ever imagine packing into one fight.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 09:10 AM) I really like his confidence too. “I ain’t never going back.” Anyone think we might get one of those crap Aardsma package for Colon? Miguel Socolovich supposedly has a pretty nice arm. He's in W-S right now as a reliever (convered IF I believe) but is having control issues. If we get another guy like him I wouldn't mind. Something better would be great, but if just getting out of his contract frees up another $0.50 to put into the late rounds of the draft I'd be very happy.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:54 AM) Frank will break the record for saying "most definitely" more times in an hour than anyone has ever done before. Good for Frank though, and nice to see him moving on with his life. That record was set earlier this year by Darin Jackson. Big Frank might break that one, but he'll never be a better singer than DJ.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:34 AM) I have even more respect for Big Frank after the Giambi/AROD/Bonds Roiders. To hear Tim McCarver talk about no DH's in the main Hall of Fame really, really made me angry. No Big Frank, then it really isn't a hall of fame in my mind. Tim McCarver knows about as much about baseball as your random idiot drunken Cub fan hanging out in the bleachers threatening some little kid to throw a ball back on the field. In fact, if you found "That Guy" and mic'd him up and just took McCarver out into the woods and shot him, I don't think anyone would notice.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:33 AM) My point is, YOU can. Others cannot. I know. I'm just saying that even I wouldn't do that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:38 AM) Any chance we trade Fields for Gio? That's probably a very fair trade at this point. One guy who may be on the block though is Tony Pena of the D'Backs, and I'd give up a lot for him, starting with Fields. The problem is that they have Reynolds over there, who is basically a fully developed (and younger) Josh Fields.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:03 AM) I don't see any issue with anything Josh said. He's right. He was bad, but had improved noticeably, then got replaced while he was improving. The promotion of Beckham was done at the wrong time, for both Josh/Gordon AND for the team, I agree with Josh on that. I honestly think people's vitriol on here, about him being a mental midget (which looks to me to be far from the truth), and all that ridiculousness, is mostly due to his error yesterday potentially costing the game. Fields' fielding has indeed been a disappointment, no one could say otherwise. But the presence of Beckham on the team will only make Beckham, Fields and Getz WORSE in the short run. Now that he's here, I hope KW has the sense to make another move to let 2 of those 3 guys know who really has a starting job. Otherwise, this little experiment will continue to be a disaster. I would say Fields' D has not been a disappointment because I expected much, much worse. It's his lack of power that gets me. The K's and the low batting average (and low OBP as a result) are not surprising. What are the odds that at least 1 of Getz/Fields, or possibly 2 of Getz/Nix/Fields are gone 3 weeks from now? I'd have to guess probably 50% or higher. Beckham needs a place to call home and get comfortable, and I can't see the Sox sending Fields or Getz down at this stage of their careers.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 08:24 AM) I think Big Frank knows that the Chicago [sox] fans are the only fans that will forgive him for things in the past and accept him in the future. WE can talk s*** about Big Frank. WE can say he's a crybaby. WE can tell him to STFU. But...nobody else can -- or WE will destroy them for talking about OUR guy. I think Frank "gets that". I'd never say one bad thing about Big Frank. Never. He's the best player I've ever seen play here and he did it cleanly.