Kenny Hates Prospects

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 25, 2009 -> 08:04 PM) Fields sucks. It's been two months, and it's quite evident he'll never make it as a ball player, at least not with us. Wow...

QUOTE (tommy @ May 25, 2009 -> 07:57 PM) If Kenny can find a way to get Figgins here, playing third base, I'm up all for it. Why not give Fields the opportunity to play through the summer and see what happens so we don't end up with another Brian Anderson situation? It's not like we're one or two pieces away. We suck in a sucky division. Let's see what we have and go from there. Beckham homers!

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 25, 2009 -> 07:51 PM) Actually, I'd say Pods has been doing his best job leading off for us since 2005. And as the other poster stated, Pods is sadly the best option we have for a leadoff hitter. I'd be shocked if Chone Figgins isn't wearing a white sox uni next year. Sadly, the lead-off hitter problem far trumps actual baseball playing ability if you're Ozzie Guillen. I f***ing knew this s*** would happen, and that's exactly why I was pissed to see Lillibridge going down with Pods staying up. Pods is never going to leave this team this year. He's not going to get hurt either. It'll be Darin Erstad all over again, except even worse because Pods unfortunately isn't the type of person to blow out his ankles just by swinging the bat. Eh, Jordan Danks is up again. f*** the Sox, go Barons.

I'd have no problem dealing Dye for good, or hopefully good, young starting pitching. The same holds true for PK and Thome. I'd also have no problem re-working Dye's contract during the season so that we can keep him around as a DH. I don't think the Sox are going to pick up his 2010 option as it is.

QUOTE (WCSox @ May 25, 2009 -> 01:30 PM) Not being a homer beat writer doesn't excuse blatant ignorance. If you don't know what you're talking about, either educate yourself or don't write an ill-informed article that actual fans will tear to pieces. The inference that Ozzie can't get along with veterans is the type of Mariotti-esque shock-jock garbage that is intended to increase readership, rather than to reflect reality and provoke thought. If this guy wants to take the Mariotti road and pander to the lowest common denominator to make a buck, that's his business. But I'll call him on it every time. It seems like most national types go that route. Gammons is one I can think of that doesn't. Of course there are exceptions, but generally it seems the beat writers are more respectful to other players and franchises around the league. For example, I'm sure that if Scott Merkin was tasked with the responsibility of writing an article on a prospective deal between two teams he may not be as knowledgeable about, say a deal between the Orioles and the Rockies, he would do his research and present something much more accurate, and a big part of the reason why he'd more much more accurate is because he wouldn't play fill-in-the-blank with hearsay and accusations.

QUOTE (WCSox @ May 24, 2009 -> 11:27 PM) No kidding. I love these lines... Yeah, Ozzie has a really difficult time getting along with veterans who didn't come up through the Sox organization, as evidenced by Jim Thome, Freddy Garcia, Jermaine Dye, A.J. Pierzynski, and Ken Griffey, Jr. They all hate Ozzie. And the Sox are really paying for dealing young "talent" like Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, Brandon McCarthy, and Gio Gonzalez for proven veteran talent. Good job with the research there, junior. Right, the pennant race. Because the same organizations that tried to trade for Peavy and failed this past winter - and already spent their money elsewhere - are now going to pick up Peavy's $22 million option IN ADDITION to the $50-some million he's contractually owed - in the middle of a really bad recession, where the vast majority of GMs are hesitant to spend. Gotcha. And Peavy is apparently refusing to play in the AL, cutting the list of possible suitors in half. And the only team that he's actually shown interest in playing for is in bankruptcy court and can't pick up his contract. Yeah, I'm sure that Peavy will be joining that pennant race in no time. It's much more likely that Peavy will sit in his brand new home in sunny San Diego for the remainder of the year and wait for a better situation to open up this winter. This quote was also entertaining... I'll give him that the Sox appear to be in bad shape this year, but how are the Padres and Sox on the same level as an organization? The Padres lost 99 games last year and are looking to shed payroll. Their market is also dominated by two much better franchises who have actually won championships. "Equally horrifying," my ass. The Padres are a third-tier organization. I actually agree with this guy's assessment that the Sox are not the ideal situation for Peavy. But his reasoning is completely retarded. Great post.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 24, 2009 -> 11:38 AM) And that he stole Uribe's/Jenks' blonde goatee dye? Betemit, as fathom has pointed out over and over again, would be fine against RHP. He has an OPS line of around 800 in that situation. Just don't play him as a RH bat against lefties, which Ozzie has seemingly done more often than the reverse this season. I will say this...I think Juan Uribe might have been the favorite person on the team (along with Crede, too) that we jettisoned. Buehrle even offered $1 million to JR/KW to keep him on the team, he's that loved in the clubhouse. Betemit, so far, hasn't been a good fit at all for this team. Would love to have a healthy Pablo Ozuna from 04/05 back, but that train left the station a long time ago. A Craig Grebeck/Paco Martin type of player. At this point I think a Betemit for Uribe + low-level spect is a great deal for both teams. The Sox could use some IF versatility and the Giants could plug in Betemit and let him play. Betemit is a luxury if he's only a PH. The worry there would of course be that Ozzie would play Uribe over his youngsters instead of continuing to let them develop, and we need to see what we have out of these young guys because our future depends on it. We don't want to be forced to sell off good players at low value because that makes it harder for us to improve the pitching staff, and we don't want to be forced to thrust Viciedo for instance into a role that he cannot handle simply because we wouldn't give Fields a long enough leash to prove he can hit in the Majors. If it were me, I'd bring Uribe in but use him as a rest guy. Let him sub around the IF when someone gets hurt or needs a rest, and use him as a PH in a situation where you want some power and aggressiveness up there. Otherwise, he's there to sit on the bench and threaten people. Maybe he can threaten Josh Fields into good performance.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2009 -> 11:06 PM) I would think the Cutter is the only one that is a plus pitch. The one thing that makes Mark special is that he has pinpoint control. And he changes speeds. Plus he fields his position, has a great move to first, he works quick, attacks hitters, has the perfect mentality, and he knows hitters' tendencies. There's a whole lot that makes him special.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 12:11 PM) As long as Flowers is better than Mike Piazza or Victor Martinez, that kind of offensive output from catcher gives you a huge advantage over many teams that have defense-first catchers. That was one of our huge pluses last year, getting a lot of power up the middle from Alexei Ramirez. Nobody has a 2B like that in the AL Central. Not to mention that this factor is heightened by the park factor of USCF. You can get away with lower than average performance offensively if you have Gold Glove caliber type outfielders, for example, Franklyn Gutierrez and Endy Chavez. Even then, you're seeing Seattle struggle because they don't have enough offense, and Beltre was expected to be a 25 HR, 90 RBI type performer this year. The problem with that theory is when you're not getting much from 3B, which is expected to be a position that contributes quite a bit (although this is decreasing on a yearly basis, it's hard to name more than 5-7 really good players at this position after the likes of A-Rod and Wright), it puts additional pressure on SS, 2B, CF, C, etc. If you look around our division, Redmond, Shoppach and Buck/Olivo all have started for stretches of their career and could be "full-time" players. The White Sox have an obvious weakness in this area. And going out to find a catcher via trade or the FA market...a catcher that will give you 25-35 homers, is going to be prohibitively expensive. First off, you're underrating the hell out of the C position by comparing that position to RF, 2B, and so on. The catcher is the only offensive position on an AL field that determines what pitch is going to be thrown and where. The catcher's #1 responsibility is the pitcher, not offense. Remember back in 2005 when we first got AJ after having all those minor league scrubs back there for years? Remember how many f***ing times Jon Garland especially, but others, would shake off AJ and then give up a HR to Kevin Mench or something? Remember what it felt like to get a veteran back there who actually knew what the f*** he was doing? It was wonderful! And you can credit Ozzie and Coop a whole lot for that '05 pitching staff, but I guarantee Jose Contreras and Jon Garland don't "figure it out" and Brandon McCarthy doesn't throw the ball with confidence in a playoff race with f***ing Josh Paul behind the plate. I couldn't give two s***s how many HR my catcher hits as long as he's got the starting staff on the right track, and as long as his pitchers feel more confident with him behind the plate. AJ has his shortcomings as far as baserunners go, but aside from that, he's been pretty damn good and the hole he leaves when his contract is up will not be an offensive one. Kelly Shoppach is awesome. He was the throw-in in the Marte-Crisp deal because he was seen as more of a defensive guy. Shows you how much respect those guys get... I'd love to have him, but that is not happening.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 11:56 AM) Mauer's going to make a ton of money, and the assumption is the Yankees make a run at him...any team signing him should let him remain at catcher. His bat is far too valuable. You have to put him at 3B (like Bench), 1B or DH (alternating). Mauer is an awesome defensive catcher though, so that makes sense, although sooner or later in his career he's going to move. The main thing I was saying is that just because a guy is a C doesn't mean he's more valuable. If he's as good as Mauer is, then that's a totally different story.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 23, 2009 -> 11:46 AM) He's not anywhere near as rare of a prospect as Beckham and where is this supposed great BB rate? To me, he's up there with Beckham as far as being the type of player that you don't trade unless you get a young star who will be under control for a long time. As for his BB rate, I looked at his numbers yesterday and he's on a pace to walk about 60 times while K'ing less than 100 times. For a minor leaguer with that much power, that is great. That shows that he has a chance to be a .350+ OBP guy in the Majors should he continue along the pace he's at. Allen has really picked it up over the last year, especially so far this year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 06:00 AM) If Flowers can actually catch, wouldn't you have to rate him ahead of Allen? No, not at all. An average or worse defensive C who will K 150+ times per season is not exactly my cup of tea, no matter if he gets on base a lot and hits home runs. I'd much rather get an above average defensive C who can handle a pitching staff, especially a young one, and can hit above .250 while doing some fundamental things with the bat. They're cheaper and IMO more beneficial to the team. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 06:00 AM) Of all the positions in our line-up at the major league level, that's the one place (AJ) where there's currently a huge hole if he goes down for an extended period of time. Why is AJ a huge hole? That's not a hole at all once AJ leaves. Just go out and trade for another Gerald Laird, like the Tigers did. The only reason C was a hole before we got AJ is because we kept on trying to develop minor leaguers like Josh Paul, Mark Johnson, Ben Davis, etc. while sticking Sandy Alomar out there. We didn't look to acquire someone who could do the job. Give me the veteran who knows how to deal with a young pitcher, not some minor leaguer who has only been catching for like 3 years at the time. You'll never, ever, ever hear me b**** about offense from SS or C as long as who we have there is playing and leading on the field. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 06:00 AM) While Brandon is athletic and left-handed and a logical replacement for Thome, it's a lot easier to find a 1B/DH than a catcher (assuming he is one) with the offensive ability of Tyler. While Brandon is by all means a better hitter and more athletic than Tyler Flowers, Tyler Flowers is better because he's a weak defensive catcher. That makes no sense. Allen > Flowers. Both will make the bigs because of their bats and Allen has the better bat. Also, Paul Konerko was a C. Usually guys that can hit like that are hard to find because they get moved to other spots that are meant to keep them healthy and extend their playing careers, while (usually) upgrading defensively. The Sox way of doing things in recent history seems to be that they want young hitters at the catching spot, and I don't agree with that at all. I'd rather have Donny Lucy or Cole Armstrong out there hitting a buck ten than have some home run hitter who the pitchers don't have confidence in. Hopefully Flowers becomes at least adequate, but to say he's better than Allen because he's been converted to a C is pretty shortsighted IMO. Matt Wieters isn't the best prospect in baseball because he's a catcher. He's the best prospect in baseball because he's Matt Wieters, a rare combination of awesomeness in multiple areas. A little paragraph on him: Scouting report: Wieters does everything well but run. He has tremendous plate discipline and bat speed and the ability to hit for average and power from both sides of the plate. He's remarkably agile behind the plate -- especially considering his size -- with good hands and an above-average arm. He has performed well handling pitchers and calling games with a quiet leadership that is a big plus. He's an outstanding defensive player at a key defensive position with the mentality of a leader, and he also happens to be a switch hitter who can hit for average and power from both sides of the plate. Imagine Victor Martinez, but a lot better. He could play any position in baseball and as long as he had the above description he'd be topping prospect lists. Being a C is a very valuable thing, but only if you're good at it. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2009 -> 06:00 AM) The other reason I think Flowers is important is because Brandon has Dayan Viciedo and Tyler himself as "insurance" at DH/1B in case things don't work out for whatever reason with him in the future. If Tyler Flowers doesn't stick as a catcher, what plan do we have at that position for going forward? Pretty much none! What does it matter if Flowers can't stick at C? Trade him or move him to 1B/DH then and get a REAL catcher. It's not like the future of the Sox is dependent upon whether or not Tyler Flowers can play defense. He has a bat and that is his value at this point, not his defensive position, because he isn't at the point yet where you'd consider that a strength. He's a 1B/DH trying to learn a new position at this point. The "C" next to his name is not going to make a GM skeptical of him as a 1B long-term trade for him. The idea is he is a hitter, and if he can successfully to convert to a good defensive catcher than that is gravy. And I don't know what will happen with Viciedo or Flowers, but as long as Allen keeps making the contact he's been making, and as long as he keeps showing the eye he's been showing, then he doesn't NEED any back up plan. This kid is a legit middle of the order hitter.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 22, 2009 -> 07:10 PM) So the pregame interview with Kenny was pretty clear that they are probably negotiating still... He was very eager to say that Peavy was surprised that the Sox offer came along, and that it was so early in the year. His big concern was family negotations according to KW. It was all very nice, and kissing his butt essentially. He said they are still open to the deal, but that they were NOT waiting on it, and that they could still do a different deal if it came along. Did he talk about the option at all, or the opt-out clauses?

QUOTE (WCSox @ May 22, 2009 -> 07:00 PM) I agree with this. If what we're hearing about Peavy wanting that $22 million option guaranteed and perennial out clauses in a deal with the Sox, STRONGLY preferring an NL team, and rejecting trades to the Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels, then he indeed does seem to care a lot more about his stats and paycheck than winning. And that's pretty sad. Even Javy Vazquez waived his NTC to come, and he extended with us here. He also signed his first big deal with the Yankees and I'm sure would have accepted a deal to Boston. He didn't want to go the Angels because of distance from his family, but you could in no way say Javy didn't want to it. He was a guy who would have mental lapses and insist on throwing his #3 and #4 pitches in situations where he should've trusted his best stuff, but at least he wanted to win. I'd still love Peavy's arm in our rotation, but the fact that Javy Vazquez is more confident in himself than Jake Peavy is - well that's pretty scary. The only reason I got excited about this deal is because usually pitchers with his stuff and his track record do not become available at his age. It would be a big gamble, but I think the hope would be that he'd sack up and believe in himself, and believe that he could pitch just as well in a tougher stadium in a tougher league. I just don't understand how someone can win a Cy Young in any league and in any park without being the type of person that seeks out new challenges and rises to the occaision. Peavy really seems to be an enigma.

For those who have seen him a lot, does Beckham have the arm to play 3B on a regular basis?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 22, 2009 -> 06:28 PM) I don't know about not caring about winning. Let's face it, right now SD has a better record than the White Sox, but everything else you said I agree with. SD gave him the NTC. Moorad didn't have to buy the team. Its all on the Padres. What the White Sox offered is probably the best they will get, and if SD is so desperate to dump his salary, they probably will trade him for next to nothing, although I think his no trade protection decreases a little next season, but he could just refuse trades to teams except the Cubs who could afford his salary. I believe his NTC is 14 clubs... hmm, there are 14 AL teams, coincidence? I believe he doesn't care about winning because he has to be about the only player in a baseball who would 1) veto an already completed trade to go to the AL Central team that won it's division the previous year and is despite their record still a contender this year, 2) deny the possibility of a trade to the best overall team in the AL West for the last several years, a team which has also won it's last division, 3) not consider the possibility of a trade to the two biggest powerhouses and perennial contenders in baseball, the Yanks and Red Sox. If you deny a trade to 4 teams that have all made the playoffs multiple times since you've been a Padre, and 3 of those teams won their divisions last year, and 3 of them have World titles since 2002, and each of those 4 teams generally top their divisions in payroll, and you do all of this in order to stay on a horrible NL team in a pitcher's park, then winning probably isn't the motivation here. I've been calling Jake Peavy Jake the p**** since early this offseason. When you deny trades to great AL teams in order to continue to pad your stats for a team that sucks, then you yourself suck, and you are indeed a p****. Edit: If Jake Peavy came out tomorrow and he said he liked the futures of the Red Sox and Yankees better than the future of the White Sox, and that was why he refused the trade, then I would grumble, but I wouldn't call him names because it would be very, very hard to disagree with his thought process. However, like I said before, he'd rather play for the Astros than the Sox, Angels, Red Sox, or Yankees. That's f***ing lame.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 22, 2009 -> 06:15 PM) I'm happy they have some players that look like they can play in the minors as well. For a team that operates on a tight budget, its very important. I just don't think AA guys who are at least a year away have one ounce of influence in Jake Peavy's decision in a positive way. KW can say they are the greatest prospects in baseball. He can say the Sox will let Thome and Dye go, but Viciedo and Allen will more than cover the loss of offense. He can say Gordon Beckham is the greatest prospect in the world and we will find a spot for him, and he could be 100% correct, but veteran players trust veteran players. Even if Allen had a 95% chance of outproducing Thome in 2010, I don't think a guy like Peavy would believe it. Maybe, maybe not, but either way he knows that 1) the young players coming up aren't scrubs, and 2) there is trade value there and the GM is willing to deal for young established star players. Those are two huge positives. When you think about the future of the team, you can only think about three things: veteran players currently under contract through a given year, a rough estimate of future payroll flexibility, and strength of the farm system. Luckily for the Sox, the veterans they have under contract beyond 2009 are actually good players, plus there is a lot of payroll flexibility, and since the Sox are probably in the upper half in terms of farm systems, the farm is now a strength as opposed to a weakness. So in those areas the Sox should check out pretty well.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 22, 2009 -> 06:09 PM) They can't even think about getting DeRosa back at this point, but that's alot less than Peavy would be. KHP... there's no clear sign on how the new owners are going to be able to handle payroll... Ricketts isn't flush with cash at this point. Also, you can't just say "clear salary" the Cubs have alot of bad contracts that will be on the books for a few years, they put themselves in a bad position with some contracts and the economic downturn made it worse. I agree, but in theory, Peavy can sit around and wait for that to happen. If it doesn't happen, then he just can sit around and lose and veto trades until he hits FA/blows his elbow out. The Cubs made a bunch of dumb signings, with Soriano being by far the worst. Those are going to haunt them for a long time. Still, Peavy doesn't seem very rational when it comes to accepting trades - that is unless you don't believe what he says and think he's full of s***. My take is that he's a selfish player who is more worried about his numbers than anything else. He wants to stay in the NL for that reason. He's already thinking about his next contract. His family is in SD, so he's happy losing with his family there. He's in a nice little comfort zone where the local media doesn't bother him much, there's really no pressure on him because of his team, he's in the easiest park in the easiest league, the weather is great, his numbers are great, his family is perfectly happy. He's in his own little bubble and he's perfectly content there. Every now and then he's forced to make up some garbage about caring about the Padres and wanting to win, but he really doesn't care about any of that. He just wants to continue on in his happy little bubble. Well f*** him and his bubble.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ May 22, 2009 -> 05:57 PM) do the cubs have what it takes to get peavy? all i know is that they have vitters... Yes, because Peavy has the power to decline everything and force the Pads to make a deal they do not want to make. Peavy can sit around and be happy losing while waiting for the Cubs to finalize the sale, draw up their plans, and clear salary. If Peavy says, "I'm only going to the Cubs unless other teams do this and this and this..." and rattles off a laundry list of impossible demands, then the Pads could be forced to trade him for basically non-prospects and salary relief if it came to it. It could be another Kenny Lofton + Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill scenario as long as Peavy doesn't mind losing for another year plus, and by the looks of it, he doesn't care about winning at all.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 22, 2009 -> 05:45 PM) I think the point he was making was Jake Peavy couldn't care less about the guys in AA. If the plan was to bring them all up next year or the year after, chances are the team will struggle. Rookies struggle. If I were Peavy and if they tried to sell me on the AA guys, I'd be thinking their up in the majors in 2010 and/or 2011. It takes them a season or so to get their feet wet. If all goes well, they become solid championship-type contributors in 2012/2013. What's up until then? All this money coming off the books? How will that be spent? Will it be spent? Does my salary count towards spending it? What if the current crop of youngsters on the big league club continue to struggle? How long do you stick with them? Can you bring in someone better if they can't do the job. Can you do a little better than Dewayne Wise? We have a bunch of talent at AA isn't going to make Peavy hop on a plane. It goes both ways. Let's say the Sox spent about an extra $20M this offseason and ran out this team: CF Taveras 2B Hudson LF Quentin RF Dye DH Thome 1B Konerko C Pierzynski 3B Crede SS Ramirez Bench: Betemit UT, Anderson CF, Blanco C, Nix/Getz UT Rotation: Buehlre-Garland-Danks-Floyd-Contreras Bullpen: Jenks-Thornton-Linebrink-Dotel-Cruz-Richard-Carrasco What does that look like? A better 2009 team sure, but it's an aged veteran team of a bunch of guys who should be beginning their declines. Why would a young pitcher want to be apart of something that may soon resemble the Bonds-era SF Giants? I don't care what anyone says, the farm system is important to everyone. The better the system, the better chance of good players coming up to help or good players being used to acquire even better MLB players. The fact that the Sox have improved their farm system and that Kenny was willing to acquire Peavy with pieces from it should send the message right away that 1) the team on the field now is not the same team that is going to be out there through 2013, and 2) the Sox want to win and aren't afraid to acquire an impact player in order to do so.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ May 22, 2009 -> 05:22 PM) As far as this being a selling point, I just think a lot of people here dont see how little value this holds. For a guy who is 27 and wants to finally win for once in his career, this means nothing. Plenty of teams have this. And then once he's traded for some of it, we're back to being middling plus Gordon. Really??? Plenty of teams have the kind of talent in Double A or higher that we do? I know the Cubs and Astros, two of the teams he's gunning for, certainly do not. Atlanta has Heyward probably on the fast track and Hanson is ready, but the Braves aren't going to be adding that contract. If you're going to be traded somewhere for the next 4.5 seasons I think you'd care about both their immediate and long-term futures. Knowing about some of the players coming up helps. Also, it means payroll flexibility, i.e. more money to spend on veterans in other areas. I'm sure there are a ton of teams out there that would love to pencil in an IF of Fields/Viciedo-Ramirez-Beckham-Allen for a combined $5M or less per season. Edit: And p**** doesn't give two s***s about winning. He rejected a trade to the Sox, a team that probably would have become favorites in the division with him. He said he didn't want to go to the Yankees, Red Sox, or Angels. He'd rather play for the f***ing Astros than the Yankees, and would stick around a past and future 100-loss team for 3.5 years at least in order to do that. Doesn't sound like much of a winner to me.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ May 22, 2009 -> 03:03 PM) From Verducci'sarticle: Soxfan562004 - you should have also pointed out that Verducci's inference that the Sox are bad because they are "old and slow" also isn't true. While the Sox are old and slow, it is the "old" guys (Konerko, Dye, Thome, and AJ) that are producing while the "young" guys are struggling. Furthermore, he doesn't account for injuries as guys are starting to come back (e.g., BA). I know it was a short paragraph, but he could at least try to get it right. He's a better writer than this. What a ballsucker. How many other teams are in as good of a position as the Sox now and going forward? -some great talent in AA or higher, most of whom will be ready by the end of 2010 -lots of interesting arms in the lower levels -several picks in the top 100 of this year's draft -weak division -Dotel, Dye, Thome, Colon, MacDougal, Contreras = about 43.5M off the payroll next season -logjams of IF prospects to be used as trade bait -no bad contracts after 2009 season, with the closest ones being $12M in 2009 for PK, $14M in 2010-11 for Burls, and $10.5 total for 2010-11 for Linebrink - and I think all those contracts are easily movable if we had to, although moving Linebrink and PK could require taking on a small, bad contract for 1 year How many teams can say even some of those things? How many teams have as much talent near MLB ready as the Sox? How many have such a winnable division? How many have so much payroll flexibility going forward? How many teams are actually willing to ADD a large salary right now? Yeah, methinks Tom Verducci is a buttlicking blowhard looking to kick a losing team when it's down instead of admitting what every AL fan already knew even before this s*** went down, which is that Jake Peavy is a big, stinky, slimy billygoat's vagina who is afraid to pitch for any American League ballclub regardless of its current situation.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 22, 2009 -> 02:52 AM) That's one way to look at it, but we don't know that Allen wasn't involved. We just know Danks and Beckham weren't because they were drafted less than a year ago. All the reports said it was 2 pitchers. The most detailed report said it was 2 low-level pitching prospects out of a group of at least 4 which the Pads would be able to scout as the season went on and decide upon later. If Brandon Allen was in that deal I think it would have come out, and I for one would not trade Brandon Allen for Jake Peavy. He's in Beckham territory IMHO and by far our 2nd best prospect. Dude is making great contact with a great BB rate and brings huge power from the left side along with some speed on the basepaths. Yeah, we should keep this guy.

Brandon Allen is f***ing awesome. Through 152 AB, he only has 27 (!) K's. That is an average of 5.63 AB/K which is just remarkable improvement. Last year he was averaging 3.81 AB/K. Compare that to Chris Carter. Carter is one year younger and in AA is averaging 3.6 AB/K. Not only was the Carter for Quentin deal a steal, but the Sox made a terrific decision between the two powerful young 1B. At this point, I wouldn't deal Brandon Allen anything less than a young future HOF type of hitter. I loved watching this kid in ST and it appears he's going to be the real deal. Best power prospect since the Maggs/CLee days? I think so... The way this kid has improved his contact rate is f***ing amazing, and from watching him in ST, he also appears to have a little bit of old school Big Frank in him where he'll have no problem drawing a walk or dunking a little soft single into short CF. Definitely a far cry from the Nick Swishers of the world. PS, here's his K/AB rate throughout his minor league career, along with BA, OBP, and SLG%: 2004: 3.08 AB/K; .205/.280/.314 2005: 3.34 AB/K; .264/.366/.472 2006: 3.13 AB/K; .213/.257/.382 2007: 4.16 AB/K; .283/.337/.483 2008: 3.81 AB/K; .279/.372/.527 @ A+; .275/.358/.614 @ AA 2009: 5.63 AB/K; .303/.371/.520 At the pace Brandon is currently on, if Brandon gets 550 AB this year he'll K only 98 times, walk 58 times, hit 22 HR and drive in 98 runs. And even though he hasn't been running, he's still capable of stealing 10+ bases. If he keeps up at this current pace, there's no reason for him to go to AAA.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 20, 2009 -> 10:06 PM) That card got really interesting. Wand/Franklin, Kongo/Cain, Davis/Hardy and Spencer/Uno all interest me... it will be interesting to see if they move Cro Cop's fight to the main card Swick-Saunders IMO is the best fight on that whole card, but due to name value they'll probably drop it for CC's fight. I think Davis is going to beat the living hell out of Hardy, Franklin is going to pick Wandy apart and probably finish him, and I'm not all that optimistic about Uno. I think Uno was brought in to help convince Kid to come over once his contract is up and nothing more. Kongo-Cain is interesting though. I wonder if Cain wants to stand there and slug it out or if he'll put Kongo on his back and finish it? Kongo's wrestling has improved but still, it wasn't all that long ago when Heath freaking Herring was taking him down at will. If it stays on the feet though I'm taking Kongo via repeated shots to the groin area. Hopefully CC doesn't get scared seeing Kongo in the same building.