Kenny Hates Prospects

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 09:18 PM) The argument against that is someone like Alexei Ramirez. He was hitting closer to .110 than .220, yet KW and Ozzie kept showing faith in him and eventually it was rewarded. When Anderson had the same opportunity in 2006, he never really took advantage, and they had done everything humanly possibly to take the pressure off of him. Greg Walker was quoted I believe last season saying that going into the 2006 season the Sox knew Brian had huge problems with his swing but chose not to do anything about it, instead letting him try to just get by on natural ability. So the GM knew he wasn't ready yet still didn't acquire a veteran replacement, then the hitting coach chose to ignore Brian's problems, and then Ozzie threw him under the bus for not hitting, even after he said repeatedly in ST that all Anderson had to do was play defense. I'm not making excuses for Brian, but the Sox set him up to fail. They knew he wasn't going to hit and they knew he needed to put in a lot of work in order to hit, and instead of having Brian work on his swing in Triple A and trade for or sign an adequate replacement - the Sox spent I think something like $7M that year on Cintron, Mackowiak, and Widger/Alomar when that could have gone to a CF - they instead decided to go with a plan that they already thought was going to fail. I hope the BA in 2006 experiment was part of an old, bad philosophy that no longer exists and that the Sox have learned their lessons by now. If you don't think your minor league hitters are capable of hitting Major League pitching then don't call them up. Bring in a cheap veteran instead if you have to.

Food = Shingo Takatsu Beer = Mark Buehrle Hard Liquor = Bobby Jenks

My order of most likely to make a big impact: 1. Josh Fields - major break-out 2. Brian Anderson - proves he's an everyday CF with a full season 3. Chris Getz - solid everyday player 4. Brent Lillibridge - potential lead-off man 5. Clayton Richard - possible 5th starter, possible set-up man 6. Jack Egbert - potentially solid 5th starter 7. Jon Link - 7th inning shut down guy supplants Dotel or Linebrink should they fail 8. Jeff Marquez - probably won't make the team, but is a lot closer and/or better than the other guys 9. Dayan Viciedo - if Fields has a strong spring there's nowhere to play him barring a trade 10. Aaron Poreda - hoping he stays in the minors and continues to develop 11. Gordon Beckham - very unlikely, but there's always a chance he could come up midseason 12. Jose Contreras - could provide a big lift at the end of the year if we're in contention 13. Bartolo Colon - no way he stays healthy, but I still like the signing kind of, although Bartolo's on-and-off-the-DL-again nature may hurt the Sox because it may prevent them from pulling the plug and finding a replacement sooner ... 985423. Jerry Owens - may steal a big base at some point as a pinch runner 985424. Lance Broadway - may give up a home run to a returning Sox player during a blow-out at some point, giving the fans something to cheer about Also, here are my two guys to watch out for: Egbert and Lillibridge. Jack Egbert: I think Egbert just may have the stars aligning for him this spring. Apparently all Colon has to do nowadays in order to land on the DL again is swing a bat, and fat jokes aside, his health really doesn't inspire confidence, especially at his age. Then there is Poreda who should NOT be rushed at all. If the Sox think he can develop the pitches to be a starter, then by all means let him develop in the minors. Don't set him back further by putting him in situations he's not ready for and ruining his confidence. Then there's Marquez, who has talent but needs to 1) "make some changes," per KW, 2) adjust to MLB hitting while having been unable to get out Triple A hitting, 3) prove his health, 4) make the mental adjustments to big league pressire. There's also Broadway who hasn't been able to get people out in Charlotte for the last three seasons. Without a Colon injury, the starter competition could easily end up a battle between Clayton Richard and Jack Egbert. With the need for another lefty in the pen aside from Thornton, an impressive ST by Egbert could possibly send Richard to the pen. And if Colon gets hurt, both Richard and Egbert could emerge as the 4-5 starters. From there, I like Egbert as a strike thrower in the Major Leagues. Maybe he'll never be a great pitcher, but as a back end innings eater he could stick. Brent Lillibridge: He has the chance to really, really, really impress. He has speed and he plays defense so it's a given he'll get lots of opportunities from Ozzie. I imagine they'll use him at 2B, SS, 3B, and even CF during ST, and I think all he has to do in order to make the team is play D and steal a base or two. If he can hit a little bit he'll get himself a lot of playing time. With a great ST he'll break as the lead-off man. I'm really pulling for Lillibridge too because if he can show he's ready to play in the Majors then he just might be the difference between Anderson in CF (my preference) and Jerry Owens in CF (which is not something I'm looking forward to).

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:29 PM) This. Willits is garbage. WHy are people so infactuated with him? Willits isn't garbage, and I don't know why you'd say that. He'll be 28 next year, which is the same age as Owens, two years older than Fields, and either way, it doesn't matter. In 583 career MLB AB's he has a .273 AVG with a .379 OBP and in 1647 career minor league AB's he has a .304 AVG with a .398 OBP. That is much, much better than Jerry Owens.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:25 PM) If you save that money, you're more likely looking at guys like Odalis Perez. The Sox won't sign Sheets, Lowe, or Perez, and Dunn makes no sense for the Sox. When did I say the Sox would sign those guys? I said there are a lot of good players out there looking for work who may be lucky to get half the yearly salary they thought they'd be getting this time last year. And Odalis Perez? Why in the hell would the Sox sign him if they had $11M to spend? They'd probably be able to get him as non-roster invite to ST if they had any interest at all, or at worst maybe a MLB contract for about $700K.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:20 PM) Gathright's a much better player than Owens. Willits isn't young, and with the pitching staff we have this coming season, we're going to need to score as many runs as possible. I don't think it matters though, as the Angels never trade. Willits can draw a walk. Gathright can't hit the ball out of the infield. Owens has more power than Gathright does, which goes to show how little power Gathright has. Other than that, they're basically the same player. Neither are CF's either.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:17 PM) If it costs us Dye, then just keep what we already have. At this point, $11M redistributed may have a much more positive impact on our record in '09 than JD would have with this team as currently constructed. Our rotation is a black hole 4-5 and there's virtually no minor league depth outside of rushing Poreda. I completely buy Kenny's comments about being over budget: look at the offseason so far, and there are very good players out there who look to be hoping to get a yearly salary that is HALF of what they expected this time last year. Ben Sheets, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Jon Garland, Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez... these guys shouldn't be looking for work almost halfway through January.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 07:12 PM) Ah yes, Willits name brought up again. I'd rather have Jerry Owens than Willits...and that's saying a lot. How could you ever confuse two players? For some reason Jerry Owens always gets compared to players that are much better than him. The only speedy CFers in baseball that I can think of off the top of my head who are worse than Jerry Owens are Corey Patterson and Joey Gathright.

At this point I'd say screw Figgins. If the Angels would take on Dye's entire salary then I'd rather ask for Reggie Willits and prospects, then spread the money around given all the bargains that are starting to pop up. With that $11 mil saved we could add some pitching and Willits could be the lead off guy. If we were interested, that $11M might be able to get us Ben Sheets, or maybe Garland at $8M + Wolf, Pedro, Freddy, or some other guaranteed 5th starter or reclamation project with upside for about $3M. Edit: Besides, since we're going young I want to see Josh Fields play. I don't care what people think about his defense either. He's young, he's cheap, and he hits home runs. As it looks now I'm not at all optimistic about our chances next year, so adding Figgins to me would seem like a luxury we cannot afford. I'd rather see if Josh can mash about 30+ longballs and become a future fixture somewhere, or at least highly valuable trade bait.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Dec 27, 2008 -> 11:05 AM) Ok where do I go to watch all the old UFC and other matches, I am just getting into this sport. HDNET is a saviour. mmalinker.com has a lot of fights from the UFC and elsewhere. The sites that use RuTube (Russian YouTube) have their fights stay up a lot longer, I'm guessing because the characters used make the videos harder to search for and request a delete of. Anything that gets put up on YouTube comes down in a heartbeat though.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 09:37 PM) if they show the countdown show again and you haven't seen Rampage/Wand II from PRIDE you have to see it, I remember watching a tape of it and thinking Rampage was going to have brain damage, it's ridiculously brutal Yeah, that was the most brutal KO I'd ever seen until Rashad kicked Salmon's head in, although it should be said that Sean Salmon may be the master of the brutal KO. I don't think he should be fighting anymore given how he reacts. Here's a link to a video of him getting destroyed by Jorge Santiago.

QUOTE (tommy @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 08:06 PM) I tried watching it LIVE on UFC.com and instead they were showing stand up guy talking about God and a cooking program, so mad. I got that too. At first I thought I was imagining it and like God was speaking to me ala Rampage. Fortunately there was a chatroom in the sidebar where the video was playing and others were commenting on the preaching, so I knew I wouldn't have to build an ark or anything.

QUOTE (tommy @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 11:46 AM) Who do you guys got? * 205 lbs. | Forrest Griffin by UD vs. Rashad Evans (Title) * 265 lbs. | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by UD vs. Frank Mir (Title) * 185 lbs. | CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio by sub * 205 lbs. | Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva by extreme brutality * 265 lbs. | Cheick Kongo by TKO vs. Mustafa Al-Turk * 185 lbs. | Yushin Okami by UD or 3rd round TKO vs. Dean Lister * 265 lbs. | Antoni Hardonk by TKO vs. Mike Wessel * 205 lbs. | Matt Hamill by TKO vs. Reese Andy * 185 lbs. | Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn by TKO * 265 lbs. | Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry by KO I see lots of finishes on this card.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 05:25 PM) 2005 Scored 741 runs, 2008 Scored 811 runs, See the difference? 2005: 53 SH, 49 SF, 741 R 2006: 44 SH, 57 SF, 868 R 2008: 28 SH, 47 SF, 811 R We had better balance in 2006, and that was the year Pods was hurt. Had he come close to replicating his '05 season we'd have been even better.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 04:22 PM) As the chief proponent of that joke, I’ll have to give it some thought, but i share the same fear that you do. Somebody needs to get working on a new inside joke, until this ones goes back in style. I respectfully request that you allow the joke to continue, if for no reason other than its accuracy. The joke should only stop once we have better options than CR/AP to pencil into our rotation. I'd also like to point out, that while not very funny, Lance Broadway's initials L.B. can be read as "pound," and when placed in front of CR/AP like so (LB/CR/AP) it can be read as "pound of crap."

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 02:18 PM) I wouldn't give Wolf 3 years, but the others, except for maybe Pedro, could be had just as cheaply as Cabrera and give you a better chance to win. Cabrera in the bullpen won't work. The guy can't throw strikes. See MacDougal, Mike. See Sisco, Andy. Cabrera also had back and elbow problems last season. He's a 60 day DL stint waiting to happen. Lieber maybe, but I don't think the other guys on that list are ood bets to be healthy for Game 1 and stay that way through the All-Star break. At this point it seems the Sox have to count on Contreras coming back in the second half and starting, so I'd actually consider the guys who may be ready later on in the year bigger wastes of money, because by the time they come back we may not even need them due to the emergence of a young player, or Contreras returning, or because we're simply out of contention by that point. Your point about his control is correct; he sucks at it, and that's a given. However IMO Cabrera may be the tallest of the midgets here. If you want a guy that you can mostly count on for 15-17 starts and a .500 team record through the first half of the season, you're talking about some pretty questionable players, Daniel Cabrera included. That's the realm of guys like Tim Redding, Julian Tavares, Josh Fogg, etc. And even those "better" options that can probably be had for $8M/year or less, like Braden Looper, Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, and Paul Byrd, are going to want 2+ years, which is probably a bad move considering we're looking for a 1-year solution only, not a 1-year solution and at least a 1-year bad contract to go along with it. In all, I just hope Kenny trades one of Dye/Paulie if not both as well as Jenks and receives good SP prospects in the process. That may not happen though. I love the Javy deal in terms of talent received, but Kenny basically did the same thing he did in the Swisher deal last offseaon. Whereas in the Swisher deal he traded our best pitching prospects from an area of extremely depleted depth and still failed to get a pitcher back, this year he traded our best trade chip, a Major League pitcher, from an area of very little depth, and the only pitcher he got back in the deal is probably at least 3 years away. Granted he added Marquez in the Swisher deal, but that's not all that exciting in terms of 2009. If Kenny gets pitching elsewhere I'll be happy, but I'm very underwhelmed by what Kenny says he's taking to ST at this very moment.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 02:00 PM) That would be a waste of 10 million dollars. Daniel Cabrera is terrible, and he's a huge injury risk! So then what do you propose? Garcia? Colon? Lieber? Randy Wolf for 3 years? Capuano? Pedro? With a budget that limited it is hard to get a good SP that you can feel confident in. Of our in-house candidates, Richard couldn't get past the third time through the opposing lineup which leads me to believe he's best off in relief. Poreda still doesn't have the secondary stuff to start, and would you actually want to risk "rushing" him and ruining his confidence and setting his development back? Then there's Marquez, who the Sox seem high on, yet is coming off a horrid year and needs much work. He couldn't get the job done in Triple A and IMO he needs to show that he can before he can be a legitimate candidate. And speaking of not getting in done in Triple A, there's also Broadway who flat out sucks. Then there's Egbert, and he's IMO the second best option of the group behind Richard because he's ready and it he fails, he's not a guy we're going to really worry about screwing up with. Daniel Cabrera at least has MLB experience and has the type of stuff that, even if he fails as a starter, could lead to success out of the bullpen. Players who get non-tendered aren't All-Stars obviously, but since we're already over budget, aside from laying out trade scenarios of which high-quality SP prospects we may be able to acquire for our veterans or prospects, this is what we have to work with.

I really don't want to see one of our young guys leading off because I think that puts too much pressure on them. The last thing we'd want to do is thrust these guys into a position that increases their chances of failure. Getz (at 2B) should hit second because that role actually takes pressure off him, as it makes him concentrate more on fundamentals and actually seeing the baseball. OBP is Also, when he make outs in sacrifice situations he would be actually rewarded for it as opposed to looked down upon for the decline in batting average. If Taveras is acquired (because Gathright won't be, and the Hudson/Figgins/Roberts options all appear to be unrealistic at this point), I'd lead him off to start with while the young players get acclimated to the big leagues. Getz would be an ideal fit for the 2 hole, but if Nix or Lillibridge become the 2B I wouldn't want them there. With Taveras leading off and Getz out of the picture, Lilli/Nix hit 9th and Alexei hits second. If things remain as they are, I'd probably lead off with Alexei because he has the most MLB experience of all the candidates and he makes very good contact, even though he rarely walks. If Anderson or Lillibridge end up in CF (because I'm not even considering Owens although I understand Ozzie and Kenny are) then the winner of the job would hit 9th. I'd have Getz hit 2nd if he wins the 2B job, but if Nix or Lillibridge take it and Getz becomes a bench player (which I don't see as likely BTW) then I'd have AJ hit second again behind Alexei, simply because options would be so limited. Lillibridge and Anderson don't make enough contact to hit well in that spot.

QUOTE (rockren @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 01:24 PM) I think this assessment is right on point. I disagree that Danks will regress, but you could have it either way. Danks I think will be affected by the workload of the previous season, and being his third full MLB season, I think Ozzie will start leaving him in games longer instead of immediately pulling him around the 100 pitch mark. This will affect his ERA, and he'll give up more hits as he adjusts more towards pitching to contact. I don't think it will be a bad thing however, it'll just be Danks continuing to learn how to pitch. The regression I see isn't necessarily related to stuff or anything like that. Floyd I see regressing simply because now that the league has seen him for a year, it will make it tougher on him to get by when he can't throw his curveball for strikes. But again, I think that's also part of the learning process and this year both Danks and Floyd will see slight declines in K/9 and ERA. WHIP will remain mostly steady as H/9 increases slightly but BB/9 continue to drop for both. Both will also work 210+ innings. That's my prediction.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 01:18 PM) We probably wouldn't be very good after making those moves, KHP. I'd feel a lot more confident in Bailey, Cabrera, Marquez/CR/AP battling for two spots than just Marquez and CR/AP battling for two spots. I expect slight regressions from Danks and Floyd, and it will be our SP that makes or breaks us in 2009, just like in every other season. I'd much prefer Richard as the second lefty in the pen and Poreda working on becoming a starter in Triple A alongside Marquez.

Kenny said he was a little over budget as we stand right now, then brought up "creativity" again, referring to the Lee for Vizcaino and Pods deal and mentioning that it allowed them to also sign AJ and El Duque. Just off the top of my head, Dye makes $11.5M next year. If the Sox could trade him for Bailey and a prospect ($500K), then sign Daniel Cabrera for $4M, Juan Rivera for $4M, Willy Taveras for $2M, and a back of the pen reliever like Luis Ayala for $1M, would you do that trade? It would essentially be Dye for Bailey, Cabrera, Rivera, Taveras, Ayala, and a prospect in a salary wash. The roster is at 37 now, so adding that many players would put us at 41, however Jose Contreras would be transferred to the DL, and if necessary Owens and/or Broadway could be cut (although I'd prefer both of them cut because they make my skin crawl).

Joey Gathright is a good pinch runner, but we already have one of those in Owens. And we just brought back Wise, so we really don't need either Gathright or Owens.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 07:07 AM) Trade Delmon Young for Jonathan Broxton. I don't think that would be possible. The Dodgers already have a crowded OF and still want to bring back Manny, plus they just lost Saito due to injury. And why would the Twins want another potential closer? If they can't get a very good young SP or position player then they'd do better holding on to Young for another year to see if his power finally comes. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 07:07 AM) Trade minor leaguers/spare parts and/or take on salary for 3B Garrett Atkins or Kouzmanoff. Or simply sign Tyler Wigginton. They could also move Cuddyer back to 3B and sign Dunn/Burrell/Rivera/Griffey, etc. to play LF and share time with Jason Kubel as DH. I don't necessarily think "minor league parts" gets them Atkins or Kouzmanoff. They'd have to deal some very good prospects to do that and if it's Atkins, then they'd probably end up with a defensive downgrade from Harris or whoever they would play at 3B. Wigginton could be a decent signing, but he's not really anything special. They'd probably do better going after Beltre, because even though he's cost them prospects, he'd bring them Type A compensation to back that up and provide much better defense as well as more power. The Twins aren't known for those kinds of moves though. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 07:07 AM) Decide where to put Cuddyer, LF or RF, and leave him there....probably LF, with Span in RF. Span > Young > Kubel > Gomez's potential > Cuddyer. They should deal him if possible. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 07:07 AM) Much simpler than fixing the White Sox issues at 3B, 2B, CF and at least one slot in the starting rotation. I disagree. The Sox have some good candidates for 3B, 2B, and Anderson in CF may not be quite so bad. The Sox right now don't have a prototypical lead-off hitter but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Right now the biggest problem the Sox have is starting rotation depth, and that problem is much more severe than the need for a true lead-off guy. The Twins' strength OTOH is starting rotation depth.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 04:19 PM) Here are the gems of the Starting Staffs of the Al East: Joba, Burnett, Sabathia, Wong, Dick K, Beckett, Lester, Mcgowan, Marcum, Kazmir, Shields, Price, Garza Here are the gems of the Central: Lee, Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, Liriano, Baker, Meche, Greinke, Verlander, Carmona, See the Difference? We're fighting for the playoffs not five shares of the Cy Young Award. You left out arguably the best pitcher in the entire AL East, Roy Halladay.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 10:59 AM) Amazing how far we've fallen...from Top 5 to "mid-level" again. Yikes. Well, nothing to worry about, the closest we were in the past five years to "mid-level" was 2005. Worked out pretty well, I think. As long as the Twins aren't spending money, I'm not quite so concerned. However, with Wood in CLE and Edwin Jackson in DET (although what were they thinking with Adam Everett?), those two teams are improved (more able to compete with the Sox, as KW would put it) on paper at least. In a sign of the Tigers' fall, they weren't able to come up with the prospects to get involved in the big Putz trade, and they were outbit by CLE on Kerry Wood. If nothing else, this "economic recession" probably gives the White Sox the biggest advantage/cushion going forward over the other four markets in our division, especially DET and CLE. Speaking of the Tigers, they are the team to really watch in our division. Their 2010 rotation should be Verlander-Galarraga-Bonderman-Jackson-Porcello which has a chance to be pretty darn sick. The Everett signing I like, especially over giving up talent for Jack Wilson, because they need the extra defense. Laird was also a nice acquisition for them. The main saving grace (for us) with the Tigers is the fact they gave bad, long-term contracts to Sheffield, Robertson, and Willis, but Sheff comes off the books after '09 and the other two are gone after 2010. There were rumors that a Sheffield-for-Catalanatto deal could take place, which would be great for them if they could then move Maggs to DH and pick up some defense in the OF. The bullpen is still horrendous though, but I think those of the opinion that the Tigers are old and dying are wrong. They've got the starting pitching to contend and have Granderson, Cabrera, and Maggs locked in for a long time to come.