Kenny Hates Prospects

Question for you guys in this thread.... when is the last time you've been THIS excited over an offseason? For me it's 2005 - not trying to draw parallels either, totally different circumstances, we were more frugal then anyway, now we're trying to be the Yankees or something - but in terms of filling holes with quality players, that's the last time I've been this happy as a Sox fan watching the offseason. This is f***ing great. I love it! Mark Teahen, come on down...

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 12:58 PM) I don't know if you are just going to be able to dump him, but I could be wrong. If it takes 6M to remove him, than I don't know if I agree with that. I'm hoping an NL team sees Teahen as worth about $3M per. If so and we can eat the difference then we're freeing up lots of cash. IIRC Balta brought up Jones maybe costing $4M or so - maybe he's right. I still think that we could spend that money more efficiently whatever the case, but hopefully on a guy like Jones. The way it's shaping up we could really use someone like that. We're looking good.

Kenny I NEVER SHOULD HAVE DOUBTED YUOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 12:59 PM) A Major Leauge source said the #Braves will receive $1.5 million from the White Sox to help account for Linebrink's $5.5 mil. salary. According to @mlbbowman SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember folks, Atlanta did give that deal to Derek Lowe and they did give that deal to Kawakami as well. Maybe they think Linebrink isn't all *that* overpaid afterall? One can only hope...

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 12:47 PM) In the current situation, Teahen could be pretty valuable. Its nice having a guy like him who you can go to in a pinch at multiple positions. I wish he didn't make quite as much as he did, but there is some value in that flexibility. Plus if Morel struggles at third you at least have another option instead of just using Omar Vizquel full time (or Viciedo), not that I want Teahen to be a regular at 3B. Omar is a zillion times better in the IF and Jones at worst probably costs half what Teahen makes. Dumping that piece of garbage and replacing him with Jones, then getting out of that 2012 commitment with some extra cash in our pockets makes us a better baseball team.

I wondered where Kenny was all last offseason, turns out he was busy collecting incriminating photographs of his peers. Ninja Kenny is BACK! And boy am I glad to see it!

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) I am officially on the bring back D.J. bandwagon. Who will join me? I would normally jump on, but I'm going to wait and see if Kenny can trade Teahen straight-up for Bell and sign Putz for about $600K before I look at DJ.

*Kenny's phone ringing* Kenny: Ken Williams here...uh huh.... WHAT? *puts phone down, looks around the room all crazy* Kenny: Yeah, wait... like, you said Linebrink, right?...Yahuh....k, hang on a second... *presses the hold button* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA *picks the phone back up* Kenny: You there? Sure, we can do that...

In terms of heavy lifting Kenny's already past the train pull and now he's finishing with the atlas stone.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) I still cannot believe ANY team would take Liney for his full 5.5 or whatever it is this year. I'm not buying it, we'll have to swallow some salary...I hope I am wrong If we save enough money to acquire a better reliever (i.e. $2M+) on the FA market than we just got ourselves a STEAL!

Kenny you are my f***ing HERO!!! Please let Teahen be next oh pretty pretty please!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG BEIBER!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *FAINTS*

I imagine we're trying to bring back Andruw, and I imagine Andruw would come back here assuming he can't land a better shot at playing time elsewhere. De Aza isn't really a RF and as an extra OF ideally you want a guy who could cover all 3 spots. Of course we have the great Mark Teahen to play RF so maybe De Aza is the plan.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 09:19 AM) The thing that really sucks is if Mitchell had stayed healthy and continued progressing in 2010 and KW didn't get desperate with Pierre and Teahen, we might actually be able to talk about a name like Cliff Lee realistically. Then again, when we had Contreras/Buehrle/Javy/Garland/Garcia in 2006 our rotation was even more expensive. Given what JR has taken on recently in terms of annual salary, I actually think Lee could be realistic if not for the years. That's what would kill us no matter what our payroll room looks like. I think Mitchell was still being touted too highly - the talent is there, but it's really a stretch to suggest he'd be nearly ready by now. But if you're talking what he could bring in trade had Kenny not spent on Pierre and Teahen, there are some real possibilities there that I don't want to think about because my head will explode. Teahen's contract is like a bad dream. It's like a used diaper in your mental cornflakes.

One thing too about Reinsdorf is that he may not be looking just at 2011. He may look at it as one last try at putting together a team that is kind of where the Phillies are right now, in terms of payroll, fan interest, playoff appearances, etc. If JR goes out and puts a real winner on the field this year, even if he takes a hit a bit in the process, it could lead to another 3-4 years of fun baseball, and raise the value of the franchise in the process. If, however, we rebuild, then he may never see another winner and the franchise loses value. No idea. I'm just thrilled if this is actually happening. Watch us get Paulie and then pick up Melo on an extension too. That seems like crazy talk, but what if?

I like Borbon because he should be available - he's being squeezed out of Texas' OF and they have prospects with much higher ceilings already on his tail. His ceiling is probably Pierre with better pop, but that's valuable for 5 years of control. I don't think he's like massively valuable, just a nice fit. Putting him in LF with Pierre in another uniform and us not having to pay anything (who knows if this is possible, just me guessing) would give us the money to sign a reliever. So I've put that forth a couple times. The above scenario I proposed would be pretty much impossible, because the Rangers would probably offer just as much as we would, and why would Lee stiff them and come here? I'm not saying we'd ever get Lee, just that it's kind of crazy to examine the possibilities that exist when you have a payroll like that. It's kind of ---- weird. But I like it.

Oh, I didn't know Viciedo was actually confirmed as that one player. That just shows what kind of value he has.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 08:10 AM) #1, Great work again by Joe Cowley. Too bad reporters don't have an OPS for how accurate their reports are, or Mark Kotsay would be LMAO at you. #2 To those who wondered why we didn't offer arbitration, we got AJ for two years, for pretty close what arbit would have cost for one year. May I make a suggestion? How about SoxTalk offers a yearly award called the "Oney Award" and we nominate Cowley for the inaugural one? The Oney Award would be a way to recognize a special kind of idiot with special powers of idiocy that are so strongly idiotic that they resemble the character of Oney Guillen. If this sounds odd, let me explain: Oney happened to be born into a situation where he was allowed in an MLB clubhouse, given work as a translator, and given free reign to travel with the team and party his ass off with the players. Beyond that he was given a minor league contract and a bulls*** promotion through the system that rewarded him for his last name, and then on top of that he was given training for a job as a scout and put to work for one of the most loyal organizations in sports - the kind of organization BTW that keeps you around forever and hands you a paycheck for more or less no reason at all. Oney is such a god damned idiot however that he s***-talked his way out of multiple freebie paychecks and dream jobs and basically blacklisted himself from the entire world of sports. I feel this is award-worthy, and I feel furthermore that if an award existed to recognize such massive acts of idiocy in the field of White Sox baseball, it should be Oney's puppy-eyed life partner Joey who is first to be nominated. Just an idea.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 07:36 AM) Like it or not...the value of a blocked player who is seemingly limited to playing only 1b isn't going to be a top flight young player. Viciedo being blocked doesn't mean a thing. 21-year-old players with Viciedo's talent are wanted by everyone in baseball with an opening. Teams would still bid against each other for his services whether he's blocked or not. And you're also highly underestimating Viciedo. He has all the ability to be a top flight young player himself and IMO he's actually a much better prospect than, say, Chris Carter who the board would probably salivate over and insist we couldn't fetch without giving up Beckham/Danks/Floyd/etc. I would expect a return for Viciedo to be an unestablished player whom you probably aren't aware of but yet has a serious ceiling and is close to being ready, if not ready now.

I could see him getting into the Hall for his contributions to the game both as a player and commentator. He was one of the faces of that organization for a long time, and seriously, if the Hall allows writers and managers and owners and all that, then they should allow him too. From a purist standpoint maybe he doesn't belong in there. But there are so many undeserving people already in, and so many undeserving people headed for the Hall in the future, that it's probably not worth getting upset about. If Santo gets in there will still be many others more undeserving from an impact standpoint, and if he doesn't, well, he's already gone and in a better place, so he probably doesn't really care at this point. BTW this reminds me of that Red Kerr quote, something like "If they induct me posthumously, then I refuse to attend."

Wow, the idea of Viciedo for Bell would really be going for it. I'd hate to trade that kind of talent for a closer. Since he's arb-eligible anyway and we have to pay him I'd rather pay Putz. Then, if we're going to trade Dayan, either target a young starter with top-3 ability or go after a dynamic young reliever with legit closing potential. Dayan has serious talent and he should fetch someone who has real potential and will be under control cheaply for a while. BTW during the whole Dunn/Rizzo/Kenny/Jackson s*** over the deadline, when Rizzo said he just needed "one player" to complete that deal, I think (just my guess) he was talking about Dayan. I'm sure he knew he couldn't get Gordon and that was probably just the starting point. I anticipate that Dayan's value around the league is actually quite a bit higher than it is on this board or in the eyes of some of the publications. The dude can flat out murder the baseball and he makes contact with it a lot. And he's really young, too - just 22 next season.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 07:19 AM) Your color commentary will be missed by many. And I'll never forget that call where what's-his-name dropped an easy fly ball in the outfield during the stretch run. OH NO!!!!!! +1 Cubs baseball will never again be so hilarious.

RIP Santo Condolences to the Cubs & their fans Never a fan personally, but anyone that passionate about the game is great for the game overall and will be sadly missed.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 02:29 AM) Cliff Lee for long man out of the bullpen. IMO Danks + Buerhle to Texas for Holland + Borbon + prospects Dump Pierre for nothing, send the Dodgers cash with him Sign Lee away from the Yankees Danks + Mark + Pierre = $25M Lee + Holland + Borbon = $24M Never going to happen, but with this kind of payroll it would actually be doable. Playoff rotation: Lee Gm 1 Peavy Gm 2 Floyd Gm 3 Jackson Gm 4 (this is especially hilarious because he may actually have the most dominant stuff on the staff, and he's 4th) Holland = emergency starter/third lefty in the pen behind Thornton and Sale We'd win everything.