Chicago White Sox

Shocked Barnum hasn't made a list yet. He had a really nice September with a .914 OPS and a BB:K ratio of 7:10. I know it was an incredibly small sample size, but it's still a very promising sign IMO. Another sleeper I'd go with is Rangel Ravelo. He had a really nice year at Winston-Salem and while his HR numbers leave a lot to be desired for a 1B, he demonstrated excellent gap power last season. He should start 2014 as a 22 year old in AA and maybe we'll start seeing some of those doubles turn into HRs in the near future.

QUOTE (beautox @ Dec 17, 2013 -> 05:17 AM) Go look at what Semien just produced at the same age at the same level as Williams(1990), I'm not the originator of that comp, Matt Garrioch from Minor League ball is. God forbid sox fans dream a little bit about an offensive product from their system. Some people think Semien is overrated because he hasn't been hyped-up by Baseball America and other websites. At the end of the day, he just dominated Southern League as an age appropriate middle infielder. He out-produced prospects like Joc Pederson, who was ranked the 35th overall in BA's mid-season update. Unfortunately, a lot of these websites are hesitant to give Semien his due because he's a member of the White Sox organization and we've struggled to develop position players.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 08:56 PM) Those what if lineups never even come close to working out. I'm as happy and excited as anyone but let's not get ahead of ourselves. #captainbuzzkill QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 09:17 PM) This. And just remember all the love Hahn's getting now. If Davidson breaks with the team, hits .230 or below and is back in Charlotte by summer, that's all going to be hate. The real goal for the Sox this 2014 season - and so far they are putting themselves in great position to do it - is to enter the 2014-15 offseason without 400 billion question marks everywhere and maybe identify only 2-3 areas where they need to upgrade. If they can do that then we could potentially be looking at a WildCard playoff contender in 2015 & a potential deep postseason contender in 2016 and beyond, with our core still under control and just entering or in the early stages of arbitration. No doubt both of you guys are right, but the key point is we can now enter the 2014 season with a lineup full of talented 22 to 27 year olds, six months ago this wasn't the case. Even if some of the young guys flop, we'll still be in much better shape for 2015 & forward.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 07:41 PM) He's under control through 2016. There's no need to trade Alexei for the sake of trading him. Who is saying to trade him for the sake of trading him? He should have legitimate value right now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 06:56 PM) If his bat plays well enough he could be a 1b, he will get several years to improve at 3b and we won't be terrifically mad if we have to move him. He's here to hit, put Alexei Ramirez next to him for a couple years and let Alexwi cover the ground while he's learning. Semien and Davidson might be a pretty poor defensive left side though if it winds up that way. Why keep Alexei around when we're not attempting to compete next year? He should have a decent amount of value given what Peralta got in free agency and might be able to land us prospects that can be moved in a package for a catcher. It's clear that we're punting the 2014 season, no reason to hold on to guys that will be pretty much valueless to us by 2016.

I really think that De Aza will be the next guy to go. And I think it's very likely one of Ramirez/Beckham is moved to open up a spot for Semien now. Let's assume it's Ramirez, we could be looking at something like this next year: 1. Adam Eaton, CF (25) 2. Marcus Semien, SS (23) 3. Avisail Garcia, RF (22) 4. Jose Abreu, 1B (27) 5. Dunn/Konerko, DH 6. Dayan Viciedo, LF (25) 7. Matt Davidson, 3B (23) 8. Insert Catcher Here 9. Gordon Beckham, 2B (27) Outside of the DH spot, everyone in the lineup is 27 or younger with some potential. If you can get someone like Grandal for catcher, that lineup quickly becomes very interesting. Gotta love what Hahn has added in the past 6 months.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2013 -> 01:11 PM) I had no issue with trading Addy but I wanted the right return. This may be just a little less than I was hoping for but it also is at a position where this franchise could seriously benefit from an upgrade. He's also exceptionally young and, assuming he makes the roster this year (which I'm not sure about right now) he's under team control through 2020. Less than you were hoping for? This is a fantastic return for Addison Reed. Not sure what you were expecting, but Davidson is an incredibly talented prospect at a major position of weakness for who also addresses our OBP issue. Win all around IMO. And on top of it, we can now use Nate Jones or someone else as our closer in 2014 and potentially turn that player into a valuable asset if he succeeds in the role. Makes so much sense in a transition year where winning doesn't really matter.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 13, 2013 -> 05:01 PM) That's why you try to Sergio Santos him. Extend him to a team friendly deal, up his value, trade him to a small market club. I'm not sure if that adds value though. Right now, most teams are probably down on De Aza and wouldn't want to commit to him long-term unless it was under the friendliest of team friendly contracts. IMO, he may have more value as a short-term option with the ability to rebound but with little risk if he doesn't. Honestly, I think if you wait long enough into the offseason, some team will get desperate for an OF upgrade and offer something of decent value. His ability to play LF & CF and bat left-handed should create a decent amount of interest in him.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 13, 2013 -> 04:42 PM) For comparison, this kid was just sentenced to 15 years in prison for a drunk driving crash that killed two other teens. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/f...4#ixzz2nOOsl2Q3 This kid only killed passengers in his own car, people that knowingly entered into the vehicle of a drunk driver. I could see some leniency in such a scenario, and even one of the victim's families actually testified for him not to serve jail time. However, this other kid killed four innocent people that just happened to be on the side of the road at the wrong time. A man lost his wife and daughter as a result and basically has had his life destroyed. But unfortunately for him, the kid who killed his family was a rich, over-privileged white kid and accountability does not aply to them.

This is beyond absurd. So a rich kid who kills 4 people by being an idiot basically gets off because his parents spoiled him, but some kid on the south side raised by horrible parents gets serious jail time for dealing drugs? What a f***ing joke.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 13, 2013 -> 12:03 PM) I think he's worth more to us than to another team. Perhaps, but do you want to sign him to a long-term deal? That's the reality of the situation, either lock him up in the near future or deal him while he still has some value. Quite frankly, even if he bounces back some extent next year, I really don't think he'll age well. Not a player I want to commit at this point in time.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 13, 2013 -> 09:55 AM) Ackley > Beckham simply because he's younger and thus has a better chance to figure it out and improve. I probably wouldn't trade De Aza for him given our glut of half-decent MI prospects, but I'd probably be happy trading Viciedo for him. What's the point of keeping De Aza around over Viciedo? Are you really going to keep him long-term? Is he a piece you really feel comfortable with being part of your long-term core? Clearly we're not serious about competing this year and 2015 will be De Aza's last year of team control, so either you sign him to an extension or move him while he still has some value. I know I don't want to commit to De Aza long-term. Also, I get half of this board hates Dayan Viciedo because he doesn't draw a lot of walks, but he has more offensive potential than all but a handful of players in organization. If we're punting this season, we'd be foolish not to give him 600+ PAs and see if he can turn into a legitimate middle of the lineup hitter. Power is at a premium right now, just look at the Trumbo deal, and to sell low on Viciedo would be incredibly short-sighted IMO. This is a player with four years of team control left who can possibly part of our long-term core, why give up on him in a throwaway season just to keep De Aza?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2013 -> 04:36 AM) That would be the lightest hitting infield in the majors... He's saying that should be our AAA infield, not our major league infield.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 12, 2013 -> 09:01 AM) Worst case scenario, the Sox keep all 4 and increase their depth on the bench. I don't see that happening, but that's not a bad worst case scenario. Doesn't De Aza only have two years of team control left? If so, you have move him now, because his value will only go down from here and he doesn't appear to be in Hahn's long-term plans. Also, since 2014 is apparently going to be a transitional year, we don't need to pay $4M for extra depth on the bench. I'd much rather give Viciedo 600+ PAs and see if we can turn him into a useful player/asset.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 12, 2013 -> 05:05 PM) Yep, it's actually shocking how patient the Cubs front office has been. Everyone assumed they'd be in the hunt for David Price and Ellsbury, but it seems like they're holding out another year. Hopefully they don't get Tanaka. What do they have to build around right now? They have very few long-term pieces on their major league roster. It's going to be a while before they can put together a competitive core.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Dec 12, 2013 -> 04:58 PM) What is it the Sox have done that the Cubs haven't? I think Rick is doing a fine job and all, but I'm not sure what the Cubs have to do with anything. They're going about their rebuild differently, and in my opinion, it's going pretty well. I would disagree, they really don't have much on the major league roster and the young core they do have either regressed or stagnated last year. I agree they have quite a few interesting prospects, but people seem to assume they'll all pan out. I think they're still years from competing if everything goes right, which is incredibly pathetic for a big market club.

For $25k, I have no problem taking Nieto in the Rule V and giving him an extended look in spring training.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 06:16 PM) Semien platooning third with Gillespie sounds more like speculation on Merkin's part. I can easily see the Sox shopping Keppinger though. If they can dump Keppinger, by all means do so, but do not use Semien as the weak half of a platoon as a result. It's up for debate if Semien should even start the season in the majors, but pretty much everyone here agrees he needs regular at-bats either way. I hope for all of our sake's that Hahn isn't that stupid.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 06:08 PM) There's a turd floating in Lillian's Cheerios & I sure hope you're proud of it. I got no beef with Lillian, but thinking that Rick Hahn has some top secret plan to reunite Eaton & Elmore as our 1/2 because of some inflated PCL numbers is crazy to me.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 06:06 PM) Merkin now hinting on a possibility of Sox trading Kepp and having Semien split time at 3B with Gillaspie. Sounds about right for our retarded organization.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 01:33 PM) And whatever they save from the posting fee, they probably will have to spend on the player given there will actually be competition. I am surprised the Japanese teams agreed to this. If that does happen, then it will hurt big market teams though. The posting fees don't get included in luxury tax calculations, so if the same dollars simply move over to the player, then a team like the Yankees will start to feel the change.

This has been quite the amusing thread. Jake f***ing Elmore is not going to be a .300 in the majors. He couldn't even hit .280 in A or AA and only hit over .300 in AAA because of a BABIP about 70-80 points higher than his career average prior to the 2012 season (thank you Pacific Coast League!). Maybe he can be an adequate backup due to his versatility and ability to get on base, but using him as a starter would be a complete f***ing joke. It's not going happen though, so this all a pointless discussion.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) Deal De Aza, Viciedo, Reed, Beckham, and Ramirez for the best returns possible regardless of position. QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 11, 2013 -> 12:26 PM) Take out Viciedo & I wholeheartedly agree. I agree with you TUC. If 2014 is going to be a transitional year, Viciedo is exactly the type of player you give 600+ PAs to. As for the other guys, I definitely think De Aza needs to moved this offseason and that Ramirez, Beckham, & Reed should all be heavily shopped. However, I think you wait until the trade deadline to move them if you don't get solid offers right now.

I absolutely love Adam Eaton. Left-handed bat that can hit for average and get on base, exactly the type of bat we needed to add to our lineup. He'll make a great leadoff hitter and if he can play a solid CF should become an incredibly valuable player. With Eaton & Garcia now locked into CF & RF respectively, that leaves one OF spot open for the foreseeable future. Unless Hahn wants to commit to De Aza long-term, it makes more sense to trade him right now and give Viciedo another opportunity in LF. Hopefully there is a market for De Aza, because he's still a useful player but doesn't really fit into our long-term mix IMO.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) Troy Renck ‏@TroyRenck 3m #White Sox working hard to get a CF.. Been linked to Dbacks Adam Eaton.. White Sox had some interest in Fowler before he was traded This tells me that De Aza is as good as gone.