Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 05:54 AM) Maybe finally things start moving this morning: Buster OlneyVerified account ‏@Buster_ESPN Executives believe it'll be very difficult for Dexter Fowler to get more than the 2-year, $20 million deal that Howie Kendrick got from LAD. If I'm giving up the pick, I want three years of control. Plus with Frazier, Lawrie, & Melky all scheduled to hit free agency after the 2017 season, not sure another player with two years of control is a great idea. Assuming we don't resign any of them, it's going be tough to replace all these guys in one offseason given how the market looks and our lack of positional talent.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:43 PM) Do not confuse risk with price. Risk =/= Price. They're associated, but you also have to factor in the likelihood of different levels of performance. A lottery ticket - a literal, actual lottery ticket - is high risk/high reward because even though it only costs a dollar, there is an overwhelmingly high chance of losing. The potential gain is great. Latos is closer to a lottery ticket than, I dunno, keeping your money under the mattress (which is low risk/low reward). Didn't mean to derail the thread, but I think the chances of Latos being a dud are greater than people are admitting. But the point is he's being paid to be a dud. Like caulfield said, Latos can literally be John Danks from last year and provide a return 4x his cost, with an upside for an even greater return (even if the odds are relatively small).

Guy on the Score just guessed Latos was 28. Edit: Whoops I meant he guessed 34.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:24 PM) There is no such thing as low risk / high reward. Please stop it. You can say it is a low-risk signing, because it is. It's only 1/$3M. But the concept is high risk / high reward or low risk / low reward, because risk isn't about what happened in the end. It's about the chances of something happening in the future. If there is a high chance of a high reward, that person isn't signing for $3M. It is also about the LIKELY reward, since obviously ANY investment could go big or go bad. Same in baseball as any other investment. So this is low risk / low reward. And that's fine. Now go get a bloody right fielder. While this entire argument is stupid, I will repeat that we're not talking equities here & MLB free agency is a constrained market. We're paying a guy to be a 0.5 WAR player who also has a chance of being a 3+ WAR player. While he may not reach his 3+ WAR ceiling, the probability of him not earning his contract is nearly impossible and the possibility of him greatly exceeding it (2 WAR seems like a realistic floor) is highly likely. By your very definition, it's a low risk/high reward signing.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:15 PM) Using this as an excuse to trade Erik Johnson would be a mistake. Again I ask, how many innings can you realistically rely on Latos to pitch? This move was to bolster pitching depth. And people, please stop calling things low risk/high reward. Low risk/high reward is impossible. You make me cranky. Why is low risk/high reward impossible? We're not talking about trading equities here. Latos is a guy who has consistently been a 3+ WAR pitcher when healthy (and only 28 years old) that can be released for a total of $3M if things go south. I'm not sure what else you would call this signing other than low risk/high reward.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:09 PM) So now Erik Johnson is traded for an OF? Unless it's in a package for a young cost-controlled OF, I'd rather use him as depth and stash him in AAA. Despite a nice rebound in 2015, I think his value is still pretty suppressed. Even a little bit of success at the majors would go a long ways towards restoring his value.

Latos may be an asshole, but this is a very solid move. Danks & Johnson competing against Latos for the #4 & #5 spots is way better than them competing against Turner and now we actually have some depth (assuming Johnson starts in AAA).

1 year/$3M.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 06:34 AM) Again, early in the off season it was rumored Hahn had last years budget to work with this year. That was the RUMOR. What Hahn DID say was that he would need to get creative in order to sign a big free agent but had many irons in the fire. Not once did the front office say they would or would not raise the payroll so I wasn't going to assume they would and especially after another season of s***ty Baseball and lowered attendance. Nowhere have I said Hahn is a liar and I'm not about to because he lied about nothing. It's not my fault fans read too much into the media rumors, speculation and made false assumptions. Maybe some fans need to put twitter down for a while... Your entire argument is based on a rumor that we're tied to last year's budget, but then say "fans read too much into the media rumors". Does that not seem hypocritical to you? Also, Hahn has no reason to come out and say we're sitting on excess cash and he hopes to use it on a big name free agent. Whether he has budget available or not, he's far better off to say he would need to get "creative" so he actually has some negotiating leverage. At the end of day, only the Sox's front office & finance people know what kind of budget available. Having said that, if you believe the Sox were actively involved with three free agents looking for $20M+ AAVs, then I think it's fair assumption to make that the Sox have more money available than media rumors suggest.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:12 AM) The middle of the two sides with Arrieta and the Cubs is ~$10 million, which is the most likely scenario. At worst it's an extra $3 million than expected, which I don't think is enough to hold up a possible deal. The bigger problem with the Cubs is opening up a spot for Fowler, not paying him. My guess is they wanted to trade Soler, but don't like the offers out there and don't want to sell low on him. What do you mean the middle is the most likely scenario? I thought if it went to arbitration they have to either go with the player's ask or the team's ask. If so, we're talking about a $5M to $6M gap, which is a sizable chunk of change. I really don't think the Cubs have enough money to add a guy like Fowler unless they win the arbitration hearing and even then I think it's a stretch financially.

When I think of an ace, I'm thinking of a guy with such dominant stuff that he can carry a team in October or any other big game. A guy that can be lined up against any other starter in the league and you know you still have a chance that day. There's no arguing Quintana is a #1 starter....the stats don't lie there. He's just not the guy I want starting a must win game and therefore he is not an ace to me.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Feb 3, 2016 -> 10:10 PM) Jon morosi on mlb network said he doesn't see the Sox getting ethier. Said he was the Dodgers best hitter after all star break and they may want to see him going forward. Tho that seems to be his opinion. Also said sox are more heavily involved in the free agent market with fowler and Desmond. Am I crazy or did you post this in three different threads.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 07:05 PM) Phil Rogers is really riding this Ethier thing. Was on the MLB Network earlier. Also named Fowler as an FA option & Desmond Jennings & Jay Bruce as top trade options. An Ethier trade makes a lot of sense for both teams. However, given his age and potential regression, the Dodgers would have to be willing to eat some serious dollars and take back a less than ideal return. I think the real question for the Sox is how do they handle both Ethier & LaRoche in the same lineup. Both guys are legit platoon players and I'm not sure how we'll fit two right-handed bats on the bench that can fill in for those guys and do so productively. Ethier makes a lot less sense if you're forced to play him or LaRoche against LHP too frequently.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 03:49 PM) Listening to the RV/RH seminar this morning , it certainly seemed they are hoping to sign someone who has a QO attached. Hahn gave the stock answer about the team being good enough right now, but repeated several times the the true deadline was opening day. OF, IF, and pitcher are all targets. He doesn't like to name names either, but did mention a Matt Thornton reunion isn't going to happen. I said it in another thread, but I think it's very likely they sign Desmond. Hahn made it perfectly clear that while they don't want to throw away picks, their focus is on 2016 and they'd still have a full assortment of picks if they signed a guy with a QO attached. Additionally, as you pointed out, Hahn purposely side-stepped OF questions to state they were looking at multiple spots for possible improvements. Hell, even Robin said that Saladino was the SS "at least for now". With a lot of pro Avi talk these past two days, I see a Desmond addition plus a low key OF signing. Sounds like they want some Robin to have some options, but also want to give Avi another shot in some capacity. And Robin's LaRoche comments were very telling. If the Sox do add another OF, I think LaRoche becomes the odd man out before Avi.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) FutureSox.com ‏@FutureSox 30m30 minutes ago "We have Frazier, Lawrie, Saladino...at this point Saladino." - Ventura on the infield After attending today's seminar, I feel it's a strong possibility the Sox sign Desmond. This quote was just one of several that makes me feel that way.

Robin also said that right now LaRoche is the DH. His "competing" for a spot is assuming the Sox add another bat and I really like idea of LaRoche, Melky, & Avi having to compete for playing time at LF & DH. Just need to add another OF to make it happen.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 10:35 AM) All I am saying is that it's not particularly easy for Hawk to be entirely objective in his position. But no one asked him a question. Hyping up Avi was his opening statement to the entire seminar. I get that Hawk, Merkin, etc. have to defend guys on the roster, but this was beyond over the top.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 10:16 AM) What do you want him to say? He's around these guys every day. You guys were criticizing the fans for booing Avi. You don't think it's worse if Hawk gets up and rips him in front of all the fans? Lol...he said Avi Garcia was the player he was most excited for in 2016, which is first off ridiculous and second just asking to piss off your fans. But yep, I'm suggesting Hawk should rip him. Basically the same thing.

Very clear from Hahn & Ventura's comments that they're not done with this roster. Sounds like either Saladino & LaRoche could be replaced.

QUOTE (Sockin @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 10:05 AM) At the second town hall meeting and Hawk is singing the praises of Garcia now. I'm here and wanted to boo Hawk's ass for saying that.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 06:18 AM) I don't know, this doesn't seem like such a bad deal for Kendrick. Sure he turned down 15.7M for one year but he got a two year 20M deal instead. For a 32 year old player that is beginning to decline, I think there's something to be said about two years of financial security over one year. What? He's effectively getting paid $4.3M for 2017, that's pretty horrible.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 05:36 PM) I agree, but why the hell is he there in the first place? It's one thing for him to be there, but hyping him up as a ticket salesman was beyond stupid. The marketing department was basically trolling their own fanbase.

Glad this was addressed right away.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 06:26 AM) I'd rather the Sox sign Fowler and lose the pick than trade some established prospects for CarGo. Yeah, I really see four options for the OF. 1) Sign Fowler and lose a draft pick. 2) Sign Jackson and lose nothing. 3) Trade Adams+ for a legit upgrade. 4) Stick with Avi in RF. Honestly, given that we're "going for it", I think option #4 is a horrible idea. And I'd rather give up a draft pick than trade Adams (our best remaining headliner not named Anderson/Fulmer) if the player coming back is of similar ability to Fowler. The wild card here is Jackson. I'd prefer Jackson plus another move (Desmond/SP) to just Fowler, but if I can only have one or the other I think Fowler will provide the bigger impact. Too bad we couldn't land one of the big 3 OFs, because all these options sucks in comparison.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 11:09 AM) The Martian was ok, not much more than that. Yeah, I'd say it was good not great.