Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 07:08 PM) Care to copy & paste the link? It has a paywall on it. Just search "Cespedes Tribune" on google and you can read it for free.

Who cares about the Cubs, let's add Cespedes so our team is a legit playoff contender. Add Cespedes and we have just as good of a shot as any team in the division to win the Central.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 01:15 PM) That's almost what a small market team has to do...maximize the contention window and then bottom out and rebuild with high draft picks for 3-5 years. It makes more sense than trying to spend your way into contention every season. Rebuild 3-5 years? I'm pretty K.C.'s last go around was like 20 years.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 12:59 PM) It seems to me that the White Sox would sign Cespedes to a 4 year deal. He needs to lower his demands though. The 3 year things isn't true but I don't think they'd want to go 5 years with him. Cespedes is running out of options. He is and I really can't see him taking a one year deal. If the Sox offer 4/$84M, he'd be foolish to pass that up.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 12:44 PM) Considering the fact that some of us thought that he might get less than the original offer once the Orioles rescinded it because there's no other team offering anything close, it looks like a fleecing. The original offer looked like a fleecing. And then he got offers from zero other teams and there's no logical landing spot for him other than Baltimore and then Baltimore ups their already crazy offer. Exactly, Davis would have lost a ton of money if Baltimore would have finally told Boras to go f*** himself. Holding to his guns and getting even a cent more is incredible given he really didn't have any leverage.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 12:47 PM) I doubt they'd have the cojones, but wonder if they would be willing to move Hosmer and Moustakas after 2016 to avoid losing them for nothing. Given the Kennedy deal, I think they're going all-in the next two years regardless of the long-term consequences. Nothing would make me happier than watching the Royals be cellar dwellers once again.

The Royals are doomed after the 2017, will be fun to watch.

They're sticking with the three year bulls***. I really, really hope this is all just posturing because four years might get it done at this point.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 10:06 AM) Assuming Garcia was the starter and not Thompson...we can't be so sure about that. Garcia was the starter last year, so why does Thompson matter? And Trayce got us what's projected to be the largest positional improvement in baseball. I have no idea what your angle is here.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:55 AM) Ventura Volquez Kennedy Medlen Young Duffy Jason Vargas (back at midseason from TJ) Zimmer The one thing they do have is some depth now... Without a single top of the rotation starter. At best Kennedy is another #3 in the AL with the potential to be a total flop. I totally get their need to go for it and overpay in free agency to do so, but this is the wrong guy and wrong deal.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:23 AM) The thing is that no one was negotiating against them. He literally got $7 million for no reason. All while the position player market plummeted. That's an incredible feat by Boras.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 08:56 AM) Yes, and hope they made the right call on Montas. If hitters are basically getting 60-75% of what comparable pitchers are earning, it would be insane not to take advantage of the current window of opportunity. I agree with this. Outside of Davis & Heyward, I'm actually shocked at the market for position players. All of last season it was talked about how hard it was to find offense in the current baseball environment and once free agency hit teams went in the complete opposite direction. Good time to have cost-controlled pitching for the foreseeable future.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 08:50 AM) According to Team Sports Marketing, you get significant financial and community goodwill benefits for five full seasons after winning a World Series. Getting there two years in a row, probably closer to seven. Are you actually trying to justify the length of this signing? It may help them in their two year window, but that contract will get ugly before the end of it.

This signing is further proof we need to hold onto our pitching depth and add a bat via free agency. Getting two legit starters out of Johnson, Fulmer, & Adams is key to our long-term success.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 08:19 AM) I think the validity of the Baltimore offer to Cespedes has to be questioned now, but I was watching MLBN yesterday and they were asking ip the if you were Cespedes question would you sign for one year or the 5/$90 million. A couple of the non players thought about it, but every ex player said they would take the money. You're probably right and my guess is the Orioles never officially offered it, just communicated what terms they'd be willing to do. And while that "offer" was most likely purposely less than what Cespedes wants, I just can't see any team that's going to be willing to offer anything higher. Baltimore was the last team with money to burn that was determined to add a slugger. At this point, Cespedes, Upton, & even Fowler are running out of suitors. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Sox "leak" they've made an offer to Fowler in the next couple days to try and make Cespedes s*** or get off the pot. Cespedes & Upton are quickly running out of leverage and I can't Cespedes at least taking a one year deal. The Sox really need to call his bluff in the near future.

QUOTE (daggins @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 07:50 AM) Best outcome, but this probably means Cespedes for Honestly, without the Orioles in play, I think 5/$90M may be enough. Not sure the Sox would be willing to go 5 years, but I really don't see another suitor out there that would be willing to either. Unless he's willing to take a 1 year deal (which would be crazy coming off the season he just has), I think this puts the Sox in a great spot. Got to be willing to go 4 years though.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 08:24 AM) If he gets playing time, Saladino could put up decent numbers. I'd say .255 10 HR 48 RBI 15 SB is a fair estimate. Pretty comparable to 2015 Alexei numbers. I expect more stolen bases than that. Probably in the 20 to 25 range. He may not be the fastest guy around, but he's an incredibly smart base runner. I believe he was top 5 in time from first to second on stolen base attempts.

Honestly, I feel comfortable saying I fully expect Saladino to provide more value than Alexei in the field and on the bases next year. The bat is certainly a wild card and has a non-zero chance of being a major problem for us, but I'm probably higher than most here about his offensive potential. If he can get on base at a decent clip and hit 10 HRs, he'll be more than passable in the nine spot.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 11:45 PM) Wonder if they are going to try to lock him up longer term. Something like 5/25 would be cool. I think it's way too early to consider an extension. We got to see how he handles 2B and if he takes any steps forward with the bat. I think around the All-Star break is far more realistic.

QUOTE (Hawkfan @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 05:56 AM) Wow. That seems cheap. It's actually slightly above what mlbtraderumors was projecting.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 07:24 PM) I think a 5 year deal would be a mistake for a player that inconsistent. But with an AAV of $18M or less? We're talking about a guy with a 3 WAR floor if he's not forced to play CF. I get his 2015 was an outlier, but the hypothetical Baltimore deal isn't paying him to be a 6+ WAR player, it's paying him to be a 2 to 2.5 WAR player. Honestly, at that price who cares about a 5th year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 06:35 PM) Anyone ever think there might be a reason so many teams only want him on short deal? Because there aren't a lot of teams with cash desperate for an OF? Also, it's much easier to convince your owner to go over their budget on a 1 or 2 year deal.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 06:27 PM) I'll be pissed. But not as pissed as I probably would have been a few weeks ago. What's changed over the past few weeks? Anything less than 5/$90M for Cespedes would be a steal. The Sox not doing that deal would be a complete joke and would mean this 3 year nonsense was probably legit. And let me state for the record that I believe the 3 year deal stuff to be posturing. Just saying I will pissed if we have a chance to take advantage of a crazy buyers' market and decide to pass for whatever stupid reason.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 06:19 PM) "ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that “it’s believed” that the Orioles are willing to go in the range of five years and $75-90MM for Cespedes at this time. He also tweets that the Orioles are becoming increasingly frustrated with Davis and might even be on the brink of walking away from negotiations entirely." http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/01/orio...s-cespedes.html I will say this, if the Orioles land Cespedes for a contract in that range, then I'm going to f***ing enraged.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 07:53 AM) I go back and forth about being optimistic, but the article does make me feel better. No matter what, though, if the Sox were to sign Cespedes (or Upton for that matter), the 2016 payroll will be one of the highest ever for the team. I would imagine the Sox would be willing to have a higher payroll this year knowing that $29 million is coming off the books next year. That is, however, all dependent on what kind of deals Cespedes and Upton ultimately get. As each day goes by it looks more and more like they will end up with shorter deals, but you never know. The Sox had a $128M payroll in 2011, which was before the big national TV money kicked in. I'm confident they can match that figure next year. If Reinsdorf is willing to go above that threshold just a little bit and Cespedes is willing to take a slightly back-loaded deal, I truly believe we can make the financials work.