Chicago White Sox

I don't think we need to add more than two arms to the pen this offseason. Sure, offer some guys spring training invites, but in terms of guaranteed commitments, I think one RHP and one LHP is all we need. Honestly, if I have to pick one player I think we'll sign in free agency it's Luke Gregerson. Guy has been a very solid reliever for years and is from Chicago originally. I could see him taking slightly less to come back home. He would be part of the closing mix and provide a nice veteran arm for the pen. Then say you add Zach Duke on a short-term deal to fill the left-handed need. You're looking at pen like this: CL Gregerson/Petricka SU Petricka/Gregerson SU Zach Duke MR Putnam/Guerra/Webb/Bassitt MR Surkamp/Snodgress MR Putnam/Guerra/Webb/Bassitt LR Carroll/Rienzo/Noesi (if Rodon in rotation) There's enough talent and depth there for that to be a very effective pen. Pretty much every spot would have competition in spring training and the losers would be waiting in AAA for their opportunity. I think it's a vast improvement over last year's pen and we're only looking at adding about $10M in salary, which would leave us with a good $35M or so to fill other needs IMO.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 11:53 PM) I bet my house the Sox don't bump payroll more than 20 million. I'd bet my house you're way wrong on this one.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 05:55 PM) He wasn't worth that last year - for us (high K, mediocre OBP); and he's not the 1 top 5 and 1 2nd 10 this year. Old habits die hard. I don't care how we may have valued him (which I disagree with), I stated what he would have cost us if we wanted to acquire him. The Reds would of had suitors lining up left and right prior to last season. And guys don't lose all their value by having one bad season due to injury. His value will be down, which is why we should pursue him, but it will not completely disappear. If the Reds can't get package like Montas & Sanchez now, then they'll simply wait and then him rebuild his value.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) We could also use young righthanded pitchers who throw 100. Bruce's season wasn't simply his worst - it was a horrible season by any measure. His acquisition should be at a deep discount. Montas & Sanchez would be a huge discount. The guy would have cost us three of our top five prospects prior to last season.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 05:14 PM) Huh? Not trading for Lind shows the Sox don't want to spend money on Martinez? Yeah, I'm not sure how that reasoning came about. In fact, as I just posted, I think it suggests the opposite. The Sox don't want to settle for Lind right now when a guy like Martinez is still available.

If Lind could've been had that cheaply and we passed, it seriously suggests that we're either going after Martinez to be the full-time DH or we're looking at using a rotating DH with guys that have some defensive ability. Honestly, as good as Lind is against RHP, I'm glad we passed on him. Too early in the offseason to settle on a platoon type as our starting DH.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 06:43 PM) He doesn't owe Renteria anything. His job is to get the Cubs closer to a World Series. If he feels like hiring Maddon does that, then it is the right move. A CEO's job is to improve the company's bottom line, so I guess he shouldn't give a f*** about his employees' well-being if it results in more profit right? May I ask what you do for a living? Would you be ok being let go from your job a year into it despite being a very solid performer? I know I'd be enraged if I was Renteria and I'd feel the exact same way if I was another member of their organization. Loyalty and trust are key elements of sustainability for all organizations. So you can say Theo doesn't owe Renteria anything, but why should Theo's employees trust him if they can be so easily discarded if something better suddenly comes along. Don't get me wrong, the move will likely help the Cubs in the short-run, but that doesn't mean there won't be long-term consequences. You can't treat your employees like s*** and expect loyalty in return.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 06:31 PM) Ya make a good point here. Signing a 33 year old pitcher to a long term deal would be just like the cubs. I don't think the cubs could land Lester ( or Scherzer for that matter) but Shields would not surprise me one bit. Why can't the Cubs land Lester? IMO, they have to be considered one of the favorites.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) I like the quote that Theo used: "It came down to be loyal to Rick or be loyal to the organization". "The organization is more important that one single person". Exactly. No offense, but this is what any employer would say when they let go of an employee. I'm not sure why you're so impressed by the quote. At the end of the day, Theo did not give Renteria a fair shot at the job. Don't get me wrong, hiring Maddon likely helps the organization right now, but let's not applaud a man for a lack of loyalty to one of his own people.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 07:12 AM) I don't know if Bill James would agree with the idea of "overhyping" something just because it's not measurable or easily quantifiable. No, but he would probably accuse you of a recency bias. And quite frankly, how much playoff experience did that Royals team actually have outside of "Big Game" Shields? Seems like their lack of postseason experience didn't stop them from reaching game 7 of the World Series. All else being equal, playoff experience would be nice to have, but we need to get to the playoffs first for that to even matter and that requires a talent infusion.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 01:02 AM) OTOH, this team needs some playoff-experienced veteran leadership, and LaRoche checks off that particular box. Playoff-experienced leadership? This team need talent/production, not some personality attribute you're overhyping cause the World Series just ended. And LaRoche has played in 17 postseason games in his 11 year career. I wouldn't call that a ton of experience.

Hawkins will be in AA to start next year, repeating the level a third time would be a huge slap in the face to his confidence. And I agree he'll likely struggle next year, but there is no reason he can't spend 2 years in AA and still make progress.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 27, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) Seems like it should go in the reverse order. Parks can definitely affect types of hits differently, and can affect left/right handed hitters differently. Triples are clearly harder to come by in the Cell than at Comerica, and homers are clearly much easier to come by at Yankee Stadium for lefties than righties. If we are just blanketly saying that the Cell inflates offense by 4%, then that doesn't give me much confidence in that system. Seems pretty lazy to me. See, this was my exact concern. Do slap hitters like Juan Pierre & Scott Podsednik gain as much when playing at the Cell as guys who tend to put more loft on the ball? I would guess not, but it sounds like wRC+ spreads the benefit to all players equally. And to layer in more complexity, there is also some seasonality/variability to park effects. Tempetature, wind, etc. aren't static, meaning it's difficult to measure how much incremental run production in a given period of time was due to favorable weather vs. a team simply having a hot streak.

Eminor3rd, since you're the wRC+ guru, can you please explain how the park adjustments work in the metric? While I'm a huge fan of what the statistic is attempting to do and use it frequently, I can't help but be skeptical that adjusting for park factors is that simple/clean of a process. Not all players benefit the same from playing in a given park, so if the park adjustments are applied equally to all players then I would have to consider the stat somewhat flawed. Looking forward to your response, as this has been a question bothering me for quite some time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 26, 2014 -> 01:31 PM) Unfortunately that's not how the world works. They have to make a decision on Viciedo by the start of December, and it'll be weeks after that before they know whether they'd have missed out on other targets. You're acting like they can't move Viciedo if they tender him a contract which remains to be seen. Either way, I'm certain Hahn will gauge Viciedo's trade value before deciding to tender him or not. Obviously they won't use him as a backup plan if they feel he will be impossible to move.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 26, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) Why would we add two starting caliber OFs? With Eaton and Garcia penciled in, we could add one in left... but then we have DV and Danks and your other guy you wanted to add on the bench. Shouldn't we only keep 4 OFs on the MLB roster? Or did you plan on trading Viciedo? You missed my point on using a rotating DH. I'm suggesting having four starting-caliber OFs on the roster, one of whom would DH on any given day. Quite frankly, I don't want Viciedo on this team next year unless we miss out on all other OF/DH targets. I was probably his biggest fan coming into this past season, but it's time for us to move on, even though I think doing so has some chance of burning down the road.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 25, 2014 -> 02:53 PM) I'm pretty sure Mitchell has one option remaining and Thompson has 2. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone? I'm fairly certain you are right.

QUOTE (MnSoxFan @ Oct 25, 2014 -> 12:21 PM) I am hoping he surprises as a reliever and is our closer next year. If Addison Reed can do it I think Bassitt can. Let Putnam and Petricka stay in setup roles. I think the Sox will bring in a veteran reliever to close, but I do think Bassitt will be a key member of our pen at some point next year.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Oct 25, 2014 -> 07:41 AM) I know; neither do Mitchell or Thompson. Hence my question. Why would they prefer losing Sierra to either Thompson or Mitchell? He's obviously a better hitter, probably a better fielder; is it Sierra's histrionics on the bench? I don't think the Royals would have claimed Thompson or Mitchell. Still don't get it. I'm almost 100% positive that Mitchell & Thompson have options left, so I'm not sure where you're getting your info from. Regardless, Sierra was let go because they didn't think he had a good shot of making the 25 man roster and knew they would have lost him anyways. We can safely stash Mitchell & Thompson at AAA and technically have some OF "depth". Totally different scenarios, so I'm not sure why you're comparing the two.

While Sierra is such a small piece that we probably shouldn't draw any conclusions from letting him go, I can't help but think this means we plan on adding two starting-caliber OFs this offseason and going with a rotating DH. In that event, having a strong defensive-minded 5th OF that can play all three positions makes a lot of sense. I see the role being late-inning defensive replacement, pinch runner, occasional pinch hitter, and Adam Eaton fill-in when he inevitably gets hurt. Sierra simply doesn't fill that role as well Danks does.

Dude, if you're the commissioner of course you let that trade go through. Denying a trade because you're bitter someone didn't accept your s***tier offer is some real cowardly s***. And going to the other trade partner and trying to convince him to make a trade with you instead of the deal he's already agreed to is probably even worse. I hope there is no money involved in your league, because I know I would straight up leave over a stunt like you're suggesting, even if I wasn't one of the two teams involved in a trade. A commissioner that abuses his power will always destroy a league, especially if it's f***ing with people's money.

Shields will definitely get four years from someone, possibly even five, with an AAV in the $17M to $20M range. So realistically we're talking about it taking somewhere between 4/$70M and 4/$80M to get him. Way more than this 3/$45M speculation. I was pretty high on targeting him this offseason, but I've been convinced by some on this board it's a bad idea, especially with this long post-season run.

The one guy who should be up for top 10 consideration but is missing from every list is Jacob May. He had an excellent 2nd half putting up a slash line of .288/.374/.469/.843 with a BB:SO ratio of 25:27. Throw in solid defense in CF and excellent speed (37 SBs last year) and you have one of the more exciting prospects in the system. In fact, going through the system right now, I'd actually put him at #10. Top 15 Prospects 1. Carlos Rodon, LHP 2. Tim Anderson, SS 3. Micah Johnson, 2B 4. Frank Montas, RHP 5. Tyler Danish, RHP 6. Courtney Hawkins, RF 7. Spencer Adams, RHP 8. Carlos Sanchez, 2B/SS 9. Matt Davison, 3B 10. Jacob May, CF 11. Rangel Ravelo, 1B 12. Trey Michalczewski, 3B 13. Chris Bassitt, RHP 14. Micker Aldalfo, OF 15. Chris Beck, RHP

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 06:02 PM) Interesting and then became head scratching once the Edwin Jackson for John Danks proposal came up. I myself have thrown some s*** out there but that trade proposal is flat out dumb, period. I immediately stopped reading when I got to that part of the article. Sox fans rely too much on the " Coop will fix em" bulls***. Coop is a good pitching coach but let's face it, if Coop could fix everybody the Sox pen would not have been so bad. I will take Danks over Jackson anytime. Jackson was pretty good with us, at least for a portion of his tenure here. I think there is some history in place to suggest "Coop may fix em". Not saying I'm in favor of this move or not, but I can see some logic to it from both perspectives.

My view on the rotation is to add the best RHP you can this offseason (within reason) and basically have Danks, Noesi, & Rodon compete for two spots during Spring Training. In a perfect world, all three guys look great and Rodon can spend April in Charlotte "working on things", which would give Danks and Noesi another month to be evaluated. If Rodon blows them out of the water, then I'm fine with the loser being forced into the bullpen to start the season. What I don't want is to sign a some scrap heap starter that basically is filler until Rodon is ready. Strengthen the top three spots of the rotation by adding a good RHP or at least one with the potential to be like Masterson. Once comes Rodon comes up, I don't want more than one of Noesi or Danks in the rotation or the team will struggle to be competitive IMO.