Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Lillian @ Oct 23, 2013 -> 05:53 AM) I'm sorry, but I don't understand your point. To clarify mine; Adam Dunn may still be on the team, but our offense is not going to be competitive with him putting up last year's numbers, in the clean up spot. As many of you have argued, he needs to bat further down in the order. The number one priority now should be to find a decent left handed, clean up hitter, to replace him. Any suggestions?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 10:41 PM) You don't get extra points for having a prototypical lineup. An upgrade is an upgrade. However much better a new player is than the incumbent, that's how much better your team gets. I don't agree with this at all. A well constructed offense can produce more than the sum of the individual parts. For example, a guy like Adam Dunn is going to be a lot more valuable to the Sox if there are people on-base when he hits his home-runs. Does adding a high OBP leadoff guy improve Dunn's WAR? No, but it can make him more productive. I'm not accusing you of this, but WAR is never going to be the be-all-end-all. At the end of the day, baseball is still a team sport and WAR will never be able to account for everything. Not all upgrades in terms of WAR are necessarily equal.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 02:00 PM) I wouldn't give up scraps for him. He's a highly paid, small upgrade on what we currently have at 3b and he's a free agent at the end of the year. That's the exact opposite of what the White Sox should target in trades if they give away anything of value. How is he a small upgrade? Even in a down year compared to 2012 he still posted a 3.6 WAR, which would make him a top 8 3B from what I can tell. You must have a lot higher hopes for a Gillaspinger platoon than I do. While I think they might be serviceable, Headley would be a huge improvement, even if 2012 proves to be a outlier.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 12:48 PM) Back to CF .Ellsbury I'd take in a heartbeat. Brett Gardner . I've seen defenders and haters on DeAza and maybe he'll bounce back but if it's possible to get value for him I'd say go for it. Jordan Danks could replace him as the 4th outfielder. I've seen Parra mentioned and Juan Ligares is a very good defender also . Carlos Gomez and Colby Ramus had breakout years .Peter Bourjos is 2 injury plagued years removed from his very good 2011 season and could be a buy low candidate.The outfield needs serious attention . You just can't have 2 bad fielders roaming around out there , 3 if you want to count Garcia. I honestly think the OF will see the biggest changes on the Sox this offseason. Be prepared to see major changes there. If your going to get bad hitting from your outfielders you better get good fielding. Sucking at both is a huge good bye waiting to happen. I disagree here. Garcia is a lock for one OF spot and I'm not sure why we wouldn't give Viciedo another opportunity out there given the lack of young talent we currently have in our organization. That leaves De Aza, and while I think Hahn may try to move him if he can get a strong return, he's definitely not just going to give him away. So IMO, they may look for an upgrade in CF but it will all depend on the market for De Aza.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) Yup, give me Ellsbury and McCann for the same price as Cano. Plug two holes and likely get better production for the same price. You aren't getting Ellsbury & McCann for the same price as Cano. Those guys are each going get anywhere between $16M to $22M a year.

QUOTE (daggins @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 06:25 PM) Since he is asking for 300 mil, and given the money being thrown around the last couple years, i'm guessing he gets 200 at least. I guess do you really think he'll get more than $25M per for 8 years? Only three contracts have exceeded the $200M threshold and those are A-Rod's last 2 contracts and Pujol's. If Cano was 3 or 4 years younger maybe he could get a 9 or 10 year deal but he's already 31 years old. Given the Dodgers are likely out and the Yankees have somewhat been scarred straight by the luxury tax, I think Cano will have to "settle" for less than 8 years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 05:15 PM) That the White Sox are going to give a $200ish million dollar contract to Cano? You can't be serious. That isn't anything like the White Sox. It will be interesting to see what he ends up getting. After the A-Rod & Pujols deals, I think teams are going to pass on these idiotic 10 year deals. And with the Dodgers out, there's one less team that would actually be willing do something stupid. IMO, he won't reach the $200M mark but who really knows.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 20, 2013 -> 05:55 PM) Hopefully we already did. At the least we just paid for one. Abreu is only making $11M per season, do you really consider Adam LaRoche a star? That's simply the going rate for a power-hitting 1B not the next Albert Pujols.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 20, 2013 -> 10:22 AM) They aren't going to spend big money on a starting pitcher project. They might bring in some reclaimations, but that will be about it. I still fully expect a minor league deal/option year type contract to get worked out with Gavin Floyd. See, I disagree with you here. I think if Hahn is seriously considering trading one of young SPs for a young bat, he'll definitely look at a guy like Johnson on a short-term deal. We have tons of cash right now and very little to spend it on that won't cost us a draft pick. Signing a project SP where the only downside is losing some money is exactly the type of low-risk, high-reward moves we should be considering. Plus I think our pitching depth is incredibly overrated. Don't get me wrong, I love our current 1-5 and think Rienzo is a great insurance policy as our #6 starter, but take out Quintana or Santiago and the complexion of the rotation suddenly changes and that depth is basically gone IMO. However, I think you can mitigate that by adding a guy like Johnson to the mix. Look at what happened to us this past year, you simply can't have enough pitching depth. Now, if Hahn wants to hold on to both Quintana & Santiago then it's a totally different story. But we shouldn't be afraid to spend at a position of strength if an opportunity presents itself there. Hahn will have to be creative to get this team competitive again and this may be the type of move to help get us there.

Honestly, as great as he's been for us, it's time for Konerko to go. Right now, Dunn is the more productive player and his left-handed bat adds some much needed balance to the lineup. While I do think a Konerko/Dunn platoon could work, you're giving up a lot of roster flexibility carrying three 1B/DH types and you risk Robin trying to find a way to get Konerko playing time at the expense of the other two. Overall, it just doesn't make sense IMO.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 19, 2013 -> 06:14 AM) http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10...stro-joe-maddon Rosenbloom ripping on Epstein/Wonderboy Regime. Before the gig's up, I wonder how much money Epstein will have made? Notes that some Cubs' fans want to trade Castro for Maddon straight up, haha. I think the Theo hate is getting a little heavy right now, simply because most Cubs fans had unrealistic expectations to be begin with. I kept hearing from my Cubs friends that 2015 was going to be the year they became competitive again. Fans were cool with losing because they thought they'd gradually see the development of more and more young stars and then the signing of a plethora of free agents leading up to the 2015 season. I always thought this view was way too optimistic, because they only had a couple young players on or close to the major league roster and nowhere near an elite system yet. IMO, this was always going to be a 4 or 5 year process, at minimum, since they still needed to acquire a ton of talent and develop these guys through the system. The only way that was going to change was if guys like Castro, Rizzo, & Samardjza developed into stars and Theo got extremely creative in acquiring talent. Two years later, both of those items have failed to come to fruition. The three young guys have regressed/stalled and Theo hasn't really done much other than commit to his small-market approach to rebuilding. Whether this approach ultimately works remains to be seen, but it's quite humerous seeing Cubs fans start to panic. I think they're starting to realize Theo isn't a god and can't make talent appear out of thin air. It's going to take 4 or 5 years of losing to get that talent, and maybe longer if Rizzo & Castro don't take that next step in 2014. So much of their hope right now lies in the hands of a handful of young prospects including Baez, Bryant, Almora, & Solar. If the first one of those guys to reach the big leagues flops, it's going to be mayham on the north side.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:24 PM) I feel like someone has to go between Beckham, Ramirez, Viciedo and De Aza. I honestly doubt we upgrade at 3B. If anything is different it'll be Semien getting time there. To me it's trade Beckham and put Semien at 2B. IMO, the key move right now is addressing catcher and then finding a way to improve the overall team OBP. McCann would solve both needs. Trading Beckham and opening up a spot for Semien (which I'd like to see happen) would also help with the latter. I still think Hahn will explore all options at 3B, but is only going to make a move if a long-term solution is available. Hanley, Headley, & Sandoval are all free agents next year, so I'm not completely against giving a Gillapsie/Keppinger platoon a shot at 3B for 2014, but I wouldn't pass up on acquiring a top 3B prospect if a guy Santiago could net you such a player.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:27 PM) "Our Chuck" with a gem (granted in Cuba but definitely encouraging...) : The White Sox want players with plate discipline. Jose Abreu had 74 walks and 49 strikeouts this season--with 30 HRs and batted .399. Just so people are aware, I believe a ton of his walks were intentional. Still impressive numbers, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions about his plate discipline yet.

Add Abreu & McCann and this team suddenly becomes competitive again IMO.

Absolutely love this move, couldn't be more excited. We've filled our biggest hole with the best free agent available at the position. Here's what we currently have for next year offensively: 1B) Abreu 2B) Beckham (or Semien) SS) Ramirez 3B) Gillaspie/Keppinger LF) Viciedo CF) De Aza RF) Garcia DH) Dunn C) Phegley Catcher & 3B are the only true holes IMO. I think Hahn will try to address C in free agency, as the idea of entering the season with Phegley as the starter is quite frightening. At least with 3B we should be able to get reasonable production from a Gillaspie/Keppinger platoon. Still a long-term problem for us, so you got to think Hahn will explore trade possibilities. It's amazing how much better shape we're in after this one move though.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 11:01 PM) Actually helps us in the market IMO. Keep an eye on high-contact scrappy players, I know it sucks but I think mgmt thinks they have the power at this point. I think we enough Jeff Keppinger's on the roster. I'll take more power please.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 07:51 PM) Hot fire POTY

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 17, 2013 -> 01:03 AM) He is well worth $8M a year if he repeats his 2013, but the question would be if he can repeat it, and the other question is whether any of that will matter to a team that just lost 99 games. I don't see us being a playoff contender for 3 more years, which is pretty much the entirety of a deal Salty would get. What's happening in 3 years? If we don't start adding pieces right now, it's going to take a lot longer than that. Catcher in particular should be a high priority spot, as having a veteran catcher can only help develop our young pitching. And it's not like we have any catching prospect that will be ready anytime soon. I also don't think Salty is going to break the bank. He's roughly the same age as Russell Martin was last year but has been a less productive player, and Martin only got $15M over two years. I think Salty will get more than that in this free agent environment, but $25/3 or $33/4 both seem reasonable to me. A Salty/Phegley platoon will get us way more production than we got out of the catcher's spot in 2013. Using our excess cash to improve the offense is the smart way to quickly become competitive again, especially when sound opportunities present themselves at key positions. I honestly really like the Salty idea if Hahn plans on adding a legit hitter at 1B and improving one other position. Make those three moves and a couple more deals next offseason and suddenly 2015 seems like a real chance to be competitive again.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 14, 2013 -> 06:18 PM) Sale's contract only increases his value. 25 next opening day, $3.5 million next year, $6 million in 2015 $9,150,000 in 2016, $12 million in 2017, $12.5 million in 2018, and $13.5 million in 2019. Not only that, but each of those last 2 seasons has a $1 million buyout, so even if he did get severely injured, it wouldn't be that expensive. You would have this guy for $57 million over 6 prime years. I can't think of anyone with his success and that little of guarantee over that long of time(considering today's pay) being traded, but the package would have to be unprecedented IMO. Fangraphs had him worth $25.6M this year. If you believe he can sustain that production, he's worth at least $153.6M over the life of his contract. That's nearly $100M in surplus value over the next six years and doesn't account for player costs going up significantly with the addition of new TV money (MLB & team specific deals). If he can stay healthy, I'm guessing his contract is the best potential value in modern baseball history, especially when you consider that at this point his deal doesn't include any pre-arb years.

Couple things on the trading Sale front: 1) Prospects flop at a high rate, so don't expect 4 good major leaguers if we acquire 4 top prospects for him (the Teixeira deal is the exception, not the rule) 2) Sale's potential surplus value is insanely large if he stays healthy, very few major leaguers are signed to such team friendly contracts so it's going to be hard to get a player of "equal value" 3) There are few true "aces" in baseball and the impact these select players can have a short playoff series is incredible, this value while difficult to measure needs be considered and reflected into any potential price a team pays for Sale I'm against moving Sale because I don't think any team would meet the asking price it would take to get him but it can't hurt to listen to offers.

I've never understood the special treatment athletes get when it comes to tragedies. In the past couple months, in Chicago alone we've had a woman kill her own baby with scissors to the face and another woman kill her own grandchild with a sledgehammer, but all of a sudden an NFL's player's child is killed and it's the greatest tragedy of all time. s*** like this is happening on a daily basis, let's not pretend otherwise until it happens to someone "important" like AP.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 06:16 PM) Wait, Abreu has signed with someone? No, but Eminor is saying a move can't be announced until after the World Series, so it's possible he's already picked a team and we simply won't find out for a few weeks.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) I've heard both arguments. The Sox would be crazy to pay for a prospect and the Dodgers (or Pirates) aren't going to give prospects up for money. What IS crazy is paying a 4th OF'er like Ethier $72M. Because paying $30M for a B prospect is a horrible use of resources for the White Sox and the Dodgers are one of the richest franchises in baseball and don't need to get rid of young talent to free up cash. Your proposed move makes no sense for either side.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 05:10 PM) It won't be announced until after the playoffs, but that's because the MLB doesn't want big news taking away from the games. What moves can be announced during the playoffs? The Cubs just signed Ryan Sweeney to an extension. I guess I'm a bit surprised MLB would have a rule against announcing international free agent signings during the first round of the playoffs, given how few there are nowadays. That really sucks if we have to wait a couple weeks to find out who won the Abreu bidding.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 05:17 PM) I guess I could do this all day. When you have the worst offense in baseball and the worst defense and slow footed creatures all over the bases you don't look to hit HR's with your moves. You look to improve in all areas with every player you acquire. As usual all I keep hearing about is offense. Did Konerko hit .299. Did Konerko have the range of Loney ? Did Konerko run the bases with any speed ? Yes I want Abreu but failing that I want a better team in more areas than offense. I want improvement at positions , multiple positions. Don't like 3 years ? Have you looked at the dearth of quality 1st basemen around baseball lately ? You could do a lot worse than Loney by far. Don't act like you can get his kind of production out of just anyone. You don't pick guys up off the scrapheap you can hit field and run the bases at 1st the way he can. If he was good enough for TB in the playoffs he's good enough for the Sox . I don't want a fast, defensive 1B when I play at the Cell. I want a guy that's going to hit a ton of HRs, especially given the lack of power with the rest of our infield. And if we can't acquire a better 1B than Loney this offseason, then we're better off accepting 2014 is a lost cause, because we aren't going to improve enough with him at a critical offensive position. And what works for the Rays isn't automatically going to work for us. See Jeff Keppinger's numbers in 2012 and then take a look at Loney's this year. Both are clear outliers and I don't want get stuck with another mediocre player signed to a multi-year deal coming off a fluke year.