Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 20, 2013 -> 11:22 AM) You know, for once, I think Marty kinda has a point. I still think the reason to trade Peavy is that the sox are already loaded with pitching, but "making sure Jake doesn't get hurt again while we're paying for him" isn't the worst reason I've ever hear. I think you're over-estimating how loaded we are with starting pitching. Sale, Peavy, Danks, Quintana, & Santiago is an excellent rotation top to bottom, there is no arguing that. However, Axelrod has shown he's no more than a #5 and quite frankly shouldn't factor in any long-term decision-making. I really like Johnson though and feel that he's ready for an opportunity, so I think we can definitely afford to move a starter. Having said that, it's not the end of the world if he starts next year in AAA. After Johnson, Rienzo is the only other prospect who's even close to being ready for a job and he may ultimately wind up as a reliever. So behind our strong rotation, we have one legit prospect, another question mark, and a fringe #5 type. That's pretty decent depth for now, but trade Peavy and it's gone pretty quickly plus you've instantly weakened your major league rotation. Again, I think we can afford trade a starter and Peavy is the ideal guy to move IMO, but if the offers don't come in where you want them to you might as well hold on to him until the offseason. You don't simply dump a #2 starter for below market value to give someone like Axelrod or Rienzo innings. You only move him if you can acquire a couple position playing prospects that can help you as soon as next year. Hopefully Peavy pitches well today, because his contract should make him the most valuable starter on the market if his rib injury is behind him.

If I were the Cubs, I wouldn't get too greedy with Garza. Right now, they have the most desirable starting pitcher on the market. However, if Peavy comes back strong tomorrow, I think a lot of teams would prefer paying a premium for the guy with another 2 1/2 years of team control than the pure rental. Also, one thing that hurts teams acquiring Garza is they no longer get a comp pick if he leaves. That rule change is going to have a huge change on the value of rentals going forward.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 19, 2013 -> 05:22 PM) Mark Gonzales ‏@MDGonzales 8m Crain reported progress, threw from 80 feet, hopes to return in 1 week, might be ambitious Let's hope 1 week isn't too ambitious or we'll be selling one of our best trade chips for pennies on the dollar.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 19, 2013 -> 03:40 PM) Just what Dick Allen is saying. It doesn't make much sense to move these two guys if the Sox have to pay that kind of money to get rid of them. Like that analysis said, they have no value. Greg, for the love of god please stop trolling. First suggesting Baines as manager and now Rios & Ramirez have NO value? I wish people didn't believe you were a real person, because then you'd be forced to stop this nonsense.

Olacio with 6 scoreless innings so far. He's been pretty good in his last few starts. Not a ton of K's, but much improved BB rate, and he's getting a ton of groundouts. Given that's he only 19 years old, any signs of progress should be considered great news.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 17, 2013 -> 05:56 PM) Yeah, sequencing is an interesting matter. To my knowledge, most attempts at judging the value of consistency vs. streakiness have been inconclusive, though I do specifically remember someone creating a stat called BACON (Batting Consistency) that was supposed to measure who had their hits distributed most evenly. If I recall correctly, Ichiro was the champion there. Ahh, yes: http://www.plunkeveryone.com/?p=95 I would think scoring runs in a consistent manner would be more valuable, on average, than having huge deviations in run output. If true, then a player like Dunn, who has a big impact on a small number of game (when he hits a HR) and a small impact on most others, would be less valuable overall then the sum of the inputs that go into his wOBA & wRC+ stats. Maybe I'm way off base, but that's the main reason I don't like Dunn.

QUOTE (Paulstar @ Jul 17, 2013 -> 12:01 PM) I wonder if you could see a team take a shot at Dunn after the trade deadline and claim him off of waivers, similar to how the Sox claimed Rios. I think there's a 0.5% chance he gets claimed, which is fine for us, because then we can trade him to any team we want throughout August. Also, teams are defintely going to want us to eat some money, so maybe there's a way to wiggle a decent prospect out of them if we pick up enough. If some team claims him, you simply say see ya and let them take on his full contract. No compensation necessary at that point.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 16, 2013 -> 05:26 PM) David Kaplan tweeted that he interviewed Bob Nightengale for SportsTalkChi Live today and Nightengale said that Profar is in play in the Garza talks. Hang on....wait for it...HAHAHAHAHA....I love this time of year. Wow, Theo must be paying Nightengale quite a bit of money to "leak" that nugget.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 15, 2013 -> 10:32 PM) But the offense doesn't put up 4-5-6 runs a night, and the farm system sucks. Trading Peavy is clearly the right move to make if they get the right offer. And if somebody wants to take on John Danks, you do it in a heartbeat. Here's my beef with the dump John Danks idea. At some point, we'll have more salary relief than we'll know what to do with it. Danks $14.3 Peavy $14.5 Sale $3.5 Dunn $15 Rios $12.5 Ramirez $9.5 Keppinger $4 2014 Total: $73.3M Beckham $3 => $6 Viciedo $2.8 => $3.5 De Aza $2.1 => $4.2 2014 Estimate: $13.7M So right now, we're looking at $87 million in payroll committments for next year. That's $30 million less than our 2013 opening day payroll, plus we'll be receiving an extra $25 million in TV revenue. Even if we keep all the guys mentioned above, we should have plenty of money to spend. My guess is that we at least one or two high salary players at the deadline which would free up even more money. IMO, dumping Danks' contract for financial reasons doesn't really do much for us. We're not going to sign 4 or 5 major free agents in one offseason. And we won't get much talent for him right now. However, a year from now when he's 100% healthy that may change, especially if player costs rise with the influx of new TV money. 2 years at $14.25M per may be a deal at that point.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 15, 2013 -> 07:53 PM) General twitter rumors suggesting Garza to Rangers for Olt and a pitching prospect is possible Olt has been pretty bad this year, although he was having some vision problems earlier this season. I think he's worth the gamble though, especially given that Garza is a strict rental. If I were Hahn, I'd see what they'd be willing to give up on top of Olt for Peavy.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 15, 2013 -> 06:32 PM) Lol...another Hawkins strikeout. I still believe there has to be some crazy explanation for this other than he simply sucks. His K rate wasn't that bad last year, it makes no sense to me how it's gotten this bad. Just so f***ing bizarre.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Jul 13, 2013 -> 07:03 AM) have the sox said yet where he starts? gotta be birmingham, right? I would send him to Winston-Salem personally. He's only 22 years old...I really see no need to rush him to AA.

Awesome trade...anyone saying otherwise is b****ing just to b****. Jacobs is the ultimate lottery ticket, probably amounts to s***, but has the potential to be an everyday starter. Also saves us $2.75M which we can use to eat some money in a Rios or Peavy trade to expand their markets. What more could you expect to get in return for Matt Thornton?

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 12, 2013 -> 06:20 PM) Decide what WAR you are likely to get from Chris Sale over the next 5-7 seasons. Decide what chance the package in return matches or exceeds that WAR. If you get a 3 WAR/year guy, two 2 WAR/year guys, you've already won in grand fashion. But can you do that? You're not accounting for positional scarcity. There are only 25 roster spots and not many players can get you 6 or 7 WAR in a given year. Having a guy like that, signed to a below market contract no less, makes building a legit World Series contender that much easier.

There's no point in talking about a possible Chris Sale trade because it will never happen, at least not anytime soon. No intelligent GM is going to give up the theoretical value it would take to get him right now. Think the original Dan Haren trade to the Diamondbacks and then add on top of it. That's the type of package it would take Rick Hahn to gamble all the surplus value Sale will likely provide (if healthy) on a group of prospects. Also, let's remember that these GMs risk their careers when they make moves of this magnitude. Imagine if Hahn traded Sale and for a bunch of prospects and they all busted. He'd have a hard time convincing another owner to give him a job. That's why you don't see guys with Sale's talent who are locked up to well-below market, long-term deals get moved too often. The risk of the trade backfiring is simply not worth the potential payoff if all goes right.

I think Chris Bassitt is by far the biggest miss on the top 25 list IMO. I know he's on the older side, but he's a converted college closer and has pitched very well this year, arguably better than Chris Beck. Also, scouting reports say he has a nice fastball, but needed to improve his secondary pitches. Based on his numbers this year, I'm guessing he's made some progress. As for the top 10 specifically, Micah Johnson not being in the top 10 doesn't make sense to me. I think the age factor is way overplayed and while the defensive concerns are legit, he's got all the tools to be a solid defensive 2B. With hard work/repetition and enough coaching, he should get better in that area. Maybe he doesn't stick at 2B, but its way too early to assume that. I would easily rank him above all but the top 5 prospects on your list. Again, just my opinion.

Caulfield, you honestly need to ease onto an easier drug like meth, because Puig is starting to take control of your life. You're literally just using this thread to collect random Puig articles like Pokemon. At some point, if people aren't responding to you, you can't force conversation by simply posting more articles.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 01:27 PM) I might have to pick up the latest bioshock. On sale for $30. There's honestly no point in buying games when they first come out. Wait 3 or 4 months and the game will cost half the price.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fringe-...e-prospects-11/

While I do hate Thornton with all my heart (2011 to 2013 version), I must admit he does have some value because he can still get lefties out at an extremely effective rate. Contenders will have use for a player like that, especially come playoff time when every late inning matchup is important. I doubt you get anything crazy for him, but a high-end lottery ticket or two doesn't seem out of the question.

Semien is now 2/3 with a HR.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 08:27 PM) Beckham is freaking awesome We really need to consider locking him up to a 3 or 4 year deal.

Alright, to get back on track, Semien & Walker with back to back hits to start the game and take an early lead. As I mentioned in another thread, Semien now has an .800 OPS on the season, which puts him 10th in the Sourthern League. He has 27 XBHs (14 2Bs, 4 3Bs, 9 HRs), 16 SBs (at an 80% clip), and a BB to K ratio of 63:58. His .386 OBP is 3rd overall in the league. A 22 year old middle infielder playing very well in AA and he doesn't even crack the top 10 in a poor system? I think we all may be sleeping on Semien quite a bit, myself included.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 02:58 PM) WTF Holy f*** this times infinity! I see a minor league game thread at 3 pages before 7:00pm and think something interesting may have actually happened with one or more of our players, but nope just another thread getting caulfielded with more Puig comments and other random nonsense.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 03:31 PM) Worth noting is that the Boras guy is Ellsbury's agent. Yeah, he could get $18-20 million. And let's not forget every team gets an extra $25 million to work with this offseason. That's going to lead to serious inflation in player salaries.