Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Lillian @ Mar 8, 2013 -> 05:28 AM) It may be hyperbole, but it's not my hyperbole. That is what the Sanchez' manager told K.W. He doesn't have to be Roberto Alomar to represent an improvement, considering the money the Sox are now spending on their SS. Look, I'm not saying that Alexei is terrible. I just don't think that he is a $10 million a year SS, and if they could get something of value for him, it seems to make sense to explore the possiblities, especially when they have a very promising young replacement like Sanchez. If the Sox can't get anything of value, or if they don't think that Sanchez is ready, then perhaps it would be better to wait, and hope for a rebound season from Alexei. However, I agree with Marty, in that I don't see Alexei finishing that contract in Chicago. Alexei makes $7 million this year, followed by $9.5 & $10 million in 2014 & 2015. For comparison, Stephen Drew signed a 1 year, $9.5 million deal coming off a 0 WAR season. Just goes to show you what even an average SS can get on the open market. Look, I'm not going to argue that Alexei's contract will look great if his bat doesn't improve, but as long as his defense remains strong it will never be an albatross. Defense simply holds too much value at the position.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 06:31 PM) Correct. If he stays healthy, Hahn may very well have just created a contending team for the next 7 years. An underpaid ace can do that. Agree 100%. It all starts with starting pitching and having a legit ace makes filling out the rest of rotation a lot easier.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 07:30 PM) Ramirez isn't the difference between this team "competing" and not "competing". Personally, I think this is a slightly below .500 team. Certainly not in the same class as the Tigers. Anything can be the difference between competing and not competing. Everything adds up in the end and if you weaken yourself at SS and proceed to lose the division by a game, guess what? That move is one of the reasons you lost the division.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 07:21 PM) Getting that contract off the books would be more important than the return. At the expense of punting this season? Do you really think we have no chance to compete this year?

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 06:55 PM) Here's another possibility: If Keppinger can handle SS defensively (he has in the past), trade Alexi, keep Carlos at AAA, move Keppinger to SS, and start Gillispie. We wouldn't lose a thing. The offense would actually be much improved. Under the above scenario, you could dump Alexi's contract for nothing. We'd definitely lose quite a bit defensively and I'm not sure how much we'd really gain offensively. Yes, Alexei sucked last year, but his walk rate completely plummeted and he lost most of his power. I just didn't see anything physically to suggest he's going to be that bad of a player going forward. Worst case scenario, I think he'll rebound with the bat to some extent this year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 06:32 PM) More love for Jared Mitchell http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...s-to-turn-heads I still think this kid has a chance to be a special player. He doesn't turn 25 years old until October, so he's pretty much age appropriate for AAA, plus he really hasn't had that much development time given his injury. The physical tools remain there, even if his speed isn't quite as elite as it once was. The kid is always going to strikeout a lot, as he takes a ton of pitches and as a result a ton of walks. He just needs to learn how to make adjustments so he can get his contact rate to a respectable level. Honestly, I have no problem at all with a high OBP/low AVG leadoff hitter with above-average power and speed. He just can't be Adam Dunn bad with the strikeouts, which is what he was last year, especially in AAA.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 04:13 PM) I think Carlos Sanchez is going to pan out too, but he's not even 21 yet. I'd love it if he played 130+ games at Charlotte this year. Get more PA's against good pitching and be ready to come up in September to give the Sox something to think about for 2014. Unless he improves the major league team, there is simply no reason to rush him. Like you said, he's extremely young and still has plenty of room to grow as a player. Let him continue to develop in AAA for at least half of season and then see what the Sox's needs are. If he can help at that point, then maybe you throw him into the fire. Otherwise, wait until September. Either way, he gets some more time to polish his game before coming up to the big leagues, plus you'd delay his arbitration clock another year. Also, I would love to see Sanchez play SS everyday. Him & Semien split 2B & SS last year, but that shouldnt be an issue now. If Sanchez could somehow stick at SS, he'd be incredibly more valuable. I don't think it's very likely based on the scouting reports I've read, but there is no harm in playing him there while he's at AAA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 04:12 PM) The problem is that I don't think any of his tools grade out as better than Ramirez. Well his hit tool and plate-disipline project better, but the difference in power and defense is signicant. Having said, the player Carlos Sanchez projects to be down the road is not who you'd be getting this year. Sanchez in all likelihood would be a serious downgrade this year, so trading Ramirez makes no sense if you don't get a major league piece back that can help you in another area.

Absolutely fantastic move. We just locked up a potential top 5 starter in baseball for the next 4 or 6 years (excluding this coming season). The total cost of his abritration years (including his minor bump this year) is only about $19 million or $6.3 million per. For comparison, Tim Lincecum got $18 million in his 3rd arbitration year alone. I have no doubt if we went year to year with Sale he'd easily get $25 to $30 million over the next three seasons. On top of that, we get him for three potential free agency years all at affordable costs, with only one of them guaranteed. We're talking about $60 to $90 million in value for a total cost of $37 million, with only $12 million guaranteed. Having those two option years is just incredibly valuable. They mitigate so much of the risk associated with this type of deal. Also, just having the cost certainty is a huge plus. We don't have to worry about him winning the Cy Young award and then getting Lincecum type money in his arb years. With Sale now locked up at set prices, we should have more flexibility to spend in free agency to fill some of our offensive needs, especially as guys like Konerko, Dunn, & Rios come off the books. Hahn deserves a lot of credit for convincing Sale to agree to a below-market extension.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 06:42 AM) Tex is only out 8-10 weeks and we're still 3½ weeks away from the start of the season, so there's no way they give up anything valuable for someone who will be on the bench for 3/4 of the season. And let's not forget that Konerko makes $13.5 million this year and his hit to the Yankees would be roughly $20 million due to the luxury tax.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 6, 2013 -> 11:10 PM) I think a long term contract isn't a bad thing, but he's a season or two from Tommy John. This is just a terrible post. You want to lock up a pitcher you're certain will need Tommy John surgery in the next two years? That makes absolutely no sense. If you actually believe he'll need surgery you do one-off deals through his arbitration years.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 5, 2013 -> 08:06 AM) I'm one who really likes Wise as a backup outfielder right now. And, beyond that, you aren't going to get anything more than a future utility guy at best for Wise, which ultimately means you are essentially getting nothing. You don't ever want to close a door, but I don't see a match here. Yeah, I completely agree. I absolutely despised Wise when we tried to make him a starter a few years ago, but I really liked what he offered as a reserve outfielder last season. He can help in a variety of ways, which is great when you have a four man bench. IMO, he's a more well-rounded reserve than Jordan Danks and he deserves the 4th outfielder spot to open the season.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 08:44 PM) I think it would have been lazy to assume we had the 4th best offense and completely overlook the park factor. And yes, that means the pitching is effected by the park factor and is better than the pure numbers indicate. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 10:23 PM) But then, conversely, our pitching always has to be deemed better than it shows statistically, too. As you can see, that's exactly what I said earlier. And that's really the key point of the article. The pitching was the strength of the team last year and will need to be again this year to have any real chance of winning the division. That means Sale & Peavy need to be healthy and dominant, Danks & Floyd need to be above-average mid-rotation starters and eat a lot of innings, and Quintana or someone else has to be a reasonably effective as our #5 starter. There is some room for error but not much, because I don't see how the offense can be that much better than it was last year.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 09:06 PM) So if the offense is the same as last year, wouldn't they finish 4th in runs again? Possibly, but that's not the point. How did opposing offenses perform at the Cell last year? Is it really that hard to believe that both us and our competition are affected by the park? That was point he was trying to make. Being 4th in runs doesn't necessarily mean we had a good offense last year.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 08:54 PM) Because the heading it's under is "Will the Sox finish 4th in runs again?" Park factors are irrelevant to that question. I agree that the heading was stupid, but the point remains the same. The offensive wasn't great last year despite being 4th in runs. IMO, the offense should be about the same, but I'm expecting Viciedo to have a big season. If he doesn't or if Konerko suddenly ages or if Rios doesn't have another crazy year, then the offense could easily be worse than last year.

QUOTE (everafan @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 06:51 PM) Meh - as usual, lazy and superficial analysis. Nobody really wants to do any original work on the White Sox. Also, "First, their run scoring was inflated by their park." So does that mean the pitching was affected by the park? And it's even better than the numbers they put up last year? I think it would have been lazy to assume we had the 4th best offense and completely overlook the park factor. And yes, that means the pitching is effected by the park factor and is better than the pure numbers indicate.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 07:47 PM) Yeah, I felt like that was a particularly silly point too. Park factors help when comparing players to one another, not teams to themselves over time. Last time I checked, the Sox will still be in US Cellular in 2013. Yeah, but opposing teams will be playing 81 games at US Cellular as well. I think the point is more than legit. I've pointed out before that our offense wasn't bad last year because we were 4th in runs, but it definitely wasn't the 4th best offense. I'm not sure how you can deem the park factor as silly.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...white-sox-2013/ Very good write-up on the team's chances this year.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 05:46 PM) See the comments in his AAP. Not a big deal. Losing 6 weeks sucks though. I was hoping he'd start the year at Kannapolis and now he'll likely start in extended spring training. Not the end of the world, but still disappointing.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 06:22 AM) I read on PHT that Hawkins will start the season with the Dash. Is this a done deal? Pretty much, I believe both Hahn & Bell confirmed it in interviews.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) We're gonna fly under the radar & win the division this year I can feel it. Baseball is rules & awesome. I agree with this post.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 09:49 AM) I mean, the point it, there were a TON of questions. Nearly everything went right last year. It happens. And to be frank, if Detroit had played up to their capability last year, it's really a moot point about last years season. While I disagree that everything went right last year, I think we can agree that a lot of things went wrong in 2011 and we only lost 83 games. To expect all those same things to go bad again in 2012 was foolish enough, but to expect the team to get 17 games worse on top of it is just embarrassing. I'm not saying people should have been optimistic about last year's team, but no MLB scout should be that wrong when evaluating an entire team.

Still, Mitchell is a potential second half spark, not an opening day reserve. He needs consistent at-bats for 2-3 months and if all goes well, maybe he can help us in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 08:05 AM) It happens all of the time in baseball. Go back and look at any draft's first round, or even a typical BA Top 100 for any particular year. I'm referring to the scout who said he thought we could lose 100 games last year. Two teams lost 100 games last year, the Cubs & the Astros, and I think most of us all thought those two teams would be in the bottom five. How anyone could think the Sox were that caliber of bad coming into last season, especially someone who is paid to evaluate baseball players, blows my mind.

I just want know how a scout can be so f***ing wrong.