Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 27, 2013 -> 04:47 PM) I certainly wouldn't give up a hard throwing, A-ball level relief pitcher for him at the end of spring training. If he came out for the whole season, stayed healthy, and put up a >900 OPS at Charlotte, then I might give you an A-ball pitcher for him, but not a great one. If he puts up a .900 OPS over a full season at Charlotte, given his strong defensive abilities and the scarcity of quality 3B in the majors, he'd be worth a lot more than an A ball pitcher. Obviously he's not going to put up an OPS like that, but he could still have decent value if he could put up a low .800's OPS in AAA. Whether he can do that or not remains to be seen, but first he needs to prove his back can hold up over an extended period of time. No team is going to give up something of value for an unknown quantity that also has a questionable back.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Feb 26, 2013 -> 07:47 AM) If this does not happen then between age and expiring contracts I think that we will have a struggling offense for several seasons to come. That is unless they spend a boatload of money on free agents, which isn't likely. JMHO. So you think that when Konerko's contract expires after this season and Rios & Dunn's contracts expire after the following season, Hahn isn't going to use any of the $40 million in savings in free agency? You think he's just going to go young across the board? I think it's quite clear that Hahn is waiting for those three big contracts to come off the books before making any moves with signicant, long-term financial implications. By then, we'll probably have a few more cost-controlled guys in the offensive mix (Sanchez & Thompson) and a couple more hopefully pushing the door (Hawkins, Walker, DeMichelle, maybe Barnum). Plus we should know in the next year or two if De Aza, Viciedo, Beckham, Morel, & Flowers are part of the core or not. This will allow Hahn to spend more wisely and only have to fill the orgnaization's biggest needs in free agency.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) Any objective baseball fan would say that Sabean has the edge. Look at his credentials, his record. But it was not a rip. Just a comment. I don't even know how to respond to this. Hahn is a rookie GM who has had one off-season of work, which was somewhat constrained by the work of the previous GM. His teams have literally played ZERO games. Any objective baseball fan would say there is practically no way to evaluate Hahn at this point in time. I'm blown away that you would even try to compare the two of them, especially when you claim that you have no strong feelings either way on the only trade these two have made together.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 07:00 AM) Are you having a bad day, Russ? All I did was make a simple, one sentence statement that the Giant GM (Brian Sabean) is very good. I didn't even criticize the trade. I have never seen Gillaspie play. It doesn't look like whining to me as I re-read my post, nor was that intended. You are so full of s***. You just said Brian Sabean is a better GM than first year GM Rick Hahn in a thread about a trade the two of them just made. If that's not a clear indirect rip on this trade then I don't know what is.

QUOTE (Jake @ Feb 23, 2013 -> 07:42 AM) It seems that this knocks Morel out of the picture, but Hahn wants us to believe that he'd be willing to DFA Gillaspie if Morel looks enough better in ST. I don't see how you could have both on the roster though, we have to have somebody that can play SS. Maybe Morel can survive at 2B, but not having a real utility guy hamstrings your ability to give guys a day off or make late game substitutions. For what it's worth, Morel did play 17 games at SS in 2010.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 12:10 PM) Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan Hahn views Gillaspie as complimentary player to Keppinger at third. Hits to all fields, good obp guy and "solid-average" defensively. Makes perfect sense. Gillaspie is a much better fit for our bench than having a 2nd outfielder like Danks, especially if he can play some 1B. Soptic is a pretty good relief prospect, but he's the boom or bust type, so he's expendable if it fills a need on the major league roster. Very happy with this move.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 05:41 PM) Good column on Flowers... Link I guess I don't get it. He basically proves Flowers will at least be an average offensive catcher and likely more, but he continues to b**** relentlessly that the Sox are making a mistake starting him. I'm sorry, but I'm 100% cool with having a solid defensive catcher who's at least average with the bat for basically the league minimum. Having a cheap option at catcher is one of the main reasons we were able to afford Peavy & Floyd.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) This. With the worries over Sales arm, I would look at a one for one type deal here. And then how do you replace Sale's production in the rotation? We're talking about an ace-caliber pitcher here. I completely understand being concerned about Sale's health, but he's nearly impossible to replace given our free agent policies, weak farm system, and our typically low draft position. IMO, an ace is the most valuable player on a roster and trading one away, even for a player as talented as Stanton, is at best a neutral proposition due to the guaranteed down-grade at the top of the rotation. Therefore, I'd take my chances on Sale staying healthy.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 08:33 AM) I don't think anyone is suggesting that we play Morel regardless of how he performs (at least, I haven't been). But if he shows a strong bat for a while, I'm inclined to believe that last season's abysmal start was truly due to his back and give him another shot. In a more perfect world, the Sox are better off with a good Morel at 3b and Keppinger as a super-util. Sounds to me like some people would rather have Morel starting if he has a strong spring. That's the concern right there. Let's not let somewhat meaningless spring stats skew our decision-making. Keppinger was brought in to be the starting 3B and he should have that role on opening day, regardless how he or Morel performs in Arizona. A couple months into the season, you can reevaluate the situation and if Morel is deserving of the starting job, maybe it makes sense to move Keppinger to the super-sub role. While I think a super-sub role is the ideal spot for Keppinger long-term, I'm not convinced Morel is the guy to push him there yet.

Morel put up a .653 OPS in 2011, despite a monster September. He also didn't have any significant back injuries that year. Ignore last season, and this is basically his body of work at the major league level. All he's shown so far is that he can be a good glove, light-hitting 3B. Let's be honest, no one knows what we have in Brent Morel at this point in time. A rookie season doesn't define a player, but let's not forget Morel was never an elite prospect to begin with. However, given what's he shown in nearly 600 ABs, there is simply no reason to rush him back to the majors, not when we have a capable starting 3B. Let him get consistent at-bats in AAA and prove himself once again. If he shows enough at Charlotte, then he can be considered for a role on the major league team later this season.

Lol...AJ may have been a smart, gutsy player for us, but I do not see him being a good leader of men. Players don't need to love their manager, but they have to at least respect him, and I'm worried way too many guys would simply hate AJ due to his personality.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 04:44 PM) Yeah, just about anything is better than your average Chicago sports radio buffoon. Personally I wish they would just televise the B games & the minor league scrimmages/etc. in general. I have literally no interest in watching veteran MLB hitters watch pitches or veteran MLB pitchers through 9 straight change-ups. Let me see the arms on these prospects, their defense, baserunning, etc. Totally agree, seeing and hearing about the prospects are the best part of a spring training telecast.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 25, 2013 -> 03:34 PM) I don't disagree with you at all about the game, but B&B are the WORST. Oh my god they're excruciating. Yeah, I unfortunatelt listen to them daily due to my lengthy commute, but good god do they piss me off. Bernstein is a smug know-it-all, while Boers is just a bumbling idiot. They can be funny at times, but I'd honestly prefer a lame spring training game just for some White Sox discussion.

Downton Abbey is incredibly overrated. The acting is very good for the most part, but the stories are fairly average. Too many B plots IMO.

I actually agree with Dunn not batting third, at least not to start the season. I understand the theory behind having a three true outcome player batting third, but that's conditional on said hitter getting on-base at a high level. Dunn's OBP last year was .333, which is the direct result of him batting .204. Unless he can boost that average up some and get his OBP back in the .370 - .380 range, I think he's better suited for the five hole. I'm still not sure what kind of Dunn we'll get next year and I'd rather have Rios or Konerko bat third until we know for sure.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 08:20 AM) I think that qualifies you as an optimist. You had to write off the team in October to be a realist. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2012 -> 02:27 PM) No matter what they say, they aren't going to compete next year. You wrote the team off in November, so what does that make you?

I've got to be honest, I see no reason why Morel should break camp with the big league team. He needs to prove himself over an extended period of time, which means regular at-bats at AAA for at least a couple months. A strong spring shouldn't be enough to demote Keppinger or Beckham from the get-go. If he does well in AAA, then you can reevaluate the situation mid-season, depending on how the guys ahead of him are doing. Also, Morel doesn't make any sense as a reserve infielder. I get you can move Keppinger around, but you still wouldn't have a backup SS. Plus Morel wouldn't be getting consistent at-bats, which is what he desperately needs.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 05:20 PM) http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8927362/...wap-sources-say Bulls are looking to trade Boozer for Bargnani. Both suck on defense, both aren't really inside players. I don't know... If you trade for Bargnani, I don't think you can amnesty him. Something to consider given our future financial obligations.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 04:26 PM) How many rotations have no question marks?what you expect roster wise is just not realistic, but I think most would take their chances with one of those 2 vs. paying what it would take to sign Lohse. And you want to rebuild but also place zero value on the draft pick you would lose. Let's be honest, Marty is not going to respond to your question, because he'd have to admit the White Sox have one of the stronger rotations on paper. That is unless he can find all these rotations that have consistent 180+ innings-eaters as their #4 starters and two quality, young left-handers with some major league success as their #5 starters.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) And if any of them don't...then Castro, Rienzo, and a couple of the iffier-guys like Axelrod and Leesman, plus the usual Cooper Fix-em option give us a number of candidates already in the org who could step up and take that position. You're not even accounting for our two best pitching prospects in Johnson & Snodgress, who will both start the season in AA. There is a decent chance one of these guys could challenge for a rotation spot in 2014 if not at some point this season. Finding starters won't be a problem for us next year. The real concern for us is developing a replacement for Peavy in 2015 (i.e. a #2 starter). Maybe Johnson or Beck can put it all together and reach that level, but if not, that's an area we'll need to go outside the organization for. And if we have do, I'd rather have that $12 million to use towards a legit front of the rotation starter than an overpriced #4 starter who is getting up there in age.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 02:46 PM) No, I prefer a tear down. Since they aren't going that way and have the 28th farm system, they are going to have to spend their way out of this middle-of-the-pack mess they are in. Yup, nothing like going the full blown rebuilding route right after CBA changes that makes rebuilding much more difficult and time consuming.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 02:35 PM) What's the going rate for starting pitching upgrades these days? Doesn't matter what the price is, we don't need a marginal upgrade in our rotation right now. We already have six quality starting pitching options. Look around baseball and see how many rotations have utter crap in the 4th & 5th spots. I just don't get how you think paying $12 million to get slighter more production than Quintana or Santiago (and that's a maybe) makes any sense. And if you want to sign Lohse to trade Floyd then you've just weakened the rotation IMO.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 01:54 PM) Lohse at $12M per for 3-4 years doesn't tie up the payroll. If you want a similiar pitcher it's going to cost more in 2014 and beyond This is just a terrible idea. Committing to $36 to $48 million for a marginal upgrade (at best IMO) is completely stupid.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 3, 2013 -> 10:27 AM) Give me a break...people deserved to know the guy wasn't really at the Super Bowl? It's not like he said he had cancer and was collecting donations or something...whatever, I'm over it. I don't get what your agenda is here. The guy was trolling, everyone was suspicious and it was becoming a distraction for the board. The mods were able to confirm he was trolling, communicated it to the rest of the board and now we all know the truth and can move on. I don't get why would anyone advocate protecting a troll from public humiliation.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Feb 1, 2013 -> 11:19 PM) Wow, I love the hate that I get here.. Thanks so much for spending much of the day talking about me... Go 49ers!!! We will destroy the Ravens this weekend..