Jerksticks

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 20, 2014 -> 01:58 PM) Bruce Levine ‏@MLBBruceLevine 10m Abreu hit three effortless shots in a row . Last one was 440 to right center. Regardless of whether he's good or not, his bat and presence in the box are f***in scary. At least that's what I'm taking from these early snippets.

QUOTE (shakes @ Feb 19, 2014 -> 04:08 PM) Yep. He needs to tighten up his command. If he does he can be a legitimate option for the rotation. I would also like to see him working on an out pitch to lefties. Yes I agree. He's not going to throw anything by any good hitters though right? Dude needs to refine devastating corner control...until he just feasts on AAA. I hope he forces his way up sometime this year instead of breaking camp with the team because he was the best of a pile of s***.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 18, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) Hope some of this rubs off on Tank. Word. Man if this goes as planned then we will not only have one of the best hitters in the world, but a shining beacon of work ethic and professionalism as an example for the young guys we're feeding in. f***ing genius if it pans out.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Feb 6, 2014 -> 10:37 AM) Jackson did well under Coop. I was going to suggest that move earlier this offseason but didn't because I figured it would turn into this. I agree with you on something, wow. Hell yea. He pitched his dick off for us, in a good way. I feel like he was automatic 7-8 innings of 2 run ball when we got him. Let's not forget the pressure-packed situation he was traded into. Dude manned up right out of the gate.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Feb 3, 2014 -> 08:27 PM) I think they will do better than that. They were basically the same team (minus AJ's career year) that won 85 the year before. Everyone playing badly, injuries, bad luck all conspired at the same time. That was a once-in-decades crap pile, but that not-great team was not a 63 win talent team. Here's the OPS number we got from each position last year. I think every one will be better this year (some by a lot) aside from RF and maybe SS C .564 1B .751 2B .658 SS .692 3B .635 LF .732 CF .674 RF .762 DH .674 Even if it's Phegley/Flowers again, I think they'd put up at least a .600 OPS by accident. Also, for the first season I can remember, I don't really care what the win total is. I'm just hoping for success from some/most of our young players, and strong play from the guys we'll be looking to trade (Dunn, Keppinger, maybe De Aza). Wow. Does anybody know the league average OPS for regulars- wouldn't want all the cups of coffee n bench players making our guys look better than they were Or OPS per position? We would have won like 7 games without our staff.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 30, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) A rebuild involves getting the most for your assets. Releasing Dunn doesn't do that. Hope and prayer for tradable numbers. Is that likely the way this plays out? Seems smart

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 30, 2014 -> 07:22 PM) WHO? Do you really believe Gillaspie or DeAza are part of the future? If you showed up as a fan and saw Alejandro's name in the DH slot, would that get you more excited? Wilkins or McDade or Dan Black? (Besides, if you're going to pick a player as public enemy #2 and emblematic of the team's failures last year, DeAza is right up there with Dunn, is he not? I saw him defended (DeAza) constantly with the OPS argument or WAR, but doesn't that also supports Dunn as being in the top 25-33% of the roster.) Who? Yea McDade. Semien, Davidson, Jordanx, Mitchell?, Rienzo, E Johnson, L Garcia, the 3 Catchers, Gillaspie, Elmore, bullpen arms. I feel like all those guys could spend time in both AAA and the majors this year. We're probably gonna suck remember!

The Boss is not gonna be happy. Those perfect grass blades will be hibernating then, with full bellies no?

Doesn't everybody else sense that the casual fan as a mass loathes Dunn? The only way to really sell THIS year as a new direction is to get rid of Dunn at all costs. It's possible that the new talent excites the fans enough to tolerate one more year of s***. But if he's batting 3 or 4 and terrible people are gonna get mean fast. They're already gonna be mean from day 1, ST too. Ultimately for the better of the team we could use the roster spot, especially since we may have a pretty fluid pipeline with AAA this year.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 28, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) I am more than aware. That opportunity will never come. If it did, it would be a similar feeling to hitting the lottery. Honestly, I think Dunn is going to go out like Billy Koch did. Sox will eat a bit of the salary come July to get him out of town, and then he'll fade into oblivion. This is probly pretty accurate man. Even if you ignore the $15 Million and focus solely on what he offers as a hitter, I still can't imagine another GM thinking Dunn is the missing piece to a championship run. I'd be shocked if a team wanted a guy who can barely knock out 100 hits in a whole year now, with more than half of his other 400 ABs not even putting the ball in play. Now you gotta pay him 15 or maybe 6 million dollars at the deadline. Wait the white sox want a prospect too?

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jan 25, 2014 -> 11:17 AM) Exactly the right way to go in this situation. Say what you'd like about the odds of a 2nd rounder amounting to anything, but a team coming off a 99 loss season shouldn't be signing 30 something starters that cost a pick. Especially 3rd pick. That's 2 first rounders basically, one elite talent and one that still should be pretty f good.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 23, 2014 -> 06:37 PM) f*** it, he's gonna be the Rookie of the Year over Tanaka. All-Star each year of his deal. He'll make Puig's numbers look pedestrian. The Grantland article said even for league adjustment, his numbers blew Miguel Cabrera out of the water. So let's use him as a base. .320/.430/.600 slashline with 40+ HR. JDFA Now that's what's up! Playoffs baby!

I would think most teams payrolls will spike this year because of that $25 million given to every team. Some teams allocate the money to other areas but c'mon wouldn't a nice chunk be expected to inflate rosters (except maybe Ricketts just wrote a $25 million check to creditors). As I understand it, $750 million was just infused into a tiny economy and these new contracts are reflecting it. Maybe the Sox can really make a go at him considering all the bonus Japanese revenue he'll bring if he's good. I say we hang with the big boys on this one and snag him. We don't have a ton of pressure to be super good this year from the media or even the city, but we could be really good if some things click fast. Enticing team to play on, having a relaxed warm up year with possible World Series.

Wait wait wait, then what makes yer dick hard fellas...GiRLS?

What about giving a guy a chance to prove himself before going on mt. Soxtalk. Frank could always be a smaller (or bigger) fixture somewhere on it, with 2 of the current stars rotating around the bust of Frank forever.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 11, 2014 -> 08:23 PM) That's not a good example because with state income taxes being lower in Texas, he's actually going to end up making MORE money, so you can't just look at the surface value of the contract. You also have to take into consideration the city/state/local taxes in California (Oakland/Anaheim) as well as Seattle, as that's where a good percentage of their away games are played. Each one of those game checks is assessed at 1/162nd of his yearly salary. Bottom line, he's going to end up with $8 million more over the life of the contract. This isn't a good point either. While it could be true, how do you know Choo didn't make his decision based on hot sun beams per game. 800 billion hotter sunbeams divided over 162 games is significantly more than the Yanks could ever offer. Or maybe he wanted to go to the team with the most Texas-Rangers-like uniforms?

When you aren't logged in there are 35 pages is this thread. /thread

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Jan 8, 2014 -> 08:07 PM) Oh I didn't hear about that regarding Hamilton. Honestly I'd prefer to move Dunn too. De Aza is a solid blend of speed and power, meaning he'll hit a few homers and not clog the bases. But I think De Aza is at his max value now and I think Dunn has potential to have some value towards the deadline. Very possible. Now might be the time to trade ADA. I still think his hit tool could develop more because guys that prove they can hit MLB pitching tend to get a lil better after a few seasons of figuring it out and seeing all the tricks. The strikeouts scare me though because they clearly indicate there's a bit of a book out on him. But he's surviving despite that and found a way to hit 17 LH bombs and knock in 62 runs from the lead off spot. Adam Dunn lite lol Would you rather take 2 De Azas or 2 Dunns?

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Jan 8, 2014 -> 06:42 PM) The only team I see a possible deal with is the Reds for De Aza. Weren't they close to a trade lost off-season? Well, I think CF is a hole right now for the Reds (assuming they want Hamilton to have some time in the minors to start the year. De Aza can bat leadoff and play center and can move into a platoon role with Ludwick when Hamilton comes up. Plus Ludwick is a free agent after this year and De Aza can just be the fulltime LF in 2015 (unless they sign another right handed cheap bat to platoon obviously). EDIT: just looked at their top 20 and they didn't have any catchers there. We could trade for some pitching depth I suppose. After Choo signed, I thought I read somewhere that they're going to go with Hamilton this year. Maybe that's malarky. I'd prefer to pay Big Funn and ADA almost $20 Million this year with Dunn playing somewhere else. I desperately want to keep ADA's bat in our lineup because I think he can be a dynamic player in the 9 hole. If he can take a step forward this year and put up a hybrid of his last 2 years, maybe .290/.370/.440 could be his peak? I think the only way we can keep him is if Dunn is jettisoned.

I didn't realize Castro is 26 already. That's not old and he's entering his prime but maybe Quintana should be used for a younger player. We shouldn't be trading younger players for older players even though 26 isn't that old.

Santiago and Quintana were 2 guys that basically fell into our lap. Since we sacrificed nothing to acquire these assets then anything that becomes of them is all bonus still. But then again, a main part of the reason we get noted for having pitching depth is due to Quintana's emergence and Santiago's to a lesser, more expendable extent. If those two free lottery tickets turn into Adam Eatin and Castro then I'm fine with it as long as we sign Garza. Now is the time to sell high on Quintana if using him to fill a positional need is the long term plan of RH.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jan 4, 2014 -> 09:41 PM) I'm suggesting eating $14.5M for Dunn if necessary, taking the best deal possible in terms of talent. If I can't get an MLB SP prospect/bust/change of scenery guy, and if I can't pick up a similar player as a starting position player at an area of need, then I look for someone who won't have to be added to the 40 until at least next season. Even getting a useful-looking, non-roster UT or RP prospect will be more valuable to us on paper than Dunn. Not only do we clear a roster spot, we move Viciedo and DeAza both out of potential platoon position. Which is stupid. And I shouldn't need to explain why. Kepp, I don't think we'd need to eat his whole salary. I'd eat no more than $3M total, but $2M or less ideally. I'd probably want a little something back though. But I'd take a middling prospect because I think we have younger bench players that are going to be more valuable to us longterm & could use the PT. I don't know where you get eating the $25M part though. I don't see the point of dealing DeAza for anything less than a solid return. It's not going to hurt us to keep him; it's not like Jared Mitchell or Joe Borchard Jr. are beating down the door. I think Hahn would have already moved DeAza if he got a deal he liked. And I also see no real point in trading Gillaspie. I can't see how he'd bring a lot back, but he really could be a nice piece for us as a bench guy & spot starter. Having someone who could play the IF corners & maybe the OF corners too as a backup, plus as a LH PH bat that can make some contact, could help us quite a bit. We have have him at the minimum for 2 more seasons and if he's just a bench guy, even a solid one, we'll get values on his first 2 arb years as well most likely. I'm not sure how trading him gets you anything you care much about, and I'm not sure why you'd dump him just to open a spot for a non-core player. I don't get (further) why we even care about penny pinching on Dunn. We're *under* our payroll budget as we sit here, and if Hahn gets even more active then in all likelihood we'll fall even below that number. The budget is already factoring in max INTL & amateur draft budgets; what would we be saving money for? If eating all that money gets him out of here right now then we'll be in a better position because of it. There's no way the Sox should dump any even remotely useful 2015+ pieces to keep that piece of crap on this team. I like your point about eating Dunn's salary to reach our payroll number.

QUOTE (Paulstar @ Jan 4, 2014 -> 08:45 PM) He would have been nice this year, but I have a feeling Hahn has a bigger plan in mind. I agree. All of a sudden we find ourselves with potentially above average players at most positions. If C and LF are settled for the long term by the start of 2015 we are going to have the Cardinals taking notes.

C'mon Big Frank, you da man, mang!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 2, 2014 -> 01:07 PM) With the history of starting pitching coming to MLB, I almost hope it is the Cubs in that 7 year $150 range. That would be awesome. If he's good it doesn't matter and if he's bad it's a nice little present for those of us that enjoy cub futility. There's just no way the sox pay this kid more than sale, is there?