oldsox

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 25, 2013 -> 07:43 AM) Well when you are of the belief that players like Michael Early, Dan Black and Toby Thomas are legitimate prospects, then that will happen Sounds like you did some research on previous posts of mine. I can't remember what I said about Early a year or two ago. Black, I remember saying that he should be moved up in 2012 because others here thought he was too old for his classification in 2012. Since he had good numbers then, I recommended he be promoted to see what he has at a higher level. Toby Thomas, I remember saying something like his numbers bear watching, or words to that effect. None of these comments were a crusade on my part to get them promoted to Top Ten status. Regarding Hawkins, I was a bit more expressive, I admit. I expressed surprise/dismay/discouragement over his poor stats in 2013, just like a few others here. The only thing I added was that he should not be ranked in Top Ten with those kind of stats. He was a Number 1 pick in 2012, and that is the only reason he is ranked so high by you and others. I say that once he is signed and thrown into the competitive arena, his prospect status should be determined by performance, not signing bonus. I once asked parenthetically how long he will continue being ranked #1 if he continues to underperform. No answer yet. Part of my negativity is caused by poor drafting in the first round over many years, exception Sale. Still, I am pulling for Hawkins to do well, but I remain very skeptical. It takes more than tools to be #1. I like Micah Johnson's tools much better. Same with Semien.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 10:30 AM) That's because come Spring Training of 2015, Courtney Hawkins will be 21 years old. I do like that you made it a point to work a shot against Courtney Hawkins into the post, even though I haven't the slightest clue why. It still blows my mind that so many people, including the White Sox themselves, consider Hawkins to be the #1 prospect.

What are the dates for teams making the qualifying offer?

The last 2 contracts that Wells got are futher testimony that General Managers are stupid. (Last three years about $20MM per year)

Reminds me of the year when our erstwhile #1 prospect, Joe Borchard, went to Mexico for winter league, and they cut him after a week or two. They figured it out before the White Sox did.

Actually, his defense is very good. Covers a lot of ground, gets a good jump, and his arm is very good. Not as good a base stealer as you would expect, but going from first to third or first to home, not many better. Strike outs are a problem and he is a bit streaky for me, but a solid player. Rockies will get offers. They were reluctant to trade him before, but they have two young outfielders who are very promising and they have already talked to Cargo about his taking over in Center. So they are serious this time.

I have twice seen reports that the Rockies have CF Dexter Fowler on the trade market. Wonder if Sox would be interested. I've seen him play a lot over the last few years. He certainly has his drawbacks, but he would be an upgrade over De Aza.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 15, 2013 -> 04:10 PM) I have a weird feeling he's going to be the one to push Viciedo out of LF in like 2015. It won't be Hawkins doing the pushing.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 19, 2013 -> 08:08 AM) The Cardinals didn't really let Pujols go. They offered him a ten year deal at 22 mil per year. They just got lucky that the Angels offered Pujols even more money. And the Cards got a #1 draft pick who turned out to be Wacha, I believe.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 02:56 AM) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archiv...athlete/280707/ Wonder how far we are from major league teams (especially cash-strapped ones) creating investment vehicles like this one? With an NFL running back, it seems like a very poor if not insane bet (not even Adrian Peterson). But there's the example given in the comments section: "For instance, young pro golfers on the minor league tours are often staked by investors who will pay the golfers' expenses in exchange for a sizable chunk (50% or so) of future earnings. This makes sense for golf because a) the money's big and b) you've got two decades worth of potential earnings." So you might have a viable investment in someone like a Micker Zapata/Adolfo as a young player...or especially someone not drafted in the first round who becomes a legit MLB prospect but who didn't get a huge signing bonus (for the White Sox, players like Semien, Micah Johnson or Erik Johnson who wanted to borrow against future earnings/endorsement deals in order to have more money in the present, for another example.) Or Mike Trout would also be the perfect example here, being drafted at the end of the first round...and having to wait at least three years to make significant money even though he's arguably one of the top 3-5 overall players in baseball his first two seasons. It's interesting. I doubt it would be very easy to make money off an NFL skill position player (except quarterbacks)....but there are much longer careers (and higher average earnings) in MLB or NBA. This was true many years ago in golf, don't think so any more.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 10:55 AM) Supposedly 4 other teams made bids between $63-$66 million on Abreu according to Rosenthal Not true. Denver Post just had a column stating Astros had second highest bid at $50 Million, Rangers and BoSox at $40 ish.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 19, 2013 -> 04:31 PM) Turner is 17 and in high school still right now right? So when he's 23 and at an age when guys would normally be pushing the big leagues...it'll be 2019 and we'll be gearing up for the primaries for the 2020 election? Obama running for his fourth term?

Back to Abreu. My understanding is that Bosox were in the bidding, bur for quite a bit less. They supposedly told him that they would start him at AAA in 2014 and possibly replace Ortiz in 2015. Who knows, maybe he'll need a year in the minors.

This, in the 'Bad Dream' Department..... Abreu signs, is added to the 40 man roster, and starts out in either Birmingham or Charlotte after spring training.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Oct 14, 2013 -> 05:47 PM) Thank you, gentlemen. I have been asserting the importance of having more left handed hitters, especially in our division, for a long time. The idea was largely dismissed as "unimportant". The response was simply; "It doesn't matter from which side of the plate they hit, as long as they are good hitters". I'm glad some agree with the arguments I've been making. It might even be feasible to get a couple of guys who don't have very impressive overall stats, but who really dominate RHP. If they can be platooned vs the occasional LHP, that would work, and such players might be much more affordable. ........just as long as his name is not Adam Dunn.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 13, 2013 -> 08:42 PM) I would say, more accurately, that he made a number of errors both in the field and on the base paths and that fact seems to have a disproportionate emotional impact on many fans. He was not one of the worst baserunners in baseball. Fangraphs has him as our 3rd best baserunner after Rios and Ramirez. Fangraphs has him as the 25th most valuable baserunner in MLB for 2013. Fans don't get actively angry at Adam Dunn or Paul Konerko for being terribly slow since they can't help it. They can't help it, but it does make Paul Konerko the worst baserunner in baseball, and Adam Dunn the 16th worst. He did have a bad year defensively- made a lot of errors. Players have good and bad years defensively. All of that plus his offense adds up to 2.2 WAR- 3rd best on the team- and all for the bargain basement price of about $2 million. Correct. I remember one year in Robin's career where he stunk it up defensively, then went back to being good on defense the next year. De Aza needs to stay in left more that last season, but then we have Viciedo there, so Robin has a dilemma.

Hopefully, Abreu will have signed with someone by the time Sox have to make a decision about going after Loney. If we don't sign Abreu, Loney represents a big time improvement over 2012-13 at first base, both offensively and defensively. If he's affordable, I say go after him, assuming PK does not come back.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 12, 2013 -> 02:01 AM) In 900 career PAs against lefties, Keppinger has an OPS of .829. Gillaspie was .738 against righties in his first full season. On paper, the two of them together should form one pretty decent full player. They don't play games on paper, they play them on television (per some TV guy).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 08:55 PM) They're not going to trade for Danks based the the PREMISE he's going to add 2-4 MPH. He's going to have to prove that he can do that, and, in that case, he might become valuable to the White Sox again as one of the anchors of their rotation. Not sure that Ethier makes us much better...or how he does. Now if we were trading for the equivalent of Andre Ethier and he played 3B, CF, 2B, 1B or catcher, okay. He can probably play First Base, and better than most of our other options there, assumiing PK does not return. Plus, that would keep the slug off the field, except when he strikes out 200 times a year as DH. Ethier makes the team better and more flexible, since he can play outfield, too.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 07:02 PM) Ether right now is not a better player than Dunn was when he was signed. At least not a better hitter. Nonsense. I remember watching Dunn try to play the outfield with Nats in 2010. What a joke. An embarassment. Plus he struck out about 200 times. Then in 2011 he hit .159 for Sox.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 08:01 PM) And their "ace" pitcher. The three players on the major league roster that they needed the most progress from, they didn't get it... That's where a team like the Rays are so amazing....they can take regressions from Price, Hellickson, Luke Scott, Jennings and Joyce, and still make it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, they can't quite afford to cover the depth chart across the board, so they'll always have their limitiations like the early 00's A's and Twins teams. Speaking of the Rays, there is a lot of talk in Florida about Rays trading Price. Even Price was quoted that he expects to be traded.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 12:25 PM) The foundation is already getting some cracks on the northside. This years attendance was as low as it has been since the 90's. If the rebuild staggers, they could see some real changes up there. Media will never allow it. "Lovable Losers" theme song.

Steve Stone thinks Danks will add 2-4 MPH on his fastball in 2014 and be a much better pitcher. Might be right. If Dodgers believe that, then he is very tradable. Ethier would help. He certainly is a better player than Dunn, and all you guys loved it when we signed him for 4 years for about the same $$ Ethier is due thru 2017. Ethier would help the Sox. Maybe Hahn can get more from LA, especially if they sign Cano. If Danks has another bad year in 2014, then he will have no value for rest of his contract. Hahn should find out what kind of value he has now.

Loney made a great play last night in the loss to BoSox. Just one play, but it was big time. Keep in mind Tampa is not a HR hitters park. He'll show more power at the Cell. He is our best shot at 1B, Abreu not coming to Chi. Why would he?

Hahn needs to establish what kind of trade value his pitchers have, and then pull the plug and trade one of them. Probably it's between Q and Code Red. We should be able to improve both third and catcher big time, let Phegley develop as # 2. I think Abreu and McCann are pipe dreams.