Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 01:56 PM) My God! Good news fans, the Indians are showing signs of life for the first time in weeks. As a matter of fact they appear to be beating the crap out of each other. It looks like Willie Hayes is trying to hit Rick Vaughn, and why not, everyone else in the league does. Hayes swings and misses. I don't know Monte, it looks like Vaughn is carrying his left a little low. This could hurt him in the later rounds.

I'm risking sounding like Hawk, but that takes nuts to sit dead red in that situation and not be afraid of failure. He's up there to produce.

Holy s***, the legend continues!

No way Alexei brings back Castellanos. I'd be thrilled with Wong, personally. Kozma is a cheap stopgap.

Thornton is obviously not going top bring a "high end prospect." I understand that Hahn wants to start high in his negotiations, but I hope he doesn't end up dicking around too long and losing the opportunity to sell among several bidders.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 09:17 AM) You are essentially trading two quality major leaguers for one good prospect and two fringe guys. I think there is a better deal to be had splitting the two up. Neither of them is likely to net someone of Polanco's quality alone, though. I advocate quality over quantity in this case -- especially given that Kingham would be a top ten prospect for us anyway.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 08:48 AM) So you are essentially replacing Adam Dunn with Brian McCann. You'll almost certainly have to eat salary if you move Dunn too. Let's compare ages 21 through 29 for both, shall we? McCann - .280/.352/.477/.829 Dunn - .249/.383/.520/.903 On what planet is that a good idea? The alternate Earth where McCann didn't enter free agency wracked with injuries likely to drastically reduce his catching time for the rest of his career, I'm guessing.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jul 11, 2013 -> 08:48 AM) The Sox are not close to contending at this point. The Sox can go out and spend to be competitive and be a mediocre team for the foreseeable future, but with a lack of talent on the major league level and no help in sight in the upper levels of the farm system there is really no foundation to build success. As we have seen this year, pitching can only take you so far. There is no reason to not rebuild this team from the ground up to try and generate some prolonged success. I think we are looking at a 3-4 year rebuild, and delaying that only makes the period of time which this team will not be a contender longer. If you can make deals that bring back MLB caliber starters and prospects in addition, you really need to look at them. If Sale can turn into three everyday players with some upside plus a starter with a high ceiling, it makes this team a lot better than one guy going out and dominating every five days, but losing becuase the offense and defense behind him is crap. Guess who is 28 in 4 years and still under control? Chris Sale

I accidentally posted this in the Sale thread for some reason. Bowden's speculation: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-of...-id-like-to-see I think this would be a fantastic return.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 05:38 PM) Agreed. And maybe you should post it in the Rios thread. Oh, I actually thought that I did. Whoops.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 05:17 PM) Honestly, if that's all we can get for Rios AND Alexei then count me out. You know once it gets closer to the trade deadline, teams will get desperate. Only reason I say this is because if this whole Biogenesis operation is true and players to get suspended. The Rangers are a team that takes a hit and would be very desperate for a right fielder, and Rios is the best available. Wait for that and make a team overpay. I don't know, I actually think that would be a really nice return.

QUOTE (daggins @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 05:28 PM) Rosenthal is underestimating just how good that contract of Sale's is. Like, if it weren't Evan Longoria, we're talking best in baseball good. The only real caveat is his health, and so far he's actually pitching better, with more velocity than last year. There is no player, or group of players, that we could get for Sale that would be worth his contract. I wouldn't even take Trout - He has 1.5 cheap seasons left and then he is going to get the biggest arb raise ever, if he isn't signed to a 8-figure a year extension first. I just want to acknowledge that said you wouldn't trade Sale for Mike Trout. I get your point on the contract, but no one will have a problem paying Trout big-time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 05:09 PM) They weren't all BA number ones. Hamilton was. The rest weren't. I'll even give Hamilton a pass. Let's just imagine that the Sox traded for the #1 prospect in baseball and that was the year Wieters was #1. They got a solid starting catcher putting up similar OPS to AJ. Is that a good deal? Yeah sure there'd be some additional parts, but is that a good deal for the Sox? He's a solid player but he's not putting up 1.000+ OPS numbers. Weiters is a high end defender though. Last two years he's been a 3.5-4.5 WAR guy. That's about what Alex Rios has done. (Not agreeing or disagreeing with you, just suggesting a better way to look at his value than just OPS)

From Jim Bowden at ESPN. This is speculation, not rumor: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-office/post?id=7103

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 03:48 PM) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/chicago...vailable-071013 More at link This only makes sense if: 1) The Sox want to do a long-term rebuild like the Cubs or Astros, and it is the precursor to dumping off literally everyone else worth anything 2) You get multiple ML ready position players and then decide to keep Peavy and Rios and compete next year

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 01:59 PM) They may not get a very good deal then. This is disappointing in my opinion. It also says that they are going to be trying to compete pretty close to immediately. If the best package offered is based around guys from A ball that project as better players than the near ready players you are asking for, I hope they will accept the better deal rather than getting close to the majors guys. If they hope to accomplish things this way then Jerry better be ready to up the player to about $130 million next year. They need to ask for these guys. This is where the system lacks depth almost completely.

Prob just doin coke

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jul 10, 2013 -> 06:03 AM) Hopefully everybody had their top scouts watching Rios and Dunn swing the bat. Hahn needs to bring his A game these next 3 weeks to prove what type a GM he is. I don't think it's realistic to think that GMs will be fooled by single game performances, good or bad. Scouts are looking at skills, tools, and makeup while GMs are looking at season stats.

This was the most enjoyable game of the season so far to me.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 07:29 PM) I don't know, he's hitting worse than Dayan this year and also has less track record. He does have defense going for him, though, which explains 100% of his value last season The thing about Dayan though, is that he hit 25 homers and still managed a below average offensive season (97 wRC+). When you consider how bad he is defensively as well, he's a much worse player, even when they're both playing badly. Also, does he have less of a track record? He threw down a 3.2 WAR season last year and hit 20 bombs of their own. Dayan managed 0.3 WAR. Comparing their stat lines, they're actually very similar hitters, it's just Moustakas is left handed and an excellent defensive third baseman.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 06:38 PM) I would trade Dayan for Mike Moustakas Who wouldn't though?

Why Alexei back to the two hole? Go with the hotter Beckham or the left-handed Gillaspie

I'm not nearly as high on Santiago as most everyone else here, but I can't advocate trading him because I think we can be competitive in 2 years. I don't think it makes sense to move assets that will be cost-controlled and effective then.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) Sorry but I hate absolute statements in sports and that sounded like one of them. I never said any of the last statement. All I said was trading Rios for marginal prospects which I think is probably what is being offered is pointless. I would rather keep him. As for money...we are going to be getting some relief very soon. So that really isnt an excuse. Yeah, I mean I don't want to dump him for nothing, I agree there. But I do think that there's a decent chance the Pirates would give up enough value that, combined with what can be added by reallocating his salary, it would have more 2015 value than his age 35 season will.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jul 9, 2013 -> 03:44 PM) Assumption and no one ever said this team was a piece or two away. Of course it's an assumption, no can actually predict the future. But anytime you see an exceptional performance, whether very good or very bad, it is most likely that future performance will regress toward average. If the team isn't a piece or two away, how do you expect to add to it in the offseason such that it has the chance to win and increase attendance in 2014?