Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 02:36 PM) But he also posted his 2nd lowest OPS of his career (.727), the lowest batting average of his career, most strikeouts of his career, tied for the fewest HR of his career, and most double plays of his career. If you switch to bWAR, his 2010 season was a higher bWAR than 2011, despite him taking a ton more walks, because everything else he did with the bats got worse. His wOBA dropped from .322 to .319. The drops in his BA and SLG were nearly totally made up with his increase in OBP. His wRC+ actually went up from 95 to 96. His offense was worse, but not by much at all when you look beyond the counting stats, and his defense and baserunning improved enough to make up the difference and then some. I guess my point is that Alexei was not the problem at all. I'll take 4.9 fWAR out of him any year. He is not the cornerstone of a successful team. He's a terrific MLB SS, but only the couple elite SS's can touch the production that it takes to carry a team these days. I don't think we should blame Alexei for only puting up 4.9 fWAR.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 07:38 AM) Alexei may have "Earned his money", but he's still on the list of guys that could and should have been better. Dude was a ground ball to the shortstop machine last year. Alexei posted the highest WAR of his career (4.9) and the highest on our team by a lot (Konerko 2nd with 3.1). It was actually his career year so far.

Maybe they want insurance in case Dunn retires, lol.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 30, 2012 -> 05:45 PM) I would not be down with AJ getting a statue, if he got one than we might as well give them to everyone. Yeah, no AJ statue for me.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 30, 2012 -> 10:41 AM) What automatic milestone does Johnny Damon have? You mean if he gets to 3,000? Yes, 3000 hits. He seems to have roughly the same chance for 3000 as PK has for 500.

That's cool. I don't like the thought of having to dread Zombie Konerko coming to the plate. Probably good news for VIciedo too, who will proably end up taking over 1B. Doesn't sound like he's going to try to part-time it to stretch it to 500 homeruns or anything. Which is probably good -- I mean, I'd love to see him in the HOF, but he seems like the kind of guy that would be one of the posterchildren for the impending new wave of guys that have some 'automatic' milestones but aren't getting in, like Johnny Damon. But that's alright. I'm sure he'll be content with a statue and ceremony at USCF.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 29, 2012 -> 11:27 PM) I read it as "The team" not "teams" and was excited. Now sad. Oh. So did I.

That's the best tweet I've seen in a long time.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 29, 2012 -> 10:44 AM) If Kenny were one of the have-not GM's I'd understand it, but the list of GM's who have spent more money and gotten worse results than him over the last six years is a short one. What are you trying to say? Everyone on this board knows how much you hate KW because Dunn/Rios/Peavy sucked last year and make a lot of money. Is there anything else to add? At what point do you stop bringing it up every time you post?

http://kingsofkauffman.com/2012/01/24/check-your-sources/ Very interesting article, relevant for us because of all the rumor BS we've been eating up.

Typical short-sighted casual fan garbage.

QUOTE (bulokis @ Jan 26, 2012 -> 09:13 PM) Soler and Concecpion should be the way to go. We dont need to overpay for Cespedes especially in a partially rebuilding season or whatever it is KW is doing. +1

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/gera...to-signing.html

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 25, 2012 -> 06:47 AM) Who are some of the folks on Twitter worth following for trade rumors and such? Heyman, Morosi is all you really NEED. If anyone else breaks anything, one of those guys will retweet it within 10 minutes. I have Olney, Gammons, Knopfler (sp?) and some FanGraphs guys too, just for color.

QUOTE (mataipaepae @ Jan 25, 2012 -> 12:41 PM) i hope so... because we see how matt looked last year and it wasn't pretty. Actually, looking at the stats, he wasn't bad at all: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...&position=P K's down a touch, but still really high. Walks up a bit, but around career average. BABIP sky high, LOB% way low, ERA way higher than FIP and xFIP. To tell you the truth, by the numbers, he is showing all the signs of a horribly unlucky season with little or no decline in skills. He's a fantastic bounceback candidate.

I read on MLBTR that the Nats are looking at Cespedes like a "corner type," maybe even a first baseman. As desparate as the Nats are for a CF, I think that piece of information probably reflects poorly on their evaluations as Cespedes as a CF. My excitement over the Sox being in on this guy are dropping by the day. I just think it's going to be too much risk for the money.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 21, 2012 -> 11:25 AM) We should have enough salary relief at this point where we could pick up a bit of Gavin's contract and get some higher level prospects back. I know that's unlikely to happen but it'd be nice... Yes, this is exactly the best case scenario for us from a return standpoint.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 04:21 PM) That name is right out of Skyrim. Totally. SYNDERGAARD AWAITS!

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:48 PM) The Jays have so many promising pitching prospects to choose from in addition to Deck. Hutchinson, Syndergaard, Cardona, Nicolino, Sanchez, Wojo, Jenkins, and Osuna. I really hope a deal gets done. Deck isn't even the best one, right?

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:45 PM) Huh, I do not think JR is cheap at all. I also think you are agreeing with me. My point is that I am fine with the Sox staying the course and hoping players progress on a career path not throw more money at it. I have no issue with the players moved this off season. The media has no story on the Sox this off season so they are pretending like theo is baseball jesus. Well, then I completely and totally misunderstood you. I redact the previous post from the internet.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:42 PM) FarrellBall FARRELL BALL #Jays are still interested; Just don't want to give up Nicolino or Syndengaard along with Deck RT @FarrellBall Anything more on Floyd? I want Syndergaard really badly, but I'm not sure of how much of it is because I think he's good and how much of it is because I want to get a shirt with his name on the back.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:38 PM) Except 75% of the blame for what happened with the Cubs should be placed on prior management (not so much Hendry) thinking those aforementioned splashy names would drive up the asking price/NAV of the franchise at the time of sale...and also for maxxing out the performance of the team at a time when others were kicking the tyres about a possible purchase. And there's still a decent chance this White Sox team can at least be competitive in 2012. Can't really say the same for the Cubs. Hendry's fault or not, the point remains the same. The Cubs suck and are in a horrible position, and the White Sox are headed down the same path. If they decide to STILL try to be "all in," they will be in the same position within the next season or two.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:08 PM) The cubs were 71-91 and I do not believe they have added replacement level players with greater value. I do not think Travis Wood, Volstad and Maholm are anything more than Casey Coleman and Randy Wells. cub fans must believe that theo and jed are the saviors. While they may be very bright individuals neither built the Red Sox organization to the level they are getting credit for and one of the biggest trades that took place during the theo tenure was when theo was on sabattical. I think the Brewers, Cards are Reds will all be better than any team in the White Sox division thus I think the cubs will be epically bad as the NL as a whole will beat them up, the cub will get to beat the Astros but recently the Pirates have had their number and may even be better on paper this year. The media seems to gloss over the cub debt and stadium issues and everyone just thinks the fans will pay to see a 100+ plus loss team for the next two years. There also seems to be an accepted precedent that a wholesale gutting is the way to go. The potential lost revenue from bad teams and the youth movement not working could cripple that organization but the media's rose colored glasses will not see this. It is assured theo and jed will be the Royals in two years and nobody will invest in youth like the cubs will now do. The White Sox were 79-83 last year. They had two players produce to a level which I think will not be repeated Konerko and Humber. If Peavy, Rios and Dunn put up the same numbers as last year, Sale is not the starter he looks to be based on this last two years and if Morel and Beckham are not MLB players, the Sox will be a 70 win team. I believe the infield defense will be one of the best in the AL. I like Buehrle and he will be hard to replace but I think Peavy will replace his value and Sale, Danks and Floyd will fit their roles with Humber begin a nice number four. I think the bullpen can be built from within and and an arm or two will be there from the trades the Sox made this offseason. The White Sox are a relatively young team so having a terrible farm system will not kill them if they stay healthy. I am of the belief that guillen hurt the team greatly and Ventura will give them more of an advantage. I am not saying they are going to the playoffs but I also do not want to blow the thing up and start anew. I am going to South Bend now to shovel Hawk's snow. Nearly every team can be surprise contenders if everyone plays well. It's baseball, the best teams every year only win like 65% of their games -- there is a ton of space for streaks and career years to make a difference. But all of that does NOT make it prudent to plan on everything breaking correctly with tens of millions of dollars at stake. Yes, we would all be happier if every offseason's theme was to add veterans stars, but that's just not possible. No matter how much money you think ownership has, they can not and will not just continue to add payroll until they bankrupt themselves. Yes, the Cubs will suck next year, but that's because Hendry drove them into the ground with wanton aggression every year, throwing big money at the best player available at the time without any concern for anything beyond the next season. Now, they're mired in a state of sustained mediocrity without any chance of getting better quickly because they have $150m tied up in garbage players on long-term contracts, and depressingly few decent prospects to come up and outplay the dead weight. What options do they have? Would the fans rather see an expensive team suck it up or a young team with a promising future suck it up? If you think the White Sox or the Cubs should be further mortgaging the future on the slight chance that all of their bad players will turn it around and have great years, you either have no understanding of basic economics or think the world will end after 2012. I'm sick of hearing people hate on KW offseason strategy by acting like he WANTS to lose. He may or may not be making bad decisions, but he's doing it while trying to build you a winner the best way he knows how -- and unlike so many fans, he understands that he may not be able to do it right now and is aware that the decisions he makes now will affect his ability to succeed in the not-so-distant future. It's not as simple as "get good players or get bad players." And finally, to everyone (not necessarily you) who is complaining about JR being stingy: please realize that last year's payroll was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than any payroll in White Sox history.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...n-in-san-diego/

I think it was Morosi, tweeted today that the Red Sox are discussing Floyd.