Eminor3rd

QUOTE (b-Rye @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 04:16 PM) I know highly unlikely, but if the Sox got Holliday, attendence, wins, and playoff chances go way up. Which equals the revenue to pay him. If we're out of it in a few years, they can always trade him unless he turns into garbage (highly unlikely)... but I still see STL signing him. Pierre CF Beckham 2B Holliday RF Quentin DH Konerko 1B Ramirez SS AJP C Rios CF Teahen 3B Now that I will bet on a WSox world series... and they may need that to compete with Yankees, Redsox, Mariners, Angels, even Tampa Bay. The AL will have some elite teams this year. There's absolutely zero chance we get Holliday. We simply don't have the budget. That's why we signed Andruw Jones.

QUOTE (striker @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 02:29 PM) What would be considered acceptable? .800+? With Guerrero, Thome, and Delgado available, yeah I'd say .800+ I mean a DH is a unique opportunity to pay less for a one dimensional player. We can get a guy that hits well and not worry about his defense. You want to rotate bench outfielders? Rotate them. In the outfield. Winn is decent but he's best as an outfielder. If we got him and put him at DH, we might as well just use Kotsay all year.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) Fangraphs - Freddy Bloody Garcia Interesting stuff from fangraphs. I'm not smart enough to articulate everything this article is stating, but apparently, Sweaty Freddy gets about as much out of his talent as any other starting pitcher in the league...and this is not a new thing for him, but rather, something he has done for the majority of his career. Interesting indeed. We always wonder how he hangs in there

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 03:54 PM) My question in reply is...do we look at Vlad's numbers last year and think "This is vastly better than we'd get from Jones". I'm just not sure I do. Jones's numbers are only 10 points of OPS below Vlad. Played in less games due to injury, but he's also 2 years younger and hasn't spent time playing on the turf in Montreal The one thing I can see being a legit upgrade is a LH bat rather than a RH bat. Ozzie loves the platoon, we already know that, and there are guys on the market he can do that with. He can't do it with Vlad, and that really creates a RH heavy heart of the order unless Teahen steps up big time. But Jones hasn't had a decent season since 2006. Vlad's 2008 numbers were 303/365/521/886

QUOTE (soxfan-kwman @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) Rotating DH- After watching Pods rotate around from CF/LF & DH, I think Kenny Williams wants to try that with Pierre (better bunter) for a whole year. It should make us less vulnerable during interleague play also. Also, Andruw Jones will be in LF for Pierre in the end of games (ala Brian Anderson for Swish, Mackoviack, Griffey etc) Plus Paulie can get some rest, Carlos, & AJ can play some DH too (providing we get a decent back up catcher). Every time I read this plan it seems like more of a joke.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 1, 2009 -> 03:03 PM) What should we call it now? My vote would be Sox Square. The Cell Block

Vladimir Guerrero. We need raw power, let's face it. Second choice? Thome. Third? Damon, but he'll cost too much. I like the Kila idea too, but I'd rather sign than trade, of course.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 25, 2009 -> 11:32 PM) Oh, well since the UZR says so, it must be true. Do you guys even know how UZR, RF, and defensive stats of the like are even measured? You realize none of them accurately measure the speed of the ball off the bat (actually they don't even try to) or the defensive positioning prior to the pitch? These statistics should be looked at and considered, but if you're going to use them as your sole proof of a defensive player's worth, you're going to be misguided much of the time. Companies like Stats Inc. are working on a system using cameras and computers (not people watching on monitors) to precisely measure stuff like this. Baseball has been moving forward with collecting data from this software from Sportsvision that does basically the same thing. Eventually it will be used in every ballpark, and after it is perfected and utilized, we'll have a considerably more accurate measure of defensive abilities. For the time being, UZR is flawed and it's a mistake to use it as a bible of some kind. It should be considered but shouldn't be everything. (Oh, and a happy holiday to everyone.) Yeah, well unfortunately it's the best statistic we have right now so it's going to keep coming up. The alternative is relying solely on our subjective memory, which we know is almost completely inaccurate from decades of psychological research. I agree that we need better statistical measures for defense than UZR, but at the moment, I'd much rather rely completely on UZR than on our own unsupported opinions. Happy holidays to you as well.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Dec 21, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) On many other teams, I'd agree. But this lineup currently has a serious OBP problem. Maybe I'm in a minority, but I want my high-OBP players hitting in the top half of the lineup. I contrast to what Ozzie thinks, I'd much rather that Beckham be used as an on-base guy (hitting in front of CQ and PK) with some power than an RBI guy right now. That means staying in the 2-hole (or possibly hitting 3rd at some point). If Kenny signs somebody like Thome or Delgado, I'd be more comfortable with Beckham hitting 6th temporarily. I agree whole-heartedly. IMO, the absolute #1 need for 1 and 2 spots is OBP. Alexei could be 2 hitter if he walked more, but he doesn't. At least the start of this season, Beckham has to bring his OBP to the two spot. Putting him at 6th (instead of 2nd) robs him of something like 72 at bats over the course of the season and reduces RBI from PK/CQ.

I would have picked up Rios too. KW had the opportunity to add an extremely athletic all-star to his midseason club and give up nothing because he was having an off year. Is he expensive? Yeah, but if he plays like we should be able to expect him to play, he's worth it. especially considering how much we needed to fill CF. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rios had a bad year. There's no reason to think he won't bounce back.

I kind of wish we would have tried to sign Polanco instead of getting Teahen, or even instead of getting Juan Pierre.

Delgado will be more expensive than thome, and we don't have any money.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 19, 2009 -> 08:49 PM) You're right, but it's the old recency effect. People are usually greatly affected by events that occur recently. I think some people have had time to let the Peavy excitement wear off. I think its also because peavy pitched so well and we still lost it in the end. Its just tough because I think we're SO close. I mean if we could just add that solid dh, we'd really be co ntenders. Honestly, the juan pierre move, I think, was the best move we could have made given the circumstances. The starting pitching is top notch, no questions. The bullpen, all things considered, is solid. Its not without its holes but iits definitely AL central competitive. The lineup has a ton of potential, even though there's a huge if-factor. We just need that one proven bat for dh...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 19, 2009 -> 01:27 PM) I'd still have absolutely no problem with that at all. Me either.

Again, I think we have to ditch konerko. The padres don't want pk and his salary, so we have to do it in a three way. If we involve another team, we can get them to throw a couple prospects at san diego, and it works like this: We get agon for pk and two prospects Sandiego get 4 prospects for agon Third team get pk for two prospects Tons of teams are in a position to trade a couple prospects for a good veteran bat. this is themost realistic scenario in my mind.

QUOTE (1977 sox fan @ Dec 19, 2009 -> 03:39 AM) yes we do need a real hitter . its sad that we can't find a way to spend 6 to 8 mil on a good player . well we could try to trade for Josh Hamilton he is cheap and i believe under team control for a couple more years . yeah he is a risk but he is a real talented player . I agree, id love to get hamilton, but I don't think we can without opening another hole.

Bottom line is, we need a serious hitter. A star player. We clearly can't afford one, so it'll have to come via trade. I still think there's a chance Jenks goes. I think they got Putz so he could set up Thornton. Freddy Dolsi could fill the missing short relief spot. Ideally, they get someone to overpay for Linebrink instead, but that's just wishful thinking.

Ozzie just wants a team of guys that were just like him when he played. Good defense, decent speed, mediocre bat with no power. There... I said it.

Yeah I'm in favor of not rushing him. Let Freddy run out of gas first.

I think it's solid. Though if Jenks gets traded, less so.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 09:09 AM) I don't want a bench player to necessarily be the DH, but I do want a DH that can play the field and maybe leg out a double. If Q or PK get a sore pinky toe, I want the flexibility to shuffle things and maybe be able to move the DH to 1b or LF. If the mystery DH happens to be the hottest hitter on the team when the Sox play in the NL parks, then Ozzie can find a way to get him in the lineup. I don't want the Sox to have to make the choice to put a limping TCQ in left because they can't afford to lose the bat. Having a DH only is almost like having one less roster spot. Obviously if the DH can hit .280 with 40 HR, that may help make up for it a bit. I doubt the Sox are going to get a pure DH of Frank Thomas in his prime quality this offseason and fit him in the budget. There is no way a power hitting DH-only guy doesn't upgrade this team in every way. You're going to have a bench player hit DH anyway and sit out in the NL games. Why not make it a good hitter instead of a mediocre one? Is it not better to have a good hitter in that spot for most of your games instead of none of them? Having a bench bat start in your lineup every day is a bad idea no matter HOW you look at it. If Ozzie wants to platoon for matchups, he still can. QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 10:09 AM) just like Panic! at the disco you guys need to stop being emo, ya i went there. This team is fine! Harold Reynolds who i take as having a good baseball IQ has said with the addition of Juan Pierre we are in the position to win the division, the other guys on MLB TV seemed to agree. The worst player on our team is presumably Andruw whos gonna give us 25-30 HR (well maybe not if hes cycling with kotsay who i think can hit .280 with some decent power). That's because our division sucks.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 12:06 AM) Guys, he's f***ing with you. Yeah, I got freaked out by this at first too, but come on, KW isn't THAT stupid. He didn't go out and spend $25-30million on Peavy and Rios just to cycle bench players into DH all year. I mean he's basically saying, "Well, Ozzie doesn't want any good hitters, and I want to respect that.".

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 08:54 PM) This gets dumber by the day +1 to this

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 02:35 PM) Is Mike Hampton still alive? Unfortunately no, but Denny Neagle is!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 08:46 AM) Mark showed a little bit of power in Milwaukee. Perhaps we could just have the pitchers hit and skip the DH. It'll save some money too. I like it. There's the reason we've been looking for to go out and get Zambrano!