Knackattack

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 05:42 PM) If the Sox don't acquire a SS, I'd be more comfortable trying Sanchez in the 2 hole, than Saladino. I like Tyler, but I don't think that he profiles well at that spot in the lineup. That is where Sanchez has regularly hit, and where he has had his best success. However, he would have to improve significantly, over his Big League performance. last year. Sanchez isn't a major league hitter and should be nowhere near the 2 hole. That is a recipe for a ton of GIDP And if we are trading Rodon, it's for Kris Bryant or some one of that ilk.

There's gonna be some scary pitching in that division... the better these 3 teams get the more incentive Colorado has to sell everything off and wait for their chance so I'm all for these guys loading up for the next 3-4 years

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 12:00 PM) Gordon becomes much more interesting at 4 or 5 years, than he does at 6. I'd offer him 4/84.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 10:19 AM) Andre Ethier This is some one I would target.. float LA a nice prospect and maybe they take LaRoche with him

I mean.. sure, it would be nice to get some on like Cespedes, but do we wanna backload a contract and pay the guy 30M when he is 36? I don't. Does Garfien have any real info ever or is kind of just a fluff guy?

Has anyone said Avi yet? I'll go with him

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 11:09 AM) Disagree. Dunn sucked his 1st year in a 4 year contract with the Sox. He was serviceable the next 3 before being traded to Oakland. Difference between LaRoche and Dunn? LaRoche is in the final year of his contract, Dunn had 3 more years, but he at least put up decent/good numbers those last 3 seasons. I seem to remember Dunn having an issue with his son during that year. Something life threatening IIRC, that really bears on your mind. The fact that he was actually decent (for what he was) the next 3 years makes me really believe that it was weighing on him, and it's a reasonable thing. Adam LaRoche's excuses were.... I've never DH'd and my hand hurts... not buying that as much. I will however say that if his hand injury was the real issue and he is strictly used against RHP only, he may swat 20 homers next season and approach a more Adam LaRoche-like OPS

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 09:58 AM) Yeah not amazing with the bat but a great defensive option in center. As of right now though, I think he's the platoon partner with LaRoche (Melky DH'S against lefties, Eaton moves to left, Trayce in center). I think they are going to give Trayce every opportunity to make Avi the 4th/5th outfielder if they add no free agents

Sox trade - D-Rob + LaRoche + Chris Beck SP to Dodgers Sox acquire - Ethier OF + Austin Barnes C + Chris Anderson RHP Sox trade - Chris Anderson SP - Avi Garcia OF - Adam Engel OF - Micah Johnson IF - Tyler Danish SP Sox Acquire - Todd Frazier Sox Sign OF Justin Upton - 6yr 135M w/ opt out after 3 years Pitching - Sale Q Rodon Johnson Danks Lineup - CF - Eaton (L) DH - Melky (S) 1B - Abreu ® RF - Upton ® 3B - Frazier ® LF - Ethier (L) 2B - Lawrie ® C - Navarro (S) SS - Saladino ® Sox try Nate Jones as closer and if he fails Carson Fulmer/Frankie Montas takes the Chris Sale route to the majors and breaks in mid 2016 as closer. Thompson spells Eaton/Ethier against lefties and provides Melky/Ethier days off to keep them fresh. Sanches becomes infield sub for SS/2B and Lawrie shifts to 3rd on Frazier's days off

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 11:49 AM) Two opt-outs in the deal, including one after year 3 So he spends 3 years at Wrigley boosting those HR numbers when the wind is blowing out and hits the market as a 29 yr old power bat CF'er and lands a 250M deal... smart

I think the best thing about Trayce's appearance up here was his eye at the plate. From what I saw he really was either a tremendous guesser or he could just see the ball better than almost anyone on our club.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 11:36 AM) Would Eaton's defense improve playing RF instead of CF? Probably a bit, but his arm was really underwhelming last year. I remember when we got him seeing clips of an absolute cannon from CF but last year he seemed noodle armed. I think he would be a really strong LF, but we need some one to handle right. An outfield of Eaton-Thompson-Upton would be pretty good from an offensive and defensive position but we need some one to put out there other than Avi in right and we have to get Melky to DH.

QUOTE (Special K @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 06:37 AM) I disagree. If Avi and LaRoche were to play 150 games this year, I think you would get very similar production, with maybe, just MAYBE, a very slight uptick from LaRoche, but I highly doubt it given he's only getting older. Same goes for Gillaspie if we had him playing 150 games at third this year. The only guy who I may agree with you is Sanchez, because he was a rookie, and let's be honest, you can only go up from those offensive numbers (which he did in the second half). LaRoche will bounce back next year, I believe. Sanchez hit for literally 1 month all year, he is a guy that we need to replace if we want to contend. Melky will probably be good for a .750 OPS this year, Garcia should be on the bench for Thompson because the defensive WAR itself from CF will be more valuable than Avi as a player alltogether. Lawrie will hit more than any 3rd baseman we've had in years and if he gets a WAR of 1, I think it's a 3 game improvement over 2015.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 09:02 AM) Seems a lot like Alex Rios before he signed his extension with the Jays. He will always play good defense, though it is likely that he starts to lose a step at this point as he ages and his defensive value will come back to the pack. The bat is never going to be enough to justify what he is going to get. I hope the Cubs sign him, I would love to see him be an anchor around their neck in three years when he is making $20M + a season. 3 years from now, Heyward will be 29 years old.. and probably having the best season of his career He is probably a good bet to be 5-6 WAR for the first 6 years of the deal.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 10:13 AM) Why couldn't Avi start in AAA? He has no reason to go to AAA. You can send him there and say don't swing the god damn bat at all the first 2 months of the season so he understands what the mystical "strike zone" is, but I doubt that would help him. Avi destroyed the minors based on tools but he would pretty much have to be completely re-coached to be a useful major league player. But hopefully the Rockies have enough patience to try to deal with him and take a swap of Montas + Avi for CarGo.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 06:54 AM) I'd be fine with LaRoche/Montas/Danish for Cargo/$$$ They have to take Avi too

Ridiculous the amount of talent they just got for a closer. If I was a Houston fan, I'd be pissed. Not as bad as what the DBacks gave up for a #3 starter.. but wow

QUOTE (Real @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 10:11 PM) looking at Fraziers stats he looks like another low obp guy who can hit Homers and has a meager batting average did we not try this recipe already or are people saying our offense is nearly complete and he would somehow be the final piece to the puzzle dunno if I agree. oh and another NL guy. how could this possibly go wrong? Frazier is at worst a good power bat and a strong defender at a weak position... Plus, getting him allows us to move Lawrie to 2nd where his bat profiles better We had horrible infield production last year and adding Lawrie and Frazier could be adding 45-50 homers to positions we were probably going to get 15-20 from

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 10:25 PM) This is pretty much Lawrie's last chance. He's been a huge bust for a No. 1 pick and obviously the A's think he's no good if they wanted to dump him. Hopefully he'll be humble in this, his last real chance, to make it big. His stats, in fact, were lousy with the A's. We shall see. I am a little surprised a lot of you are happy with the trade. At least he's used to AL pitching, but I see him as a fairly lousy hitter. He would have been the 3rd best hitter on the team last year and he is 25 with a boatload of upside and can play two positions... that's why we're happy

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 09:18 PM) Would be more upset losing Fulmer than Anderson. They could empty the system outside of those 2 and if they got 2 premier players out of it we would really still be fine. Anderson and Fulmer are the only 2 in the system that I think will amount to anything, and I agree, Fulmer I think will be pretty special

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 09:14 PM) Anderson, Micah, and Montas They can have Montas, May, Avi, Danish and Engel.

QUOTE (peppers312 @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 09:58 AM) i remember thinking the same thing about Thome. i remember thinking the same thing about Dunn. i remember thinking the same thing about LaRoche. i'm sure if we get Upton, he'd have a career LOW year. Thome and Dunn were both really good power hitters here. Dunn had a historically s*** season but he also hit 41 homers 1 year with us

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 11:11 PM) OK, so how is his defense at 3B & 2B? I see that he has mostly played 3B, but I'm really not sure how to read most of those defensive stats on BR. Up until last year pretty good at 3b. Naggy injuries seem to have hampered him but he did play in a career high amount of games last year. He is basically better than whatever we have with the potential to be much better.

Micah and Beck.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 10:09 PM) This quote.. "The clashes continued into the Brewers’ system, where Brett chafed. He said he felt the organization wasn’t going to challenge him, and planned on moving him up the minor-league ladder rung by rung. This from a player who considered himself major-league ready. There was no line of communication to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, a Canadian, and Lawrie refused to participate in instructional league. Lawrie said he didn’t feel he had a support system, and his parents said he was unappreciated. One day, a Milwaukee minor-league instructor was giving Lawrie a talk about how minor-league players are nothing special until they reach the big leagues, when the prodigy turned to his coach, pointed at every teammate and said: “I’m better than him, him, him, etc … ”" These google results... https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrom...t+Lawrie+douche And then there was one quote a few years ago when he was a minor leaguer and he said something about being pissed that he wasn't called up yet, saying he says when he is ready, not their GM. EDIT: Oh, and add in that fact that he blocked his own team's beat writer on Twitter, probably because she spoke ill of him in an article, or at least didn't shower him with the glory he feels he deserves. So he was a cocky kid and probably has been humbled by his ML career. I'm 23 and I think I'm the best at everything I do. Fact is he could enter his prime the next 2 years and swat 50 homers from 3b over the next 2 seasons