DBAHO

My guess is Saito ends up with the M's now actually. They like Japanese players over there, and they have a vacancy in the closer's spot, which would allow them to keep Morrow as a starter.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 12:00 PM) Personally, I think Bobby Abreu would be a much more valuable bat to our offense than JD. I don't necessarily agree with that. Abreu offers something that the Sox need more of for sure in OBP, but Dye himself had a .344 OBP last season and a better SLG %. It's basically a wash overall I think, although Abreu's power numbers could rise a little (but still Yankee Stadium is very favorable to LHH's). Just don't think you can downgrade JD's importance to the lineup. When Konerko and Thome were struggling, Dye was the one protecting CQ in the order.

Richard Brooks was a fantastic 2nd round pick wasn't he. Ah the legacy of Duane Shaffer.

Gutierrez is going to be the new long - term CF for the M's I believe, with Ichiro staying in RF. Maybe they'll go after Griffey for LF, or give that spot to Balentien. If he could put up an .775 OPS in Safeco, it's a decent enough deal for the M's. But still, they'll probably turn Morrow over as a closer now, and that really does waste some of his value, unless they go after a closer in FA. The Mets fans' in my office are raving about this deal acquiring Putz. Still, he'll probably walk after 2009 I'd imagine, considering he desperately wants to be a closer. It's actually a good deal from the White Sox's perspective also. A team that didn't need a closer acquired Putz, taking 1 less off the market, so the opportunity to shop Jenks is still there if KW wants to.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 11:15 PM) I don't get that trade at all from Charlotte's perspective. Richardson is the best player in the deal by a fairly wide margin and they don't really save any money either. Bell's 5 mil salary does come off the payroll in 2010, but Diaw is likely there until 2012 (player option) while Richardson will be off the books in 2011. Looks like a steal for the Suns. It shows how desperate Charlotte was for a power forward. And if Bell complained about Terry Porter's system, then he's going to LOVE playing for Larry Brown then. I can see why Charlotte did it, but I think it's also a good deal for Phoenix obviously. Richardson will help spread the floor more for Nash, Shaq and Amare to operate more freely. It does weaken their bench though, although their still have Lopez, Barbosa and Barnes or Hill. Porter might go with an 8 man rotation from here.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) Magic would play either Boston or Cleveland in the 2nd round, and there is no way in hell they could beat either of those teams. I still have a little doubt on Cleveland amazingly enough. It does look like a Cavs vs. Celtics conference series though, with the Magic the bonafide 3rd team in the East, with the Hawks and Pistons a tier below them.

FWIW, here are some more numbers on Bobby for 2008; Gross Production Average - .285 Clutch - 3.5 BA/RISP - .296 P/PA - 4.3 Fielding; RZR - .872 (Dye was .887)

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 12:40 AM) KW's either really good at staying under the radar, or we are not in the picture for any of these free agents. I haven't seen the Sox listed as a possible suitor by anyone. Well that's changed now with Abreu at least.

Nope, I'm determined to at least make it to 30,000 and then we'll see from there. Doubt I'll reach that til late next year though. I post a lot less than what I did through high school and uni.

QUOTE (G&T @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) The Sox tried that experiment with Swisher last season. Of course, Abreu is better than that, but I don't think that's Ozzie's first option. Hence why if they could find a leadoff hitter in CF, they wouldn't have to use Abreu, to take him out of his comfor zone. I think he'd be the perfect #2 hitter in the lineup for us though. Certainly an upgrade on Pierzynski / Wise from last season.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 10:13 PM) .842 OPS against righties last year with very good power numbers. It's not a great deal for Tampa, but I wouldn't write it off as a brutal trade quite yet. The thought is, Joyce makes the minimum, they'll use him against RHP as a corner OF, and they'll non - tender Gabe Gross, so they'll have an extra 3M to throw at either Bradley or Giambi for a DH spot.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 09:59 AM) I would if Abreu could lead off? That's actually an interesting possibility also. I think he'd prefer hitting #2 or #3 though, and KW and Ozzie may try to use Owens or Taveras in CF as the leadoff man (not popular I know).

Hence why I hope Dye gets dealt, even though I'm a big JD fan. Moving Abreu to LF and Quentin to RF also. If the Sox can get Bailey for Dye, plug Bailey into the #4 spot in the rotation, and then sign Abreu for the 2 hole, I like our team better than what it is ATM.

I wouldn't mind Taveras as a FA. Doesn't mean you guarantee him a starting job though.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 05:04 PM) Interesting note on the Redding/Taveras trade... it apparently fell through because one of the two players did not pass their physical. Taveras with a lower leg injury (stress fractures IIRC) I think.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 05:43 PM) Willits was used out of necessity in 2007. Garret Anderson missed 54 games and played another 20 at DH, Vlad Guerrero played in the same number of games as he usually does, but was a DH in 41 games, Gary Matthews Jr missed 20 games, and Willits himself DHed in 14 games simply because Shea Hillenbrand (who was signed to be the DH for the team) was absolutely brutal. Even so, he was really only good because he hit .290, his patience at the plate be damned. He was also fairly mediocre outside of his first half of play. This past year, with Torii Hunter added to the mix, Willits had 25% the number of plate appearances while appearing in 82 games (while he played games in the minors as well). He may have been injured, but he obviously was not a big factor within the offense seeing as how he played in over half of the Angels games but had merely 136 plate appearances the entire season. I might prefer him over Willy Taveras, but both are very dependent upon hitting for a good average. And in either case, I would want both of them hitting 9th in the order, rather than at the top of the order. If the Sox do eventually trade Dye, I'd look for the team to sign Abreu and, if the team had faith in Alexei to take over CF, Furcal at SS because I very much see them merely keeping 2B warm for Beckham at the current moment. I am not sure they do, especially seeing as how KW has said that Alexei is his SS several times, but we shall see. I will say that I could just as easily see CF being solved from within as I could from outside the organization. CF is a tough position to figure out right now. Considering the Angels had Figgins to lead-off, and Guerrero, Hunter, Matthews, Rivera and Anderson all to give AB's to in the OF/DH role for 2008, I'm not surprised Willits didn't hit much at all in 2008, and as such couldn't get into a rhythm and hit well. He's a perfect buy low candidate IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 04:54 PM) So, the Sox can't teach one on the fly, but will be able to in spring training and Marquez should be ready for the rotation? I don't think that makes much sense. Javy Vazquez was popping off about being in Atlanta will help him because he's a flyball pitcher. Maybe he should look at his splits. He pitched better and gave up fewer homers at USCF, as do several White Sox pitchers. This is from Danks in ST; http://www.southsidesox.com/story/2008/2/28/1717/48238 I think they could do exactly the same with Marquez come ST in 2009. Looking at his numbers etc., he needs to add something to his repotoire; You're right on Javy though. His K rate was certainly better at home, and that's maybe because opposing hitters were going for the longball more against him at the Cell, considering it's such a good HR park and all.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 04:44 PM) If all he needs is a cutter, don't you think the Yankees would teach him one? And if they teach him, what is the guarantee it will be any good? If its that easy, why don't they teach MacDougal a cutter? Why didn't they teach Horacio Ramirez a cutter? I love how everyone compares Marquez to Garland. It must be because he strikes no one out. As I stated before, when Garland was Marquez's age, he had more IP on the major league level than Marquez has on the minor league level. It also took a long time for Garland to be considered trustworthy. All I'm saying is that a few starting pitchers that we've had over the past such as Esteban Loaiza and more recently John Danks, learnt the cutter, because their fastball wasn't really enough of a strikeout pitch to begin with, and from reading Marquez's stuff, he seems like a perfect candidate. And you're not going to teach guys like Ramirez a cutter during the season (especially when he was only on the team for what 2 or 3 months). I'm only comparing Marquez to Garland because they're both sinkerball pitchers, and KW has gone out to try and acquire those type of pitchers, to negate the flyball effects of the Cell.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 04:36 PM) As much as I hate Vazquez, you'd have to say he'd be significantly better in 2009 than Marquez. I'm reserving judgement on Marquez until they teach him a cutter. Could be another Jon Garland I think. But the Sox could still go and trade for Bailey, which would make him the 4th starter and Richard / Poreda the 5th starter, with Marquez starying in AAA, and then you go out and sign a replacement in LF (which I think the Sox would do, because KW says that we're right on our payroll limits as of this moment).

QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 03:33 PM) I was never on the side of blown the team up. My concern is that we haven't improved in any area from last year besides our farm system, and that won't help us compete in 2009. I'd potentially disagree with that. Viciedo could still contribute in 2009 at some point IMO, and may produce better than what Swisher did. Josh Fields IF healthy, could outproduce Crede / Uribe. And we've arugbly jettisoned 2 weak links in Swisher and Vazquez from the team. All depends on what KW does from here on out though.

Goodbye Pacman?

Don't think it's confirmed yet. Phillies are still after Lowe IIRC. The AL East just got a lot harder today though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) So when was the last time the Sox picked someone in the major league portion of the draft? Certainly a while ago. With the way KW has been stockpiling young players this off-season though, it wouldn't surprise me to see us make a move here possibly. What's our 40 man roster at?

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Dec 10, 2008 -> 11:17 AM) If you had Jay Bruce, would you trade him for Hanley? Yep. Bruce still has some K/BB issues, while Hanley still plays the more valuable position.

Magic beat Portland by 1 on a Hedo banked 3 pointer with under a second left to move to 17-5. Keep doubting us though (John Hollinger), because that's the way we like it.