The Ultimate Champion

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 06:44 PM) I really hate bahstin too, and Pierzynski is on my Mt. Rushmore of Sox players- I'm not sure that picking AJ up for free accomplishes any of that licking etc. that you mention. I'd be surprised if the Sox picked him up. The White Sox aren't exactly looking down at too many teams in the standings this year, either. I wouldn't be opposed to it, just not sure what it would accomplish. I really don't like the red sox though. Yeah I know but I love AJ though so I just get excited I would love for the deal to happen tonight, then AJ is in the lineup tomorrow and hitting ropes off their s***ty pitchers. And then after the game where he gets 3 hits and drives in a couple runs he does some interviews and just buries their whole team in the newspapers. Wow how great that would be.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 06:55 PM) I'm a belieber, and a believer, in the White Sox chances of sneakily sneaking into the 2nd WC this season. I'm sure plenty of you disagree, but the team has been hot the past two weeks. Why not give fans like me a bone and DFA Flowers and grab AJ? I'd rather have a token move for us to try and get back in it then do nothing. Like many have said, we're not 2013 terrible where we are going to get a top 5 draft pick. So why not help us dillusional fans with the illusion that they still care about 2014? If AJP costs the league minimum, I say get him. Why not? Well I think you're nuts but Stoney on the radio today seems to think the Sox have at least an outside shot at the 2nd WC. So you are not alone, he is here with you.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 06:19 PM) Phegley can't even catch the ball. The Sox need to respect the game and their fans more than running guys like Flowers and Phegley out there for two years in a row. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ So much this. Flowers/Nieto >>> Nohitty McButterfingers

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) Maybe when Stone said " what for", he was curious what it would take to acquire AJ? No, the way he said it he was implying that AJ is useless and doesn't provide anything of value to a ballclub. Now Stoney is sarcastic so I think he could have been referring to baseball-only stuff like a poor offensive year but the way he said it sounded to me to be as much an indictment of character as baseball commentary. Don't forget, Stoney can be every big as big of a dick as AJ. Maybe if you had AJ, Stoney, and Farmio together as a trio they could be "The Three Dicks" or something and go on tour. They might kill each other though.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 02:56 PM) It would be just like the White Sox to get rid of one of the best in the business and bring in someone totally inexperienced because of loyalty/ties to the team...we've already seen it before with DJ and Chris Singleton. While they're at it, why don't they just get rid of Ventura and give him Stone's job? Heck, Steve Stone would be a MUCH better manager than Ventura IMO, if he chose to pursue it...but I'm sure he would never get along with Don Cooper, both of their egos are too huge to coexist together, like LaRussa and Harrelson. AJ Pierzynski has been an extremely high quality player over the majority of his career. He has been in totality one of the best catchers of his era. His accomplishments in the game are signficant, his tenure long, his durability great, etc. That said, I believe AJ has a chance to be at least as great of a color man as he has been a player. He will be our next Hawk. He knows more about this game than any player we have had in a long time. He's always been the smartest player on the field, and on top of it he's hard-nosed, ballsy, old school, and isn't afraid to be an asshole. I love it. He'll be a natural IMO. Now I am a big Stoney fan too so you have to keep him but I don't know where you put him. Farmio really can't go anyway and the world would end if you even thought about taking a mic away from Darin Jackson. But you keep him and have a depth problem and figure the rest out later.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 02:49 PM) If they bring back A.J., it's only with 2014 in mind. No way they would consider him a 2015 starting option, not unless they struck out on every other catching option on their wish list. Yep. This. Let him end his career here if he's ready to hang it up. If not, let him work with Nieto. Phugly and Flowers should be about out of the picture as starters by now. Myabe as DA qwas saying, Flowers could be a backup, but that's not exactly what we're trying to do here. We're looking for starters & if Nieto isn't ready to learn on a daily basis then the AJ farewell tour is just fine by me.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 02:41 PM) Like, maybe, Steve Stone's replacement, whose contract is up at the end of this year, if I'm not mistaken? I was listening to the Score today because they were talking about an episode recently where Mark Parent was caught on camera grabbing his balls and adjusting them. Obviously I found that very interesting and at the time Stoney was on, he was being interviewed, and they were talking about what you do when its in the 90's and your balls are all sweaty and you need to adjust them. So obviously that's very important. So anyway during this interview about balls and adjusting balls Stoney mentioned the Red Sox GM making players available for trades. He kind of went down the list of who will be available and when Stoney got to AJ he kind of laughed and asked "what for?" i.e. why would anyone ever want AJ Pierzynski. Now obviously that was disrespectful, and so I wonder if there is something there? I know Super Steverson i.e. ptatc doesn't like AJ, but I love him, and maybe the reason Stoney is a lil prickly around the topic is that he knows AJ has his job next? Just guessing. Anyways it was just a little thing but the most important issue here is Mark Parent grabbing his balls. Thank you for reading this.

This AJ thing > Coop > Steverson >sliced bread

There you go Phegley for AJ trade with Boston eating all of AJ's contract... hahahah we will actually make that ahitty team even WORSE! DO IT!!! YYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

LOL at Phugly over AJ Phegley is - I really don't even want to say it because it makes me cringe - but he's the ONE instance where you can say "hot garbage." One.

LOL Sometimes I actually wonder if I was a Yankees fan in a past life because I never really have disliked the Yankees at all but for some reason I have always HATED the Red Sox, passionately. I just hate them so bad that I still couldn't even root for them even after the acquired Peavy & Thornton and got those guys rings. And so wow, what a great thing it is to go into Boston and have entire pathetic organization roll over like pathetic little puppies for the likes of Scott Carroll and co. AND NOW they are not only going to roll over for us but they are going to LICK OUR BALLS TOO by letting us get AJ back for nothing!!! YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SS MERCY! God damn it this day awesome! Sign AJ now, just f***ing DO IT! Give them some s***ty prospect, take back $1M or whatever, and let's do this thing right now so he has the chance to homer against these dips***s before the series is even out! YES! Put it on the board!

We're already 306-4 over our last 310 games vs. Seattle. We get Maurer+ out of them and next time we face them they'll get Noesi-Lefty-Maurer in a 3 game set and they'll score like 2 runs the whole series. YES PLEASE.

I LOVE the idea of getting a big armed prospect from Seattle. That club has been known for its young pitching prospects for a while now. Lots of guys with talent that didn't turn out... but we have COOP. YES PLEASE on making deals with Seattle that bring back talented pitching. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES PLEASE.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 08:45 AM) Hi everyone. I'm another nomad from the whitesox.com boards that were recently mutilated by an update. I've got another triple slash: .121/.194/.136, 40.2 K%. That's lefties against Chris Sale this season. They compare favorably to Flowers. Maybe it's time to give Nieto an extra start each week or something. I don't think I can stomach Phegley again. Somebody mentioned Kurt Suzuki for next year. I'd be okay with it. Not a bad stopgap if he could be had, but obviously to expect these kinds of numbers again would be optimistic. The best part of Kurt Suzuki is we wouldn't have to face him anymore. That guy hits ropes all over the park every time we see him.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 09:04 AM) DFA him and give Phegley his last gasp up here. There's 0 reason for Flowers to be here. If you give Flowers a couple more hits while quadrupling his blunders you've got Phegley. Yes I know it sounds odd to say but I really do believe it could get even worse. OTOH I really like the composure Nieto is shown. Since you're using up his service time anyway, might as well play him some more. See what happens. Honestly I didn't think he'd even be able to stick on the roster this long, but he's done well enough. Let him stretch it a bit further if he can.

I don't ever want to see Phegley again. Kevan Smith... we'll see, but earliest he would be here is sometime probably late next season. I say you give Nieto more starts and you stay with Flowers behind the plate for pitching/defense reasons while looking for something else better. Just please no Phegley.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 07:01 AM) 2-3 teams looking at Danks with Yankees showing the most interest. Gotta be looking at their catching, right? I don't know what their system looks like, but in theory we need all of the following: -RHSP (at least 1) -big lefty power bat -DH? if we keep Tank maybe not, but he still has to turn it around -SS after Alexei -an actual OF who can play the OF -starting C -LHRP at least 1 -quality MR and SU options So if you get like a good looking A- RHSP prospect or SS for example along with a good looking LHRP who is close to ready along with full salary relief then that should be something we'd have to think about pulling the trigger on.

If the Sox get a good spect or two then you almost have to do it. You don't want to straight dump the guy but if you get *some* quality in addition to the relief of the contractual uncertainty then you really can't pass it up IMO. Do the Yanks still need a 2B? If so we can do something with Beckham there too. Also I am guessing that some of/a lot of CC's cash is going to be available due to whatever policy the Yanks have taken out. I don't think you hand out that kind of contract without protecting yourself somewhat.

I was just thinking, is the Bulls' Neil Funk any relation to Terry Funk?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 02:45 PM) Most dissapointing trade I think we made last year, was the trade for Rios. That was just a garbage return for a very serviceable player. I know some would disagree but that was truly pathetic. Rangers will get much more for him this year. Yeah I completely agree. The Sox said they needed the money for Abreu, then it turns out that they didn't the money for Abreu. They just dumped him, straight dumped him. The Rangers aren't going to get a top-100 prospect but they in theory could, looking at the relatively recent Wheeler-for-Beltran deal the Giants made. They'll get someone good though that will probably be better rated than at least anyone but maybe 8 guys in our system. I agree on Beckham too but really that's what you look for, someone raw or a bust. This is really what we need to remember: Soptic for Gillaspie Q for nothing Viciedo, Alexei, Abreu straight signings out of Cuba Borchard for Thornton Putnam, Noesi, Guerra for nothing Miles for Uribe If Webb turns out then you can add the Frasor deal Etc. I can go on all day with this stuff. The type of deal we make with Beckham can be one that really helps us. What we CAN'T do is settle for Michael Dubee/Jon Link/etc. and just flat out dump the guy to save $1.7M or whatever it would end up being. That's just stupid.

I agree that on paper you're not going to get a deal that makes you go "Wow I can't believe we got that guy for Tank!" But I do think it is very feasible to make an initially disappointing deal where this time next year you go "Wow I can't believe we got that guy for Tank!"

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 02:31 PM) My girlfriend decided to commit to "being a baseball fan" during one of Lucy's cups of coffee. She decided that he was physically attractive and would be her favorite player, having no idea that she would almost literally never get to see him play. When I told her he retired to become an avocado salesman, it made her like him even better. I bought her a custom (obviously) Donny Lucy shirsey, and she enjoys being literally the only person in the stadium (city? state? planet?) wearing it when we go to games. When she wears it people will just think that's her last name.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 02:22 PM) The problem continues to be...unless the White Sox this offseason are going to be willing to spend money on a corner OF and a DH, Viciedo remains exactly the kind of guy they ought to be targeting. Young, fairly talented, not yet extremely expensive, lots of upside, hasn't yet put it together and thus the cost is down, multiple years of team control remaining. If the Mariners are willing to give up someone reasonable for him, I'm more than willing to listen at this point, but until he either gets too expensive for us to wait on or we have a better option available, "dumping" him is the one thing I can't agree with. I can agree with dumping Beckham and De Aza because they're unlikely to have their final arbitration years offered next year. Viciedo isn't yet in that boat. He could be there next year, but not yet. Yeah I agree with what you are saying but I just think Viciedo = DH, he's a lost cause defensively. It's amateur s***, it's mental mistakes, bad reads, just crap out there. LF is the baseball version of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, how in the world do you f*** up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Give a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, and a butter knife to Dayan and the knife will be sticking through the sandwich like it's an hors d'oeuvre and the jelly is on top of the thing and there's no peanut butter because he forgot it. He'll just f*** it up. Now I like the bat and I think targeting a LH version of a Viciedo as a DH would work, or also going after a talented true SS, true CF or RF, or a RHSP. You need lots of ability in exchange for Viciedo to make it worth the gamble IMO. But you make the move because Viciedo is getting more expensive, BorASS is his agent, and contractually we are in a spot where if we invest PA in the guy until he finally gets it, then we'll have his agent threatening to go to free agency if we don't fork over big dollars. There are a lot of issues to navigate here with Tank. That's why you move him but *only* if you get real upside in return. I think that Maurer kid is a great example of the ability you will need in return. If Coop likes him and thinks he can do some work there, make the deal. Arms like that don't grow on trees and if they get it right then they become high quality players.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 8, 2014 -> 01:02 PM) Jordan Danks is pretty clearly not a replacement for anyone. At this point you can say our entire OF sans Eaton all the way down to the A+ level is replaceable. You can throw Jordan in that mix if you want for his D and pop from the left side, I wouldn't mind, I'd actually enjoy it because I like the guy. But he's not a long-term solution, and I really don't think anyone else hanging around the AA-MLB level is either other than Eaton and maybe Micah Johnson if they move him to LF.

Donny Lucy was one of the more fun longshots to root for. I still remember how angry much of SoxTalk was that we didn't draft that other guy, A's player now with the Nats? Why can't I think of his name? Anyway the board wanted him instead, he was there, said Lucy is never going to hit. They were right. But Lucy was a good guy for the pitchers I think. I'm pretty sure I read where the pitchers really liked his game calling and stuff.