SCCWS

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 03:01 PM) Which turns into a great argument for the relocation thread. Havana White Sox in the near futire.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) Does Brandon Moss make sense? Put him in LF, bats left but he's more than a power hitter than a contact guy. I am a long time White Sox fan living in New England during baseball season. I have posted on this site numerous times that I think one of the main problems with White Sox attendance is corporate season tickets. In New England , thousands of companies have season tickets. When I was working, vendors were always offering tickets to Red Sox games. When I travelled to Chicago in 2002 as part of an acquisition team of a large Chicago company, I was offered a coprorate ticket to a Cubs game. These tickets provide free passes to fans which help generate interest in a team and also creates a demand for getting tickets in advance since game day tickets are hard to find w/o scalping.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 05:06 PM) Derek Jeter had a .976 career fielding percentage. Ozzie Smith had a .978 career fielding percentage. Derek Jeter is comparable to Ozzie Smith. I do know the Top 10 second basemen all finished higher than .975. So a minor leaguer fielding at .950 has a long way to go.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 03:29 PM) What on earth are you talking about? He made 14 errors in under 60 games in the ML. His minor league FP is .954 over 4 seasons. Conor Gillaspie is 950 at the ML level over 5 years. Semien is comparable to Conor Gillaspie defensively.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 1, 2014 -> 01:29 PM) I don't disagree with any of this, and frankly none of these would deter me from signing those players given the right circumstances, just that those "MLB pitches thrown" are misleading as hell. Just because a guy hasn't thrown a lot of pitches in the MLB because he came up late or started in the bullpen doesn't simply negate the effect the previous pitching experience has had on his arm. Frankly, some of those pitches were "saved" when he was throwing out of the bullpen, but those pitches don't include side work or warm up sessions nor does it include the ramped up intensity of those innings. Samardzija seems like he has smooth mechanics and he was arguably better in the 2nd half than the 1st half last year (which has been a concern), but there are a lot of other things worth considering here. Personally, I wouldn't give up Anderson nor Semien for him, but I absolutely love both players. I'd give up any other minor leaguer in the system eligible to be traded for him at this point. I just don't think trading Anderson or Semien bodes well for the long-term health of the organization because it seems to be that those two both provide very good value long-term in multiple different ways. Semien has so far shown to be a a below average infielder in majors and an average one in minors. Now maybe he can be a 4th outfielder but unless he makes a major improvment with his defense, his value is not great.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Nov 28, 2014 -> 03:17 AM) Alright, I'll throw out a massive trade that will never happen. Let's go with a crazy 3-way.... White Sox acquire: OF Mookie Betts, SP Ian Kennedy Red Sox acquire: SP Frank Montas, SP Chris Bassit, SP Tyson Ross, RP Nate Jones, SS Franchy Cordero Padres acquire: 3B Conor Gillaspie, OF Yoenis Cespedes White Sox trade: 3B Conor Gillaspie, SP Frank Montas, SP Chris Bassit, RP Nate Jones Red Sox trade: OF Yoenis Cespedes, OF Mookie Betts Padres trade: SP Ian Kennedy, SP Tyson Ross, SS Franchy Cordero And then the Sox sign McCarthy for 3 yr/$36M with a 4th year team option for $15M, $3M buy out. I am assuming you are not that familiar with Betts. He played 90% of his minor league games at 2B. He came up when Pedroia was hurt and showed a solid bat Unfortunately Pedroia is blocking him. So the Red Sox moved him to the outfield when Pedroia came back. He was just average in outfield since he was learning the position at ML level. If he is traded it will probably be as a 2B for value purposes. Otherwise Red Sox may send him back to AAA to learn CF. He struggled w throws from RF. Very solid hitter but also very small but used the Fenway wall to his advantage. .

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 26, 2014 -> 12:51 PM) And let's also not forget that the Dodgers just lost an important player on the left side of their infield with Ramirez going to Boston. It could put a little more pressure on them to bid up for Alexei. Not necessarily. It depends what the Red Sox plan w Ramierez. If they think he can play SS for a few years, they could be taking offers on Bogaerts . Then Alexei may take a step down in value.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 26, 2014 -> 03:13 AM) Bradley Jr. over Victorino any day. Old broken down OF's are a step in the wrong direction. At least Bradley, Jr. has youth , wonderful D which the Sox need badly and speed and the "potential " to hit. Still rather try to pry Holt loose. Maybe he'd cost less than JBJ despite having great value to the Red Sox as a super-utility guy. On that team he will get nowhere near the amount of AB's he had last year. Maybe in a humanitarian gesture the Red Sox let him go to realize his potential rather than keep him as the supersub. I don't see the Red Sox trading Holt. He will be their super utility in that he can play IF and OF. The Red Sox probably have the best lineup in baseball now but they have not added pitching and their defense is very average. They will trade Cespedes for some pitching. White Sox may still be interested in Nava and he could be reasonably priced. Victorino is damaged goods at a high price. I woule love to see Hahn take a shot on Bradley. the tools are all their except so far he has not hit in majors.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 23, 2014 -> 08:55 AM) Over the past 2 seasons, Lester has a 10.4 WAR, Q has a 9.0 WAR. Over the next 6 seasons, Q is owed at most, around $40 million, Lester will get about $100 million or more more than that. Q has 2 buyout years at $1 million if something goes wrong. Lester will be quaranteed all his money. Q is 5 years younger. I always thought Alexei was underappreciated, but the thought that anyone here would be willing to trade this guy, when he gives you the performance of a star, and allows the White Sox to spend big money elsewhere because he gets paid so little, makes me believe he is perhaps the most under appreciated White Sox ever. I have seen it posted here he is a decent #2 maybe a three on a championship team. He was 9th in baseball in pitching WAR, and got paid like a reclimation project. There really is no realistic way the White Sox would trade him. I am sure they would take Mike Trout, but that isn't happening. I also think Q is pretty much untouchable. In reagrds to Lester, his 3-0 w a sub.50 ERA in 2 World Series puts him pretty much at the top of the food chain. He may be as good as any lefthander not named Sale in baseball. Lester will get more than $100 Mil. My guess is $130-140 for 5-6 years.

QUOTE (MDWhiteSoxFan @ Nov 22, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) My earlier post I sounded pretty sore on the signing... Don't want to sound like I didn't like it at all. I just hope we get someone that can platoon with him. Plus a 2 year deal is good for the team with his age. Solid signing just wish we could've landed someone that could hit both RHP and LHP equally well I guess. As someone said the main reason they decided against bringing him back was Zimmerman can't play 3rd anymore so they had no where to play Laroche. Living in O's and Nats ville he was definitely loved by the fans. A veteran club leader is another attractive part of this signing. http://www.masnsports.com/byron-kerr/2014/...-nationals.html

The best scenario would be the Sox starters are good enough that Rodon can stay in the minors all season and get called up in September. He can enjoy watching the 2015 Sox in the World Series and then join the rotation in spring 2016.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 16, 2014 -> 12:06 AM) As far as Hahn having 100% control, Kenny has thrown a veto on a Peavy to Boston trade that did not involve the Tigers. I believe it was DA who alluded to it earlier in the thread and I got confirmation from someone within the organization that it was the case. Hahn wanted Middlebrooks and Williams either didn't like Middlebrooks or thought there was a better offer out there. That same person, who is in baseball ops, told me "Hahn is the acting GM and handles the day-to-day processes but KW has the final word and will be in Reinsdorf's ear if he feels the need to be." When I continued to probe on this topic he said something like "Hahn is very much involved in all organizational moves, but Kenny still has the juice and definitely misses the day-to-day part of being a GM" and went on to say that KW is operating under immunity. Now whether you want to take my word for it, is on you. you can take what I say with a grain of salt and consider it bulls*** and I wouldn't blame you as I am just another quasi-anonymous message board poster. The rumor was very strong in the Boston media as well that Middlebrooks was the guy being offered for Peavy. But eventually the Reed/Davidson was probably not a better decision than Middlebrooks for filling the 3B hole. I would still prefer Gillaspie over Middlebrooks at this stage.

Obviously the media is constantly running around looking for quotes/rumors at the winter meetings. So far the lack of movement probably has some frustrated already. But I have seen several quotes from Kenny Williams so I guess he is attending. I am wondering what his role is. I hope Hahn has 100% control of the roster and is not still reliant on KW.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 12, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) man I keep on coming back to this post. I biggest burning question is at what salary will it take to sign him. Boston papers said minimum $40 mil for 5 years so I am guessing $10 Mil per year when bidding ends

Let's not forget that the 2014 White Sox finished middle of the pack in the AL in batting but the lower end in pitching and defense. Now an improved bullpen and the addition of Rodon should improve the pitching as long as Hahn can make some solid additions to the pen. But the Sox have to improve the defense as well. Sticking players in positions for their offense may still result in another poor season. It is okay to use 2015 as a rebuilding year if you think a player will grow into a position. But you are much better experimenting at the AAA level than costing ML games and it may help the young player as well from a pressure standpoint.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 6, 2014 -> 08:31 PM) And from that list....Rasmus, Melky Cabrera, Morse, Torii Hunter, Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, good luck choosing from among them. M.Cabrera, Morse, Hunter (even at his age) and Cruz (except for the 2nd half decline) can obviously hit, but then your defense is not taking a step forward. We're building the anti-Royals, a diametrically opposed opposite if we were to trade Alexei. Markakis can sort of hit and sort of field, but not superior by any stretch at either, especially for the price tag. Then you have the Rasmus Enigma. Boston is peddling 3 corner outfielders ( Victorino, Craig and Cespedes but they want piching in return. Article in Providence paper today indicates Rasmus is probably the top FA corner since Markakis is probably returning to Baltimore. So Hahn may have to go trade route. Maybe Alexei and a prospect or two could bring a corner from someone.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 2, 2014 -> 01:06 PM) Playing your top prospect= rebuilding? Huh, didn't know that. We should just trade him then. Have you noticed that the "top prospect" has not reached AAA yet and he has struggled defensively playing SS at A and AA levels???

Aoki has pretty much only played right field in his 3 years in ML. So he wouldn't be a great 4th outfielder. Now maybe Hahn wants Avi to play left and Aoki to play right. That could still leave Danks as the 4th outfielder and Viciedo sent packing

QUOTE (palehose23 @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 01:45 AM) Only 39 million from new players which gets you to the starting 2014 payroll I don't think the White Sox get Miller for 3/26. He is pretty well guaranteed $8 per year and Boston and Baltimore are at least involved. He said he will not give Boston a home town discount so my gut says the White Sox have to go 4/$40 to seperate themselves from more attractive situations for him.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 09:59 PM) IMO, playoff experience only matters in a manager/coaching staff. They need to know how to use their players in those situations, especially the pitchers. Ozzie did pretty damn good with none as a manager his 1st time in.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Oct 30, 2014 -> 03:12 PM) I'm fine with Noesi as a 5. Rodon hasn't pitched a major league inning also. Hope he pans out as he should. That leaves us with Danks. We're stuck with him. I would add one caveat. You really have to identify 6 starters. Many ML teams started this season with at least 1 starter out with an injury. In the White Sox case, I assume that #5 is Carrol until Rodon arrives. Everyone has Rodon arriving next year, including me, but if he doesn't you better have one solid option among Danks Noesi and Carrol.

QUOTE (flavum @ Oct 28, 2014 -> 12:39 PM) Does the Beckham PTBNL count? Daniel Nava for a minor league pitching prospect.

QUOTE (glangon @ Oct 28, 2014 -> 08:02 AM) I see us trading Matt Davidson away for starting pitching. As Tim Lincecum seems to be out of favour in San Francisco and Sandoval is out of contract. I reckon we could see Matt Davidson and Marcus Semien for Tim Lincecum as the 1st trade on November 23rd. Why would the Giants possibly want Semien when they have a young 2nd/SS combo already??? You would need to swap Semien for a young pitching prospect.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 27, 2014 -> 09:39 AM) WARNING: OPS Rant Omg why are people still citing OPS and treating it like it's a proxy for a player's overall value? Not only is OPS bad, but everyone is still tuned to the standards of the steroid era, when every outfielder had to be 800+. This is simply NOT representative of baseball today. Let's use numbers that (a) properly weight the constantly changing value relationship between OBP and SLG, and (b) are actually adjusted to the offensive era that we are in. 2014 Jason Heyward: 110 wRC+, +24.1 UZR, 5.4fWAR. This is a guy who hit 10% better than league average and played elite defense in 2014 -- in fact, almost as elite as you can possibly be. The result was an all-star caliber player. You would NOT expect the +25 UZR to be sustainable (though he's done it before in 2012), but since he's always been between +10 and +25, it's reasonable to expect a +10-15. And since the wRC+ is actually a touch BELOW his career of 117, there's no reason to believe he won't be sitting at 110-115 next year. And that would be an awesome season and he would be the best position player on our team, save Abreu. Please stop citing OPS, it's problematic. It gives us an inaccurate picture of the truth and we have better tools that are just as easy to find and utilize. Ok, I'm done. I'm sorry, GreenSox. I know I'm a jerk. The point about the one-year of control is huge, but for like three pages here it looks like everyone is talking about a trade being contingent on an extension. The part that makes it interesting is that his value would conceivably be lower than one might think simply because of the lack of control. I'm not sure how it would be affected if all involved parties knew that a handshake extension agreement was being made. Cancel the rant. Actually the Top 10 MLB players in WRC are the same top 10 in OPS. Guys like Eaton, DV, amd Conor all fall into the same range in both categories. I am sure there are some odd instances both ways but quick look tells you both stats are very similiar.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 27, 2014 -> 07:19 AM) while that is true, that is the beauty of a sports forum, to talk, argue, come up with some outlandish trades ideas. in other word Monday morning quarterbacking the team as the GM. it is all harmless and fun. you should hear some of my trade ideas, but I really don't want to get banned. for calling those who respond in the negative freaking idiots. I am hearing Joe Maddon to the Bears