SCCWS

QUOTE (LDF @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 09:29 PM) that is a very interesting slant. I like it, at this time, I can't think of a counter. great job. How about Ben Zobrist? He is 33 but still a very valuable player finishing up a $7 Mil contract. Tampa needs offense so I wonder if we could package Viciedo+ Danks + cash ( Tampa won't want the 14 Mil) for Zobrist and a young RH pitcher. Sox could stick Zobrist at 2nd or OF or even SS, he adds speed and OBP as well as some pop from the left. Tampa always has good young arms at AAA. Danks has pitched pretty well at the Trop and Viciedo gives them a younger hitter w some pop behind Longoria

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 06:44 AM) Ichiro...too old, more of a 4th/5th guy now Granderson...was often mentioned as a possible free agent signing in the offseason, probably too expensive for that level of production, basically a platoon guy at this point in his career Aoki...maybe Markakis...depends on the cost in dollars/years Nava...meh Jay...don't think Cardinals will make him available after bounceback year Ethier...see Carl Crawford below Leonys Martin...another Cuban, coming off pretty decent (for him) offensive year Rasmus...will the output be worth the "potential" tag often attached? can anyone get through to him? Denard Span...quietly having a very strong season for Nationals Carl Crawford....either or neither Ethier can stay or go (bad attempt at pun) Josh Hamilton....often debated/discussed Matt Joyce...this is the typical KW bounceback/buy low candidate after a disappointing 2014 Gerardo Parra....declining defensive splits, nothing close to average offensively Domonic Brown....see Matt Joyce, non-tender candidate who's another version of Dayan Viciedo in many ways Dexter Fowler...would definitely have some interest in him, depending on cost CoCo Crisp...how many baseball lives can this guy have? about as many as Victor Martinez seemingly Grady Sizemore...just for Lillian if she's still lurking I disqualified Melky Cabrera off the bat for being out of our probable price range Nava. Has had a solid 2nd half of season. he can also play 1st base as well. Would come cheap. But I don't think he can play center

QUOTE (beautox @ Sep 21, 2014 -> 04:25 AM) Honestly on that play i thought Semein showed a fair amount of range and Avi should've called him off but this is a young players being young. What I've really like out of Semein since his call up is the following: .282/ .333/ .436 - .769 he has cut his walk and strikeout rate (4.7% BB 16.3% K) in half respectively because he is being more aggressive in the count. I feel in this SSS he is showing he is capable of dropping his strikeout rate and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see him move his walk rate north of 8% and closer to 12%ish while maintaining his current strikeout rate, his .ISO looks great out of the middle infield even better if he plays short full time. But remember call-up numbers don't mean much. The level of competition tends to drop off as opponents are also using AA and AAA talent especially pitching. Even defensively youmg players may play different positions as we have seen Semien move around. Hopefully he arrives next spring with a set position and looks better than he did this spring.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 21, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/_/group/9/sort/winPercent 8th worst record, but same amount of losses as the Reds and Phillies. The Padres would have to lose four more games than the Sox over the last 8 games for the Sox to fall out of the 10 worst. So the protected pick is looking safe unless something crazy happens. Also, quite a race for the first pick: Texas and Arizona have 93 losses, and Colorado has 91. Draft lottery, please. Make a TV show out of it. Very limited interest in the MLB Draft. Football and basketball drafts attract attention because the players most likely will make the roster the following year. I am pretty sure I heard where 1 player from the 2012 draft has made it to a ML roster other than the Sept call-ups.

I don't get to see a lot of games. But I notice that in very limited ML action this year, Semien has had a lot of errors. We complained about Conor and Beckham but is Semien really bad or just being moved around too much

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 20, 2014 -> 03:44 AM) I hate Boston too, more than any team in baseball, but I'd rather he go there than to anyone in the Central which would affect us much more. If all the rumors are true, Boston will be bringing Lester back. That would probably eliminate them from going after another big FA starter. but they certainly have tons of young AAA talent to trade for a 2nd starter. Their offense has had a major upgrade with their 2 Cuban additions in the outfield so they probably will focus on Lester+ another starter.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 19, 2014 -> 11:27 AM) If you can find a proven 30 HR 3B that a team would have traded for a mediocre closer, please let Rick Hahn know immediately. Welcome to rebuilding. Sometimes you have to take chances on guys and they won't always work out. And let's not declare Davidson dead after one bad AAA season at age 23. Either way, Addison Reed wasn't gonna be the closer for the next Sox playoff team, nor will he be the closer for the next DBacks playoff team. Let's not declare Addison Reed at 25 can't be a closer for a playoff team.

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 19, 2014 -> 08:05 AM) Davidson has more up-side, even now. He'll 24 next year and will have a chance to make the majors still. Reed will be another aging reliever that has had marginal major league success. Must be an AZ fan. Reed is 25 years old. That is not aging. He is younger than Nate Jones.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 16, 2014 -> 11:24 PM) All I can say is I have a very large fear that we are throwing away a key asset's most productive years because the rest of the team isn't ready to compete, under a coaching staff that seems very lax on fundamentals. I know it's unpopular, but I just can't help thinking we should trade him to more adequately capitalize on his value now, if at all possible. Chris Sale is 25. That is very young for a star starting pitcher. The White Sox have plenty of time to build around him. Because he is so good at 25, he may be that elite player that comes into an organization every 20 years. He is our Frank Thomas of this new generation. You don't trade an elite player because the team around him is not developed enough.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 11:56 PM) Yes it is. And yes he is (one of them, anyway). Players have quit on him - he bears some responsibility for that. And this isn't the first time. With his record, he'd have been out on his ears a year ago and scorned like Bevington were he not Robin Ventura, a "hero". White Sox still have a btter record than the Red Sox. Boston won the World Series last year in Farrell's first year. This year many of their veterans and rookies are underperforming. I would say if Ventura is to blame for our veterans not performing, he must also be the reason Abreu and Sale are having great seasons.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 28, 2014 -> 07:30 AM) Actually come to think of it, I've defended cubs here more than most, but there's no way you trade Sale and Abreu for the names listed in the op. The answer then should be the Sox. Not necessarily. Teams can have several great players but the overall strength of the lineup is the importatnt thing. we have sale and abreu having great seasons but the team is still bad. But also , you have to factor in doing it versus potential. The Sox have 3 young players in Sale, Q and Abreu doing it and Avi and Eaton having pretty good showings . I look at the Red Sox and their 2 elite young players ( Bradley and Bogaerts) going into this year. Understanding both played key positions SS and CF but both had poor seasons

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 27, 2014 -> 01:04 AM) I went with the 1st one. All I'm asking for is a 5 game improvement. Way I see it is even with an average pen we're looking at at least a 10 game improvement overall this year.....A "10 game improvement" with a whole lot of money to spend leads me to believe they're heading in the right direction. I don't agree. They were terrible last season so they really should have improved this season. Add to that the fact that last season they unloaded some veteran pitching at the trade deadline that they didn't do this season. I think you have to look at positional development over wins/losses. The total failure of the bullpen makes this season look worse record-wise than what it is. I feel they took a step up especially with Abreu but there are still a bunch of holes.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 21, 2014 -> 04:26 PM) Who cares?? Like others have said, there's no correlation between attendance and salary. EDIT- BTW, Well done on the interview. I'm rooting for the kid. www.hardballtimes.com/how-are-wins-attendance-and-payroll-all-related The attached, using data from 2000-2011, concludes there is a major correlation between payroll and attendance.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Aug 21, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Anyone hear any names in return? I seen Hahn's comments about evaluating but I'd imaging they've been doing that Sometimes these trades are based on performance. If Gordon produces X or above Sox get a lousy player. If Gordon doesn't produce above X Sox get a lousier player.

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Aug 21, 2014 -> 12:28 AM) They need pitching. Dank's value is very low so even if the Angel's took him, we would get little in return. You basically get the salary dump.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 16, 2014 -> 10:07 AM) 1901. 1900 they were the Saint Paul Saints. I can see the Havana White Sox within a few years.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 06:47 PM) I just feel bad for Flowers but especially Jose Quintana. He pitched his heart out and didn't deserve that terrible fate of 4 earned runs after entering the inning with a shutout. It seems he just completely comes undone this year whenever something bad happens in an inning, whether it's an error but also as things unfolded today...you just KNEW that big hit was coming as soon as you saw Belisario entering the game. Hopefully this play, the one in the Reds/Marlins game....and the earlier one where a forceout was accidentally reversed because the catcher was blocking the plate even without a tag play being on. I thought Beli should have been cut loose a few weeks ago. Having said that, his pitch to a guy hitting .330 was on the outside corner that he dinked into leftfield. Giants had a few cheap hits off Quintana that inning as well. Just a lucky inning for them saved by a half-ass call.

One statistic jumps out at me. For his career, batters hit .271 against him. That is very high for a relief pitcher.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 07:38 PM) (Rimshot) I say we replace RV w John Farrell. 2 seasons managing Toronto and 2-- 4th place finishes w a .475 percentage. Red Sox trade for him and he goes 97-65 and wins the World Series. Brings back the same team minus Ellsbury and the team totally collapses. Does that resume make him a good or bad manager????

Bringing up Danks is the right move. He is coming up after having solid numbers at AAA. If he fails to impress again, then that clars up one question for next year. Cut him loose. If he plays well then he goes into spring as the 4th outfielder or 3rd depending on what happens in left.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 9, 2014 -> 01:35 AM) It doesn't matter....as long as they keep Eaton/Avisail/Sale/Quintana/Abreu/Ramirez healthy. They've all proven they can play...and hopefully Avisail can keep building on his results in Charlotte with the Sox (and soon), where he's just been murdering the ball for a week or so. There's no reason to keep him down much longer, other than having to clear out the major league roster (DeAza, specifically). The next question mark is what happens with Flowers and Viciedo...they still have 45 games left to set the tone for next year or end up being replaced or eminently replaceable. i agree except for Avisail. He is a very key component but the jury is still out. The Sox need another 3-5 type hitter in the lineup. At this point, offensive production is questionable next year from C-3B-2B-DH-LF. They seem to have good contact hitters in Eaton and Gillaspie and Alexei has been steady. They need a big bat to protect Abreu. Avisail has shown that he could be part of the solution. But he could also be another Viciedo. Hopefully he gets back soon and gives us hope for one problem solved for next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) 81/82 is what I saw. I think Dunn is the acting pitching coach when Coop is out. I assume he decided he was as good as anyone else in the pen.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) 81/82 is what I saw. I think Dunn is the acting pitching coach when Coop is out. I assume he decided he was as good as anyone else in the pen.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 06:46 PM) Ok, you're saying that his RESULTS were mediocre. I can accept that. But, I would note that he PITCHED substantially better. The other part that many fans ignore is the mental makeup. When Reed was traded , some posters said anyone can close. That is not true. As good a set-up man Matt Thornton was he had problems closing. Obviously some of that may be attributed to being a lefty. We don't know yet if Jones has the mental makeup to close.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 04:15 PM) His ERA was the ONLY thing that got worse last year, literally all of his peripherals improved substantially. He struck out more guys, walked fewer, and his HR rate stayed essentially the same (0.50 per nine to 0.58 per nine) despite his HR/FB normalizing to league average (~6% to ~9%). His groundball rate even went up. His fWAR actually doubled. The ERA increase can be almost entirely attributed to a huge swing in strand rate (85% all the way down to 62%), which, since he's a reliever and always throws from the stretch, is more likely attributable to luck/run sequencing than it would be if he was a starter. With all due respect, friend: What are you looking at? I'll try and simplify it. Jones was an average reliever last year. If you take his ERA-Opp BA--WAR he was not above average. I said he had a good year w strikeouts but then allowed batters to hit .247. That is high when you consider Reed 's was .215. Regardless of the reason, look at the ERA of the top 25 AL relief pitchers and a 4+ ERA is on the high not the low side. In his rookie year his ERA was 2.39.