SCCWS

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 5, 2017 -> 02:53 AM) Not that I have any knowledge, but Avisail Garcia seems the exact type of player with whom Williams would have fallen in love and Hahn would have declined. I seem to recall the Sox wanting someone else - may have been Iglesias himself - for Peavy, but the Sox upper hands asked for Garcia over anyone else. Never liked him. Never made sense to me. I compared him to Juan Encarnacion at that point. That's optimistic at this point. A best possible scenario is Edwin Encarnacion, and thats like a 1000 to 1 chance. He's more likely to be successful as a relief pitcher than he is as an outfielder. White Sox were not sold on Iglesias so Red Sox got Tigers involved since they were desperate for a replacement SS due to an injury. Tigers either saw something in Iglesias the White Sox didn't or they got lucky.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jan 30, 2017 -> 06:50 PM) No reason to move Jose right now given that Moncada is critical to the future and it would behoove the Sox to do everything possible to make sure he's in a great state of mind entering this season. Moncada either steps into the bigs this year, holds his own (say coming up in July for a good 250+ PA run) or he stalls and his status as a potential superstar takes a big hit. I think he needs a full year in AAA on both sides of the ball. He has to return to playing 2nd base this year and unless he has a huge turnaround, he needs another year working on his hitting. Remember he finished last year w Boston in bad shape. He needs to regain his confidence and it could take a while. I think next September is more realistic. A big year in AAA and a July return would be great.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Jan 29, 2017 -> 04:12 PM) I don't buy it. Just posturing. The Red Sox moved the #1 prospect who was considered untouchable. No prospect is off limits besides the obvious ones - Turner, Bregman, etc. I am not sure Moncada was untouchable from a Red Sox standpoint. Obviously Chris Sale is move valuable than any prospect. I don't think the Red Sox were discouraged by Moncada's stumble after the call-up. But I do think they were amazed at how well Benintendi performed in a 100 AB stretch. They may have decided that they could deal Moncada because they still had Devers and Benintendi to fill their 2 biggest holes in the coming seasons. The success of Benintendi hopefully allowed us to get a real stud in the Sale trade.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 09:33 AM) It's so f***ing ridiculous. Dude has plus, plus tools across the board and absolutely raked in the minors in his first season since defecting from Cuba. How would 20 at-bats change when he should have never been called up change his prospect status? Moncada was horrible in his 20 AB. But that should have no effect on his ranking. He was recalled from AA not AAA. I could see a minor drop with Moncada because he has not been established with a set position( not his fault). He was moved from 2nd because he was blocked and he was mediocre at 3rd. So maybe he gets a slight drop as a prospect until he looks ML ready at a set position. Since Hahn has made the decision that he is a 2nd baseman, then a full season in AAA should determine his ability to handle 2nd.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 27, 2017 -> 09:35 AM) If that's the case, then he should definitely pass. Newman is not an acceptable second piece unless Meadows is the headliner. Just wondering how current is this listing. Benintendi had over 100 AB in Boston last year so he shouldn't be considered a prospect. Someone who gets called up and stays on MLB roster is not a prospect to me but maybe Zips uses a different criteria.

I think there is another possibility in the way the rebuild has gone. I do think it is interesting that the two "problem childs" were traded but not one other trade was made. But competing next year is not realistic. So maybe the front office felt they should do the rebuild over two seasons so that the roster was not a disaster going into sales of 2017 tickets. Then the team can still promote ticket sales for 2017 with guys like Abreu, Anderson and Q. Then do another sell-off in July with the hope that 1 or 2 of the young players already acquired will be ML ready. Then finish the sell off next winter and promote 2018 with Anderson and the young stars that have emerged.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 24, 2017 -> 05:56 PM) You can call Q a 3 on both of those teams but he could easily be the 2 on both teams and the 1 on the Cubs this upcoming year imo. Agree and he could also be the 4 on both as well. I think it will be interesting to see how Sale handles the pressure of pitching in a major media baseball market and for a team that is expected to make the playoffs. David Price had his struggles in Boston his first year and Porcello also had a rough first year the year before. Sale will be regularly seeing 30-40+ media members versus the typical number he saw in Chicago.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jan 24, 2017 -> 03:09 PM) Comparing McHugh as being roughly equal to Quintana was where that article loses me It cherry picked stats while ignoring huge WAR differences Quintana in the past 4 season = 18.1 WAR McHugh in the same time span = 7.8 WAR McHugh's performance has gotten worse each of the past two seasons and he is now in the #4/#5 starter territory Quintana is a #1 on most teams and a #2 on a world series contender Q is a #1 on many but not sure most teams. I would think the heavy favorites to meet in the 2017 World Series are the Red Sox and Cubs. Q is a #3 on both of them.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 05:38 PM) Same here. Especially Peter. You'd think he could easily beat out Leury Garcia for a super-utility role. Last year at Charlotte Garcia hit .313 and Peter hit .259 so I am not sure Peter easily beats him out.

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Jan 22, 2017 -> 02:49 PM) I won't go that far (at least yet), but to me it's clear that Eaton and Sale were headed out no matter what this offseason. There is much less motivation to move anyone else and will have to be blown away to move forward with a full tear down. I think it is getting to the point where a full tear down will not happen or was not the plan. I can see holding out on Q but I think the fact that none of the 2nd tier players have been traded is a sign that the goal was to unload Eaton and Sale. Maybe that was a compromise between Hahn wanting a full tear and KW wanting a half-tear.

QUOTE (ventura_abreu @ Jan 21, 2017 -> 09:00 AM) Those players certainly can make a difference. I still remember when I was a kid, and the sports guy on 10 o'clock news made a number of pre-season predictions for the White Sox based on ifs. He then humorously ended by saying that 'if if was a ship, we would all go sailing.' I could be wrong, but didn't Hahn say Moncada was being moved back to 2nd?? I think one of the big questions in ST will be what his future position will be. Boston moved him from 2nd because of Pedroia but his play at 3rd was mediocre. There was talk by some media in Boston that he might ultimately end up as a RF due to his arm strength.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Jan 20, 2017 -> 12:02 PM) Changing the topic for just a minute, I feel like if the Sox were going to go the bolded route, they would have actually signed some guys. They've let some pretty decent bats go off the market for dirt cheap. Colby Rasmus would have been nice on this team at $5M + incentives if they were planning to try to compete this year. The Sox would be mentioned more with the DH types on the market. They wouldn't be going into the season with Avi/Liriano at the top of the RF depth chart. They'd be looking at a guy like Hammel. At this point, I think its pretty obvious that the Sox are planning to let Melky and Frazier have a couple months to rake, move them for what they can, and then field a down to the studs starting lineup. That to me doesn't scream a team doing a half assed rebuild. Not trading Quintana prior to Feb 1 doesn't change that. Melky had a very good year last year. I am not sure why he didn't get moved yet, but I think there is a decent chance his value drops. Hopefully he puts up good numbers the first half and has value at the deadline but he is 32 and we could also see a decline as well.

Usually trades made after February 1st are more for filling a hole than a major trade. But we shall see next week. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/a-brief-his...raining-trades/

QUOTE (ypres @ Jan 19, 2017 -> 04:24 PM) I have no stats to back this up, but I feel like he's going to have a break out offensive year. I think he will move to CF and soon will remind people of Mike Trout.............................................

I wonder what is thoughts are on throw-back jerseys????

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 14, 2017 -> 05:57 PM) Other than Fisher/Call most likely being fourth OFers on a playoff roster, we're looking pretty good. Obviously, we've got the draft, more trades, FA's, international players, etc., to address those holes, too. Jones, Frazier, Jennings and Robertson all have varying degrees of value and can hopefully put up solid numbers in the first half. How old would Donaldson be again upon signing a multi-year deal? I don't see Moncada getting recalled until September. I think he needs a full year in AAA to work on both sides of his game.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Dec 20, 2016 -> 11:56 AM) I don't see it. Sale/Price/Porcello/Pomeranz is a pretty good top 4, and arguably in the playoffs that's all you really need starter's wise. He's not going to pillage his farm system even more for the rotation IMO. Actually Steven Wright is their #4 and Pomeranz is 5th.

QUOTE (NCsoxfan @ Dec 15, 2016 -> 11:06 AM) Guys, seriously. They're shopping Quintana, Frazier, and others as well. You wouldn't be shopping Jose Quintana if the whole purpose was to dump the Drake distractions. C'mon. I also doubt they only wanted to unload the undesirables , but if they did we really don't know if they are truly shopping anyone else until they are actually traded.

I would dispute his statement that Boston would not be able to extend Sale. Not sure how he came to that conclusion since they dumped a ton of money on Price who is a step down from Sale. A bigger question will be how Sale survives the media frenzy in Boston. Some guys like Pedroia and Ortiz thrive there. But Adrian Gonzalez did not. If Sale loves Boston they have the resources to resign him. But I wonder if he will survive the scrutiny.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 13, 2016 -> 12:59 PM) A contender could be very interested in Nate Jones though. He is not a proven closer, but he has the stuff to close out games Often it is the mentality as much as the stuff. But Jones would be a potential insurance package for a team with a questionable closer and he is already an excellent 7/8 inning guy. Also comes pretty reasonable for a set-up guy.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 06:32 PM) Jones gets a blown save if he allows the tying run in the 8th or inning before the last. Yes but Jones also has closed in his career. He has closed 40+ games. But he only was given 3 saves in those 40+ games. In comparison, Robertson in 300 more appearances has 29 blown saves. I don't see someone gambling Jones is a closer and giving him $12 Mil type money

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 04:42 PM) Saves and ERA are bad way to look at a reliever, I agree Peripheral stats like WHIP , hits, k's, walks, FIP all need to be considered Nate Jones is certainly a guy that could have trade value as either a closer or set up man He had a really good season and could be a sell high candidate I think Jones is a very good set-up man. But for his career he has 3 saves and 18 blown saves. Now as some have noted, saves can be a misleading statistic. But saves versus blown saves may be telling. There are certain relief pictures who can be great set-up men but wilt when they come in w the game on the line. Jones may be in that category.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) Swihart but I really think DD was being truthful when talking about avoiding trades on any 2017 MLB pieces. I think they are going to use Swihart around field. Though I expect them to deal an SP. I don't think they will. According to local paper today, Vazquez will probably be b/u catcher and Young is their 4th outfielder. So it looks like Swihart goes back to AAA.

It makes sense to get the best deal on the table when doing a rebuild. Once you have all the pieces and a feel for what pieces fit your team you can trade the extra to fill holes.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Dec 6, 2016 -> 04:15 PM) My understanding is they already paid him about 20 million of the 31 million dollar bonus. The other 31 million was tax, which the White Sox won't be paying. So in essence they got 11 million thrown into the deal. Not quite as good as 31 million but not bad either. True. Red Sox have to pay an additional $31 Mil owed to Moncada. Supposedly this is why the package was less than Hahn originally wanted.