TheFutureIsNear

There's no way Desmond's agent lets him sign long term for something reasonable like 10-12/year right?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 02:02 PM) I'd love it if they could put Danks in the bullpen. If EJ is struggling with command early, they can just pull the plug before it gets ugly and let Danks go up against a lineup situated to face a righty. I hate to look at the Danks/Johnson thing from as asset point of view but they can make Johnson a good piece moving forward. If he's an acceptable 4/5 then you have a good, cost-effective arm who's pre arb. If you let him toil away in Charlotte then you're eating at his value as marketable asset. Danks is what he is. He's not sexy and he's gone after '16. Give Johnson the shot he deserves and if it doesn't work you have Danks. The interesting thing is they have too much depth in the bullpen: 1.) Robertson 2.) Duke 3.) Jennings 4.) Jones 5.) Putnam 6.) Petricka 7.) Albers So Danks/Johnson, Turner, Webb and Kahnle are all going somewhere other than Chicago if there's no injuries. Danks isn't going to the minors. Johnson's value is hurt if he goes to the minors. Turner has to clear waivers to go to the minors. Webb belongs in the minors. Kanhle is somewhat intriguing but seems to be too far down the list. Nice to have depth like this I guess. Good post. This is more or less what I was trying to get across in my posts. You just did it much more effectively. No one in their right mind should be upset about Latos @ $3M for 1 year, but bigger picture it's 1 more roster spot we won't be able to judge a young, cheap arm that may actually have a future with the franchise. In a perfect world we would simply get rid of Danks and everything would be ok, but I think if we are all realistic we know Danks is going to be given another long leash as the 5th starter again next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 10:11 AM) They also have Phillipe Aumont who was pretty solid out of the pen for Philly as well who is on the outside looking in. Aumont is garbage. He throws hard with movement but he has absolutely no clue where the pitch will end up. He's not a factor in anything unless there is a miracle turnaround at age 27/28.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 07:45 PM) FWIW, if I were a GM of another team, I wouldn't give you one scrap of talent for Erik Johnson. Not until he proves it in the big leagues. I look at his minor league record and major league/2014 implosion and think he's at best a rebuilding project if my organization were to pick him up, and I can just wait until the White Sox let him go when he runs out of options if I want to try my luck at that. His big league numbers last year had bad peripherals, he had a major velocity drop for a full season that could have been some sort of lingering injury, and he only had success at AAA when he was in his 3rd stint there at age 25. If I were a losing team and I shedded a salary I didn't want, fine, I'll take him back, but that's his value to me until he proves he can be a big league pitcher. With this signing, I'd start thinking the White Sox feel the same way. Johnson was pretty damn good in his 1st AAA appearance back in 2013... And harping on peripherals on a 35 inning sample size in September is grasping for straws at best. Not like he's had bad periphs in the minors at any point minus 2014. How dare he not come up and dominate right away. And the velocity was back up over 91 last year, you're creating problems with the guy at this point. He had 1 fluke bad year. Why? Who knows. He's not the 1st nor the last pitcher it will happen to. I'm not saying EJ is going to be great (solid 4th starter), and the Latos deal for $3M certainly can't be called bad. I'm just confused as to why they seem to want to replace a 26 year old with a good track record before he fails. Hopefully both EJ and Latos pitch well and we can be talking about Danks DFA'd.

Looks like a knuckle change up to me...not that that is a thing either. Looks like the same downward "football" type of release you would throw a change up with. Nasty none the less

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 04:37 PM) And, then of course, a huge bounce back season. But I suspect that the bold is what bothers the insular Sox. It's almost like EJ was bad last year the way everyone talks about him. Like that 1 fluke bad year was/is the norm and he hasn't been good-great every other year

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 04:25 PM) Masterson is still a FA, no? yes he still is...read mlbtraderumors article wrong. But still, he got $9.5M just last year in almost the exact same scenario as Latos.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 04:11 PM) Or he really wanted to go somewhere that would promise him a starting spot? Yeah because clearly we are the only team he could possibly start on...it's very obvious that no one else wanted Latos on their team. The fact that he took $3M now tells you we were the only team to even sniff around him. If he had interest from other clubs he would have at least waited until ST to see if there was an injury.

Just makes you wonder what is really up with Latos when Fister, Arroyo, and Masterson all got deals with the possibility to make double what Latos got. As everyone here noted his peripherals were for the most part good and his velocity was even up a tick. Plus he's still under 30. The writing is on the wall for a very plausible bounce back and there was literally 0 market for him? Just doesn't make any sense. Either he's the world's biggest douche or there's something else up we don't know about.

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 02:14 PM) If decisions on rotation spots were made independent of paychecks this should be pushing on Danks more. We have 3 lefties in the rotation without him, it makes sense to keep Johnson over him from a right lefty standpoint. In terms of performance I don't have confidence that Danks can out perform Johnson. So the only reason Danks would be safer is because we gave him a really bad contract and would look bad to put that paycheck in the pen. Such a poor reason to make a roster decision. Good organizations don't make decisions that way. Hopefully you're right and that is the case but I highly doubt it. If he doesn't show up to ST looking any better than he has the past 4 years(looks even worse when you type it out) just cut bait with him. We're on the hook for his salary either way and he's probably more valuable to the franchise not pitching than he is putting up his usual 4.7+ ERA.

Only makes sense to me if Johnson is indeed traded for an OF. If not giving Latos his spot in the rotation is a giant waste in my opinion. Have to see what you have in a young player in some point...

Unless we trade EJ in a package for an OF bat I don't see how giving up assets for rotation depth makes any kind of sense. I could see signing a vet to a minimum/minor league deal but nothing further than that. Danks isn't going anywhere and then we have EJ, Turner, BecK, Carrol, and the possibility of Fulmer coming in July/August for the 5th spot. Could be at least worse. Offense and OF depth are way more of a worry.

I'd join if you're still looking...

So hypothetically we were to actually trade for Ethier, how realistic is it for him to get 1,100 AB's in 2 years if we don't let him hit against lefties? That vesting option is scary, it would suck being in a stretch playoff run in '17 and having to worry about that $17.5M option vesting with too many AB's

Trade Melky, Robertson, and Frazier for hopefully 2-3 legit hitting prospects that are near MLB ready.

I feel like signing Fowler now and losing the pick is panic move in my book. They struck out and had no other choice. Honestly at this point I think I'd rather just keep the top 30 pick and payroll.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 09:11 AM) If he's traded he can opt out after this year but that still doesn't mean they can't trade him or re-work the deal prior if the player is willing. Van Slyke I think is a good bench option for them since he can take at bats from lefties (Ethier, Crawford, Gonzalez). If I had to predict their bench, I'd guess: Back up catcher Hernandez IF/OF Utley 1B/2B/3B Van Slyke 1B/OF (may be a good trade piece though) Ethier (assuming Puig starts. If traded, then Thompson) Thompson and Micah in the minors if they have options left. Yeah you might be right....going to be interesting though. They will basically have Van Slyke, Guerrero, and Trayce all competing for their 25th roster spot. Must be nice. And we aren't even discussing the fact that they have about 8 SP's and may not even keep 5 bench bats. And also, can Guerrero play RF/LF at an above average level? Don't think I've ever seen the guy even swing a bat.

I think they will still keep k***' just because he's so cheap and so valuable as a utility guy. Gerrero and Van Slyke are the guys I can't see a spot for. I would take either 1, but isn't Guerrero automatically a FA if traded or something like that? Van Slyke makes a lot of sense for both sides in my opinion. Can't what they would want for him, but doubt it would be much.

If we're going for the "anything is better than Avi" route Jennings is fine I guess, but if he wasn't a former top prospect would anybody care? He's 29 with over 2,000 AB's...don't think any light is going to come on. Especially in this franchise where hitting talent goes to die. I'd rather just keep Petricka honestly, guys who can play a good LF and barely maintain a .700 OPS aren't that hard to find.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) Do you honestly believe that any of the guys you listed can fill in if one of the better starters (Sale, Q, or Rodon) gets hurt? Fulmer is the only one out of that list that has any potential and he likely won't be called up until September or 2017. What world do you live in where baseball teams have a top 3 starter just waiting in the wings in case of injury? Our rotation is deeper than most and can handle an injury better than most in my opinion. That's the luxury of having 1 of the best top 3's in baseball. If 1 goes down we still have 2 other studs and the AAA fill in just needs to pich like a #5. Danks and EJ as our #4 and #5 pitchers could certainly be worse and should be the least of our concerns. If we sign Latos he's going straight to the rotation along with Danks as the 4th and 5th starter. That means you just paid probably 8x the salary to a guy who A) is no guarantee to even be better than EJ and B) hasn't thrown 120 innings since 2013. Just a silly thing to do at the expense of a very cheap young pitcher.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 08:24 PM) Insurance. Yes, I know he'd be an expensive insurance policy, but I for one am not confident in either Danks or EJ, especially if they want to contend. Another veteran arm can't hurt. So what, put him in the bullpen if EJ or Danks don't blow it in spring training? I get wanting insurance, but Latos would be an expensive insurance policy that is far from reliable himself. Is Beck/Turner/Purke/Carroll/Possibly Fulmer worse than most teams have past their starting 5?

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 12:04 PM) I agree with this. I think the best options for the Sox are either Fowler + Latos, Desmond + Jackson, or Jackson + Latos. At this point, I think I'd be ok with any of those 3 scenarios. What is Latos going to do for us? You going to give him EJ's rotation spot?

Wow, makes you wonder if we could have offered something like Petricka and Guerrero and gotten Dickerson already. The FO better having something up their sleeves because all of this sitting on their hands while the OF market passes them by isn't go to get this team to the playoffs. You would have thought if nothing else Detroit getting Upton would have lit a fire under them...makes you wonder if Hahn is handcuffed with the payroll as it is? Just very frustrating.

Let's remove Fulmer and Anderson...what left do we honestly have left to trade after them? After those 2 and Spencer Adams does anyone left in our system have any real value elsewhere? And can we trade any kind of pick/international $ that would hold any kind of value in a trade? Just asking because I keep seeing trade as an option to acquire any kind off fairly significant OF piece and then I look at the roster and I come up empty on any kind of realistic trade proposal that doesn't involve Fulmer and Anderson. So I guess this is a two part thread? Would you trade Fulmer or Anderson at all?

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 07:45 AM) I can see it now. Cespedes signs with either Yanks or Nats, and then that team will come to Sox to solve their dilemma; that is, take an aging, overpaid, excess outfielder off their hands for prospects. If it's the Nats, they need to get rid of Jayson Werth. If it's the Yanks, Gardner must go. Enter RH. Full no trade clause.