TheFutureIsNear

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.

So who are actually legit contenders to sign an OF left now?

Never wanted him. Would love either Blackmon or Dickerson though. Not sure we actually have anything worth trading besides the guys I would consider off limits...Anderson, Fullmer, and Adams. They have no use for Avi either, not that he has much value. Danish, Hawkins, May, Guerrero, Peter, Engel...short of dealing every 1 of them I don't think any kind of package including those guy gets it done for Blackmon or Dickerson. The only deal I could see happening would be if the Rockies liked EJ a good amount and took a package involving him and 2 of the guys I listed. But then we are facing the problem of having to sign a starter and they are becoming limited, we'd probably be dumpster diving in the Latos/Fister area.

Guarantee Cespedes 3 years $60M and then give him 2 option years at $22M each. Total contract is 5 years $104M (+incentives) with Cespedes having the ability to opt out after 3 years. I think something like that makes a lot of both sides...hell, I'd let him walk after 2 years if he really wants that option. Cespedes makes us a competitor for sure, but he's not exactly a guy I feel great about 4 or 5 years down the road.

5 years 110 would sound a lot better, hopefully a 6th year would be a mutual or team option. Not that I believe that source on twitter...Cespedes just makes too much sense. Sign Cespedes and draft college hitters at 10 and 27. The overall hitting talent in the organization would finally start to tilt towards respectable.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 27, 2015 -> 12:02 AM) Didn't Eaton really stink until we fell out of the race? Not ripping him, I sort of like the guy and his hustle, but I recall really despising him the first couple months at least. Hope he gets off to a sizzling start this year. Is his ceiling a poor man's Pete Rose?? Hustler who is going to learn how to get the key hit/walk at all times? Then on the other side of the spectrum his possible low would be Rowand after Rowand forgot how to hit (or got old, I forget why he suddenly started sucking)? 1st month- sucked (.497 ops but .234 babip, small sample size) 2nd- not good but not horrible (.727 ops) 3rd- good month (.814 ops) 4th- great month (.957 ops) There were a lot of people to despise within the white sox organization last year...Eaton should have been very far down that list.

I'm fine with Gordon on a 4 year deal, but 5 scares me. Highly unlikely he's worth $20M or more in years 4 and 5 in my opinion. A slight natural decline in his hitting combined with his fielding going down to a slightly above average level and he suddenly becomes pretty mediocre or a little better.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 21, 2015 -> 07:46 PM) This is the guy I would like to grab from Houston. Profiles well for RF, LHB that hits for some power and would fit well in the middle of the order. Would absolutely love to see Tucker playing RF for the Sox and would be my preference. I also like Marisnick and his defense but he doesn't hit much, at least not yet anyway. I'd still take a chance on him even though he is a RH hitter. Supposedly Houston is looking for another SP, RP and a bat. Just not sure the Sox and Astros match up in a trade. Yeah, I'm sitting here trying to think of a trade scenario for Tucker and I pretty much have nothing. I feel like Houston's GM would just keep bringing the conversation to Sale/Q/ Rodon. Free agency is looking like the most likely option

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 21, 2015 -> 03:24 PM) what's going on with Houston's outfield? They have four guys: Marsinick, Rasmus, Gomez, and Springer. One would think Gomez and Rasmus could be had for reasonable. You forgot 1 more guy, Preston tucker. 25 year old who was a star at Florida as a senior. Went in the 7th round in 2012 and had an .867 ops in the minors up until being called up last year. Struggled a little in the majors but still managed a .734 OPS with 13 hrs in his 1st 300 big league AB's. Definitely a guy I would take a chance on. No idea what the Astros would want from us though

No thanks to giving up a pick and $50+M for Dexter Fowler Parra makes some sense but he can't be in the lineup against lefties along with already having LaRoche. So we would have to carry 2 platoon guys on the bench. Seems tough to do. Not much we can afford to trade in the minors of much worthat this point either. Fullmer, Adams, and Anderson should be untouchable. In other words 1 of Cespedes or Upton has to be signed pretty much no matter what.

Being optimistic.....240/.300/.340 with 10 hrs and 15 steals. If he can do that and play near gold glove level D he will be a huge success in my book. And Sanchez only started 180 out of about 500 minor league games at SS. I don't think he's going to be our everyday SS. His arm doesn't pass the eye test right from the start for me.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 17, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) Once the big three outfielders have signed, the contracts of CarGo and Ethier will be at or even below market value and net their teams a nice return in a trade. I agree about Crawford and Ramirez though. I hope the Sox don't trade any of their top talent for the likes of CarGo/Ethier. If that's the case then go for broke and see what Atlanta would expect in a return for Inciarte who they are listening to offers on. Otherwise, I think Parra is the logical choice at this point. Not my first choice by any means. Only problem with Parra is that he also needs a platoon partner. He has a career OPS of under .600 against lefties. Just can't play him or LaRoche vs lefties so it could turn into a problem.

RF is obvious...,but I think people are forgetting about platoon partner for LaRoche. 1 that can preferably play corner OF defense well so Melky can gett off the field as often as possible. Provided LaRoche is still on the team of course SP? Not at all. Let EJ pitch, he's fine. And unfortunately Danks isn't going anywhere. We should have 1 of, it not the best, top 3 SP's in baseball.

I agree to an extent. You have to limit/avoid guys who are truly bad in the field and will hurt you though. But my overall feeling is that there is a small % of great fielders at the top of each position and a small % of truly bad fielders at the bottom. Everyone else can be separated by their bats because their defense on a 162 game scale isn't going to be the reason a team wins or loses. Just my opinion, I'm sure most will disagree with this too.

With the pop we now have at 2b and 3b I'm not really worried about upgrading SS. Put Saladino there and hope he plays GG defense and his bat doesn't kill us. What we do still need is a middle of the order hitting RF and a lefty mashing platoon player that can play OF defense well so LaRoche(if he's still on the team) never see's an AB against a lefty. The RF options are obvious in free agency, but not sure I see the good fielder who hits lefties available in free agency. Would have to be a trade target, but not sure who. Eaton CF Melky LF/DH Upton/Cespedes RF Abreu 1B Frazier 3B Laroche/TBA(OF who plays LF vs lefties and Melky DH's) Lawrie 2B Avila/Navarro C Saladino SS That looks like a division winning lineup if I've ever seen 1.

QUOTE (JRL @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 04:31 PM) A few more things: 1. For an "A level reliever"? I think even if Avi did have any trade value, that's a bit much given what "A level relievers" like O'Day went for in free agency, and what Kimbrel just commanded in a trade, its obvious that an Avi and Laroche package is nowhere close to what it'd take to get "A level reliever". 2. The notion that Avi was once a "top prospect" is kind of figment of us Sox fans' imagination. He was ranked the #74 prospect by Baseball America prior to 2013. That was the only prospect rating service that ever had him in Top 100. He was ranked 1 time, by only 1 scouting service, and he was ranked toward the bottom, where the guys are still statistically much more likely to fail than succeed. And this was before he the proceeded to put up substandard numbers as a major leaguer, and when he was 2-3 yr younger than he currently is. So, its not like he was some Miguel Sano type or even a Tim Anderson level guy back then, and now whatever value he did have at that, you would have to think its almost completely disappeared, no? A level as in some 20 year old kid not in a teams top 30 prospects. And I think you're being a bit overdramatic about Avi personally. There have been older players given chance after chance based on their tools. Avi has a hit tool and raw power that will be given a chance. If you banish every 24 year for not succeeding like you seem to want to do you'd miss out on a lot of good players.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 02:43 PM) They tried to get rid of LaRoche and couldn't. I don't think they tried packaging LaRoche + for nothing. And I'm not even expecting the full salary to be taken on. LaRoche, $5M, and Avi for an A level reliever isn't feasible? I know Avi wasn't good last year but he's 24 and was a top prospect not that long ago.

Would it make sense to package LaRoche with expendable young guys like Avi, Beck, Webb/Putnam? I know those guys don't have a ton of value or anything, but taking on 1 year of LaRoche would be a lot more palatable if you're getting a cheap bullpen arm for 6 years or if a team wants to gamble on Avi's potential. Make sense to anyone else? I can see the Brewers being 1 team that would be interested.

Good move by us. I saw Trayce as a 4th OF/Platoon/Oft used defensive replacement, and while that is valuable, I don't see it as a huge loss. I thought Micah could be a good player but a change of scenery was necessar. And Montas was going to get traded 1 way or another. No spots in the rotation open with Fulmer and Adams making a fast path to the majors, and sticking him in the pen would have been a disservice to him imo. We have more than enough pop at 3B and 2B that Saladino should stay at SS to have a vastly inproved infield offensively and defensively. Add in Upton/Cespedes at RF as huge improvements on both sides and we can start to talk about seriously contending