TheFutureIsNear

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 11:20 AM) In theory lawrie would be your 3rd baseman. That would leave saladino and leury Garcia as your ss and backup with Sanchez and johnson as your 2nd baseman without any other players added. Not really much depth to be playing with trading. Saladino and Sanchez are your better defenders and Johnson is better chance offensively. Probably only chance any of those guys are part of package is if they bring in someone better for one of those positions tho they also could be used on bench. Lawrie plays 2B as well so if we were to acquire him our never ending search for a good 3B shouldn't/wouldn't end

Draft is in less than 2 weeks and we have 40 man roster space to take someone. Here's some guys that have caught my interest so far and a couple of articles with some good info. Please post more guys that you are interested in or any more good articles you can find. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2015...names-remember/ http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157830358/to...in-rule-5-draft Jabari Blash from Seattle seems like an obvious pick this year. 26 year old RF with legit MLB power. .264/.355/.640 with 22 HR's in 228 AAA PA's...and he had a .263 BABIP. That's pretty crazy. Struggled in 2014 but showed the same type of crazy #'s in AA in 2013. Someone might take a shot on him earlier than us, but a guy with 30 + HR power is always worth a risk. Tyler Goedell from Tampa is also interesting. Former sandwich pick as a 3B who is now a 6'5 180 lb OF with above average speed. Hit .279/.350/.433 in AA this year. This is what Kylie McDaniel had to say about him pre season: "Goeddel was a sandwich pick out of high school as a projectable 6’4 athlete that was young for his class. He’s had trouble keeping on weight and predictable problems staying low at third base, which could necessitate a move to right field at some point. Goeddel is an excellent athlete that will flash above average speed, arm strength and raw power projection with at least average tools across the board. He’s 6’5/180 right now and things haven’t quite clicked offensively yet, but he’s been league average or better at each stop of the minors and has been aged appropriately; long frames take longer to mature, so there could be a breakout looming." Balbino Fuenmayor is a gamble but 1 that intrigues me a ton. Formally a highly touted teenager out of Venezuela that earned him a good paycheck as a 16 year old. He struggled the entire time with Toronto and found himself in the Indy league in 2014. Well that must have woke him up because he was the Indy player of the year and got him a minor league contract with the Royals. He absolutely raked in AA for a .354/.386/.591 before being promoted. He continued to tear up AAA but tore his ACL after only 70 PA's in July. He's a risk drafting because he will start the year on the DL, but passing on the chance to get the next David Peralta would suck. TJ Rivera from the Mets has done nothing but hit in the minors (.338 between AA & AAA past 2 years) and is capable of playing any infield position. A little on the old side at 27 and might only be a utility infielder, but never hurts to acquire mlb level players for nothing. And then of course there is always the option of grabbing a guy that throws 95+ and sticking him in the pen and hoping for the best.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 28, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) 'TheFutureIsNear' Trade- Q to DBacks for Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb, Peter O'Brien and Randall Delgado that would be a haul from dbacks, i don't think Tony larussa would allow that to go thru. Trade- Putnam, Lowry, and Beck to Oakland for Brett Lawrie over pay... but i am ok with it. Trade- Avi and Micah to Angels for Nick Tropeano i am not sure of tropeano as a long term sp. i may be wrong on this. Sale Rodon EJ Tropeano Danks Obviously don't love weakening the rotation that much, but I think it's a much better team overall and we would still have Montas/Fullmer in the wings if/when Danks can't be productive. overall i like the trade if it can be done. i still would think of adding maybe leake from the FA market for a 2 or 3 yr plan. to rebuild his value. but it is nice writeup. It does seem like a lot from the DBacks, but I don't see those guys as being pieces they necessarilly need. Inciarte belongs in CF but they already have Pollack and have Peralta and Tomas for the corner spots. Brandon Drury is younger and arguably better than Lamb and ready to take over 3B now. O'Brien is slugger being bounced around between C, 1B, RF...aka he's a DH. And Delgado has a nice arm but he's being used in middle relief I think, and they have that kid Bracho up who is their future closer. Of course, LaRussa might laugh at that offer, but it makes sense in my mind lol... And I agree that Trapeano probably doesn't make the most sense, but I had a hard time finding a team in need of young talent like Avi and Micah that had a reasonably priced middle rotation guy. Free agent probably would be smarter.

Trade- Q to DBacks for Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb, Peter O'Brien and Randall Delgado Trade- Putnam, Lowry, and Beck to Oakland for Brett Lawrie Trade- Avi and Micah to Angels for Nick Tropeano Eaton LF Inciarte CF Melky RF Abreu 1B Laroche/O'Brien (LH/RH split) Lamb 3B Lawrie 2B Aliva/Flowers C Saladino/Sanchez SS Trey as 4th OF Sale Rodon EJ Tropeano Danks Robertson Jones Duke Delgado Petricka Jennings Turner/Kahnle Obviously don't love weakening the rotation that much, but I think it's a much better team overall and we would still have Montas/Fullmer in the wings if/when Danks can't be productive.

Astrubal is a downgrade defensively at short and his bat doesn't carry at 3B. So basically we'd be paying 20+ million for a 2b that isn't a plus bat or glove. I'll pass.

Lawrie the more likely to be traded according to mlbtraderumors.... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/bret...ncia-trade.html I might be willing to gamble on an improvement from the only 25 Lawrie, but at what price? That's the part im not sure about, or what the A's want. I guess EJ would be a likely candidate, but I'm not sure EJ doesn't have a brighter future honestly.

I too would rather get Valencia for cheap. I's bet Billy Beane has wet dreams at night about turning a waiver claim into prospects so I'm sure he's available. Wonder if they would do something like Beck and an A ball prospect like Wheeler, Earley, or Zach Thompson?

Call me crazy, but I think EJ has the ability to be a #3 starter in this league still.

Mlbtraderumors is making it sound like Miami is balking at Elias and Karns and want Walker....which seems crazy to me. I just don't trust Ozuna. I don't know enough about his D, but if he's not at least well above average in the corners and average in CF I don't see why he'd be such a commodity. I hope we are trying to go in the opposite direction of guys who K 25+% of the time and can't maintain a .320 obp.

With all of this going on with Loria and Boras/Ozuna I can't imagine any team will pay full value for Ozuna, espcially since he's coming off of a down year. EJ and Avi really doesn't seem like that bad of deal...maybe we throw in Beck too?

LJ Hoes is another semi interesting name DFA'd...25 and hit .295/.383/.400 in almost 500 AAA PA's this year with 26 steals. .299/.388/.399 in 1300+ total PA's in AAA.

An Avi + Micah package makes a lot of sense to me for a rebuilding team looking for major league ready team. Not exactly sure who/what they'd fetch in return, but hopefully a starting OF.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 09:49 AM) Unsexy, but effective offseason mock: -Resign Alexei to a 1 yr, $7 MM deal -Resign Soto to a 1 yr $8 MM deal -Trade Erik Johnson for Martin Prado -Trade Carlos Sanchez and Tyler Danish for Neil Walker -Sign Trevor Cahill to 2 yr, $7 MM deal CF Eaton 3B Prado 1B Abreu DH LaRoche RF Thompson LF Cabrera 2B Walker SS Ramirez C Flowers BE Saladino BE A. Garcia BE Soto BE M. Johnson SP Sale SP Quintana SP Rodon SP Danks SP Montas/Cahill CL Robertson SU Jones SU Montas/Cahill RP Duke RP Petricka RP Putnam RP Phillips Looks like we MIGHT be able to go from 3rd worst offense in all of baseball to about...6th worst. I appreciate that you kept it realistic and not trying to bash you, but if that's what the FO decides to do this offseason we might as well start trading guys to start the rebuild now. I don't see the above being any more than an 80 win team.

Dodgers wouldn't be a bad option for Q if they lose Greinkie somehow. Austin Barnes, Alex Guerrero and Jose Peraza would be nice to add to our offense/defense. We could also add a very good pitching prospect to replace Q in the future from their system. Urias would be the obvious 1 to shoot for but Jose De Leon and Grant Holmes also have a very bright future.

If we are trading Q we need BOTH quantity and quality. We need way more than 1 hitter so a 1 for 1 swap does nothing for us. Minimum 2 everyday position players that are capable of playing next year would have to be included.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 05:17 PM) I still think the Sox and Rangers line up really well. Q for a package revolving around Mazara, Profar (if his medicals check out), and Ortiz would have me interested. Can't imagine the Rangers are trading basically their farm system for 2 lefty pitchers in the span of like 6 or 7 months. Crazier things have happened and that package of prospects would certainly entice me, but I'd be pretty shocked if the Rangers came calling if we did/do make Q available

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 04:29 PM) If the White Sox are trading Sale or Q and not denting a team's talent really badly, they didn't make a good trade. My point was that the d backs have a lot of talent in areas of need for us.

The Dbacks still make the most sense to me if theyre making a hard push for pitching. David Peralta, Jake Lamb, and Peter O'Brien would be a nice main package (maybe a B level SP prospect as well) for us in my opinion and wouldn't really dent their talent with Tomas and Drury ready to step in and start in RF and 3B.

The article is dead on...without acquiring position players (3 or 4) this team is never going to win. We might be able to swing 1 in a trade with the few prospects we do have, but that's not doing anything for us. Seems to be a lot of denial going on about how bad of shape this franchise is actually in. Hopefully we don't just overpay for more free agents and put ourselves into purgatory even further. Something big needs to be done and young pitchers like Q are the only cards Hahn has to play. It's an unfortunate reality.

Posted this in another thread...these are some guys that interest me and that make sense to be somewhat expendable for them OF- Preston Tucker- Probably never going to be an all-star but he was a very successful college player and has a .294/.363/.503 triple slash in the minors since '12 and hit 13 HR's and a .734 OPS in his 1st 320 PA's in the majors. 25 year old LH corner OF with a little experience at 1B as well LJ Hoes- Another guy that has some flaws and probably won't ever be great, but he's another 25 year old who was a fairly high pick who has extended success in the high minors....299/.388/.399 over 1300 PA's in AAA. Above average speed with 26 steals in AAA this year. Has played all 3 OF positions after being converted from a 2B earl in his career. Derek Fisher- Comp round pick in '14 after leading Virginia to the CWS. Has a very smooth left handed swing that should carry him, but also has + speed. Slashed .275/.364 /.483 with 22 home runs this year in his 1st full season of pro ball across A and A+ INF- Colin Moran(3B)- Former 6th overall pick that Miami curiously traded. His power still hasn't showed up but he keeps making good contact and getting on base. .306/.381/.459 at AA this year. JD Davis(3B)- 3rd round pick in '14 as a 2 way player out of Cal State Fulerton. Astros made him a hitter and he's settled in nicely as a 3B hitting .289/.370/.520 with 26 HR's in A+. Great athlete with a real nice swing that should have no problem translating at any level Pitchers- Michael Feliz- Failed a drug test coming out of the DR and the Astros scooped him up and he's been great ever since. Saw some inning in the majors this year after dominating in the minors. A 6'4 225 lb righty with a fastball in the mid 90's and a power slider. Joe Musgrove- Another big righty at 6'5 255 with a mid 90's fastball. 1.88 across 100 minor league innings this year ending in AA. And that's that even including their obviously really good prospects like AJ Reed, Kyle Tucker, Mark Appel, Alex Bregman, and Daz Cameron

QUOTE (shysocks @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 10:12 AM) Yeah, Melky has negative trade value and Robertson is good but too expensive to give up players for. If the plan is to chop as much salary as possible and test the youth, that's fine, but don't expect much back for those two. If Robertson were on the open market a team would have to pony up more than the 3 years $36M that is left on his deal. I don't think his contract would be hard to convince a closer needy team to take on at all. Are we getting multiple top prospects for him? Most likely not, but I don't think 2 B level prospects outside the tam's top 6 or 7 without having to eat any money is unreasonable to assume. Now, I highly doubt Robertson actually gets moved, but I don't doubt there would be suitors once there is a team or 2 that loses out on trying to trade for Chapman.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 11:40 AM) Again, why would the Rockies, or anyone, want LaRoche... Because they'd probably rather pay a guy to actually play for them rather than just give us cash. There's no way we should/would take on Cargo's entire contract. Adding Laroche would just be a way of evening out the contracts a little

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 08:03 PM) You can get way more back for Quintana Peralta hit .312/.371/.522 last year and he's pre arb. He's got a lot of value himself. With that said, I originally was going to have Randall Delgado in the trade as well for a young power arm in the pen.

The only deal the Rockies MIGHT do would be the Cargo deal if we are taking his entire contract. Revisiting a trade with The DBacks makes the most sense to me. Pollack, Inciarte, Peralta, Goldschmidt, Tomas, Drury, Lamb. They can only play 5 of those 7 and they obviously aren't trading Goldy, probably not Pollack, and Tomas wouldn't make sense either. That leaves us possibly targeting 1 or possibly even 2 of Inciarte, Peralta, Drury, and Lamb. Peralta and Lamb for Q and Micah?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 11:58 AM) If you are that worried about Erik Johnson, you are overrating him., I'll take EJ over Shark next year no problem. I think EJ is going to surprise some people. Not saying Cy Young or anything obviously, but I can definitely see him giving us 200 innings of 3.8-4.2ish era production next year.