BlackSox13

Always liked Freddy and I'm kinda sad his career has come to an end. He was fun to watch when he was "on" but when he was "off", the pace at which he pitched couldn't beat a snail in a race.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 10:59 AM) It is obvious to me that the team is up against the wall in terms of budget, which is what is holding them up. Agreed. The budget was the main point I was addressing in the "2016 payroll " thread. It was rumored early in the off season that Hahn had 2015's budget to work with and the main reason why I felt the Sox wouldn't sign one of the big four. Plus, Hahn had said a few times that the team would need to get "creative " to make it work and that's probably why they were shopping LaRoche. The FO never said they were raising the payroll so I never assumed they would sign a big FA. Just didn't want to get my hopes up too high and suffer a huge let down. With Houston have so many outfielders, I'm hoping the Sox kick the tires on Andrew Aplin. LHB, OF, high OBP potential and solid defense. I dont know what the cost would be but Houston doesnt need him so maybe he could be had for a reasonabke price in a trade. Rather try that route than sign one of Victorino, DeJesus, Joyce, Venable etc.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 01:00 AM) I was thinking, doesn't it seem like at this rate we could be nearing Opening Day and the Sox still haven't added an OF yet because there is still 1 or 2 guys left on the market that they are waiting to steal a sweetheart deal from? I feel like they are playing with fire right now with the waiting game and at some point some team is going to say "f*** it, here" and sign these guys because they are tired of seeing the holes on their roster. I just feel like the Sox are trying to squeeze every last penny out of these players to hope a sweet ass deal falls in their lap in it makes me extremely nervous that nothing gets done. Takes two to tango. While the Sox are likely to be looking for a potential bargain, these free agents are likely waiting for the best offer to emerge due to the small amount of teams interested in them. Can't force a FA to sign if they are playing the waiting game in search of the best offer they can get.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 01:07 AM) With the Jays, 2b if Travis is out and SS for Tulowitzki. Also DH, with Colabello far from a sure repeater performance-wise. Have said all along he would be a decent or potentially above-average outfielder if he had enough time to prepare. With the White Sox, he would provide insurance at 2b, SS, DH and relegate Saladino to a bench role. If they can't afford Austin Jackson or Desmond Jennings, I'm coming around on Shane Victorino because he can hit lefties and has been a valuable performer on a string of playoff/World Series teams. Guerrero or Kiki Hernandez, they need to improve that bench somehow. Cards have been considering moving Peralta from SS for awhile now, fwiw. http://www.rotochamp.com/baseball/PlayerRa...spx?Position=SS The Cards picked up Gyorko to back up the IF. That's why Desmond doesn't make much sense unless the Cards plan on Desmond playing LF? I doubt Toronto has any interest or need for Desmond. That's an expensive way to back up an infield that has depth already and the same can be said for the OF. Desmond makes much more sense for the Sox than Toronto or the Cards. That's not to say the Sox will actually sign Desmond.

The Blue Jays? Where would Desmond play? This sounds more like Desmond's agent at work. I think even the Cards are a stretch.

QUOTE (staxx @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 11:02 PM) Frustrating? Because we didnt acquire someone that no one ever thought we would? We acquired an All-star 3B and filled our 2B gap, i'd call that a productive offseason. I'm with ya. I really didn't think the Sox would sign one of the big four, though it was fun discussions. Heck, I didn't think they would get Frazier so I'm pretty happy with the additions and subtractions the Sox have made. I still believe they will find an upgrade for the OF, some how.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 6, 2016 -> 12:44 PM) I feel like Odorizzi would be a horrible pickup. He's a flyball pitcher and would cost a ton to get. Don't see a great fit for him here at all. You're right about Odorizzi being a FB pitcher but I think what the Sox are looking at is that he's less of a FB pitcher than Johnson and would be an upgrade over Johnson. Odorizzi's repertoire of FB, CU, CT, SL could be a really good match with Cooper as his pitching coach. That said, the reality is that there's likely no match since the Rays would target prospects the Sox wouldn't want to part with. Still an interesting topic for discussion while we wait to see what the next move might or hopefully be.

This is rather interesting speculation by Levine. The Sox are looking for another outfielder and Jennings fits the mold although he hits RH. Early in the off season the Sox were rumored to be shopping EJ so kicking the tires on Odorizzi wouldn't be surprising. Curious about what the Rays would want for Odorizzi/Jennings. I'm sure Fulmer would be the first name mentioned by the Rays.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:44 PM) Arrieta settled for 10.7 tonight so Cubs should now know what they have left financially That puts the cubs at 160.7M for 19 players. They don't have to worry about the luxury tax threshold so now its a matter of if they have or are they willing to spend the money for another FA.

http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/american-...-dexter-fowler/ This is a well written article that sums up the Sox off season to this point. It also reminded me of how cheap Parra signed for without a comp pick attached. Anyway, I'm really curious as to just how many teams are genuinely interested in signing Fowler.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 02:51 PM) I am not referring to you here because you aren't the only one that feels that way about Maddon. But look at these numbers. Schwarber and LaRoche each can't hit LHP. Maddon knows his players and only had Schwarber face lefties 61 times in 69 games played. LaRoche played 127 games and faced LHP 94 times, even less percentage-wise than Schwarber, but Robin was an idiot. I see what you're saying Dick and its a very good point. I think RV catches much more grief than he deserves. I mean, just look at what Robin has been given to fill out the lineup card. Avi, Flowers, Soto, Gillaspie, Olt, Beckham and so on. That's just from last year doesn't include the likes of Keppinger, Rios etc. Not trying to bash the FO but they haven't exactly given RV the best options to work with. I think RV deserves some slack and is a better manager than some think.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 02:27 PM) Fowler would already be signed if they were signing him in my opinion. I hope they play Schwarber at C. That would be funny. I hope you're but as I said earlier, the cubs and Fowler might be waiting on Arrieta's arbitration to see what kind of money will be left over. I'm just speculating and keeping my mind open to the possibility the Sox might not sign Fowler. For all I know, the Angels could swoop in and sign Fowler.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:35 PM) I don't agree with much of this. They won't relegate either guy to regular platoon duty. Schwarber has 61 career plate appearances vs LHP too. Schwarber also has a .143 BA in those 61 plate appearances. I'm not saying Schwarber will never face another LHP again but Maddon does well at extracting the most from his players when he fills out the lineup card everyday. Not trying to come off as a cubs Homer but Maddon is a good manager and knows his players. Just giving credit where its due, even if it pains me to say it.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 12:27 PM) So you think the Cubs would relegate Soler to a role where he gets just a couple of starts a week so quickly? If the cubs stick to giving Schwarber some starts behind the plate, Soler will get more than a couple of starts per week and would still face some RH pitching. Let's not forget that Maddon is good at getting the most out of his players and their roles, plus were talking about a team that made it to the NLCS and judging by their off season moves, they clearly want to and think they can win now. If the cubs were concerned with the development of players like Soler and Baez, they wouldn't have signed Heyward and Zobrist.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 11:19 AM) Do you think the Cubs would platoon Schwarber and Soler? That seems kind of counter-productive to me. I think they would. Schwarber cannot hit left handed pitching to save his life so somebody will have to get those at bats against lefties. Soler can't play RF to save his life so putting them both in LF as a platoon makes sense. Soler will still get some at bats against RHP when Schwarber is at the catcher position. The cubs have said they will continue to work with Schwarber at catcher so until they abandon the idea, the possibility still exists.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 06:46 PM) Maurice White from Earth, Wind and Fire. He was 74. I'm really getting old. The afterlife supergroup expands. RIP Maurice. My aunt got me into listening to Earth, Wind and Fire when I was kid. Good stuff! Yep, that supergroup in the sky keeps on growing and I have many favorites in that supergroup. RIP Mirra. Us BMX fans will miss you.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:34 AM) Where would he play though? They aren't going to platoon Schwarber with someone. They aren't going to platoon Fowler after giving him $$ either. I think the Cubs are out on Fowler. The White Sox have a price that they'd pay for Fowler with the pick attached and Fowler obviously isn't ready to sign for that amount yet. Fowler in CF, Heyward in RF, Schwarber/Soler in LF. The Cubs have said they will continue to get Schwarber reps at catcher which would give Soler more at bats in LF.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:29 AM) And Hammel will be off too. He's making what $10 mill? Good call on Hamel. He makes 9M this year with a '17 option for 10M with a 2M buyout. So if the cubs could save an additional 8M next year if they buyout Hamel. I doubt they buy him out though, 10M is pretty cheap for what he gives the cubs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 10:14 AM) I think to some extent they have definately saw their markets decline. I think two years ago they could have been moved as centerpieces. Now? Nope. No doubt. If the cubs would have even thought of trading either, cub fans would have fudged their Huggies! A cub fan I worked with a few years ago was always talking about Soler, Baez, Almora and Bryant.

Cubs currently have 150M committed to 18 players. Add five league minimum players and that total comes to 152.5M for 23 players. That leaves the cubs with 26.5M to sign Arrieta and Fowler while staying under the luxury tax threshold. The cubs and Arrieta aren't going to take the chance of actually going to arbitration because one side is going to get screwed. They will meet each other half way and make a deal, probably 10-11M. That leaves 15-16M to sign Fowler. The cubs have the money to sign Fowler and I'm guessing they do once they come to an agreement with Arrieta. Fow!er re-signing with the Cubs for a one year deal has its merits for both sides. The cubs can afford a little extra splurge this year knowing they will have Edwin Jackson's salary off the books after '16.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:38 AM) If you look at who the Cubs are trying to sell on, I think they realize that both Baez and Soler are more hype than substance and they are trying to sell on them as quick as possible before their market collapses. It's possible their markets have collapsed already. If Baez was all that, then why sign Zobrist? I'm thinking teams have wondered the same thing. IMO, as for Soler, the cubs were stung badly by the Miller trade. Before AZ jumped into the mix, there was alot of buzz going on about a potential deal centered around Miller for Soler+. Once AZ put Inciarte on the table it was over for the cubs. The cubs can still put Soler in LF with Schwarber so its not the worst situation but Cophlan really should be the guy they trade, which is probably doubtful this late in the off season.

Soler isn't the guy the cubs need to trade, its Coghlan. We all know that Soler is horrible in RF so a Fowler signing gives the cubs a switch hitter in CF, Heyward's LHB in RF and Soler's RHB platooing LF with Schwarber's LHB. Coghlan and his LHB should be the odd man out. Now, finding a trade for Cophlan is another story. Imo, the cubs are waiting to see what happens with Arrieta and hoping Fowler will sign a one year deal while advocating to him the benefits of re-entering FA next year in a thinner talent pool of outfielders. Just a guess on my part.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 02:07 PM) Going to see Slayer / Testament / Carcass at the Riv. Dude, you have to post a "wish you were here" comment before the show. It would be right if you didn't tease your fellow fans.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) I didnt miss them so much as ignored them, i knew of them. Just wasnt ready for it, i guess. I remember buying Betty in my freshman year of college and just not getting into it I know what you mean. Similar thing happened to me when Panyera released Vulgar Display of Power. Bought it, listened to it a few times and sold it to a friend. Liked their first two albums much more.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 09:08 AM) every once in a while i will find a band i overlooked and think to myself "how did I miss this?", That band is Helmet this month. Man, I love the song "Like I care" Holy cow man, how did you miss that band? I had forgotten all about them. Good stuff!