AlSoxfan

In a game like that it was entertaining. I got a good laugh, Leury got a K.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 15, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) I have a feeling in my balls that Samardzija is going to throw a perfect game tonight. pine tar, spit?? could be the cause of those feelings. In any case I hope you're right. He needs to pitch well so we can be rid of him.

There seem to be a lot of openings lately. I love the Oz and wish him luck but as far as I'm concerned his bridge is burnt here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2015 -> 12:59 PM) That's basically the rough numbers I used by saying Samardzija would put them close to $130 if he'd have signed and if you count filling out the roster. Worth noting that it's a fundamentally different setup than 2011 though; major drop in ticket prices since then, major drop in attendance, big bump in shared revenues, so that's the part we don't know very well right now. Also important to think about...does spending that extra $20 million and possibly totally maxing out what you can spend actually make this team competitive as is? (no). I agree 20/25 mil will not make us more competitive an that's why I have a problem with a guy like Heyward. I'd love to have him, he's just what we need but we'd still have so many other needs as well. Good solid trades are whats needed but trading away our pitching(IMO our best asset) will end up costing us more to replace them. Q and Sale have very good contracts and those contracts are what keeps our budget down. I realize we have other young pitching we can trade but no where near the value that Q an Sale have in a trade. For me the way they're building this team they need to use all 3 ave. by trading, signing FA and continue drafting well. Raising payroll to a more reasonable $145 is necessary to keep what we have now and continue building a better team. The price of tea has gone up in the last few years. I'd hate to be restricted in trade talks because of how much a guy makes or will make.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2015 -> 11:41 AM) I'm not going to wager a guess about the ceiling this time after being appropriately chastised for guessing incorrectly last year, but if they pick up Alexei's option and offer arbitration to Garcia and Flowers, they'll already have committed close to $115 million to the 2016 roster, which is comparable to what they spent in total over 2015 without any additional signings. If they spend more than about $5 million it would be the highest payroll the White Sox have ever had. Season Ticket renewal notices haven't gone out yet have they? The org itself might not know their 2016 budget yet too. Cotts has us at $118 with $4.5 coming off for Kepp. after this yr. Our high was was 2011 at $127,789. I can't see Garcia and Flowers combined getting any more than the $5 mil. coming off the books for Keppinger. If/when Shark leaves that's about $10 mil there, so with a quick guess it looks like around $108 assuming they pick up Alexei. That would leave us about $20 mil away from our previous high. I know there are a number of smaller contracts leaving but I'm just guessing a rough amount. If they had planned on signing Shark you gotta figure someplace around $20 mil then we're getting close to the 2011 high mark. What all this means to me is I think they're planning on going over $127 mil. mark. How much more I don't know?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 13, 2015 -> 09:12 PM) I hope not. Stay away from free agents with QO's attached. If we were in a complete rebuild I would agree but the way they're going about it a decent FA signing wouldn't hurt as long as we have a protected top 10 pick. To be honest the only guy I'd be interested in is Heyward and he's gonna cost more than the Sox will spend I think, so it's most likely a moot point.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 13, 2015 -> 09:23 PM) God is the defense bad. I wish they could sign Heyward for RF, pray Trayce's bat can carry in LF and Melky to DH. Problem is LaRoche and I doubt Hahn would have Avi start at AAA. Saladino-Alexei-Sanchez-Abreu makes a decent defensive INF. Problems with what to do with Micah arise. I agree, defense would be my top priority. I love Heyward for just that reason and he's a better offensive player than any of the 3 we have now, but 25+ and a #1 draft pick might be to much to pay. I wouldn't have a problem trading Micah, Avi and/or some minor league pitching (just not Adams or Fullmer) for a 3rd baseman/catcher. I really like Lucroy. I really don't think our offense is as bad as they played this yr. I think if we played the same team again next yr. they'd be better offensively but not defensively. Like most everyone else I'd really like to see TT play every day an it wouldn't hurt to see Micah either.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 12, 2015 -> 12:44 PM) Sox need San Diego and Boston to outplay them. They're currently in line for the 11th spot. They're a 1/2 game ahead of both Boston and San Diego. and will the Sox use that protected pick an sign a FA? I'm not sure if there's much of a difference in picking from the 10th, 11th or 12th pick otherwise

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 12:40 PM) I'd pick up the option, but I'd be comfortable with letting him play himself into a bench role if Saladino happens to improve. But, that's a very "armchair GM" thing to say -- clearly MLB managers aren't as quick to bench the veteran. I told you guys he looked like a positive regression candidate, and he was, but that doesn't mean he isn't getting older. He'll probably lose another step next year, but he's still a better hitter than Saladino/Sanchez. I just don't think that $10m can be spent elsewhere in a way that realistically helps the team more. If Hahn is planning on going balls out for Weiters or something and knows he's going to need every penny, then sure, that's a different story. For me this makes perfect sense.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 7, 2015 -> 06:55 PM) If you don't believe your team has good scouting and developing like it really matters. Drafting the same position over and over doesn't work. Ask Matt Millen. Look at some of the misses on position players. Kenny seemed to like multi sport athletes. They were athletes but not baseball players. If the Sox were an NFL team they would draft every guy who looks good at the combine. They would get receivers who run a 4.3 but poor hands and bad at running routes. Then they think they can fix those deficiencies when you really can't at that level of performance. They need better scouts and coaches. I realize the success rate stats are for all of MLB. We have not done well drafting position players but we seem to do a lot better with pitching. Pitching is an important part of baseball. Also winning or acquiring a protected pick means little if you're not signing a FA with a QO attached to him. I'm not sure if the FO has any intentions of signing any. IMO we need to and or trade from our strong suit of pitching. I really don't want to give up any of our pitching but I see few options otherwise. When/if Shark leaves we'll have 2 picks in the first round. A few here (including myself) have been watching our protected list standings. A few others have moaned about not trading Shark. In any case the stats show a pretty good success rate for players drafted in the first round making the big leagues. This is what we have like it or not. I just found the numbers surprising.

I found this article very interesting an thought I'd share it. I'm somewhat guilty of doing as the author calls winning the losers battle in hoping we'll get a protected top 10 draft pick. I find it hard to do though. I loved sweeping KC in KC and I'm not big on Cleveland either so I'm rooting for another sweep. Still the article has some interesting stats of success rates for various draft picks. http://outfieldflyrule.com/2015/09/01/the-...top-draft-pick/

Good win, Danks pitched well once again against KC. Wish he would of gotten a shutout but a complete game is nice, his first this yr I think. I don't know if anyone has noticed but Lexi has his avg. up to .251 now. He's getting better as usual as the yr. goes on.

Thanks again for these updates. I'm an Adams guy ever since we drafted him so it's really nice to see him continue to improve. I think he's gonna be a good starter for us in another 2 yrs. It's also encouraging to hear how others view Fulmer, he sounds like he might be better than what I thought and has a really good attitude.

QUOTE (LDF @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 10:49 AM) good, lets pray to the baseball gods to make it happen. ok I'll pray but I'll warn you I don't think Hahn can get anywhere near as deep in JR's pocket as Williams can.

Bye bye Shark man. I'm sorry I was happy to see you on this team. You've been a big let down. You're not worth the QO offer. We have minor leaguers that can out pitch you.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 1, 2015 -> 07:29 PM) Quintana should have his bags packed You could be right but I was thinking Sale, and if they do I sure hope they know what they're doing and get it right. I'm kind of like LDF and would prefer they trade him to the NL. I do like some of the Red Sox players though. I also wonder how much longer Sale can be at his peak. Who knows what they're thinking. They do need to make some big changes in any case.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 1, 2015 -> 07:10 PM) Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 13m13 minutes ago Minneapolis, MN Hahn: "The approach we’ve had for the last several weeks or months in the front office has been to be extremely open minded ... Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 13m13 minutes ago Minneapolis, MN Hahn: "There’s no sacred cows. Everything is on the table and we are looking at everything." Build around Chris Sale and Jose Abreu. Sounds to me like they're thinking of a big trade involving a fan favorite.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Aug 28, 2015 -> 03:03 PM) Low OBP, bad defense, ton of mental mistakes? Ya, it does sound like a match made in heaven I kinda agree. Without trying to be snide, are we bargain shopping? It always seems after we buy we wanna trade it for something else. I understand spending $25m a yr is steep for a club like the Sox, but if you want the best you gotta spend the money. I think if you were ready to spend $20-22M on Shark ( and I hope they're still not thinking about)then a couple $M more for a top of the line player is well spent. We need offence AND defense.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 27, 2015 -> 03:01 PM) Not a bunch...a whole bunch. lol we seem to have a few holes I'm sure we could spare, but honestly he's 1 of a few I'd be willing to give a whole bunch for.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 27, 2015 -> 02:58 PM) Ok but let's jump to dreamland for a minute. Avi goes over to COL in the Arenado deal to cover their loss of CarGo. Our OF then becomes Trayce, Heyward & Eaton and suddenly 180s to one of the premeir defensive outfields. Melky slides into DH and rotates to the OF to gove rest when needed. Eaton Heyward Abreu Cabrera Arenado Thompson Saladino Flowers Sanchez This is a premeir defensive unit in theory. Can it hit enough? Dunno. Nice dream but it's gonna cost a bunch more than Avi to get Arenado

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 27, 2015 -> 02:51 PM) Pass. I would much rather have Trayce when you take contracts into account and the step back Heyward will take in the AL. Trayce can provide top level defense in the OF, he will K a lot more than Heyward but also will give you a lot more power. Giving a guy like that $20M a season would cripple this franchise. Probably closer to $25M a season. I like Heyward a bunch but I'm not sure I'd wanna go give up that kinda money for him. I'm not so sure about Tray either. I wish they'd play him a lot more often so we can see what he's got a little better.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Aug 27, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) My off season plan Extend Qualifying Offer to SP Jeff Samardzija Resign C Geovany Soto Resign RP Matt Albers Decline option on SS Alexei Ramirez DFA or trade LaRoche Sign OF Jason Heyward 6 years/120 million (only if top 10 pick) Sign SP Ian Kennedy 1 year/7 million Trade SP John Danks, SP Frank Montas, 3B Matt Davidson, SP Tyler Danish, 2B Micah Johnson, OF Courtney Hawkins to the Mariners for 3B Kyle Seager and SS Chris Taylor CF Eaton RF Heyward 1B Abreu LF Cabrera 3B Seager DH Garcia SS Taylor C Flowers/Soto 2B Sanchez Shuck, Soto/Flowers, Saladino, FA SP Sale SP Quintana SP Kennedy SP Rodon SP Johnson RP Petricka RP Jennings (L) RP Jones RP Putnam RP Duke (L) RP Albers RP Robertson I know I might take some heat on the Seager deal but, he's still solid at 3B defensively and offensively, its just his contract is a little atrocious, which Danks off sets some of that money. Thoughts? I'd love it, but I think it's gonna cost a bunch more to sign Heyward and Kennedy, especially Heyward. I also don't think we'll end up with a top 10 pick this yr. The other things, if I were the Mariners I'd get a laugh out that trade before I hung up on ya. Laroche will not get DFA'd and I highly doubt they can trade him unless of course they pay most of his contract. You might throw Laroche in with the Seager deal along with about 10 mil. cash and a couple other prospects. I do like Seager but I'm pretty sure the Mariners do too.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Aug 26, 2015 -> 11:26 AM) I have no personal stories, but I guess he's just an unrepentant a-hole. There was a story about him taking a foul tip off his nether regions when he was with the Giants, and kneeing the trainer in the groin when he came over to help. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-02...new-sox-enraged That's really the only concrete thing I know of. The rest of baseball's fanbases hitting him just seems to be a snowball thing. "It was once determined that we should not like this guy, so let's dislike him. And of course he headbutted Michael Barrett's fist that one time. Thanks..kinda funny but not really

I've always liked AJ, especially since the 05 playoffs with all the goofy plays that happened, but I've never heard anything as to why he's hated so much. What does he or did he do to be so hated? Can anyone tell some stories?

Thanks a bunch