OmarComing25

TSN is reporting that Bautista wants 5 years/$150 million. Yeah...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 03:44 PM) Don't get mad at me that it took them less than 4 years to build a powerhouse. 97 wins is their floor. Wouldn't be surprised if they won 100-105 games. Their floor is 97 wins? That's laughable. You realize what sport this is right? Even the most optimistic Cub fans wouldn't agree with that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 03:39 PM) Shuck and his amazing reverse splits of a .683 OPS. Melky couldn't have been much worse against LHP last year. Be nice to get another righty bat out there, especially with how bad Eaton was against LHP last year as well. There's not that many LHP in the MLB, so the season sample size for any given hitter against LHP is pretty small. Both Eaton and Melky were fine against LHP in 2014. Abreu is another one who was awful against LHP in 2015, but I wouldn't expect that to continue this year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 12:10 PM) The Cubs have players on their bench/bullpen that would be better than a large majority of the players starting on the Reds/Brewers this year. Those teams won't combine for 100 wins. I'll take that bet, that's easy money.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/whit...my-rollins.html Article makes a good point that his BABIP was pretty low and due for a bounceback given his contact and batted ball stats stayed pretty much the same as his career numbers. I'd be more concerned about his defense though.

It's a minor league deal and there are some posters that upset with this move? Seriously?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 08:53 AM) Again I clearly said that the trade was a woeful overpay. Interesting you mention the comparative farm system rankings. In 2015, Law ranked Arizona 14, and now they are 24. In 2015, Law ranked Sox 12, and now they are 22. (yes, #1 prospect promoted; but Arizona made other stupid movies beyond the Miller trade, like giving away #4 prospect to braves in mid-season) You said the Arizona farm was a lot stronger than the Sox farm, and that the Diamondbacks can afford to trade away their good prospects without hurting their future. Neither of those things are true.

Buehrle never really had this type of stuff written about him either.

Even if this new approach somehow works and he improves his hitting, his defense and baserunning will still be atrocious, and we'll still want to upgrade RF.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 07:53 AM) I clearly said that they didn't get anywhere near the value for the prospects they traded. But it could also be true (it has been in the past ) that their farm is a heck of a lot stronger than the Sox farm, which gives them the ability to trade their good prospects without hurting future). The Red Sox also woefully overpaid for relief pitcher. They didnt hurt their future. I long for the day when making such trade wouldn't hurt the Sox future BA ranked the Sox farm at #23 and the Arizona farm at #22. The Diamondbacks have developed some good players recently but their farm was definitely not deep enough or strong enough to trade away Swanson and Blair without hurting their future.

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:32 PM) And you like the front office? Heck of a trade today huh? Had they made the Gasol deal, at least they would have made SAC better, therefore making it more likely they get Kings' first round pick. You're a broken record. I'm not a big fan of the front office but you are incredibly obnoxious.

Why is that bench so bad? The catcher situation is fine, Sanchez is a fine utility infielder, and Shuck was capable as a backup outfielder last year.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 11:57 AM) If this team is bad it wont be because of Avi. He is not the key factor for this team. If he is bad I really dont think they are going to keep running him out there anyway. If this team doesn't make the playoffs solely because of Avi I will eat gregs shirt and sell his house that I have acquired in prior dealings. That very well could be the case if Avi puts up another below replacement level season and we miss the playoffs by two games after winning 84 games. Upgrading RF by a couple wins is so easy to do when the hole is that large that it will be the most mind-boggling move of the entire offseason if an upgrade doesn't happen, and that's including the Miller trade.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 09:31 AM) If Avi is our Opening Day RF, then it has NOT been a good offseason. There has maybe never been a better buyer's market for corner OF in the history of free agency, and corner OF was the single biggest hole we had to fill on the team. We bicker back and forth around here a lot about the team's willingness to spend money. Some feel like the team should spend as much as it can every year to win, while others don't want to see inefficient and sloppy moves being made simply for the sake of spending resources. I've tended to fall on the latter side -- even though I acknowledge that ownership[ is making money and has a TON at its disposal, money should still be treated as a finite resource, because losing money is not a sustainable model. The rub on that line of thinking about falls around where the limit SHOULD be. How do you set a limit when you technically have more to spend than you need? To me, the answer is that you buy when the market is ripe for you to buy. Going into the offseason, no "contender" needed an corner OF more than us, with the exception of the Royals, and there were no less than 8 significant upgrades available (Heyward, Upton, Gordon, Cespedes, Fowler, Jackson, Parra, Dickerson). Pitchers and catcher have now reported, nearly all of those options are off the board, and nearly all of them have cost LESS than expected. The teams that have gotten them have, in many cases, created logjams with the acquisitions simply because the value to cost ratio was so good. And yet the White Sox still have nothing. I loved the Frazier, Lawrie, and Latos acquisitions, but if I knew our front office was going to stare a gift horse in the mouth for six straight months until the OF market collapsed entirely, I'd have rather they gone in a totally different direction. Couldn't have put it better myself. Agree 100%. Great post.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 03:45 PM) But not 19 times per season. Watch the Braves sign him and have him single-handedly win two of the three games against the Sox this year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 03:25 PM) yeah, edited that in...just don't expect offense out of him The best, of course, would be for some NL team to sign him. Same benefits, no weakened hitter on the roster. But we might still have to face him depending on which NL team it is. Safest way is if a Japanese team offers him a decent contract.

My guess is Fowler signs for something like 3/36, maybe a bit more.

If it's one or the other, give me the OF.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 09:58 AM) As a fan of the Dodgers, I just wanted to point a couple things out... 1. The new ownership group vowed to make a splash the first couple of years, hence the big spending. They said it wouldn't last forever. They had a pending TV deal, and needed to make a splash. 2. They also vowed to build a top tier farm system and scouting staff, which would feed the MLB club. Until they are productive with such, they "have to buy" players. Again, as a Dodgers fan, it kinda sucks watching them "buy" players but at the same time, I remember the days when Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Loney, Jonathon Broxton, Andre Ethier and Dee Gordon were the "Youthful Core". The one thing Ned Colletti did right (at least the team did right while he was GM) was draft and develop star players. Hopefully they get back to that soon. The Dodgers have probably the best farm system in the MLB and have arguably the most depth of any team at the major league level (them or the Cubs). They have the luxury of being able to buy players while still stocking the minor leagues with their near monopoly on much of the international market. They're set up for present and future success more than any other team.

Upgrading a -1 WAR position should be really easy to do, it doesn't require a "high impact" bat to be a significant upgrade.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 03:19 PM) So, bucket said we may trade for an OF. One of the very available OFs now is De Aza. What would your response be? Mine would be shrieking. Going by 2013-2015 numbers, they wouldn't make the worst RF platoon on offense (.276/.332/.436 against LHP, .267/.332/.416 against RHP), but I hope it's a last resort type of plan. Still would prefer it to having Avi start though.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 02:15 PM) There's a good chance that the Sox have the best rotation in the AL. Cleveland was #1 in fWAR last year and Sox were 2nd. Samardzija's 216 innings and K's did help though. Sox SP were #1 in the AL by fWAR last year at 17.4, the Indians were third with 15.9. But yes, Samardzija made up 2.7 of that number. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...=&players=0

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 01:03 PM) Melky was an elite LF defender during his prime. Now he is a poor defensive outfielder and even if you think his bat will return to career averages this season I don't see anyone claiming his defense will get better. He shouldn't start vs LHP. Eaton is a poor offensive player (.291 wOBA, .054 ISO) vs LHP and a below average defender. In a perfect world he doesn't start vs LHP. How is that nonsense? It's still nonsense because in a perfect world almost everyone would be platooned, and starting pitchers would always get taken out before they faced the batting order a third time, it's a completely meaningless statement. Eaton hasn't shown he's bad enough against LHP that he would require a platoon partner. That would be a waste of resources and a roster spot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) Da f***? "One of these pitchers got $90 million guaranteed. One of these pitchers got $3 million guaranteed. Why on Earth would a national publication writing the supposed conventional wisdom think that swap is a downgrade???" GMAB. Yes, Latos could darn well be an upgrade over Samardzija, but the league just made an $87 million bet that he won't be. These predictions are based on that kind of conventional wisdom. We're not talking about 2016 Latos vs. 2016 Samardzija. We're talking about 2016 Latos vs. 2015 Samardzija. It shouldn't be too difficult to outperform a 4.96 ERA, although I don't expect Latos to pitch 214 innings, so he'd have to do more than just beat Samardzija's ERA. Samardzija didn't get $90 million based on his 2015 season, so that should be irrelevant.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 12:27 PM) OMG this team needs AT LEAST one more OF. Melky shouldn't face LHP: His bat vs LHP is bad, and couple that with his declining defense and this is closer to a no-brainer than most will assume. LaRoche shouldn't face LHP: HOW did he get 89 ABs vs LHP in '15? In a perfect world Eaton shouldn't face LHP: This is easily the furthest stretch of the three, but Eaton has zero career HRs vs LHP and sports a .686 OPS. If his defense continues to be below average then he is not an everyday player on a good team IMHO. Sticking Avi in a platoon with any of the three is PLENTY of opportunity for a player that performed as poorly as Garcia did in '15. If you believe in Garcia's defense improving and feel he needs the experience in the field, then platoon him with Melky. For me, I saw enough of his defense last year that I'd platoon him with LaRoche at DH. But lets just say you stick Avi in LF with Cabrera, that leaves the Sox with no right handed DH and absolutely no RF. This team NEEDS two more bats. One can be more of a complimentary right handed hitter to work with LaRoche, but the other needs to be a legitimate everyday right fielder. Melky has a career 95 wRC+ against LHP, that's not something that needs to be platooned. The line about Eaton is nonsense too. A 3-4 WAR player is not an everyday player?