Sox Sign Erstad

[SkokieSox]

Darin Erstad-OF-Angels Jan. 22 - 8:04 pm et

 

 

The Marlins and White Sox are among the finalists for free agent Darin Erstad, who could pick his team this week.

The Angels remain in the running, though they won't offer as much playing time as the competition. The Cubs, like the A's, appear to be out of it, as they perfer Cliff Floyd for their outfield mix. The Marlins would give Erstad a chance to be their regular center fielder if he's interested in playing in Florida. The White Sox, who nearly acquired Erstad for Jon Garland prior to the Angels' 2002 World Series run, would have him battle Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney this spring.

 

I wouldn't mind Erstad at all, especially as a 4th outfielder and Anderson back up.

[That funky motion]

Darin Erstad-OF-Angels Jan. 22 - 8:04 pm et

 

 

The Marlins and White Sox are among the finalists for free agent Darin Erstad, who could pick his team this week.

The Angels remain in the running, though they won't offer as much playing time as the competition. The Cubs, like the A's, appear to be out of it, as they perfer Cliff Floyd for their outfield mix. The Marlins would give Erstad a chance to be their regular center fielder if he's interested in playing in Florida. The White Sox, who nearly acquired Erstad for Jon Garland prior to the Angels' 2002 World Series run, would have him battle Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney this spring.

 

I wouldn't mind Erstad at all, especially as a 4th outfielder and Anderson back up.

I also would like him. I wonder what kind of money he is looking for.

Edited January 23, 2007 by That funky motion

[Dick Allen]

Darin Erstad-OF-Angels Jan. 22 - 8:04 pm et

 

 

The Marlins and White Sox are among the finalists for free agent Darin Erstad, who could pick his team this week.

The Angels remain in the running, though they won't offer as much playing time as the competition. The Cubs, like the A's, appear to be out of it, as they perfer Cliff Floyd for their outfield mix. The Marlins would give Erstad a chance to be their regular center fielder if he's interested in playing in Florida. The White Sox, who nearly acquired Erstad for Jon Garland prior to the Angels' 2002 World Series run, would have him battle Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney this spring.

 

I wouldn't mind Erstad at all, especially as a 4th outfielder and Anderson back up.

With Gload gone, Erstad would be a pretty good defensive back-up at first base as well. Offensively, he's just not a very good player any more, but he is a "grinder" and is great with the glove no matter where you stick him. If he's willing to be a back-up or thinks he can beat Anderson out, and is willing to play on the cheap, he would be a pretty good signing IMO.

[maggsmaggs]

you gotta figure he would want a chance to win with his last run in the pros. I would love him and would easily have him start over pods.

[CWSGuy406]

Erstad? Ehh, he's more or less useless at this point. Haven't injuries sapped the only plus part of his game, his defense? His last 600 ABs, he's putting up a line of about .265/.320/.365. I think he's pretty much done, and it doesn't solve the problem in LF, where we could use someone who can play everyday vs lefties. I'd rather not have to rely on Ozuna again...

 

EDIT: I didn't realize just how bad Erstad has been offensively. He hasn't had what you could call a 'good' offensive season since 2000. He was okay in 2004, but still a below average offensive player.

Edited January 23, 2007 by CWSGuy406

[Balta1701]

Erstad? Ehh, he's more or less useless at this point. Haven't injuries sapped the only plus part of his game, his defense? His last 600 ABs, he's putting up a line of about .265/.320/.365. I think he's pretty much done, and it doesn't solve the problem in LF, where we could use someone who can play everyday vs lefties. I'd rather not have to rely on Ozuna again...

It looks like we just might have a choice...either we have a Lefty backup outfielder who can sub for Anderson or a righty backup outfielder who can sub for Podsednik. The only other option is to remove another player somewhere to clear room for both solutions; otherwise, one group or another will be unhappy.

[redandwhite]

I'm a fan of this potential move, but then again I haven't seen the same things from Brian Anderson than others have seen.

[Kalapse]

Erstad? Ehh, he's more or less useless at this point. Haven't injuries sapped the only plus part of his game, his defense? His last 600 ABs, he's putting up a line of about .265/.320/.365. I think he's pretty much done, and it doesn't solve the problem in LF, where we could use someone who can play everyday vs lefties. I'd rather not have to rely on Ozuna again...

Yeah these are basically my feeling regarding Erstad. He's not even sure if he'll be able to play CF next year so I don't see how this makes any sense at all. It'll just be a pointless pickup that ends up hurting the team more than helping in the long run when Erstad takes over starting duties in CF a week into the season with BA hitting .230 but not showing proper 'focus' (Ozzie's future words, not mine) in CF for Guillen's taste. If we're going to bring in 40 something year old players who are all but done (I know Erstad's only 32 but he plays like he's 42) why doesn't KW go fish Ricky Henderson out of the Independent league or where ever the hell he's trying to reignite his career these days? Sure he's bad but atleast he'd be entertaining and make Pods look like a little b**** on the basepaths despite being 15 years older than him.

 

EDIT: I didn't realize just how bad Erstad has been offensively. He hasn't had what you could call a 'good' offensive season since 2000. He was okay in 2004, but still a below average offensive player.

He's basically been banking off one good offensive season his entire career but he's a hard nosed player with football roots (punter which doesn't count) so people just think he's good.

[santo=dorf]

Anything less than $1 million and I won't complain. Is this the soxfest surprise?

[Kalapse]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6396994

 

Here is the story. This is what I was afraid of...

I guarantee that if Erstad is signed by the White Sox he'll log 90+ starts next year including Opening Day which is far too many for a player who will likely spend atleast 2 months on the DL and is bad at baseball.

[witesoxfan]

f***

 

This would be such a great move in theory, and you just know it is going to completely f*** this team over

 

f*** f*** f***

[Rockabilly]

This will be an awesome pick up for the Sox...

 

He would make our bench alot stronger

[Chisoxfn]

I like Erstad. Everything he does fits into what the Sox could use off the bench. The only real question-mark is whether he'll be healthy. Plus, we know only one of Anderson/Sweeney/Fields will break camp with the big club so it will be nice to have a vet like Erstad who could backup at 1st (kind of in a Gload role, in fact he could essentially replace Gload on the bench).

 

I realize statistically Erstad has some flaws, but this guy (when healthy and I don't know how healthy he'll be, if at all) adds a lot of other things to a ball club.

[Leonard Zelig]

This will be an awesome pick up for the Sox...

 

He would make our bench alot stronger

 

I think the concern is that he would not be on the bench enough.

[Baines3]

I'd be all for this move. We'd have a better hitting CF and could give Konerko a break at first base. He'd see a lot of playing time with the Sox.

 

Sure hope the Sox land him.

[Vance Law]

Something tells me we are going to get him, just a gut feeling. Hopefully his crap year last year was due to his injury. Hopefully if he still sucks this year, he'll barely play. Hopefully we pay him very little, with performance incentives.

[Rockabilly]

I think the concern is that he would not be on the bench enough.

 

Anything to keep Mackowiak away from CF im all for..

 

Just reading the quotes from Erstad agent.. I think Darin will sign with us by fri

[Kalapse]

Anything to keep Mackowiak away from CF im all for..

 

Just reading the quotes from Erstad agent.. I think Darin will sign with us by fri

At this point in time there might not be much of a difference defensively between Erstad and Mack in CF and Rob is the far superior offensive player.

[Friend of Nordhagen]

At this point in time there might not be much of a difference defensively between Erstad and Mack in CF and Rob is the far superior offensive player.

 

C'mon now, Kalapse. I know that Erstad's old, is always an injury risk, and is overrated offensively. Believe me, I know that those are all really valid points. But not much of a difference in center between him and Mack? Even with diminished range, Erstad is a natural outfielder. What that means is that he can judge a fly ball, which by itself makes him much better than Mack out there. And he'll throw to the right base, too.

 

No question, though, that Mack is better offensively.

[chisoxfan79]

This will be an awesome pick up for the Sox...

 

He would make our bench alot stronger

I think our bench could use a right handed bat with Power to give Thome days off against Tough Lefties

[Kalapse]

C'mon now, Kalapse. I know that Erstad's old, is always an injury risk, and is overrated offensively. Believe me, I know that those are all really valid points. But not much of a difference in center between him and Mack? Even with diminished range, Erstad is a natural outfielder. What that means is that he can judge a fly ball, which by itself makes him much better than Mack out there. And he'll throw to the right base, too.

 

No question, though, that Mack is better offensively.

He recently said it himself that he may not be able to play CF anymore, period. His lateral movement is all but gone as well as any makeup speed he had at one time, his arm is subpar and his instincts are completely out of whack after being away from the position for 3 years and barely playing baseball at all last season. The funny thing is I used to be a HUGE fan of his because of my love of all things defense, he and Edmonds were about as good as it got during the 97 and 98 seasons, super fun. However, that Darin Erstad is long gone the new no power slick fielding firstbaseman Erstad is all you're going to be seeing these days.

[witesoxfan]

He's Ross Gload without the bat

[Vance Law]

I think our bench could use a right handed bat with Power to give Thome days off against Tough Lefties

 

I assume you mean Vinny Castilla.

 

He recently said it himself that he may not be able to play CF anymore, period. His lateral movement is all but gone as well as any makeup speed he had at one time, his arm is subpar and his instincts are completely out of whack after being away from the position for 3 years and barely playing baseball at all last season. The funny thing is I used to be a HUGE fan of his because of my love of all things defense, he and Edmonds were about as good as it got during the 97 and 98 seasons, super fun. However, that Darin Erstad is long gone the new no power slick fielding firstbaseman Erstad is all you're going to be seeing these days.

 

 

Hopefully he's not, like, lying

He [Erstad] recently said that he is feeling well enough to center field every day

Edited January 23, 2007 by Vance Law

[Friend of Nordhagen]

He recently said it himself that he may not be able to play CF anymore, period. His lateral movement is all but gone as well as any makeup speed he had at one time, his arm is subpar and his instincts are completely out of whack after being away from the position for 3 years and barely playing baseball at all last season. The funny thing is I used to be a HUGE fan of his because of my love of all things defense, he and Edmonds were about as good as it got during the 97 and 98 seasons, super fun. However, that Darin Erstad is long gone the new no power slick fielding firstbaseman Erstad is all you're going to be seeing these days.

 

I didn't know that he'd said that about playing center. Aren't the Marlins looking at him as a CF, too? Or is something else going on?

 

Agree about him and Edmonds, both. By the way, Edmonds doesn't look so good out there these days, either.

[Kalapse]

Hopefully he's not, like, lying

And yet a week ago he's making comments to the contrary, I'm sorry if that raises a pretty big flag with me. If Darin were 100% healthy, fully capable of playing CF everyday and could produce just a bit more offensively than he has over the past few years I'd be all for the Sox throwing money at him to come off the bench. The only problem is likely none of the 3 are true as of right now and he'll likely be getting somewhere around 400 ABs next year if he's healthy (which he won't be so he'd end up around 300 ABs over 4 months time) because the Sox current manager is "not going to let a player of Darin Erstad's caliber rot on the bench" - a future quote from Ozzie after using Erstad properly for the first 3 weeks of the '07 season.

 

Agree about him and Edmonds, both. By the way, Edmonds doesn't look so good out there these days, either.

They've both broken down just Erstad a few years before Edmonds, lucky for Jim he can still hit and with a s*** load of power unlike Erstad.