Floyd's arm beginning to convert some believers

[NorthSideSox72]

I really don't see what the risk in swapping Floyd in for Contreras would be. Contreras has been god awful this season and I find it tough to believe Floyd would be much worse.

Ya know, I am starting to think otherwise. Contreras seems to have gotten back on track, finally, his last few starts. Looking good again tonight. If the early part of this season really was a glitch - and his odd behaviors seems to indicate such - then maybe he can be pretty good again. And the other, possibly more important point - Contreras would get very little in trade, if anything, whereas Garland will fetch much more. I am starting to think I'd rather they trade Garland than Contreras.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

September doesn't mean a thing, remember. MLB throws out all the stats for September games. The games your watching tonight, they aren't even real....

I think, given JC's previous years of true success, that even the anti-Septemberists on the board would say that it might mean something that he has settled down.

 

[DBAHO]

Ya know, I am starting to think otherwise. Contreras seems to have gotten back on track, finally, his last few starts. Looking good again tonight. If the early part of this season really was a glitch - and his odd behaviors seems to indicate such - then maybe he can be pretty good again. And the other, possibly more important point - Contreras would get very little in trade, if anything, whereas Garland will fetch much more. I am starting to think I'd rather they trade Garland than Contreras.

I'm just very wary on hanging onto Jose though.

 

I think this off-season, KW's #1 priority should be to trade Contreras for well anything, if another team will take that contract off our hands. I just think there's too many question marks in terms of his age, potential injuries, problems with delivery etc. for him to be a CONSISTENTLY good starter for us. Sure he may have a month every now and then where he is dynamite as he is tonight, but those are becoming less and less frequent.

 

But still I think if the chance is there to really trade Garland for a good package, do it. If a team doesn't you offer anything good, I'd hang onto Garland instead of Contreras. Our team will be better in the rotation, and there's always the option of dealing Garland at the next trade deadline or getting picks for him. If you free up that $10M from Contreras's deal, you can use that money to fill other holes e.g sign that Cuban guy for CF, and that top Japenese reliever for the bullpen.

[29andPoplar]

Even with the recent success of Contreras, I still believe finding a team to take on the whole contract is a steal in itself. If "Team X" offers to take on Count for single A player Z, you take the deal and run.

 

Tony, no. You do not want to sell that low. The payroll is not as critical in that respect.

 

Yes they would trade him for the right player or players but they won't give him away so to speak, nor should they.

 

They actually learned something with Contreras this year, he is a guy who will need a break or two during the year. They will need to skip a few of his starts next year. Actually if he's traded, any team will need to skip a few starts for him. He will be effective for about 25 starts. When he does poorly, it tends to snowball on him mentally and then it unravels.

 

Used properly, he can be an integral piece. And remember, pitching wins, they have to stack the deck with pitching. They will give guys more breaks (skipping starts).

[29andPoplar]

You really believe there is that much of a market for a 40+ year old coming off a terrible year? I want to believe that, but I just have a hard time seeing it. About three weeks ago I brought up that I thought Contreras and a mid level spec could land us Furcal, and I was shot down by many different members.

 

I just can't tell what the market will be for Jose, if at all.

 

The best market for Contreras is where he is right now, and the White Sox turning him around and getting him productive again. The evidence is a break did him a world of good and the Sox brass is noticing. If other GM's notice and want to give the Sox something valuable, sure, that would be great. One thing I do know, the Sox will not give him away.

[Dick Allen]

I'm a big fan of Contreras, but if I were KW, if someone would take his entire contract, I would move him. I wouldn't eat any of it, as there is a possibilty he can still be a good pitcher. I'm one of "those" who takes good results at this time of year in the Sox position with a grain of salt, but 4-2 3.56 ERA his last 7 starts probably will quiet the people who think he is done at least a little. People will then question, I know one in particular, why I would have hope with Contreras but be doubtful of Floyd when Gavin is 24 and Contreras is 57 or whatever. I have more confidence Contreras could be decent because he has done it before, and it wasn't 7 years ago like Darin Erstad.

[witesoxfan]

I'm a big fan of Contreras, but if I were KW, if someone would take his entire contract, I would move him. I wouldn't eat any of it, as there is a possibilty he can still be a good pitcher. I'm one of "those" who takes good results at this time of year in the Sox position with a grain of salt, but 4-2 3.56 ERA his last 7 starts probably will quiet the people who think he is done at least a little. People will then question, I know one in particular, why I would have hope with Contreras but be doubtful of Floyd when Gavin is 24 and Contreras is 57 or whatever. I have more confidence Contreras could be decent because he has done it before, and it wasn't 7 years ago like Darin Erstad.

 

I can understand why, and the answer is simply that Contreras has better stuff. Contreras will probably have better stuff when he's 52 (or 62, depending upon how old he actually is) then Gavin did when he was drafted. I like Gavin's arm for durability purposes (I've brought up Westbrook before and I don't think that's too far out of the realm of possibility), but I'm definitely not about to count on him to be a savior by any means, and if he's traded or let go of, I won't shed a tear.

 

I think a lot of it really depends on his velocity. How has his velocity been over the past 3-4 weeks or so? If it's even in the 90-93 region, he should be effective, and if by chance a miracle of the baseball gods occurred and it shot back up to 93-96, I'd pencil him into the 3rd slot in the rotation and forget about it until late May.

 

I'm also not about to just trade him just to get his contract off the books; odds are, you'll either have to get lucky to find a pitcher that can be as good as Contreras even at $10 mill (and I seem to recall the free agent market being pretty poor this season for starters), you'll have to make a trade for a starter, or cross your fingers and hope Haeger/Floyd/Gio/Egbert can handle his spot, so I'll take the risk/reward at $10 mill for Contreras rather than others on the market. However, if you can land a legitimate top 10 prospect for him, I would move him...I don't think that's a question at all.

 

I'm also curious if the Sox are concerned about possible lingering injuries; his sciatic injury last year was a pretty big blow for the team, because once he started going downhill, pretty much the rest of the rotation did too; that was mid-May as I recall, and shortly thereafter Vazquez and (I think) Freddy were just absolutely awful in June, Buehrle joined them in July and didn't pitch well again until this season, and Garland tanked in September. Not that I'm blaming Contreras, just saying his injury may have started a bit of a snowball effect.