How many moves wil KW make at Winter Meetings?

[yoyozuna]

With thw WMs starting on Monday and KW being known for his wheelings and dealings I was curious what people thought about the number of moves that will be done. I am going with 3. (two trades and one free agent signing).

I don't know all the deals but here are a few thoughts:

1)We will have a Coco in the OF.

 

2)We will somehow lose 3 BP arms and gain 1.

 

3)Both Crede and Fields will still be on the team.

 

4)One "Surprise move" which will result in the loss of either (Konerko,Dye, or Vasquez)

 

These are just complete gut feelings, feel free to rip my theory apart or add your own thoughts.

 

(PS HELLO to my transplanted SOX family in LEXINGTON, KY!!! HI! BEN! MATTHEW! and JOEY!! oh yeah u too DAN!)

[Chombi]

Not enough.

[elrockinMT]

I think the question is more "how many right moves will he make?"

[WilliamTell]

every move is the right move, don't you guys know anything???? haha jk

[jackie hayes]

160 moves. 1 trade, 1 signing, and 158 busted at the dance they have on the last night of the Winter Meetings.

[Chisoxfn]

3

Crede for lfer, reliever, or starter

Macdougall or Thornton for a piece

FA Signing

 

Their is a chance Crede/Reliever go together in a trade and in that case my 3rd move would be a Juan Uribe trade (although I don't think the Sox are going to be able to move him by the end of the meetings).

[maggsmaggs]

I will say 0, but KW will "start the groundwork" for the rest of the off-season.

[spiderman]

I will say 0, but KW will "start the groundwork" for the rest of the off-season.

 

I'm kind of thinking the same thing. I'd say one at the most, maybe a move for a LF.

 

[southsideirish71]

Well Kenny is still waiting for that market correction to happen. I think he does nothing. He is probably convinced that after Hunter got the money he got, and how Rowand wants a lot of mony that he is priced out of that market. He is ready to go to Owens and Ozuna as a platoon for leadoff. Uribe will be an expensive utility guy, most likely to be our starting 2nd baseman the minute Ozzie gets his hands on it in ST. Kenny will hedge his bets on the trading deadline. We will get the same speech we get every year on how flexible they can be at the trading deadline with the money they saved on not making moves in the offseason.

 

[fathom]

Well Kenny is still waiting for that market correction to happen. I think he does nothing. He is probably convinced that after Hunter got the money he got, and how Rowand wants a lot of mony that he is priced out of that market. He is ready to go to Owens and Ozuna as a platoon for leadoff. Uribe will be an expensive utility guy, most likely to be our starting 2nd baseman the minute Ozzie gets his hands on it in ST. Kenny will hedge his bets on the trading deadline. We will get the same speech we get every year on how flexible they can be at the trading deadline with the money they saved on not making moves in the offseason.

 

It just sucks that we'd be huge players for these stars on the trade market (especially Cabrera), but our minor league system just blows so much.

[GreenSox]

With thw WMs starting on Monday and KW being known for his wheelings and dealings I was curious what people thought about the number of moves that will be done. I am going with 3. (two trades and one free agent signing).

I don't know all the deals but here are a few thoughts:

1)We will have a Coco in the OF.

 

2)We will somehow lose 3 BP arms and gain 1.

 

3)Both Crede and Fields will still be on the team.

 

4)One "Surprise move" which will result in the loss of either (Konerko,Dye, or Vasquez)

 

These are just complete gut feelings, feel free to rip my theory apart or add your own thoughts.

 

(PS HELLO to my transplanted SOX family in LEXINGTON, KY!!! HI! BEN! MATTHEW! and JOEY!! oh yeah u too DAN!)

1)HOpe not; Crisp's not particularly more than average and Boston wants legitimate talent for him. That spells bad trade to me.

 

2)If we lose 3 of Aardsma, MacDougal and that ilk, that sounds like a positive situation. If we lose young strong armed pitchers like Egbert or Russell to acquire yet another veteran reliever, that is a disaster.

 

3)Could be fine for the right deal, if it's Konerko or Dye.

 

[southsideirish71]

It just sucks that we'd be huge players for these stars on the trade market (especially Cabrera), but our minor league system just blows so much.

 

 

Well the funny thing is the excuses for some of the guys we drafted. We picked up Broadway because dealer Kenny wanted someone that would be ready quickly and we could use to trade for talent. Yet its Garza who was drafted after Broadway, and he is moved for Delmon. Young would of been great in our OF. Thats the type of impact young bat we need. So not only has our minors not given us some talent outside of a guy here or there. But now the trading chips dont look like they can get us anything. Its a failure all around. Hopefully Kenny gets off his hard on for certain players or we will waste the 8th draft pick on Danks brother. What an overdraft that will be.

 

 

 

[fathom]

Well the funny thing is the excuses for some of the guys we drafted. We picked up Broadway because dealer Kenny wanted someone that would be ready quickly and we could use to trade for talent. Yet its Garza who was drafted after Broadway, and he is moved for Delmon. Young would of been great in our OF. Thats the type of impact young bat we need. So not only has our minors not given us some talent outside of a guy here or there. But now the trading chips dont look like they can get us anything. Its a failure all around. Hopefully Kenny gets off his hard on for certain players or we will waste the 8th draft pick on Danks brother. What an overdraft that will be.

 

Maybe John Danks 2nd half debacle will lessen the Sox love affair with the family.

[BearSox]

Well the funny thing is the excuses for some of the guys we drafted. We picked up Broadway because dealer Kenny wanted someone that would be ready quickly and we could use to trade for talent. Yet its Garza who was drafted after Broadway, and he is moved for Delmon. Young would of been great in our OF. Thats the type of impact young bat we need. So not only has our minors not given us some talent outside of a guy here or there. But now the trading chips dont look like they can get us anything. Its a failure all around. Hopefully Kenny gets off his hard on for certain players or we will waste the 8th draft pick on Danks brother. What an overdraft that will be.

 

Hell, if we had Garza we would keep him and he'd be our no. 3 right now.

[fathom]

Hell, if we had Garza we would keep him and he'd be our no. 3 right now.

 

And be throwing 91 mph instead of 96 mph.

[spataro51]

1)HOpe not; Crisp's not particularly more than average and Boston wants legitimate talent for him. That spells bad trade to me.

 

2)If we lose 3 of Aardsma, MacDougal and that ilk, that sounds like a positive situation. If we lose young strong armed pitchers like Egbert or Russell to acquire yet another veteran reliever, that is a disaster.

 

3)Could be fine for the right deal, if it's Konerko or Dye.

I am not for sure but i don't think we can trade dye because of the extension he signed with us so he would n't be a free agent.......doesn't he have a no trade clause? Also i think if the sox wanted to trade dye they would of did it last year.....

[BearSox]

I'm in favor of trading Dye, but it's not gonna happen. He has low trade value and if we were planning on trading him we would have just accepted Boston's offer at the deadline.

[elrockinMT]

Amazes me that we will trade our top talent and not try and resign them. But, we will consider paying top dollar for a FA or someone elses player who is eligible after the end of '08. We have a good team and only need to add one of two pieces, but don't seem to appfreciate out home grown talent. We are doing exactly the oppositge of what the Twins have done and been successful

[southsideirish71]

Amazes me that we will trade our top talent and not try and resign them. But, we will consider paying top dollar for a FA or someone elses player who is eligible after the end of '08. We have a good team and only need to add one of two pieces, but don't seem to appfreciate out home grown talent. We are doing exactly the oppositge of what the Twins have done and been successful

 

 

Well we are not a player or 2 away from anything. There are a few more holes on this team.

 

And for your boy Crede, his agent is Boras. And Boras already rejected overtures for a contract extension. He wants to go to FA.

 

 

 

[witesoxfan]

Well we are not a player or 2 away from anything.

 

You lie. They are a player or two away from last place.

[103 mph screwball]

Zero. Other clubs and free agents will try to take advantage of KW's aggressiveness and get the better of him in a deal. KW will somehow manage to hold back. Deals will come after the meetings. However, this should be fun. The Sox should be in a ton of rumors.

[Chombi]

Amazes me that we will trade our top talent and not try and resign them. But, we will consider paying top dollar for a FA or someone elses player who is eligible after the end of '08. We have a good team and only need to add one of two pieces, but don't seem to appfreciate out home grown talent. We are doing exactly the oppositge of what the Twins have done and been successful

 

Please explain how we have a good team? We have a decent team, who if they all can perform as we hope, can be .500. That logic isn't right to approach a season. This team has had 2 good halves in the last 3 years. 1st half of 05' and the first half of 06'. Not much else. maybe our barely over .500 in the 2nd half of 05'.

 

They're old, injury prone, and most of all...unreliable. Maybe you can say MB is reliable. JV isn't. One good season for a bad ballclub doesn't automatically make him a lock for repeat success. No one has a clue what Contreras will do and obviously our kids in the rotation are uncertain.

 

You can't be good with no rotation. Our bp (although I think will be better) isn't a lock for improvement. Linebrink has been pathetic his last 30+ appearances and could turn out to be exactly what teams feared, a product of Petco.

 

Offensively. Konerko should turn it around but who knows. He seems to have an off year every few. Dye WILL NOT REPEAT 05!!! So we need to stop treating him like he is that same superstar. He is an aging, injury prone OF with 30-100 numbers if he remains healthy. Thome I am uncomfortable with because of age and injury liability, but assuming he is healthy and since he is a DH, minor injuries shouldn't harm his production.

 

We have no leadoff hitter. Owens, Fields, Richar have proved little.Why we are expecting them to be good players is beyond me. We can hardly deal any of them for a bag of balls.

 

The team is just dangerously bad. There are more con's then pro's with this team. We won with our core. Had a chance in 06 and blew it. In today's game you need to flip it and start again. Time to blow it up!

 

We do appreciate our farm and thats the problem. Incase you haven't noticed. Every other team in baseball are the ones who don't appreciate it and something tells me that they may be right.

 

Unless your 1 -2 moves are acquiring a guy like Crawford/Cabrera, followed by a deal for Johan/Bedard...there isn't much that can save this team.

[CanOfCorn]

Please explain how we have a good team? We have a decent team, who if they all can perform as we hope, can be .500. That logic isn't right to approach a season. This team has had 2 good halves in the last 3 years. 1st half of 05' and the first half of 06'. Not much else. maybe our barely over .500 in the 2nd half of 05'.

 

They're old, injury prone, and most of all...unreliable. Maybe you can say MB is reliable. JV isn't. One good season for a bad ballclub doesn't automatically make him a lock for repeat success. No one has a clue what Contreras will do and obviously our kids in the rotation are uncertain.

 

You can't be good with no rotation. Our bp (although I think will be better) isn't a lock for improvement. Linebrink has been pathetic his last 30+ appearances and could turn out to be exactly what teams feared, a product of Petco.

 

Offensively. Konerko should turn it around but who knows. He seems to have an off year every few. Dye WILL NOT REPEAT 05!!! So we need to stop treating him like he is that same superstar. He is an aging, injury prone OF with 30-100 numbers if he remains healthy. Thome I am uncomfortable with because of age and injury liability, but assuming he is healthy and since he is a DH, minor injuries shouldn't harm his production.

 

We have no leadoff hitter. Owens, Fields, Richar have proved little.Why we are expecting them to be good players is beyond me. We can hardly deal any of them for a bag of balls.

 

The team is just dangerously bad. There are more con's then pro's with this team. We won with our core. Had a chance in 06 and blew it. In today's game you need to flip it and start again. Time to blow it up!

 

We do appreciate our farm and thats the problem. Incase you haven't noticed. Every other team in baseball are the ones who don't appreciate it and something tells me that they may be right.

 

Unless your 1 -2 moves are acquiring a guy like Crawford/Cabrera, followed by a deal for Johan/Bedard...there isn't much that can save this team.

 

As a loyal Sox fan, I understand the pessimism, but can you truly say that Owens, Fields and Richar have proved little? Owens improved, Richar only played 2 months at the major league level and Fields had good power and a good eye at the plate, even with a lot of Ks. I don't expect them to be perennial all-stars, but I do expect them to improve in '08. And if they don't, fine, see ya. But, one part of one year doesn't make a career.

 

This can go for Danks as well. First year in the bigs. Floyd, I agree with you. Contreras is a crapshoot. But, I think the Sox are built to win if they some of their players have career years and the rest have a league average year.

 

What I don't understand is why last year isn't considered an anomoly, but '05 was. That's what ticks me off about some people on this board. The team is bad, it's expected...but if the team is good, it's an anomoly.

 

And to answer the question posed. I say 2...1 minor, 1 major.

 

[max power]

Some of you give the impression that you think every single player on your team has to be solid to win a championship. You don't, we didn't in '05, and we won't next year. All we can hope for is a good group, some progress from the young guys and a little luck. In my opinion we need one more big bat, Fukudome or Jones, and we can compete if our young kids play well. Will we win a championship? Probably not but I would have said the same thing before the 2005 season too. Its much more about people stepping up to a role than how good your team is on paper.

Edited December 3, 2007 by max power

[Chombi]

As a loyal Sox fan, I understand the pessimism, but can you truly say that Owens, Fields and Richar have proved little? Owens improved, Richar only played 2 months at the major league level and Fields had good power and a good eye at the plate, even with a lot of Ks. I don't expect them to be perennial all-stars, but I do expect them to improve in '08. And if they don't, fine, see ya. But, one part of one year doesn't make a career.

 

This can go for Danks as well. First year in the bigs. Floyd, I agree with you. Contreras is a crapshoot. But, I think the Sox are built to win if they some of their players have career years and the rest have a league average year.

 

What I don't understand is why last year isn't considered an anomoly, but '05 was. That's what ticks me off about some people on this board. The team is bad, it's expected...but if the team is good, it's an anomoly.

 

And to answer the question posed. I say 2...1 minor, 1 major.

 

I agree with what you're saying and that one year of experience is why they have proven little to me. I think more of a sampling is needed which is why I say it's not safe to expect improvements that seriously help this team.

 

I was never one ot think 05' was a fluke or anything. I argue against it to the grave when it isn't a sox fan to sox fan conversation. When it is, I can't help but to start to believe the doubt surrounding it. Someone has to take the negative, pessimistic approach to things or else we'd be a bunch of Cub fans and refuse to point out our real weaknesses.

 

Every year guys regress or refuse to repeat that success from that season...IE Contreras, Dye, Garland, AJP, Crede even guys like Freddy or El Duque. Their age doesn't help things in some cases but even so, the last 2 years no one has really touched their 05' numbers. Maybe scratched them in certain areas but thats it. Most of our guys had career, or near career years.

 

I didn't listen then when they were pointing out that our team was really the 2nd half team we saw, not the first half. I saw the playoffs as proof that those people were wrong.

 

06' I thought was enough to prove them wrong but again, a bad 2nd half can't be ignored. Take those things into account with how poor we played all last season and you can't help but to think that if we don't improve, how can we argue that 05' wasn't a fluke.

 

That is partially why I want the team blown up or huge improvements to be made.

 

And I hate the word Fluke. That team to me, regardless of career years or whatever, was the best team assembled that season and thats that. The problem is we all keep expecting it to happen again with the team be predominately the same and it's just not going to happen.

 

You say 2 moves? Depending on how many holes are filled in each move, I'll give you that. I think we need 1-2 OF's and could use another SP/RP. So I'd say 3 moves minimum if done correctly. This team really just needs a Superstar. Be it a dominant ace or a big bat. Preferably younger so we get some youth with blue chip talent. If not, I think we are setting ourselves up for another let-down.

 

No matter how good we think this team looks on paper. We have to realize everyteam in our division thinks the same way. A division where Detroit got better, Cleveland will be better, Royals are improving, and the Twins potentially could be better/worse. I think on paper we are around .500, put it in our division and we are 10 games under.