Cardinals sign AJ Pierzynski

[Thad Bosley]

and retire a sox and immediately come be a team ambassador or whatever he wants to be.

Like, maybe, Steve Stone's replacement, whose contract is up at the end of this year, if I'm not mistaken?

[Eminor3rd]

There are pros and cons to acquiring AJP, but neither of them are very extreme. If we do or don't, I won't be upset.

[caulfield12]

I thought Garcia and Eaton were the new clubhouse leaders? That's not going to be a disruption?

 

Anything's better than Flowers, but weren't we just saying there's no logical point to bringing in veterans who won't be part of our long-term plan and will keep the next Sox catcher from getting valuable experience with our staff, specifically Sale/Quintana/Rodon?

 

If they don't want Phegley to be that next guy, then they should go ahead and cut him and Flowers loose and admit defeat.

 

Will AJ want to come back for just one half season....or will he want it to be 1 1/2 seasons?

For the rest of the year, it's fine...but they would be much better off finding another (younger) catcher before Opening Day, 2015.

 

It also depends on whether they feel Kevan Smith has even a REMOTE possibility of benefitting from major league playing time this year, or whether that would be rushing him too much.

Edited July 9, 2014 by caulfield12

[harfman77]

No reason to sign him. The Sox are not winning anything this year and AJ is not going to solve anything for next season. Having AJ gets in the way when Hahn does acquire a C this summer and has to turn around and DFA him and eat whats left on his contract. If he was 10 years younger, then he would be worth a shot, but at his age and the Sox proximity to contention, he doesn't make any more sense now than he did when the Sox let him walk originally.

[caulfield12]

Are we going to bring back Buehrle, too, haha?

 

Would doing THAT move the attendance meter at all?

[Chicago White Sox]

I thought Garcia and Eaton were the new clubhouse leaders? That's not going to be a disruption?

 

Anything's better than Flowers, but weren't we just saying there's no logical point to bringing in veterans who won't be part of our long-term plan and will keep the next Sox catcher from getting valuable experience with our staff, specifically Sale/Quintana/Rodon?

 

If they don't want Phegley to be that next guy, then they should go ahead and cut him and Flowers loose and admit defeat.

 

Will AJ want to come back for just one half season....or will he want it to be 1 1/2 seasons?

For the rest of the year, it's fine...but they would be much better off finding another (younger) catcher before Opening Day, 2015.

If they bring back A.J., it's only with 2014 in mind. No way they would consider him a 2015 starting option, not unless they struck out on every other catching option on their wish list.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Like, maybe, Steve Stone's replacement, whose contract is up at the end of this year, if I'm not mistaken?

I was listening to the Score today because they were talking about an episode recently where Mark Parent was caught on camera grabbing his balls and adjusting them. Obviously I found that very interesting and at the time Stoney was on, he was being interviewed, and they were talking about what you do when its in the 90's and your balls are all sweaty and you need to adjust them. So obviously that's very important.

 

So anyway during this interview about balls and adjusting balls Stoney mentioned the Red Sox GM making players available for trades. He kind of went down the list of who will be available and when Stoney got to AJ he kind of laughed and asked "what for?" i.e. why would anyone ever want AJ Pierzynski. Now obviously that was disrespectful, and so I wonder if there is something there? I know Super Steverson i.e. ptatc doesn't like AJ, but I love him, and maybe the reason Stoney is a lil prickly around the topic is that he knows AJ has his job next? Just guessing.

 

Anyways it was just a little thing but the most important issue here is Mark Parent grabbing his balls. Thank you for reading this.

[caulfield12]

If they do this...and it's not just for publicity/attendance's sake...then they should release Phegley as well, because that would be a complete slap in the face to him.

 

If we're not trying to compete this year AND we're not trying to develop our future catcher with valuable major league experience, what's the reason for it?

[The Ultimate Champion]

If they bring back A.J., it's only with 2014 in mind. No way they would consider him a 2015 starting option, not unless they struck out on every other catching option on their wish list.

Yep.

 

This.

 

Let him end his career here if he's ready to hang it up. If not, let him work with Nieto. Phugly and Flowers should be about out of the picture as starters by now. Myabe as DA qwas saying, Flowers could be a backup, but that's not exactly what we're trying to do here. We're looking for starters & if Nieto isn't ready to learn on a daily basis then the AJ farewell tour is just fine by me.

[BlackSox13]

I was listening to the Score today because they were talking about an episode recently where Mark Parent was caught on camera grabbing his balls and adjusting them. Obviously I found that very interesting and at the time Stoney was on, he was being interviewed, and they were talking about what you do when its in the 90's and your balls are all sweaty and you need to adjust them. So obviously that's very important.

 

So anyway during this interview about balls and adjusting balls Stoney mentioned the Red Sox GM making players available for trades. He kind of went down the list of who will be available and when Stoney got to AJ he kind of laughed and asked "what for?" i.e. why would anyone ever want AJ Pierzynski. Now obviously that was disrespectful, and so I wonder if there is something there? I know Super Steverson i.e. ptatc doesn't like AJ, but I love him, and maybe the reason Stoney is a lil prickly around the topic is that he knows AJ has his job next? Just guessing.

 

Anyways it was just a little thing but the most important issue here is Mark Parent grabbing his balls. Thank you for reading this.

Maybe when Stone said " what for", he was curious what it would take to acquire AJ?

[caulfield12]

I was listening to the Score today because they were talking about an episode recently where Mark Parent was caught on camera grabbing his balls and adjusting them. Obviously I found that very interesting and at the time Stoney was on, he was being interviewed, and they were talking about what you do when its in the 90's and your balls are all sweaty and you need to adjust them. So obviously that's very important.

 

So anyway during this interview about balls and adjusting balls Stoney mentioned the Red Sox GM making players available for trades. He kind of went down the list of who will be available and when Stoney got to AJ he kind of laughed and asked "what for?" i.e. why would anyone ever want AJ Pierzynski. Now obviously that was disrespectful, and so I wonder if there is something there? I know Super Steverson i.e. ptatc doesn't like AJ, but I love him, and maybe the reason Stoney is a lil prickly around the topic is that he knows AJ has his job next? Just guessing.

 

Anyways it was just a little thing but the most important issue here is Mark Parent grabbing his balls. Thank you for reading this.

 

 

It would be just like the White Sox to get rid of one of the best in the business and bring in someone totally inexperienced because of loyalty/ties to the team...we've already seen it before with DJ and Chris Singleton.

 

While they're at it, why don't they just get rid of Ventura and give him Stone's job?

 

Heck, Steve Stone would be a MUCH better manager than Ventura IMO, if he chose to pursue it...but I'm sure he would never get along with Don Cooper, both of their egos are too huge to coexist together, like LaRussa and Harrelson.

Edited July 9, 2014 by caulfield12

[cabiness42]

Trade anybody for him and/or take on any portion of his salary beyond the league minimum? Absolutely not.

 

Sign him for league minimum after he clears waivers? No good reason not to. He can't be worse than Flowers and he'll sell some tickets.

[caulfield12]

I think it also depends on how Konerko feels about AJ.

 

It's supposed to be his farewell tour. Rock already said that's being completely ignored. This would even make it moreso, since AJ's going to get 90% of the attention from the media.

 

 

Can we bring back Michael Jordan and put him in LF if they trade Viciedo?

Edited July 9, 2014 by caulfield12

[Chicago White Sox]

If they do this...and it's not just for publicity/attendance's sake...then they should release Phegley as well, because that would be a complete slap in the face to him.

 

If we're not trying to compete this year AND we're not trying to develop our future catcher with valuable major league experience, what's the reason for it?

Phegley is not going to be our future catcher so why give him playing time? And who cares if he rots in AAA, there are plenty of AAAA caliber players in the same position. We shouldn't be making roster decisions based on what the Josh Phegley's of the world will think.

[cabiness42]

If they do this...and it's not just for publicity/attendance's sake...then they should release Phegley as well, because that would be a complete slap in the face to him.

 

If we're not trying to compete this year AND we're not trying to develop our future catcher with valuable major league experience, what's the reason for it?

 

There is no future catcher ready to get valuable major league experience. Thus, bringing back AJ at league minimum has no downside.

[The Ultimate Champion]

It would be just like the White Sox to get rid of one of the best in the business and bring in someone totally inexperienced because of loyalty/ties to the team...we've already seen it before with DJ and Chris Singleton.

 

While they're at it, why don't they just get rid of Ventura and give him Stone's job?

 

Heck, Steve Stone would be a MUCH better manager than Ventura IMO, if he chose to pursue it...but I'm sure he would never get along with Don Cooper, both of their egos are too huge to coexist together, like LaRussa and Harrelson.

AJ Pierzynski has been an extremely high quality player over the majority of his career. He has been in totality one of the best catchers of his era. His accomplishments in the game are signficant, his tenure long, his durability great, etc.

 

That said, I believe AJ has a chance to be at least as great of a color man as he has been a player. He will be our next Hawk. He knows more about this game than any player we have had in a long time. He's always been the smartest player on the field, and on top of it he's hard-nosed, ballsy, old school, and isn't afraid to be an asshole. I love it. He'll be a natural IMO.

 

Now I am a big Stoney fan too so you have to keep him but I don't know where you put him. Farmio really can't go anyway and the world would end if you even thought about taking a mic away from Darin Jackson. But you keep him and have a depth problem and figure the rest out later.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Maybe when Stone said " what for", he was curious what it would take to acquire AJ?

No, the way he said it he was implying that AJ is useless and doesn't provide anything of value to a ballclub. Now Stoney is sarcastic so I think he could have been referring to baseball-only stuff like a poor offensive year but the way he said it sounded to me to be as much an indictment of character as baseball commentary.

 

Don't forget, Stoney can be every big as big of a dick as AJ. Maybe if you had AJ, Stoney, and Farmio together as a trio they could be "The Three Dicks" or something and go on tour. They might kill each other though.

[MEANS]

please no, I have nothing against him but let's move forward not backwards. We are not contending this year, let these guys take their lumps.

[GreenSox]

There is no future catcher ready to get valuable major league experience. Thus, bringing back AJ at league minimum has no downside.

 

How do you know that. Nieto was a quality A ball catcher last year. .285/.373/.449. Heck that looks better than some Cub top 20s out of A ball. Ready? No. Future catcher? May be. Time will tell.

 

AJ is not a good player anymore and he has a grating personality - that is the downside.

 

And if they do it to sell tickets - that's no better than having a Beanie Baby Sunday.

Edited July 9, 2014 by GreenSox

[cabiness42]

How do you know that. Nieto was a quality A ball catcher last year. Ready? No. Future catcher? May be. Time will tell.

 

AJ is not a good player anymore and he has a grating personality - that is the downside.

 

And if they do it to sell tickets - that's no better than having a Beanie Baby Sunday.

 

OK, but Nieto is already on the roster and isn't ready to be the starting catcher so giving Flowers' playing time to AJ carries no risk.

[Chicago White Sox]

How do you know that. Nieto was a quality A ball catcher last year. .285/.373/.449. Heck that looks better than some Cub top 20s out of A ball. Ready? No. Future catcher? May be. Time will tell.

 

AJ is not a good player anymore and he has a grating personality - that is the downside.

 

And if they do it to sell tickets - that's no better than having a Beanie Baby Sunday.

The Sox are trying to get Nieto through the season without destroying his confidence. They know better than anyone he has no business being on a major league right now. Keep giving him his token start each week and then put him in AAA next year to finish his minor league development. There is really no good reason to give Nieto more playing time and watch him get exposed.

[Thad Bosley]

A potential argument against bringing AJ back on a deal that looked and felt like it was only good for 2014, is that it might take away a little bit from the farewell spotlight for Paulie, which will pick up more and more as we get closer to the end of the season.

[Buehrle>Wood]

A potential argument against bringing AJ back on a deal that looked and felt like it was only good for 2014, is that it might take away a little bit from the farewell spotlight for Paulie, which will pick up more and more as we get closer to the end of the season.

Have them go out together and leading the parade into the 10th anniversary next year. See no harm in that.

[Thad Bosley]

Have them go out together and leading the parade into the 10th anniversary next year. See no harm in that.

I don't think that's a bad idea at all. Just depends on whether Paulie and/or management would want Paulie to have to share the stage with AJ. But you are right - it would be a good lead into the 10th anniversary!!

[Heads22]

I just wish Tyler was playing well enough that we wouldn't have to consider it, but he's been f***ing terrible the last month.