This. Perfect move for this team. Something big is on the way, I can feel it in my plums.

 

I want the sox to get Scherzer so bad but yeah.....reinsdorf.

This. Perfect move for this team. Something big is on the way, I can feel it in my plums.

 

I definitely agree. Its either gonna be a Melky Cabrera signing or this Bruce trade.

Hmmm...not my favorite signing ever, but shouldn't hurt us.

Exactly how I feel about it.

Laroche is clearly a "good" left handed bat, saying otherwise is just silly. We needed a middle of the order hitter that could hit righties and that's exactly what Laroche does. So we got a middle of the order bat that can mash righties with out sinking too much money into said hole, how perfect.

 

And we still have a lot of money to play with, Rick knows what he's doing.

2.2 bWAR and .5 fWAR -- almost all due to variations on his defensive value. Hopefully they've done their scouting on his defense, although judging from how often they trotted Konerko out there at the end they don't really give that much of a f*** about 1B defense.

 

Really hope more dominoes are going to fall.

One thing interesting is that he had 84 walks against only 108 Ks last year. That...is pretty damn good. Maybe they think his late career surge is real.

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by chitownsportsfan

just checked. Struck out 108 times last year. Still quite a bit but its a heck of a lot better than out other Left handed Adam bat. Walked 82 times as well

2.2 bWAR and .5 fWAR -- almost all due to variations on his defensive value. Hopefully they've done their scouting on his defense, although judging from how often they trotted Konerko out there at the end they don't really give that much of a f*** about 1B defense.

 

Really hope more dominoes are going to fall.

 

I'm pretty sure everyone on this board can assure you that this will not be the only move this off season...

One thing interesting is that he had 84 walks against only 108 Ks last year. That...is pretty damn good. Maybe they think his late career surge is real.

sorry missed your post before I entered mine. Didn't mean to be Pete and Re Pete

He's not a plus defender in 2015. At best he'd be run neutral at 1B. Yay.

Right.

sorry missed your post before I entered mine. Didn't mean to be Pete and Re Pete

 

It's a very interesting talking point no doubt. I mean, usually you don't see a "light go on" at age 34 in MLB. That ratio is downright Frank Thomas esque. If he really has learned to command the strike zone that well maybe he can reproduce his 2014 with the bat for Chicago.

 

Moving to the AL doesn't help though.

2.2 bWAR and .5 fWAR -- almost all due to variations on his defensive value. Hopefully they've done their scouting on his defense, although judging from how often they trotted Konerko out there at the end they don't really give that much of a f*** about 1B defense.

 

Really hope more dominoes are going to fall.

They didn't sign LaRoche for his defense, Abreu is still going to get the vast majority of starts at 1B.

 

The key is making sure Robin actually platoons him, as LaRoche is a negative player against LHP.

But LaRoche doesn't prevent us building for the future. He costs us nothing but money and is blocking no one of importance (sorry Andy Wilkins).

 

Also, I think Hahn believes a lot of key pieces are already in place. We have legit #1 & #2 starters, one of the best hitters in baseball, and a very good leadoff guy. We are obviously not a finished product by any means, but if Hahn can fill our major holes with capable veterans and a few of our young, non-proven players like Avi, Semien, Rodon, etc. take that next step, we have a decent chance of being a playoff team. Burning cost-controlled years of Sale, Quintana, Abreu, & Eaton by refusing to sign/trade for veterans is by far the worst thing we can do IMO.

 

Like I said, not a huge deal. I'm not worrying about it...

 

We'll agree to disagree on a lot of that though, except I'm in complete agreement that we have a great nucleus to build around. In my opinion we are like 3/4 of the way through the rebuild and there's no point in not finishing it. I'd much rather wait it out and build something potentially great than add veterans for a wild card run and cross our fingers from there. If it were up to me this would have been another off season of trying to add as much young talent as possible. But we'll see what happens....its early still and anything can happen.

I am absolutely fine with this. I wonder if Tank ends up being the RHB of the platoon ( cringe ). I hope the Sox can sign Melky as well.

 

Anyway, I like the signing and the beard!

 

Sox sign Duke, claim Onelki Garcia ( yup, another Garcia!) and sign LaRoche. Been a good week in my opinion.

 

Good job Mr.Hahn.

 

Edit: just adding, FU Marlins! Haha.

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by StRoostifer

I'm totally ok with this and content.

This is an interesting and possibly a bigger signing than most (including myself) are willing to give it credit for at the moment.

 

He and Abreu have about the same glove out at 1st and LaRoche should provide Jose with better protection that he saw last year.

 

He's also not going to strike out as much as Dunn did and will take his average of 26 homeruns over the last 3 years and bring it to a "hitter's park".

 

This tweet says a lot, IMO:

 

@LarryVonKurtze

"LRT: LaRoche has 79 HR and an 118 OPS+ over the past 3 years. Only 11 guys can say that. It's an impressive list. http://t.co/iyjiG313yn "

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by SoCalSox

IMO you keep Alexei now.

 

I think we were always keeping Alexei.

that tweet is hilarious. Yea, it's an impressive list...of guys...that met an arbitrary cutoff.

 

Players credited with more than 3 fWAR over the past two seasons:

 

not Adam LaRoche.

We got our Dunn back!

 

Heck, I like this. They want to be competitive. Beats a trade.

And we needed someone to spell Abreu at first as well. Those heels got chippy.

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by GreenSox

Like I said, not a huge deal. I'm not worrying about it...

 

We'll agree to disagree on a lot of that though, except I'm in complete agreement that we have a great nucleus to build around. In my opinion we are like 3/4 of the way through the rebuild and there's no point in not finishing it. I'd much rather wait it out and build something potentially great than add veterans for a wild card run and cross our fingers from there. If it were up to me this would have been another off season of trying to add as much young talent as possible. But we'll see what happens....its early still and anything can happen.

But we really don't have many veteran trade chips that can get us good, young talent. Alexei is really the only guy that fits the bill.

that tweet is hilarious. Yea, it's an impressive list...of guys...that met an arbitrary cutoff.

 

Players credited with more than 3 fWAR over the past two seasons:

 

not Adam LaRoche.

He's going to be our DH, so who gives a s*** about his fWAR? If he can maintain his wRC+ against RHP then he'll be plenty valuable.

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by Chicago White Sox

He's going to be our DH, so who gives a s*** about his fWAR? If he can maintain his wRC+ against RHP then he'll be plenty valuable.

 

Let's hope he can because as a regular, that's the only above average skill he has.

Kemp, Bruce and Me.Cabrera are all unrealistic at this point.

 

 

 

 

We got our Dunn back!

 

Heck, I like this. They want to be competitive. Beats a trade.

And we needed someone to spell Abreu at first as well. Those heels got chippy.

Rather have seen the 4 rotating OF's to give Eaton more rest and keep Avi out of the OF more often but as long as he doesn't turn into Dunn 2.0 I'm good with them filling another need. I said earlier that I didn't trust Ventuna to sit LaRoche against LH pitching but he'll pretty much have to considering his age and badness against lefties.

 

BTW La Roche means " the rock " in french .

 

Bienvenue LaRoche

Edited November 22, 201411 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Kemp, Bruce and Me.Cabrera are all unrealistic at this point.

 

What makes you say that?