Great call Dick Allen. I, like fathom, was surprised he was only 28. Hopefully he has a one year show it year like A.J. In 05.

 

Yeah he's younger than Flowers.

.216 average over the last 3 years, but he's been injured

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 10m10 minutes ago

Look beyond Alex Avila's stats. He's more than that. It's a crafty David Ross-type signing. Hahn calls him a "well-respected leader."

Cross Derek Norris off my wish list

A platoon of 2 pretty useless catchers. That's different.

Honestly, after Wieters took the QO, your FA catching market was Chris Iannetta, Geovany Soto, Dioner Navarro, Bryan Pena and Alex Avila

https://twitter.com/WriteSox/status/669557890898919426

 

I wonder with the 1 year deal if they will try for wieters next year

Alex Avila fun fact: He was teammates with #WhiteSox David Robertson in college at Alabama in 2006. https://t.co/GTkDvhar07

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/669558072055103488

He's a long way from 2011 when he had a really good year. That's more than Flowers ever did. He's a K machine but he also walks a lot . Pretty sad how you can have one great year then never be able to duplicate it.

Hard not to like this. He's been hurt, which has kept his price down, but if he can get healthy there's some real upside. Left-handedness hopefully relegates Flowers to Sale + vs. LHP duties, limiting his ABs nicely. A $2.5m gamble when there really wasn't much else available, and what was would cost a ton of talent.

A platoon of 2 pretty useless catchers. That's different.

 

If platooned properly, I think the combo of Flowers and Avila has a shot of putting up a 2.5 to 3.0 fWAR. For a combined $6.5 or so that's not too bad.

 

Flowers has .751 and .732 OPS against LHP the last two years and Avila had a .720 and .767 OPS against RHP in 2014 and 2013 (I'm discounting his 2015 due to injuries but for the record he was .666 in 2015). Avila is a good defensive catcher and Flowers is solid. I would definitely take solid defense and a low .700s OPS from our catchers. I am actually okay with our catching situation now and think it's time to move on to much more pressing needs.

I have no issue with this move. Think its more likely he outperforms Soto next year.

It ultimately comes down to whether or not everyone thinks if Avila is an upgrade over Soto.

 

I think that he is, so I like this move.

Gross, but at $2.5M, no biggie.

 

Just hate that this likely takes them out of bigger acquisition at C.

 

Never say never!

 

November 20, 1980...Jim Essian signed as a free agent. Four years, $1 million (significant for the day)

February 12, 1981...Marc "Booter" Hill as a free agent. ($200,000 in '85...can't find '81 salary)

March 18, 1981...Carlton Fisk signed as a free agent. Five years, $2.9 million

 

Well his away splits are terrible

No trade assets and a very small amount of financial assets to create a catching platoon that should, at worst, be league average and should be slightly above it. Now use the bigger assets to fry the bigger fish.

I hope he's healthy.

If platooned properly, I think the combo of Flowers and Avila has a shot of putting up a 2.5 to 3.0 fWAR. For a combined $6.5 or so that's not too bad.

 

Flowers has .751 and .732 OPS against LHP the last two years and Avila had a .720 and .767 OPS against RHP in 2014 and 2013 (I'm discounting his 2015 due to injuries but for the record he was .666 in 2015). Avila is a good defensive catcher and Flowers is solid. I would definitely take solid defense and a low .700s OPS from our catchers. I am actually okay with our catching situation now and think it's time to move on to much more pressing needs.

I just don't think tyler flowers is a solid defensive catcher. I think this "framing" stat is way overblown and falsely assumes some sort of presaging of an umpire's call. But that aside, he's not good at balls in the dirt. At all. His lateral movement is terrible and you can bet that if there's a runner on 3rd against the Sox the batter can pretty confidently be sitting fastball with Flowers behind the plate. But if we're just talking Avila vs Soto, then it's really just a wash. Alex hasn't been the same since he started battling concussion symptoms and I'll assume he's going to be banged up by the time he leaves Glendale.

In the current market, this was the best possible move at C. Good platoon partner for Flowers.

 

Need to save money and tradeable resources to address the bigger problems - 3B, SS, RF, maybe 2B

 

Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 10m10 minutes ago

Look beyond Alex Avila's stats. He's more than that. It's a crafty David Ross-type signing. Hahn calls him a "well-respected leader."

There was nothing crafty about signing David Ross.

Can't wait for Hawk every game to talk about how beat up Avila gets behind the plate.

 

Only 86 times you have to hear it

There was nothing crafty about signing David Ross.

 

yea, that cost them a good young catcher in Wellington Castillo

Good signing if he's healthy--good leadership skills...he's a pro. And yes, if he wants to keep wearing 13, they should let him.

Unfortunately I think they got worse at this position. Here's the thing. Who gives a s*** if he's a pro? He couldnt hit away from Detriot last year especially at the Cell.

Unfortunately I think they got worse at this position. Here's the thing. Who gives a s*** if he's a pro? He couldnt hit away from Detriot last year especially at the Cell.

 

He's a part time catcher. It's not a bad signing or something to have a strong opinion on.

 

This place is a f***ing joke anymore.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Edited November 25, 201510 yr by flavum

He's a part time catcher. It's not a bad signing or something to have a strong opinion on.

 

This place is a f***ing joke anymore.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I think most everyone is on board to the Avila move. Hard not to be at the cost.