Levine did say they're looking for LH power to balance the lineup. He was avoiding names but just had a CarGo sound to it. Maybe I'm wrong but just got that feel.

 

If they can move LaRoche maybe Alvarez?

Welp. Didn't want the player, but can't be mad at the price. We gave up nothing of significance, and no one interesting that I would have wanted to see pan out.

 

Seeing the price, I'm ok with this. Only makes us slightly better, but at least it was at no real cost at all.

This is pretty much Lawrie's last chance. He's been a huge bust for a No. 1 pick and obviously the A's think he's no good if they wanted to dump him. Hopefully he'll be humble in this, his last real chance, to make it big. His stats, in fact, were lousy with the A's.

We shall see. I am a little surprised a lot of you are happy with the trade. At least he's used to AL pitching, but I see him as a fairly lousy hitter.

 

Greg, do you even baseball, bro?

 

Welp. Didn't want the player, but can't be mad at the price. We gave up nothing of significance, and no one interesting that I would have wanted to see pan out.

 

Seeing the price, I'm ok with this. Only makes us slightly better, but at least it was at no real cost at all.

 

This, on the other hand, surprises me a great deal. And while I disagree with the latter - as was pointed out earlier, the Sox put up like a -2.2 last year while Lawrie put up 0.6, which on its own is nearly a 3 win difference, but if he gets back to being a 2 WAR player, that's 4 wins - I did not expect this high of a road from you.

 

 

 

This is pretty much Lawrie's last chance. He's been a huge bust for a No. 1 pick and obviously the A's think he's no good if they wanted to dump him. Hopefully he'll be humble in this, his last real chance, to make it big. His stats, in fact, were lousy with the A's.

We shall see. I am a little surprised a lot of you are happy with the trade. At least he's used to AL pitching, but I see him as a fairly lousy hitter.

 

with what the sox traded for lawrie, i agree they are not earth shattering superstar prospects / studs but neither is lawrie. lawrie fixes a major hole the sox have / had and with all the joy and relief of finally getting a possible 3b who can defend and put up some decent offensive numbers.

 

now, the players traded, i first question is why them, why look at them to perform in the future, the rp projects to make the jump maybe at the end of next yr or more importantly in season 2017. the sp will be 1 yr after, if all goes well. so i am looking at 2-3 yrs from now. i am confuse, instead of looking for a player / prospect who can start in the beginning of the season.

It's a minor point, but I just looked at his career stats vs. our division rivals:

 

 

Tigers .293 .341 .585

Twins .322 .333 .411

Royals .277 .324 .394

Indians .177 .257 .226

 

Just FYI

Good move. It's a gamble on Lawrie's upside, but if he rebounds it's a game-changer. We'll draft 10 more reliever prospects next June.

 

Not really a gamble for two reasons

 

1) Sox didn't give up anything of value

 

2) A bad year by Lawrie still makes the Sox better at 3B than they have been in a while

Greg, do you even baseball, bro?

 

 

 

This, on the other hand, surprises me a great deal. And while I disagree with the latter - as was pointed out earlier, the Sox put up like a -2.2 last year while Lawrie put up 0.6, which on its own is nearly a 3 win difference, but if he gets back to being a 2 WAR player, that's 4 wins - I did not expect this high of a road from you.

 

greg is pretty much the Donald Trump of Soxtalk. He probably doesn't believe 90% of what he posts.

"Yay, another .200 hitter"

 

More beautiful, accurate comments on the White Sox Facebook page!

Not really a gamble for two reasons

 

1) Sox didn't give up anything of value

 

2) A bad year by Lawrie still makes the Sox better at 3B than they have been in a while

Agree

And he didn't push anyone out.

If you move him to second, you push out a promising young young player for a mediocre veteran, which is a fools game

Less than 200 plate appearances but he was good vs LHP last year: .293 .341 .484 for an .OPS of .825. He has a wOBA of .354 and a 128 wRC+. 105 lifetime wRC+ vs LHP.

Here's what we can expect from Lawrie on the White Sox, in my opinion.

 

An OPS in the lower .700s (.725 would be my guess) with solid power and the usual disgusting on-base skills.

 

If he hits .260 with 20 homers, we can't complain. He turns 26 this year, so there's always that chance it all clicks and he becomes the player who was untouchable five seasons ago.

I hope there is no one upset about this move. There is nothing to be upset without about this move.

 

If this was the best available 3B then I agree. He is a big step up from Saladino offensively and a big step down defensively. As I posted previously, his numbers are very comparable to Avi on offense and defense and both strike out too much.

 

It's actually surprising to me how many people think Lawrie is the sole reason for brawls with the Royals. The Royals literally have that relationship with at least three teams including the Sox.

Welp. Didn't want the player, but can't be mad at the price. We gave up nothing of significance, and no one interesting that I would have wanted to see pan out.

 

Seeing the price, I'm ok with this. Only makes us slightly better, but at least it was at no real cost at all.

I wouldn't go that far. Zach Erwin had a solid year in 2015. I know, he was a bit old for the rookie league (21), but he pitched very well there and at Kanny. That's all you can ask for a guy drafted last June. He was probably ticketed for W-S in 2016, and if he did well there, he would have been on the Top 30 list.

 

I would be interested in Northsider's opinion.

If this was the best available 3B then I agree. He is a big step up from Saladino offensively and a big step down defensively. As I posted previously, his numbers are very comparable to Avi on offense and defense and both strike out too much.

 

That's not evenly remotely true

As an aside, looks like they reran his steamer projections since the trade and his SLG% went up about 30 pts. I dont think it's unfair to think he could be a 20 HR hitter this season.

As an aside, looks like they reran his steamer projections since the trade and his SLG% went up about 30 pts. I dont think it's unfair to think he could be a 20 HR hitter this season.

 

Agree.

I don't think Lawrie has come close to peaking. Let's remember that he is just 25 years old and is actually younger than Saladino despite having 4+ years MLB experience. I really think he could be able to put up close to an .800 OPS at the Cell and if his defense gets back to where it was before last year that makes a pretty valuable player. We could easily see a 4 WAR swing versus the crap we put out there last year. I would not at all be opposed to seeing if they could immediately sign him to an extension. Buy out his remaining two arbitration seasons and add two more on top of it. Maybe that's crazy to think right now, but I think the guy has an immense amount of talent.

ZIPS projection for Lawrie with the Sox: 255/310/406, 21 2B, 15 HR, 98 OPS+, 1.8 WAR in 125 G

ZIPS projection for Lawrie with the Sox: 255/310/406, 21 2B, 15 HR, 98 OPS+, 1.8 WAR in 125 G

I'd take that in a heartbeat.

Steamer projections: .256/.309/.422, 22 2B, 17 HR, 61 RBI, 98 wRC+, 1.8 WAR

If this was the best available 3B then I agree. He is a big step up from Saladino offensively and a big step down defensively. As I posted previously, his numbers are very comparable to Avi on offense and defense and both strike out too much.

Lawrie's K% is 18.6% for his career, that is below the major league average. Also, his 1.8 WAR projection would mean a 3 WAR improvement over what we got from 3B in 2015.

Oh boy.

 

Adrian Beltre, considered to be one of the best defensive third basemen of our time, sandwiched a -1.1 UZR season with 18.5 and 11.7 seasons. Guys have off years with the glove and the bat. Lawrie is a talented defender.

 

This was a good trade. Since it was with the A's, I figured they'd give up someone I hated, but this was a very good deal.

 

Which years were those?

 

Obviously everybody likes this. I do too, for a few reasons that are not original.

 

1. We didn't give up that much.

2. Even a down year from Lawrie is an upgrade for the position.

3. #grinderball

4. The Royals hate Lawrie and f*** them.