GreenSox

The fact that the Sox have a good chance to have Chris Sale #2 be damned.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 06:30 PM) It doesn't matter if Reed sucks now. He had perceived value at the time, if we used that for a player who didn't pan out, it was a miss. And we just don't have the farm system to prop up misses yet. We had HUGE wins on dealing Peavy and Santiago. Massive. They more than made up for the Reed miss. If you trade for high ceiling prospects, you will have misses. The thing is, we didn't give up much to take a shot.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 06:24 PM) How many puppies did you kill when we traded Reed, Olivo and Morse for Garcia in 04? I sure didn't like it then and I wouldn't like it now. It was a bad value trade. Nevertheless, I will continue to object to bad value trades even though that one, coupled with about 8 other moves, netted a world championship.

I see that the Padres just sent Trae Turner packing in the Will Myers trade. Good news: that means we can trade Rodon for the proven veteran of your choice.

I have absolute confidence that they can handle the position defensively. I have absolute confidence that any of them are as good as Cabrera or Beckham. Johnson has good upside. He could easily be at least a Dee Gordon type. and we'd have had to trade a heck of a lot more than him to get a Dee Gordon.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) Since joining the White Sox he has hit .273/.316/.429 .745 OPS, 12 HR in 358 PAs. It is not crazy to think he can better that by getting consistent playing time next year. It would be weird if he did his best work in a September callup, 8 games in April, and 40 games after screwing and rehabbing his shoulder. He has already hit pretty much league average for a corner outfielder. The hope is that he can improve on his Viciedoian defense, and with his speed and athleticism there's reason to think he can. Exactly. He's had 3 basically 6 week stints with the Sox. And through it all, he's league average. It's hard to believe that that's his ceiling. Yes, it may take a while. That's why this "all in" idea for this season never made any sense. YOu need young players, they take time and you can't plug what was a 63 win roster (which was even worse considering that that 63 win roster had an ace starter). I also don't understand the woe over the trades. yes, Davidson looks bad, but we have traded a replaceable relief pitcher for him. We traded another young pitcher for a starting YOUNG CF. WE cashed in Peavy for A Garcia (who is at worst average) plus top 100 Montas, plus slick fielding Rondon (who we'll need in 2 years or may be able to trade for a different young player). Far prefer these trades for YOUNG players than the trades for the "proven veterans" like Swisher, Vasquez, Edwin Jackson and Teahan. On a side note - I see the Dodgers are peddling Brandon League. Well, they waived Javy Guerra last year to retain that proven pitcher League. How did that work out? Great for us, as Guerra is the better pitcher now as he was then.

Where we need to bring in a bench player is for the outfield. We have nothing in AAA to help. We have 3 guys ready to go for the infield. Let them fight it out. Why bring in someone we know is terrible like Beckham or Cabrera?

No We have 3 guys fighting it out for 2nd. At least one will be able to handle the position defensively, and all 3 have more upside than Cabrera. Below average veterans are no cinch not to further decline either.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:42 PM) Wouldn't be surprised to see Ben Brewster continue to quickly move through the minors so there'a another name to throw out there. What makes you think so?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 17, 2014 -> 05:37 AM) I know you have been on a "keep and develop the kids" crusade all offseason, but if Evan Longoria is possible (not saying he is, just supposing) than you do this every time and don't look back. That being said, I don't think this will happen That's because the only way you have a chance to win by not using young players is to have a Yankees type budget. The best chance is to be like the Cardinals. Yankees-lite has little chance. You don't encumber yourself to $120 million until they are 37 after you've basically spent your budget. The Blue Jays traded their best young players 2 years ago and it got them nowhere. their only savior is that their farm continued to churn out more talent. And they still haven't done much. I will also ask is it mere coincidence that he's on the block the year after he sported a .724 OPS?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 16, 2014 -> 10:55 PM) Exactly. Since Rodon can't be traded, Thank goodness for that. We still wouldn't be the favorites even with him. Keep the young talent.

Not happening. Look, the Sox are going to have to use their young players in spots. All good teams do. It's up to the Sox to develop some. That's how we got Eaton - developed a young pitcher and traded him. It will start with 2B. You just can't force everything. The other issue is what if this team doesn't click. What if unforseen weaknesses develop. Have to leave yourself some room.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 16, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) Please tell me what information was available that suggested Leury Garcia should ever bat leadoff? He posted a -81 wRC+ over 10 games in that spot last year, there's really no excuse for the decision. It's indefensible. The manager's job is to manage the talent he has as best can. There were numerous better choices. The process matters...clown managing exacerbates personnel weaknesses.

Love those 4 hour games.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 16, 2014 -> 06:43 AM) That was a quote out of frustration when his bullpen was blowing games. He will not be able to do that with a successful bullpen. The roles need to be defined in some manner. Defined in a very broad manner. This business of "X has the 7th", "Y has the 8th" is silly stuff. It only makes sense when you have a sizable lead in a game. Their role is to get outs. Use the best pitchers when there are men on base. I thought he handled the pen fine, running out of pitchers in that game notwithstanding. He tended to leave in starters too long - the good ones were overpitched (although Ventura quit using them 110+ pitches after he put Sale on the DL) as were the bad ones (presumably because the bullpen was weak - hopefully he'll yank Danks this year before he pitches us out of games). His personality is fine, as long as the players are motivated, which these players should be.

No. And no. The pages have turned

When Asked about "roles" last year, Ventura astutely said that their role is to get outs. I hope he maintains that philosophy. He still needs work on those bunting in front of Abreu and pulling Abreu for pinch runners thingies he does .

There's a 90% chance that the Samardizja trade will be a net loss from a personnel standpoint. Rents usually are. You benefit now but pay more later. That's why I don't like them. Still this one went about as well as they can. Sox might reap indirect benefits such as more ticket sales, more interest and an ability to get preference in trying to sign him. Semien was no cinch to excel at 2B himself. We have 3 candidates. Hopefully one will do adequately and they should be able to handle the position defensively. Teams do need young players. We got our Scherzer: Samardiza and then Rodon. Maybe they'll sign Samardizja and we'll get both. Scherzer wouldn't give near as much marginal value to this team as even Melky will. Right now you can make an argument for a cheap starter and cheap 4th OF. Giving prospects for upgrades at C (and it's dubious whether the names thrown about are upgrades anyway) and 3B isn't worth it. Those positions are average right now. Could improve.

As an aside,let me say that competitive balance picks are so bogus.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 03:46 PM) IF Hahn can trade Danks and get a prospect or two for him, while offsetting the cost of what Melky costs (after trading Viciedo, which accounts for around $4M), would you do it and "risk" Rodon as the 5th starter this year? No But it's not because I am fearful of what it would do to our team this year...my timeframe actually goes beyond 2015. It's because pitching Rodon before he is ready wastes his service time and is a poor use of an asset.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 09:30 AM) You'd probably have a majority willing to give up Anderson, Montas and Hawkins for Josh Donaldson at this point. Seems like the plan of action from the beginning was to pull all his moves off without losing any key future pieces. Still a bit in disbelief. Not a huge Cabrera fan but it's almost impossible not to feel positive about the overall direction of the franchise compared to a year ago. Robin Ventura. Your turn. LOL Sox fill major holes with above average players by giving up ZERO top prospects (and very few prospects at all), and now we want to pay Tor 3x what they paid in order to shore up a weakness? Yikes Castro was dreadful at the plate last year. That's the thing. This is not an all or nothing set-up we have for 2015. No top pitching prospects for Nick Swisher or Edwin Jackson involved. Farm retained. Room for growth. Even the Melky deal is only 3 years. Everything's good. Let's keep it that way.

Prob end up just cutting him and saving 3 mill

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) We just traded for a guy on a 1 year deal likely to sign a 9 figure deal next offseason that we may not want to pay. We better be caring 100% about the White Sox making the playoffs this year. Make the playoffs this year and then pick up the pieces next offseason. We already made that call. We can think long term as a secondary priority, but we absolutely have to win 88 games this year. Sox put themselves in a position to be competitive. That's all. They didn't mortgage the future, nor should we, and I certainly hope we don't. There's no reason to. You can't snap your fingers on a 73 win team, make a bunch of moves and say "We're winning the world series this year." At least not this 73 win team which was a legitimate 73 win team or thereabouts (maybe could have won 78 had without the short term injuries that it had). It's not like anyone had an inexplicable off year who is likely to bounce back. Sure they signed a 1 year player; I wouldn't have done it, but they also didn't give up any key pieces for today or tomorrow to do so. And if this team really did go all in for 1 year, that's exactly what it would be...it would be back to sub 80 wins in 2016.

Melky Cabrera is not a marque left fielder. He's just the best of a bad FA lot. No way should the Sox tie up 3 or 4 years at big money for this guy. it will interfere with their ability to make future moves. Nor should they trade top prospects for a year of Upton or whomever. They have done a great job rebuilding while also not only protecting the farm, but improving it. Keep at it. they can get a stopgap by basically paying 1 year of someone's inflated salary.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 07:36 PM) If Connor is on auto-launch out of ST again this won't bother us much. I'm looking for an even better Gillaspie this year. He's obviously by no means done getting better. I mean that's clear as day right? The issue with him is the D. that doesn't have the ability to get better as easily as O does. But, yea, I like him and agree he can improve particularly offensively. He kind of was in a weird position in San Fran, being on the 40 man since his signing (in his contract). He quickly ran out of options, and they had no room for him because of Sandoval, so they sold low, to the Sox benefit.