GreenSox

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 08:39 PM) We have a DH option worthy of starting 130 games right now? Who? Lind can't be a full time DH because he's a platoon hitter. So with him, we'd have a partial DH. Yea, Roost, that's a big improvement offensively and defensively at a reasonable cost. Gillaspie could play some first, OF?, DH. Maybe another guy from the right side of some sort.

He's a platoon hitter at a position at which the Sox have a 130 game starter. Not a great fit. Interesting scenario, Roost. I like the idea of Headley. As for Crawford, I would have thought he was north of 35, but he's only 32.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 05:14 PM) We don't need an upgrade at 1st. We need an upgrade at DH with a guy who can play 1st 10-15 times a year maybe.. And I think Gillaspie can play 1st But we do need an upgrade at LF; and at 3B (at least defensively and really offensively too). We could get a couple of OF and have them rotate through DH. Who knows.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 05:23 PM) Montas & Sanchez would be a huge discount. The guy would have cost us three of our top five prospects prior to last season. He wasn't worth that last year - for us (high K, mediocre OBP); and he's not the 1 top 5 and 1 2nd 10 this year. Old habits die hard.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 04:28 PM) There have been several reports that the Blue Jays want to keep Melky Cabrera but they are close to tapped out on salary with the big deals they have & couldn't make anything long term for Cabreroid work unless they cleared some money. Makes sense. That would explain things.

If the Sox wanted him, it really wouldn't have been hard to exceed what the Brewers offered. The Jays with moving Lind, rumors of MB on the block, counting on Smoak yet still wanting to bring him to arbitration - they may be going on the cheap again. Lind was purely a platoon hitter last year. That may be a reason Sox might not have been interested.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 12:37 PM) If you had to bet everything you had on 2 deals the Sox would make this season, 1 being a player they sign, 1 being a player they acquire through trade, what would those 2 moves be? Not the deal you want the most (signing Shields maybe?), but the 2 moves you see the most likely to happen. -- Sign Brandon McCarthy. (3 yrs/$39M) Need some depth after Sale, Quintana, and Rodon, and McCarthy was drafted and came up w/ the Sox, maybe he'd like to come home. He'd be a nice #3-#4 starter. -- Trade for Jay Bruce (Carlos Sanchez and Frank Montas) He will be a nearly-28-year-old lefty OF coming off his worst season of his career. I'm hoping that given the Reds slew of OF top prospects, they may be fine dealing Bruce. Bruce is a .250+, 30 HR bat who has actually been a very good defensive RF over his career. He is also signed at a decent contract if you assume he can bounceback from his 2014 season. He is set to make $12M in 2015, $12.5M in 2016, and has a $13M team option for 2017. He has easily been worth those figures in every other season in his career. He is a player I think the Sox could really use. We could also use young righthanded pitchers who throw 100. Bruce's season wasn't simply his worst - it was a horrible season by any measure. His acquisition should be at a deep discount.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 03:51 PM) Me too. I guess the good thing about Estrada is he's cheap. Trying to figure out who the comparable Sox player would be, and I suppose Noesi. They had similar numbers last year, though Estrada has more of a track record. Interesting that Toronto wants to bring to the Rogers Centre the guy who lead the league in giving up homers. Plus, Estrada's a rent himself I think. Looks like a giveaway job to me. Toronto just made sure to get him out of the AL

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) If the chips fall as MLB Trade Rumors projects - the 2015 White Sox will feature Victor Martinez at DH, Colby Rasmus in LF, and Luke Gregerson as an anchor to the pen. The Cubs would be adding Lester, Masterson, Russell Martin, David Robertson, and Jake Peavy. Um... yea. I'll take it!

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) Alex Rios is now represented by Scott Boras. lol LOL indeed Play hardball - for the services of Rios.

Excluding his dismal postseason(s), Shields is still not an "ace" and has had only 1 season where he pitched like one (and that was only sort-of). He tops out as a 2. Sure some teams will/have used him as an ace, but that's not what he his. Yes, with the Sox, he would fit nicely as a #3. But he wants #1 money and while I don't think he'll get it, he'll get solid #2 money (15-20 mill per). We can probably get the same with McCarthy at 60% of the price, although without the durability. On the other hand, Shields is 32 and that wear from heavy use may be showing. Signing pitchers is always risky - who knows?

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Nov 1, 2014 -> 08:00 AM) To his credit, Ozzie was on the Marlins coaching staff in 2003 during their championship run. I don't think experience is necessary, but it definitely can't hurt. He had 2 or 3 years of coaching before he became manager, and the coaching started right after his playing career, so he was in the game. Ozzie knew what he was doing - didn't agree with some of his philosophy and he was the worst I've ever seen at evaluating talent - but he knew what he was doing as manager.

QUOTE (palehose23 @ Oct 31, 2014 -> 08:56 PM) Sign 1. Brandon McCarthy 3yrs 38 mil 2. Andrew Miller 3 yrs 26 mil 3. Luke Gregerson 2 yrs 12 mil 4. One of these 2 (preference in order) Nick Markakis 3 yrs 33 mil Melky Cabrera 3 yrs 47 mil (Move Avisail to LF left if you acquire Markakis) 5. Justin Masterson 1 yr 8 mil teh problem here is that if you sit back and look at it , the Sox have spent $141 million on 2 bullpen pitchers, a #3, starter, a #4 starter (a #12 starter if he repeats 2014) and one outfielder. A lot of money for a lot of decent talent. Factor out last year, Miller is indistinguishable from the Sox bullpen pitchers last year. I know we'll have to sign one of these relief pitchers but I wouldn't go overboard. It's reasonable to expect some internal improvement from these guys and the Sox farm actually has some real prospect arms. McCarthy is an injury machine - I like him (I liked him a lot when he pitched for us) and he would be a good fit for this rotation IF we can get 200 innings out of him, which has happened exactly once in his 10 year career (last year).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) He's got a plus fastball and a slider that is looking quite good. The issue is, he's really a two-pitch pitcher, at least right now. That could change of course and I'm sure he's working on that, but right now he profiles as a reliever for me. I guess this is partly a question of timing. Do you want to... A. Make him a reliever, and in that case IMO, he's MLB-ready today or B. Keep him in AA/AAA to refine secondary stuff and see if he can make another pitch or two at least playable or MLB average (knowing that may or may not happen, but the value then goes up) I don't have the answer, though I'd lean towards A myself. If his ceiling IF he develops that third pitch is MLB average, I'd go with A. MLB average I consider a 4 or 5. If he can be a 3, I'd give him another year in AAA.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 30, 2014 -> 07:34 PM) as green sox mention, I really think the closer may be in-house already with Sanburn and sharing with the other 2 pitchers, Petricka and PUtnam . I wouldn't be oppose for the sox to pick up a real closer to work with the 3 rp pitchers that I mentioned. My objection to the "real closers" is that they are a)usually overpaid and b)often aren't the best relief pitcher on their team (teams use their best relief pitchers to get out of jams). Weren't there 2 closers on the market last year both of whom were just awful this year? I think we will get an experienced reliever- maybe 2 - more of the setup variety. Of course I think Danks should get a look in the pen, although Coop thinks he can still be that control type starter.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Oct 30, 2014 -> 05:39 PM) Could be interesting, but O's declined option on Nick Markakis It wouldn't surprise me if we go after him. don't lose a draft choice either, right?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 30, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) This is a big key why. The point isn't that you just stick with the same crappy relievers and expect it to suddenly transform over (as the saying goes, you can't turn chicken s*** into chicken salad). You go out and you get better pitchers, but just be cautious in how you do it. If you're going to spend a lot on a reliever (or relievers), you have to somehow, someway be confident that they are going to be effective for the entirety of that contract. Otherwise, it's best to keep going out and grabbing talented arms and a lot of times just hoping for the best. Career relief pitchers are generally inconsistent. The best thing is to develop your own, and even use future starters as relievers for a year or 2. For sure, going out and buying that "proven closer" is a game for fools. Sox will probably have to buy 1 reliever this year, probably from the left side, and pray. But Petricka and PUtnam were virtual rookies, Guerra's a good reliver. Carroll could so well. Webb wasn't very effective, but he was a rookie as well. Bassitt might do relief work this year as well. That guy we got for Dunn might make a run for a spot in teh pen too.

Maddon handles young players well. But he has a tough road. Cubs prospects are always over-hyped (along with Red Sox prospects). Their Major League team has flaws. Will be interesting to see what they can do.

Sox 3-1 against Giants this year. Robin owns Bochy.

Royals have pitching depth. They don't need to sign Shields, who would be down in the rotation anyway. If anything, the series reduced pressure to sign him, due to his dismal performance therein.

Danish, Montas, and Basset all looking great. Let's trade em for veterans. Oh yea, I forgot Rodon. Last year at this time we had only Johnson on the radar and he's off. The building is working. Don't stop it.

A ring for Dan Uggla Life is good.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 06:21 PM) I wouldn't be a fan of it, but considering they gave up a top 5 prospect to get him last year, it would make sense for them to try and replenish the SS depth in their system. If the Sox did a trade like this, I think they would extend Samardzija right away. Lord no. What is with the love of top prospect for rents, extend them or not. The As made a stupid trade for Shark. Jackson, Vasquez, Peavy (best of the bunch, but a high opportunity cost), Ritchie - yikes. Don't repeat those mistakes Assuming Rodon makes it as a very good starter, the Sox will have 3 of them... that's sufficient, if they have 2 capable pitchers at 4 and 5. They need help in the OF, DH, and 3B and probably should chase 1 bullpen pitcher (although I hate doing that). Trade young talent for young talent, like the Sox did last year. No declining veterans.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Oct 28, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) Let say Toronto throws is 4M and knocks Buehrle's 2015 salary down to 15M which I believe he is worth. What can Toronto expect in return from the Sox? Not much. He's not the pitcher we need. Screw this sentimentality stuff. It's already smothering the Sox in the dugout.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 02:29 PM) 3. You can make an argument that the Royals rotation is no better than ours, and if you assume that Shields is gone, worse than ours. The defense and bullpen are unquestionably better, but alone, that doesn't create some monolith at the top of the division for the next few years. Except that it looks like Ventura is better than Shields. Shields is not a #1 anyway, and had a lousy post-season. All in all, develop your own pitching, which we may be well on the way to doing (unless some of the suggestions hereon to trade it for veterans happen). But yea, they are no dynasty. Quite frankly, neither was Detroit. They were just the only 90 win quality team in the division for several years. We haven't had one of those in nearly a decade ourselves. Plug holes with even a few average players* and we have a shot next year. there are just a lot of holes that need plugging. *of course, absolutely do NOT trade prospects for average players. There's no evidence that the Sox are trying to win at 75 Mill. They'll spend in the low 100s. But there has to be someone on which to spend money. Spending money just to spend it is nuts.