GreenSox

Another problem is the change in organizational philosophy which has been implemented to a much greater extent now than it was 2 years ago. What is the genesis of the orgranizational philosophy of a)speed of fastball being the top credential for a pitcher and b)free swingers greatly preferred over hitters with plate discipline. I think that's all Ozzie and Kenny is getting players that Ozzie likes. Williams hasn't done the best job the last 2 years filling holes; BUT the "Swing at everything" offensive philosophy and judging pitchers on fastball speed (which is why I doubt they re-sign MB) is also fault.

Any trade that includes Winn, Vizquel, Durham, Russ Ortiz or any other AARP member would be, well, bad.

Absolutely not - Abreu blows and he's always worse than his numbers. We need better rumors! Abreu, some old man from the Giants like Winn or Visquel....we need young talent.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ May 30, 2007 -> 04:54 PM) CF is a HUGE improvement from last year. He is actually one of the best hitters on our team this year. That is not saying much, but it's true. It certainly is not a defensive improvement. And it looks like more of an offensive improvement than it really is because everyone else is hitting so miserably. So we take Erstad and his zero power and .310 OBP, instead of taking a risk on a young player. That's a poor decision, imo, because Erstad is so mediocre that is easily worth the risk to play a young player. As it is, Anderson improved in 2006, outplayed Erstad in the spring - but he isn't an ozzie-style player that hacks away at every pitch. And it doesn't even have to be Anderson - play Sweeney, play Fields, play Owens...someone with potential. It sure beats the guaranteed mediocrity of erstad.

Keep in mind that this is the BP who has the Cubs ranked #4 in their power ratings dated 5/11/07.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ May 8, 2007 -> 10:46 PM) Great at identifying undervalued major league players....horrible at finding AA and AAA talent, with the one exception being the slight chance he took on Bobby Jenks and picking up Jerry Owens from the Nationals for Alex Escobar. If you look at 2002, you remember names like Barry/Berry, Felix Diaz, Jon Adkins, Onan Masaoka, Gary Majewski, the immortal Byeon Hak-An and Frank Francisco. The two "stars" were Diaz and Adkins, and they disappointed mightily. Francisco and Majewski would have been nice bullpen pieces had we kept them. In fact, we might have won in 2003 if Francisco was the closer for the entire season, instead of Koch. But he wasn't quite ready then, nor had he thrown any chairs or suffered a major injury. The most talented AA/AAA players he's given up would have been "bullpen pieces" - that's pretty good. Dont' forget how Kenny GOT Francisco in the first place....and Cotts....and Danks..... (the exception likely will be Chris Young). We've got some AAA/AA pitchers...we need to package them for AAA/AA hitters The Sox aren't selling off. Our pitching is too good for us NOT to be in the race..

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 7, 2007 -> 03:11 PM) The success of the A's for many years has been based on maximizing the performance they get out of guys, and then trading them to teams who will overpay for them, only to see the guy they got regress to the means (SEE: Mulder for Calero and Haren for example). In fact, they do it well in cases like Frank Thomas, Chad Bradford, etc as well in cases without trades. That is the true essence of moneyball, far more than on base percentage (although that is important too). It's like constantly trading down in the draft, trading down in the draft. Ultimately, you'll end up with 32 choices in this and next year's 7th round. Prospects dont' win titles - what prospects become wins titles. So at some point, yoiu have to let them mature and risk perhaps keeping them on the downside. At some point it's overkill. And spending 10Mill a year on Jason Kendall, a high proportion of their budget, is a dubious choice.. He's one 1 playoff series, but has a consistently good team. Shapiro is looking for his first playoff club. The guy in LA was a disaster, zip from Toronto. As for a fire sale, people don't pay much for rents of, say, Dye. We could probably move a starter or reliever for something decent. BUt what we really neeed are a couple of bats. We've got good pitching and good defense. And I think our pitching remains the best in the Central, overall, and I therefore think we'll remain in the race, albeit on the fringes.

I think we'll be reasonably in the race. That said, I think our best trade chits are our middle relievers for July deals. We have a lot of pitching depth, these guys are throwing up good numbers, and we should be able to net a premium return.

Erstad's numbers for the year still blow. Brady Clark would be as silly as Erstad. Erstad is so mediocre (to be kind), I just don't think we lose much with Anderson learning how to hit in that spot. and for goodness sakes, bat ERstad 7th or 9th.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 10:04 PM) As of yesterday he was playing for the Albuquerque Isotopes which I believe is affiliated with the Mets. I'm surprised the Mets would allow him to sit in another ML team's dugout. Did they release him? The Mets' AAA team is the New Orleans Zephyrs and he's on that roster along with another aging old ML catcher whose name escapes me.

Erstad isn't going to hit .170 all year; but I doubt he does much better than .260 with an OBP of .300 and a miniscule slg percentage (a whopping ONE extra base hit all year). Further, he's been batting at the TOP of the order, protected most of the year by THOME, and he still hits horribly. He clearly belongs at the bottom of the lineup (if anywhere). His upside is so scant, that it doesn't justify not playing a younger player, be it Anderson, or someone else, or trade some of our AAA pitching for someone else's good CF prospect. But ERstad is pitiful offensively.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 22, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) Do you have any evidence to back this up? Sure - superior OPS the last 2 years. Not much different, but Crede's is better - at 1/3 of the price. And salary does matter when you have only $X to spend. And Crede's much better defensively - in my opinion. Where's your evidence that stone-feet Blaylock is in Crede's defensive stratosphere?

Seattle made some of the worst FA signings in memory - and Beltre's one of them. He is assuredly not better than Crede - and he costs, what 13 mill a year?

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Apr 21, 2007 -> 10:13 AM) Well, I hope Masset keeps on warming up with his reputed fastball. A lot of scouts seem to think that he is very similar to McCarthy, which is interesting. KW is replacing Buehrle with Danks and McCarthy with Masset... Aardsma has been perhaps the Thornton of 2007, although Sisco has done better than I would have expected as well, based on last year's debacle for the Royals. So if we're going to let MB and Dye walk, trade Crede et al, where will we spend our money?

Trading at low value and buying at peak value, is no way to do business. There's nothing to be gained from trading Anderson. We seem to have a lot of pitching depth....if some of our middle relievers have great years, I'd trade a couple of them at peak value and replace them with some of our good arms in the minors. Use them or lose them. Actually, it would take some stones, but teams really overpay for middle relievers in July - with the right deal, we might consider sending one packing. This team desparately needs a leadoff hitter. Even if Erstad is tolerable in CF, that toleration is with him at the 8 spot in the order. Crede is not a top 5 3B, but he's also better than stiffs like Mike Lowell.

Erstad's hitting has been poor for several seasons - it's not just this year...so even if he reverts to 05 or 06, it still sucks. But it's incredible enough that Ozzie plays this guy, but to lead him off? I guess Ozzie finally found a way to put a batter who hits in his image at the top of the lineup: swing at everything, little power, incredible number of outs, low obp - just like Ozzie did as a hitter. Last night, Ozzie actually bunted someone so that Erstad could {flailingly attempt to} drive them in from 2nd. It's surreal.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 10:42 PM) I would like an upgrade at SS. The problem is that good-hitting SSs are exceedingly rare. So their cost in terms of salary and players is usually more than they're worth. anyway, who do you have in mind? QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:27 PM) Fourth: Carl Everret??? Oh God, the horror. Guys - don't truncate the last word. I said "Carl Everett TYPE" meaning someone with pop off of the bench. Fields doesn't bring the D. Thome is the slow slugger type - never my cup of tea; but he may be hard to jettison.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 10:44 PM) Erstad should be hitting 10th. Isn't that the truth. Kenny should just use cut his losses and release him. He'll save money on per diems.

I don't see a sell-off. We're going to be competitive - probably not win it - but competitive. That said, no matter what happens, we'd have some big decisions. In the offseason, I could consider the following: First, I'd ditch Thome and keep Dye - he's a good hitter, can play the field. I don't think he'll command the salary everyone seems to think he will. Further, Thome really clogs the bases when he gets on, and makes immediately neutralizes any speed we may have. Second, I'd re-sign Crede, Uribe (at least he has some pop; beats good field and no hit) and MB (unless he's lost it, he's a really good #3 quality pitcher). Third, I'd package Fields with a couple of pitching prospects for a young outfielder who can lead-off. Fourth, I'd sign a veteran hitter who can play first, and the outfield - Carl Everett type. As for Garland, Vasquez and Contreras, they're all good pitchers, but I find none of them overly compelling, so I'd let 1 of them walk. MB's value is that if he hasn't "lost it" he can deliver a lot of quality innings as a #3 and that's value.-

QUOTE(JERMAINEDYE4MVP @ Apr 5, 2007 -> 12:38 AM) FACT! I REALLY DON'T THINK THIS TEAM IS GOING TO BE ANY GOOD THIS SEASON AND I BELIEVE THAT KW WILL TRY AND TRADE DYE, BUEHRLE, IGUCHI, THOME, CREDE, AND EVEN KONERKO BEFORE THE DEADLINE KIND OF LIKE THE MARLINS DID AND PICK UP YOUNG TALENT. DISCUSS. 1) No matter how bad we were, we'd never do all of that. 2) Those Marlins may have picked up young talent (much of which was from the offseason trade of Pierre) but they aren't winning anything, so they are hardly a team to emulate. 3) It's early and this team should contend...too much pitching not to.

If we are obsessed with velocity, why do we draft control pitchers, not stuff pitchers, with our high draft choices?

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Dec 3, 2006 -> 10:22 AM) First trade I'd make is the Garcia/Crede for Figgins and Santana. It leaves the Sox with 6 starters and adds more speed to the line up. Ozzie wanted more speed on this team last season and now he will have it. It also frees up $10 mill to fill other holes like the stealth bullpen the Sox need. Chone Figgins is a high end utility player. We trade one of the best gloves in the game who also has power for a player who doesn't play good defense and can't get on base. (the pitcher part of this is basically a wash; but the 3B part, we get slaughtered). Rob M for Figgins would be a fairer deal.

Pitching is the weakspot of this team, so by all means lets trade away our young pitching, the pitcher that practically every team asks for when the call us to trade - he gave up 2 home runs yesterday, so he must suck. And let's do it for a hard-used Andruw JOnes who, despite the absurd hype around him, is another Carlos Lee/Dye level hitter (power, mediocre obp) of which we have a surplus. Anderson is young, cheap and better defensively. If it were up to conventional wisdom, we'd never have young players....no Garland, no Crede, no Anderson, but we'd have Joe Randa and Darin Erstad wheezing around the bases.

We don't need andru jones. Anderson is better defensely and Jones delives power, but nothing else....no obp, no speed.

This team could use another reliable arm or 2. That's about it for real problems. Thank goodness what was rumored to be in the works this time last year never came to fruition. No Contreras, no Crede, no McCarthy. Or the offseason clammoring for Juan Pierre....that would have been a big upgrade. What problem there is in CF will likely be cured with a year or two more experience, while stellar defense is played gaining that experience.