GreatScott82

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 08:25 AM) Really, I wouldn't project these guys, especially Soler, to be ready that soon. Thats true. But they would most likely see the MLB much sooner on a team like the White Sox who have a poor farm system.

I say we sign Soler and Cerpedes If Soler truly is that 5 tool guy in the making, we would have an excellent spot for him out in CF as early as next season. Cerpedes can be inserted in LF for the start of the 2012 season if signed. Suddenly our team would be very Cuban

For our team to compete for the central, 6 out of our starting 9 would need to have career years or close to it. (Beckham, Ramirez, Morel, Rios, De Aza and Viciedo)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 02:56 PM) That is without Peavy's buyout and Floyds $9.5 million option. With Peavy's BO its up to 69 million and with Floyd's option. (I think they should take it.) It would bump the payroll up to $78.5 million. Going into that year, you may have a rotation of Danks, Floyd, Sale, Humber, Castro/Molina/Axelrod. With a young rotation and about 22-$30 million to spend on free agents and maybe more (pending on if they trade Thorton or not). This team can significantly be much better sooner than we thought. I actually don't mind taking this 2012 season as a "Lets see what we have in our guys" type season. I really hope KW deals Thorton soon!

Is this the 2013 plan? I was looking at the #'s and by the looks of things, payroll will be down to $65 million heading into 2013. That can give white sox management up to $35 million to spend 'wisely' on players if they choose to go for it next year. Will that happen? I'm not sure. But with so many players coming off payroll, this year and next year, we may be sitting pretty FINALLY next winter. What are your thoughts on this?

I think Rios belongs in LF. Watching him play CF last year made my eyes hurt. De Aza did a pretty solid job out there. He won't be the best CF in the league but he definitley wouldn't be the worst and it would be an upgrade over Rios IMO. Rios looked good in 2010, can he get back to that? If the answer is no- than move him to LF.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 3, 2012 -> 12:47 PM) Everything I've heard says that Cespedes is going to need some time in AA/AAA, even if it's only half a season. The situation works out perfectly then, because we'll have time to see what De Aza and Rios are going to do for a few months, then decide who sits when/if Cespedes is ready. Now would be the perfect time to sign a guy like Cespedes who has a tremendous upside! Get it down KW! We need this type of excitement!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 03:49 PM) Power dropoff from Quentin to Viciedo shouldn't be too drastic, but yea, this OF is rather weak power-wise. Yeah. I also don't think the drop off will be too significant. Rios and Viciedo are capable of hitting at least 25 HRs. De Aza is an upgrade defensively and offensively over Pierre. I'm not too worried about power coming from our OF. I just want to see Viciedo get better as a hitter playing every day at the MLB level. I should be interesting seeing De Aza every day too. Hell, if Rios hits .250 with 25 HR and 65-75 RBIs that would be a huge upgrade from his terrible performance of last season. IMO the key to our offense is Adam Dunn. Ugh

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 11:52 AM) Paul White just said that the Sox are the favs to sign Cespedes Also, Knobler just wrote again, that the Sox are very interested in Cespedes KW did spend a lot of time scouting in Cuba and latin america recently. Didn't he? My boss knows a guy who works for the Sox and he just texted me and said that the Sox are hardcore pursuing this guy and hope to lock him up soon. His comfort level playing with Viciedo and Ramirez gives the Sox the edge!

QUOTE (Reddy @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) thats. thats. just silly. you'd rather try and "contend" with this piece of crap team than trade a valuable chip and get badly needed young talent. You'd rather have Danks value be as LOW as possible when we trade him. K. Got it. How is this team a "piece of crap"? You just don't know how it will pan out yet. And how would Danks value be low in July if he posts great numbers? We need to assess our situation in July before we trade away pitching. Does our farm need help? Absolutely. But I think we can add more farm depth by dealing away Quentin, who as of right now, has as high of a trade value as he will ever have. I also believe we can deal away Thorton for 1 or 2 decent prospects. KW is not just going to tear this team a part to rebuild the farm.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 09:13 AM) The risk is that we might actually be able to compete....with the team, as is. We can survive Santos being gone, but probably not losing Sale/Thornton in the pen and one of our starters. We can also survive the loss of Quentin, probably....if at least 2 of Rios/Dunn/Beckham have All-Star caliber seasons and Viciedo hits as expected. Thats another factor as well. Our team may actually be pretty decent as is (even without TCQ). We all know, in the AL Central, if your decent your likely a contender for the division. I'm all for keeping Danks for the first half!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 09:09 AM) The problem is that the Sox absorb all the downside risk. Let's say Danks has anything but an extraordinary first half. He puts up his 2009 numbers, which are good but not Cy Young worthy, or he repeats his 2011 season where he struggles for a few weeks/gets hurt. At that point, the Sox are on the hook for what, $5 million out of his deal for holding onto him, and then the Sox are looking at a Zach Stewart quality return for him if we're lucky. It definitley is a risk. I guess since it is his contract year, I'm assuming he would have one if his better first halves. Its something KW needs to seriously look into.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 08:54 AM) Again though, if John Danks just put up those numbers, he's still doing so at the time as a 2 month rental. His performance would be solid and worth trading for, but the free agency overhang would be there. Basically, that winds you up hoping that someone is more desperate for a starter at the deadline than they are now. Yeah, thats the point im trying to make. Teams are always desperate for pitching at the deadline. Right now, we would be selling low. Keeping Danks for the first half would not hurt us at all. If his value is the same in July than it is now, than so be it. At least we got 95-100 innings out of the guy and we still would acquire mid level prospects. If he has a tremendous first half, than teams would be bidding against eachother for his services and that can perhaps bring back a top prospect.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 08:39 AM) If Danks was having a great season but still pitching in the Cell, his ERA wouldn't be in the 2's. And anyway, as frustratingly inconsistent as Danks has been in his career, I can't fathom how he'd ever pull off a full 3 months like that. It's not in his makeup. In 2008 pre-allstar game, Danks had a record of 7-4 and an ERA of 2.67. In 2010 pre allstar game, Danks was 8-7 with a 3.29 ERA. Not dominating numbers but still very good numbers and teams would definitley be interested in that. And i honeslty think he will have an even better first half since its his contract year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 08:32 AM) Even if he has a huge first half, how much would that really raise his value? It's a guy who had a huge first half but who is now only available for 2 months and who is going to be even more expensive tos ign. If Danks as an ERA in the 2's and has 10-12 wins come July he would draw a TON of interest from playoff contenders. That is usually when teams try to outbid one another. I think Danks can bring us more in July than right now IMO. However, now is the time to deal TCQ.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 08:15 AM) Yes, I think we'd be selling low on Danks at this point, but there's no reason to think we'll be selling higher on Danks come July. If Danks has a huge first half (which is possible), you never know? He started off pretty badly last year. At the same time, he didn't get much run support. I would hold on Danks and try to make deals for TCQ and Thorton.

Do you guys believe we would be selling low on Danks at this point? I think trading TCQ would be smart at this point as he has pretty solid value right now. However, would it hurt us to just hold on to Danks until the midway point? If he has a great first half, contenders would likely overpay in attempt to make a playoff run.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 14, 2011 -> 06:24 PM) With De Aza and Viciedo playing almost everyday, there's really no place for Kubel although he would look good in the middle of the line up. I think Cuddyer would obviously help the Sox but they aren't going to add what he's going to be paid. Yep we are rebuilding. We won't be adding veterans any time soon.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Dec 7, 2011 -> 08:58 PM) Its sad to lose Mark. But this is the natural end. The Sox signing Mark would have been nothing more than an attempt to appease the fan base while they sucked. Who does that really help? I personally believe picking the Marlins was a questionable move but thats mainly because I dont see what the long term model is there. It seems like they are just throwing money around and they already play in a good division. Who knows, I think the Marlins had to significantly overpay to get him. Good post! It sucks seeing Buerhle leave. But its obvious we are heading toward a youth movement. Guys like Quentin & Danks will be dealt next. Our only hope for Peavy and Rios is that they have decent first halfs to up their trade value so we can let go of those contracts. Unfortanately i think Dunn is stuck here for likely the remainder of his contract. If JR respects Konerko, i can see him being dealt midway through this year as well. Lets just hope he has a monster 1st half.

Apart of me just died. I mean i knew this was likely going to happen but the idea of Buerhle in another uniform makes me very sad. I honestly just hope KW can beef up the farm now. Its obvious we will not contend for a title in 2012. Sell, Sell, Sell!!! I honestly don't care who goes at this point. Nobody is talented enough to be "untouchable"

As long as it doesn't take away Viciedo's playing time, then im all for it. If it means less playing time for Rios, then I am all for it.

My excitement is blah right now. The current state of the Sox reminds me of the 1998-2000 era when we decided to go young in attempt to build young talent around Frank Thomas. This time they will try to do the same around Konerko. The Mark Buerhle situation makes me super sad. It will be tough to get over that one if he indeed moves on. And by the looks of it- he indeed will do so. I am excited to see what type of deals he makes in attempt to improve the clubs farm system and future.

Time to start rebuilding the farm first while attempting to compete with what you have.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Nov 4, 2011 -> 11:00 AM) I just saw a rumor that Buehrle is strongly considering going to Miami with Ozzie......oh no! I think Mark will end up staying here. If not it was an amazing run and he is my favorite white sox pitcher of all time.

Okay so I've read a couple of things this past month in regards to the direction of our White Sox. Are we on the verge of a rebuilding process or do we maintain the veterans and mix in a few more youngsters to the every day line up? Im a little confused to the direction of the team right now. Lets look at this position by position: 1) 1B- Paul Konerko (White Sox King) 2) 2B- Gordon Beckham- Can a new coaching staff help him out? His defense did improve at 2B which was encouraging. 3) SS- Alexie Ramirez- Gold Glove potential, still young and will likely to continue to improve. 4) 3B- Brent Morel- Has potential to be a solid every day player. Anybody see a Crede similarity there in development? 5) C- AJ Pierzynski- AJ isn't the same catcher he used to be, but he still knows how to call a game and contribute offensively. Hmm what about Flowers? 6) LF- Dayan Viciedo- The Cuban Tank will FINALLY be able to play every day. 7) CF- Alex Rios- Is there hope? Can he hit at least .250 next year? 8) RF- Carlos Quentin- (Prime Trade Bait)- I just don't see a fit for him here anymore. 9) DH- Adam Dunn (We are stuck with this lug) - Lets hope and pray he will be working his ass off on his body and swing this winter. He the organization that. I think KW will likely look to upgrade the RF or CF position by attempting to find a younger/ faster player who can potentially be our leadoff hitter. Shifting Rios to RF is an option if he finds a better suited CF via trade. Starting Rotation: 1) Buerhle (Yes. I think he re-signs to a 2 year deal) 2) Floyd 3) Danks (Prime Trade Bait with Sale being inserted into the rotation) 4) Peavy 5) Sale 6) Humbar or Stewart to battle for the 5th spot in spring training. I think Danks and Quentin can fill some holes in our lineup via trade this winter. Re-Signing Buerhle would be a smart move.