Kalapse

QUOTE (since56 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 06:02 PM) He is ok, but doesn't excite me. Some one remind me why we let Carrasco go? He did a great job for us. He was going to make more than the Sox were willing to spend on a superfluous bullpen role and he wanted a chance to start. It was best for both sides that they part ways. The upside of the two players isn't even remotely close, Carrasco maxed out his ability and was one of the best long men in the game, if Pena maxes out he could be an excellent setup man or closer if he has the chops.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) I hear Jim Edmonds is looking for work. I wanted him as part of a CF platoon last season. Given how productive he was with the Cubs in '08 I'd take him over what we have right now. He put up something like a .950 OPS against right handed pitching as a member of the Cubs.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 02:23 PM) Nobody will be down on him if he produces. He was just another MLB middle relief hack last year. He put up a 1.36 WHIP (career 1.30), 7.25 K/9 and walked only 9 batters in 36 innings with the Sox last season, these aren't the numbers of a hack. Given that he's going into only his age 28 season and he does possess mid 90's heat, he's a decent bet for 2010.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) Has there been any kind of confirmation of $100 million being the ceiling? No

Well, now that there's no longer any uncertainty with the salaries of the arbitration eligible players and the remaining free agents are starting to get antsy with ST right around the corner perhaps we can find something that resembles a real DH.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 01:47 PM) $3.45M for Danks, puts us at $99.575M, then, correct? Can we sign a lefty DH bat for $425k? It depends. Are you a big fan of Jacque Jones?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) For reference: Gavin Floyd signed his extension near the end of spring training last year; March 22nd. Yeesh, I realize now that this means absolutely nothing.

For reference: Gavin Floyd signed his extension near the end of spring training last year; March 22nd.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 18, 2010 -> 11:59 PM) Yes but why sign a guy like Jones over Dye? Money? I think we could sign Dye on the relative cheap. Unless he'd be all upset and is bound and determined to play elsewhere. Because Dye was willing to sign for next to nothing and accept a greatly reduced role where most of his PA's will come from the DH spot? Jones was super cheap, willing to play wherever the Sox wish and accept ~300 PA in 2010. Dye's still looking for a starting outfield job and a lucrative contract, I can't imagine what he was asking for 2 months ago when Jones was inked.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jan 17, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) Your right on all three fronts, It matched up with Cot's. Ive got AJ at 6.75 now according to them. My total is now $94.825 before Danks, Pena, and the 4 Pre-Arb guys. Good, I believe we're now on the same page: $96.125M after the Pena signing.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 18, 2010 -> 04:40 PM) I would be sad to see the WS MVP finish his career with the other Chicago team. Bad, bad, bad. Jermaine hasn't gotten a lot of love recently after that second half flop, but he is one of the major players in White Sox history whether some fans want to believe that or not. For some reason, he's not that beloved a figure even though he was WS MVP and Chicago teams simply do not win World Series. Anywhere but the Cubs, Jermaine. Not wanting him back as an everyday outfielder has absolutely nothing to do with how people see his place in White Sox history. And when putting together your roster these are just the sort of things you can't get bogged down in: loyalty to an aging vet just because he was WS MVP.

Keep in mind also; the Sox are also on the hook for $6.25M worth of performance incentives in 2010 between Garcia, Jones and Putz.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 18, 2010 -> 01:20 PM) Buster Olney isn't paying attention. Their bench got older, but who cares? It's a bench, and they're all signed on 1-year deals. More than 60% of the everyday players are under 30. Beckham (23), Ramirez (28), Teahen (28), Quentin (27), Rios (29) = 5/9 = 56% Konerko (34), Pierzynski (33), Pierre (32), Kotsay/Jones (34/33) = 4/9 = 44% Am I missing something here? Though, questionable math aside, I do agree.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 18, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) Care to explain it better then? Because it sure doesn't seem like I missed anything.. I was responding to a post listing the reasons (including a few hyperbolic) why the Twins will struggle in 2010 with an even more negative outlook of the 2010 Sox. I was proving a point.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 18, 2010 -> 01:20 PM) The bullpen is most certainly not in as bad a shape as you're making it sound. They're actually in pretty good shape, and with their rotation, the pen shouldn't factor in as much as it did last year anyway. Everything else in your post is doomsday stuff. Not worth freaking out over it. You missed the point entirely.

Pierzynski will make $6.7M in '10 thanks to incentives he reached over the past 2 seasons and I do believe Alexei's $500K signing bonus was paid up front, not over the life of the contract. And as of right now it's 4 pre-arb players, not 3.

I have them at $102.375M total + $1M Dye Buyout - $1.5M Teahen cash - $7M Pierre cash $94.875M true total Danks and Pena should be another ~$4M or so There's 21 players under contract that should make the opening day roster (Viciedo not included) 1. Buehrle 2. Danks 3. Floyd 4. Peavy 5. Garcia 6. Jenks 7. Thornton 8. Linebrink 9. Pena 10. Putz 11. Pierzynski 12. Konerko 13. Ramirez 14. Teahen 15. Pierre 16. Rios 17. Quentin 18. Kotsay 19. Jones 20. Vizquel 21. Castro So that leaves 4 at the minimum (Beckham, Williams, Santos, De Aza, Dolsi, Hudson, Nix all on the 40)

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 17, 2010 -> 11:12 AM) Not to be a bad guy here, but you wonder how this happens and what kind of stuff Adams was taking throughout his career (even in HS). It's just not natural for a 26-year-old to have a heart attack and these guys take so many supplements that it has to negatively affect the body. Very sad day though. There's a reason why every High School gym now contains a difibulator, these kinds of things do happen and surprisingly often at that. According to the coroner Gaines lived for 26 years with an undiagnosed enlarged heart, you don't have to be on drugs to go into cardiac arrest in your younger years, there are many basketball and hockey players that can attest to that.

Cheap option: Justin Upton. Infinitely talented, 22 years old, dirt cheap in 2010 (~$500K), under team control for 4 more years and coming off an outstanding season. He takes over in right, Rios in CF and Quentin and Pierre rotate between LF and DH. More expensive option: Hanley Ramirez. I'd take Utley but he'll make more than twice as much as Hanley in 2010 ($7M compared to $15M) and I don't think the Sox can afford that. Probably the second most talented player in the game behind Pujols, incredible production, under team control for 5 more seasons, would allow for good flexibility and solve the DH disaster. Teahen, Beckham and the Ramirez's can fill the 3B/2B/SS/DH spots in whatever configuration grabs Guillen on a game to game basis. If you have to eat the contract of the play you dump then I'd of course drop Lillibridge. If the contract is somehow terminated and I don't have to pay it then I'd drop Konerko's $12M deal, move Beckham back to 3B, sign a 1B/DH on the cheap probably someone like Branyan who's getting no attention in free agency and will end up making very little in 2010. Teahen's added to the DH clusterf*** I suppose as well as a decent option off the bench.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 07:54 PM) I know, but I can dream, can't I? He did work with Fox after they screwed him with Firefly to make Dollhouse. Never say never! All the main players are kinda busy right now succeeding at their own things. Nate Fillion has 'Castle', Adam Baldwin has 'Chuck', Morena Baccarin is the face of 'V' and Alan Tudyk made that DirecTV with Dule Hill (if they were to revisit a Firefly tv show it'd have to take place between the end of season 1 and Serenity, the current ages of the actors would make it odd (River) but Firefly without Wash would be disappointing as hell.)

QUOTE (gatnom @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 11:14 PM) Aren't Danks and Pena arb eligible? Yep. Not quite out of the woods just yet. I imagine Pena being pretty painless but Danks could get a lucrative multi-year deal that takes a few more days/weeks to complete.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 7, 2009 -> 11:52 AM) Jenks and Danks are fairly easy. Jenks will get around $7.5M and Danks I'd say about $3.2M. Quentin's tough, probably the same as Danks, maybe a bit less. So somewhere between $15 and $16M total for Jenks, Danks, Quentin, Carrasco and Pena. Spot on so far. And just because the Sox and Quentin agreed to a 1 year deal today doesn't mean they couldn't tear it up tomorrow and come to terms on a long term contract, not that I think that's a likely scenario.

QUOTE (Real @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) Sounds to me that a lot of people here don't even have "high" expectations for this team, just "reasonable expectations" I don't see how anyone who pays attention to what other teams in this division are doing, can say we aren't the favorite as of right now to win this division Minnesota has Mauer, Morneau and to a lesser extent Kubel coming off a career year, moving outside of the metrodome (this fact seems to slowly become less acknowledged, and it's a huge factor in how their team will perform). They also have a starting rotation full of question marks. Which Nick Blackburn is the real one? Baker and Slowey are huge question marks as well. How will their team defense be affected by playing outdoors, especially in April and May when it's still cold Their bullpen also has question marks, outside of Nathan Detroit is trying to do what Kenny did last year, and that's rebuild on the fly. Dumping CG for cheap talent who may or may not perform well, given a starting position, and losing Rodney for Valverde. Their starting rotation is less questionable than Minnesota's due to having a true ace, and possible legit #2 , but Verlander (RHP) > Porcello (RHP) > ??? (Scherzer) > ??? (Bonine) > ??? (Bonderman) is going to most likely force their offense to score a lot of runs to win games, something we hopefully won't have to do The Sox's bullpen aside from 1 lefty reliever is a giant clusterf***. Konerko is nothing special at 1B and another year older, which Alexei is the real Alexei at the plate? Can he improve on his fielding at SS? Can Mark Teahen hit or field? Because he hasn't done either in 4 years. Can Quentin stay healthy or even come close to the production we saw in '08? Does Alex Rios really give a s*** about baseball? can he crack a .700 OPS in 2010? They're probably looking at a .325-.330 OBP slap hitter at the top with one of the worst arms in the game, that should be a step back from the production of the '09 leadoff man. Right now the Sox have to be slated for some of the worst production out of the DH spot of any team in the AL, that's not good when the rest of your offense is one big question mark. Can Gordon Beckham avoid a sophomore slump? Will AJ's defense become a liability in 2010? He's been toeing the line the past few years and he's now getting into his mid-30's and has logged nearly 9000 innings back there over the past 8 years. Has the team defense been anymore than marginally improved from 2009? It's all about how you look at things.

QUOTE (Real @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 12:09 PM) It's not about predicting the staff would fall apart, and you have to admit.. baseball tends to average things out for guys who aren't perennial studs, like Garland and Contreras (and to an extend sweaty freddy...though freddy was pretty good early on in his career) And yet that '06 team won 90 games, that team was damn good on paper even after factoring in any possible regression to the mean. If I'm predicting the record for the 2010 Sox right now it's somewhere in the mid 80's.

Kind of fitting given the discussion on here of late: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/105/1059102p1.html