Kalapse

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) I haven't heard that Crawford refuses to play CF, he has played CF as recently as 2008 It's out there. He doesn't like CF and because of this he's played a total of 16 innings at the position over the past 4 years and only out of necessity. He also doesn't like to leadoff because in his mind taking pitching and working counts is not part of his game and because of this he's started 28 games out of the leadoff spot over the past 4 years and hasn't led off since his first 31 PA of '07.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 10:44 PM) It's 6.5? Coulda sworn it was lower.. If that's the case.. then yea, the sox probably won't unless Jenks and/or Linebrink are traded. Or they can always go the OCab route, and tell him they don't want him back and just decline it. EDIT: Your right Balta.. six mil actually, though can't he get only 5 mil if the two sides compromise? QUOTE (3E8 @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 12:41 AM) The lowest you could offer a FA in arbitration is 80% of their previous years' salary. In Dotel's case 80% of $6M is $4.8M Dotel qualified as a type A free agent, no arbitrator is going to give him a paycut. If they went to arbitration and the Sox submitted $5M and Dotel's camp went with $6.5M he'd win instantly. There's absolutely no reason for Dotel to take any less than $6M on a 1 year deal if he were to accept arbitration and they tried to work something out. If I'm Kenny Williams I pray someone signs him before Dec. 1st making the decision for me but when that doesn't happen and it's November 30th at 11:59 I'm not calling Octavio. If he's willing to talk about a 1 year deal with a $2.5M base plus mild incentives in December then I might be game but I don't think there's $6M in the budget for Octavio Dotel, he's just not that good.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 11:44 PM) See, with a 90 mil payroll, I wouldn't mind offering Dotel 5 or 6 mil. There aren't really any better RP options out there, and at worst, the Sox get a draft pick. If the payroll is $90M then that money is all but spent at this point, there's no room for a $6M 7th inning man, you find those guys off the scrap heap when you're strapped for cash. If there's a legitimate chance of Jenks being unloaded because he's going to make about 8 million next year then $6M+ for Dotel is lunacy.

Your 2010 Super Two's: Mike Fontenot Tim Lincecum Matt Garza Alex Gordon Matt Albers Jeff Karstens Hunter Pence Dustin Nippert Carlos Gomez All of these players have less than 3 years of service but more than 2 and will be arbitration eligible in 2010 because they are super.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 07:33 PM) MLB Network seems to think Boston has the edge on the Adrian Gonzalez sweepstakes. . SD's new GM was Theo Epsteins Assistant and knows Boston's farm better than anybody. Does Boston have a deeper farm than us? As far the PK situation goes. . why would we have to trade him if we aqcuire A-Gon? He would simply be our DH and he could play an ocassional 1B- similar to Frank Thomas before he became a full time DH. Because he makes $12M and isn't that good of a hitter, he'd be tremendously overpaid.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 01:36 PM) I would do Konerko + Linebrink for Castillo though. We would cut $11M off the books in 2010 and only add $500K in 2011. Castillo really has no worth to us, but maybe we could eat half his contract and send him elsewhere. Castillo at $3M per in 2010 and 2011 might work for someone else. This is starting to feel like a video game.

Shocking.

Pelfrey's option was worth a meager $500,000, I don't think that's a realistic trade option given how hard up they are for quality starting pitching and Pelfrey's incredibly cheap price tag. They are willing to take on a bad contract but in exchange you have to take Luis Castillo off their hands and like was already stated we have no use for him. There's a belief that the Mets are looking for a right handed 1B to platoon with Murphy, Konerko isn't the platooning type. I do think the Mets could be interested in Konerko if their other plans fall through, though. They got nothing out of the 1B position last year with Murphy and Tatis sharing time after Delgado went down.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 12:16 PM) Affeldt's career numbers. He had an astounding season last year that will in all probability not be replicated. It would not be all that surprising if in his second full season, Randy Williams had a year that is in line with Affeldt's career line of 4.27 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 9.0 H/9, 4.0 BB/9, 6.9 K/9. So the difference here might not be as stark as it currently looks when just comparing their 2009 seasons. Affeldt IMO is still a bad contract. His ERA as a starter is about 5.40 with a 1.67 WHIP in 216 IP. His career numbers as a reliever: 3.66 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 1.94 SO/BB, .244 BAA, .694 OPSA, very good. He also posted a 3.41 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 8.3 K/9 the 2 years prior to landing in San Francisco. He's a real good bet out of the pen.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 12:05 PM) No, I see how it works for us. I almost made the same suggestion at the very same time as you. Then I changed my mind because I figured Kal would rip me a new one for suggesting it. I just don't really see SF wanting to give up their best bullpen arm to add PK, unless the pickings get REAL thin and none of these hitters want to sign there because it's where hitters go to die. Hey now, I'm not that bad. Sure I agree that it's probably not all that realistic but it's at least creative and I appreciate creativity. It's better than the "s***ty prospects for great players" trade proposals you regularly see on the interent. If Jeremy Affeldt were coming off a bad season I could see it happening.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:51 AM) I saw Affeldt too, and was going to suggest that. Until I looked at Affeldt's numbers. He led the mlb in holds last year and posted a 1.73 ERA. While $4 million is a bit high for a reliever, he's been damn good. Why would they want to give us Affeldt when they could probably sign someone off the FA market for $7-8 million and keep him? Balta does make a good point; aside from LaRoche and possibly Branyan there are no other good options as full time 1B on the free agent market unless you want to take a chance with Aubrey Huff or Chad Tracy or a litany of old/perpetually injured options.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:49 AM) Was thinking about possibly a deal to San Francisco. They are looking for some bats and Sabean has said they would consider moving Sandoval to third. I was trying to find a bad salary we could take back, but there doesn't appear to be a fit. Their contracts are all pretty fair with the exception of Zito's (really bad) and Rowand's (pretty bad). We don't want any part of those. Renteria's contract is one of worst in baseball. He's guaranteed $9.5M with 1 year left on his contract.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) Once i looked at the FA 1b, I was able to convince myself otherwise. There is literally 1 starting FA 1b on the market, Laroche. 2 if you think Nick Johnson can stay healthy or you're happy with Abrey Huff, but otherwise, that's it. The rest of them belong at DH. Delgado, Johnson, Thome, and a bunch of people with OPS's that a decent pitcher can beat. There are teams that just flat out need a bat at 1b, and if they don't land Laroche, it's a hole. The Mets. The Braves. Russell Branyan's going to be in demand, he can more than handle his own at 1B. Delgado's also not done at 1B, there's a damn good chance the Mets bring him back.

I know Amazon sells subscriptions for $15.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:36 AM) I completely disagree with this. Harang's deal: 2010:$12.5M, 2011:$12.75M ($2M buyout); guaranteed $14.5M through 2010 Arroyo's deal: 2010:$11M, 2011:$11M club option ($2M buyout); guaranteed $13M through 2010 These are some bad deals in this economy. They have *zero* positive value and the Reds will have to either eat salary to move them (which they won't want to do) or include pieces to make the deal sensible for another club. The Votto part is speculation on their part, but you could also sub in Homer Bailey or Yonder Alonso as well. If these pitchers are $8-9M pitchers on the open market, then something has to be done to make up for the extra $4-6.5M they are due. I didn't word that properly. I meant those contracts aren't so bad that you'd have to include one of the top 5 1B in the game to move them, you pick up some of the contract or include one of your 2nd tier prospects and someone will take a gamble on them on a 1 year deal. There's very little starting pitching available in free agency.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) The nice part is Konerko's contract comes off the books at a time where you'll be needing to throw some coin Adrian's way (if you want to keep him), plus Buehrle's would be coming off the books as well. So the Sox would be okay financially, imo. Especially if they could get some cost-certainty in Danks (since they have it in Floyd) and maybe Quentin. I do think they would try to move Konerko though if they got Gonzalez for financial reasons. But with Konerko in the 6th spot of a lineup that isn't a bad thing. I'd rather move Konerko to a team, even if it was for payroll relief and go with a guy like Vladdy as my DH though, cause it might give the Sox just the leftover money they need to work a Danks extension into the budget as well as have the flexibility to pick up a reliever. It's not all that realistic but Trading for Gonzalez then turning around and dumping Konerko for little (saving $12M) then signing a Vlad to be the full time DH would be a coup. You'd be paying those two combined less than just Konerko. Now THAT would be a dangerous lineup and allow for some financial flexibility, I just don't think moving Konerko's contract is all that realistic at this point in time. If you get Gonzalez you almost have to move Konerko, he's worth about half of his $12M salary as a designated hitter, it's not very hard to find production similar to Konerko's in the DH spot.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) Why trade Votto when you could package Alonso for someone. Or Package Alonso with others. It isn't like Votto is about to become a FA. Votto has already become one of the best hitters in the game with only 2 years under his belt, so he's young and cheap and exciting, he and Bruce are going to sell your season ticket packages. Yonder Alonso is a nice prospect but he's just that: a prospect you've got the real deal already and he's 3 years older than Alonso. It's not at all worth the risk.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 11:18 AM) It's not their fault that others cannot comprehend what's written very well. This is the quote: So they're saying that the Reds are going to have to make a decision between Votto and Alonso, which everyone knows, and that if they choose to deal Votto, they could package him with a bad contract to also dump salary in the deal. Instead of it being Harang/Arroyo + cash for nothing, they could do Votto + Harang/Arroyo for prospects. Doesn't sound like too far fetched of an idea to me. And they are NOT saying that the Reds would trade Votto straight-up for prospects either as has been mentioned here. I get that, people missed the point but I still don't buy it. So they'd move their best young, cheap player (he's proven far more than Jay Bruce) so they can move one or more of their bad contracts? No, that's just not working for me. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a trade partner for their more expensive players, they all have their value, it wouldn't be necessary to package one of the top 5 1B in the game to get a decent return. This isn't Ryan Howard and Jim Thome it's Matt LaPorta and Prince Fielder or Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Brian McCann.

Dear god I hate that site. Yes the Reds need to cut costs but how does Votto enter into the equation? He doesn't, people just assume that he'll be dealt because Yonder Alonso is waiting in the wings. Joey Votto has turned into one of the best hitters in the game and has but 2 years of service under his belt, he's the face of a losing franchise, there's no incentive to trade him. If they were so inclined to deal him he'd have considerably more value than Adrian Gonzalez seeing as how he's still under team control for 4 more years. They're going to dump 1 or more of Brandon Phillips, Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang and Francisco Cordero seeing as how they're the ones making all the money, they do have trade value and they're not the face of the franchise.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 10:12 PM) Now this makes it seems a bit less-likely to me. How the hell would Clayton Richard know anything? Would they ask Richard about Hudson because he played with him? Did he even play with him last year? I don't get why they would tell Richard anything...and it seems unlikely to me that the two would have spent enough time together to have forged some sort of friendship. Obviously, I don't know, but it just seems a bit strange to me... They never crossed paths. Hudson spent 2008 in rookie ball while Richard played in AA, AAA and the Majors. Clayton spent the entire 2009 season in the majors and he was gone by the time Hudson was recalled in early September.

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:50 PM) Can you imagine how amazing Gonzalez would be if he didn't play in Petco for half the season? He'd hit 50 here, easy.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:13 PM) Interesting that Dye brought up 1B. That might be a possibility with the Sox, with PK at DH. If we pick up a LH hitting OF, the balance wouldn't be as bad in terms of the lineup handedness (though ideally I'd still prefer more lefty hitters, but that isn't a huge issue IMO). PK can then DH and stay in better playing shape. I wouldn't be opposed to it. So we take our good defensive 1B and put him at DH so the under performing 36 year old RF can spend the season learning 1B because he doesn't want to DH? I have a huge problem with that idea. The team defense is s*** as is and probably got worse with Teahen taking over at 3B we can't have a guy learning on the job at 1B, we need someone who can pick the ball out of the dirt with consistency, Teahen and Ramirez will make his life a living hell. Dye's probable offensive production (~.820 OPS maybe) isn't worth the problems it would cause defensively. I'd take on Lyle Overbay's contract before I sign Dye to be my first baseman.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:27 PM) The real issue is, and where he's right is...every one of them is a gamble. The way that lineup is built, with both D2 and Pods, you need to basically win every gamble for it to be an average lineup. Even if Rios is a 90/10 shot at a win, and teahen is a 75/25 shot at a win, and Quentin is a 90/10 shot at a win, the odds of winning 9 times in a row are pretty low. You put another solid OPS in the middle there, instead of using D2 or instead of using Pods, and suddenly you can afford to maybe lose one of those gambles. Exactly, this team is in desperate need of a big bat, we need that sure thing in the middle.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 07:22 PM) I don't agree on the bolded. I think everything in Rios' career says 2009 was a flukey bad year, and I think Alexei is pretty consistently a top flight offensive SS (relative to position is important here). And I know I'm in the small minority, but I think Teahen looks like a good candidate for somoene who will benefit from this change of scenery (ballpark and all else). I agree on everything else though. He was no where near top flight last year, he was in that blob in the middle between the good offensive SS and the no stick all glove SS (his .319 wOBA put him with Theriot and Everth Cabrera). When your DH is Podsednik and your RF is Jordan Danks you need to make up for that offense elsewhere, while Alexei should be able to meet at least the league averages for a SS that's just not good enough. He's basically put up identical production to that of Ryan Theriot the past 2 seasons.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 04:52 PM) Please explain why this would be that bad? 2-8 all have the potential to hit .270 with 20 HR and 70 RBI and who knows what D2 can do and if we have the pods of last year we're fine. esp. with this staff, i would like to see the addition of one more bopper but i honestly think if we put that out there next year and our starting staff stays healthy we'll be fine. That's because you're assuming everyone lives up to their potential in 2010. It's a lineup full of question marks with a few key figures looking like poor best in 2010 and some unrealistic expectations on your part IMO. Podsednik is 34 years old and has averaged a .340 OBP and .700 OPS over the past 6 seasons, given that he's also an awful baserunner that's some terrible production from the DH spot. Beckham should have a big year. Quentin in my mind is a mid .800 OPS hitter not the .950 guy we saw in '08 that you expect to reemerge in 2010. Konerko is a marginal 1B who will top .830 if we're lucky. Pierzynski does not have 20 HR potential, he'll hit 13 or 14 like he does every year with a good AVG and awful OBP. In all he's a decent catcher. Alex Rios has the potential to put up 25 HR and a .800+ OPS but given how horrendous he was last season he also has a good chance at being a complete disaster. Mark Teahen has been bad for 3 full seasons in a row, excuse me for not getting overly excited about him. Alexei has one good offensive season under his belt and one bad, these aren't exactly proven hitters we're dealing with here. So do people think Jordan Danks is as talented or as far along in his development as say Colby Rasmus (I don't)? They sport similar K% (with Danks' being higher) and Rasmus barely topped a .300 OBP in the bigs last season. Like I said, that lineup has the potential to be terrible, keyword being potential, it also has the potential to be pretty decent though with not a single sure thing in the lineup I'd lean heavily towards bad.