TaylorStSox

We've definitely improved at 1st. I don't think we've improved in RF. Garcia has a bright future, but he isn't as good as Rios yet.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:28 PM) I can't see any way anyone ever considers Santiago a #2 starter. That doesn't mean I think he has no value, but let's be realistic, he's a 3/4. It's fine to say you still think he has upside, but it isn't like his stuff is overwhelming and he just needs to learn to harness it. You don't need overwhelming stuff to be a very good number 2 starter, especially if you're left handed.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:25 PM) See my edited post. If they had 1 or 2 more good players, they'd still be a bad team. Baseball teams aren't just a collection of stats.

There might be 3 posters on the entire board that think Beckham is a good player.

You keep adding pieces that will give you long term success. A 30 year old, injury prone, $20M a year speedster isn't one of those pieces IMO.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:14 PM) This is a team that lost 55 games by 2 runs or less(36 by 1 run, most in the majors), yes, the record looks bad on paper but it's not like they were consistently getting blown out. If you make 3 offensive upgrades there's no reason they shouldn't be at least closer to competing in 2014. Is there really a correlation between run differential and future success? This team found ways to lose because they're really bad at baseball, not because they're close.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 12:00 PM) You're bias is clouding you're judgement. Santiago is 4/5 starter on a good team. He has good, not great stuff, marginal control, and has never shown the ability to get into the 7th inning on a regular basis. He'll keep you in the game for 6 innings, which is definitely a good thing and he is a valuable member of a team. But he's just not a premium talent, he kinda is what he is. His trade value really isn't as high as you think it is. I love when posters adamantly claim to know the specific value of a player.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 11:49 AM) Going back to the comment about the Sox not wanting to punt on 2014 it absolutely makes sense. The payroll as it stands now is so low that they can add a guy like Ellsbury and it won't kill them financially. The addition of a 20M a year player still puts the Sox under 90M in payroll, and around 75M next season., with the Sox usually sitting around 120M. You bring in Ellsbury, trade for another key piece to the offense, and hope Abreu is a world beater and you compete right away. I certainly don't think the Sox are even close to being in a position to consider themselves contenders in 14.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 11:54 AM) No, I am simply not buying into the top of the rotation hype some people here are throwing around for Hector. I think he can be a very good RP or decent #4/5 SP. Fair enough. I think he maxes out at a number 3 and doesn't have a good enough secondary pitch to be a bullpen pitcher in high leverage situations. It will take care of itself. More often than not, if you don't throw strikes, you aren't going to pitch for the Sox for very long.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 11:22 AM) He's always had horrible control. How many years until you accept that it's not going to get much better? Are you suggesting the book has already been written about a guy with 224 career ML innings?

I'm actually agreeing with Marty. The Sox aren't in a position to invest $20M a year in a 30 year old whose game is so reliant on speed. It doesn't make sense.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 03:51 AM) And yet that's 80% of the pitching that KW brought in, essentially. Should we judge him on Broadway and McCulloch? That's the scouts' fault, right? So then who has he "failed" or not succeeded with that it's fair to judge him on? Certainly, most Sox fans would admit to being disappointed with the level of progress from Danks and Floyd after 2008. Neither made it to the next level, All-Star or elite status. You will say that Floyd was a reclamation project despite being a high first round draft pick. Are you bored? You seem to be going out of your way to create an argument. I'll go with SS2K5's succinct rebuttal.

It's pretty clear the Sox had Beck working on something and pitching to contact. I don't question the Sox approach to developing pitching. They're probably the best in baseball.

I've been powering through Sons of Anarchy for the last couple weeks. While it's totally unbelievable, convoluted and far too convenient, I find it incredibly entertaining. I kind of want to join a biker gang, sell guns and extort people now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 09:17 AM) I'm still going with the "God I wish some coach could get through to this guy" version of it. Coaching won't help. He has awful instincts. You can't fix that. Between all the posts about WAR and Caufield's TL;DR posts, this thread makes me very sleepy.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 06:20 PM) How are Eithier and Freese not good players? Eithier is going to hit .280+/.350+ with 15-20 hr's and play a very solid LF. Not saying he's great or anything, but how is he bad? And how would he not represent a HUGE upgrade to our OF? Ramirez is bad by the way. Very good glove, but he can't get on base and has lost almost all of his power at this point. What use does he have offensively at this point? Less than 10 hr's and a OBP barely above .300 is pretty horrible. Freese presents a huge upgrade to our lineup. Ramirez is bad? 39 doubles and 30 sb's from a pretty elite fielder. Yeah, he sucks.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 29, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) I am all for mysteries and plot twists, but there was some things that just were wtf. The black oil...so it completely destroys and breaks down the engineers for the purpose of distributing their DNA, but turns the guy into a alien impregnator/raging frankenstein monster. And the massive facehugger...um why did it grow into the size of a rhinocerous in a room by itself. The engineer goes crazy when it wakes up from its billion year sleep. why? There are tons of little minute details that you can pick at, but the black oil purpose and reactions pissed me off the most. It was a big time Macguffin. The black oil evolved into a weapon that the space jockeys used to mutate beings. The space jockey is pissed off because they don't like humans and their mission was to use humans to create xenomorphs to use as weapons. He was also insulted. The face hugger was a different being than the original face huggers. That's what I got from it anyway.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 30, 2013 -> 05:25 PM) Friend got busted for this when one if the card writer sellers was raided, they got his information, and DTV threatened to sue unless he settled out of court for 3k. Hiring a lawyer to fight the case all told would have been more, so he relented and paid it. Kind of like using the court system to hold people ransom. Your friend was duped.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 29, 2013 -> 02:10 PM) To be fair, I was saying, IF Abreu can play left. If he can't then by no means go that route. I don't think making him split duty between DH and 1B is dicking him around too much. I'm still thinking of ways to improve the trade via trade and one option is packaging Viciedo and Beckham, don't u think? That's a pretty great post with the Griffey analogy. Yes, sir. I agree you are right there. That could definitely happen. That would be sad. But I just have a feeling Paulie's troubles are health related and I really have the feeling he wants to give it a shot again. I mean if he hit .280 instead of between .240 and .250 we wouldn't even be having this discussion. If he still has a burning desire to play, this should be very interesting. The easy thing for Paulie to do in this give-everybody-a-trophy, cut and dried what-have-you-done-for-me-lately society would be to quit now. But he might be stubborn enough to actually put it on the line and give it a shot (if his body is OK). I think we all should predict what will happen. I'm thinking he reluctantly retires right before spring training or signs a 1-year Sox deal or the two year deal I was talking about with the stipulation or the wink-wink that he will retire if he's not feeling right in spring training. I do not think he'll sign with another team, primarily because he's slow as an ox and it could get really ugly with the fans of his new team if he continues to have problems hitting for power. First, if he hit .280, most of us would still have a problem. He adds nothing else of value. His power has diminished. He's slower than ever. Adam Dunn, of all people, took his role in the field. His problems are health related. He's too damn old and he was in athletic to begin with. This also isn't like Frank. Frank still had power, but was always hurt. Konerko has no value.

I'd love to have Bourjas, he's my kind of player. However, it would be at the expense of ADA, not Tank.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 29, 2013 -> 11:41 AM) I think there will be a lot of guys who do improve offensively. I just think that, by adding Bourjos, you are adding up to 2 wins defensively in CF (20 win shares, top 2-5 defender in the majors) plus you are adding up to 2 wins defensively in LF with De Aza out there too. The problem, of course, is that Viciedo is then the odd man out. I like the idea of Bourjob, but I do agree that I don't know if that's the direction the Sox go in. De Aza over Viciedo doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. It's tough to have a discussion about De Aza with stat guys. He grades well, but doesn't pass the eye test at all. I'm not saying Viciedo does, but Dayan has age and potential on his side.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 29, 2013 -> 11:30 AM) I think Ramirez got old and started actively trying to hit singles. Beckham I think did some of the same plus the wrist injury sapped power. That's my best guess anyways. Guys that get old don't set career highs in doubles and SB's. I think it was his approach. He should be batting 6th or 7th.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 29, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) You mean, like, in general? I think it's pretty obvious that PEDs were banned from the game and a short while later offense stopped hitting Not in general. Ramirez and Beckham went from legit power threats to slap hitters. Ramirez is interesting because he still hit a ton of doubles.

I'm all for adding power, but not with Trumbo. It needs to be added consistently throughout the line up. Abreu is a good start replacing Konerko. I'd like to know why the middle infielders went from producing 30 home runs to 10.

Hopefully that's not his real birth year.