Balta1701

Man, Roger Clemens has certainly piled up the innings this year.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 29, 2006 -> 07:34 AM) Nobody has thought of it, but maybe we should think of moving Iguchi at some point. He has high value. I've thought of it for one simple reason...he's a Free Agent at the end of this year. He is cheap, so he does have value, but I've gotten the impression from watching the last couple years that while people who watch teams intently realize the value of a good 2 hole hitter...a lot of times their stats don't go up enough to make other teams realize their value.

I wonder if they could outbid the Cubs for Girardi.

I've been saying since about June that the Mets were crazy to try to go into the playoffs without upgrading their starting staff. They really, really, really should have gone after one of our guys or Zito.

Of course...every single drop of gasoline that Venezuela sold beforehand, it will still sell. It'll just sell under some other name. You know what would be really cool? A law forcing oil companies to display what percentage of each tank of gas comes from which country, i.e. the Made in China stickers you get on everything.

We're up to $2 billion a week!

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:29 PM) No, I don't want Mack and Byrnes getting even playing time, and I don't want one or the other in the lineup everday. Also, Omar Vizquel > Uribe. Have you bothered to look at Omar's production lately? The guy can still play, and he's a cheap option (which was brought up by Northsidesox72) But the question on Vizquel is...are the Giants ready to go into "we're old, time to rebuild" mode yet? I don't think they are, especially if a certain monster of chemistry is in the outfield for them again next season. Bonds and Schmidt are IIRC their only 2 real key guys who are free agents at the end of this year...and they do have some amount of talent that could fill in for Schmidt (Matt Cain) if they do lose him. I think it's pretty likely they'll try one more year with the old guys before rebuilding...especially if the enemy returns.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 11:01 AM) I actually don't think there's a chance the Cards would do this. They're losing almost their entire pitching staff, and Wainwright and Reyes are their only two strong young pitchers. By having two cheap starters for the next few years, they'll be able to pay some money to fill their other holes a lot more efficiently than if they traded for Buehrle, and what's about to be a huge contract of his. I understand the reasons why St. Louis wouldn't want to do this, but some of those same reasons apply to why they would do it. Yes, they're losing their entire starting staff...but they're losing their entire starting staff! Aside from Carpenter, they really don't have anyone in their rotation. So if they want to shoot for the division next year...they can either hope that all of their young guys progress, or they can pick up a veteran wearing a ring. I believe that Jim Edmonds and his $12m. salary also come off their books this year, IIRC.

"Money changed...get your money changed...right here in the Temple!"

Can it be blamed on Clinton?

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 11:16 AM) Abreu is signed thru next year. Damon thru 2009 Matsui thru 2009. I'm just saying, if we gave them pitching...and maybe an OF prospect or Brian Anderson...yah never know. I would not trade Brian Anderson for Melky Cabrera. I wouldn't even consider it.

If I'm in St. Louis's shoes...I don't know if I could possibly say yes any faster. If I'm in Chicago's shoes...I consider this deal only if I'm 100% certain I can't resign Buehrle. Then I try to get more than this.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 06:43 AM) But we don't have a do-over. I would agree that we can't trade BMac, but which starter can we trade? If I had to pick one it would be Vazquez. Decent stuff, but doesn't have the mental makeup to be a winner. Would the D-Rays take Vazquez for Crawford?? No. But would they take Vazquez and Fields? To my mind, that should be more than enough. I know Crede's got back issues and Scott Boras is his agent. Still, I think he's a gamer well worth whatever the Sox will need to pay to keep him. And that leaves Fields without a real position to play. One problem with Crawford, however, is his splits suggest he SUCKS as a lead off hitter. By Batting Order AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Batting #1 87 14 22 3 1 0 9 9 0 15 5 1 .253 .323 .310 .633 Batting #2 342 53 111 13 11 15 49 20 2 46 31 7 .325 .363 .558 .921 Batting #3 159 19 45 4 3 3 18 7 2 22 20 1 .283 .321 .403 .724 That was the 2006 Crawford version. But there are several things to note...first, you can not judge any player by 87 at bats. You just can't. It's too small of a sample size. Second, a lot of those at bats for Crawford in the 1 hole this year came early in the season. I just checked the game logs...not going to count at bats, but it's a significant percentage. Crawford got off to a slow start this year...so there's probably some bit of a bias in that fact. Here are Crawford's 03-05 numbers in the 1 hole: .294 .325 .430 .755. Here is his 2004 campaign, wen he was primarily a leadoff hitter: .302 .337 .460 .797 (59 steals). Here is 2005, where he lead off roughly 1/2 of the time. .290 .325 .458 .783. If I had to pick one starter to go right now...it all depends on 1 issue, whether or not we can ink Mark Buehrle to an extension before December/January roll around. If Buehrle will not sign an extension or will not sign a reasonable extension, he must be dealt. He is simply too valuable of a piece to have us lose him for nothing to free agency or to lose him for draft picks if they keep that. Right now we could still get a fortune for him, even after this down year. If we don't resign him, and he comes back next year with a great season, he may price himself out of our range...if he sucks next season and we haven't traded him, we may find ourselves holding him while his value plummets. If Buehrle can not be signed, he must be dealt. If we can ink an extension, then we keep him. After that...we take whatever gives us the most talent in return. Garcia would be an obvious one to deal because his contract is also up in 07, but if someone is willing to give me a lot more talent for Contreras or Vazquez, I'd be open to that. You do whatever improves the team the most.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 09:25 AM) -- One thing I might add that I put in the Carl Crawford thread. Please evaluate how your guy hits as a lead off man. Crawford's splits suggest he SUCKS as a lead off hitter, but excels in the #2 hole. In 2006, Carl Crawford got exactly 87 at bats in the leadoff spot. He hit .250. He did in fact do most of his damage in the 2 hole, you are correct. However, in 2003-2005, Carl Crawford got 1461 at bats in the leadoff spot. He put up a .294 .325 .430 .755. And his numbers have gradually improved every year as well.

Yes. Next question.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 08:42 PM) You don't argue, do you, that BA has some (majority) abysmal at bats? Yes, Brian has some miserable at bats. But what I liked about him this season is that the number of those at bats went down dramatically as the season went on. He actually learned how to overcome some of his weaknesses. He started hitting a lot of rockets in June, July, and August, at least when he was actually playing he did. He beat some very good pitchers for doubles and looked very good in the process. He still has some poor at bats, and he has room for improvement - esp. with both stealing bases and hitting for power. But he's well on the way there.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 08:38 PM) If that's all true, I can buy your argument. Did BMac's workload get decreased big time all of a sudden? I did also envision him being the guy who would get a ton of appearances as our main middle relief "set up" guy. If the numbers back you up on BMac (I'm too lazy to look it up) then I can buy your argument. I thought you meant BMac was messed up by not getting to start when we already had five. my bad. 2 times during the season BMac's workload dropped suddenly. When Contreras went on the DL in May, BMac pitched in relief of Haeger for a couple of innings. He then sat for 5 days, and made 1 spot start. He then wasn't used for the next 9 days or so, give or take 1. When he came back, he spent a week getting shelled, most memorably by Cleveland. BMac also had about a 2 week break in late August/Early September. His first outing after that was the 5 innings he threw against the Twins in the JD>Joe Nathan game. He was great that game. After that, he stank for about 3 weeks, during which his usage dropped even more. Brandon put up an ERA of 3.38 in April, 2.70 in June, 3.68 in July, and 4.02 in August (but that was better until about the last few days of that month). He struggled in May and September...the 2 months where, out of the bullpen, he got the least use.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 08:28 PM) He should? What is Brian hitting, .230? He never knocks in a run. I know ... he was misused by Ozzie and bats low in the order. BA is a big question mark right now. He reminds of that Langerhansengretel in Atlanta. Just cause you are a good prospect doesn't mean you'll pan out, see Jeremy Reed. GO SOX! Have you actually looked at BA's stats? His line in the 2nd half is .270 .316 .414 .730. He was a significantly better hitter than Mackowiak in the 2nd half. And all season he was better against right handers...which means that IMO, his numbers would have been even better if Ozzie would have let him face those scary dominant right handers like Carlos Silva in the 2nd half as well.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 08:22 PM) Oh my God. I hope you read Flash Tizzle's response to this. Balta, you are blaming Ozzie for perhaps "robbing him of the chance to be the dominant pitcher we saw at the end of 2005?" If BMac is that sensitive, my gawd, he is nothing to begin with. We had 5 starters this year. The Organization as Tizzle said, wanted BMac to fill the middle relief role. We had five starters. How did Ozzie rob him of anything; it gave McCarthy a chance to stay in the big leagues. Nobody in the world was going to start BMac over any of our five starters once we got Vas. It's KW's fault for acquiring Vas if anything. The problem was not just that BMac was in the bullpen. The problem I saw was the way BMac was used out of the bullpen. When BMac actually got regular work, he was able to work with some level of effectiveness out of the bullpen. June and July are prime examples. He struggled in May when he was asked to make 1 spot start and then given 10 days off afterwards. He struggled in September after he had a long off-time in late August with what was rumored to be an injury. Brandon was never used in the role he needed to be used in. He needed to be used any time one of our starting pitchers started struggling. ANY time. He needed to get to 100+ innings this year. He was used instead as just another righty setup man, while all the effort and all the innings were again given to the starters. Our bullpen is going to wind up with the fewest innings pitched in baseball, by a lot. BMac alone should have made up some of that difference, and I think it hurt both him and our starters that he wasn't used that way.

Ballgame is called, Sox win

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 07:31 PM) You do realize Juan Pierre is going to get $9M+ per this offseason right? Soriano will likely make around $15M a year and considering how much better Soriano is than Pierre I'd say Soriano is worth the extra $4M-$6M per year. Juan Pierre is going to make a lot more money than some people think he's going to get. With the Yankees already having Damon, who in the Hell is going to give Pierre $9 million a year?

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 06:59 PM) These are fair comments, but I disagree with most of them. My problem with replacing a starter with BMac is -- which one?? (See previous post.) And what do you do for depth if you get an injury? (We didn't have any this year other than Contreras's short stint on the DL.) BMac's problem is he got jerked around and misused by Ozzie. He should have started the 6th inning of every game started by Javy Vazquez. He also could have really helped if Ozzie had yanked the other starters when they got in trouble instead of always leaving them in for 100 pitches. My other problem with trading one of the starters is they will likely bring very little in return since all (except Garland) are coming off career-worst years. (In hindsight, I would have been happy if we'd never made the Vazquez trade (though at the time, neither Contreras nor Garland had re-signed) and still had Chris Young. But I'm not sure I'd trade Vazquez now since we aren't going to get a Chris Young back.) Happily, the White Sox actually have what I would consider right now 8 starters who will be at AAA or higher next year who are Major League quality. The ideal person to fill the BMac role right now looks like Haeger. He's done his job quite well in this stint out of the bullpen, including a performance today. Beyond that...we also have Broadway as a potential emergency backup. He's basically going to be in the same role Haeger was in this year....starting off in AAA, he's already pitched a few games there, and he's going to be spending the whole year there next season. See, the problem is, having guys platoon does actually stunt their development. Look at Brian Anderson this year. The fact that Rob Mackowiak has stolen so many of his at bats has not only made his numbers on the season look worse, but it's significantly slowed down Anderson's development. Ryan Sweeney is an excellent talent. But he has a lot of things he can learn...most importantly, he needs to develop a better power stroke. He is not going to do that nearly as much as he can if he gets 500+ plate appearances, even in the minors. And furthermore, bringing him up would also start his arbitration clock...something that I don't know if is to our advantage yet. Brian Anderson had a decent 2nd half. He would have had a better 2nd half had he gotten more at bats. He had a higher batting average and OPS than Mackowiak in the 2nd half, by a pretty large margin. He has done an excellent job of improving. Add in winterball, and I think he's going to finally be where we need him to be next year even if he doesn't improve at all from right here.

My god, who in the world is this idiot they have on the radio right now? The City didn't want the White Sox to win another trophy because they couldn't afford to spend the money for another title drive/celebration? Wow. Edit: That would explain why Mack kept playing CF.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 06:29 PM) (Can you pick the starter that needs to go? Contreras was our best starter early. Garland was our most consistent starter for the longest stretch. Garcia has had better starts down the stretch than any of the others. Vazquez, though a head case, is actually a great pitcher through 5 innings. Buehrle has been the most consistent over the longest stretch.) If Mark Buehrle's contract can not be extended...it has to be him. The White Sox can not afford to lose him with no compensation at the end of 2007. If he's not extended or traded...if Mark does have a great season next year, then he may not be affordable for us, if he's bad again next year, then his trade value may drop dramatically. If Buehrle can be extended...then it's whoever nets the White Sox the best package.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 27, 2006 -> 06:08 PM) Reload. 1. Keep the 5 starters unless someone makes us an offer we can't refuse. Use BMac as a long-reliever/spot starter -- a role he was rarely used in this season -- to reduce the workload on our starters. 2. Sign Soriano or Matthews Jr. to replace Pods. 3. Bring up Sweeney to platoon with Anderson in CF. (Let Ozuna go.) 4. Find a right-handed hitting DH to give Thome a rest against lefties. (Let Gload go.) (If we would actually use him, I'd strongly consider making Josh Fields this guy.) 5. If Hermanson's back is okay, re-sign him to an incentive-laden deal (his $500K buyout would become the base, and the balance of his option would be in terms of performance incentives). Bullpen would be: Jenks, MacDougal, Thornton, Cotts, BMac, Hermanson. (Let Riske walk.) Though Hermy may not be perfectly reliable, we need that veteran presence down there. 6. Find a right-handed hitting backup catcher that can hit lefties and/or play solid defense. Win 2007 World Series! Those are some honestly poor ideas all around. 1. BMac showed today why he is a.) so much more valuable as a starter and b.) so much better as a starter. He should be our #4-#5 starter next year. No questions asked. 2. Soriano? If we free up the $ either through the ticket sales this year or by trading a starter, I could live with that. Matthews Jr. is honestly a very poor option to me. He will get more $$ because of his dominant season this year...he's 32 already, he has had 1 great year...he's got a real chance of being another Adrian Beltre in terms of not earning the contract he'll sign. 3. Ryan Sweeney should not be used as a platoon player. Ryan Sweeney should be either given a full time starting spot in the big leagues or given a full time starting spot in AAA. Do not screw up these young talents we do have by limiting their playing time. Similarly, Brian Anderson should start 150+ games next season barring injury. 4. Josh Fields is probably not ready to swing a bat in the big leagues. Josh Fields will probably perfom like Anderson if he comes up now...struggling for a long time. As a platoon player with Thome, he'd be in even worse shape, especially considering he'd be facing Santana, Lee, Sabathia, etc. all the time. 5. Neal Cotts is a very risky option. It may do us well to trade him right now. We also have Logan as a potential option...we have 3 lefties for 2 spots. This may be something that is not resolved until the end of Spring Training. Hermanson is an even more risky option. As a last guy in the bullpen, he's not a terrible idea, but that's if he's only the 4th righty out there. Which means we need to have Jenks, MMac, someone better out of the pen than McCarthy before we use Hermanson. He should only get mopup duty of he stays. Charlie Haeger is looking like a non-terrible option for the pen right now...but I don't want Haegar and Hermy. Too risky. BMac is a dominant starter and a terrible reliever. Why we'd even consider making him a reliever again i can't even fathom. We need to find 1 right handed reliever somewhere. 6. We had a long discussion of this in the game threaed. I think Stewart works on this. He will hit poorly. But he can play good defense, and he is cheap. The money we would spend on a backup catcher would be much better spent on a new LF or on a new right handed relief pitcher.