Balta1701

QUOTE(WinninUgly @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 05:06 PM) He had elbow surgery and it is not like he is pitching or playing outfield. He will be the DH, and maybe play a little 1B. There is a lot less concern. That's the real key...coming off of elbow surgery caused by throwing the ball...I don't want him throwing the ball any more than he has to. We need PK back. And man will that combo ever be deadly.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:57 PM) The key is I want the Sox to find a good reliever to replace Marte (the pen was huge for the Sox last year and was one of the key reasons they did what they did). I can also see quite a few guys in that Sox pen having worse years than 05 (which definately means I want another guy or two in there). Remember this about the bullpen...we're already starting off at what I think is a better slot than we did last year...we've got Jenks starting off in the closer role as opposed to Takatsu. We have Hermanson and Politte both as potential setup men, so if one of them has a down year, we have the other one. We also have a better long-relief man in El Duque, who hopefully can give us 3 innings during a long game while we wait for Thome to go yard - and I consider Duque, even with his high WHIP and all, to be an upgrade over Viz if Duque can stay healthy for 70 innings. Then of course, there's Cotts and Marte. If Cotts were to take a step back...we'd need Marte to take a step forwards again. Beats me. If Marte is traded...Scott Eyre has already signed with the Cubs, so we would have a gap as that 2nd lefty.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:48 PM) Boy was I off. Well I think the overall numbers I gave were fairly accurate (although it was a ballpark figure off the top of my head). The overall theme is quite accurate. If we put Anderson in CF and Thome at DH...compared to Everett and Rowand...we spend $400k on Anderson, and $7 mil or so on Thome. Everett last year made $4 mil, and Rowand was slated to make $3.25 mil. So cutting Everett and trading Rowand basically makes this deal almost a wash in terms of how much it'll cost us to put the team on the field. That leaves us, of course, with Konerko's $8 million, plus Thomas's $4.5 million (after the buyout). With all those things combined...we can put the same team on the field, with BA in Center, Thome at DH, and Konerko at 1b for $12.5 million a year without hardly any increase in payroll beyond whatever Everett's buyout cost us. That said...since we're expecting salary to go up along with attendence...we have the money now to sign guys like Garland, AJ, Crede, and Maybe even Contreras to a few new deals.

If Anderson tanks, I let him play anyway. Our offense will not hang next year on Brian Anderson's performance in center field. That's the beauty of the trade today - we don't need Brian Anderson to carry this team with the bat, we only need him to be solid with the glove and occasionally wander in behind Podsednik when Scott loses the ball in the lights. If Anderson tanks, let him play...we did it with Crede, and eventually things started to click.

QUOTE(Felix @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:40 PM) I've thought this for awhile, and have posted it before. Next year, yes. This year, I don't think he will be that good offensively, probably worse than ARow last year. But this is just my opinion. Even if Anderson is worse than ARow was last year...what exactly is that saying? ARow hit .270 with 13 home runs. ARow had an OPS of .736. ARow walked 32 times all season. Yes, those were down numbers for Aaron, but we won with him doing them. B.A. supposedly has more power than Aaron, but has the same sorts of strikeout problems as Aaron. Let's say that B.A. has more trouble adapting and hits .230-.240 with something like 15-20 home runs (Crede numbers). He may generate just a little bit less offense than Aaron did last season. That, my friend, is why we just issued that thunderstorm warning for the right field stands. If B.A. is, in his first year, a downgrade from Aaron offensively, the downgrade won't be huge, and meanwhile, we just added a guy who if he's healthy will give us somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 home runs, 100+ walks, 120 or so RBI's, and be a dynamite presence right next to (God and KW Willing) Konerko. Even if B.A. still has things to learn...he can learn them just as well in the big leagues, and it won't be hurting our lineup one bit.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:32 PM) I might get flamed for this, but isn't the 2 spot a nice place to break in a hitter. It makes him concentrate on plate discipline, he can help the team without a hit by sacraficing or just grounding out to the right side and he still gets some proportion of at bats where he can hit for himself. I'm thinking it might be a good spot for Anderson, giving him a specific job to do during an at bat could help him while he adjusts to the league. I wouldn't suggest this with anyone except Ozzie Guillen manageing -he puts on a play nearly every chance he gets. I believe that the Mariners tried to start Jeremy Reed off in the #2 hole last year. In about 120 at bats, he hit .220 in that slot. It's not always a terrible idea, but there's no guarantee it will work. I think B.A. should be left to sit at the back of the lineup somewhere around Uribe and Crede until we see what he's going to be giving us.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:14 PM) What do you mean by this? Last year, ARow hit .238 with no one on base, .313 with men on, and .290 with RISP. The numbers are fairly obvious on that one...he wasn't good at starting rallies by getting on base, but he got the big hit when a rally was set up for him fairly often.

Aaron Rowand's offensive numbers last year were nothing to write home about. Aaron Rowand's defense was very very good. I don't think people get worse on defense when they come up to the big leagues. They can get worse with the bat, but they don't usually forget how to chase down a fly ball. Anderson probably has more power than Rowand...similar speed, but may hit for a lower average, especially to start off. Here, I think, is the reality...if Brian Anderson started off next season in AAA, it would be a waste of time for him. The arbitration clock has already started on him, and he wouldn't learn that much more down there. It's time for B.A. to get his shot against big league pitching with a big league hitting coach and big league hitters all around him telling him what he's doing wrong. Yes, he's going to strike out a lot, but so did Aaron Rowand. It would not be a stretch at all to say that B.A.'s numbers at the plate next year could beat ARow's numbers at the plate this year.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 04:02 PM) Its got to be a speed guy. Hell, I know a lot of people hate this name and I highly doubt the Sox want to spend the money. However, Johnny Damon is now a candidate and would have a place to play. I can't possibly see the Sox doing this, but you never know. Johnny Damon is totally out of the realm of possibilites and his name should never be mentionned here again. Here are a variety of reasons why 1. Scott Boras. 2. That contract Boras wants. 3. His age 4. Paul Konerko 5. He's not a speed guy.

QUOTE(JimH @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:48 PM) Interesting. They'd still be missing the new #2 hitter, with speed, that Ozzie wants. I can't imagine KW doing this without first clearing his plans with Ozzie. Not something this big, not after last season.

That is True, scott merkin wrote it...says Gonzalez and Haigwood quite plainly.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:35 PM) Thome is a better defensive 1B than Konerko. People forget that Thome, when healthy is good with the glove. I think there's a risk in taking anybody coming off a serious injury and putting them in the field. Thome didn't hurt his elbow while swinging I don't think.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:41 PM) I'm sure this has been posted in this 32 page thread but I don't think I have enough time to read all of it. So can somebody please give me a recap. Who's the other player going with Rowand to Philadelphia? Does this mean either Konerko or Thomas won't be back next season? Thanks in advance. The report is that it is Haigwood and a player to be named. There has been some speculation that the player to be named is Gio Gonzalez, but neither of those names have been confirmed at all. This affects neither Konerko nor Thomas...but makes it such that 1 of those 2 will not be back next year.

Jim Thome is here A giant left handed bat Behind Konerko

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:29 PM) Well, I'll just say I talked to someone within the organization who said he/she cannot confirm the prospects. Can I ask if they denied anything? I don't want to press you on your sources of course...I just want to know if there's any sort of feeling on who else we're sending.

QUOTE(forrestg @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:30 PM) maybe this year he'll make it 500 They started testing for those things 2 years ago and just upped the suspensions.

$4 million is the $6 million or so that Thome will be paid by us next year minus the $2 million or so ARow would have earned. I like to think of it this way...we just filled the DH role for $4.5 million and cleared space in the outfield to start bringing in the youth this team needs to keep our salary from going crazy. If we'd brought in someone like a Delgado...we wouldn't have had a chance to sign Konerko. Anything that builds this team without making it impossible to sign Paulie I think increases our chances of signing him. We still have the $4.5 million sitting around from buying out Frank's deal to play with, on top of the $8 million Konerko would earn...and that's just if we held steady and didn't increase salary at all.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:21 PM) That's just why it's reportedly him. So I'll take that to mean "No we have no other source." Did anyone actually hear what Levine sounded like when he said that? Was he just tossing out something off the cuff, like "And a player to be named later, someone like maybe Gio Gonzalez" or something like that where he wasn't really saying it with confidence?

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:11 PM) New avy... YES! Awww man...it's no longer peanut butter jelly time.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:18 PM) I see people here talking about getting a new 2-hole hitter, per Ozzie's request, amd Pierre's name comes up a lot. I also see people talking about Anderson in CF a lot. I've had a look at some of Anderson's numbers in the minors over the years. Here is my question: is Anderson a guy who can be that 2-hole hitter? He won't steal too many bases, but he seems to be a good overall hitter and an athlete. Does he do well with situational hitting? If so... Anderson has good speed, but right now he swings and misses a ton. If he had to work to drive the ball to the opposite field it might even help him, but he's not going to fill in as a 2 hole hitter.

QUOTE(Big Hurt Way Back @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:12 PM) Question Is Thome good enough to play first if we cant get back Paulie and leave Frank as DH?? He can play 1b, but he's a decent step backwards from PK in terms of how much Paulie's developed in grabbing balls hit/thrown to him. The real question I have is this...do you really want 2 guys who are older than 35 and who both missed most of last year with injuries being your only option at 1b and DH? We need Konerko. I love Frank as much as anyone, but we need Konerko.

Do you guys have any other source on the PTBNL being Gio other than Bruce Levine? I don't want a name or anything...just a yes or no.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:13 PM) I don't think Gio would be apart of the deal, Much like Jose C and BMac were suppose to be apart of it. I think for Gio to really be a part of it...later would have to be "Much later", as in later to the point that we know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Thome will be our starting DH on opening day and will play for us for at least a couple months without missing much time. I just can't imagine the guy who wouldn't move BMac being willing to move Gio without having some guarantee that the merchandise he's getting in return is solid.

I think it can only help PK...think about this...we just added a decent backup 1b so that PK can play DH if and when he's hurting or sore (unlike this year), and we added a huge amount of either protection or guys on base for Konerko, since Thome gets on base all the time if he hit in front of Paulie or he make sure everyone pitches to PK if he hits behind him. If we're not massively outbid, PK will be back...and now that the Mets are out of the running...

QUOTE(ptatc @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 03:07 PM) He's about 3 months into a 8-9 monthe rehab so he won't be totally healthy. He will be able to hit come ST but I doubt he'll be healthy enough to throw until the season begins. If you want to trust Pat Gillick, the new Philly GM's words, Thome is in the "Best condition he's been in for 3 or 4 years".