bighurt574

In a rational world, management would understand the concept of "sunk costs" and play the guys who give us the best chance to win, regardless of salary. The problem is that if we give up on Dunn and Rios, KW is pretty much admitting failure in acquiring those guys, so we're trotting them out there every day still hoping they turn it around.

If we get in fire sale mode and make a big trade, I could see moving Quentin before Konerko. With one more arbitration year left, he might actually have some real trade value if he can heat back up a bit.

Beginning August 29, we play 26 straight division games (6 against Detroit, 7 against Cleveland, 6 against Minnesota, and 7 against Kansas City) before ending with 3 against Toronto. If we can hang around until then, that's when the division will be won or lost. Hopefully Dunn and/or Rios are clicking by then.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2011 -> 07:50 PM) Not a chance, ever. Konerko has never been a top 10 player for an extended period of time in the majors. Further, he has never been the best first baseman EVER while he has played. He's had a very solid career. But not a chance is he a hall of famer If Konerko reaches 500 (a big if), he likely would have had an extended run of elite performance beginning last year (3rd in all of MLB in HR's) and reaching into 2013 or 2014. And if last year's leaderboard is any indication, not many guys are going to hit 30-40 HR a year in each of the next several years. If Konerko pulls it off, he'd be in a very elite group.

Konerko is in if he gets to 500 (which I see as unlikely), although it would take at least a few ballots. You can cite his existing track record all you want, but if he gets to 500, that will mean that he had 3-4 more years as good as he was last year and has been so far this year (e.g., 35-40 HRs/year), all at a time when not many guys are putting up those numbers. That would also mean some additional 100 RBI seasons, appearances on MVP ballots, etc. It's not just his HR total that would go up. If Konerko breaks 450 but not 500, he would at least be in the discussion, but it's probably a long shot at that point.

The Connie's may not have been great, but I thought the new pizza was awful. It's almost insulting when you can see them cooking the frozen pizza right there, cutting you a little slice, and paying $5 for it.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 4, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) If there are no setbacks between now and the rest of spring training, then he should start April 6. If he's at 90 pitches in three weeks, he should start on 4/6. No point in him going to Charlotte for meaningless rehab starts. If he's ready and feeling good, he's got to start the season with the team. Agree, if he's going to get some starts, there's not much difference between Chicago and Charlotte. The Sox can probably monitor his health better if he's in Chicago anyway.

I doubt the Cards trade Pujols at the deadline. They'd have to be both (1) out of contention for the season, and (2) convinced that they won't be able to re-sign him (a trade would seem to hurt their chances at re-signing him, it's pretty rare to see an impending free agent traded only to re-sign with his old team). I don't see both of those happening.

My best re-sell ever was when the Red Sox were at Wrigley ~ 5 years ago, got through the day they went on sale, bought 6 upper deck reserves for around $100 total, turned around and sold them for $200/ticket. That was a nice return... The Yankee tickets will be the ones in most demand.

QUOTE (WHITESOXRANDY @ Jan 12, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) Is he gonna knock in 35 homers a year for the last 10 years for the Sox this year? What does that have to do with anything? Are you seriously suggesting that it's unreasonable to expect 35+ HR's from Dunn this year? Vlad will be 36 this year. He's the bigger risk, let alone over the next 4 years that we'll have Dunn still in his prime.

QUOTE (WHITESOXRANDY @ Jan 12, 2011 -> 01:26 PM) And, 38 -40 homers is a lot but it isn't 45-55. I think you need to recalibrate your expectations for the PED-testing era -- not many breaking the 35 HR mark. Last year's HR leaders: Bautista - 54 Pujols - 42 Konerko - 39 Dunn - 38 Cabrera - 38 Votto - 37 And Vlad is 5 years older with an injury history, btw.

QUOTE (WHITESOXRANDY @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 11:56 PM) Exactly. And, that's for a guy that can't play a position and has to DH. How in the world is that worth $ 56 mil. over 4 years? This is the list of things that he does well - 40 hrs. and lots of walks. The list of what this guy can't do on a baseball field is a long long list. I think he'll be a pretty good DH but the Sox way overpaid for ths guy. I might have agreed with you 5 years ago, but reliable 40 HR guys don't grow on trees anymore.

They're obviously all out if their careers ended today. Konerko or Ordonez could make it interesting with a strong late-career surge (which are an increasing rarity with PED testing), say 3+ more productive seasons.

Is Konerko a HOF'er? He needs at least a few more strong seasons, but he's currently: 365 HRs, 1861 hits, 1156 RBIs, .280 avg Or how about... Ordonez -- 289 HRs, 2072 hits, 1204 RBIs, .312 avg Carlos Lee -- 331 HRs, 1967 hits, 1192 RBIs, .287 avg

QUOTE (PlunketChris @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 03:45 PM) I could see this happening on the last day of the season, since I imagine that'll be about where they both land. If they each stay on their typical pace, #400's could be pretty close to each other, either end of 2011 or early 2012.

While we're talking about Dunn, Dunn is 46 HR away from #400, Konerko is 35 HR away. Maybe we'll see back-to-back #400's...

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 12:22 PM) The only thing that's relatively inconsistent is the average. Yep, although even that is within a 33-point range over 7 years (albeit a mediocre range).

A thread about "realistic expectations" for Dunn is pretty funny. He's arguably the most consistent player in all of baseball. It's almost freakish, really: 2004 - 46 HR, 102 RBI, .266 avg 2005 - 40 HR, 101 RBI, .247 avg 2006 - 40 HR, 92 RBI, .234 avg 2007 - 40 HR, 106 RBI, .264 avg 2008 - 40 HR, 100 RBI, .236 avg 2009 - 38 HR, 105 RBI, .267 avg 2010 - 38 HR, 103 RBI, .260 avg So let's see, I'll go out on a big limb for 2011: 40 HRs, 100 RBIs, .250 avg, .900 ops, 190 K's.

Garza turned in 3 straight years in the AL East with ERA's under 4.00. He could do really well in the NL.

Thomas is a sure fire HOF'er, and it will happen within the first couple ballots, but I'm not sure about the very first time. While he wasn't hugely popular, if voters are going to keep penalizing players linked to steroids, maybe they'll be even quicker to vote for Thomas. I would bet good money that Thomas gets in before Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Palmeiro, or McGwire. Edgar also isn't a great comparison, Thomas has 200 more hits, 200 more HR's, 450 more RBI's, and 2 MVP awards.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) Exactly. Too bad you just get hindsight arguments all the time on here. JR is quoted on the club saying trading Hudson was "a no-brainer". So to call the trade a reason to fire KW just looks misinformed on a few different levels. +1 It's also funny that the original article criticizes Washington for losing both Jackson and Dunn and ending up with a couple draft picks instead. Well, we're in the exact opposite position -- we got both Jackson and Dunn, and gave up a draft pick to do it (we would have lost Hudson anyway if the Jackson-Dunn trade went through). If Washington was foolish for losing both players, it sure seems like we're the beneficiary in the end. Sure, we could have had Dunn instead of Jackson for a few months last year (not sure that would have gotten us any extra wins since Jackson pitched well), and now we have both for all of next year.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:00 AM) Next Question: Did KW vastly overpay for Jackson, given that he got screwed by Rizzo who backed out of trading him Dunn? If so, what would the market bear for Jackson if we traded him today? Would his price be the same as the Sox paid because that he is still just 27, has wicked stuff, and if some pitching coach could unlock him he could still be an ace? Or would his price be a couple of low level prospects? Do you think that Jackson is what his career has suggested(a #4-5 pitcher) or could he still be better? The reason why I ask is that if the Sox could trade Jackson to the Yankees for a trade deadline Hudson equivalent(such as a guy like Nova) and use that money to sign Soriano, What are they waiting for? My guess is that KW vastly overpaid. Well, Jackson has already lost some value because he's only under contract for another year, as opposed to the year and a half when we traded for him. We got the benefit of having him for last year's stretch run. We also paid a fair amount for that.

I doubt Soriano settles for an incentive-based deal, he's coming off two healthy seasons, right? Maybe he'd take a reasonable 1-year deal ($8M?) to close for a contender and try the FA market again next year, but still seems like a long shot.

Jenks questioned Ozzie's managing. A proportionate response would have been to question Jenks' pitching. Oney took it to another level by getting into personal issues, and it was completely uncalled for, IMO.

The reports on these numbers (Cubs, White Sox, etc) are a little strange. Not really buying it. If he took $1.5M from the Cubs, I'm guessing that if there was a Sox offer for $3.5M, it was pulled once Crain signed.