spiderman

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 12:25 AM) The question is in the title. Why should they keep him? Why should they not? You know where I lean, but as an economist, that always garners an "it depends." I'm drunk and bored and want to light a fire. I like chaos. But seriously..why not? I've been away. Talk to me goose. He may have the best contract in baseball, and is an elite, #1 type starter. He's still young as well. Any team that wants him would have to have an elite farm system, and I would want 5 of their top prospects. This would include young, talent in the majors as well. Even if there's wiggle room on the number of prospects to be returned, and the exact prospects, a team that wants Chris Sale would have to move it's most prized pieces for him, and that's not something some teams would probably do. By my above requirements, it would be very tough to move Sale to all but 10 teams (and that number is probably generous) amongst teams with strong minor league systems like the Cubs, Astros, Red Sox, Twins, Pirates, Mets, Dodgers and I'm sure there's another team or two, but it's difficult to get true value for Chris Sale given that the other team involved is unlikely to move as many pieces as the White Sox would want. It is frustrating to see the position that the White Sox are in. They have the makings of a pretty good pitching staff with some questions, but the hitting (middle of the order)/defense and the gaping holes all over the field really make it difficult to compete with the team unlikely to be big spenders as probably exploring more of the bargain additions this off-season.

If the consensus is that Carlos Sanchez is the 2B for next season, does Fernandez have the ability to play defensively elsewhere?

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) Sluggers Chris Carter, Pedro Alvarez could help #WhiteSox but not with Adam LaRoche on books for $13 million -- unless Alvarez can play 3B. How does Alvarez grade out defensively at 3B?

Does Carlos Sanchez grade out as a good defensive 2B? How does he project defensively at SS? I'm not convinced at all that he has a major league bat that can be in the lineup everyday, but he could be a 1 year stop-gap at SS (while waiting for Anderson) if there were to make a move for Fernandez. How much money will this cost? Is he a good offensive player, more of a defensive player, etc?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 08:43 AM) For those who don't think the White Sox are or have been rebuilding, here are the players still with the team who were with the team in 2012: Sale Quintana Danks Jones Are they rebuilding in a traditional way though? Clearly there is a lot of turnover, but how much talent is coming form their minor league system?

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 07:41 AM) I would say this dramatically lowers the chances that the Sox deal Sale, and slightly lowers the the chances that they deal Quintana. You don't sign two veteran catchers with limited upside to one year deals if you are trying to rebuild. I would hope that signing two platoon catchers wouldn't preclude the White Sox from trading Quintana (if they thought this trade would help them).

If Hahn is ready to quickly add another catcher, I think this implies free agency. If they add Navarro, they will have cleaned house on the previous year's catchers, but there's no definitive way to say the position has changed much, for good or bad.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 12:51 PM) I clicked the link, a window opens but the page never shows up. Anyone care to summarize? Anyway. The idea of trading LaRoche is a novel one, I mean, like that hadn't been thought of already. As others have said, who the hell would want LaRoche? Nobody. Just accept that at this point LaRoche is not tradable and will be on the 25 man roster come opening day. Maybe LaRoche gets some at bats and hits well enough to be traded July/August but otherwise I've accepted he will be with the Sox next year and only LaRoche can change that. Just to show how much negative value LaRoche has, the Pirates are speculated to non tender Alvarez. A guy that actually hit 27 HR's with an OPS near .800 and expected to earn just over 8M. LaRoche is going to make 13M coming off a season in which he hit 12 HR's and a .634 OPS. What team would be dumb enough to trade for LaRoche and why? No team will take him based purely on a want; it would have to be to trade one bad contract for another, and hope a change of scenery makes a difference. I haven't looked, but I'm not even sure what teams have gaping holes at 1B (or DH) and who have a similar player/contract to exchange back at a position that the Sox can use (3B/SS probably).

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 12:33 PM) I think the adjustments you mentioned were a big part of it, but I don't think was healthy last year either, at least in the 2nd half of the season. Honestly, unless a team is willing to take on a good $8M or so of his deal, there is no reason to move him right now. I'd rather give him a few months to start 2016 in a strict platoon scenario and with a good portion of his starts at 1B. If he flops again, then move Melky to DH full-time and give Trayce an opportunity as an everyday regular. I'd also like to get him more games at 1B, even if it's 2-3 games a week on the field. Obviously, if he doesn't produce, then he goes to a occasional DH/backup/pinch-hitting role, but he probably needs extended at bats to find out either way if he'll be more productive.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 12:28 PM) that is not the sox way, esp with the sox ownership and most importantly, the size of his contract that they will expect to eat. It would be extremely unlikely for the White Sox to pay for him to play elsewhere; the best chance is finding a team who has a need for him (insert joke), and having a similarly unproductive player who could fill a need for a year for the White Sox.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 11:24 AM) but the main question will be to whom??? what team would trade for him. Who would want an aging 1B/DH type who is coming off a bad season? Even if there were interest, the White Sox would have to take back a similar contract OR pay for him to play elsewhere. They are probably better off using him as a 1B and DH 4-5 days a week. I'm still in full support though of making him earn at-bats (i.e. if Micah Johnson can hit, he should play, and that can eat into La Roche's DH time), but between 1B/DH, he can still get a good amount of at bats since this team does lack something he can provide in his power.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Nov 27, 2015 -> 08:25 AM) I would explore Longoria + for Q +. Sox need a big bat before or after Abreu, preferably LH, but I would consider this if I was Hahn. Is Longoria still in his prime or declining? He's definitely durable, but is now 30 years old. However, if he does 3-4 more good years left in him, that's the kind of move the Sox need - a middle of the order hitter.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 26, 2015 -> 06:58 PM) Because he's not very good and will cost a legitimate prospect like Micah. And Oakland will do with Micah what Don Ventura will not do: play him and watch him hit. And I'm sick of deals with Oakland. They never turn out well. If Micah can hit and his healthy, and we know this White Sox line cannot, he has to make the team and be in the lineup, whether it's 2B or DH 4 times a week.

There's probably a decent chance the Sox do acquire one of these two guys. They have a gaping hole at 3B that isn't going to be filled internally. I would be shocked if they weren't at least exploring a deal here. I don't know that the free agent market is going to solve any problems either especially if they have to overpay on a 3 or 4 year deal to land anyone. Lawrie's age is intriguing, but he hasn't been that good. That's the issue with finding a potential solution like him. They are probably better with him than not, and they aren't going to have a perfect lineup, but if they acquire Lawrie, I'm ok with it, but they still need to find some middle of the lineup hitter as well.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Nov 25, 2015 -> 10:45 AM) Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 10m10 minutes ago Look beyond Alex Avila's stats. He's more than that. It's a crafty David Ross-type signing. Hahn calls him a "well-respected leader." I don't get this comment unless he's playing 1 day a week because a guy like Montero is ahead of him on the depth chart. If he's a great leader, that's great, but they need more production from that position. He's probably going to play 2-3 a week so his role on the field is going to be much more important than Ross.

Was hoping to keep him around, actually swung the bat well for the White Sox. Did the Angels overpay?

Sounds like a good gamble to take; upside is there if they can fix some of the control issues, and give the Sox reliever option should they make any bullpen trades.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Nov 17, 2015 -> 03:16 PM) you think the league asks the teams to not annouce any deals during these silly awards announcements? Doubtful. I think the market just takes time to develop and, so far, it has been an active trading market.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 11:59 PM) If the Sox decide to go through another rebuilding year, then they have no need for David Robertson. What do you think they could get for him, if he were to be traded? I don't believe the White Sox think they are rebuilding; I think they see themselves as positioned for an upward movement in standings if they can reverse some of their trouble positions where they got next to no production all season at 3-4 different spots. If they were to move Robertson, I'm sure they sell it as still trying to win while improving the future, but I think it's tough to move proven veterans and open up another hole, all while trying to win, even if they do trust a guy like Nate Jones to inherit the role that Robertson would have had. The consensus that I've heard (and maybe others have heard the same or different) is that Boston gave up too much for a closer, a guy who pitches around 70 IP a season so I doubt they would be overwhelmed.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 11:28 AM) at least 2, you should have a 1b, dh, a 3b at least. Problem is, they probably need to rely on bounce back seasons from La Roche / Garcia / Cabrera to address some of the middle of the order issues.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 16, 2015 -> 06:25 AM) the fascination of getting cargo is beyond me. second, they, Col wants to do a fire sale for prospects, they don't want to trade their prospects. I'm not on this bandwagon, but I do get the point of adding a middle of the lineup hitter. They probably need 2 legitimate middle of the lineup hitters this off-season to go with Abreu. Melky Cabrera could be one of those guys, but he's not a big HR guy which this lineup needs.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 07:33 PM) Dan Hayes to be on 890 wls shortly to talk sox. The interviews on 890 AM are typically 4-6 minutes long, and the hosts are using moving these along so quickly because of an upcoming commercial break that there's no point to even having guests on since everything is so rushed. I didn't hear this interview, but my guess is that it's very high level (White Sox need more hitting, have holes to fill etc. and will look to address them this off-season)

The free agent market just develops slower even though we can probably make educated guesses as to where interest will come from on some of the top free agents. I know the agents have a larger role in baseball than in other sports because there is no cap so that probably is a big reason for why the market develops slower, and some teams may not want to set the market, and/or explore the trade market, get a feel for other team's strategies at the upcoming winter meetings with other teams. Why else does the off-season in MLB because a 1-2 month timeline for most of the major moves whereas football/basketball have this sorted out in just a few days (or less than 2 weeks in most cases)?

There's no possible way the White Sox could ever get true value for Sale. They'd have to find a team that is so stacked at the minor league level that they'd be willing to trade (and probably destroy) their top prospects for him. These top prospects can't be from a team like the current White Sox system; they would have to come from an organization that has 4 or 5 top 50 MLB prospects, and it's hard to argue that the White Sox shouldn't get all of these prospects back. Even if the White Sox were more focused on getting major league talent back, you're still talking 1-2 top young pieces plus minor league talent from that top 50 MLB list. It's just extremely unlikely that the White Sox will be able to find a team willing to move as much as they should seemingly ask for.

Wouldn't he be the type (amongst the available talent) of impact player that the lineup needs? They have holes in the lineup at C, 2B, SS, DH and 3B with some questions in the OF, but this lineup is missing run producers outside of Abreu (and possibly Cabrera).