WCSox

QUOTE (WSoxMatt @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 11:08 AM) does Dave Henderson still do Mariner games?? Niehaus does like 3 innings then disappears for the game IIRC, Mike Blowers is the color guy on TV. And he sucks big-time.

QUOTE (beautox @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) our core going forward would be set DH - Thome C - Flowers 1B - Viciedo 2B - Getz SS - Ramirez 3B - Beckham LF - Quentin CF - Rios RF - Danks/Mitchell I doubt that Thome will be in Chicago past 2010. It's more likely that they extend a much younger and less fragile Paulie.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 10:25 AM) Dye just needs to be moved to DH, or possibly converted to 1B if he can pick up that skill set. If Dye could become skilled at scooping balls out of the dirt, a large target like him might be a plus at 1B. Although I cringe at the thought of his large, aging frame diving for line drives.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 09:41 AM) Left field is usually where your worst outfielder plays, so a move there for Dye could help I guess. Not always. LF is generally where faster outfielders with weaker arms play, whereas RF is where most slower players with strong arms. This is why Dye is in RF and Pods/Quentin play LF. Dye needs to move to DH.

QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 09:13 AM) I think it is a little short of a guarantee, there is a chance (small) he could do better in the off season, with a potentially bigger pool of teams. There's a good chance that Ricciardi won't be working for the Jays anymore at that point. If he wants a supportive letter of rec from his owner, taking $60 million off the books would be a good place to start.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 06:32 PM) but suffer through the Mariner's announcers. No kidding. People who think that Hawk absolutely sucks should listen to a Mariners telecast for perspective. Thanks for the heads-up about Tuesday's game being on WGN. I won't be able to see that one.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 10:08 PM) Javy is just one of those guys that stats people can never understand, and he's the perfect example of why you need to watch a baseball game. His WHIP is always pretty low, his K/9 is always very high, his BB/9 is always very low, so people look at the numbers and can't figure out what is wrong. Whoever it is that has the sig talking about Javy trying to patent the phrase "one bad pitch" and "one bad inning" is right on. He totally loses confidence and faith in his stuff and ends up throwing the wrong pitch in the wrong count (he'll throw a f***ing hanging curve 2-1/3-1 after he'd been dominating with his FB + CH), and often after getting into a jam by walking the speey #1/#2/#9 hitter after going 0-2 on him and then getting fancy trying to strike him out. Very good post. Many people assume that all pro athletes have similar levels of confidence and that they all handle pressure similarly, but it isn't like that at all. I could go on and on about pro athletes in every sport who've thrived under pressure vs. those who've wilted.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 09:42 PM) I don't think there is any idea that we failed with Javy. More like he failed with us, and the Yankees. If the Braves put him in a high-pressure situation, I'm sure that he'll fail with them as well. Peavy's two post-season starts against the Cardinals were indeed awful and he has a lot to prove. That said, he threw that horrible game in the '05 playoffs with a broken rib. And he hasn't gotten the boot from two different teams for being unable to man-up down the stretch.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 02:59 PM) Contreras is inconsistent, sure, but do the likes of Carlos Torres, Whisler, Egbert, Ely, Harrell, etc., have the ability to pitch the way Brandon did down the stretch (along with the Count) in 2005? No, and I don't think that any of those guys are better options right now than Jose. Jose has pitched well at times this year when his command is there. The problem is that it's just not there right now. Colon is likely on the verge of getting DFA'd and I haven't seen Freddy pitch well at the major league level in years. So unless the Sox want to bring up Hudson for a spot start and see how he does, it looks like we're stuck with Jose from here on out.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 01:39 PM) +1 Dye was one of the best all-around players in baseball when he was with the Royals. Injuries and age have caused him to deteriorate, but it's not like he wasn't a stud at one point. Ditto for a lot of guys, like Vladdy and Andruw Jones for instance. QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) Dye actually won a gold glove with his defense back in 2000, not his offense. He used to be a very good defensive outfielder. It's nice to see that other people here actually watched baseball back in the 20th Century. Dye was no Ichiro or anything, but he was A LOT more athletic back in his prime. You'd never know it by watching him play today.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 11:36 AM) The only way we give up prospects is if the Jays kick in cash, which defeats the whole purpose of dumping Rios for Toronto. I agree. Ricciardi has the opportunity to dump ALL of Rios' contract on the claiming team and he's not going to get that opportunity in the off-season, where teams are going to demand some serious cash relief to offset the $60+ million on that deal. Assuming that the Sox won the claim, I could see Kenny throwing Ricciardi a bone by giving him a couple of mediocre prospects in return. But nobody that's projected to be anything special.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 12:31 AM) I'm not sure if this is a serious comment or not but I'll just throw out Nate McClouth's name as a rebuttal. Apparently you didn't watch JD during the first half of his career. I saw a lot of him when he was with the Royals and he was definitely above average in RF. He was still halfway decent in his first year with the Sox but, as is correctly stated in this thread, has lost most of his range over the past few years and looks like he's running through sand at this point.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:21 PM) All he has to do is approve a trade . And i highly doubt he would reject a deal where he goes to a hitter friendly ballpark. Or a competitive organization that's run by a competent GM.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 07:39 PM) He has a combined -74.7 UZR over the last 3 and a half seasons in RF. He's an atrocious defender. It's unfortunate that people listen to Hawk's crackpot opinions because he's wrong a large majority of the time. This is what you originally said... QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 06:30 PM) Lately? He's sucked basically his whole career. Dye has NOT sucked defensively for his "whole career." You may be too young to remember this, but he was a pretty solid defensive player with the Braves and Royals. He won a freaking Gold Glove in 2000.

How'd Bobby look?

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 06:30 PM) Lately? He's sucked basically his whole career. In RF? Not really.

QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 06:36 PM) Imagine the fanbase reaction to letting go of Rios for nothing.... As opposed to all of the impact prospects that a good-but-not-great player with over $60 million left on his contract will garner them? Who is going to give up a halfway decent prospect to take on a contract like that? If Ricciardi wants good prospects, he's going to have to offer cash in return.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 06:18 PM) Riccardi should hold out until the Tuesday deadline to try to get something. If KW doesn't want to budge, then he doesn't have to offer up anything and he can let J.P. decide if he wants to move that contract. Everyone in MLB seems to think he should. Oh, he should absolutely try to get something out of it. He'd be a bad GM if he didn't. If I'm an owner who wants to dump payroll and Ricciardi's my GM, I would've been pretty pissed about him not moving Halladay at the deadline. If somebody put in a claim for an overpaid $60 million player on my books, I *demand* that Ricciardi let him go by the Tuesday deadline, and I fire him if he doesn't.

QUOTE (AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 06:13 PM) I'm not denying that we put the claim in, but rather Rios physically being a White Sox. If we put in the claim, Ricciardi could just say "OK, here you go" and we'd literally have to take Rios. So if somebody put in a claim for Rios, my guess is that he's out of Toronto by Tuesday afternoon. If Ricciardi pulls Rios back, he should be fired on the spot.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 11:20 AM) Even if the Sox did acquire Rios, Podsednik wouldn't have to sit all that often. You'd spend the final 50 or so games rotating Podsednik, Quentin, Rios, Dye and Thome between 4 positions getting everyone some much needed rest. More or less. I'd expect to see Rios in CF and Pods in LF for most games. With Quentin playing on an injured foot and putting up a sub-.300 OBP since coming back last month, my guess is that his playing time takes the biggest hit and that he spends a lot of time spelling Thome at DH. I'd love to believe that Wise gets DFA'd, but history has shown that Kotsay will most likely get the short end of the stick. If I understand the waiver rules correctly, the Sox are pretty much going to be stuck with Rios if Kenny indeed did claim him. Ricciardi has about zero incentive to pull him back, as he'd never get anything of value for Rios in the off-season either and any potential suitors would almost certainly demand salary relief as well. Since putting Rios on waivers is a salary dump on the Jays' part, this is Ricciardi's best chance of achieving that goal. I'm not understanding the Jays going after Jason Bay next year. That would essentially add Rios' salary back to their books. Having played for the Pirates for several years, I also don't see Bay wanting to play for a team that's dumping payroll like mad and will almost certainly trade Halladay before next August.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:36 AM) Here's something interesting I just looked up. Remember last season when the Twins claimed Jerrod Washburn on waivers? There were many who speculated Seattle would just let him go, but they pulled him back after a trade couldn't be agreed upon. Washburn comes back this season and has a real nice year, and is traded at the deadline for 2 pitchers without much major league experience. Luke French and some A ball guy. Was this wait worth it for Seattle? Contending really was a pipedream. Although they did get 2 pitchers, wouldn't they have been better off saving or reinvesting the almost $10 million they wound up paying Washburn? Considering Rios is owed a lot more than that, I think if the White Sox claimed him, they are going to get him. You're probably right. Kenny wouldn't have put in a claim for him if he wasn't prepared to eat all $60 million of that deal, and the Jays have little incentive to pull him back. QUOTE (beck72 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:38 AM) Do the names Randy Winn, Bobby Abreu, Coco Crisp, Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Johnny Damon, Matt Holliday, Mike Cameron do anything for you? Only Holliday and Bay seem like good long-term investments. And there is going to be a huge bidding war over those two, so good luck with that. Abreu would be a nice stopgap, but the Sox are better off going with somebody younger, IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:08 AM) But if they can't pull him back a second time, whoever claimed him the second time would get him for nothing, so I don't see what that would accomplish for Toronto other than having to pay Rios a few more weeks to play meaningless games. I would imagine if all that has been speculated is true, Rios either winds up a White Sox or spends the rest of the year at the very least, in Toronto. Even if Detroit wanted to trade for him, what would they give up for a guy owed at least $60 million? It can't be much, and if they are looking for Toronto to provide salary relief, wouldn't just letting the team that claimed Rios assume the entire contract be more attractive than eating $10-20 million just to acquire some middle of the road prospects? Agreed, but I wasn't making this point about Rios specifically. My point was that the August waivers process isn't a one-chance deal. Obviously, Rios' contract makes his situation a lot different. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:11 AM) Well, he can get out of the Rios contract if he wishes right here, and if not trading the best pitcher in baseball makes you a bad GM, it may be one of the more difficult jobs ever created. The Wells deal was bad, but every GM has given bad contracts. Maybe not 9 figures bad, but as I said earlier, if Toronto was in the AL Central, they would be right in the race right now, if not out in front. When you're the GM of a floundering team and your owner directs you to dump salary ASAP, you make the Halladay deal at the point of his highest value (last Friday). You don't let your ego get in the way because a few GMs are refusing to deal their future studs (Kershaw, Beckham, etc.). The Jays are now stuck with paying Halladay's salary for at least the rest of the year AND will get less talent in return when they eventually deal him. Agreed that the AL East is a tough place to succeed. But the Rays were in an even worse situation going into last year, both financially and from a fan support perspective. And look at where they are now. The difference is that they amassed a ton of young talent, while Ricciardi tried to build his team by paying veterans top dollar. Honestly, I don't think that Ricciardi would've done a better job with the Mets than Omar Minaya has. Their approaches to building teams are very similar.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 09:02 AM) It doesn't make him a bad GM, but these days, being the GM of the Blue Jays is almost masochistic. You're setting yourself up to fail. You're right. The contracts that he gave to Wells and Rios, and his refusal to deal Halladay at his peak value, make him a bad GM.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:44 AM) Once a player's been put on waivers and a claim has been made, a move has to made on that player--traded only to the team that claimed him, brought back from waivers, or released. That player cannot be traded to another team for the rest of the season. The rules are different as far as waivers is concerned after Aug. 1 than it is before that date, IIRC. Are you sure about that? What I've read explains it a little differently... Unless Rios has been pulled back once already this month, he can be placed back on waivers again. It also sounds like Kenny is running the risk of getting stuck with all $60 million of that contract. Uggh.

So, Ricciardi strongly infers that Dunn doesn't have an passion for the game, says that he doesn't want to get into specifics, and then infers that his problem is with Dunn's batting average. At best, Ricciardi has problems keeping his cool under pressure. I've never heard Kenny throw a player that he doesn't even know under the bus, so this comparison is pretty silly.