Vance Law

They have to replace Shark. In a year they have to replace Danks. Why would they also choose to trade Quintana. They would need 3 new starting pitchers in 2 seasons and are any of them going to be as good as Quintana? Nope. "We're going to need 2 new starting pitchers. Let's trade away Quintana too and replace with 3 pitchers who are all worse than Quintana." Does that make any sense or seem like a reasonably likely thing to happen?

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 01:51 PM) http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/152...r-for-white-sox Think they're trying to say something here? The White Sox don't run the site. This is an article by Scott Merkin because he has to fill up space and there is absolutely nothing to write about.

The talk of him accepting the QO is absurd.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Sep 16, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) Wait, this actually f***ing happened? How many damn times does RV have to send a position player out to pitch. IT'S EXPANDED ROSTERS HOW THE f*** DO YOU NOT HAVE A PITCHER READY TO GO IN? As much as anything, he does it to lighten the team's mood when they're getting their ass kicked. It's the smart move.

QUOTE (harkness @ Aug 13, 2015 -> 01:24 PM) He wasn't great but yeah if Abreu doesn't screw up he likely gets the save. The first man that reached he threw a meatball on 1-2 count. Then on a hit and run he gave up a bullet.. so two hits - first and 3rd 1 out. Gives up a line shot for the 3rd out. But he likely should have escaped. Do you mean Flowers? Catcher's interference and passed ball.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 02:37 PM) I just tweeted it when I got the intel in July. Aha. Very interesting.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 02:08 PM) No. I'm just saying that in recent history, us signing old hitters has not gone well. I think if you look at most every team you'll find instances of the same thing. With the specific case of Zobrist, he still hasn't seen his production start to fall and he's head and shoulders above the free agent 3rd basemen as a hitter for his career and for this year. Even if he starts to regress next year he'll still be better than anything we've had since the 1/2 season of Youkilis (an old guy who we acquired who hit quite well for us).

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 01:55 PM) I know how he's doing in 2015. Remember how Adam LaRoche did in 2014? And you didn't answer my question. Maybe he'll go to the Yankees and do great. But if he comes here, I don't see him doing well. So it's the actual jersey that affects players hitting is your theory? The players play great for all the other teams but my favorite team is CURSED just to punish only me?!?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) This is correct. KW signed Melky Cabrera on his own. Supposedly Hahn thought they could have gotten similar production for a lesser price. KW wanted to stand pat in the middle of July to hold out for a last run, Hahn wanted to trade Samardzija in early-mid July. KW decided to wait. Is this from some article? Or is this more insider-isn knowledge?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 9, 2015 -> 01:48 PM) Signing Zobrist to be our starting 3B would not be a smart move. He'll be 35, he's declining, and when's the last time a signing of a 35+ year old for us hit over .250 in his first season? 2015 wRC+ Jose Abreu 135 Ben Zobrist 131 Adam Eaton 112 (Sox 2nd best hitter this year) Sox 3rd basmen 65 (approx.)

QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 07:08 PM) I actually like Zobrist a lot if they can find the money to sign him. He can fill in all over the field and be credible. Better even than credible. He's been as good of a hitter as Abreu this year.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 06:55 PM) Then what would they do with LaRoche? Have him sell tickets in the box office. What the hell do they care? They just saved $30 million on a shortstop they don't want.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 06:55 PM) You guys are on board with Chris Davis being our third baseman? His defense there would be flat out terrible... not to mention he'd be hitting around .225. Zobrist is another player who would likely regress if he comes here. Good god. 1) I wasn't being all that serious about Davis because I'm confident it won't happen. 2) If he really were hitting .225, he'd still be an excellent addition because he leads baseball with 40 home runs. His OPS is .890 or so. 3) He's hitting .256. He's not hitting .225. Why would you randomly make up a statistic rather than just looking it up? All of the numbers are right there inside the computer you are evidently typing at.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 06:26 PM) It's not all about contract, it's also about performance. Reyes is actually decent, despite his contract. You honestly think the Rockies would trade Reyes for LaRoche? I feel ridiculous to even type it out. They absolutely would do that deal straight up without even thinking about it. They'd save themselves $30 million. Reyes is the worst defensive shortstop in baseball not named Marcus Semien and he's making $22 million each of the next 2 years. Rockies would dump him on anyone willing to take him because his contract is a nightmare.

I think all of the Arenado discussion is kind of silly. It's not going to happen. It wouldn't be worth it for the Sox to give up whatever they'd have to to get him. Trading for CarGo, who only has 2 years left and is paid quite handsomely would make more sense potentially, as he'd cost less in trade. Maybe if the Sox can't get one of Heyward, Upton, or Cespedes that could be worth investigating. Todd Frazier only has 2 years left on his deal and the Reds should trade him. But they've said that they won't. Sox should try to get one of those aforementioned outfielders. Try to sign Zobrist to play 3B. If they can't get him, I'd sign Daniel Murphy from the Mets. He's got a career .780 OPS against righties. Platoon him with Saladino if you like. Here's my ridiculous idea as a counterpoint to the Arenado talk. Sign Chris Davis to play 3B. He started out as a third baseman. Played 15 or 20 games there last year. I'll assume he's bad defensively and that 40 home runs probably offsets that. Let half of the year play out. If it's working, keep going. If/when LaRoche is at the end of his leash, Davis takes over DH and backup 1B (he's even played a bunch of RF this year). I can go either way on signing Alexei. I think Saladino can approximate him for no money. I'd at very least bargain Alexei down to $7 million or something. QO to Shark. E Johnson joins the rotation.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 05:36 PM) After 4 lousy years, he's done nothing to justify more time He's terrible at making LaRoche be able to be a major league hitter and Melky and Avi be able to play defense or be league average hitters. He's bad at making Shark not suck in the second half. With Flowers he seems to make him be a good pitch framer/defender and a bad hitter. I have mixed opinions of that tactic. Same with Sanchez. I like that Micah has decided to come back to the major league team and give Ventura another chance at making him able to show any semblance of ability to play second base. I will say with certain players he's very good at making them be good at baseball. Chris Sale for example. I love all the strikeouts he makes him do. He has Abreu hit for average and for power, smart choice by Ventura right there. But why he doesn't just make all of the players be All-Stars...I have no idea.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 11:12 AM) Fool's gold. Hero worshipping...Frankly, I would not exercise the option but try to sign him to a lower figure. If someone wants to pay him $10 million or $9 million, thanks Alexei, despite some of your boneheadedness, you have been a really good player but it's time to move along. Precisely. We don't need to pay him $10 million next year. We can pay him what he's worth, or pay $1 million to play somewhere else.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 09:18 AM) I'll start with this caveat. I think that this off-season may be full of a bunch of moves. I don't see us staying put like we did a few years back with Dunn, AJ, Peavy, etc. and hoping for different results. So a lot of this is hypothetical -- the first domino will have to fall first to see the direction we're headed. However my thoughts ... Alexei since ASB? .301./.342/.473 -- 7 HR, 27RBI, 11 2B, 7 SB. His range is starting to fall off a bit, but I do think he has value on this team. Even at a $10mm option. Replacing 20-25 SB, 30 2B, a good arm, and a smart, reliable player is not that easy. Check out this stat of starting 3B since Crede for the Sox -- it reads like the Bears starting QB since Favre/Rodgers graphic they always show: Gordon Beckham Wilson Betemit Emilio Bonaficio Eduardo Escobar Josh Fields Leury Garcia Conor Gillaspie Orlando Hudson Jeff Keppinger Brent Lillibridge Jose Lopez Dallas McPherson Brent Morel Jayson Nix Mike Ott Ray Olmedo Tyler Saladino Marcus Semien Mark Teahen Dayan Viciedo Omar Vizquel Kevin Youkilis Also look at the 3B free agents ... nothing much prettier than the above. (Chris Davis/Uribe is about it) So with that being said ... (and I'd still love some kind of blockbuster trade where we trade pitching for Arenado, though I know that is dreaming) why not explore Alexei as a stop-gap at 3B? Declining range, still very strong arm, is better IMO than any in house option and most FA. Get to keep the speed he brings to the team, the consistency of him starting 150-160 games, the doubles, etc. This also allows the Sox to move Sanchez to SS, bring up the speed and bat of Micah (though the D comes with it). I do think he has an MLB bat though. It improves the overall team in my opinion. Also gives them a full year to determine who their starting 2B should be moving forward (Sanchez or Micah) when Anderson is finally up. I do think you have to bring in another Power Bat though to offset a weak infield/sunk coast of LaRoche. Ideally Cespedes, shift Garcia to DH. But don't think Uncle Jerry is opening the pocket book on this mess of a team. Not where I thought you were going with this. This won't happen. If Alexei is on the team he'll play shortstop. Sanchez will not be playing shortstop next year. Saladino would play shortstop over Sanchez and if they planned to go with Saladino at short, it would be so they could bring in a better hitting third baseman. Not to flop Saladino and Alexei's positions.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 27, 2015 -> 02:03 PM) For those unwilling to give up draft picks, how do you plan on improving this offense? Trading for established bats is going to cost a lot more than a 2nd round draft pick. And if you say internal options, then you might as well dump everyone and rebuild, because outside of Anderson & maybe Micah we don't have a lot of offensive prospects that are likely to help in the near future. Zobrist and Cespedes are two who will not require giving up a draft pick. If they can get Upton or Heyward or Gordon (I assume he stays with Royals) it's worth giving up a draft pick especially considering they'll get one for giving Shark the QO.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 6, 2015 -> 07:12 PM) If the Pirates move someone from their infield I'd say 80% the odds are it would be Neil Walker, their 2b. Aramis is retiring so he's out of the way, Kang can play an above average 2b, they've got Jordy Mercer who is a solid defensive SS but whose bat has been up and down, and Harrison. Harrison as a super sub is fine and he's great in that role, but Walker is a free agent after next season, which makes him the #1 guy they'd think about moving. Harrison just signed a new deal before this season, so if you want him instead of Walker you're going to have to pay through the teeth for it. Good chance that they'll be looking to see if they can swap Walker for a mid-rotation starter this offseason. Harrison, you're not going to want to hear the price because it won't be a fair one. Good point, I didn't realize they signed Harrison to that deal which they are probably regretting now. Worth 5 WAR last year and .6 WAR and doesn't have a starting job this year.

I like that this at least implies that they don't intend to start Saladino over there next year. I'd be fine with Saladino starting at short if they go that route. But at least they intend to have someone who can hit better than a middle infielder. I'm pretty confident it won't be Olt. I think anyone clamoring for Davidson to be given a shot is legally insane. Davidson is a worse version of Olt, and Olt is a bad enough Olt. If they think Zobrist can handle 3rd (he's played there a bit this year, played a fair amount of SS last year) I hope they do what they can to get him. Other than him on the free agent market there's Daniel Murphy, Juan Uribe, and if you get down to David Freese you might as well just keep Saladino there. I can also imagine that Josh Harrison would be gettable in a trade as he's basically a utility guy in Pirates current setup. He was pretty great when given a full time job in 2014.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Sep 1, 2015 -> 10:58 AM) The fact that this is a thread on September 1st this season depresses me. Also the fact that he could probably slot in play at 3B on this team also depresses me. Saladino is a utility player, have we not all realized this yet? I think it's so blatantly obvious. Even if we don't keep Alexei next year he shouldn't start. It should be Sanchez and Micah up the middle and someone entirely different at 3B. In what universe is Carlos Sanchez a definite starter and Tyler Saladino a bench player? wRC+ Tyler Saladino 63 Carlos Sanchez 63 fWar Carlos Sanchez 0.0 Tyler Saladino 0.4

Coats with his 17th home run is potentially our most intriguing AAA position player (considering Micah's defense)

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 25, 2015 -> 05:08 PM) Johnson: 0 runs through 5 innings. Since the beginning of June (including today's start thus far): 79.2 innings, 10 ER (1.13 ERA), 53 hits, 19 walks, 79 Ks (0.90 WHIP). But sure, let's keep throwing out Danks every fifth day. ERA since the All-Star break Samardzija 6.53 Sale 5.00 Rodon 4.91 Danks 4.13 Quintana 3.38 (not including tonight)

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Aug 22, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) That is true, but FWIW, 18 of his 30 home runs this year are away from Coors Field. He has 8 more AB's at home, but 6 fewer home runs, which is really the opposite of what is should be. The fact that the power is still there away from Coors for him is good. But Coors inflates all types of hitting. In order to compensate for the thin air and the ease with which home runs are hit, they've made Coors is the largest field in baseball. It has the largest area for outfielders to cover, hence more room for the ball to fall in for a hit. So it inflates singles, doubles, triples, and home runs.