Vance Law

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Dec 24, 2015 -> 10:58 AM) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/hitters-no-...k-only-decline/ According to this article, the new peak is 26 years old. Gordon had his best year with 6.6 WAR at age 30 Also, "peak" is an absolutely meaningless term. The overwhelming majority of players in the history of baseball never had a "peak" season at 25 or 26 or 27 or 28 that was as good as Ben Zobrist's 5.5 WAR season at age 33. Is this somehow not good because his "peak" 8.6 WAR season came at 28? Also his peak season came at 28 not 26. Josh Donaldson just won the MVP with his 8.7 WAR "peak" season at 29. Jose Bautista's peak 8.1 WAR season came at 31. He also put up 6.4 WAR at 34. Edwin Encarnacion just had his best season at 32. I could go on. "Peak" is not a real word that means anything.

QUOTE (CyAcosta41 @ Dec 24, 2015 -> 08:39 AM) I'm here many years as Cy Acosta and have only posted ~150 times (lurked from 2002/2003 with no account as well). Don't post that often because (a) I prefer reading other's opinions, and (b) I generally only offer my opinion if it's something I feel strongly about. I'm not going to keep flogging this horse, you know. It's personal opinion, armchair GM'ing. If I were Hahn, I'd do X. Well, allowing for the factor that RH certainly has access to a lot of hard info that I'm not privy to that might better inform his subjective opinion, I know that if I were Sox GM, I'm all about locking-up the all-around player Gordon -- reaping the benefit of his defense, left-handedness, all-around strong offensive game, fire on the field, supposed quality in the clubhouse -- then pocketing the savings over an Upton or Cespedes signing for more moves later this year or next year. I agree with you here. I'd be happy with any of those 3 guys. Gordon is probably the smart buy and Sox should exploit that. People worry about his age and potentially declining defense without pointing out that Upton's defense already worse than a not yet declined Gordon. And that Upton might get a 7 year deal compared to Gordon's 5. Gordon's also just as good a bet as any of them to be the best offensive player next year.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 24, 2015 -> 07:39 AM) He's 32, has a world series ring, and sacrificed a few years of free agency with a cheap contract once. He's going wherever the best offer is. I don't think it'll take 9 figures. I'm thinking 4 years and around 60-70 mill. That is simply absurd.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 05:59 PM) I'd offer Gordon 4/70 and if he declines, f*** him and go all in for Cespedes or Upton. Those guys are asking for twice as much as that. And they're not twice as good as Gordon. And I wouldn't bet on either of them to be better than Gordon next year.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 07:57 AM) I think the game plan is to have Melky DH. I don't see La Roche being apart of this team come opening day. Hopefully Avi can learn a few things from Gordon come spring training. (If the Sox sign him) If the Sox go the Cespedes route, I can see them moving Avi to LF and have Cespedes play RF. Giving Avi a starting job is dumber than giving Laroche a starting (platoon) job.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 07:26 PM) Where does this leave Mike Olt? He was always going to be AAA or on another team.

QUOTE (venom4789 @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 03:16 PM) This is literally a marcus siemen 2.0 situation. Everyone thinking we are trading an allstar away. A good person to mention, considering Semien is the same age as Trayce Thompson and the two played together at the lower levels of the minors. Semien got to Chicago for a September callup in 2013 at age 22. It took Trayce 2 more years. Semien's overall line in the minors .272/.374/.465/.839 Trayce Thompson's .241/.319/.429/.747 Semien after some call-ups hit .257/.310/.405/.715 in his first full season in MLB. He'll probably improve some on that. It's tough to make a case that Trayce would ever put up a full season even that good. Thompson is a nice platoon/defensive 4th OF. As an everyday OF, that offense drags his value way down.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:21 PM) I'm looking at OBP type players to help the Sox pathetic offense score some runs. Name one.

Gordon will get 5 years, around $100 million. I'd be happy if Sox went for that.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 02:17 PM) You don't know that. I have a time machine and I went and checked and Upton and Cespedes are both way better than anyone picked 25 or later.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 04:02 PM) Mortgaging future draft picks is not a way to sustaining success. This is way too broad a statement. Particularly in a season (perhaps the only season in the coming years) in which the first round pick is protected. Losing a #30 draft pick to sign Justin Upton or Yoenis Cespedes for 5 or 6 or more seasons is certainly justified and a good idea. Whoever is drafted at that spot or later is guaranteed to be a much worse player than either of those guys.

The common thread among the worst player/playing time/personnel decisions (Kotsay, Erstad, trading away Swisher) of the past decade is Ozzie Guillen.

QUOTE (dayan024 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) Nick Swisher hahaha. Avi Garcia would kill to have a season like Swisher did for the Sox.

A #30 pick isn't worth infinity dollars. At some price and after some combination of moves, Fowler makes sense, but the Sox still need more big improvements across the team. If the only problem was that Avi sucks and everything else was good, then yeah, grab Fowler stick him at a corner outfield spot and that's a nice improvement. But they need bigger improvements overall which is why signing Upton or Cespedes seems a more direct route.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 06:03 AM) Please quit using fielding percentage as if it's a relevant stat. Even if you are going to use it please remember that 2nd and 3rd base are not equals. Last year the average fielding percentage for 2B was .984, for 3B it was .958. Of course his fielding percentage is going to increase the more he plays second. 3B is much harder to play, it requires much quicker reflexes and much longer throws than 2B does. Fielding percentage isn't a relevant stat. But third base isn't harder to play than second base. It's easier. Another way of saying that is "there are more players who can play third base than there are who can play second base." Because they can't cover the ground required at second base. Third base however, will lead to more errors because of the length of the throw and the speed with which the ball gets to the 3b man. Stick Evan Longoria at 2nd base and he'll maybe make less errors. And he'll give up way more hits on all of the balls he can't get to

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 9, 2015 -> 06:50 AM) THis was a smoke screen. You've heard or you're guessing?

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 04:21 PM) @BNightengale: Tyler Flowers, who was non-tendered by #WhiteSox a week ago, now can make total of $13.5 million by catching 120 games a year for #Braves. That's with a 3rd year option worth $4 - $5.5 million.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 05:57 PM) Even Bruce Levine doesn't think they had much salary too add this offseason. I just dont see it. These seem to be their major moves of the offseason. I'm absolutely estactic for that because I'm not sure they'll be much better. Glad I was right in saying Castro had no value. They added $16 million over 4 years with Zobrist minus Castro. That's nothing.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 05:49 PM) Different GM That's true. Stewart has not impressed me either. And now this.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 05:12 PM) That trade literally makes no sense for the Cubs... Cahill is better than Warren, so Warren is useless, and why would they acquire another infielder if they just traded one away and signed another one? I don't get it. Warren certainly pitched well in 17 starts for the Yankees last year. And Cahill is a reliever. I don't get why people thought Castro had surplus value on his contract. Castro isn't making like $3 million. He's making $40 million over 4 years and he hits like dogs***.

Weird overpay from the team who traded Eaton and Skaggs for Mark Trumbo (a DH in the field and can't put up an OPS as high as Eaton). I'm somehow not surprised.

QUOTE (BigFinn @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 05:09 PM) I agree, Castro still has upside, and he can still play shortstop if necessary. And Zobrist plays the outfield. And why would they need Castro to play short, with Russell and Baez? And the important part, Castro sucks compared to Zobrist as a hitter. How do people ignore 2 of his last 3 seasons with a 74 and an 80 wRC+? I know how. If you don't have to watch him suck every day and don't care if he does, then you can just pretend that it didn't happen and conclude that he is very good because "young".

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 08:34 AM) What are the odds that Seager / Urias both hit...slim I would say "good" or "very good" rather than slim. Urias was great at AA at age 18. Fernandez struggled at A- at age 18. Seager forced his way into the starting shortstop job for the Dodgers in a pennant race and put up an .986 OPS for a month at age 21. In what universe are these two both not likely to have MLB success?

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 08:21 AM) Anybody know how his defense is? I believe he won the Japanese equivalent of the Gold Glove multiple times, for what that's worth.

Please no. Cincy will get a big package of prospects for him from someone. He's only around for 2 seasons. This is the exact opposite of the sort of thing we should do.