caulfield12

What players are we currently looking at with the Phillies? Obviously, Dominic Brown's the name always mentioned, but is there anyone else in play as a possibility? More "major league ready" prospects under club control for 6 years?

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 01:03 AM) Yeah, I was wondering what he's done to build the Royals' system. I'm trying to think of the best piece he sent them. Daniel Cortes? Remember the posts about that guy? http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_...ype='R' His only appearance of the season was against us, for the M's. Amusingly, he was replaced by former Sox hurler DJ Carrasco....oops, Jeff Gray, I mean. He was once a consensus top 40-80 minor league prospect as a starter. He did look pretty decent against us, but he just never developed the full repertoire of pitches needed to have success with the Royals, and that's saying A LOT.

Chris Getz is just a junior version of Aaron Miles, and I remember all the crying over that "loss" when we got the much more important Uribe. Let's see, Pods/Fields/Brian Anderson/Getz/Daniel Cortes/Tyler Lumsden. We've REALLY improved the Royals!!!

Petricka with a nice effort. Looks like they had Hector Santiago limited to a 70 pitch count in his first start since leaving the White Sox. Will be interesting to see where they eventually move Saladino...3B or 2B.

Well, nobody is asking why we didn't/couldn't get Rasmus for Alex Rios yet. It hasn't reached THAT point.

Yeah, we all know about Richard, Hudson and Gio. Blah, blah, blah. But to include Chris Getz as someone we'd actually want on our team is really pushing it. Royals' fans don't even want him on their roster. At least today, we made steps in erasing (partially) the Teahen and Rios mistakes. That only leaves Peavy and Dunn to perform up to expectations. Two very big if's, obviously. And Rios can just pout all he wants until Opening Day, 2012.

What Alex Anthopoulos wants, Anthopoulos gets. And now the Blue Jays’ 34-year-old general manager can add centre fielder Colby Rasmus to the list that also contains the names of Brett Lawrie, Brandon Morrow and Yunel Escobar. The latter three were all Anthopoulos acquisitions, all young players who are controllable with great upside. They are thought to be key pieces of the Blue Jays puzzle and now a fourth and much needed centre fielder has been added. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and afternoon were hairy and frantic ones for Anthopoulos, who engineered the three-way trade that sent six players the Blue Jays way and six players packing, including starting pitcher Edwin Jackson who was acquired then traded again. But for the Blue Jays GM it was all about Rasmus and Rasmus alone. The other players in the deal were of absolutely no concern, they were simply the parts that needed to be moved and acquired to land the grand prize — Rasmus. In the end the deal boiled down to two players that the Jays deemed to be of worth — Zach Stewart and Marc Rzepczynski — for Rasmus. It’s a deal that any GM would make and for Anthopoulos it took a lot of dogged determination and digging around. Toronto Sun

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/27/rasmu...-tony--la-russa

Mozeliak, who began taking offers for Rasmus last week, declined the Tampa Bay Rays’ late bid that included starting pitcher Jeff Niemann, lefthanded reliever J.P. Howell and a prospect for Rasmus. Mozeliak insisted that the Rays surrender one of two other starting pitchers, Jeremy Hellickson or James Shields. "I guess it's a new start for me,” Rasmus said after slipping from the rear entrance of the Cardinals'’clubhouse Wednesday afternoon. “Everything I've known since I got drafted has been Cardinals. I liked the guys. But I guess it's time to move on. Other than that, I don't know if there's much left to say.” Before departing, Rasmus hugged many of his former teammates then exchanged only a brief handshake with manager Tony La Russa, with whom Rasmus never shared a comfortable relationship. Mozeliak described the trade as a “bold” way for the club to fortify itself for this season while also gaining flexibility for the near future. The Cardinals immediately inserted Jackson into the starting rotation and transferred Kyle McClellan to a relief role. Rzepcynski, 25, may become the lone lefthanded reliever for now but is projected by some within the organization as a future starting pitcher. Dotel, 37, offers flexibility from the right side and carries a club option for 2012. If the Cardinals decline Dotel’s option, they would receive at least a supplemental round pick in next year’s amateur draft, or a first-round plus a supplemental pick if he graduates to a “Type A” free agent. "This is a window to win. We feel like we do have some things coming back and draft picks to get in return. Today we feel like we’re a better team than we were yesterday,"” Mozeliak said. “It’s definitely exciting. Like I’ve said, I’m said to see [Rasmus] leave because he’s one of my buddies,” Jay said. “But on the other side of it, we’re making moves to win this year and go on a run, which is huge.That’s what you want from your team.” Jackson was the centerpiece of the deal as Mozeliak conceded the trade would not have been consummated had the White Sox not first dealt him to Toronto. The pending free agent managed a 7-7 record and 3.92 ERA for the White Sox but has been especially effective lately. Jackson is 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA in his last five starts. Jackson also threw a no-hitter last season and has worked more than 200 innings each of the last two years. Said first baseman Albert Pujols: “Until we go out there and go three or four weeks from now, that’s when you’re going to see the results. Right now I assume we can be pretty good, but we’ve known that since spring training.” With Rasmus (.246, 11 HR, 40 RBIs) fighting to reverse a two-month slump, La Russa made clear on several recent occasions that his enigmatic player was receiving instruction from “outside” sources code for Rasmus’ father rather than from hitting coaches Mark McGwire and Mike Aldrete. Before starting to emerge from a protracted slump last Sunday, Rasmus had hit .181 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 177 at-bats since May 14. La Russa thought some of his adjustments “unorthodox.” Club sources thought the simmering issue reached hard boil earlier this month when Tony Rasmus was discovered in the Busch Stadium clubhouse video room after working with his son in the indoor batting cages. A number of coaches and teammates indicated they had exhausted their patience trying to reach Rasmus, who requested a trade on more than occasion last season. Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/pr...l#ixzz1TMxDaBRN

Teahen, while paid like a major league player, simply isn't one. At least not recently. If you play him everyday, you're going to get something like a 700-725 OPS (it has been a lot worse with sporadic playing time in Chicago)...but any "plus" his offense might give you is more than undercut by his atrocious defense. And he's never going to hit well enough to justify a corner spot in the outfield or DH. The Blue Jays have used Encarnacion over there for a while, and both Teahen and EE are the bottom of the barrel among starting MLB 3B. If you platoon him or play him more selectively, he could be a somewhat productive player but he's definitely not the player a rebuilding franchise sticks at the position for the next 3-5 years and then looks at other positional weaknesses to cross off the list. Wherever you put Teahen (3B/1B/DH/LF/RF), you're creating a problem rather than solving one.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 11:33 PM) It's definitely tougher to move Quentin because he and Konerko have supplied most of the power numbers for the offense. Viceido is still a risk, and there's the potential for a significant drop-off. Still, if Williams believes that it's unlikely they will keep Quentin beyond this season, and he can get a team desperate for offense, it's got to be tough to pass on acquiring a prospect who will come cheap for the next several seasons and gives the team a bit of financial flexiblitiy. Yeah, only KW seems to be privy to the "predicted" 2012 budget and whether we can afford to keep Viciedo and Quentin together. Quentin will cost $7.5-9.0 million, arguably. We just shed Quentin's price tag by jettisoning Jackson/Teahen (and eventually Pena/Vizquel), but then we've got all those contracts like AJ's that go way up next year.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 11:24 PM) I don't see how they can trade TCQ at this point. They're 3.5 games back. They just won 4 out of 6 against the division leader. Or lost 15 of their last 21 against DET. Depends on how you look at it. If you do take the 8 losses in a row (2010-11) out, then 6-7 or 4-2 does sound a lot better, right?

Depends on how much salary they have to eat and how much other talent (Thornton/Danks/Quentin) they have to give up. Most would agree that Rios is as close as you can get to a negative "net presence" (especially sulking on the bench, in what looks to be his future role)...but how much is JR willing to eat from his wallet for KW's mistake? It has to sting even more when we undoubtedly could have sold high on him this offseason. Yeah, hindsight being 20/20 and having no replacement beyond DeAza/Danks/Lillibridge, obviously that was a big part of the reason the move wasn't made, too.

A full-on youth movement buries KW more than serving as an indictment of Ozzie. The Teahen trade/s, benching Rios for DeAza...you can't really argue that these are meant to cover up anything that Ozzie has any actual control over. Let's say they go with Viciedo, DeAza, Milledge/Danks/Lillibridge (some combination) in 2012. KW would have to answer for that more than Ozzie. If you look at every single move besides Humber/Santos (not even really trades)...and sure, you might as well include Viciedo if you really stretch it into the KW "plus" column, he's had a long string of demonstrably bad trades and talent assessments.

Yeah, interesting to see if the Phillies/Braves and some of the other rumored Quentin destinations turn out now with Beltran off the market. If Upton's legitimately dangling out there, I would think opposing GM's have a helluva decision because there's so many variables with both Quentin and Upton.

With our offense (as is), you want the guy most likely to limit the other team to 0-2 runs. That's Danks. If you're going for the starter most likely of all to pitch well enough (no matter his stuff) to keep you in the game, then you go Buehrle. With our lack of playoff history, it's probably a better idea to try to take Game 1 and then roll the dice.

Sale better go to Charlotte in the next couple of weeks if they plan on that happening. Just don't see it with how well he's MOSTLY done the last couple of months....especially considering KW might trade Thornton. If his ERA kept climbing to 5 (six weeks ago), then you could see no legit reason not to commence the starting experiment ASAP.

Then we better get some offense out of 3B if we're going to roll with that kind of inexperience in the OF. I can't imagine strong season ticket renewals unless there's at least one significant improvement made somewhere coming into 2012.

KC pitching sucks against the entire AL with the exception of the White Sox Chen will be showing up in KW's offseason nightmares. Maybe Walker's, too.

We can't move Rios unless.... 1) Quentin/Danks/Thornton (possibly 2 of them) are involved 2) We get back a legit CFer as part of the trade...a Rasmus level of player who's fallen out of favor and would still be under club control for 3-4 years. 3) If we give up that level of talent, we shouldn't pay more than $12-15 million of what's left on Rios' deal 4) If you subtract Quentin, you're not going to get enough offense out of Viciedo/DeAza and ??? (Milledge) unless we're getting other players back (CF/pitching/3B)

Danks, with how well he's pitched recently. The problem is you don't want Danks/Buehrle back-to-back, and that leaves you deciding between Peavy/Humber/Floyd to start in between them. If Peavy ever gets his stuff and stamina back, you have to go with Peavy (#2). Probably Humber (at this exact moment), but his last couple of starts have been shaky, and Floyd's Version 1B/2A of Edwin Jackson. It's saying something that we still have 5 (and recently 6) guys you could easily argue should be starting 1-2-3 in a playoff rotation. Of course, there are PLENTY of legit arguments against all 3 of our righties. Peavy, Humber and Floyd.

The Tigers need: At least one stater....after Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello...Penny's more and more questionable and Coke was pulled from rotation To decide how long they can stick with Ordonez as their #3 hitter If Guillen can keep hitting, they're set for the rest of this season at 2B, although they're giving up something defensively. LOTS OF BULLPEN help needed in front of the big guy. I keep hearing he's (Frasor) a Type B free agent but Cot's has us with a club option for $3.75 in 2012 should we choose to exercise that option....which I would be shocked if KW didn't.

And those guys were also moved because of their size and diminishing range. You don't take a position of strength and make it a potential weakness. If you moved Ramirez there and played Escobar, your offense would be killed. And you're simply not going to get a young SS with anything like the upside offensively/defensively with what we already have in Alexei. Not unless we package Danks/Quentin/Thornton in some kind of mega-deal.

baseballamerica trade summary....it has probably been posted but I just got back from Bali and haven't read through the whole thread and might never make it!!! To kick things off, the White Sox traded Jackson and third baseman Mark Teahen to the Blue Jays for Stewart, a promising command-oriented pitching prospect, and veteran righty reliever Jason Frasor, who chews up righthanded batters (.226/.301/.349 in 1,054 career confrontations) but shows no extreme platoon split. Chicago saves more than $8 million in future salary commitments in the transaction, most of the savings resulting from Teahen's $5.5 million salary for 2012 coming off the books. His production, as measured by OPS+, has dropped precipitously in the last three years, falling from 94 in 2009 to 90 in 2010 to 60 so far this season. Remarkably, the 27-year-old Jackson has been traded four times previously, by the Dodgers, Rays, Tigers and Diamondbacks. Not even the magic touch of White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper could help him find the consistency necessary to perform like a steady No. 2 starter this season. Coveting Rasmus, the Blue Jays packaged the newly-acquired Jackson with three others players (plus as many as three more players to be named) to St. Louis for the 24-year-old center fielder who will qualify for arbitration for the first time this offseason. Rasmus has undeniable talent, but he clashed with Cardinals management by, allegedly, requesting a trade on multiple occasions and favoring the hitting advice offered by his father rather than St. Louis coaches. "He doesn't listen to the Cardinal coaches much now, and that's why he gets in these funks, in my opinion," former manager Tony La Russa told MLB.com. ". . . But I actually feel concern for him, because he hears it from so many places, he's got to be confused." Sounds a lot like NICK SWISHER. White Sox Acquire Zach Stewart, rhp Age: 24. Born: Sept. 28, 1986 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 205. Bats: R. Throws: R. School: Texas Tech. Career Transactions: Selected by Reds in third round of 2008 draft; signed June 8, 2008 ... Traded by Reds with 3B Edwin Encarnacion and RHP Josh Roenicke to Blue Jays for 3B Scott Rolen, July 31, 2009. Club (League) Class W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP New Hampshire (EL) AA 5 5 4.20 16 16 0 94.1 106 49 44 6 27 74 1.41 Toronto (AL) MLB 0 1 4.86 3 3 0 16.2 26 9 9 2 5 10 1.86 Stewart works quickly and throws four pitches for strikes, making him a future mid-rotation candidate for Chicago. His fastball features sinking and tailing action at 88-92 mph, while his quality low-80s slider functions as his No. 2 pitch. Stewart worked in a mid-80s changeup more frequently this season with New Hampshire, and he sells the change of pace with good arm speed. He also surprises opponents with a seldom-used curveball. Jason Frasor, rhp Age: 33. Remaining Commitment: $3.5 million salary for 2012 (approximately $1.166 million remains), plus $3.75 million club option for 2012. Contract details courtesy of Cot's Baseball Contracts. Club (League) YEAR W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP Toronto (AL) 2011 2 1 2.98 44 0 0 42.1 38 15 14 4 15 37 1.25 3-Year Totals 12 8 3.08 174 0 15 163.2 142 62 56 12 58 158 1.22

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 27, 2011 -> 04:56 PM) I really get goosebumps when I hear the Sox say that about a pitcher. Didn't they also say that about Marquez, Grilli and Van Benschoten? Joking. The happiest event of the day is KW announcing that Rios will be taking a backseat to DeAza. A couple of months too late, but better now than never.