caulfield12

OzzieWorld, lol? Well, David Wells was also "coaxed" out of retirement by KW, and he was/is also a former Yankee, so perhaps stranger things have happened in the history of baseball. As far as Ramirez and Dye being expected to put up similar numbers in 2009...well, I'll leave that for others to decide. It would be a huge gamble. There's no doubt about that. And I haven't even really seen the question posed to KW or Ozzie in the last 2-3 weeks, when it's become more and more obvious that no team will give him more than 2 years at $20 million plus, nor are many teams capable of dealing with "Manny Being Manny" playing on a one year deal if he's not happy with anything at all around him. However, KW and Ozzie have pretty healthy egos...I think there's a part of them that believe they could control/manage him. Whether that's true or not, I have my doubts. David Wells was a disaster from the beginning of his White Sox tenure, and Albert Belle wasn't as helpful as his statistics would indicate either. It's not quite so crazy as Bonds or Sosa...I don't know, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, if there's a team out there willing to bite on Dye for young pitching. I would be pretty surprised if KW offered Dye for Jackson to the Rays and was turned down in favor of Matt Joyce, but stranger things have happened this offseason I suppose. If that is/was the case, maybe we're overvaluing Dye a bit...or maybe overvaluing him because he's more valuable to the White Sox because of our stadium then he would be to almost any other team in baseball.

Marti was 1-0 with two saves and a 0.00 ERA in 12 2/3 innings during four games in the inaugural WBC, when Cuba finished second to Japan. The right-hander joined Daisuke Matsuzaka and Chan Ho Park as the all-WBC pitchers. Marti and his teammates were welcomed home as heroes after the event, climbing aboard a convoy of green military jeeps and parading through Havana’s streets. Marti talked publicly about how Cuba would seek revenge during the 2009 WBC and he was expected to again be one of the national team’s stars in the tournament this spring. But Friday’s announcement virtually guarantees neither he nor Gomez will play baseball for Cuba again in any capacity. The 29-year-old Marti began his career with the island’s top baseball league in 1999 with the Metropolitanos of Havana, the capital’s second-tier squad. He was a short, thin prospect who scouts thought did not have the physical stature to become a star, but his excellent control and craftiness on the mound helped him win a spot on the Industriales in 2002. from havanajournal.com Actually, I think a lot of people project Marti as a 4th/5th starter type or reliever (think Contreras)...not overwhelming stuff, but very crafty and wily (like a position player being a grinder I guess). FWIW, he was considered Cuba's best pitcher at the first WBC but then was left off the Olympic team's roster under somewhat mysterious/murky circumstances (although maybe he has slipped and some would argue he didn't deserve to make the team on its merits, other argue for the political/defection/punishment angle). The hilarious thing is a lot of Yankees fans want Gomez to be their starting CFer (don't think THAT will happen) and they're worried about losing him to the White Sox, even though they've spent more money this offseason than about 20 franchises do over the course of two full seasons.

Are you sure about that? When you say "support staff," do you mean specialized coaches (like position coaches) and trainers? I would think the average NFL coaching staff soaks up a much bigger percentage of overall payroll than a baseball one...although maybe the average baseball manager's salary is 1.25-1.5X as much? Then again, there are quite a few very highly paid NFL head coaches, and their coaching staffs are also tremendously costly, because their contracts give them a lot of freedom to bring in their own people and pay them top dollar. As far as concessions, parking, and the day-to-day overhead, like police/security, ushers, etc., obviously much much higher for MLB teams....who don't generate much revenue for many of their weekday and non-summer games.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:39 AM) Again, the Sox are not being left behind here. Other than the Yankees, NO ONE is making huge moves. This is the nature of the market this offseason - it will be late and cheap. January should be very interesting. If we signed Pettitte or Mussina (less likely) for something like $10-12 million per season, I think we'd immediately jump to co front-runners in the AL Central. Along with bringing in Manny Ramirez and moving Dye for pitching...there's almost no market for Manny right now, only the Dodgers (and they still have the almost impossible task of moving Pierre and A. Jones) and the Red Sox (that's going to happen, not!) being the teams in the best position to bring him into the fold. KW would be in a great position to make a 1-2 year offer. The only problem, and it's huge, is the last time the White Sox tried this, his name was Albert Belle, and he put together one of the most statistically misleading seasons in the history of baseball.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:26 AM) It really doesn't matter what the team looks like now as far as what it will look like on opening day, and maybe KW feels he has a much better chance of pulling off whatever his plan is by not being in the news. What does hurt the White Sox now is the fan who has been contemplating buying season tickets for a few years. Saying you're slashing payroll and going with young guys who have failed before doesn't sell season ticket packages. Of course if his big moves are made a month or two from now, those packages could be sold then, but you always risk that money that was going to be spent on White Sox tickets being spent on something else. Maybe the fan decides, I'll get a big plasma and home theater system instead and watch Hawk and Stone. I don't know what the traditional White Sox balance is between season ticket holders/corporate/sponsors and walk-up gate, but, with the exception of the 2006 season, I think the Sox fans are traditionally a late May through mid-September crowd and they're mostly driven by competitive baseball, and, to a lesser extent, promotions like fireworks night/s. Sure, right now, the situation doesn't look very hopeful (at this precise moment), but we're much better off for having made the playoffs than had the season ended up with disappointment and resignation. Even if the fans stay home and start to watch WGN broadcasts, that's still putting revenue in the club's coffers...maybe the effects won't be so immediate. Maybe there are many fans waiting for a move to be made (something like Manny Ramirez and Dye traded, something very dramatic) like David Wells in 2001. I'm not sure. It definitely feels like a wait and see type of attitude by most of the fanbase. Hopefully, guardedly optimistic but also with the 2007 season not completely eviscerated from the memory banks either.

This isn't like 2007 because I doubt Andy Gonzalez and Wasserman will be playing starring roles. If Fields and Owens didn't work out, we have multiple position player options...especially to cover for Josh. CF still remains a hole, though. No matter what, we have a lot more flexibility than in 2007 (the only bad contracts on our books are Contreras and Konerko/Thome, sort of) and our farm system has improved immensely. There was a sense at that time that we might be looking at a 3-5 year rebuilding process, and the Indians and Tigers looked very formidable going forward, to go along with the always pesky Twins. If we're anywhere close at the break, we have more financial flexibility and the minor leaguers to get almost any impact hitter or pitcher we want. That hasn't been the case for quite awhile. It is interesting to ponder whether or not the White Sox would have been able to cut the budget relatively quietly had the economy not gone into tank? Or was this KW's way of simply taking advantage of the pending loss/es of Thome/Dye and eventually AJ and Konerko, one year earlier, with the getting younger/leaner/hungrier/more athletic theme juxtaposed with that a similar image for all of corporate America (like the auto manufacturers)? However, Sox fans have seen the "These Kids Can Play" approach once or twice in their lifetimes, and it only works once with most diehard Sox fans. KW knows this. I think the lack of movement (and there's still around 150 players out there, like Hudson and Roberts via trade) is all of the GM's simply waiting for the tide to flow in their direction, with players like Manny Ramirez eventually realizing the market won't be set by the remaining players...that, in fact, it will be a game of musical chairs and no players/agents will want to be left standing out in the cold. I'm especially curious to see where Cabrera does end up. I bet he and his agent are getting a bit nervous now...his situation could even go into Spring Training, when a team possibly loses their starter to injury and has to gamble on Cabrera for a one year deal.

Cubano, do you have any kind of update on 20-year old CFer Felix Perez?

Shouldn’t the Nationals fans (all four of you) be angry that their team had a 2007 payroll of $37MM when the organization made $43.7MM? To me, that’s far more offensive than what the Steinbrenners are doing. My note, Lerner's $3.5 billion makes him the second richest individual owner in the game. The Nationals, Marlins, Mets, and the White Sox all made over $30MM a piece. So all that will end up happening in a luxury tax scenario is a redistribution of wealth among the owners - from ones willing to spend to the ones that don’t. This doesn’t sound like it’s in the best interests of baseball.

Whatever happened to the speedy/toolsy OF that was showcased by Torres along with Viciedo in the Dominican Republic? Can't remember his name...but I think he was a younger/rawer player than Ramirez (early 20's?) and obviously the sidelight to the Viciedo showcase. Okay...looked it up and found it, Felix Perez, according to Torres, he was "supposed" to sign within two weeks of the Viciedo DR tryout and had a lot of interest. But nothing since on this kid.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/...igned_teixeira/ Interesting article. Does anyone know where there's a chart that shows the percentage of payroll versus revenues for all MLB teams in 2006/07/08? I'm always thanking my lucky stars that Carl Pohlad runs the Twins more like Loria and less like Reinsdorf or we'd be in even more trouble. Sometimes it works (taking Mauer instead of Prior), other times, not so much (the long list of bargain-basesment free agents that have flopped).

Yeah, what's our best news of the week/s here exactly? Eider Torres playing so well in Winter Ball that he might put himself on the radar screen for a utility position, potentially fighting it out with Getz and Lillibridge? Or Taveras and Cabrera signing with teams other than the White Sox? White Sox also apparently not kicking the tires on Randy Johnson or Brad Penny? What's next? An under-the-radar Pettitte or Mussina signing for $10 million (2009 season only) to shock us all?

The only thing we can say is that unless we knew if Marquez was 100% healthy or not last year, it's hard to use that one particular season against him, just like Lillibridge. If they were healthy and continued to progress, neither would have been available in trade, in all likelihood. So they just fall into the category of typical KW "reaches" that more often than not work out. Yes, he could be the next Sisco/Aardsma/Masset, but he could also turn into a "serviceable" (4.50-4.75 ERA, .500 record) fifth starter. Nobody particularly likes the fact that right now he's seeded as the 4th, but the expectation is certainly for Poreda one day to be at least a #4, passing pushing Marquez back in the imaginary pecking order.

I think there are quite a few who might rather have everyday players in D. Young or Hermida than a closer...it's an interesting argument at least. Also, if you said take one of the Eastern, Southern or Texas League Top 10 prospects from one of those same years, it might be a different story. Many times, All-Stars are picked based one season's accomplishments, but they are not usually selected as All-Stars based on their MLB potential. Sometimes a first-rounder will win a vote, but usually the most deserving players (statistically) make it, and many of them are future MLB players, but probably not more than 50-65%.

Just because we're going young doesn't mean we should go young at every single position. If there's one place we should feel pretty secure, it's having Alexei Ramirez in the prime of his career playing SS at one million per year. There's no better bargains in baseball right now than Ramirez, Danks and Quentin.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 19, 2008 -> 11:39 AM) You are out of your mind, you just named 2 of the best managers in the game as overrated. And thats not YOUR response, thats a response from a writer and you posted it. There are many different perceptions out there about Scioscia than him being the greatest thing since Kimbo Sliced bread. His teams have terribly underachieved in the playoffs since 2002, almost as bad as the Cubs have. Especially considering all that talent in their organization and the rising payrolls under Arte Moreno. I don't think at least half of the Twins' fanbase (from reading their boards quite a bit) thinks Gardenhire is the greatest. They still attribute the success of team to Tom Kelly, the "Twins' Way" in their minor league system, etc. For whatever reason, they've held him responsible for their poor record once they reach the playoffs. Gardenhire made plenty of horrible decisions with his bullpen this year...just like Ozzie is always accused of doing...because when you only have Guerrer/Crain/Bonser/Bass as your "go to" guys and not Hawkins and Romero (like 2002-2004), managers look DUMBER. Just like Ozzie did in 2006 and 2007, but he's a BAD manager, MANY say, but Gardenhire's great. When you look at their pythagorean averages (which is one of just many measure, but Phil Rogers is a believer in it), Guillen comes out ahead of Gardy.

Sure it's not ORLANDO Cabrera? Cepeda?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb...,5645491.column Here's my response about Scioscia, who I sometimes think gets overrated by White Sox fans (like Gardenhire as well) and underrated by Angels' fans and beat writers (just like Ozzie). According to Joe Christensen and La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins have expressed interest in Japanese pitchers Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara. The authors suggest Kawakami could allow the Twins to trade a starter, while Uehara may enter the Majors as a reliever. The Twins' interest in Kawakami first surfaced back on Tuesday. Teams such as the Orioles, Cardinals, Braves, Red Sox, Mets, and Giants have also been linked to him. Another note from Christensen: the Twins have expressed interest in Brett Tomko. :-) Please, sign Tomko and trade Slowey/Blackburn/Perkins!!! Of course, that might be bad if they actually dared to trade for say, Adrian Beltre, with that young pitching.

No, the Red Sox are calling his bluff. They won't go over 8 years and over $22 million per season. I think $160-170 will be the range for the final number. They're going to sit back and wait for TEX to decide between the Angels (wrong coast, how much does he like the tightly-controlled Scioscia atmosphere) and playing on the Red Sox, unless the Yankees throw money at him at the last second....I just can't see him pulling an A-Rod and going to BALT or WASH just because of pure dollars, but, then again, he's a Boras client. Stranger things have happened. I can't even imagine the White Sox paying Pujols $22 million at this point.

Carrasco's still on the official roster and not on the MLB list of non-tendered players...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Arqc...o&type=lgns

So, to review, Atlanta spent six weeks and two days negotiating a Peavy trade in October and November. The Braves thought they were moving close to a deal, but the Padres kept changing names on them. They thought they had a deal with Furcal, only to have that blow up amid what appear to be highly questionable -- and likely unethical -- circumstances. "It makes it difficult to do your business when a lot of times in this game you're dealing with people who either won't make a deal or can't make a deal," Wren said. They did acquire starting pitcher Javier Vazquez from the White Sox earlier early this month. "Thank goodness for Kenny Williams," Wren quipped, referring to Chicago's GM. scott miller, cbssportsline.com Let's see if we're (SoxTalk) still saying that at end of the 2009 season.

According to Yahoo's Tim Brown, the Angels are nearing a three-year agreement with free agent outfielder Juan Rivera. Brown says the Halos are pursuing other free agents as well and operating as if Mark Teixeira will sign with the Red Sox. GM Tony Reagins has talked to the agents for Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, and Adam Dunn, but not Milton Bradley. The Angels may also sign a closer, and Brian Fuentes makes sense.

Who are you willing to give up for McLouth? Are you willing to trade Fields and/or Poreda, knowing/assuming that KW isn't going to give up Viciedo or Beckham?

Well, basically the Yankees bid against themselves (upping by $21 million) because they knew they couldn't sign Sabathia at the same dollars as a West Coast team, closer to his home. Same thing with the Orioles/Nats and TEX...except in reverse, he wants the Nationals to pay a "bonus" for going to a non-contending team, as illogical as this might be, because any extra monies spent on signing TEX would be money (just like in Texas with A-Rod) that would prevent signing other players, thus keeping them essentially non-competitive because of too much invested in just one player (unless he's Pujols, Sizemore, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, etc.) at a non-premium position like SS or CF.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Dec 16, 2008 -> 03:01 PM) Make it happen Kenny! We need a RHP with serious upside to fill out the rotation for '09 and beyond. I love the idea of Abreu as our #2. Now, a little dreaming. The scenario as we end July and enter August of the '09 season: Let's assume Viciedo excels in B'Ham, thriving in the warm Alabama sun despite the park's dimensions, and mostly avoiding the moonpies. Beckham does what I expect him to do, which is kick ass and force a May or June callup. Poreda looks real good at Charlotte, enough to be called up in July. Bailey being groomed to enter the rotation after excelling as the long man in the pen. lA lineup and rotation could emerge that could kick ass for the stretch run. Also, Fields does well enough in early months to warrant serious trade value before the trade deadline, and KW lands more pitching/prospects, and making room for Viciedo, whose fielding in the minors is surprisingly crisp. The major league club has performed well to this point, with Getz and Taveras setting the table competently. The veteran pitchers at the top of the rotation have been great, overcoming inconsistency from Marquez and Richard. Getz shows enough moxie, that there will be talk of grooming him for a super-utility role for '10, giving him appearaces at 3B and SS. Lillibridge and Betemit have been adequate IF backups. Now, in come the reinforcements. The lineup at the end of the season '09: Beckham 2B Abreu LF Q RF Thome DH Konerko 1B Axelei SS AJ C Viciedo 3B Taveras CF Rotation: Danks Floyd Buehrle Bailey Poreda Pen: Jenks Thornton Linebrink Dotel Link Richard Marquez Poreda moved to the pen for the playoffs. And it's just the beginning... Don't wake me up. I'm bored like the rest you, so I'm going to start a future seasons projection thread, or otherwise propose a return a Kenny's Big Board thread. Don't forget Carasco...and KW is really high on Nunez (Yankees), and Jimenez (Blue Jays) to a lesser extent. I think we'll see both of those pitchers with the Sox before we see Link this year, unless he has an incredible spring. Heck, Russell or Wasserman could factor in there, too, before Link.