caulfield12

I thought you were talking about DJ Carrasco being tendered a contract. Funny.

former Sox fan favorite Jamie Burke was non-tendered by the M's, totally expected move...even though Clement and Johjima are a complete mess.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 12:21 AM) Would this be a feasable trade? Dye and Konerko for Weaver, Figgins and Morales. Nope, you have two "affordable/young" players in Weaver and Morales for two bigger, expiring contracts. Figgins fits because he'd likely be gone after 2009 and then you should be able to Type A him...however, that's not a certainty, especially if he goes Furcal on his and continues to be injury-prone. Substitute Willits for Morales and you're closer, but I still don't see moving a younger/affordable starting pitcher in Weaver for Dye or Konerko (or combination thereof).

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 12:35 AM) Joe Nelson would be a great choice as a middle reliever, he was released from Florida. Great, yet ANOTHER former Royal. No thanks, unless it's Mr. Soria.

QUOTE (Felix @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 10:46 PM) Punto is actually going to be their starting SS, not a supersub. However, he is indeed terrible offensively and nowhere near the 4 million per they gave him for the next two years. Yes, that's the plan for now, but he is a career .252 hitter, after all. If he does hit anything like the 2007 version (around .210-.220), then the Twins will have made a very bad deal...however, they'll be over to move Casilla over...just not sure how wise it would be to do this in the middle of the year. I do think that would be a much better move defensively than trying to get away with Brendan Harris at SS, let alone any infield position.

Obviously, McLane ordered the dumping of salaries, starting now, and Wigginton's certainly not a player that fits in their future plans. This is where a team like the Twins can come along and plug in either Wigginton or get the Astros to eat half of Tejada's salary and move him to 3B or leave him at SS (not a great idea on turf). The Twins' option are Cuddyer (horrible defensively at that position), Buscher and Harris for 3B. Our options are Fields, Betemit and Viciedo. About a wash...with the White Sox definitely having the upper hand going forward. The Twins turned down $20 million and 3 years for Blake, refusing to go past 2 years, FWIW. It will be interesting to see how much they're willing to pay Wigginton for one year.

The Reds still have an offer out to Jerry Hairston Jr. He would fill a need at center field and leadoff hitter. "There's not really a deadline," Jocketty said of Hairston. "We'd like to move a bit on that next week." Wonder if Hairston's even close to being on KW's radar screen?

All signs pointed to a contract offer for Bedard if he was going to be able to pitch in the first half of 2009.... Daniel Cabrera Denny Bautista Ty Wigginton (I'm sure the Twins will be in on him) and Reggie Abercrombie (another KW reclamation project?) Jonny Gomes (ditto?) Willy Taveras (see one of about 40 threads here on him) Takashi Saito, Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban, Angel Berroa Clay Hensley and Charlie Haeger (ex-Sox) Chris Britton and Justin Christian Tim Redding (ex-Sox) C. Trent Rosecrans e-mails that the Reds will not tender contracts to Matt Belisle or Gary Majewski. (ex-Sox) Chris Capuano (perhaps interesting to KW) Kevin Cash (another possible back-up to AJ?) Chuck James Chris Burke

That would seem to be the situation right now....still combing Seattle Times for any news on Bedard, two hours to go.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/basebal...0,3236628.story

I think we should kick the tires at least on Capuano, James (well, Kyle Davies showed an ex-Braves starter can rebound), Burke (superfluous?) and then Proctor, Brazoban and Saito to replace Carrasco on the roster. Still waiting on Bedard (likely to be tendered) and Cabrera (50/50).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 06:09 PM) Have you guys looked at the Twins roster the last few years? Nick Punto? Anyone? Anyone? The difference is that Punto just got $8.5 million to be a "supersub" by a team that could/should have spent that money on Casey Blake. They could have moved Casilla over to SS, and played Tolbert at 2B and had a much better team (on paper). It will be interesting to see if they really do "dump" Delmon Young as has been reported. "Only the Sox can have Minor League journeymen start a playoff game." Remember Josh Fogg started some playoff and a World Series game for the Rockies not too long ago. Wise was certainly not the reason we lost to TB, he was one of our better offensive players in that series, actually. It's a credit to the scouting department that they found a castoff who could replace Swisher, get some huge hits for us (DET) in the final months and actually be an igniter/difference maker. Look at all the Twins' scrubs and castoffs who have played important roles, like Tyner, Hocking, LeCroy, Lew Ford, etc. I think it's great to have one player like that on every team who gives hope to all minor leaguers that they can make it to the bigs one day, too.

I agree....the Yankees moves would put them on paper a little ahead of TB and Boston, pending any Lowe move back to the Red Sox. The Red Sox still look shaky at the back of the rotation with the likes of Wakefield and Buchholz. CC, Burnett, Joba/Wang, Kennedy/Hughes, Pettitte...that's a monster rotation. In TB, Shields is essentially their co #1 starter with Kazmir. Let's say Kazmir and CC are "equal," and Garza is maybe equal to Joba...you'll have a hard time convincing me that Price is already better than CM Wang (let alone Hughes/Kennedy), and signing Pettitte, obviously he's still a bit better than Sonnanstine (aka Kevin Slowey), even at his age. This does put the pressure on BOS to respond with either Lowe, TEX or bringing back Manny (VERY unlikely to happen, .001%)

So KW was pretty correct in stating that the trade for Swisher essentially was... thus, Betemit, Marquez and Nunez, substitute Viciedo's signing bonus for Swisher's 2009 contract >>> Nick Swisher (2009, and beyond)

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 08:41 PM) With Ibanez signing in Philly, that's one less guy on the Angels list of potential bats. If Tex signs with someone else, they will be very limited and will certainly look to the Sox. I've thought all along that Abreu would be on the Sox next year and hopefully it's to replace Konerko with Dye moving to 1b. Move Konerko for Weaver and Figgins,sign Abreu, and move Dye to 1B. Chester, are you really being serious?

Wil Ledezma looked impressive for DET 2-3 seasons ago....serviceable spot starter and LH long man, at least he was.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 10:34 AM) There are still too many of the top tier free agents on the market, and it's been slow moving. Once these guys go, and the big spenders are done spending, we'll see some of the mid-level clubs jump in. Amazing how far we've fallen...from Top 5 to "mid-level" again. Yikes. Well, nothing to worry about, the closest we were in the past five years to "mid-level" was 2005. Worked out pretty well, I think. As long as the Twins aren't spending money, I'm not quite so concerned. However, with Wood in CLE and Edwin Jackson in DET (although what were they thinking with Adam Everett?), those two teams are improved (more able to compete with the Sox, as KW would put it) on paper at least. In a sign of the Tigers' fall, they weren't able to come up with the prospects to get involved in the big Putz trade, and they were outbit by CLE on Kerry Wood. If nothing else, this "economic recession" probably gives the White Sox the biggest advantage/cushion going forward over the other four markets in our division, especially DET and CLE.

We do know that the Angels offered about $3-5 million (total contract numbers) than what he eventually accepted from the White Sox, they were certainly interested in him, post 2005. Moreno and the Angels have as much money as any organization to play with (although with a lot of his, Moreno's, personal worth tied in to advertising, I wonder if that will be pulled in eventually as well)...Gary Mathews, Jr., being a prime example. I don't think money would be a consideration in a trade with the Angels, it would be 100% about Konerko's physical condition and the doctors' interpretations thereof.

Or Brandon McCarthy...followed closely by Jon Adkins, Alan Embree and Billy Koch.

Let's say Punto gets 500 at bats and hits .230. That's 115 hits. Let's also say that, over the course of the season, there are 30 balls that he turns into outs that would have been hits or reached on error with an average shortstop (that's one every 6 games). Add those 30 to his 115 and now he's effectively hitting .290. Throw in those intangibles, and he's probably a good piece of the puzzle. If you don't think those "intangibles" are worth much, follow the White Sox for a while. (Note, those same "intangibles" really helped the White Sox in 2005 and 2008, if they haven't noticed, we've won 2 of the last 4 AL Central titles, they've only got one and nothing to show for that appearance, as usual.) www.startribune.com Had to include these gems from the Twins' blog...they are going crazy over there! Punto stinks He probably lead the league in stupid baserunning mistakes that led directly to outs. He has zero power and stinks at the plate. He slides head first into first base, what kind of idiot does that? Why do the Twins even go to the winter meetings? They do nothing ever. This team will be terrible in 2010 when they stop playing on the concrete carpet and actually have to hit for power to score runs. I am a slappy banjo hitter who hardly hits .250 with zero power and runs the bases like Hellen Keller, can I have $8.5 million too? Punto got it.

Mike Lowell, loser: The Red Sox third baseman was World Series MVP in 2007, and last season he played until his hip got so bad he no longer could walk and underwent surgery. Now, all he’s hearing is that he’ll be traded if the Red Sox sign Teixeira and move Kevin Youkilis to third. He’s a big boy and should understand it’s a business, but it still has to sting. www.yahoo.com/sports Wonder if KW makes a play for him (or the Twins) if the Red Sox do end up with Tex (assuming he turns down the Nationals)....? With Beltre adding the Twins to his list of "no trade" teams (maybe a bargaining ploy) and Blake off the table, that leaves the Twins looking at Crede, Atkins or Kouzmanoff still.

I just don't know about Abreu getting the same money as Ibanez...it's a strange signing. To go to an NL team, at his age, for one year too many (at this point), and with his increasingly horrendous defensively abilities...odd. It does mean that more and more the Sox focus will turn from Abreu and perhaps to more of a "value" player like Juan Rivera.

If they can get Abreu for something like $15-18 million for two years (guaranteed) and an option for a 3rd, it's okay. The most athletically gifted (if healthy) of the possible FA LFers is probably Juan Rivera. Milton Bradley would have been up there before all of his various injuries. Maybe Hermida as well. I agree Dunn, Ibanez, Abreu and Burrell don't bring much to the club (or are actually detriments) defensively. Then again, we can't have Endy Chavez playing LF either.

from mlbtraderumors/dierkes Brandon Backe (fifth starter candidate?) Erik Bedard (likely be to tendered now) Matt Belisle Angel Berroa John Buck (back-up catching option) Chris Burke (we already have too many infielders...only if he could play CF) Daniel Cabrera (top prize?) Chris Capuano (fifth starter candidate, was once a very serviceable pitcher) Jason Davis Randy Flores Jason Frasor (was once a serviceable reliever) Chad Gaudin (another fifth starter candidate to throw into the mix) Jimmy Gobble (ditto) Jonny Gomes (better than BA?, probably not) Aaron Miles (see Berroa, Burke) Brian Tallet Willy Taveras (along with Cabrera, the most likely targets for KW)

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 07:02 AM) I'd be very surprised if the Angels took Konerko. He's been in a 2 year rut, is making $12 million this year and next year. Why trade for a guy making big money who may be on the downside of his career? 1) Proven record of playoff success 2) Also proved he was healthy (finally) the last six weeks of the aeason and got his "normal" power back 3) Is a comparative bargain with TEX at $20 million PLUS 4) Has been targeted for years by Angels 5) Has rededicated himself this offseason to better training, conditioning and nutrition for the first time in his big league career 6) Good "buy lower" candidate...wouldn't have to give up as much in return 7) Two year contract not as scary as 3-7 year deals for certain big-name FA's