caulfield12

QUOTE (TLAK @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 06:52 AM) You traded a guy who could not start a playoff game over Dewayne Wise for a utility infielder with strength from the left side. Plus the two pitchers the White Sox got vs the one they sent. The White Sox fit together better after the trade than they did before it. Did your KW free Kool-Aid life-size inflatable doll just come in the mail? That's WAY TOO LOGICAL. What's wrong with you? This is the worst Sox trade since, well, since Todd Ritchie or Sosa/Bell.

Same AJ Hynch the White Sox tried to draft out of Stanford (I think, maybe it was HS instead) and got stuck with egg on their faces. Not unlike Bobby Seay and Bobby Hill, it was all much ado about nothing in the end, fortunately for the Sox.

QUOTE (G&T @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 07:11 AM) Their innings pitched increased dramatically last year. Injury is more likely than "regression" though the outcome will be about the same. The even bigger question to me is what happens with the Twins' rotation of youngsters? Do Perkins and Blackburn continue to go backwards? Does Liriano ever begin to resemble his old self again? Is Slowey the next Greg Maddux in the making or the next Matt Guerrier (White Sox starting version)...? I think they expect more out of Liriano, but I can't imagine Baker and Slowey doing much better, overall. That and the health of the Tigers' pitching... Is Bonderman able to make a comeback? Can Galarraga repeat his success? The Dontrelle Willis Train Wreck... Zach Miner MIGHT easily be their third best starter right now, at this moment....then Robertson, who tailed off considerably and was never close to even the equivalent of Vazquez except for stretches of 06. INDIANS Can Lee repeat? Is Carmona the real deal or a bust? Is it time to give up on Jeremy Sowers yet? Is Aaron Laffey the next Jeremy Sowers? The Indians feature two of the biggest "sleepers" in the division....if Anthony Reyes and Scott Lewis can dominate and Carmona returns to form, they have the best starting rotation in the division, arguably. OTOH, Carmona, Sowers and Laffey continue to regress, Lee goes back to above average but not the best lefty in the AL and Lewis/Reyes are nowhere to be found, they could also be the worst rotation in the division...with Zach Jackson/Laffey/Sowers sinking the back end and prayers for a Jake Westbrook return floating into the Lake Erie air. Enter Anthony Reyes may be the most intriguing prospect for the rotation coming into the 2009 season. The Indians acquired him from St. Louis for essentially nothing, and we're talking about a #1 talent. St. Louis and Reyes couldn't seem to see eye-to-eye on anything, and both had seen enough of each other.Reyes was electric in his six-start stint as an Indians' starter, before being shelved with elbow strain during his final start of the season in August. Reyes has only two issues. The first is mechanics. Every Cardinals' writer that I talk to always tell me how much they love Reyes, and how his next pitch could be his last pitch. The other issue is Reyes' attitude. There was a bunch of speculation about why St. Louis gave up on him. Put that to rest. Reyes is a good, solid pitcher, who was just looking for communication from his management in St. Louis. They didn't give it to him. He loves it here in Cleveland, and look for big things from the kid, if he can stay healthy. Scott Lewis literally came out of nowhere to win the A.L. rookie pitcher of month for September. Lewis made four starts and won all four games. Lewis has been a model of consistency since the Indians drafted him out of Ohio State in 2004. Lewis is another one of those lefties in the mold of Laffey and Sowers. He tops out at 92 MPH, has great command, and has good makeup. This kid has great mechanics, and one of the best 12-6 curveballs I've seen in an Indians starter over the past few seasons. Lewis has had arm issues, including Tommy John surgery. If he's healthy, here is a kid who could be a good one. He sure proved that during his brief stint last season. I'm not sure 2009 is going to be his season in the rotation, but he's certainly made his presence known. http://mvn.com/tribereport/2008/10/the-cle...s-starting.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-v...o&type=lgns Good article from Jeff Passan with some more insight from various scouts about size of contract and size of Viciedo.

Was there in 1993 and 1994, but things have changed dramatically since then. Now, not as many trades happen there as was the custom. But it's still fun to be around other people who work in the game...from minor league personnel to wanna-be Vin Scully's and Ernie Harwell's. Met Mike Veeck there, not quite the beloved figure his father was. I was interviewing for a number of positions with major and minor league teams. I made a stupid/silly mistake in my interview or I would have ended up working for the StL Cardinals...in the end, I had about 5 minor league offers (out of 10-12 interviews). I mean "real" job offers and not internship or unpaid positions. So I went off to work for the Augusta GreenJackets as Director of Stadium Operations and PR for two very interesting/fun/tiring seasons.

Well, Danks ended the season as one of the 3-5 best lefties in all of baseball, so I hope but DON'T EXPECT for him to repeat that...I do think Floyd should be around the same numbers, maybe a bit higher ERA but more K's as he continues to gain confidence in both his fastball and curve.

How quickly I am forgetting about Pablo Ozuna as well. Poor Ross Gload, he would have been perfect, but he never found a place on that 05 team.

Okay, this is all sounding too much like Paris and Nicole to me.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Nov 18, 2008 -> 11:54 PM) Ah yes. The infamous "Sunday lineups" that were so roundly criticized during the season. Widger, Timo, Gang 4...isn't that what Willie Harris came up with as the nickname for them? I laugh whenever I see him cracking on Backe from the dugout in that World Series video..."Is he going to RISE UP???"

We'll see how much he really wants to pitch again, versus possible retirement. It could be intriguing for him to take another shot at pitching in the AL. I can't say that I would rather see Clayton Richard over Pedro Martinez, no matter how diminished his stuff is...felt the same about Griffey, just appreciated what he had to offer and didn't make comparisons to the 90's. I think he wants to go out on his terms. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer probably.

Cubs Targeting Teahen By Coley Ward [November 18 at 5:02pm CST] More fallout from the Ryan Dempster signing. The Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton is reporting the Cubs are once again targeting Mark Teahen to fill their right field vacancy. Dutton says discussions to acquire Teahen "stalled earlier this month, in part, because the Cubs’ wanted to hold onto several young players while discussing a possible trade with San Diego for pitcher Jake Peavy if Dempster signed elsewhere." Now that Dempster is on board, acquiring a left handed hitting outfield bat is the Cubs' highest priority. But who would the Cubs trade for Teahen? The Cubs want to move Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome, but that’s a tough sell -- to any team, not just the Royals -- because he slumped badly last season over the closing months and is owed $38 million over the next three years. A more-likely possibility is Felix Pie, a 23-year-old once viewed as a can’t-miss prospect. Pie batted just .223 in 260 at-bats with the Cubs over the last two years after posting strong minor-league numbers. [snip] The Cubs can also offer shortstop Ronny Cedeno or second baseman Mike Fontenot if the Royals prefer to acquire a middle-infield partner for Mike Aviles. Pie is also out of options and the Cubs seem to have run out of patience, so he is a likely trade candidate. Teahan, meanwhile, has yet to live up to the hype that surrounded his promotion to the big leagues, but he could blossom hitting against weaker NL pitching. Teahen, you might remember, was one of the featured players in the book "Moneyball" and was described as a future Jason Giambi. The Tigers are looking at LHR's Joe Beimel, Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver. No mention of Denys Reyes or Guardado, lol. They also appear unwilling to give closer's job to Zumaya or Rodney. Stay tuned. As far as Teahen goes, he's NOT a corner outfielder. If he could play it, his best position would be 2B in terms of his offensive game, but he would be atrocious there defensively (envision Josh Fields turning the double play at 2B and that's a good picture)...he's a better fit as a platoon player at 3B IMO. At least Dayton Moore has already decided he's not a building block. And the Cubs won't be able to package Pie, the Royals already have their own version in J. Gathright, if he can stay healthy. While I wouldn't go as far as to say I would rather give Betemit 350 at-bats than Teahen, I would rather give those major league AB's to Josh Fields in 2009 to see what we have exactly...

Pretty compelling. Looks like he would be perfect to pair up with Fields and Getz as sort of a three-way platoon with each getting about an equal number of at-bats by matching them up with individual pitchers... Or course, Nix could figure in as well, but I think Nix will be in AAA unless he really rakes in ST. Then you could see Getz down and the 3-way platoon would be between Fields, Betemit and Nix. Kind of intriguing....assuming Ramirez can play SS, which I'm 95% confident he can. Worst-case scenario, they just end up holding the position down while waiting for the emergence of Beckham as the prodigal son/starter. I don't mind this idea at all when you compare it to the costs of acquiring Beltre/Roberts/Hudson. No way! Which leads one to the obvious conclusion that our leadoff hitter will come from CF, will not be Brian Anderson, COULD be Jerry Owens (for now) and that the 5th starter spot will get some additional support (hopefully) with the worst-case being an incentive-laden deal for a Garcia or Colon type. I think even Paul Byrd might get guaranteed money from some team out there.

I don't think bringing back Damaso to the SouthSide would have been a good fit. I think something really fractured down the stretch and into the playoffs between him and Guillen. Lost trust...Ozzie basically called him out as a "head case" not unlike he did with Javy this year. It appears the 2nd tier of starters is emerging in the FA race. Looks to be Jon Garland, Oliver Perez and Randy Wolf. Once again, are any of those guys better options than Javy, and will they make more than $11.5 million per season and for 3-4 year contracts? Maybe! I have a sneaking suspicion KW will make a run at Pedro Martinez. Not sure why...just that almost every single star from the past seems to end up on the White Sox about 3-5 years past their sell-by date. Sabathia, Lowe, Burnett and Sheets will all help to set the market, then the other dominoes will fall into place.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 18, 2008 -> 07:31 PM) All he did for the Twins lately was put up a sub-.700 OPS in September when they needed him the most. It would have been disgusting if he had won it again, and he might have been the least deserving candidate in the past 10+ years of the award. Not counting Giambi, of course. I think many will quickly forget Miguel Tejada and Mo Vaughn as well.

It was an interesting race....Hamilton was the favorite for about 3-4 months, then Quentin, then it was very close between Morneau and Pedroia. If the Twins would have beaten out the Sox and he wouldn't have faded so badly down the stretch, I think Morneau would have had his second MVP. Which is kind of sad, because he's in no way, shape or form the incredibly dominant offensive presence that Frank Thomas (2 MVP's also) was...although you almost have to say that 2000 was Frank's third with Giambi's steroid revelations. That's how I think of it. And those MVP's for Juan Gonzalez can disappear, too.

How can Danks and Floyd get the sophomore jinx in their essentially third seasons? Will they regress, undoubtedly. I think Floyd is more likely to be put the same numbers, I just hope we don't see a one-two year regression out of Danks like Cliff Lee went through, but there are a number of reasons that's unlikely to happen with Jon. Also, I would mind if Danks came back to have a Cy Young-caliber season at one point in the future. He's not far off. There's room for improvement from Buehrle and Vazquez as well. And our offense should be better and more consistent in producing runs this season.

Just for his leadership and his quotes from the World Series DVD post-game celebration alone...."SouthSide Baby!!!!!" They really proved all the doubters and haters wrong who gave up on them, and Carl was a big part of holding the clubhouse together and providing needed intensity and sometimes insanity. For all of the 2006 season, many posters pointed to him and Rowand as the reasons why the chemistry/composition of the team was so drastically different. If you missed his contributions, you just don't appreciate the game. All of the bench players, Blum, Harris, etc., played key roles during that World Series, and Ozzie's determination to give them all playing time down the stretch paid off big-time.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Nov 18, 2008 -> 09:52 AM) Why is Affeldt even mentioned? He signed with the Giants yesterday I should have deleted it...was written in the last week or so and linked at mlbtraderumors.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 18, 2008 -> 09:33 AM) I don't get why everyone's so crazy about closers. Billy Beane trades his closer every other year for decent return. It's smart practice. It might be smart practice for a "small market" team on a shoestring budget, but I wouldn't necessarily reach the conclusion that it's always going to be the best policy for the White Sox. What has it gotten the A's, exactly?

Carrasco essentially has only four major league seasons, sandwiched around a year waiting in exile with a Japanese team. I would think we would control his rights for two more years, but I can't be positive about that. Oops, forgot to list Jiminez with the other bullpen options.

In addition to Affeldt, Lyon, Gagne, and Ohman there are some other free-agent relievers who would be intriguing if they'd take inexpensive one-year deals. Keith Foulke, Jason Isringhausen, Al Reyes, Chad Cordero, Tom Gordon, and Akinori Otsuka are former closers coming off injuries and at the right price it would be worth finding out if they still have something left in the tank. Doug Brocail, David Weathers, and Rudy Seanez are each right around 40 years old, but have been solid over the past 2-3 seasons. Kyle Farnsworth and Guillermo Mota have had sub par results despite mid-90s fastballs and if they're cheap enough perhaps pitching coach Rick Anderson can try to work his magic. Brendan Donnelly makes for a nice reclamation projection two years removed from Tommy John surgery. And if Russ Springer, Bobby Howry, or Juan Cruz aren't offered arbitration by their current teams and no longer require losing a first-round draft pick to sign, they would definitely move near the top of my preferred targets list. article at mlbtraderumors.com About how the Twins probably would have won the division had they gone out and acquired Chad Bradford and LaTroy Hawkins instead of Guardado. Interesting note, former White Sox catcher Ben Davis is trying to make a comeback as a pitcher! Does KW make a play for any of these 18 relievers? Which ones? For how much/years? Of course, Foulke/Gordon/Howry have already pitched for the Sox. Do either Dotel or Jenks end up getting dealt somewhere? Teams like the Indians, Brewers or Rangers might be more likely to go with one of the eight (8) former closers listed above on the cheap rather than pay huge amounts in talent for BBB. Who wins the last bullpen spot/s? Wasserman? Russell? Part of a trade package? Carrasco? Nunez? Marquez? Broadway? Traded? Link? Poreda? Logan? Traded? MacDougal? Traded? Egbert?

Affeldt signed at $8 million over 2 years with the SF Giants. Furcal has a $39 million, 3 year on the table from at least one club...Giants also giving strong consideration to Cabrera and Renteria, but wouldn't lose as much in terms of draft picks/Type A compensation because of Furcal's injuries over the last couple of seasons. I doubt KW is serious about spending that kind of money on Furcal at his age when he has Ramirez signed so afforably.

We've gone through Thigpen, Roberto Hernandez, Howry, Foulke, Koch, Takatsu, Hermanson and Jenks without ever having to spend boatloads of money on any of these guys, all who were decent or at least adequate for most of their Sox careers. Unfortunately, another team's going to have to be desperate to give us a Fernando Martinez caliber of player because all of baseball knows the warning signs. 1) Decreased fastball (although he was close to 2005 form in the late stages of season and playoff run) 2) Past injury history 3) Weight issues 4) Other past mental/psychological history (although that appears to be a complete non-issue any longer) 5) Declining strikeout ratio per IP over last three seasons 6) Shelf life of the average MLB closer Torres retiring helps...and Hoffman, hopefully. That decreases the available pool of talent and drives up the worth/value of Bobby.

With the insider trading charges...that will be the final "black mark" against him used by Selig et al to keep him from buying into MLB. Wonder if this takes a Martha Stewart (Inclone) turn or is less serious?

QUOTE (moragasoxfan @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 10:14 PM) Oops! Forgot that Armstrong was already on the Top 10 list. Rogers comment on McCulloch: "He still has value but more as an organizational guy." aka Lance Broadway, Charles Haeger, Egbert...someone of that ilk. Very little talk of Egbert around here the last six months. Last year, he was a favorite of many.