macsandz

Anybody know if the press conference is televised?

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 11:46 AM) Also, do we think he'll buy Jake Peavy's number? He took #32 with AZ...

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 11:52 AM) He'll probably do what Rios did and just reverse the numbers.

QUOTE (IamtheHBOMB @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 10:29 PM) Most definitely. I was not expecting AJ to return, but with him and Dunn on the roster I have to think that our chance of resigning PK has increased exponentially. +1. This ^. Today was about Konerko more than a lot of fans realize....

QUOTE (b-Rye @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:33 PM) Damn Im suprised... looks like the sox arent being cheapasses for once and will go all out.. You mean like when they took on $120M in Rios/Peavy contracts a couple seasons ago?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:26 PM) YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You deserve it KHP. You have defended AJ like crazy lately.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:06 PM) i hope that laugh means that him close to signing with toronto is a bunch of b.s. It is. We're getting the band back together...BTW, AJ hates Cowley these days.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 04:13 PM) More like, what does it take to get you back, today. Dunn is what brings PK back.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 03:50 PM) SI_JonHeyman Jon Heyman rumors swirling all over chicago #cubs are in on konerko. id be stunned if jerry reinsdorf's favorite player leaves him for cubs LOL. That's an absolute joke for a ton of reasons and not even worth reporting.

Dunn is gonna sign for $4/56M. That's some great work by the Sox brass.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) Heyman is now saying they are closing in on Dunn and still negotiating with Konerko. Maybe JR has a few Little Ceasers franchises he hasn't mentioned before. Signing Dunn is key to resigning PK. In fact, it's critical.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) Make sure you have a couple competent backups for when he hurts himself on a play. Austin Kearns...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:53 PM) If we can get Dunn at 3 years $40 million, I'd be pretty happy. You might not be getting as good of defense at 1B compared to PK, but the offensive production should make up for it. Ideally, I'd like to have both, but I don't think that's a very real scenario at this point. No way Dunn is signing for less than 4 years.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:55 PM) And improve our IF defense. He also has a good relationship with KW and Oz I like it. But he comes with a TON of GIDPs

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:55 PM) Then you have Quentin after that who's at least good for a .350 wOBA. Now if only he can not play RF... You know Quentin has averaged 31 hrs the past 3 years...not bad...keep him the hell off the field though.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) i'd love to see both PK and Dunn in there, taking turns at DH/1B, power left and right. Say goodbye to starting pitching for that to be the case

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:51 PM) Eh, he was pretty damn solid after the AS break last season. Add that to his + glove and if you can get him at some sort of a discount, he'd be a very nice signing. Rios Dunn Lee

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 03:21 AM) Why would it be very bad? There's no reason to believe he's suddenly going to suck and hit like Pena who many seem to love so much? The guy is a professional hitter who is actually improving his approach. We can afford him if we dump Edwin Jackson on somebody. Just do that, White Sox. Don't need Edwin. And Paulie is VERY VERY POPULAR with our fanbase. Not good business to let paulie walk; just isn't good business. It's not "letting Paulie walk" like so many others have said. The Sox simply have very little they can do to keep him because it wouldn't be the teams fault if he left. It's not about money, it's proximity to his family. Konerko literally said that the Sox could offer the most money and it may not matter. I wish more fans would realize this...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) I still don't think Baltimore is the spot for Konerko, but perhaps they offer him enough that he can't turn it down. I imagine 3/$42 or something along those lines might be enough to get him in orange and black. Yeah, I highly doubt he'd sign with Baltimore. Why would he want to spend his last couple years in baseball on an AL East doormat like the Orioles?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 05:55 PM) He may be worth $15 million in a general sense, but who's going to pay him that much this offseason? I just don't see a big enough market for him this offseason to get that kind of contract. I don't see him getting more than $40/3 years. Baltimore.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 11:25 PM) Right. If Werth were valuable he'd have a deal already like Coco Crisp. If Lee were valuable he'd have a deal already like Garland. See how faulty this logic is? Great examples. Wow, so AJ has a huge payday coming. He'll be happy to hear that.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 11:04 PM) There's a big difference between a 34-year-old catcher on a 1-year deal and a 35-year-old catcher on a 1-year deal, and there's a huge difference between guaranteeing money to a catcher in his age 34-35 seasons and guaranteeing money to a catcher in his age 35-36 seasons. And the difference is even larger than that in a 3-year deal because then you're replacing an age 34 season with an age 37 season. You weren't "referencing" an age either, you were making a false claim that if were true would make AJ less valuable than he actually is. If AJ were valuable he'd have a deal already like several other free agent catchers.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 02:56 AM) #1 - I think too much is being made of their home/road splits. Surely there is going to be SOME exaggeration in their overall numbers because Coors plays much better than the average park (or really, any park in the majors), but players (generally) struggle on the road and hit well at home. 2010 Home - .264/.334/.416/.750 Road - .251/.317/.390/.708 2009 Home - .267/.340/.430/.770 Road - .258/.326/.407/.733 2008 Home - .270/.341/.428/.769 Road - .258/.325/.405/.730 (I don't know if 560,199 plate appearances is a big enough sample size for you, but it works for me) Of course there will be instances where a player hits better on the road then at home, especially players on the San Diego Padres, but using a player's road splits to suggest that he's suddenly not a good player is very short-sighted. If that were the case, you guys would be crazy for wanting to give $12 mill a year to Paul Konerko when he put up a relatively mediocre .831 OPS on the road this year and has a career OPS on the road of .791 (compared to .920 at home). I would leave that out of the discussion. #2 - I don't think the original trade idea is nearly as lopsided as some have made it out to be. Gavin Floyd is quite clearly the best player in the deal, but he's proven to be slightly inconsistent and a bit injury prone. He is also only under team control for 3 more years. Mark Teahen has to be viewed as a player with negative value at this point simply because he's owed a decent amount of money and really doesn't have a position on the field. I think Escobar throws the value of the deal off slightly, but he's not suddenly a mammoth prospect because he had a good AFL - he's still a glove first, hoping and praying for a .700 OPS kind of prospect. Perhaps he can catapult this AFL into the development of his offensive game, but I tend to doubt that. Ian Stewart, even though he's arbitration eligible, is still under control for 4 more years, and he's still very talented (to the point where I think you can make comparisons to Carlos Quentin when the Sox acquired him, though that was obviously the exception to the rule and the Sox didn't give up Gavin Floyd to get him). Dexter Fowler is also under control for 4 more years, and he has the potential to be a very good player as well (and it's the one time I will say where having Juan Pierre may be a good thing for this club). When considering the flat out value of this potential deal, I think the Rockies come out ahead: they get 3 years of #2-3 starting pitcher at a very reasonable price, a good bat that can stand at several different spots on the field and mimic the act of playing defense, and an all-glove, no-bat prospect who has the potential to become a great-glove, some-bat prospect (though thinking again, all of Escobar's surplus value comes from the fact that he can play a ridiculous SS and his bat really won't hold up well anywhere else on the diamond; the Rockies have some guy named Tulowitzki at SS under team control through 2014. I think the Rockies would want a different player here), which is like 11 years of solid performance. However, the Sox get a guy in Stewart who they can play at pretty much any corner that they need (and some 2B if Beckham goes down too) and then a high ceiling guy in Fowler who runs really well and still hasn't fully developed as a hitter; those are two pretty damn valuable pieces and they will help complete good lineups in the future. I mean, I don't want to say those guys will completely develop into offensive superstars, but I think it's safe to say that both have All-Star potential and, at the very least, will provide competency in the lineup for the next 4 seasons. The point that I'm not sure has been considered enough in my skimming of the posts was the money exchanged. Stewart and Fowler will make roughly $1.75 mill combined next year, while Gavin Floyd and Mark Teahen make $9.75 mill combined. That frees up $8 mill for the Sox to make a few moves and potentially even retain Konerko, though if they went that route, they have an extra hitter on the major league roster (which I wouldn't mind in the least). #3 I figure I may as well start a new point for this one, since it kind of branches off a bit. The Sox lose one starting pitcher in this, a shortstop prospect who was probably never going to see the light of day with the Sox, and an overpaid version of Geoff Blum. They add two offensive pieces and $8 million in savings. Using any number of creative ideas, the Sox can: -sign Konerko and Dunn, which leaves them with (holds breath) Dunn, Konerko, Beckham, Ramirez, Morel, Stewart, Pierre, Fowler, Rios, Quentin, and Viciedo as players I would classify as, at the worst, competent major league hitters and, at the best, great major league hitters. That also doesn't include Vizquel (because he's a relatively mediocre offensive player and I think last year was a bit of a fluke, but he can atleast handle the bat) and doesn't include the catcher's position (where the Sox can then afford to go relatively cheap or perhaps signing a defensive whiz, because I think they are getting enough offense elsewhere). -sign Konerko and Dunn, and then trade a bat or two for a piece that Kenny really wants. I have absolutely no idea who that could be, but perhaps it's a prospect or two that Williams is enamored with (hehe) or another starting pitcher that he covets, or anything. -sign one of Konerko and Dunn and use the rest on filling out a dynamite bullpen. The Sox have 3 competent relievers at this point in time. Freeing up $8 million by trading Floyd probably forces either Sale or Pena into the rotation, or forces them to resign Garcia, so at worst they are down to 2 competent relievers. However, I think they can probably afford to add 2 relievers with $10-12 mill (adding anywhere from $2-4 million to the money currently saved). Perhaps Putz at 2 years, $12 mill ($6 both years) and then say Brian Fuentes at $2-4 million to act as the second lefty out of the pen (because god knows we don't want to go through the Randy experiment again). I barely scratched the surface of the potential that this deal opens up. #4 I'm sure there are a few things I missed, but I think I've dragged on long enough. I love Floyd, but I think this would be an absolutely fantastic deal for the Sox. I think there's quite a bit that can go wrong in this deal, and I don't think Escobar really has a ton of value to the Rockies (especially as an organization that really hasn't traded many prospects), so those kinks would have to be worked out in the deal. I think both teams would want one more piece from each other, and I think Chris Iannetta is a name that makes more sense for the White Sox opposed to Dexter Fowler (even though I like Fowler quite a bit), and I think Tyler Flowers probably has some value to the Rockies but not a ton and this and that and everything else - point being that I think these discussions could most certainly take place at the Winter Meetings. As someone else did mention though, if you trade Floyd, you better be damn sure you can lock up Danks. In fact, they should probably work on that before actually dealing Floyd, because if/when Floyd is dealt, Danks' adds leverage to negotiations and they have a more difficult time signing him to an extension or they flat out won't be able to agree to one, and that would not be good. Looks like we aren't the only ones thinking Stewart/Fowler for Floyd. Apparently Kenny is as well: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/11/rockies-rumors.html

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 09:13 PM) This post is a bucket of suck. AJ is 34 next year, not 35. That immediately shows how much thought you've put into your argument. Career performance is ALWAYS the first thing that matters in a contract. The known commodity always matters, especially to contenders. Why the f*** do you think Ben Sheets got all that money from the A's and Harden got all that cash from Texas? Why did Wang get money from the Nats? Why did Nick Johnson get that cash last year from the Yankees? None of those guys were safe bets to do anything, and none of them did anything, but they got that money because of what they can do which is based upon what they have done in the past. AJ has shown no signs of slowing down and at 34 next year he shouldn't be expected to given his track record. Signing him for his age 34 and 35 seasons with an option (possibly vesting) for his age 36 season is not necessarily a bad deal at all. IMO he'll get offered that. "Signing him for his age 34 and 35 seasons with an option (possibly vesting) for his age 36 season is not necessarily a bad deal at all" So you're allowed to consider him contractually at 35 or even 36, but I reference that age and you kill me. BTW, Heyman just tweeted the Sox would love to have AJ back, but at a reduced salary.

QUOTE (SoxPride56 @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 09:10 PM) I don't know how they would do that money wise...maybe trade Jackson? Would anyone even want him? Would we even want to trade him? I don't mean to get into the entire Jackson/Hudson debate again, because I love Jackson, but how nice would it be to have an extra $8 million to play with? Having a 3-4-5 or Rios, Dunn, Konerko or any way would want to juggle those 3 would be nice...really nice! Yeah Alexei, Rios, Dunn, Konerko, Quentin 2-6 could be some serious offense. If they want/need to free up cash to sign both they have the means but yes it would require unloading something like Floyd/Teahen which is doable. They both have value. I would suspect if the market and other factors lead Konerko back to the Sox for his last couple years I wouldn't be suprised if he took less dough in order for Kenny to sign Dunn. Much like he did in 2006 for Thome.