Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 07:36 AM) Like it or not...the value of a blocked player who is seemingly limited to playing only 1b isn't going to be a top flight young player. If you can resign Konerko, why not try to give Viciedo a chance in the outfield in AAA?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 07:27 AM) I believe he's also out of options next year, so yeah, he'd be moved at the end of ST, because he'd be released. Are you saying he's got zero minor league options left heading into this season? I thought he still had one left for the 2011 season, but I could be totally wrong about that.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 03:06 AM) Pretty sure he gets 2011 to establish himself in AAA, if he is not moved by the end of the offseason. And another season in AAA is the ideal situation, where he can continue to develop and serve as our emergency catcher. I think a lot of people are hating too much on Flowers right now. He's still got a world of potential for a catcher. Last season was disaster, but I want to know if it was the result of too many changes to his swing. The strikeouts obviously need to be cut down one way or the other, but he's got great power and walks a lot. He doesn't need a great batting average to have value as a catcher if those other skills are there. There's absolutely no harm in giving him another year in the minors and seeing what you really have. His value is so low right now, it can't really get much worse. I still think he's going to rebound this year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) The only thing I've heard is Sox are desperate to try and get Dunn to make a decision before Angels are done chasing Crawford and Soriano. Everything still points to Konerko going elsewhere though. If you can get Dunn signed, then Konerko becomes an unnecessary luxury for this team. We don't need two veteran 1B/DH types past this season, since Viciedo should ready for a full-time role in 2012. Even if we could somehow afford both of them, I'd rather spread the money available to Konerko across 1B/DH, C, and RP. I think this team is stronger and deeper with DLee, A.J., and random free agent reliever over Konerko, Flowers, and random White Sox minor league reliever.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 02:21 PM) Jason Varitek back with BoSox. One less possible landing spot for A.J. I honestly think there's a good chance he's back with us next year. If we can sign him to a reasonable one year deal I'd be extremely happy.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 05:51 PM) Dunn today is worth $15 mil a year just as much as Kong was worth $13 mil a year 5 years ago. 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.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 04:24 PM) Dunn Seeks Four Years, $60MM I want to know what teams are interested in Dunn, because I don't see many offering him that contract. I think he's going to end up settling for a lot less just like last time. The fact that Pujols, Fielder, and Gonzalez are all free agents next year won't help his cause.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 04:06 PM) cst_sox cst_sox Getting the feeling that it's going to be a long winter for Sox fans - think "The Kids Can Play II.'' This is what I was worried about. Merkin has already started the PR spin in the event this happens: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...ws&c_id=cws

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 08:21 AM) Heyman I'd love A.J. back on a 1 year, $5.5 million deal and that still might be a possibility. The only two teams I could see with interest and the ability to pay that much for A.J. are the Red Sox and Mets. However, both teams have young catchers who hit righties better than lefties, which would make A.J. an expansive and poor platoon partner. Throw in his so called "character issues" (which may be viewed as a negative when it comes to mentoring) and several cheap backup/platoon right-handed catchers available in free agency and both teams may believe they are better off without A.J. If so, the Sox would have a lot of leverage in negotiations with A.J. and would have made a smart choice in not offering arbitration.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 05:11 AM) Always have been a huge fan of Uribe, can't ever think of saying a bad word about him. He's one of the players I advocated bringing back on a number of occasions. As far as the comparison with Linebrink, it's just different for a starting player (which he was for most of his Sox career) versus a middle reliever or set-up guy. I get it, Linebrink 2008=Uribe 2004/05, but you have to take into account that Uribe made some huge plays for our WS winning team. If nothing else, that buys him permanent folk hero status. I don't think very many care about barely getting in to the playoffs in 2008, and certainly his performance in 09 and 10 was comparatively worse than Uribe because Juan ALSO was one of the most important ingredients at stabilizing the left side of the INF after Crede went down in 08. Basically, that year's OMar Vizquel. Which was a role Uribe had great value for us, but not one worth $5 million. That's what he was looking at for 2009 if we held on to him and I think the fact the Giants got him for $1 million shows we made the right call. Just because people didn't want to overpay for Uribe doesn't mean he wasn't valued or liked. We all know he is a tremendous teammate and a clutch performer. He just wasn't worth what the baseball rules were going to force us to pay him.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 24, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) It's a lot easier to rebuild from within when you have a top 10 pick for ten straight seasons, and a top 4 pick for 8 of 10 seasons. Maybe the White Sox should become the worst team in the league for the next ten years, maybe they can become like the Rays. I will give them credit for making some good moves, but they also were bad for a really long time which helped them get the top talent in draft after draft. Thank you! The people proposing a true "rebuilding" are nuts. It's a total crapshoot and if a huge portion of the players you acquire in trades (from selling off your veterans) and select in the draft don't develop into major league players, then it will be a long and painful process. Furthermore, I'm not even sure if KW and his front office could handle such a task. Also, I don't know how anyone can advocate "rebuilding" when we have a starting rotation like ours. You don't have a 1-5 like ours very often and when you do you go for it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 23, 2010 -> 12:09 PM) While you've spent time tryinga to convince me of something I already believe...that the fangraphs dollar system is complicated but still remains a useful way of looking comparitively at player value if you pay attention to the reasons why it does what it does...you still haven't argued at all about why the Huff deal is a terrible deal. I think the Huff deal is a bad move for the Giants. He's wildly inconsistent and your numbers support that to a certain extent. The Giants better hope they get two good years out of him or it will be a major overpay IMO. Also, let me ask you this, what do you think Adam Dunn is going to get a year? $12 - $13 million? Wouldn't you rather pay the extra couple million a year, even if it's for two or three extra seasons, to get a pretty much guaranteed .900 OPS?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 02:49 PM) I'm kind of surprised that Santeliz was not added to the 40. I thought the club liked him. Also, surprised that Freddy Dolsi still is ON the 40. Santeliz was on the 40 man roster last year, but they DFA'd him in September. I don't recall the reasoning though.

QUOTE (Cali @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 02:07 PM) Yes please... I don't even care what they get back for him... You better get something of value back for him. We don't exactly have a ton of power hitters on the roster at the moment. Plus, if we can't sign/trade for any left-handed bats, Quentin at least hit righties pretty well. I have no problem with him being our DH next season if we can at least get one legit impact bat for RF or 1B.

QUOTE (Cali @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) Dallas McPherson...the new Josh Kroeger I don't think that's a fair comparison. McPherson was the #12 prospect in 2005 according Baseball America, while Kroeger never made a top 100 list. Dallas definitely had a significantly higher upside than Josh. Having said that, I doubt McPherson ever does much with the Sox. I do think this is a smart signing however..can't hurt to have some extra depth, especially when we have holes at 1B and DH.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 08:46 PM) That's a killer quote by KW up there. I hope he follows his own advice. I'd love to hear how you are interpreting that quote, because I'm not super excited about it. The way I'm reading it is that KW is considering making Morel our starting 3B, Viciedo our starting 1B or DH, and Flowers our starting C instead of signing veterans to fill these spots. That "in the middle" comment makes me believe KW is implying not just making one of these guys a starter but actually all three of them. IMO, this quote seems like nothing more than some advanced PR spin so we aren't all super pissed if the Sox go the cheap way. Also, what's wrong with going with one young guy, say Morel at 3B, and signing/trading for vets at the other spots? I think a mix is the ideal way to go if you're trying to balance current and long-term success. I really don't see how developing three young position players in the same season is really going to give us a better chance to win next year. Especially if one of them of is Tyler Flowers, who needs another season in AAA before he should even enter into this discussion.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 01:59 AM) very good piece. I agree the Sox should offer AJ the arb after reading that article. And if AJ accepts, then what is stopping Kenny from trading AJ somewhere since $6M isn't a huge commitment to a team, and as long as we get a player or two back, even if they are crappy, we can just consider them our draft picks that we would have done if AJ rejected arb. Either way, if he accepts and we trade him, or he declines, we could earn ourselves 1 or 2 prospects in return that we would otherwise not have gotten if we didn't offer him arb. What's the date we need to offer arbitration by? Isn't there a chance a team desperate for a catcher would sign him before that deadline? I didn't think Buck would move so quickly, but him doing so has thinned out the free agent catching market quite a bit. Maybe a team would be willing to sacrifice a pick (especially if it's a second rounder) and make an offer to A.J. early if they know other teams will be waiting on our arbitration decision.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 07:51 AM) Carter is behind the pace you'd expect for a really good prospect. He started off as a starter, but hung up for a year and a half in high-A ball in 2008 and 2009. Last year, he was moved to the bullpen pretty early in the season, put up a 3.92 ERA in Birmingham which isn't good, but his overall peripherals weren't bad. He doesn't seem to give up a ton of hits, but the 22 walks in 46 innings is the real long-term issue. He'll be 25 this year, so if he made it to the big leagues he'd be on an "Ok" schedule. He could be a middle relief/long relief option this year, but I wouldn't count on him at all this year. I don't know much about Carter, but I thought I remember hearing that his stuff improved significantly when he was moved to the bullpen. If so, then his performance in the AFL could be a better sign of things to come than his totals in AA.

QUOTE (SoxPride56 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 04:11 PM) Jake Peavy is ahead of schedule. jonmorosi KW says Peavy ahead of schedule. #whitesox 13 minutes ago via txt That makes trading a starter easier, but we'd still need some sort of insurance in case Peavy can't go. We pretty much have nothing in AAA to protect us.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 11:40 AM) At that price level? I'd leave it at a maybe, but if someone else wants him they can have him. If we go through this offseason and we are fully unable to fill the DH role by the end of January, and he's still available, then we can talk, but it's sort of a desperation move at that point. I agree. In a perfect world, we get a strong all-around RF so we can move Quentin to DH. Doing so offers two benefits. First, you have a primary DH that can play in the field if necessary (so Ozzie is happy). Second, you have at least one sure thing in your lineup between RF/DH (in this case RF). If you sign Manny and keep Quentin, you now have question marks offensively at DH and RF. You also have a full-time DH (which Guillen will be against) and a poor defensive regular RF. Like you said, if we're running out of options later in the offseason I'm all for bringing Manny in at that price. For now, I'd rather look at some better options.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 07:42 AM) And yet in general...just about everyone would agree we did a much better job from 2008-2010 in the draft than we did the years beforehand, and we supplemented that with a couple major signings from elsewhere. That's true, the 2008 - 2010 drafts have been much better than years past. However, the main reason for this improvement is due to our new scouting director and a new draft strategy based on selecting riskier players with higher upsides. Avoiding those 'safe' picks we had been making in the past has been instrumental to this improvement. A willingness to sign players above slot (outside the exception here and there) and adding to the draft budget would only make things better. We're probably missing out on a lot of guys our scouting department have identified as potential impact players simply because we have a policy of not going above slot. I can guarantee you there are many occasions in each draft where Laumann can't select the highest ranked player (according to his scouts) at a given draft position because of bonus demands. Obviously, signability concerns must be factored into the selection process. You can't completely ignore this element or you'll end up drafting a bunch of Scott Boras clients with absurd demands that will be too expensive to sign in the first place. However, if you can get a 3rd round talent in the 4th round for low 3rd round money you should never pass that up. The extra money to go over slot in this case is practically meaningless in the larger scheme of things. Unfortunately, JR has a policy of not going over slot due to ethical reasons. As a result, we'll continue to lose out on talent by avoiding many players with signability concerns and wasting draft picks on guys who won't budge from their above slot demands. Until MLB creates a hard slot policy, the Sox will be at a disadvantage to many of their competitors.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 15, 2010 -> 02:19 PM) Until we start allocating legitimate funds towards the draft, will continue to flounder. Though I will concede that at least regards to first round picks, and only first round picks, we seem to have turned a corner. The White Sox definitely need to allocate more funds to the draft, but they first have to change their philosophy of not paying over slot. With the state of our current minor league system, we can't afford to be throwing away top 10 round draft picks. We failed to sign our fourth round pick in 2010 (Matthew Grimes) and our seventh round pick in 2009 (Justin Jones). Both of these guys were high-upside high school pitchers that would have been great additions to our system. I don't know what their specific demands were, but I doubt they were that outrageous. The slot rates for these draft positions are relatively low, so paying these guys over slot wouldn't have made a huge dent in the draft budget. I honestly believe a minor change in our draft philosophy (a willingness to pay over slot for picks like these two) along with a slight increase in funding (to support these above slot bonuses) could give our minor league system a huge boost in the long-run.

Interesting note about Alexei's contract: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3099502.story

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 11, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) I am an insider and I hadn't seen this. I'm calling total bulls***. Braun had what could be classified a 'down' season in '10 and still sported a .380 wOBA and 4.2 WAR, which was all offensively driven (he's a horrible defender). And as LH mentioned, he's ridiculous cheap through 2013 and not really even that expensive in 2014. It would take a minimum of three premium prospects to acquire him. And the Brewers might as well go into full rebuilding mode, because if they trade Braun on top of losing Fielder at the end of next year, they won't be competing for a very long time.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 11, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) THe best MLB hitters are those who keep their slumps minimal. Are you serious? It was his second full season of professional baseball and his first full year in the majors. All this talk about Beckham being a mental midget is completely absurd. The kid had some difficulty handling failure for the first time in his baseball career, but he rebounded nicely in the second half. Trading him because of those struggles would be a huge mistake.