Chicago White Sox

IMO, our only hope for getting Kotsay out of the lineup is if his BA falls below .200. His BA has been floating around .220 for weeks and it hasn't bothered Guillen to this point, but a drop below .200 would surely garner some attention right? I mean, at what point do people have to realize his terrible performance isn't just do to a little bad luck. I'm just about ready to chear for an 0 for 19 streak.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 12:06 PM) I thought about it for a moment and realized...you know...I bet the Pirates would be happy to pay $3 million to Dunn to get those 2 draft picks. I got to be honest with you Balta, I feel like you've been going overboard on this draft pick hype for a while. Why would the Pirates pay $3 million for 2 draft picks that will cost them another let's say $2 million to sign? That's a total of $5 million spent on a supplemental 1st round pick and best case scenario a 1st round pick (>15) only worth $2 million. Instead, they could use the $5 million on international free agents and highly ranked guys who slip in the draft due to signability concerns. I can guarantee you they'd get way more bang for their buck this way. There's absolutely no need to pay a premium to "acquire" draft picks when you can just hand out over slot signing bonuses in later rounds for similar players. This is exactly why I find it hilarious that Rizzo didn't accept a reasonable offer from us (or any other team for that matter). He could of had a package of Hudson, Flowers (could have been used in another trade) and Holmberg, saved money by getting Dunn's contract off the books (let's say $3 million), while avoid paying the two draft picks (again let's say $2 million). He then could have turned around and spent the $5 million in savings on international free agents and guys who slip in the draft due to signability concerns. IMO, that's a much better return than just two draft picks.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 09:23 AM) Probably Viciedo goes down to play everyday at Charlotte and be back in Sept or earlier if there is an injury The problem is that, assuming no major additions, I'd want Viciedo on my playoff roster. He'd at least be my DH against all left-handed starters and maybe even more. Same goes for Lillibridge, since he offers defensive flexibility and is our best pinch-runner. They both have more important roles to play on our playoff roster than Kotsay (left-handed pinch hitter). Therefore, these guys got to be on our 25 man roster or the DL on the last day of August.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 11:33 PM) I like where you are going with this. Can he fill Andruw's shoes next year? Is his defense plus? Inform the masses JPN! That's exactly what I'm thinking. I just don't know much about his defense. If he's solid defensively, he could fill a bench spot on the cheap next season.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 10:20 PM) I watched him play in person for almost 2 years. Tremendous power to all fields, very patient at the plate, good athlete overall. How's his defense? Is he strictly a corner OF or can he play a little CF?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 07:42 PM) IF the price is $6-$7 million, then the Giants will claim him if he gets that far. Why are you so certain of this? Have you read something in the news implying the Giants have significant cash to burn?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 06:22 PM) Yes, but it only takes one... True, but I don't see the usual suspects (Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, etc.) making a claim on Manny.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 06:06 PM) If it's only $6-7 million owed to him, then I don't see why someone wouldn't claim him. That's a lot of money to most teams. Hell, that's like 7% percent of our payroll. IMO, very few teams would even consider claiming a player worth that amount and even less would claim Manny.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 06:02 PM) The deadline really meant nothing because nobody was going to claim him. I don't see how his price would go up. The Sox offered $1 million in salary relief and nothing else. I doubt they would go much higher if they would go higher at all. Before the trading deadline, there were other impact bats available like Dunn, Berkman, etc. There are not going to be a lot of possible impact players that clear through waivers (at least ones without mulityear commitments). The market is radically different now than it was in July. Honestly, who is a more attractive bat that you expect to clear waivers? If Manny is indeed the top option now, then his value will be higher than it was before the deadline. Also, the offer the Sox made ($1 million and no prospects) was a complete joke. They wanted to see how desperate the Dodgers were to move him and clearly they got their answer. I don't think it's crazy to think that the Sox would add an extra $2 million and some low A ball prospect to if they really want to get Manny.

Any possibility that the Dodgers added salary at the deadline with the intention of trading Manny in August? IMO, Manny is one of the few potential impact bats that should pass through waivers. Seems like his value would only increase in August with guys like Dunn being restricted to a single trading partner. I'm not suggesting the Dodgers would get a ton for him, but I don't think it's far-fetched for them to get $3 million and a prospect in return for him at this point, which clearly they couldn't get in July. Maybe that was their plan all along?

What do people think about Stefan Gartrell? He's got a .920 OPS against lefties this season. I know he's a bit old for a prosepct, but does anyone think he could be a cheap reserve OF for us next season? Has anyone seen him play and could comment on his defense?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 02:01 PM) I believe you are correct. Thanks! QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) Yes, although I don't think we'd carry 3 lefties in the pen. I'm not suggesting carrying 3 lefties in the pen for the playoffs, rather pointing out keeping Threets on the DL for the rest of the month gives the team all of September to decide who the better option is for the postseason. Otherwise, you got to make the call by the end of the month.

If Threets is somehow able to stay on the DL until rosters expand in September (I know that's a long time and unlikely), he and Sale would both be eligible for the playoff roster correct?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 2, 2010 -> 11:14 AM) Just because Coop likes him doesnt mean we didnt overpay for him. Jackson has been bad this year, there is no denying that, and with the price tag he has you dont give up the only SP prospect that you have that can make an impact on your big league club this year (we have other pitchers, but no one else is close to Hudson's level). Even if Jackson succeeds, we're stuck with a $54 million starting rotation with no clear favorites to replace one of those expensive starters. I would like Jackson if we kept Hudson, because then we still ahve the flexibility to trade a starter in the offseason while having Hudson be the cheap yet potentially good 5th starter. We have Sale who might be able to jump into the rotation at some point next year and should at least be ready by the start of 2012. Buerhle and Jackson will be free agents at this point, so the $54 million commitment is only for a year. However, I see KW trying to sign Danks and possibly Jackson (depending on performance/eagerness to test the market) to extensions this offseason. Having Jackson might be good leverage to get Danks to finally agree to a long-term deal. If not, we need to look into trading Danks soon. He'll be at his highest value during the offseason and up until the 2011 trading deadline. We should be able to get quite a haul for him, including a near major league ready starting pitcher with tons of upside. Hopefully it doesn't come to moving Danks, but that might be how you get some salary relief in the offseason.

I still think something happens in the last couple minutes. Hopefully KW has a couple offers on the table and he's just waiting for someone to blink.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) I love Viciedo. But think of the Postseason...you want Viciedo up there against some of these elite pitchers, or Manny Ramirez? Ramirez hands down. Anyone who says otherwise is blinded by the steroids issue.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) Frankly, I don't want a juicer on my team. That said...he's not going to play the rest of the season without at least 1 more DL trip and we shouldn't pretend otherwise. There's a legit chance he comes back out, runs the bases any day, and then misses the rest of the season because of it. You honestly think that no one on our current roster has taken steroids in the past? Come on, a good chunk of the league has probably used and you'll never actually know. You just going to hate the guys that get caught?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 11:51 AM) Let's note 1 thing...Manny's had a total of 220 PA's this season. Mark Kotsay has 253. Mark Kotsay has played a lot more than Manny Ramirez. So you'd rather have Kotsay as our DH over Manny?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 08:20 AM) From the sounds of it, this isn't really true. What do you mean?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 08:09 PM) Austin Kearns was just unusually pulled for a pinch runner. Something to keep an eye on. Someone in the game thread just said he was traded to the Yankees.

Please do not trade Viciedo KW!!

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 06:03 PM) Yankees got Astros to send money back and won't be sending any good prospects. Berkman could have been had for NOTHING. Kenny better be working on something BIG. Olney: Heard this: The Astros are picking up a lot of the money owed to Lance Berkman in their agreement with the Yankees, and the NYY#trades Yankees won't be giving up any major prospects. That's really too bad...I would have loved Berkman on the cheap. Like you said, we just got to hope KW is working on something big. I just hope he can find a way to get us a nice bat without giving up Viciedo.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) Did Cowley just say that Ozzie once wrote up a lineup with Pierre hitting 4th? I wouldn't be suprised at all. I believe Ozzie said something along the lines that if he was GM he'd have Pierre batting 4th (implying his lineup would be a bunch of scrappy/slappy hitters).

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 04:38 PM) Balta pretty much summed it up. Even if you do trade him, then you still need to sign a 5th starter. And who's to say that Freddy won't sign a cheap deal with us next year? We all know how close he is with Ozzie and how much he enjoys playing here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 04:32 PM) Then we've got a choice if somehow we dump Jackson's contract. Either we go and find Bartolo Colon and see if he'll sign for another $500k next offseason, or we take Jackson's $8 million and spend it on another overpaid FA pitcher somewhere. Unless we've got a method to catch Freddy Garcia-like lightning in a bottle next year, or we're totally insane and we're going to dump Sale into the fryer immediately next year, we're going to need another starting pitcher if we somehow became the 4th team to give up on Jackson in 2 years, and we're absolutely not going to get an MLB-ready minor league arm for him. I think that's quite the stretch considering he hasn't thrown a single pitch for us. Let's give him a chance to pitch before we declare that his value will significantly decline between now and the offseason.