Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 07:19 AM) Beckham gets married today, so I would assume Konerko, Ventura, and Hahn are in the same place to talk. I would bet a Konerko decision is coming soon. GM meetings this week as well. I think a Konerko decision was made the day we signed Abreu. Dunn is the better player right now (plus left-handed) and there is simply no room for Paulie on a 4 man bench. And you know Robin would give Konerko a decent amount of playing time at the expense of Abreu. In all honestly, bringing him back doesn't make any sense and I'm sure Hahn agrees.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Nov 9, 2013 -> 07:29 AM) Joel Sherman had Sale as his surprise player traded this winter. If Sale goes, I think Quintana and Santiago should e moved too. With the reported asking prices of free agents it's hard to believe the Sox will rebuild that way. I would agree if we were to go full rebuild, you move all three of those guys and stockpile prospects. But you don't sign Abreu to the contact we just did and then go full rebuild. Sale isn't getting moved this offseason so it's a pointless discussion.

Any talk of Boras leaving money on the table is ridiculous. I despise the man and his negotiating tactics, but he pretty much will always get his players the most money possible (with a couple rare exceptions). There's really no denying this and Jay-Z's agency will not deliver as big of baseball contracts as Boras. The difference may be insignificant, but it will exist. Having said that, Jay-Z will most definitely open up more endorsement & branding opportunities than Boras ever could. He has numerous relationships in the business world that he can easily leverage. And let's he honest, he's going to sign star players with big personalities. These guys will all be extremely marketable and offer little challenge for him. I have no doubt Jay-Z will blow Boras out of the water in this area.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 05:26 PM) I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you sell off 3 highly paid veterans mid-season, lose nearly 100 games, and replace your team's captain and longest-tenured player with a guy who has never played an inning of major league baseball. We could pull it off very quickly, but if that's not rebuilding then I don't know what is. Lol...I'd call that retooling. Crain was an injured, free agent to be reliever. Hell, you were the biggest fan of dealing Peavy regardless of his value because of our pitching depth. Trading from a position of strength to land a young, major-league ready hitter isn't rebuilding, it's attempting to address our biggest weakness. And clearly Rios became expendable once we got Garcia. Getting rid of his contract helped us land Abreu (as you've stated numerous times) and an interesting utility player with some upside. Obviously Hahn was trying to get our team younger at the deadline, but rebuilding would have meant trading a lot more than just those three. Also, Abreu just signed the largest first time contract ever for an international player. That's called a major free agent addition. Were Ichiro or Darvish considered rebuilding-type moves as well because they had no major league experience at the time?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 01:24 PM) Semien to 3B or as the super IF sub. Beckham to 3B if they think Semien is better at 2B, but ole Gordo just got named the defensive 2B star. I would rater go or someone via free agency like Uribe at 3B. Is Mr. AJ Perzynski available for catching duties? I want a team with some fire and I think AJ can motivate as well as produce. I think Gillaspie and Keppinger are trade bait or Conor is a fill in W.P.O.T.Y.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 02:24 PM) Again, welcome to rebuilding. When you're rebuilding, you have to get the best value out of every guy you can, IMO. To some degree, that means seeing what guys can do and playing guys you have under contract until they're tradeable. Wait, we're rebuilding now?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 8, 2013 -> 12:11 PM) Fair enough, but with no one on he's been a .251/.285/.342 hitter the last 3 years. I'd prefer he'd hit somewhere with the opportunity to hit with runners on. Call me crazy but I wouldn't mind seeing him hit 3rd again. I think our best hope of a good #2 hitter is Semien winning the 2B job. You're crazy.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Nov 7, 2013 -> 10:50 PM) Maybe Merkin got he hint from the Sox that he should start blowing smoke now in case they are trying to trade Beckham. Although I can't imagine any GM would be dumb enough to fall for a puff piece. Exactly, GMs aren't going to whitesox.com and reading a Merkin article for their "insider" information. These fluff pieces are intended to hype up the meatball portion of the fanbase for the coming season.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 10:07 PM) I'd rather see the Sox sign Salty to a 4 year deal if it were for something like $6M or $7M per year, but if he's going to cost $36M for four years the Sox would be better off signing AJ for something like 2yrs./$12M - $14M. Signing a 37 year old catcher to a multi-year deal seems like a bad idea to me.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 09:48 PM) It's the free agent market. It's like a convenience store, you will overpay. You don't want to field your whole lineup that way, but we've got no catcher in the organization with any hope of successfully hitting right handed pitching. If it's only 4 years, he's got a better chance of earning his contract than McCann. The key with Salty is we can add him without sacrificing a draft pick or any major/minor league talent. What other catching options are currently out there that only cost money that are better than Salty?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 09:13 PM) For $10 million a year, that doesn't hugely impress me. What's your solution for catcher then?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 08:46 PM) He has been a tolerable Cather for 2 of 3 seasons and had a great career year right before hitting Fa, and his numbers in those tolerable seasons weren't muh better than the numbers that made Texas let him go. Unless I'm missing something, he was replacement level up until 2011 when he joined the Red Sox. Since then, he's put up WARs of 1.6, 1.9, & 3.6. He's been much better than he was with Texas, not really much of an argument there.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 07:05 PM) How can his floor be a 2 WAR player when 2013 was the only year he was at least a 2 WAR player? Well he was a 1.9 WAR in 2012, but I guess that's pretty far off from 2. And he was a 1.6 WAR player in 2011 when he got about 20% less plate appearances than last year, but let's not factor playing time into the equation. Seems like a pretty safe bet to be a 2ish WAR player with 460ish plate appearances based on his last 3 years of performance. But you're right, technically he's only been a 2 WAR player once in his career.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 07:00 PM) The downside is that he puts up numbers close to his career numbers of a low-.700's OPS without great defense he's put up every year of his career before last year and you're paying $10 million for a guy who gives 1 WAR next year and declines from there. I have no idea how you look at his career and say te risk of a market value contract is minimal when he's been barely above replacement until last year. The risk is you're paying a fortune for the guy the Rangers let walk. Maybe it's the right move, but the downside is quite plain. Lol...I'm so sick and tired of this new assumption that players automatically regress at age 30. He was a 1.6 & 1.9 WAR player in 2011 & 2012 before his 3.6 WAR season last year. He's been a very solid catcher for three straight seasons, so I'm not sure where this "barely above replacement" comment is coming from. Also, in the AL Central, he'd be able to face RHP even more frequently, yet somehow with us at age 29 he'd become a 1 WAR player and then be even worse in 2015 at age 30. I forgot that all players follow a bell curve and peak exactly at 30 years of age before rapidly declining. And why do I care that the Rangers let Salty go? Why in god's name does that matter at all? I guess the Red Sox shouldn't have picked up David Ortiz way back when because the Twins let him go. Or are you saying the Rangers don't ever make mistakes on player evaluations? Just a very strange point.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 05:47 PM) Take it for what it's worth but Hahn has said more than once this offseason that the FO underestimated that need for a catcher. I think a move is made, whether it's big or small we'll see but I feel they do something. They can't go into next year with Flowers/Phegley. Either bring in a LH back up/partner, bring in a starter or bring in a great defender. There is like a 5% chance that we go into 2014 with Phegley & Flowers as our major league catchers. Who knows how they view Salty, but it's clear that an upgrade at C will be a priority this offseason based on Hahn's comments. And quite frankly, it makes complete sense given how weak we are at the position throughout the organization. IMO, Salty would be a great get for us. I think his floor is a 2 WAR player, which would still be acceptable at $9 or $10M a year. However, if he truly took a step last year with the bat then that salary could be quite a bargain. Regardless, there's nothing wrong with paying market rate to fill a huge organizational need as long as the risk is minimal. I guess I don't see a lot of downside in signing Salty through his age 32 season, which is what a four year deal would require and the most I think he will get in free agency.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) I think he could still get more than that on the open market (or perhaps get the Yankees to sign him to a 3 year deal before the accept/decline deadline). I'd probably be willing to part with a 2nd round pick for him at 2/$20. It's not just the pick you'd be parting with, but also the bonus pool money. Our 1st round pick is likely going to get their full slot amount, so if we want to have some flexibility for later in the draft, we'll probably need to go underslot in round 2 and/or 3. I'd hate to lose a prospect and some of that flexibility for a guy that is only going to help us for 2 years.

I think "favorites" is pretty misleading. The guy is predicting the Sox will sign Salty, but even acknowledges he doesn't like that prediction very much. It's simply just a guess based on positional need.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 2, 2013 -> 01:28 AM) I think it's funny that "David Freese sucks" but would have had the 2nd best OPS+ on the WSox last season and highest OBP. Ok. Did you happen to write this? http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-sports-f...s-david-freese/

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 1, 2013 -> 06:16 PM) Sure, Beck had a nice ERA but he managed to strike out a grand total of 4 guys per 9 in A+ ball. Unless he somehow develops a strikeout pitch he's never going to be able to consistently succeed in the majors. He's a pretty marginal prospect that was a throw in for me to be honest. And what exactly do you think of Santiago going forward and what do you think his trade value is? Beck's K rate jumped to 7.07/9 when he moved up to AA. My guess is he was working on a specific pitch at A+. Either way, he's more than just a throw-in type prospect. As for Santiago, I'm not sure why you're acting like young pitching isn't extremely valuable. Sure he has some flaws, like his inability to go deep into starts, but he's still been very productive and has immense potential. Remember, this kid has only been a starter for a short period of time. There's every reason to believe he will continue to get better with more experience. If you move him, you better be getting a talented, young position player, not some Ethier type.

Sounds like the Red Sox might not offer Salty a QO. If that's the case, I'd like to see the White Sox pursue him aggressively, even if they feel he's only the strong half of a platoon. Here are his stats against RHP last year: .294/.350/.523/.873 with a wRC+ of 135 Those numbers would be a HUGE upgrade for us at the catcher's spot and address multiple offense needs. Plus with the amount of RHP in the AL Central he could easily get 120 starts, so the platoon aspect would be somewhat overrated. He turns 29 next May, so a 4 year deal would take you through his age 29 to 32 seasons. I would be willing to throw $36M in that case. If he could repeat his total production from 2013 that deal would be a complete steal.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 11:52 PM) 140 innings this season. Assume next year he can do 180 innings, that should put him around a 1.9 WAR. So I guess MAYBE a 2.5 WAR if he improves some next year, that's still less than Arenado already put up last year at age 22. Not disagreeing with you on Arenado, just saying that Santiago is easily a 2 WAR player with minor improvements with the potential for much, much more.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 10:46 PM) Yeah, I don't see them trading a 22-year-old 3B who put up a 2.7 WAR his rookie season for a 26 year old pitcher who may put up a sub-2 WAR next season if he improves. Not that they may not be interested in Santiago, but it would take Santiago + to get that done. How would Santiago put up a sub 2 WAR if he actually improved next year? He was basically a starter for only 2/3 of the year and still finished with a 1.5 WAR. Give him 11 more starts next year instead of a bunch of relief appearances and he should easily get that extra 0.5 WAR if gets even a slight bit better.

Unfortunately for us, we're not going to want to lose a high pick and a big chunk of bonus pool money when we're drafting 3rd overall. So all the big free agents are pretty much off-limits. I still think if a guy like Salty doesn't receive a QO they'll go after him aggressively. The issue here isn't money, Hahn just wants to hold onto all his draft-related assets, which is the right call IMO.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) I like next years class much more than this year. If the Sox can somehow swing a trade for Brett Lawrie with the Jays, I would be extremely happy with the product they are putting on the field next year. There wasn't much in this free agent class I wanted besides Abreu though, I think McCann is a nice player, but grossly overhyped and will get grossly overpaid. Who do you like next year??

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 31, 2013 -> 03:04 PM) I think Linstrom is a luxury more than anything else. $3.5m for a glorified one-out righty guy is a lot for a team rebuilding. First off, we're not rebuilding. Second, you should be willing to pay a slight premium in terms of salary for not having to take on any long-term risk. I'll take Lindstrom at $3.5M for 2014 rather go out and sign a similar free agent to a multi-year deal.