oldsox

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 04:33 PM) He doesn't. They paid a touch over $700k to release him. Are you telling me that the Sox are not on the hook for Viciedo's salary?

How does Hahn explain to JR the $4MM++ price tag he put on Viciedo? It's like paying $6MM to Gordo.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 06:33 PM) If that's the case, why is Thome wasting time in this nebulous "special assistant" position he's in and instead learning the finer points of the craft by managing one of the team's minor league teams? Must the only criteria for a White Sox manager be simply "Former Sox player/Reinsdorf favorite/no prior managerial experience"? He probably feels as if he does not need that miinor league experience, that he will get that experience in his first year or two of managing in the big leagues. I agree with your recommendation, but baseball's stars don't feel that way anymore.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:38 AM) I feel like Shuck probably has a little upside, at least. Besides, if Constanza is better, he's not better enough to make it worth the effort/cost of the transaction Kinda like blowing the $4mm on Viciedo?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 09:01 PM) Soto can spell LaRoche against lefties, Kottaras can't. That's the key. Can Soto hit lefties any better than Viciedo? I don't think so. This whole Beckham/Viciedo charade is crazy. Hahn is taking a big chance here. If LaRoche doesn't hit this year, if he turns into an old guy real fast, if he is the 2015 version of Adam Dunn, Sox are in trouble. Viciedo at least represented a RH DH alternative, now it's Soto? Sox are now a weaker team than they were a week ago, and we take back Gordo to clog up the infield even more? Where does this leave Bontifacio and all his speed? If Hahn wants to use Gordo as a RH third baseman because Gillaspie can't hit lefties, why didn't he do that last year? Sorry, I don't get it. Looks like a Forrest Gump move to me.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 02:33 PM) Mail Order Bride + adoption. I'll have receipts for all of them. From which country?

QUOTE (LDF @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 07:20 AM) well if you really think about it.... you actually do. look at the theory of a divorce. Please continue........

Unlike last year, Sox actually have a tradable surplus in the pen, if they were inclined to trade for a prospect or three.

Adam's got some shoulders.

I remember when he broke in, straight from the old Negro League. Not much fanfare in those days, but right away it was obvious he could play. The rest is history. He and Nellie Fox both won MVP in 1959. Pretty good year for Chicago. Ernie could have easily been a .300 lifetime hitter, but pitchers really pitched around him, and he went for a lot of pitches outside the strike zone. He had big time bat speed, even then. Nobody talked about it like they do now. His countdown to 500 home runs was great theatre in Chicago. Classy man.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jan 24, 2015 -> 11:36 AM) I'm starting to believe they can be most effective as a team. I'm glad that Hahn has the ultimate personnel decision power, but Kenny's energy, enthusiasm and salesmanship may help bring outside talent into the org. I think it's working well right now. I don't think John Elway is any rocket scientist for the Broncos, but he's been a terrific salesman for them, reeling in Manning and prying away Kubiak, and generally making it an attractive place for FA's. He may also be the "Bill Cosby of local sports celebrity" here in Colorado, but that's a topic for another forum. Interesting. I know of a few stories, too.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 07:32 PM) Tyler Flowers is a career .218 hitter with about a 35% strikeout rate. There is no catcher head and shoulders better than any other in the Sox system now. You might be right, but face it, Flowers today is a much better player than he was in his first couple of years here. I know he had a long stretch last year (a couple of months??) when he just could not hit, and he looked lost at the plate, but not behind it. Then, he came out of it the last two months or so. I can see a slight improvement for him in 2015.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Jan 22, 2015 -> 05:29 PM) There's a chance this is the org's best catcher. Not saying a ton of course. I'm happy we have some depth now. Soto is not even close to Flowers, IMO.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 20, 2015 -> 01:15 PM) Why do you think he's a good defender? I've seen Fowler play hundreds of games, literally, and he has really great range, very good jump, pretty good arm - certainly better than our guy. Hey, he is a very good CF. Not a polished base stealer - don't know why- but first to third or first to home He's as good as it gets. Might have an attitude problem, which I think is why rockettes got rid of him. Not worth $10 Large yet, but he can play CF very well. He's one of those guys who came to the big leagues one year too soon.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jan 19, 2015 -> 05:16 PM) and the White Sox should trade assets for a .650 OPS for, uh, why exactly? As for Fowler, he does one thing: he walks. That's it. Otherwise, he's terrible in the field and has no power. Now the board is becoming fascinated with Astros players. Good lord, does it ever end? Not true. He became a switch hitter late in life; he has power from right side, IIRC. Should be a good trade for the Scrubs, opening up third base for you know who.

One of the unexplained miracles of life on Earth is how R Amaro, Jr. keeps his job.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2015 -> 11:19 AM) Non-Moncada, but Schwarber being so high on that list is insane. How is his ranking so insane? Because he is a college grad and thus old? Geez, the kid is a thumper with the bat, big time.

Might be the last $650K he earns in MLB.

I did not know Shark was abr eliegible -- thought he had a contract. Oh, well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 12, 2015 -> 05:44 PM) The question I have is...is this contract guaranteed? It's been suggested that arbitration settlements are not guaranteed for anything more than $750k at the end of spring training but this is not an arbitration settlement, its' a contract. Binding arbitration.

Back to Zobrist. Rays traded him to the A's for a couple of pretty good prospects plus a catcher (Jaso) who can hit a little bit. I'm glad it was the A's giving up the prospects, not us.

QUOTE (South Sider @ Jan 5, 2015 -> 11:31 PM) I go to Spring Training every year. I have family there, and it's perfect for me to take a vacation to see them at that time. A few years back I was fortunate enough to go to a White Sox spring training game at Camelback Ranch, and then zip on over to the Coyotes facility to see the Hawks. AJ Pierzynski dropped the puck. It was a good time, and you will have one too. This year, while I'd love to go when you are going, my girlfriend is also going with me and her spring break isn't until the latter portion of the month. On the plus side, I'm going to go to both Cubs vs Sox games and it will be later in spring training when some of the younger guys you don't want to see are cut. It's gonna be a darn good time, as usual! Speaking of AJ, the Braves signed him this week.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 05:42 PM) No, I don't think so. If Abreu gets hurt, the season's pretty much over anyways, but if LaRoche gets hurt, Wilkins at least provides the talent to not kill the Sox offensively at 1B. Danks doesn't do that and hasn't played 1B anyways. Not that excellent defensive outfielders are a dime a dozen, but traditional thought seems to lean towards being able to find good to elite defenders much easier than finding average to good hitters. I think, given his minor league track record and the most reason season we have on record, Wilkins is better bet to do something in the majors offensively than is Jordan Danks. It's very likely that Wilkins never sniffs the majors as a hitter or, if he does, it's in the form of September call ups or as a pinch hitter, but right now, I think he'd be projected to perform better offensively than Jordan Danks. For the record, here are the ZiPS projections for their batting lines. These mean little other than plugging numbers into a computer to generate likely splits: Wilkins: .242/.294/.437, .318 wOBA Danks: .232/.308/.375, .303 wOBA --- Also worth considering is that the Sox have indicated to Danks that they'd welcome him back with open arms and they know what he is, but perhaps they're doing this as a favor to him. Allow him the opportunity to see if another team in the majors wants him or let him pursue more playing time overseas or something along those lines. Anyway. Twice in one two-sentence paragraph is too much. I thought they would have taught you this in Admin School.

I saw him as a minor leaguer in Denver when it was the AAA farm team of Expos. That team had Rock, Andre Dawson, Tim Wallach, Ellis Valentine, plus Jerry Manuel at short. Geez, was that a good team and fun to watch. Raines was a 2B at the time. If they had left him at second, he might have been greatest 2B of all time.

Who gets lopped off the roster?