Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Lillian @ Oct 10, 2013 -> 10:06 AM) Josh Hamilton missed 3 consecutive seasons, while dealing with alcohol and drug abuse, and then only played half of his first season back, and he tore up the League, when he did. Isn't is feasible for a guy to come back after missing extensive playing time, if he is healthy and in good shape? I read where Sizemore will likely sign a minor league contract. What is the risk? There's a difference between something that's possible and something that you gamble millions of dollars on. One example of something working out against the odds does not serve as a practical reason to expect things to continue to happen against the odds.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 04:57 PM) Wait, I just went to fangraphs and this isn't true. Here's his UZR by year: 3.7 -3.5 -10.3 1.2 -0.2 4.0 7.6 6.1 Yeah, I didn't realize the FG began listing FLD as a position-adjusted version of UZR. My mistake. His numbers look worse because of the penalty.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 04:44 PM) He's 29 turns 30 around May I think .He won't get a lot of years or dollars since so few ( judging by this board) don't want 1stbasemen who don't hit for (as much as you all want) power. I don't think his UZR paints much of a picture at all. Texeria, generally considered an above avg. 1st baseman is the only guy who saved more runs than Loney since 2008 and only by 2 runs. If his ex manager Joe Torre says hea a good fielder I'll take his word for it rather than the woefully inadeqaute UZR which seems to only rewardplayers at premium position. What exactly about UZR makes it woefully inadequate?

James Loney just had his career year at 2.7 WAR, and he's poised to be overpaid. Also, despite his reputation for being a high end defender, he has managed a negative UZR literally every year of his career. Sure, UZR can be wonky from year to year, but six consecutive years of below average numbers paints a pretty compelling picture. At his best, he's a touch above an average player, and he's about to be overpaid to enter his decline years.

Forcing Viciedo into a difficult defensive position so that he can use his good throwing arm is just so backwards.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 04:56 PM) Any chance a decision won't be announced until after the playoffs? I could imagine if the Red Sox had the winning bid, they might not want Napoli to find out he's being replaced mid-playoffs. It won't be announced until after the playoffs, but that's because the MLB doesn't want big news taking away from the games.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 04:08 PM) I think you mean 3. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...ion=OF#fielding I've never seen an outfielder make 15 errors in a season. Looks like he was referencing the Assists column. Whoops. 15 assists is awesome.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 01:52 PM) I never said Garcia was competent in CF. People see he can run and throw, and hope or assume he can play CF because of that. The fact is, if he does play CF for the White Sox, odds are totally stacked against it being a long term thing. First off, while he has nice tools, he isn't great defensively now, and he is more than likely going to get bigger, and there aren't many 250 pound long term CF in the history of the sport. I don't think it will require any more to see that Garcia isn't going to be a Gold Glove CF, just like we knew right away that Viciedo wasn't going to be a Gold Glove LF. If the Sox put Garcia in CF, it will be because of a team need, not because he is a long term solution in CF. I agree here. He's not even a good RF yet, and by the time he learns to be a good OF, he projects to be relegated to RF anyway. I'd like to see him learn to walk before he learns to run anyway. He should get comfortable in RF.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 01:35 PM) How many major league ABs will it require to tell if Jared Mitchell can hit in the big leagues? I'm guessing less than 31. Most players don't get an opportunity to get 31 AB at the major league level. I bet of the 1000s who did not, there probably were a handful that would have turned into productive players. There are some guys you can tell right away aren't going to make it. See, this is one of those things where I feel you argue JUST for the sake of arguing. Clearly he's talking about something else entirely -- if the guyis good enough to earn a look at the big league level, 31 AB isn't enough to tell you anything, because both the hitter and the pitchers and random luck have lots of adjustments to make. The same thing applies to any hitter (Jared Mitchell included) at whatever their appropriate level is. The whole point that was being made was that Garcia hasn't been around long enough to tell what he is going to become, not that every single hitter might be good at hitting even though he sucks in the Pioneer League.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 10:53 AM) Eithier is not worth Santiago if the Dodgers pick up Eithier's entire contract. I think the Dodgers would very much like some team to pick up Either's contract and might be willing to give a pretty good prospect. I hear they like Cano. Marty what are you basing this on? This notion is insane. They have already budgeted for Ethier's contract -- it's a sunk cost. They knew that Cano would be a free agent in 2013 when they extended Ethier. They are not going to give their prospects away for money.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 09:42 AM) I would counter that most guys would look clueless getting reads off the bat if they are in a position they haven't played before. That's fair, but I think he's looked just as clueless in RF. That's what is making me unusually judgmental about his chances in CF given the small amount of time I've seen him out there.

It's not his body or tool box that worries me, it's that he looks clueless going after fly balls. I'm sure he'll get better at wherever they stick him, but I think some guys just don't have the instincts to man CF - you need to get good reads, good jumps, and take good routes to cover all of that ground well.

Game used picture, eh?

Rangers @ 6/80

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 06:44 PM) I like this idea. Take Eithier's entire contract if they throw in Joc Pederson. Can we keep this insanity in only one thread?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 06:44 PM) I like this idea. Take Eithier's entire contract if they throw in Joc Pederson. lol

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) At least Franco makes a fair amount of contact and he was tearing the minors apart at a young age. This isn't Avisail Garcia who we think is a good prospect but has still been rather mediocre and hasn't put up a lot of great peripherals. Yeah, I'd love to see plate discipline numbers with him, but going off of a pretty lengthy Jason Parks piece on a podcast, he's a hacker. He has made good contact so far, based on his K rates, but it's one thing to make contact on bad minor league pitches, and entirely another against MLB stuff.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:22 PM) Is that KW or Hahn? Yeah, who knows. I have to lay the burden of the final say on Hahn, though, even if it's KW or someone else feeding him the recommendations. At some point, you have to look around and see that the plan isn't working out, you know?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:00 PM) Given that Hahn was reportedly asking for Makiel Franco at the deadline for De Aza, I think he is aware of his potential value to other teams as well. I'm not certain what we'll see yet. Frankly, as was mentioned previously, we could see the Sox bring AJ back again. He WOULD want Maikel Franco, lol. What the **** is up this organization's obsession with guys that rip up the minors by swinging at everything and destroy inferior pitching?

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 03:46 PM) He could play left and move Tank to 1B/DH. Or Garcia to CF if it's thought he'd be better there than De Aza. Dodgers obviously have to unload him or Crawford. Yeah, we could find a way to make it work, but the upgrade of Grand/Ethier from De Aza/Viciedo is much less than FLowers/Phegley to McCann, for example. I just mean that a corner OF is not our biggest problem.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Oct 6, 2013 -> 09:47 PM) Abreu is obviously the hope but I would definitely buy low on Corey Hart before I buy high on Loney.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 03:22 PM) Does anyone think we might target Ethier from the Dodgers. I'd rather have him than Granderson. I really don't think we need a right fielder.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 02:57 PM) One thing worth pointing out: fWAR: Alejandro De Aza, 2012 and 2013: 2.7 and 2.2 Curtis Granderson, same years: 2.3 and 1.4 (Granderson had 245 PA's in 2013 if you'd like to project to a full season). bWAR: De Aza: 2.3, -0.3 Granderson: 3.0, 1.1. Yes, Granderson has much better years prior to the last 2 and he outperformed De Aza last year during his time on the field. However, over the last 2 years, the difference has been at best narrow. He's not going to be a defensive upgrade and he's going to be a slight downgrade on the basepaths. Only saying this since it seems some people think letting De Aza go for very little or nothing is a good idea. The player you'd get by signing Granderson stands a good chance of being comparable to De Aza for the next couple years. That's not a bad thing, that's more than a $10 million player, but that is why you have to get fair value for ADA. Great post. Best case (Granderson bounces back from injury and doesn't continue his decline), you're getting a small upgrade from De Aza. It isn't quite marginal, but it would be a poor allocation of a bunch of money. We have much bigger holes to fill.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 03:10 PM) OPS+ is also on a pretty marked decline 135 in 2008 to 115 in 2013, even throwing out the 2012 87 as an injury thing. OPS is a much inferior statistic to RC, which precisely weighs on-base skills and slugging.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) Except he didn't bounce back to his career norms. If you throw out 2012 as an aberration, you still have 4 straight years of OPS drops since his career high of 2008. WAR and oWar have also been on a pretty steady decline. dWar was 0.1 from a career low. BA, SLG, OPB are also on a steady decline. No reason to think these trends won't continue, and probably they will accelerate. QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 02:53 PM) How much of that is in line with league wide drops in offensive production? I'm not an advocate of signing him. Just sayin... Excellent point by TaylorStSox, this is EXACTLY why you look at wRC+, which is league adjusted every year. McCann's career wRC+ is 117. His 2013 wRC+ is 122, and that's despite a BABIP 32 points below his career average. This is definitely not a sign of decline.