Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) You still retain team control like any other non-MLB player on these guys unless you explicitly release the player from that team control Right, that was the case with Viciedo, IIRC. It would be safe to assume though that if he were turning down extra years, he would have a clause releasing him from control.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 03:00 PM) I wonder if he will be more interested in a short term deal though. Maybe something like 3/27 with the team giving rights to arbitration away at the end of the deal. That way he can be a FA again at 30 and make his money there. If he goes for a long term deal he loses his chance to make a lot more money as he would be a FA until his mid to late 30's. 5 years would make him a free agent at 31. If he's making north of $12m per year, I'd be surprised to see him turn down extra years. Cespedes was a little different because he was only getting a guarantee of ~$8m per

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) Uh oh. I'm sensing somebody doesn't like Paulie very much. We'll never know how badly his injuries have been. My guess is they've been really bad. If so he'll probably retire. Come on, man. We all love Paulie. 38 year olds with back, knee, foot, and wrist problems are typically on their way out.

QUOTE (shakes @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 11:40 AM) He seems like he would be a great fit, but I just fear the bidding is going to get to crazy levels. The Red Sox and Rangers have needs at first base, and the Twins and O's keep hinting at going big in the international markets. The A's could jump right back in given their difficulties to attract free agents, and we haven't even touched on the NL. I feel like his contract will blow Puig's and Cespedes out of the water. If consensus determines he's a 60/60 hitter, I'd be comfortable going up to 5/80

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 11:51 AM) I obviously hope he breaks out, but in order to keep my sanity I try and hold back on expectations on prospects that young. Heck, I'm still waiting on Juan Silveiro to finally make his way to the big leagues....what's that you say? Yeah, that's true. Probably better as a nice surprise that we forgot about

I hope Zapata breaks onto the scene and gives us something to be excited about next year.

I'm ready to say goodbye to Paulie. Great career, no reason to drag it down into zombie territory.

If he's 70/70, he's worth $20-25m a year. If he's 60/60, I'll still give him $12m without blinking.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 16, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) Not enough TWTW You really need to use TWTW+ to account for league and park factors.

Lol, they felt the need to tweet a triple slash version of his playing time, but just mention his batting average.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 02:03 PM) It's tough for me now. I don't want them to win. I want the 3rd pick in June minimum. They can't f*** up this fantastic opportunity by falling down to the 5-8 range draft pick wise. Ideally, Garcia and Beckham will do well, Dunn will hit bombs, Starting pitchers pitch well, and then Axelrod blows the game. That's my ideal scenario right now. God that sounds horrible. Lol. Axelrod should come in the 8th every game and just pitch until it ends.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 01:02 PM) Avisail Garcia. Because he's young and exciting and has actual top prospect promise. Yeah, I've just been watching to see how he hits.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 01:40 PM) Based on the scouting reports, I would expect him to be a similar player to Billy Butler. And as far as Law saying that Cespedes is worth more because he is much more athletic, that is pretty absurd. That would mean that Carl Crawford should have gotten more money than Prince Fielder or Curtis Granderson should make more than Mark Texiera. Cespedes is a great athlete with a ton of power, but his hit tool is below average so he doesn't get as much play from his power tool as he should. After watching video on him, I can't see a Billy Butler comp at all. His swing is a dinger swing. Slight uppercut with a Longoria/Cespedes-esque follow through. I don;t know if his hit toll is really a 70, but it looks like the power is very real.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 11:38 AM) That dude is ridiculous in the field. I don't even bother comparing Garcia with him because Simmons is on a planet with guys like Ozzie Smith for now. Right but there are still like 40 games. So if Garcia just hits like Simmons, he'll be a 3 win player. EDIT: which is 240/284/360

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 15, 2013 -> 11:13 AM) Whoa. Doesn't take much for a high-end defender at shortstop to get to 3 wins. Just needs like an 80 wRC+ or so.

I can't wait until 2014

Konerko isn't going anywhere, and I'm fine with it.

From a BP feature today: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....articleid=21529

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 05:16 PM) ROFL. One guy will swing through the pitch because he starts to late, the other guy because he starts too early. Does it matter? In terms of results, no. But one of them has a much better chance to improve if coached correctly.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:58 PM) Has A. Garcia drawn any walks with the Sox yet? Not gonna help his on base percentage in the future. Like Kenny said, we got to improve OBP. I think we need to work with these guys all winter on approach. Would I prefer a new hitting coach? Yes. Or at least add the man who knew how to draw a walk and still HIT, FRANK THOMAS. He has drawn a couple, though his K and BB percentages have been about the same as always. This is an area where I agree with you wholeheartedly, though I don't have any idea if Frank Thomas would be a good coach just because he was na excellent hitter.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:50 PM) Why would that give us a .500 team only? With the Sox pitching? I thought pretty much all we had to do was fix the everyday lineup and the Sox are golden cause of the current pitching. My simple suggestion there could work wonders and the draft is just a bonanza. And we could substitute some other catcher for AJP on the free agent market if u want to go younger there. Curtis Granderson would be a substantial defensive downgrade in the OF of a team that has been among the worst defensive teams in the Majors. At the plate, at this stage of his career, he is REMARKABLY similar to your favorite player Adam Dunn. Last year's numbers: .232/.319/.492 with a 28.5% strikeout rate, good for an identical 116 wRC+. Like Dunn, he would actually be best suited as a DH rather than be a -18.1 UZR CF for us, but we already have an Adam Dunn at DH. Unlike Dunn, he has been increasingly injury prone -- having both knee and wrist problems. Brian McCann (who I'm using to replace AJP) is also injury prone, having spent substantial time on the DL in both of the last two years, and will need to spend increasing time at 1B/DH in order to stay in the lineup consistently now that he's approaching 30, where we already have Adam Dunn and hopefully Jose Abreu. Any at bats he gets outside of his part-time catching duty will be removing at bats from Abreu/Dunn, thus minimizing his overall value added by negating the value of the other best bats in the lineup. And this is assuming that Jose Abreu is an immediate, impact contributor. If anything other than 90% of the best case scenario happens, either because he isn't as good as we hope or because he needs time to adjust, his contribution is mitigated further. Consider the playing time crunch, I'd guess the combined impact of McCann/Abreu, assuming both are healthy, would work out to be about the same as if we had a full, healthy productive season from Konerko this year. So what do you have? 2013 White Sox except with worse defense and if Paul Konerko was his old self. Is that the difference between 100 losses and contention? This is also assuming Garcia is able to to recreate Rios' production and that Beckham's improvement is real, thus making up for the unlikely hot streak we enjoyed from Gillaspie while Beck was on the DL. Does that still seem like a prudent use of resources, considering that you'd be stuck with all those players for years as they get worse, Abreu notwithstanding?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) No problem. I can handle it. My point is a lot of people repeat themselves over and over, not just me. I may stress my disdain for Dunn and Rios and love for Paulie; others repeat themselves on other topics as well. This is true -- unfortunately there's just not a lot to talk about when the teams is embarrassing every night and we're past trade season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:37 PM) True, but I also would prefer we sign Jose Abreu and Grandy and AJ and voila, we gots a very good team again (on paper). And that's not even talking about the MLB Draft. If that would actually work, then we would all want that to happen. As it is, if everything broke our way, that would give us a .500 team that we would have to watch get gradually worse for 4 years until the contracts all expire and we can try to make serious moves again. Or, we can do it the right way now, and get a chance to compete some time this decade.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:30 PM) I was told posts like these are jokes, making people have fun with the season. So I'll take it that way. I just don't see the same joke over and over as being that funny. Then spend less time reading Soxtalk. It's half joke, half us trying to find solace in a silver lining. If it's not how you cope with this s***hole season, then stop reading it.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 14, 2013 -> 04:10 PM) As a fan, I can't write off seasons. I can't write off any game. Going .500 would mean ALOT more happy summer days for me. It's not an occasional win. Now, after the season? I'm not thrilled with .500, but like I said, I'd rather go .500 than get the No. 1 pick in the draft. That would probably mean my team sniffed the playoffs at least and I had an interesting summer following baseball. Who cares about the draft? It's an inexact science. They aren't going to suddenly say we can't have a first-round pick. Give me a first-round pick and I'm good with that. As a fan, I care about f***ing championships. I like when the Sox when games solely because it gets them closer to the playoffs. You can enjoy rooting for your .500 seasons, I'm going to root for chance to get back to the World Series.