Boopa1219

87 - 75 (Makes it to ALCS) The team wins the central, the black and blue division of MLB. Sale, Abreu, Shark, Robertson will be all stars. Sale wins Cy Young, with 20Ws, +250K, and an ERA below 3.00.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 11:30 PM) Many more if you want to go by rumors and speculation. Those guys didnt try to create a fake website to hide their guilt.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 10:59 PM) He's now the 3rd White Sox player who has been suspended for PEDs. I know but none of those were involved in the biggest PED scandal in recent memory.

I still don't like this, I know that it solves a issue and it's a short term deal but I do not want any players tied to PEDs on the Sox.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 04:39 PM) I read a lot of concern on here about Avisail....I don't get it. I'm a huge proponent of his and think he's going to be an excellent bat. With that said, we all have different ideas of what needs to go right for us to succeed or is making us doubt any chance of succeeding...What are your 3 keys to this season? Here's my 3: 1. Robin Ventura needs to show that he can manage an ML team with talent. He had an excuse last year with the roster being what it was but I think it was more than obvious that he was making many poor in-game decisions that had nothing to do with a lack of talent. He needs to step up this year or folks are going to be calling for his head early and it will disrupt the clubhouse. 2. Tyler Flowers showed flashes of the offense he achieved in the minors last season. Our stats gurus on here were quick to point out his absurd BABIP during his streaks, but from the eye test he was making more consistent contact and seeing the ball well during those stretches....no surprise that more contact leads to a better offensive contributor. We really need Tyler to feel comfortable most of the season if the Sox are going to make some noise. 3. Carlos Rodon and how management decides to manage his innings. The kid has the ability to be dominant and make an immediate impact on our club leading to easier victories out of the 4th spot in the rotation. I was a fan of bringing him along in the pen out of ST and ease him into a starting role....we know that isn't happening now. My next hope is that we milk those 130-140IP during the regular season being, outside of a possible BP role, we don't need him in the playoffs with our top 3 starters. We need every win we can get and I don't want to see him handled with kid gloves...give him a job and an innings limit and let him do his thing. I agree with mostly everything here but I disagree with Robin, he's the least of my concerns. I think he's a great manager.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 10:18 AM) I hope they don't. I think it would require a significant overdraft in order to save the type of money you would need to make this strategy work. The only significant under slot signing in the first round last year outside the top 3 was the injured Kyle Freeland at #8 (~800k under slot). Even the injured Jeff Hoffman signed for slot at #9. Unless you have one of the top 3 or 4 selections or target an injured pitcher I'm just not sure how workable a strategy it is. Personally I'd rather they just go all in on the #8 pick and ensure they have at least one impact type talent entering the system. I'd rather have a 1st and a 4th round pick than two 2nd's, if that's the trade-off. Without their second and third picks, it's critical that they hit with their first round pick.

Someone on Twitter (Maybe Merkin?) suggested the Sox should trade Viciedo for a comp draft pick, I would take that in a deal.

QUOTE (thigpen89 @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 07:24 AM) Hey everyone, I'm new here (my first post) but I've been reading the forum for a few weeks now since I made the jump from the White Sox official message board. I just moved to Houston so I'll be catching all three games at the end of May. I can't wait to take my new son to his first Sox games! Love a lot of the moves we made! Welcome!

If the Sox got a new stadium, what kind of stadium would you want it to be? A stadium more geared towards hitters or pitchers? Or what stadium would you want it to be like?

QUOTE (hi8is @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 02:27 AM) Joshua is crying... for some odd reason. I want Viciedo gone just like you, but I don't think Melky is worth $45M and now the team is on the hook for an extra $14M a year. What if this season is a disaster? If the team was already strapped for cash, how are the going to make a competitor offer for Shark (if they feel he's worthy) during next offseason? I know the is in win now mode but they have to continue to think about the future. When this signing was announced, I had flashbacks to the 2011 season.

Very disappointed.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) Your post is both near-sighted and tunnel-visioned. You are not taking into account the 45% drop in attendance rate in 2006, you are not taking into account the demographics of Sox fans, or the presence of another team in the same city as the Sox, which in itself makes our philosophy different than that of Braves, Red Sox, Pirates, or Royals. In the city of Chicago, where fan base is located to the less prosperous side of town, Sox fans aren't rushing through to gate to see some average product that falls short of playoffs year in and year out. How does a big market team like Chicago end up with the 3rd lowest attendance rate last year? Our window of contention isn't the same as Braves or Red Sox, in that we have an ace who could be pitching on borrowed time, and a superstar hitter who we won't be able to resign once he hits free agency, and we also deal with more payroll constraints than both of those teams. We don't have time to wait 4 years for a 3rd round pick to come around when we can sign an all star caliber player to fill a big hole THIS YEAR. With that being said, JR's goal this year is to open his wallet, get whoever it takes to build a playoff team the next 2 years, because that is the only way to bring fans through the gate for the White Sox. It is evidently when we gave up a second round pick for signing a closer. While your philosophy is valid in some situations, it is not something the Sox are looking to do right now, nor they could afford to do given the state of the franchise. That or I could give you the speech about 3rd round picks having about a 5% chance of contributing in the majors 4 years from now. EDIT: I am not preaching us to sign Melky, I could live without him. But I am in support of us signing whoever we need to fill up the team, regardless of draft picks for next year. So you only want the Sox to be good in 2015?

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 11:01 AM) and as i have said before, next yr will be a great time to do that investment. for me it will depend on the posting of these 2 young Cuban players. i totally agree with you. You sign LA players when they're 16 years old, it takes a while for some to come stateside. While others never make it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 10:19 AM) It won't be for the White Sox. Their lease runs another 15 seasons. It is a sweetheart lease. They make money just about every year. No reason to spend probably billions now. I know, I just hate the Cell compared to Comiskey. It's funny that the guy who designed The Cell went on to design Camden Yards. We know who got the better end of that.

I definitely want to see a new stadium some time within the next decade.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) Not true. The team is in all in mode right now, we don't have time to wait 4 years for a draft pick to develop. If we see someone who can help the team immediately, no one should worry about a draft pick. We've already gave up a second rounder for just a closer. The time to sign free agents is now, and next year if we want to sign a marquee left fielder, we'd have to give up a first round pick. We are also talking about a position we do not have one single internal replacement for. This is stupid. The Altanta Braves made the playoffs for 15 straight years, with a team that featured Maddux, Glacine and Smoltz, they were definitely in win now mode but their front office was always building the farm system up. Yes did the Braves had to undergo a rebuild to get to that 'dynasty win-now mode' but when their window was opened and the team was all in, they continued to build through the farm. Them continuing to build through the farm brought in guys like Chipper and Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, etc which allowed to keep their window open for an extended period of time. The lack of talent in the Sox farm system is the reason why the team has been on hard times for the past few years. Without talented prospects that could join the major league team and be valuable contributors, the team has had to over pay for past their prime free agents, worsening the state of the franchise. The Red So are always in win-now mode yet they continue to cherish draft picks and draft exceptionally well. If you want to have a sustained winner you need to have draft picks in order to bring in a constant stream of talent into the system. "We are also talking about a position we do not have one single internal replacement for." - This proves my point.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 06:44 AM) We didn't lose that much depth. Ynoa is younger than Bassitt, Brantly (who is younger) replaces Phegley and Ravelo was pretty expendable. We did lose Semien but we won't be talking about that if he does bad and/or Johnson or Sanchez plays respectable for us. We knew what the team had in guys like Semiem, Bassit and Phegly but now he have more question marks in the minors. The team is in no position to be forfeiting draft picks, the system needs all the help it can get.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 06:13 PM) Ok, so they ought to change the parameters of a "quality start". The point is that he was reasonably effective in a lot of his outings. Regarding his second half stats: He had 8 quality starts in the last 3 months of the season. He had 12 in his last 21 starts. ERA is very misleading, because as we all know, one or two really bad starts can destroy a pitcher's ERA. In this case, he had one really bad start, in each of the last 4 months, of the season. He gave up 6 earned runs in one June start, 7 in a July start, 9 in his first August start and 7 in his first September outing. That will pretty much mess up a guy's ERA. Other than those 4 outings, he was pretty decent. 11 of those 12 quality starts, during the last 4 months, would actually meet the higher standard of 6 innings and 2 or less earned runs. Look, I'm not trying to say that he was terrific. But 11 wins, a .500 record, and 21 quality starts is more than acceptable for a 5TH starter. That said, I want the Sox to sign Scherzer, resulting in their claiming the best pitching staff in baseball. In the meantime, Danks will do as a 5TH starter, until they come up with something better. FIP is a way better metric than ERA to determine how good a pitcher really is. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/chicago-...t-jake-arrieta/

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 07:10 AM) Kiley prospect chat: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/kiley-mcdan...ts-chat-121214/ He is high on Trey M and Micker. Kiley is a fan of the Sox's farm.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 10:29 PM) Honestly, I wouldn't care about a third rounder at that point. I think for Melky a 3rd rounder is worth it. That's a horrible school of thought. Draft picks are highly valuable are the life blood of any good organization. Plus the system needs more depths after the trade for Shark.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 03:22 AM) .....and Anderson and Montas and Danish? Frazier put up a 4.7 WAR last year, 122 wRC+, 29 HR, stole 20 bases, and has been a really good fielder, and has 3 years of arb left. The dude has huge value. I'd love for the Sox to trade for him, but it won't be for spare parts. Unfortantely, the Reds best 3B prospects as ranked by Fangraphs comes in at #17, and he will be playing in Low-A this year. The Reds may be selling off parts, but for Frazier you'd have to offer them a couple of our top players and may as well offer Gillaspie as well. They gave away Mat Latos for basically nothing. I think that bodes well for the Sox in any trade discussion.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 02:44 AM) Who would be the fourth starter? The Sox should move Danks next offseason, I think he is going to have a solid year and next offseason there's only going to be one year remaining on his deal so he instantly becomes more attractive to rival teams and executives.

The Sox trade for Todd Frazier, sending Viciedo and Chris Beck

According to Kiley McDaniel, the scouts don't know too much about him. That could play in the sox favor.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 05:55 PM) I think you're dreaming a little too much here. Not only Matuella at 8, but also to sign him for $1m below slot. Barring injury or a complete loss of form and/or stuff, it's not going to happen. There is not a big following on Matuella, he has a reputation on being injury prone and very streaky.