TheFutureIsNear

Going to need another starter after we trade Q right?

Think I've been advocating a Danks for Ethier swap for about 3 years now lol...Ethier probably upped his value by having a good year so I'm not sure a 1 for 1 swap makes a ton of sense. Although, an easily attainable 17.5M vesting option in '18 for Ethier is a little scary. Dodgers would have to eat a lot of money and in doing so they'd probably want something decent in return. They need pitching depth though so maybe Danks + Beck makes sense for them hoping to fill their 5th spot in the rotation while still saving a couple million on Ethier this year. Ethier + $12M(? end up somewhere close to 3/ 40M for '16-'18 for us) for Danks and Beck?

Can Yunel Escobar even play SS anymore? I know he was decent early in his career, but he was the worst defensive SS in the league in '14 and didn't play the positional at all this past year. Not sure he could be penciled in at SS next year unless there was a reason for his really bad D in '14 that I'm not aware of

Jake Lamb or Brandon Drury. Fill a need now and build for the future. AZ can't play both (maybe not either depending where Tomas ends up), so figure out how to get 1 of them. They need middle IF help so Micah could be a good start to a package...I'm sure it would take more than just him, but shouldn't be a huge haul.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 11:42 AM) Sign C Alex Avila 1 year/2.25 million Sign C Dioner Navarro 1 year/TBA (3-4 million?) Sign SP Kenta Maeda 5 years/80 million (includes 20 million posting fee) Resign SP Jacob Turner to a minor league deal Trade 1B Adam LaRoche, SP Frankie Montas, SP Myles Jaye and RF Avisail Garcia to the Rockies for LF Carlos Gonzalez Trade SP Tyler Danish, SP Erik Johnson, and 3B Trey Michalczewski to the Reds for 3B Todd Frazier Lineup: CF Adam Eaton (L) 3B Todd Frazier 1B Jose Abreu LF Carlos Gonzalez (L) DH Melky Cabrera (S) RF Trayce Thompson C Dioner Navarro (S) SS Tyler Saladino 2B Micah Johnson (L) C Alex Avila (L), 1B/3B Mike Olt, OF J.B Shuck (L), 2B/SS Carlos Sanchez (S) Rotation: SP Chris Sale (L) SP Jose Quintana (L) SP Carlos Rodon (L) SP Kenta Maeda SP John Danks (L) RP Jacob Turner (long man) RP Zach Putnam RP Jake Petricka RP Dan Jennings (L) RP Zach Duke (L) RP Nate Jones CP David Robertson Thoughts? Doubt that package even sniffs Frazier. Reds have no real reason to trade him this offseason in the 1st place, but if they do there will plenty of competition because of the lack of other 3B available. And I still can't understand why people want to give up assets for a guy who isn't very good away from Cors and is owed $20M in '17. No thanks on Cargo unless they are chipping in a good chunk of change for '17 and aren't looking for much in return.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 3, 2015 -> 10:15 AM) Does Carlos Sanchez grade out as a good defensive 2B? How does he project defensively at SS? I'm not convinced at all that he has a major league bat that can be in the lineup everyday, but he could be a 1 year stop-gap at SS (while waiting for Anderson) if there were to make a move for Fernandez. How much money will this cost? Is he a good offensive player, more of a defensive player, etc? I would think Saladino would get 1st crack at SS over Carlos if we don't bring anyone else in. His defense is superior to Carlos at SS and both have very questionable bats. Probably the best and cheapest scenario is a platoon with both rather than wasting $ on a guy like Asdrubal Cabrera or someone like that. Should be improved defense over Alexei and hopefully they can't do any worse than on offense than he gave us for 3/4 of the year.

Well definitely didn't see this coming. Wonder what Hahn has up his sleeve...

Ehh...I mean if he's a final piece type of guy after acquiring bigger pieces, sure I'd take him. I'm just really afraid of the FO signing Span and Freese and trying it again with more or less the same roster. To me that's worst case scenario. The defense and hitting on the roster is broken and needs to be fixed. Band aids won't do the trick.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) I think it's more about what kind of shape you're in. If guys who can only play infield and guys who can only play outfield can play until they're almost 40, why can't a guy who does both continue to do both? I'm not advocating the signing of him but just thought I'd bring that point up. How many guys are still playing good defense past 35 though? I can't think of many. Declining athletic ability is 100% inevitable and usually starts at around 35. Maybe Zobrist continues for longer, but you'd be betting against a lot of history of the opposite. And I'm not trying to imply that Zobrist is suddenly going to be useless or anything like that, but his days of being a + defender at almost any position are very numbered in my opinion. But then again, if Daniel Murphy is going to get paid 15+M per year, Zobrist probably should too. But in the end I wouldn't sign either so I guess it all depends on personal opinion.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Dec 2, 2015 -> 09:52 AM) I'll contrast him to Victor Martinez. I hated the idea of signing V-Mart at a very similar age and price last offseason. Zobrist is different in that he is not coming off a career year and he is not restricted to one (non-)position. He's the anti-Martinez. I have to wonder if the decline in his defensive numbers last year was real and age-based, or just a blip. But his bat has always been really good and I expect it to stay good. In a vacuum I'd be okay with 4/$60 for him, but the state of the Sox should have them avoiding old guys in general. when a guy is 35 I'm not sure you can write off declining defense as a blip. Father time catches up with everyone. He might have 1 year left as the guy who can play anywhere, but I'd be very afraid I was signing a 2B only for 3 years $45M. Zobrist's bat is good, but not sure it's that good heading into his twilight years

QUOTE (Dunt @ Dec 1, 2015 -> 08:27 PM) Q is a much better pitcher than Miller, I think a 1:1 swap would be pretty close. Would love Pollock. I too would love Pollack, but if his value is really that high I'll pass on 1:1 just because of how many holes we need to fill. Trading Q for just 1 hitter would be a failure in my book. If we could get 2 of Peralta/Inciatre and Lamb/Drury I'd be pretty happy though. 1 of each seems to be expendable for the Dbacks with no DH and a need for their expensive investment Tomas to get on the field. Dbacks have a few other interesting guys that seem expendable to them as well. I'm hoping we can get a deal done with them.

If he was a competent C he would have a job and not passed on by every team in the league. If it's a minor league deal, sure, but anything other than that and I'd pass.

Only 2 options I see this team being good in the next year or 2 and sustaining that success into the future 1. Trade 1 of Sale, Q, Rodon 2. JR opens the payroll up to 140+ million And I wouldn't count on option 2...

The only way a Miller trade makes sense is if we trade Q 1st and then circle back to help our staff out...Wonder if a starting package of Micah, Avi, and Montas even gets us in the door though? I will say that advanced stats really don't like Miller (big FIP difference in all 3 years) and a move to the AL and our ballpark could be a pretty bad mix for him. I wouldn't sell the farm for 2 years of him.

mlbtraderumors had an update on the great Balbino by the way. Apparently he is running already and will continue baseball activities in January. Guess hes not so much of a risk...someone will take him for sure

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 07:11 PM) Honestly, most of the trades the Sox have made where they dealt away prospects, they haven't really turned into anything (besides Gio). Other ones that have made an impact in the MLB that come to mind are Chris Young (the OF one) and Chris Carter. Even in the Peavy deal when we traded like 4 prospects away, the best guy is a fringe long reliever at this point. I think that should be a pretty telling sign that the real problem with this organization and developing talent in the past starts with actually picking the talent and not developing it. Not that the developing part has gone swimmingly either, but it gets a lot harder to develop talent when the talent is flawed from the beginning.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 05:45 PM) Based on what? Thompson's 800+OPS and impeccable defense when he played? Sanchez' first year, where he too played excellent defense? And yet somehow we are supposed to believe that Brett Lawrie is a plus player in this league???? Bottom line is Sox fans as a group, just like the front office, have zero patience with youth. Zero. They would much rather trade them all in for players who are proven to be mediocre. Thus, in my 48 years of following this team, there have been 5 playoff appearances. Five in 48. But we had those veterans and plenty of heroes. So let's go do another Swisher trade for Lawrie. Because Saladino and Trayce could barely hold their own for the most part in the minors. Expecting them to be capable hitters in the majors after failing to do so in the minors is bordering on stupidity from a player personnel stand point. I'll be pretty shocked if Hahn puts out an opening day roster with either as more than a utility option. Like I said, Sanchez may be able to play 2B and hit enough to not hurt a team, but he's unspectacular at best. He has next to 0 power and his speed isn't an elite tool. Usually doesn't equate to a long MLB career as a regular but we'll see.

I think people really need to come to grips that guys like Saladino, Thompson, and probably even Sanchez are all nice guys to have as backups, but aren't going to be good starting caliber players. Maybe Sanchez can be a league average 2B, but even he is probably better off at UTL. The sooner this is accepted the better

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Nov 30, 2015 -> 11:20 AM) In theory lawrie would be your 3rd baseman. That would leave saladino and leury Garcia as your ss and backup with Sanchez and johnson as your 2nd baseman without any other players added. Not really much depth to be playing with trading. Saladino and Sanchez are your better defenders and Johnson is better chance offensively. Probably only chance any of those guys are part of package is if they bring in someone better for one of those positions tho they also could be used on bench. Lawrie plays 2B as well so if we were to acquire him our never ending search for a good 3B shouldn't/wouldn't end

Draft is in less than 2 weeks and we have 40 man roster space to take someone. Here's some guys that have caught my interest so far and a couple of articles with some good info. Please post more guys that you are interested in or any more good articles you can find. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2015...names-remember/ http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157830358/to...in-rule-5-draft Jabari Blash from Seattle seems like an obvious pick this year. 26 year old RF with legit MLB power. .264/.355/.640 with 22 HR's in 228 AAA PA's...and he had a .263 BABIP. That's pretty crazy. Struggled in 2014 but showed the same type of crazy #'s in AA in 2013. Someone might take a shot on him earlier than us, but a guy with 30 + HR power is always worth a risk. Tyler Goedell from Tampa is also interesting. Former sandwich pick as a 3B who is now a 6'5 180 lb OF with above average speed. Hit .279/.350/.433 in AA this year. This is what Kylie McDaniel had to say about him pre season: "Goeddel was a sandwich pick out of high school as a projectable 6’4 athlete that was young for his class. He’s had trouble keeping on weight and predictable problems staying low at third base, which could necessitate a move to right field at some point. Goeddel is an excellent athlete that will flash above average speed, arm strength and raw power projection with at least average tools across the board. He’s 6’5/180 right now and things haven’t quite clicked offensively yet, but he’s been league average or better at each stop of the minors and has been aged appropriately; long frames take longer to mature, so there could be a breakout looming." Balbino Fuenmayor is a gamble but 1 that intrigues me a ton. Formally a highly touted teenager out of Venezuela that earned him a good paycheck as a 16 year old. He struggled the entire time with Toronto and found himself in the Indy league in 2014. Well that must have woke him up because he was the Indy player of the year and got him a minor league contract with the Royals. He absolutely raked in AA for a .354/.386/.591 before being promoted. He continued to tear up AAA but tore his ACL after only 70 PA's in July. He's a risk drafting because he will start the year on the DL, but passing on the chance to get the next David Peralta would suck. TJ Rivera from the Mets has done nothing but hit in the minors (.338 between AA & AAA past 2 years) and is capable of playing any infield position. A little on the old side at 27 and might only be a utility infielder, but never hurts to acquire mlb level players for nothing. And then of course there is always the option of grabbing a guy that throws 95+ and sticking him in the pen and hoping for the best.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 28, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) 'TheFutureIsNear' Trade- Q to DBacks for Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb, Peter O'Brien and Randall Delgado that would be a haul from dbacks, i don't think Tony larussa would allow that to go thru. Trade- Putnam, Lowry, and Beck to Oakland for Brett Lawrie over pay... but i am ok with it. Trade- Avi and Micah to Angels for Nick Tropeano i am not sure of tropeano as a long term sp. i may be wrong on this. Sale Rodon EJ Tropeano Danks Obviously don't love weakening the rotation that much, but I think it's a much better team overall and we would still have Montas/Fullmer in the wings if/when Danks can't be productive. overall i like the trade if it can be done. i still would think of adding maybe leake from the FA market for a 2 or 3 yr plan. to rebuild his value. but it is nice writeup. It does seem like a lot from the DBacks, but I don't see those guys as being pieces they necessarilly need. Inciarte belongs in CF but they already have Pollack and have Peralta and Tomas for the corner spots. Brandon Drury is younger and arguably better than Lamb and ready to take over 3B now. O'Brien is slugger being bounced around between C, 1B, RF...aka he's a DH. And Delgado has a nice arm but he's being used in middle relief I think, and they have that kid Bracho up who is their future closer. Of course, LaRussa might laugh at that offer, but it makes sense in my mind lol... And I agree that Trapeano probably doesn't make the most sense, but I had a hard time finding a team in need of young talent like Avi and Micah that had a reasonably priced middle rotation guy. Free agent probably would be smarter.

Trade- Q to DBacks for Ender Inciarte, Jake Lamb, Peter O'Brien and Randall Delgado Trade- Putnam, Lowry, and Beck to Oakland for Brett Lawrie Trade- Avi and Micah to Angels for Nick Tropeano Eaton LF Inciarte CF Melky RF Abreu 1B Laroche/O'Brien (LH/RH split) Lamb 3B Lawrie 2B Aliva/Flowers C Saladino/Sanchez SS Trey as 4th OF Sale Rodon EJ Tropeano Danks Robertson Jones Duke Delgado Petricka Jennings Turner/Kahnle Obviously don't love weakening the rotation that much, but I think it's a much better team overall and we would still have Montas/Fullmer in the wings if/when Danks can't be productive.

Astrubal is a downgrade defensively at short and his bat doesn't carry at 3B. So basically we'd be paying 20+ million for a 2b that isn't a plus bat or glove. I'll pass.

Lawrie the more likely to be traded according to mlbtraderumors.... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/11/bret...ncia-trade.html I might be willing to gamble on an improvement from the only 25 Lawrie, but at what price? That's the part im not sure about, or what the A's want. I guess EJ would be a likely candidate, but I'm not sure EJ doesn't have a brighter future honestly.

I too would rather get Valencia for cheap. I's bet Billy Beane has wet dreams at night about turning a waiver claim into prospects so I'm sure he's available. Wonder if they would do something like Beck and an A ball prospect like Wheeler, Earley, or Zach Thompson?