VAfan

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 31, 2014 -> 05:45 PM) Defense. Zobrist is highly regarded by advanced defensive metrics virtually across the board at any position he plays, while Melky Cabrera is considered to be a poor defender. Last year, Zobrist was cumulatively a +14.4 defensive player, while Cabrera was at -12.1, a difference of 26.5 runs, which is about 2.5 WAR. Their baserunning was very similar, with Cabrera putting up a -1.3 and Zobrist 2.6, almost totally a 4 run difference. In all, we'll round that to 30 runs, which is 3 wins.... Ben Zobrist - 5.7 WAR Melky Cabrera - 2.6 WAR And no, it's not because Zobrist can play the infield. It's because he can play everywhere well, which I think people are missing to some extent. You could play Jose Abreu everywhere but it's not going to raise his WAR simply because he did so. Regarding their offensive lines, FanGraphs absolutely viewed Melky to be a superior hitter last year, posting a 125 wRC+ while Zobrist was at 119. It is NOT defense. I quoted oWAR only. Even there, Zobrist was given a higher number.

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 31, 2014 -> 05:19 PM) you made a good point, but i will still maintain, that the cost of the trade, is still not known. only opinions of what the cost will be, which is a valid opinion in itself. i am taking a page from the KW trade book, over spend to get the player to win now. the main farm system is still and will still be protected. its like saying the sox traded the farm to get pitcher Jeff S. yes i agree about the pitcher as i have been saying, the sox need another sp, preferably an A+ type. Speaking about a pitcher -- I wonder if no one pays Scherzer what he's asking and he starts looking for a one-year deal -- if the Sox shouldn't be interested. Unlike most teams (other than the Tigers), who'd have to surrender a first round pick (right?), the Sox would only lose a 4th rounder, and would get back a higher pick if (when) Scherzer walks after a year. Then you trade John Danks for salary relief, and you haven't cost yourself that much. But you've definitely moved to the top of the race for the AL Central crown and given yourself a real World Series chance! And all you've lost is some money and a 4th round pick (which you will replace with a higher pick next year).

As for my take on trading for Ben Zobrist, I'm not going to speculate one way or the other for who would have to be sacrificed in such a deal. We don't really have any idea. Personally, I would trust Rick Hahn and the front office enough at this point if they made such a trade that the value coming back would be more than worth it. As I mentioned above, if Zobrist is acquired, it will certainly make the White Sox offense much better than it is right now, replacing our weakest likely hitter (Sanchez) with a very solid #2 bat. My first concern with Zobrist is whether he has a grass/turf split, or a home/away split given he's been playing on astroturf a lot. It turns out he is about the same on both, but slightly better away. With a better offense, the Sox pitching will look much better than it does now. Quintana's no decisions might finally get turned into wins. Same could be true for Samardzija. And the back end of the rotation should be competitive. So, I'm for the move if the Sox can pull it off for the right price, and I'm willing to trust the front office to make that call.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 30, 2014 -> 06:29 PM) Breaking Ben Zobrist down as a mere super utility player is oversimplifying him beyond recognition. It'd be like saying that Chris Sale has only been a swing guy because he's got about the same amount of relief appearances and starts over the last 5 years. That's absurd, no? The guy has absolutely been one of the most valuable players in the game over the last 5 years, moreso than RA Dickey. Over the last 5 years, he's accumulated 26.9 fWAR, good for 10th in the MLB. The only pitchers rated higher are Kershaw, Verlander, and Felix. WAR is not the end all, be all, but that paints a hell of a picture and if you think that Ben Zobrist is not going to cost a lot to acquire based on the idea that he is a "super utility player," you are going to be sorely mistaken. He absolutely is worth a top return and he will fetch a top return. What I don't understand is why Zobrist scores so high on the offensive WAR number charts with what seems like a not-very-exciting stat line. For example, here's Zobrist's 2014 line. 2014 33 TBR AL 146 654 570 83 155 34 3 10 52 10 5 75 84 .272 .354 .395 .749 116 225 Here's Melky Cabrera's 2014 line. 2014 29 TOR AL 139 621 568 81 171 35 3 16 73 6 2 43 67 .301 .351 .458 .808 126 260 Just looking at these two lines, Cabrera is clearly a better hitter. Better average, similar OBP, much better slugging, higher OPS+, more total bases. Zobrist grounded into a 11 fewer DPs (not on chart line), and walked a lot more (but struck out more). But that was it. Yet Zobrist gets a 4.2 oWAR number, while Cabrera gets a 3.6 oWAR number. Is that all because Zobrist can play the infield, and Cabrera can't? We aren't talking about their defense here, only their offense. And if it's all because Zobrist plays 2B (and some SS), then how do they account for the fact he played 54 games in the outfield? Zobrist would clearly be an upgrade for the Sox. He could hit 2nd, slide Cabrera to 3rd, and move everyone else down a notch where they'd be better. Talk about an on-base machine at the top of the lineup -- Eaton .362, Zobrist .354, Cabrera .351, Abreu .383!! LaRoche and Garcia should each drive in 100 with those kinds of opportunities in front of them!! But I'm still confused about why Zobrist is seen as a WAR king when his overall numbers are not that awe-inspiring.

Someone started a thread called Sox Haikus, which inspired me to write a few during the 2005 run. Ya gotta believe In this torrid White Sox team To go all the way! Great Ozzie man say Pitching and defense is way To World Series play Lee for Podsednik? Add AJ and El Duque Play Ozzie ball. Win! Little Boat afloat Sailing on to yonder shore Where White Sox are Champs Kenny man, he say Power ball is not the way Go-go Sox are best Garland, Buehrle pitch Fifteen and one and counting Sox duo kick a$$! Big Frank coming back Adds thunder to Sox attack Best team gets better Nineteen seventeen? White Sox fans can't wait to see Champs at Comiskey Thirty-fifth and Shields U.S. Cellular team fields Baseball's supreme team U.S. Cellular, Not Wrigley Field, is home to Chicago's best team McCarthy's the man Filling in for El Duque To mow the Cubs down Brandon McCarthy Six-seven pitching demon Will keep Sox humming All the way this year Eighty-eight year jinx over White Sox are World Champs Bosox won last year Now it's time for the ChiSox To wear Series crown Podsednik leads off Turning speed into Sox runs Sparkplug of the team Iguchi bats next Veteran Japanese star Plays like Zen master Batting Rowand third Jump starts young center fielder To twelve game hit streak Konerko cleans up Leads Sox in walks and home runs Starting to get hot Pierzynski hits fifth Lefty catcher has quick bat Veteran leader Jermaine Dye hits sixth Started below Mendoza Now he’s rising fast Everett comes next Switch hitter loves to crowd plate Ready for clutch hit Joe Crede hits eighth Finally learning patience Pays off for hitters Uribe hits last Fiery shortstop helps Sox Stabilize infield Don’t fret White Sox fans This team is primed to win Into October

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 16, 2014 -> 05:15 PM) There is a lot of this logic with which I do not disagree and can relate, but the usage of blown saves and W-L for the relievers is pretty silly. Blown saves from middle relievers tell you very little and they are incredibly vague as it is. If a previous reliever loads the bases with no outs in a 1 run game, the new reliever comes on, induces a double play and strikes the next guy out (leading to 1 run), he is credited with a blown save. That is not usually the scenario, but that scenario exists. Also, the Sox were a terrible team last year and brought in 3 relievers from teams who were decent to good. Their W-L record being better ultimately means nothing. Frankly, if you had just said "they brought in 3 relievers who were good to very good last year to replace 3 relievers who were crappy to really crappy," I'd have had no qualms with this. I'm currently expecting about 84-86 wins, and I think that could easily be way higher. I just listed blown saves. I didn't rely on them. It's the bullpen W-L record that should improve, and the addition of lots more actual saves, and both of those translate directly into wins.

I saw Jake's "Are we really that good?" post that used Fangraphs projections to suggest we all tap the brakes on our excitement for the 2015 White Sox season. But rather than post in that thread and have this analysis lost, I decided it was worth starting my own post to articulate why I think the Sox should be much, much better after the offseason we've had so far. And, by the way, I don't think Rick Hahn or the Sox are near being "done" with the offseason. Sure, we can't expect more of the kind of major moves that we've seen. But we also can't expect the team brass to sit on its hands and think our team is complete. I'm going to do this comparison in descending order of impact. 1. THE BULLPEN Let's look at the saves, saves blown, and losses out of our bullpen in 2014. I'll start with the 4 guys who are almost certain to be back. Petricka 14 of 18, 1-6 record. 73 innings, 2.96 ERA Putnam 6 of 7, 5-3 record. 54.2 innings, 1.98 ERA Guerra 1 of 6, 2-4 record. 46.1 innings, 2.91 ERA Webb 0 of 2, 6-5 record. 67.2 innings, 3.99 ERA Next are two guys still on the 40-man, but who may not have roles. Surkamp 0 of 0, 2-0 record. 24.1 innings, 4.81 ERA Cleto 0 of 0, 0-1 record. 29.1 innings, 4.60 ERA Then here are the guys who are gone. Bellisario 8 of 12, 4-8 record. 66.1 innings, 5.56 ERA Lindstrom 6 of 10, 2-2 record. 34 innings, 5.03 ERA Downs 1 of 1, 0-2 record. 23.2 innings, 6.08 ERA Veal 0 of 0, 0-0 record, 6 innings, 7.50 ERA Thompson 0 of 0, 0-0 record, 5.1 innings 10.13 ERA Snodgrass 0 of 0, 0-0 record. 2.1 innings, 15.43 ERA Francisco 0 of 0, 0-0 record, 3.2 innings, 12.27 ERA Jones 0 of 1, 0-0 record. 0 innings, 2 hits, 4 runs. Bassit pitched 1 game in relief Noesi pitched 1 game in relief Carroll pitched 7 games in relief Rienzo pitched 7 games in relief Adam Dunn and Leury Garcia also pitched 1 inning each in relief with ERAs of 9 and 18, respectively. To replace them, we have added: Robertson, 39 of 44, 4-5 record. 64.1 innings, 3.08 ERA Duke, 0 of 4, 5-1 record. 58.2 innings, 2.45 ERA Jennings, 0 of 2, 0-2 record, 40.1 innings, 1.34 ERA Bullpen Analysis. We've eliminated 142 innings out of 10 guys (not counting Bassit, Noesi, Carroll and Rienzo, whose bullpen numbers I couldn't quickly isolate), and added back 3 guys who pitched 163.1 innings. The ERA of everyone who is out was over 5, and the highest ERA of anyone new is 3.08. The new guys were 39 of 50 in save opptys, with a 9-7 record. The gone guys were 15 of 24, with a 6-12 record. But you also change Petricka's role, with 4 blown saves and 6 losses, and Guerra is unlikely to get the chance to blow 5 saves and lose 4 games. I'm sure there are many ways of looking at this and quantifying it. But it seems to me that the Sox should be at least 8-12 games better in 2015 just by having a better bullpen. We've chucked 12 losses from guys with ERAs over 5 who pitched over 123 innings, and re-slotted guys who blew 9 saves and lost another 10 games because they weren't ready to close or finish games. That's 18 blown saves and 22 losses. In their place, we have guys who lost 7 games between them. We saw in 2014 the value of a great bullpen when KC and SF squared off in the World Series. The Sox pen is not likely to be that good, but it will be good enough to help us win a lot more games and help us contend. 2. JEFF SAMARDZIJA Here are the various starters we used last year who won't be back. Carroll, 19 starts, 106 IP, 4-10 as starter, 5.40 ERA Rienzo, 11 starts, 57.1 IP, 4-5 as starter, 5.97 ERA Bassitt, 5 starts, 28.2 IP, 1-1 as starter, 3.77 ERA Johnson, 5 starts, 23.2 IP, 1-1 as starter, 6.46. ERA Paulino, 4 starts, 18.1 IP, 0-2 as starter, 11.29 ERA Leesman, 1 start, 2.2 IP, 0-1 as starter, 20.25 ERA That's 6 guys who went 10-20, all except Bassitt with ERA's well over 5. Here are Jeff Samardzija's numbers. Samardzija, 33 starts, 219.2 IP, 7-13 as starter (2-7 with Cubs), 2.99 ERA So, we are replacing 46 starts with 33 starts. But Sale only had 26, and Nieto 27, so that gives you another 13 starts if they get to 33 each. The ERA goes from over 5 for everyone but Bassitt, to around 3 for Samardzija, less for that for Sale, and around 4.4 for Nieto. We aren't carrying 20 losses. And instead of facing #2 starters, Quintana now slots in against #3 starters, which should improve his W-L record. This could be another 7-10 game swing. We'll still need some depth because we can't expect perfect health from all 5 starters, but we aren't going to be trotting out Carroll and Rienzo for 30 starts next year. If Samardzija goes 15-8 instead of their 8-15, that’s 7 games in the standings. 3. A REAL #2 HITTER Here's how our #2 hitters fared last year. Beckham 269 AB, .223, .277, .342. Ramirez 203 AB, .251, .280, .392. Semiem 116 AB, .198, .262, .319. Gillaspie had 23 ABs at #2, L. Garcia had 17, but I'm not counting them. For the top 3 guys, that's 582 ABs in the #2 hole. None of them managed to get on even 30% of the time. Pathetic. Here's Melky Cabrera's stat line last year in the #2 hole. Cabrera 455 AB, .288, .343, .440. He also had 74 ABs leading off, and 48 hitting 3rd. In both places, he posted better numbers. But if you add them in, that’s 577 ABs for Cabrera, almost exactly the number for our 3 guys. Having a real #2 hitter will not only help Adam Eaton and anyone else on base ahead of him, but it will certainly give Jose Abreu and those behind him more RBI opptys with men on base. Over the course of 600 plate appearances, an OBP of around .275 gives you 165 times on base, and 435 outs. An OBP of .343 gets you 206 times on base, and 394 outs. Clearly, Melky Cabrera is going to help the Sox offense significantly. Also, Ramirez was .273, .305, .408, so he hit much better elsewhere in the lineup. Indeed, in limited action, he raked when hitting #7 or #8, which is closer to where he'll hit next year. This is just an added bonus. I'm not going to quantify the number of wins we might gain here, but clearly a more productive offense will give our improved bullpen the chance to save more games. 4. LaRoche v. Dunn and Konerko Here's Dunn's and Konerko's stat lines from last year with Chicago. Dunn. 106 games, 363 ABs, 20 HRs, 54 RBI, 65 BB, 132 Ks, .220, .340, .433. Konerko. 81 games, 208 ABs, 5 HRs, 22 RBI, 10 BB, 51 Ks .207, .254, .317 Here's Adam LaRoche's numbers from last year. LaRoche. 140 games, 494 ABs, 26 HRs, 92 RBI, 82 BB, 108 Ks .259, .362, .455 And this is with LaRoche getting 137 ABs against lefties, where he posts a .204, .284, .336 line. Clearly, LaRoche is going to provide much better protection for Abreu, even if the Sox don't have a great platoon partner for him. If the Sox get someone who can rake against lefties, this slot will be vastly improbed. We're also looking at a dramatic drop in the K rate. I have no estimate for how many extra wins this will get us, but it will be a significant boost to the offense. 5. Better D This is a bonus 5th reason, but I'm not going to run any stats here. Let's just say having Melky in LF is much better than having Viciedo out there. We should also be better at 1B when LaRoche takes the field. The Sox have more work to do on the defensive side, but they will be better. Conclusion I've taken no account of the kind of stats you stat geeks love, so I'm sure I'll be ripped by some, if not many, for my "analysis." That's fine with me. I'll stand by my conclusions. A team with 7 bullpen pitchers with ERAs around 3 or below (only Webb is higher) is going to be WAY better than one with lots if 5+ ERA guys who blow saves and lose games. And it's going to make a MASSIVE difference in the W-L record of the 2015 Sox. Similarly, putting a high-quality #2 guy in for a bunch of 5+ ERA scrubs, and slotting down last year's #2 to #3 is going to help the Sox win a lot more games. On the offensive side, we had to had one of the worst combos of #2 hitters in baseball last year, and now have one of the better ones. So the guy in front of Jose Abreu is going to be tons better. Ditto for the guy behind Abreu. We also move Alexei down in the order where he hit much better last year. It's possible I'm double counting the win improvements from the pen and Samardzija, but overall, I'd say 15 more victories, from 73-88, should be what we should expect from these changes. And there's every likelihood the Sox aren't done and will keep working on the bench to get a better defensive 4th outfielder, right handed platoon options for Gillaspie and LaRoche, and maybe even an upgrade at 2B. The Sox just signed Brad Penny on a minor league deal, so you know they are trying to build depth into the rotation. I think we'll be contenders in 2015. GO SOX!!!

Scherzer definitely would help improve the regular season record, and that would help make the playoffs. But this last offseason proved that the team with the best starting pitching in either league didn't even appear in the World Series, much less win it. With the resources you would devote to Scherzer spent elsewhere, you might end up with a much stronger overall team.

Outstanding move(s), Rick Hahn!! The Sox absolutely needed another bat, not an out, if they were to make all their other moves worthwhile. Needed more run support to turn Sale's and Quintana's excellent outings into leads. Needed an actual bullpen to hold those leads. Needed another quality starter to improve the over .500 record (assuming that #4 and #5 can at least pitch .500). Cabrera for 3 years rather than 4? That's huge. For only $14 million per year? That seems really cheap in today's baseball. We have a switch hitting high-average high-on base guy to slot into the #2 hole, ahead of Abreu, LaRoche, and Garcia. Alexei gets moved down in the order, where he belongs. Sox really only have one big hole in the lineup, at 2B, but they have options there. Righty platoon guys for Gillaspie and LaRoche are also needed, but I don't doubt Hahn is working on that too! So, hats off to Mr. Hahn (and JR, for agreeing to pay). Fantastic moves, and I don't think they are done! This team is going to be ready to compete with anyone in 2015. GO SOX!!

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 10, 2014 -> 12:47 PM) Don't you think it's unfair to include his pre-Sox, pre starting pitcher days? It was only 6 games, but he was the worst pitcher in the league then. He at least improved a little with us. But yeah, starting pitching depth is going to be the biggest weakness of this team. Agree with your first comment. Don't agree with the second. The Sox will be okay if they can improve their offense. That to me is the remaining biggest issue. Because with better offense, their marginal 4th and 5th guys will win enough games to keep them in the race, their better bullpen will have more games to save, and their best pitchers should win a lot of games. Where can they improve the offense? Adding a big bat in LF would work. But if they can't afford a Melky Cabrera, then they can make minor improvements in LF, with righty platoons for LaRoche and Gillaspie, a better backup catcher, possibly improvement at 2B, and having a decent 4th OF who can play CF to cover if/when Eaton goes down. I think Rodon is the way the Sox will improve their rotation this season, possibly by starting him in the pen and working him in the latter half.

A bit late to the party ... I think this is a solid move for the Sox. We really needed the right handed starter to make sense of the Robertson signing. And now we need another bat -- certainly hope it's Melky -- so Robertson has more games to save. As for what we gave up, Semien could become a nice player. But let's not forget he had enough games to start last season but couldn't keep us from going back to Gordon Beckham at 2nd, and then the Sox didn't go back to him after Beckham was traded. I think the Sox feel that Micah Johnson is going to become the long-term guy at 2nd, with Sanchez good enough as a bridge until Johnson is ready. Had they kept Semien, he was likely going to replace Leury Garcia as super-sub, getting most of his at bats as a righty platoon with Gillaspie. In other words, a role player. He still might become an everyday guy given the chance, but he wasn't likely to get that chance with the Sox. Chris Bassitt wasn't cracking our rotation anytime soon. Who knows who the third guy will be, but if it's a low minors guy, even if he turns into something, the odds for that will be long enough to make it not worth fretting about. I think the Sox believe they might re-sign Samardzija, and if they can't, get a higher compensation pick than anyone they gave up in the deal, and higher than the 2nd rounder we'll give up to sign Robertson. Two more holes filled. Now the Sox need a bat to make it all work.

I think it's funny to see the transition on this post from when there was still speculation that we were close to signing Robertson, to after the news broke that he'd signed. It was generally -- no, no, no, too much money ... To -- yes, yes, yes! -- who cares about the money, it's not ours! Sure that's a little overstated, but still, there's quite a contrast. Count me among those thrilled by this move. I don't write on here that much anymore, but last season got quite a debate going for my post about whether the bullpen was Hahn's fault. If you flipped the KC bullpen for the Sox bullpen last year, we would have been in the race for a wild card slot, and we know how valuable those turned out to be. So it appears Mr. Hahn has learned his lesson and isn't willing to waste any more seasons trying to patch together a cheap bullpen. Hooray for that!

QUOTE (Real @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 09:57 PM) IMO you keep Alexei now. I think we were always keeping Alexei.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Nov 18, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) Playing devil's advocate to raise a point here. Is it double standard that we constantly use WAR to grade players nowadays, but when it comes to actually paying the players, we aren't thrilled to pay $10 mil for a 2 WAR player but are fine with $5 mil for a 1 WAR player? Even without looking at WAR, Miller is still a 8th inning/ closer material while Duke is more of a 7th/8th inning guy. If you want to argue about years here, Miller will be 33 at the end of a 4 year deal and Duke will be 36 at the end of this deal. Duke is 31 now. He'll be 32 in April. We're getting him for the years he's 32, 33, and 34. He'll be 34 when the deal ends, not 36.

Corey Kluber? The voters should be embarrassed.

Count me among those who think the Tigers made a good deal by keeping V Mart. Had the Sox signed that deal, I would have been thrilled. I don't see V Mart dropping off much in terms of production.

However you assemble it, this postseason has shown us the value of a high-quality bullpen. It's not just KC. Baltimore has a better bullpen than it does starting pitching. The same might be true of the Giants. There is no question in my mind that the Sox bullpen was the #1 reason we finished next to last. With KC's or even the Orioles bullpen (and a manager who knew how to deploy it), we could have contended for a wild card slot.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 01:08 PM) Please name me one person who has suggested this. Also, Kenny Williams is no longer a general manager but I have absolutely no qualms with Rick Hahn holding that position either. Which other baseball GM has had a major motion picture made about him, starring Brad Pitt, no less!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 11:38 AM) It was the exact opposite of the traditional Billy Beane philosophy. Honestly, I'm not sure what kind of GM Beane is at this point. Exactly!! Sorry for those who love Beane. Kenny Williams doesn't get nearly the same adoration but he has a World Series ring. Okay, the Sox have more money to spend. But still. Beane isn't the only smart GM in baseball.

Did anyone else enjoy seeing Billy Beane's trade deadline strategy go up in smoke last night, at the hands of the lowly Kansas City Royals? I'm talking about the Jon Lester trade, which Beane must have thought was his ticket to the NLDS should the Angels somehow pass his A's and he be forced into a one-game wild card game to get in!! There he was, Jon Lester, out on the mound in the bottom of the 8th, having outdueled James Shields and the first couple guys out of the vaunted KC bullpen to a seemingly insurmountable lead of 7-3. But Lester couldn't finish the 8th, and Oakland goes on to lose 9-8 in 12, blowing 1 run leads in both the 9th and 12th innings! All while Adam Dunn, in his only postseason game in his career, sits on the bench! With the Sox out of it, we have to take our pleasure somewhere!!! Discuss.

Thanks for the clarification -- 5 times! You guys are ON IT!

Why don't we get the 7th pick? I count only 6 teams worse than us: Boston, Minnesota, Houston, Texas, Colorado and Arizona. We're tied with Philly and the Cubs, but our record was worse than both last season, so we should win the tiebreaker. Isn't that right?

The debate over V Mart is all about 1) his guessed cost, and 2) whether or how fast he will decline as a hitter. What seems to be missing is any discussion of the overall fit and what the alternatives might be. - The Sox MUST have lefty power. At the moment they have NONE. - The Sox really need someone to slot behind Abreu, to keep him from being pitched around. - The Sox would be better with fewer high strikeout guys in their lineup. V Mart fills all of these needs. And what are the alternatives on the FA market? For all those railing against V Mart, what other lefty free agent can we sign who is (1) younger, (2) just as consistent throughout his career, and (3) cheaper than V Mart? That player likely does not exist, or we would be debating him instead of V Mart. ************* As much as I want the Sox to take Victor Martinez away from the Tigers, the more important area of the team the Sox need to fix is the bullpen. Martinez's bat isn't going to make a 15-game swing in the standings. Nor would adding an impact right hander. But fixing the bullpen could. And if we DON'T fix the bullpen, it won't matter what else we do, because our bullpen will continue blowing games at an alarming rate.

3 Yeps. 1. Sign Victor Martinez. He's a switch hitter who hits very well from both sides. His career average is .306, .373, .474, .847. He's not a walking stud, like Dunn. But he's a hitting stud, which keeps your offense moving. He's only really had one bad year -- 2008 -- when he got hurt and missed half the season. There's no reason to think he'll drop off a cliff offensively. As someone mentioned, he's Venezuelan, so he helps Avi Garcia reach his potential. Plus, you don't want him back with the Tigers. Since the Sox don't have to give up a first round pick, this is the year to strike in free agency. 2. Fix the bullpen. This is the fastest way to improve the Sox' W-L record. The Sox bullpen this year is 23-31, with the 31 losses tops in the majors. The ERA at 4.38 is not league worst, but it's 28th. By comparison, KC's bullpen is 26-18, with an ERA a run better. KC isn't anywhere near the best. I just put it up for illustration that the team could improve by 15 or more games in this area. The question is how to go about fixing this problem. I don't have an answer at this point. I just know it has to be done. If I had to say, I would say find a closer, and work backwards from there. 3. Add a right handed starter. The Sox have Sale and Quintana locked up. Rodon will be almost certainly be here at some point in 2015. The Sox will again draft fairly high, where they may find more future starters. But the Sox need a bridge, or an under-30 stud. I would not be inclined to overpay for someone well over 30 like Shields who will want a too-long deal that may be good for a year or two, but then you start wondering how you can unload him (like Danks). I'm not fixated on anyone in particular. It depends on how the market shakes out. It depends on who Don Cooper likes. The Sox were in the mix last year for Tanaka, who's 25. Someone has mentioned Johnny Cueto (in another thread), who's 28. I could see the Sox going either way -- bridge guy or young(ish) stud. If you just did those three things, the Sox could contend in the AL Central next year. Sure, the catching could be better. And you might wonder why you gave Dayan Viciedo another year to figure it out, but these seem like fringe concerns. With a core of Abreu, Martinez, Avi, Eaton, and Ramirez, you can fill in around them with role players. Gillaspie can still improve. Semien can spell him against lefties. Maybe the light goes on again for Matt Davidson? You've got plenty of options at 2B. Flowers has shown solid offense in streaks, but his defense is consistent, and he's still cheap. Spend your money elsewhere. Viciedo might still learn plate discipline. And the Sox won't be carrying Dunn and Konerko so they'll have better bench flexibility. As for the starting staff, a right hander who can slot as high at #3 should give you enough, with an improved bullpen and better offense (with V. Mart), to contend. There are lots of choices for #4 and #5, including likely Rodon at some point. With Coop there, I wouldn't worry. 1 Nope. 1. Don't trade Alexei Ramirez. If the Sox want to contend in 2015 -- which I think is very possible and is also very likely the goal of the front office -- then they aren't going to trade their reasonably priced All-Star shortstop. They just aren't. Don't create holes that aren't there. Fill the holes that are. Alexei may decline, but he's still likely to be better than any potential replacements for the rest of his contract and beyond. Plus, I think the Cuban connection is important. I don't think I have any other "nopes." I could make some up, like "don't trade Chris Sale," but they aren't realistic. So let me add a bonus "YEP." It's not gonna happen next year, but we can hope it does sooner rather than later: 4. Find a new manager.

The White Sox are in 4th place in the AL West, at 60-72, 14 games back of the Kansas City Royals, with the 5th worst record in the American League, and 8th worst record in all of baseball. They have NO reliable bullpen pitchers going forward. Zach Putnam has had a nice run, but he's managed only 45 innings, and went on the DL seemingly from overuse. There isn't a single additional bullpen piece that can be counted on. As for starters, we have the incomparable Chris Sale locked up for years. Jose Quintana seems like a quality starter, but he ends up with far too many no decisions and losses to know for sure. He doesn't seem like a #2 guy, more like a decent #3 guy or very good #4 guy. John Danks has had a year better than most would expect, but he's still overpaid and therefore not easily moved. and not part of the solution. Hector Noesi and his zero WAR? If it weren't for our total lack of right handed starters, we'd more easily see him as what he is - a fill in starter on a weak team. The Sox may have added pieces this offseason in Abreu, Eaton, and Garcia (late 2013), and tied up their best pitchers with favorable contracts, but I don't think you can say this is a successful season by any means. Making the playoffs has to be the definition of a successful season. Competing for a World Championship has to be the measure of a successful season. Anything short of that and you haven't been successful. Period.