OmarComing25

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 12:58 PM) I really don't see the Giants being big threats. The Orioles if they loose out on davis have supposedly are more interested in upton. Tho the Orioles owner like davis so much he's willing to give him every opportunity to come back. That supposed offer they withdrew is still kinda there. Angels don't want to hit the luxury tax and they are so right handed that might take them away from Cespedes. Only real team I see could be threats on Cespedes is tigers. To me Baltimore and LA are the two biggest threats, and then SF and Detroit are 2nd tier threats. Don't really see the Tigers being big threats because it would put them over the luxury tax limit for several seasons in a row, and I doubt they want to do that.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 01:00 PM) That's a big concern about EJ (everyone's fav Nate Jones too). Probably would have been a good guy to trade (coupled with what I infer is the org's lack of trust in him). Carroll has a great gb%. He may be more effective with this revitalized infield D. (although the D was fine last year after May and he still had a high WHIP). Petricka has the same game, but is more effective. Samardzija had a low gb%, which is another reason why that acquisition was curious. Jones' career FB% is 31%, that's not very concerning.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 12:44 PM) The Sox gave Paulino $2 million. He made 4 starts for them and 5 in Charlotte. I also don't think his contract is fully guaranteed until some time in spring training. It still seems hard to believe that in 2014 we gave 71 starts to Hector Noesi, Felipe Paulino, Scott Carroll, Andre Rienzo, Chris Bassitt and Erik Johnson. That is truly frightening.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 12:39 PM) This is why I like Cespedes more cause he hasn't fully been in a homerun park. Playing at the Cell could easily see him maintain 30+ homers. Maybe even more. That's why I don't think the Giants are the biggest threat to sign him, he's a much bigger risk in that park.

Johnson is better than Carroll, but the point in Carroll's favor is that strong groundball rate the last two years, while Johnson's 52% FB% last year is very concerning. He got a bit lucky that most of the HR he gave up were just solo HR, so his ERA ended up looking OK.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 12:02 PM) Why would the Reds/Dodgers have had any interest in Alexei? We also didn't have him on the roster, so I'm not sure how we could have traded him.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:43 AM) One more reason to like Cespedes is that his ceiling is much higher than Gordon's. If he repeats last year's break out season, or exceeds it, which he has the talent to do, he would be a Super Star. It's very unlikely that Gordon's production would be anywhere near that level. Cespedes was worth 6.7 WAR in 2015. Gordon was worth 6.6 WAR in 2011 and 6.6 WAR in 2014.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 09:53 AM) Speaking of "dismissive"... In the MLB of the '10's what is wrong with "another Alexei"? Up until 2015, he was one of the better SS's in the game. Without steroids, guys like that don't grow on trees anymore. From 2009-2014 Alexei averaged 3 WAR per season, if Anderson is able to put up a stretch like that I think we'd all be very happy.

At first, Gordon was my least preferred of the 3 by a decent margin, but as this has dragged on I've been liking the idea of him more and more. Despite his age, he seems like he has the highest floor of the three, which I really like given our recent bad luck with position player acquisitions.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 03:36 PM) A friend of mine who covers the Angels for FSW is also hearing Upton, fwiw. Hearing what about Upton?

Regardless of the true size of the gap between Happ and Danks from 2013-2015, I'll be happy when Danks' contract is no longer on the books. I say he signs a 3yr/$25-27M deal after this season with somebody.

Agree that there's a big drop off after the top 3, hopefully the upcoming draft can make that list look better a year from now.

And if there's one area where Hahn/KW have proven to be adept in the last few years, it's contract negotiations. I trust them to play this right, assuming the money is there.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 2, 2016 -> 01:05 PM) Davis is knocked for his poor base running and defense at 1B so is he really an outfield option? But the team that signs Davis was not really in the market for an outfielder in the first place considering Davis is a 1B/DH which correlates with my response above. But if Baltimore signs Davis, then they're likely out of the running for the Big 3, and they're one of the few teams that seem to actually have the money available to offer a big contract to them.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 2, 2016 -> 11:39 AM) Ilitch is old and the Tigers are built to win now. Their farm system is f***ed anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them try to get one of the big 3 even if it put them over the luxury tax. I wouldn't be surprised either, but it's not like he has a history of willing to go over the tax limit.

Anyone think Davis might be the one holding up the market? If he signs with Baltimore that takes out one of the big players. As for the other teams, it sounds like St. Louis will trade for a Colorado OF, the Tigers would be over the Luxury Tax penalty for the next several seasons if they made a big offer, and I think Ilitch has only gone over once in the past decade (2008). The Angels also seem afraid to go over the tax limit, and the Giants are currently being linked to Desmond, and if they sign him I don't think they'd also commit big money to Cespedes. There really might be a smaller market for Cespedes than we think, which makes the 3-year demands seem not so unreasonable from our side, though I still think it's just posturing. We might be able to sign him for 4 years.

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ Jan 2, 2016 -> 10:09 AM) I am trying to be as optimistic as I can This whole process is not over yet. However, I just get fed up with their whole "Holier than thou" attitude. They act like they are kings of the baseball world with this type of attitude, and that they can get anybody they want on their terms. However, what have we proven? We hardly ever win anything, and the biggest contract we have ever given out was Abreu at $68M. The behavior of the FO is just bizarre. QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jan 2, 2016 -> 10:18 AM) Agreed and to me the most difficult thing to understand is if the FO doesn't get it or they are just cheap. It's pretty clear from an outsider we struggle with developing position players for the past decade or so. And this lack of success has created a problem as far as fling holes in the lineup through FA. It is impossible for them not to see in order to sign an impact type player these days it will cost money (we got lucky with Jose). If they are competing now then they have to break from business as usual and spend some money. We have the luxury of having a young cost controlled pitching staff so we don't have to invest on these SPs the way a lot of teams do. However we have to invest in the lineup and with the recent trades now the time to invest and see what happens the next three years with the core plus Crspedes. One last thing, I believe in the end we sign YO but it will be in large part because of the recruitment of Abreu and the fact they can play together for the next 3-4 years. I guess we'll see. I'd pay some serious money to be a fly on the wall in Hahns office to know exactly what's going on I think you guys are reading way too much into things, especially considering there's so much we don't know concerning these negotiations or how the market for the Big 3 has developed and changed. I'm not sure how you get "holier than thou" or "kings of the baseball world" from this.

Not saying it won't still be loaded and much better than the 2016 and 2017 FA classes, but I think everyone is overrating how good the 2018 FA class will be. A few years ago Austin Jackson was a 4-5 WAR player, Asdrubal Cabrera and David Freese were All-Stars, and Latos and Fister were 4 WAR pitchers, and now their value has significantly diminished compared to then. A similar drop-off will happen to several of these guys, whether by simple regression in performance or injury or both. Guys who would have been free agents this year like McCutchen, Bumgarner, Stanton, Posey, Gonzalez and Gardner signed extensions in that window. And you know at least 1 or 2 guys will completely fall off the map like Matt Kemp did compared to 2011-2012.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 11:45 PM) I loved the deal until the Frazier deal which puts him at 2B. Hopefully his defense is average enough. The bat should play out at least. I still feel the sox would've been stronger with Sanchez at 2B, Frazier at 3B and finding our resources for a SS (been plus defensively at every position in the infield minus maybe 1B) and the OF but not gonna complain about it. Still like the deal alot. Lawrie basically cost no resources to acquire though. What we used to get Lawrie would not be enough to upgrade at SS.

Assuming he plays very sparingly against LHP, I don't think a .725-.740 OPS is unrealistic to expect from LaRoche, which is still not good, especially at the DH spot, but still a decent amount better than what we got in 2015.

I'm not going to read too much into anything until one of them actually signs a contract with a team.

It doesn't make any sense, I don't believe it for a second.

Yeah I don't buy it, at all.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) And specifically saying he wanted to play with the Cubs' young core and Maddon as opposed to a theoretically better deal in terms of total guaranteed dollars from the Cards. Meh, I'd believe that was a big reason for him signing if there was no opt-out clause, otherwise it's just fluff.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 02:28 PM) since he was offered 200 million by other teams, he is taking less for a few years, in order to boost his value in 3 years to make more than the 200 guaranteed now. this will work out provide a) he continues to produce, b) he doesn't get hurt, c) there is a team willing to spend that much more on an older player. He is really betting on himself. I think I would have gone for the big money now, if the money is his only concern. He really won't be an "older player" if/when he opts out, he's 26 right now.