OmarComing25

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 07:17 AM) Or their manager. What is his WAR??? Or WAR is just another statistic that is nice to look at but really doesn't translate to wins and losses. WAR actually correlates pretty well with wins (Fangraphs found the correlation to be upper mid-80s or so). While I doubt the Royals finish last in the AL, I do think the Indians are the bigger threat in 2016. I think Cleveland underachieved this year, and the Royals are losing two key bullpen pieces, their rotation still blows, and they might have just gotten career years out of Hosmer, Moustakas and Cain. I also highly doubt Morales is as good in 2016 as he was this year. Losing Gordon would also be a big blow. Yeah, they won the World Series, but only 1 World Series winner since 2010 has made the playoffs the following year, I don't know why so many are so quick to just hand them the division next year.

I just looked at Fangraphs' 2016 team projections and they have the Sox at 2nd in the division right now at 32.7 WAR, 5.2 WAR behind the Indians, and that's with a decent amount of regression from Abreu, Eaton, and Quintana. Picking up Upton and Frazier would put them at first in the ALC in projected WAR. However, it looks like once again the projection system undervalues the Royals, as they're dead last in the AL in projected WAR. http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Team

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 01:13 PM) I think you can expect his season OPS to drop by 50 points solely due to not facing us. Just signing him and stashing him on the bench for the entire season so he can't face us is probably a 2-win improvement alone.

QUOTE (Saufley @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 06:13 PM) Both Upton and Frazier would be a great Christmas present for Sox fans. Anyone think the northside moves might be a factor in JR and the FO thinking seriously about these moves? No, and I hope it doesn't affect their plan.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 12:05 PM) This is actually a pretty good low-risk, high-reward signing. This is much better than the high-risk, low yeild signing of LaRoche. How exactly was LaRoche high-risk? $25 million over 2 years isn't really that much, and again, it's only 2 years. That inherently can't be that risky.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 02:38 AM) I don't want to see the Sox spend big on anyone this winter. One of the worst things you can be in pro sports is old, non competitive and uncompetitive. The White Sox are on their way there. I think that they should focus on acquiring young talent, rather than spending big on FAs. And if the Sox were to sign Cesoedes, they would be paying for his decline and that's not smart. How are the White Sox old? LaRoche is the only truly old one, and he's gone after this year. After him Duke is the second-oldest at 32, and then pretty much everyone else is 30 or younger except Melky, who is 31. They're actually a pretty young team.

Arguably the 7 worst teams in baseball are all in the NL, we're going to see some crazy win totals in the NL again for the top teams.

184/8 is not bad at all, find it hard to believe no one offered 200M, and if someone did I find it even harder to believe that Heyward would leave that much on the table.

Yeah let's just ignore defense.

Also, for those of you who want a full rebuild to replicate the Cubs' path, remember that they are where they are right now partly due to a couple lopsided trades (Rizzo, Russell), a pitcher coming out of nowhere to become a top 5 pitcher, and spending almost half a billion dollars in two offseasons in free agency. We'd never be able to do all that.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 12:57 PM) The White Sox are going to end up in Portland or Carolina in the next few years if they aren't careful. Watch. We're doomed. Good lord man give it a rest. Even if the Cubs do win it all I highly doubt we're going anywhere. The damage it would do to the White Sox is wildly overstated.

The Cardinals pitchers also all got pretty lucky this year. The team is primed for big regression, it's between the Pirates/Cubs next year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) Wouldn't be that shocking if Cubs were going after Jose Fernandez this entire time. Soler/Baez/Contreras/Hendricks/Torres could easily get it done. The Marlins want Urias, Seager, AND Pederson plus more for Fernandez. No way that package gets it done.

Welp. They're WS favorites now for sure, but even the favorite has what, a 20% chance at getting it done? Just have to hope someone else takes them out.

@JonHeymanCBS Yunel escobar is traded to angels Not sure of the return yet.

@Buster_ESPN Orioles didn't increase 7-year offer to Davis. Source: "Not one nickel." Offer off table, although O's would pick up thread of past talks.

People in my office are hooting and hollering right now because they heard Heyward signed with the Cubs, can anyone confirm? EDIT: Nevermind, it was a fake Ken Rosenthal tweet.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 01:13 PM) I still think if Arrieta regresses at all they're f***ed. Unless he regresses to Baltimore levels I don't think it would hurt them that bad. I see him in the 2.50-2.75 ERA range next year, which would still make him one of the top pitchers. I also think Heyward will be worth his contract, hope the Cardinals get it done.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 01:59 PM) I'll try and help you with that. Lawrie hit .260 and Avi .257. Lawrie had 16HR/60RBI and Avi had 13/59. Lawrie 28 walks and Avi 36. Avi 7 steals and Lawrie 5. Maybe it is me, but their stats are very comparable. So I say again, if you were happy w Avi as an offensive player in 2015, Lawrie put up very similiar numbers. Both also struggled defensively. So maybe we have another Avi at 3B. I like Avi so I assume I will like Lawrie. Lawrie: 94 wRC+, .409 SLG, .148 ISO Avi: 83 wRC+, .365 SLG, .108 ISO The average AL RF also had a 107 wRC+, whereas the average AL 3B had a 99 wRC+. I wouldn't call that very similar. Lawrie was also worth almost 2 WAR more than Garcia, and that was a clear down year.

Will he get more than $200 million?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 11:25 AM) As I've said the last few days I'm not a big Lawrie fan but he's much better than anything we had and we gave up nothing so I'm definitely happy about the trade. That said, I don't expect him to make a jump or "figure it out" here, that doesn't happen with us and hitters, he is what he is. Happened with Eaton.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) At this point, the most recent incident is only about 2 weeks old. There's no way to know what MLB's investigative team will do or how they'll treat these - there's literally no precedent since it's a brand new rule. You could very readily trade for him and then lose him for a substantial amount of time to a suspension. Same reason the Dodgers Chapman deal is currently "on hold". @JonHeymanCBS Dodgers have moved on from chapman and are weighing Andrew miller among other pitchers and also hitters

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 08:03 AM) One thing the team doesn't need, IMO, is a utility infielder. Saladino and Sanchez both look better than the options available to me. My guess is, they don't pick anyone. But if they do, they grab an arm. More likely, they will lose someone. And of course they will probably be active in the minor league phase. Do we need a utility outfielder either? Shuck was solid last year and Thompson seems like the ideal 4th OF.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 08:46 AM) Every hot stove season, I read posts saying "Imagine how many more home runs he would hit playing 81 games at the Cell". I have seen similar thoughts in the Brett Lawrie thread. How many Sox acquisitions have actually increased their power moving to the South Side? I know that many FA signings have been busts for one reason or another, but the whole increased power never seems to come to fruition with the hitters the Sox acquire. Last year I believe it played as a pitchers park, but I think that was based on some randomness from the Sox D/pitching, overall it has still been a hitters park. It's not really a hitter's park except for homeruns.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 07:38 AM) If this was the best available 3B then I agree. He is a big step up from Saladino offensively and a big step down defensively. As I posted previously, his numbers are very comparable to Avi on offense and defense and both strike out too much. Lawrie's K% is 18.6% for his career, that is below the major league average. Also, his 1.8 WAR projection would mean a 3 WAR improvement over what we got from 3B in 2015.