OmarComing25

When was the last time a player was traded twice in a relatively short amount of time?

fathom pointed this out before but Coghlan actually had a higher fWAR than Fowler last year. They're the same age too, and though projections aren't high on Coghlan for 2016, he also had a pretty good year in 2014, so it's not like last year was his only good year. That's why I'm in the camp over being more upset at losing out on him than Fowler, especially at that soft cost.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 04:07 PM) They would have to be willing to offer him a chance at $16 million + for 2017. Yeah the QO could be $18 million next year. There's a good chance Fowler accepts that QO next offseason.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 02:29 PM) Just to note - by using the phrase "replacement level" you're indicating a stat that partially disagrees with your statement. Fangraphs clocked him at 2.7 WAR, which was exactly what he also put up in 2012 and 2013. B-R put him as worse than that I will also note - something I think is Fangraphs giving more of the credit for the terrible season to the defense and B-R saying the whole white sox pitching staff was weak last year (including Sale, FWIW). QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) The trick is...I kinda buy that, but at the same time there's information here. If Fangraphs is hanging too much on the defense, then that also means the other pitchers weren't as strong as fangraphs put them either. So, if you're going to say it's all on Samardzija and he's a below-replacement player, as is said there, then Sale was a 3.3 WAR pitcher by the same standard, no where near an ace level season. I think reality remains somewhere in-between. Yes, he got rocked in August, but at the same time, if a guy is pitching for a team with a terrible offense, if he gives up 5 runs or 9 runs you lose either way. At the same time, he also got the team a fair number of wins in June and September and definitely helped keep them in the "we're still in this!!" mode that Hahn was in at the end of July last year. I prefer Fangraphs WAR for pitchers over R/9 WAR in general, but the fact is Samardzija gave up all those runs. Fangraphs says he was probably somewhat unlucky, but that doesn't matter for 2015, he gave up the runs regardless. It means he'll probably be better in 2016, but that point is irrelevant when you're comparing to last year's production. His replacement doesn't have to produce an fWAR better than 2.7 to be an improvement over Samardzija last year. A pitcher could have the unluckiest season in the history of baseball, but that doesn't erase all the runs he gave up. Along the same lines, Greinke is likely to see some major regression in 2016, but that doesn't erase the results of what happened last year. So Samardzija maybe didn't fully "deserve" his 4.96 ERA last year, but when judging potential improvement over last season, the end result is all that matters, not the path the player took to get there.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 02:11 PM) Agree this was not an awful offseason but I don't agree "they made quite a few substantial improvements". Frazier should be substantial and hopefully Lawrie is a solid improvement. But the catchers , Latos, Rollins etc are all pretty questionable and you lost Shark and Alexei. I have posted several times that I feel these substantial improvements you refer to will weaken our infield defense compared to 2nd half of last season. I don't think they are still a wildcard contender but more like a .500 team They both will likely be better in 2016 but in 2015 Shark was replacement-level and Alexei was below replacement-level. His defense was not very good last year. It shouldn't be very difficult to get at least modest improvements from those spots in 2016.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) I thought Gallardo didn't sign (failed physical). Or did they end up eventually signing him? They restructured the deal to 2 years with an option. It's done.

Really curious as to what happened because that's a scummy thing to do by Fowler. Orioles fans are rightfully really pissed off right now.

So does Soler get traded? Are they really going to platoon him so soon?

So Fowler just signed a 1 year deal with the Cubs.

Dexter Fowler has re-signed with the #Cubs, per @MDGonzales. One year deal with mutual option. WTF?

That was a great read, it'd be cool to see a write-up on the X-Factors for all the AL teams.

Through the first two months of the season last year, Avi had an OPS north of .800, yet had accumulated a WAR of only 0.5 through 1/3 of the season due to his bad defense and baserunning. So even at an absolute best-case scenario at the plate, Avi's ceiling is about 1.5 WAR, which is below average, and would still have us seeking an upgrade. That is the best-case scenario. As others have pointed out, he's never had success, and while Melky and LaRoche were equally responsible for last year's disappointing team performance, they at least have both had a track record of success and were good as recently as 2014. There's a much higher chance of those two being positive contributors in 2016 than Avi, and with the bountiful options to upgrade RF that were available this offseason it was the easiest move to make to improve the team.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 03:50 PM) Laurence Holmes is of the belief that the Sox were never REALLY in on it with the FA's but had the thought of putting it out there that they were so it might look better to fans...which ended up back firing. I really dont know what to believe. Such a frustrating and strange off season. How would that make them look better to fans? Putting that out there seems like it has way more downside than upside.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 01:23 PM) If you take BP seriously, they tell you Tim Anderson is never going to be a major league SS. The people doing the White Sox position player write ups this year were a bit cranky. They loved the pitchers, except not so much for Rodon. They did call Quintana perhaps the greatest 6 year minor league free agent signing of all time. BP has Anderson at #19 on their top prospect list, they're higher on him than anyone else.

TSN is reporting that Bautista wants 5 years/$150 million. Yeah...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 03:44 PM) Don't get mad at me that it took them less than 4 years to build a powerhouse. 97 wins is their floor. Wouldn't be surprised if they won 100-105 games. Their floor is 97 wins? That's laughable. You realize what sport this is right? Even the most optimistic Cub fans wouldn't agree with that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 03:39 PM) Shuck and his amazing reverse splits of a .683 OPS. Melky couldn't have been much worse against LHP last year. Be nice to get another righty bat out there, especially with how bad Eaton was against LHP last year as well. There's not that many LHP in the MLB, so the season sample size for any given hitter against LHP is pretty small. Both Eaton and Melky were fine against LHP in 2014. Abreu is another one who was awful against LHP in 2015, but I wouldn't expect that to continue this year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 12:10 PM) The Cubs have players on their bench/bullpen that would be better than a large majority of the players starting on the Reds/Brewers this year. Those teams won't combine for 100 wins. I'll take that bet, that's easy money.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/whit...my-rollins.html Article makes a good point that his BABIP was pretty low and due for a bounceback given his contact and batted ball stats stayed pretty much the same as his career numbers. I'd be more concerned about his defense though.

It's a minor league deal and there are some posters that upset with this move? Seriously?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 20, 2016 -> 08:53 AM) Again I clearly said that the trade was a woeful overpay. Interesting you mention the comparative farm system rankings. In 2015, Law ranked Arizona 14, and now they are 24. In 2015, Law ranked Sox 12, and now they are 22. (yes, #1 prospect promoted; but Arizona made other stupid movies beyond the Miller trade, like giving away #4 prospect to braves in mid-season) You said the Arizona farm was a lot stronger than the Sox farm, and that the Diamondbacks can afford to trade away their good prospects without hurting their future. Neither of those things are true.

Buehrle never really had this type of stuff written about him either.

Even if this new approach somehow works and he improves his hitting, his defense and baserunning will still be atrocious, and we'll still want to upgrade RF.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 07:53 AM) I clearly said that they didn't get anywhere near the value for the prospects they traded. But it could also be true (it has been in the past ) that their farm is a heck of a lot stronger than the Sox farm, which gives them the ability to trade their good prospects without hurting future). The Red Sox also woefully overpaid for relief pitcher. They didnt hurt their future. I long for the day when making such trade wouldn't hurt the Sox future BA ranked the Sox farm at #23 and the Arizona farm at #22. The Diamondbacks have developed some good players recently but their farm was definitely not deep enough or strong enough to trade away Swanson and Blair without hurting their future.

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:32 PM) And you like the front office? Heck of a trade today huh? Had they made the Gasol deal, at least they would have made SAC better, therefore making it more likely they get Kings' first round pick. You're a broken record. I'm not a big fan of the front office but you are incredibly obnoxious.