OmarComing25

Why is that bench so bad? The catcher situation is fine, Sanchez is a fine utility infielder, and Shuck was capable as a backup outfielder last year.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 11:57 AM) If this team is bad it wont be because of Avi. He is not the key factor for this team. If he is bad I really dont think they are going to keep running him out there anyway. If this team doesn't make the playoffs solely because of Avi I will eat gregs shirt and sell his house that I have acquired in prior dealings. That very well could be the case if Avi puts up another below replacement level season and we miss the playoffs by two games after winning 84 games. Upgrading RF by a couple wins is so easy to do when the hole is that large that it will be the most mind-boggling move of the entire offseason if an upgrade doesn't happen, and that's including the Miller trade.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 09:31 AM) If Avi is our Opening Day RF, then it has NOT been a good offseason. There has maybe never been a better buyer's market for corner OF in the history of free agency, and corner OF was the single biggest hole we had to fill on the team. We bicker back and forth around here a lot about the team's willingness to spend money. Some feel like the team should spend as much as it can every year to win, while others don't want to see inefficient and sloppy moves being made simply for the sake of spending resources. I've tended to fall on the latter side -- even though I acknowledge that ownership[ is making money and has a TON at its disposal, money should still be treated as a finite resource, because losing money is not a sustainable model. The rub on that line of thinking about falls around where the limit SHOULD be. How do you set a limit when you technically have more to spend than you need? To me, the answer is that you buy when the market is ripe for you to buy. Going into the offseason, no "contender" needed an corner OF more than us, with the exception of the Royals, and there were no less than 8 significant upgrades available (Heyward, Upton, Gordon, Cespedes, Fowler, Jackson, Parra, Dickerson). Pitchers and catcher have now reported, nearly all of those options are off the board, and nearly all of them have cost LESS than expected. The teams that have gotten them have, in many cases, created logjams with the acquisitions simply because the value to cost ratio was so good. And yet the White Sox still have nothing. I loved the Frazier, Lawrie, and Latos acquisitions, but if I knew our front office was going to stare a gift horse in the mouth for six straight months until the OF market collapsed entirely, I'd have rather they gone in a totally different direction. Couldn't have put it better myself. Agree 100%. Great post.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 03:45 PM) But not 19 times per season. Watch the Braves sign him and have him single-handedly win two of the three games against the Sox this year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 03:25 PM) yeah, edited that in...just don't expect offense out of him The best, of course, would be for some NL team to sign him. Same benefits, no weakened hitter on the roster. But we might still have to face him depending on which NL team it is. Safest way is if a Japanese team offers him a decent contract.

My guess is Fowler signs for something like 3/36, maybe a bit more.

If it's one or the other, give me the OF.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 09:58 AM) As a fan of the Dodgers, I just wanted to point a couple things out... 1. The new ownership group vowed to make a splash the first couple of years, hence the big spending. They said it wouldn't last forever. They had a pending TV deal, and needed to make a splash. 2. They also vowed to build a top tier farm system and scouting staff, which would feed the MLB club. Until they are productive with such, they "have to buy" players. Again, as a Dodgers fan, it kinda sucks watching them "buy" players but at the same time, I remember the days when Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Loney, Jonathon Broxton, Andre Ethier and Dee Gordon were the "Youthful Core". The one thing Ned Colletti did right (at least the team did right while he was GM) was draft and develop star players. Hopefully they get back to that soon. The Dodgers have probably the best farm system in the MLB and have arguably the most depth of any team at the major league level (them or the Cubs). They have the luxury of being able to buy players while still stocking the minor leagues with their near monopoly on much of the international market. They're set up for present and future success more than any other team.

Upgrading a -1 WAR position should be really easy to do, it doesn't require a "high impact" bat to be a significant upgrade.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 03:19 PM) So, bucket said we may trade for an OF. One of the very available OFs now is De Aza. What would your response be? Mine would be shrieking. Going by 2013-2015 numbers, they wouldn't make the worst RF platoon on offense (.276/.332/.436 against LHP, .267/.332/.416 against RHP), but I hope it's a last resort type of plan. Still would prefer it to having Avi start though.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 02:15 PM) There's a good chance that the Sox have the best rotation in the AL. Cleveland was #1 in fWAR last year and Sox were 2nd. Samardzija's 216 innings and K's did help though. Sox SP were #1 in the AL by fWAR last year at 17.4, the Indians were third with 15.9. But yes, Samardzija made up 2.7 of that number. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...=&players=0

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 01:03 PM) Melky was an elite LF defender during his prime. Now he is a poor defensive outfielder and even if you think his bat will return to career averages this season I don't see anyone claiming his defense will get better. He shouldn't start vs LHP. Eaton is a poor offensive player (.291 wOBA, .054 ISO) vs LHP and a below average defender. In a perfect world he doesn't start vs LHP. How is that nonsense? It's still nonsense because in a perfect world almost everyone would be platooned, and starting pitchers would always get taken out before they faced the batting order a third time, it's a completely meaningless statement. Eaton hasn't shown he's bad enough against LHP that he would require a platoon partner. That would be a waste of resources and a roster spot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) Da f***? "One of these pitchers got $90 million guaranteed. One of these pitchers got $3 million guaranteed. Why on Earth would a national publication writing the supposed conventional wisdom think that swap is a downgrade???" GMAB. Yes, Latos could darn well be an upgrade over Samardzija, but the league just made an $87 million bet that he won't be. These predictions are based on that kind of conventional wisdom. We're not talking about 2016 Latos vs. 2016 Samardzija. We're talking about 2016 Latos vs. 2015 Samardzija. It shouldn't be too difficult to outperform a 4.96 ERA, although I don't expect Latos to pitch 214 innings, so he'd have to do more than just beat Samardzija's ERA. Samardzija didn't get $90 million based on his 2015 season, so that should be irrelevant.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 12:27 PM) OMG this team needs AT LEAST one more OF. Melky shouldn't face LHP: His bat vs LHP is bad, and couple that with his declining defense and this is closer to a no-brainer than most will assume. LaRoche shouldn't face LHP: HOW did he get 89 ABs vs LHP in '15? In a perfect world Eaton shouldn't face LHP: This is easily the furthest stretch of the three, but Eaton has zero career HRs vs LHP and sports a .686 OPS. If his defense continues to be below average then he is not an everyday player on a good team IMHO. Sticking Avi in a platoon with any of the three is PLENTY of opportunity for a player that performed as poorly as Garcia did in '15. If you believe in Garcia's defense improving and feel he needs the experience in the field, then platoon him with Melky. For me, I saw enough of his defense last year that I'd platoon him with LaRoche at DH. But lets just say you stick Avi in LF with Cabrera, that leaves the Sox with no right handed DH and absolutely no RF. This team NEEDS two more bats. One can be more of a complimentary right handed hitter to work with LaRoche, but the other needs to be a legitimate everyday right fielder. Melky has a career 95 wRC+ against LHP, that's not something that needs to be platooned. The line about Eaton is nonsense too. A 3-4 WAR player is not an everyday player?

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 09:34 AM) Show me an admin on this board that wants Paxson fired. All of the admins are in Paxson's corner. The thread was closed. Convenient way of shutting down a conversation that you guys don't want to have. I basically wrote a small article the other day with a lot of insightful facts. The thread was not to troll anyone. It was to advocate the firing of a Chicago front office guy who SHOULD absolutely be on the hot seat. It wasn't like I was posting that stuff in Pale Hose Talk. I was posting information within the appropriate thread. Yesterday, I posted the following comment which prompted an admin, who happens to be a big Paxson supporter to blow the whistle and shut the entire thread down: Here is the comment that shut the thread down: "Here is a quote from Kevin Garnett on why he never wanted to play for the Bulls..."If they crapped on the best player in the game, then why would I want to go there? I just felt like...Chicago the management there...its all about them...unfortunately players win championships...not management" Players are again probably noticing how the Bulls treated Thibs and Noah...When players see Pax they know what he did to Vinny...They aren't going to get any FA's for a loooong time." Posting a quote like that is interesting to sports fans. And especially relevant in a thread when discussing Bulls management. You're trying to play the victim here, but 95% of your posts are you insulting other posters. It's not a conversation when one side is just constantly attacking the other.

Also wrote a preemptive article on why they projected the Royals to be bad again: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....articleid=28457 In summary, says they don't expect the Royals to be super clutch again, the bullpen after Davis isn't that special, the rotation is bad, Cain will regress, and there are 3-4 holes in the lineup. Hope they're right, but I'm not holding my breath. 90 wins for the Rays, 80 wins for the Brewers and Padres, 82 wins for the Cardinals, and of course 77 wins for the Royals. Some strange choices here.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 02:53 PM) Doh, they signed a super sub to play against LHP then forgot him. As for LaRoche, 20% of his PA last year were against LHP, that's a pretty big chunk of his time and he posted an OPS+ of 8 against them. It's not just that he's bad against LHP, HE SHOULD NEVER FACE LHP. Bonifacio had a wRC+ of 1 last year, and it was 2 against LHP (.176/.176/.235). Beckham couldn't have taken those ABs away because he was platooning with Conor against LHP. The only other option was having both Soto and Flowers in the lineup and having no catcher on the bench. Basically Robin was f***ed no matter what he did.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 02:31 PM) Eh. The lefty thing is grossly exaggerated. The guy saw 94 ABs against lefties in 2015. Of those 94 AB's only 57 of them came in games started by a lefty in a grand total of 14 starts. The other 37 involved relievers that came in after a righty had started. I don't see the numbers split out this way, but I would bet that based on the huge cut in ABs that LaRoche saw in the 2nd half, I'd bet almost all of those starts came in the first half of the season. It wouldn't have even looked that bad if the guy had actually hit righties instead. There also wasn't a great alternative in the first half, the entire team was horses*** against LHP last year. Once Trayce came up LaRoche basically saw no time against lefties, but I'm not going to blame Robin too much for sending him out there in the first half when pretty much the only other option was Bonifacio.

QUOTE (Saufley @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 01:06 PM) Your rant makes a lot of sense! This ownership has had their one World Series championship. Now sell to some investment group that is not afraid to spend money to put a #1 caliber team on the field. I'm just tired of my team shopping at the $5 and under store. My rant. Sox payroll rank in MLB over the last 10 years: 2015: 15th 2014: 20th 2013: 8th 2012: 11th 2011: 5th 2010: 7th 2009: 12th 2008: 5th 2007: 5th 2006: 4th So that's only 1 year in the bottom half which was a rebuilding year, 6 times in the top 10 and 4 times in the top 5. Not bad for a team that struggles with attendance as much as the Sox do. I will be upset if the Sox don't spend money for another upgrade or two before Opening Day, but this idea that the Sox are cheap is exaggerated.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 12:45 PM) I might be the only person, but I am expecting a bounce back season from LaRoche. If he could just replicate his road splits from last year (.236/.319/.413) I'd be happy. It's astonishing how bad he was at the Cell (.181/.269/.271).

Yeah that means we get 2014 versions of Melky and LaRoche and perhaps Abreu, Latos returns to form, and Sale wins the Cy Young (though this one is not far-fetched).

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 12, 2016 -> 05:24 PM) If Sox told him this, then it's not posturing either. You don't say you are out of money if you are negotiating It makes no sense though, and even contradicts what Nightengale has said in the past. Nightengale never said the Sox couldn't afford the Big 3, just that the Sox supposedly refused to go above 3 years. Now after signing Latos for peanuts they're out of cash? Then what kind of 3 year contract were they going to offer?

Seems a lot of posters jumped ship from WSI way earlier than I did. I only did so after the 2014 season. Looking back I can't believe I stayed that long.

QUOTE (SoxSteve @ Feb 12, 2016 -> 01:59 PM) Yes but the power fascination is not working. Getting the Thome's, Dunn's, Loroches, hasn't worked the last 10 years wouldn't you say judging by 1 playoff appearance. We hit a good amount of homers in 05 but the key was Scottie pods and Iguchi at top the order and getting the lead for the first 30 plus games of season. We only play 81 games at home and i think we have plent of power to win judging by what the last few WS winners have done. With our pitching defense is more important and if some here feel with our outfield defense the same as last year and Desmond and Lourie will be better than last year i hope your right because i don't see it personally. But that's what make this board fun!! Just because a couple recent teams succeeded in spite of their lack of power doesn't suddenly make power a bad thing. The last Sox playoff team was the fourth most HR-dependent team in MLB history. All the good Sox offenses of the past couple decades have had a lot of power. The 2005 offense was overall mediocre but good enough due to having a lot of power, it was also almost as HR-dependent as the 2008 team too. The idea that it was a "balanced offense" is a myth. LaRoche sucked last year partly due to the fact he didn't hit for enough power. Not sure why Thome is on your list, he was great here, and I'm sure we'd all take 2006 Thome on this team in a heartbeat. It also makes a lot of sense to play to the strengths of your own ballpark.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 12, 2016 -> 11:54 AM) If he still sucks by June, he's going to be released. Agreed, but I mean we're stuck with his salary.