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Iguchi Close to Signing with Sox?


beck72

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QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 03:28 PM)
Where did you read they are trying to move Polanco?  I read he accepted arbitration.

He did, they have Utley ready to play and Placido is going to make some decent money so they'd like to rid themselves of him.

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I forgot Gload & the fact that Thomas is an either/or case. Thomas either plays or is on the DL. So if he's not playing he's not on the 25 man roster.

 

Thomas roster:

1-Pods

2-Iguchi

3-Thomas

4-Koney

5-Dye

6-Rowand

7-AJP

8-Uribe

9-Crede

 

Non-Thomas roster:

1-Pods

2-Iguchi

3-Rowand

4-Koney

5-Dye

6-Everett

7-AJP

8-Uribe

9-Crede

 

10-13: Harris, Davis, call-up, Gload

 

There's no room for the signing of a utilty player unless you juggle Thomas & Everett on the DL. When Thomas is off the DL, Everett would go on it.

 

With the team focused on pitching & defense now I see it going with 12 pitchers.

It might change near the all-star break if the bottom of the rotation shows is doing well. That would cause the weakest of the 12 to be sent down & open up a bench spot.

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I do know that he accepted arbitration, but as Rowand pointed out, Philly didn't resign him with the intentions of having Utley play every day. They offered him arbitration for obvious reasons...seeing the two seasons he had in Philly, and seeing as how Cabrera got a contract around $6-7 mill a year(the numbers are not coming to me right now), one would expect the superior offensive player(and he's not much worse defensively, considering he is a 2Bman compared to a SS...and he is more versatile then Cabrera too) in Polanco to get atleast $5 mill a year in offers. He didn't.

 

And I do think Harris and Adkins gets it done, or that it very well could anyways. Obviously, there were not a lot of teams very interested in him as a FA...or there were, but they were not willing to pay him the money he was looking for...and Philly has basically come out and said they are looking to move him, so his value is not real high right now. I would almost venture to guess that we could be overpaying in this case, with the money Philly kicks in possibly help even out the trade a little.

 

In Harris, the Phils get a solid backup 2B/OF...a whole lot of upside, with very little risk...and in Adkins, they get a guy who will very likely be a solid setup guy some day. We make the trade because we are getting a replacement for Harris at 2B(a superior replacement, I might add), and we have quite a bit of depth in the pen now due to 2 signings this offseason, so a reliever like Adkins is tradeable right now(fwiw...off the top of my head, I can think of Shingo, Hermanson, Marte, Politte, Vizcaino, Cotts, Diaz, Walker, Munoz, Baj, and perhaps more that could all make the pen and contribute in some way or another...so Adkins is very tradeable).

 

To me...a lineup of

Pods - LF

Polanco - 2B

Rowand - CF

Thomas - DH

Konerko - 1B

Dye - RF

Uribe - SS

AJP - C/Crede - 3B

Crede - 3B/Davis - C

 

is killer, and if Crede actually did figure out that flaw in his swing(I have my doubts, but maybe he did), then our lineup is even more dangerous. That lineup, from 1-9, is very solid...the only concern in the first option is Podsednik at the top of the order, and I really do think he will have an in-between year, comparing his rookie year and his 2nd year...and in the second one, I worry about Davis too, but that's just because I really do not like Davis...sorry, I can't help it :D

 

Again...this is just me in crazy-think mod...but I do think I would prefer Polanco to Iguchi, even knowing we would have to trade for him and he'd likely cost more money then Iguchi this year anyways.

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BTW, Juggs...this is what I am mainly referring to...not likely that they are just going to give him away, but I am sure he is more then tradeable.

 

Placido Polanco - PHI - Dec. 20, 2004 - 12:34 am et

 

Phillies announced that infielder Placido Polanco accepted their offer of arbitration.

 

GM Ed Wade isn't loving this. Polanco, who will get a raise from the $3.95 million he made last season, must have found teams less eager to sign him because they'd have to sacrifice a draft pick. The Phillies could attempt to trade him, as they've made it clear Chase Utley will be their primary second baseman.

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QUOTE(lvjeremylv @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 01:33 PM)
Am I the only one that would *really* rather have AJ than Iguchi?  I think with AJ, we know more what we're getting, while with Iguchi, it could go either way.  Plus, I think Ben Davis at C is more of a liability for us than Willie Harris at 2B.  Maybe that's just me, though. :huh

 

I'm with you 100%.

We know for a fact that AJ is an upgrade over Ben Davis. However no one can be sure that Iguchi will be an upgrade over Willie Harris (and anyone that claims to is suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking.)

If it came down to offering 4 Mil to AJ or 4 Mil to Iguchi KW better offer that money to AJ.

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QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 04:18 PM)
I'm with you 100%.

However no one can be sure that Iguchi will be an upgrade over Willie Harris (and anyone that claims to is suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking.)

If it came down to offering 4 Mil to AJ or 4 Mil to Iguchi KW better offer that money to AJ.

 

exactly what ive been trying to say about iguchi :rolly

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Philly will be trying to move Polanco or Mike Liberthal possibly so they can get under payroll. And they would be interested in guys like Adkins for the bullpen who are cheap and could possibly post ok-ish numbers.

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QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 08:28 PM)
Philly will be trying to move Polanco or Mike Liberthal possibly so they can get under payroll. And they would be interested in guys like Adkins for the bullpen who are cheap and could possibly post ok-ish numbers.

 

charlie manuel always has like bullpen players, suprised he would want to move polanco

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Iguchi is a gamble, no doubt about it. But then, Ichiro and H. Matsui were gambles too based on the Japanese vs MLB theory. It's all in the scouting. KW says he's an impact player. Now assuming he's talking about Iguchi having a positive impact, I'll trust his judgement on this one. That is basically why I'm in favor of us signing this guy.

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Hell most people thought the Sox were nuts for signing a 35 yr old jap pitcher last season... but how did that work out for them?? Signing anyone is pretty much taking a risk. I think it all comes down to how much research you do on that person and how comfortable you are with taking that risk. Thats just me though.

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QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 08:02 AM)
Iguchi is a gamble, no doubt about it.  But then, Ichiro and H. Matsui were gambles too based on the Japanese vs MLB theory.  It's all in the scouting.  KW says he's an impact player.  Now assuming he's talking about Iguchi having a positive impact, I'll trust his judgement on this one.  That is basically why I'm in favor of us signing this guy.

 

KW [really, the Sox scouting dept] does seem to have a knack for finding a "diamond in the rough" type [Loaiza, Uribe, Marte, Gload]. It sounds like, at minimum, Iguchi can do the little things, such as play defense, steal bases, move runners over, etc, that could help this team. Yet he has the potential to hit for power, a high avg. and high OBP. For $2 mill a yr, why not?

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This doesn't sound promising....from Japanball.com

 

 

TOKYO, Jan. 6 (19:04) Kyodo

 

Japanese infielder Tadahito Iguchi, who has drawn interest from

several major league clubs, and the Chicago White Sox have hit a snag

in their negotiations, sources close to him said Thursday.

Both sides have failed to narrow the differences over financial

terms after the White Sox offered a two-year, $4 million (about 420

million yen) deal and demanded an early response.

A person familiar with the talks indicated that Iguchi's side

hopes for a deal that at least matches his contract with the Daiei

Hawks carrying an annual salary of 240 million yen for 2004.

''The White Sox say they can't wait any more but we can't give

them an answer for the offer that we've got,'' he said.

The White Sox are reportedly one of five major league clubs

interested in acquiring the services of Iguchi, including the New

York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

In his eight-year career with the Hawks, Iguchi, known for his

clutch hitting, hit .271 with 149 homers, 507 RBIs and 159 stolen

bases in 894 games. He won the Pacific League stolen base title in

2001 and 2003 and is also a four-time All-Star.

He made himself available for talks with major league teams

after Daiei accepted his request for unconditional release.  

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QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 01:04 PM)
This doesn't sound promising....from Japanball.com

TOKYO, Jan. 6 (19:04) Kyodo

 

Japanese infielder Tadahito Iguchi, who has drawn interest from

several major league clubs, and the Chicago White Sox have hit a snag

in their negotiations, sources close to him said Thursday.

Both sides have failed to narrow the differences over financial

terms after the White Sox offered a two-year, $4 million (about 420

million yen) deal and demanded an early response.

A person familiar with the talks indicated that Iguchi's side

hopes for a deal that at least matches his contract with the Daiei

Hawks carrying an annual salary of 240 million yen for 2004.

''The White Sox say they can't wait any more but we can't give

them an answer for the offer that we've got,'' he said.

The White Sox are reportedly one of five major league clubs

interested in acquiring the services of Iguchi, including the New

York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

In his eight-year career with the Hawks, Iguchi, known for his

clutch hitting, hit .271 with 149 homers, 507 RBIs and 159 stolen

bases in 894 games. He won the Pacific League stolen base title in

2001 and 2003 and is also a four-time All-Star.

He made himself available for talks with major league teams

after Daiei accepted his request for unconditional release.  

 

the difference is $350,000 a yr. [or 30 million yen :D ]. Not a big deal. If there aren't other offers on the table [bos and NYY interested in him?! give me a break!!] he might have to take it if he wants to play MLB.

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350k a year difference is not a big deal. This guy could have huge endorsement opportunities here too.

 

In baseball terms, this is a small bridge to gap. I hope they're not being stubborn (either side). This appears to be too close to let it fall apart.

 

These are two opportunities to upgrade the team w/o giving someone up. They can always move a small bit of payroll between now and April if they have to.

 

This shouldn't be that tough to get accomplished but it appears they're having trouble bringing the ship into port.

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A person familiar with the talks indicated that Iguchi's side

hopes for a deal that at least matches his contract with the Daiei

Hawks carrying an annual salary of 240 million yen for 2004.

 

It sounds to me that he's set a minimum(he won't take a pay cut which is reasonable) that he'll accept and probably wants more than that. So the ball's in KW court right now to come up in price if he wants to get anywhere with this deal.

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In baseball terms, this is a small bridge to gap. 

Or you could even call it a small bridge to JAP. HA HA HA HA.

 

But seriously, the fact that they "can't give an answer" to our offer shows that they're considering it, so that's a good thing for those who want this guy on the Sox. I don't know a thing about him, so I'm not going to get too excited one way or the other.

 

Someone said that Matsui and Ichiro were big risks when they came over to the US, too, but they seem to have been more heavily sought after than this Iguchi guy. I mean, it's almost mid-January, and other than hearing about him from this message board, I haven't heard the guy's name mentioned once anywhere. Maybe I'm watching the wrong sports shows, but that seems odd to me.

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QUOTE(upnorthsox @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 08:21 AM)
It sounds to me that he's set a minimum(he won't take a pay cut which is reasonable) that he'll accept and probably wants more than that. So the ball's in KW court right now to come up in price if he wants to get anywhere with this deal.

 

 

I think it is just hardball, because they haven't refused the $4M deal. Kenny's just waiting to see if he can get him at rock bottom, if not raise the price. It worked with AJP.

 

What a concept, Kenny's negotiating.

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QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 7, 2005 -> 08:11 AM)
Yeah but noone was interested in Shingo either last season and how did that work out for the Sox??

Well, my theory is that a player (especially a pitcher) has to do well for 2 seasons before proving anything to me. But yes, so far, Shingo has done quite well for the Sox.

 

I would, however, submit to you that Shingo's flying under the radar and then having success is the exception, and not the rule.

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