Player I like to see KW go out and get

[YASNY]

I've always liked Erstad, but I think his best years are behind him. He's played so balls to wall for so many years that he's bound to break down sooner than later.

[witesoxfan]

I would take Erstad for next year.

 

Career .766 OPS at 1B for probably $4-5 mill? You can't honestly be serious

 

I'd rather have G-load at 1B for the whole year than Erstad

[sayitaintso]

Career .766 OPS at 1B for probably $4-5 mill?  You can't honestly be serious

 

I'd rather have G-load at 1B for the whole year than Erstad

I agree.

[CWSGuy406]

Career .766 OPS at 1B for probably $4-5 mill?  You can't honestly be serious

 

I'd rather have G-load at 1B for the whole year than Erstad

 

Oh, come on witesox, you know you love the career 98 OPS+...

[JUGGERNAUT]

Erstad is not a bad option. He is owed a little more than $8M in 2006. If LAA picks up 1/2 you can get him for $4M.

 

What does he offer the White Sox? The best fielding 1B in MLB.

His .933ZR is the best in the game. Less than 7% of the balls hit in the 1B zone escape his grasp. He's a great weapon defensively to have against LH pull hitters (several of which reside in the ALC). In comparison Koney has an .850ZR. That doesn't even make the top 30 list.

 

Offensively you have to look at the details to see the value.

With Pods as our lead-off guy for years to come, Erstad fits in at #2.

2005: 127AB, 4SB, .331A .399O .417S

If you doubt those numbers look at his 3yr avg's:

#2 1104AB 171R 127RBI 37SB .273A .311O .370S

RON .298A .340O .406S

CL&L .294A .342O .446S

 

He avg's a SB every 30AB or roughly 20SB/yr. Iguchi's avg'g a SB every 27AB. He becomes your #3 guy.

 

Pods, Erstad, & Iguchi would offer good contact hitters with good patience & good speed aboard. A perfect setup for Thomas/Rowand.

 

Erstad is in line to win a GG at 1B this year so I'll just go ahead & say it.

 

Is a GG 1B blessed with good speed in his bat & in his feet worth $4-5M for 1 year? I say yes. Not just because of what he offers at 1B but think of what he offers substitution wise as well. It's like having a utility guy playing 1B every day.

[kev211]

Only the yankees can afford helton.

[Dizzy Sox]

$4-$5 million on a 1b beacuse of his defense? That's insane. Erstad doesn't even steal that many bases anymore

Darin Erstad has had one good season his whole major league career. He is massively overrated, and would be a huge drain on the offense at any position, especially 1b.

[WilliamTell]

Only the yankees can afford helton.

 

 

I don't think Helton would fair well in New York. He doesn't seem to have that personality and while I know he's a good hitter and all, he also gets help from Coors Field.

[kev211]

$4-$5 million on a 1b beacuse of his defense?  That's insane.  Erstad doesn't even steal that many bases anymore

Darin Erstad has had one good season his whole major league career.  He is massively overrated, and would be a huge drain on the offense at any position, especially 1b.

Welcome to soxtalk

[kev211]

I don't think Helton would fair well in New York. He doesn't seem to have that personality and while I know he's a good hitter and all, he also gets help from Coors Field.

It was a joke, because the yankees eat up all of the bad contracts in baseball.

[whitesoxmanager]

would you trade pods for ichiro straight up?

[Middle Buffalo]

well 3 years and about 50 points difference in average.  if there was any way this could happen, it would be great.  but Helton doesn't want to go anywhere, he wants to win in Colorado.  and the money argument sucks, if we spend an extra $10M and win more, why not do it?  too bad Helton's not going anywhere.

Any "extra" money the Sox have should ALWAYS go toward improving the pitching staff.

[CWSGuy406]

would you trade pods for ichiro straight up?

 

I'm a little worried about Podsednik. A small sample size, but he only has four walks in June. I don't have the data in front of me, but it seems like he's seeing less pitches per plate appearance (though, I might be wrong on that -- I've missed a lot of games in June).

 

As far as Ichiro, it seems his (somewhat) lack of walking is biting him in the butt (so far this year). He's down to a .342 OBP. He'll end up hitting, though, it's just odd seeing him with an average below .300...

[JUGGERNAUT]

$4-$5 million on a 1b beacuse of his defense?  That's insane.  Erstad doesn't even steal that many bases anymore

Darin Erstad has had one good season his whole major league career.  He is massively overrated, and would be a huge drain on the offense at any position, especially 1b.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

. Great defense pays better dividends for the pitching staff.

I suggest you take a look at his numbers offensively again. He's got 4SB in 127AB.

That avg's out to 19SB in a year. And that's while hitting lead-off & 2nd on what has been thus far a dissapointing lineup.

 

It's obvious your attention to detail is poor or you would have realized by now how much a difference "pressure to run" can have an opposing team's staff. Do you think all these 1 run & late inning wins are luck? They are a product of pressure on the other team's bullpen. Added pressure increases the probability of mistakes & leads to timely hitting.

[JUGGERNAUT]

would you trade pods for ichiro straight up?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You would have to be brain dead not to trade Pods for Ichiro straight up or otherwise.

Seattle would have to be insane to trade him.

Edited June 19, 2005 by JUGGERNAUT

[Cubs Suck23]

Anybody who wants play Gload over Erstad is smoking some crack..

Gload is a great bench player while Erstad is a great defensive player with some speed and could hit 300

[Milkman delivers]

I just read all 5 pages of this, and I can now honestly say that my head hurts.

[Guest JimH]

I just read all 5 pages of this, and I can now honestly say that my head hurts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No s***, I agree.

 

Some of the stuff on this thread is totally out of left field.

 

This board needs to remember that KW made a ton of major moves over the winter. That differed greatly from the previous winter, where no major moves were made ... which set up the Freddy Garcia acquisition.

 

Sox management keeps saying they won't make major moves, yet this board continues to try to dream up major moves. The White Sox have some holes right now, but none are of the major variety. I'm sorry, they just aren't.

 

Sure you can try to make a trade to improve the batting average of your 3rd baseman by 30 points, but they are simply not going to disrupt the chemistry by doing so. And why should they?

 

Anything they do will be an addition. If there's a major change my guess is it will be due to some injury. This board is dreaming up 3 team trades and 4 team trades and all sorts of trades, yet ignores what Guillen and KW have been saying, which has been not to expect any trades.

 

Again ... this team has holes. They need a deeper bench and they need another bullpen arm, or at the very least they need to figure out what they're going to do with Shingo.

 

If anyone is traded, look for it to be prospects, or a shakeup of the bench players. Those of you holding your breath waiting for a Crede trade, my personal opinion is, I suggest you inhale and exhale.

 

This has the makings of a special year, they are not going to screw with the chemistry.

[Milkman delivers]

Again ... this team has holes.  They need a deeper bench and they need another bullpen arm, or at the very least they need to figure out what they're going to do with Shingo.

 

If anyone is traded, look for it to be prospects, or a shakeup of the bench players.  Those of you holding your breath waiting for a Crede trade, my personal opinion is, I suggest you inhale and exhale.

 

This has the makings of a special year, they are not going to screw with the chemistry.

 

Yeah, I've given up on the idea of getting rid of Crede. I'd be all for it, and I'll still dream of getting Chavez, but I don't think it'll happen. I'd definitely like to see a change or two in the bullpen, and maybe a bench player.

[Chisoxfn]

would you trade pods for ichiro straight up?

Are you crazy...hell ya.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

He makes a Gazillion dollars.

 

 

What kind of money is Konerko going to command when he repeats his numbers from last season?

[nitetrain8601]

More Chavez talk. Don't know if it has been posted yet. Sox apparently did talk with Oakland about Eric Chavez and Oakland wanted BMac, Brian Anderson(which I would've given up) + a Starter already in our rotation(which I would not have given up). Apparently, after the Sox said no, they said they weren't going to shop Chavez.

[Milkman delivers]

More Chavez talk. Don't know if it has been posted yet. Sox apparently did talk with Oakland about Eric Chavez and Oakland wanted BMac, Brian Anderson(which I would've given up) + a Starter already in our rotation(which I would not have given up). Apparently, after the Sox said no, they said they weren't going to shop Chavez.

 

Wow, what a terrible deal. I hate Billy Beane so much.

[kev211]

would you trade pods for ichiro straight up?

HELL YEAH!

[Dizzy Sox]

. Great defense pays better dividends for the pitching staff.

I suggest you take a look at his numbers offensively again.  He's got 4SB in 127AB. 

That avg's out to 19SB in a year.  And that's while hitting lead-off & 2nd on what has been thus far a dissapointing lineup.

 

It's obvious your attention to detail is poor or you would have realized by now how much a difference "pressure to run" can have an opposing team's staff.  Do you think all these 1 run & late inning wins are luck?  They are a product of pressure on the other team's bullpen.  Added pressure increases the probability of mistakes &  leads to timely hitting.

 

Erstad has an OPS of .749. That is 20th out of the top 1B men in the majors, and more typical of a light-hitting middle infielder, much less a first baseman.

 

His 6sb's? 20 for the year? Big freaking deal. He's probably going to wind up with 10-12 HR's, where again, your average quality team first baseman is going to hit 25 at a minimum. Those 20 sb's translate into what, 10 runs at most (and that is excluding the outs created by the five caught stealing's he'll have.) I'm not sure how your attention to detail is, but you might have noticed that first basemen are usually called upon to swing a big stick. Not to mention that Konerko is at best an average fielding first baseman, yet name me one game the Sox have lost this year because of poor d at first.

 

Putting pressure on the pitcher is great, but it doesn't mean crap if you can't back it up with some muscle in the middle of the order. Take away Konerko and replace him with Erstad and we're going to be on the short end of a lot of 3-1 and 4-2 games.