How To Spend More Efficiently

[witesoxfan]

The Sox also have Fields, Beckham, and, to a lesser extent, anyone else playing 3B in the minor league system. Fields more towards next year, Beckham into mid 2010 and 2011, and then anybody else if they happen to stumble upon a miracle in the sandbox (in Roger Clemens' back yard).

[Jeremy]

I have my fears about Josh Fields and I just get a sort of vibe from the White Sox organization that they are not a huge fan of his looking towards the future. A high strikeout rate, a low average, and an inability to hit a fastball to go along with a hitch in his swing that is probably the biggest reason why he can't catch up to the fastball leave me thinking that Fields is more likely to be a bust than a #5 hitter. Sure, if that hitch is ever fixed and he can catch up to the fastball while recognizing the breaking ball and only striking out 150 times, he could be a Ryan Howard type prescence in the lineup, but I see a Rob Deer prescence in the lineup far more likely at this point in time.

 

I haven't gotten any such vibes from the organization. I guess the reports are conflicting but it sure seemed like the Sox were trying to move Crede in the offseason so that Fields could be their 3B for the indefinite future.

 

I guess it's an area where people differ a lot philosophically but I have no problem with a low average, high strikeout player if his OBP and SLG are solid. Field's OPS last season comes within a few points of Crede's All-Star season thus far so I don't see a huge cause for concern. I'm also not sure who our third option would be. Unless Blalock's option is declined, the options in free agency are essentially nil. Almost no matter who you land, he'll probably be earning at least ten times what Fields would earn next season.

 

Not really...I'll take Tex or Dunn at 1 year and $15 mill over Thome at 1 year and $13 mill, but not 6 years and $105 mill or something like that with either Dunn or Tex...then I'll take Thome at 1 year and $16 mill before that, and Thome will cost $10 mill less than that.

 

Ok, so say you hypothetically take Thome at $13 million instead of signing Texiera or Dunn to a huge long term deal, what do you do the next season when he comes off the books? Basically any free agent you're signing will still be overpaid. I guess my philosophy here is that I'd rather overpay a player who looks like a big time producer than someone who doesn't. I'd rather overpay Tex or Dunn than Cabrera and Crede because the production of the latter two is far more easily duplicated or nearly duplicated. I hate absurdly long deals like Soriano's or Zito's but signing Dunn or Tex to six year deals that take them through their 34th birthdays don't seem terribly risky to me.

 

I've never said the organization is infallible or that they can't do anything wrong; they aren't being terribly inefficient with their money though either.

 

Maybe infallible is too strong a word but people seemed to be dismissing my suggestion that we spend money efficiently in the future because we're currently in first place. That makes no sense to me. The idea that I somehow suggested the team is currently being highly inefficient with its money is baffling. I just suggested a few ways the the team could be more efficient with spending its money in the future. It seems indisputable to me that if I'm correct that you can get 80% of the production that Cabrera and Crede provide at something like 7% of the cost and spend the additional money elsewhere, you'll be spending money more efficiently than in the status quo. I don't think that's a huge knock on the organization even though I would've preferred to see us emphasize cheap, young talent a bit more in recent years as we did in incorporating players like Quentin and Alexei into the lineup.