Top 50 Free Agents

[hogan873]

Mods, feel free to merge this thread with another, but I couldn't decide where to put it.

 

Anyway, the MLBTR writers predicted where the top 50 free agents will go. Not surprisingly the Yankees and Angels are mentioned numerous times for the top few. The Sox are mentioned only twice. Three of the five writers predict Konerko and Damon. I suppose I'd be okay with that, but it doesn't plug every hole. I'd love to see KW make a splash and grab Crawford or Dunn or one of top 5.

[chetkincaid]

Mods, feel free to merge this thread with another, but I couldn't decide where to put it.

 

Anyway, the MLBTR writers predicted where the top 50 free agents will go. Not surprisingly the Yankees and Angels are mentioned numerous times for the top few. The Sox are mentioned only twice. Three of the five writers predict Konerko and Damon. I suppose I'd be okay with that, but it doesn't plug every hole. I'd love to see KW make a splash and grab Crawford or Dunn or one of top 5.

 

I read that too and the Sox aren't getting any love. I'm not even going to get my hopes up for a big splash like Crawford, Werth, Dunn, etc. because I'll just be pissed when I see them sign with other teams.

 

The Derrek Lee thing from another thread really has me intrigued though. I wouldn't mind picking him up IF Paulie decides to leave. He might be in line for an incredible bounce back season.

 

My main concern though is right field. I really like Carlos Quentin, but I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever be anything close to the 2008 TCQ again.

[GoSox05]

Free agent list is kinda weak this year. I like Werth, but he is a Boras client. V-Mart is a solid hitter, but he should be playing 1B at this point.

 

 

[The Gooch]

Free agent list is kinda weak this year. I like Werth, but he is a Boras client. V-Mart is a solid hitter, but he should be playing 1B at this point.

 

Are there other teams that won't deal with Boras, or is it only us?

[DukeNukeEm]

Are there other teams that won't deal with Boras, or is it only us?

 

I'm nearly positive there are many teams who cant.

[bschmaranz]

They all have AJ going to the Marlins. Have I just not been following this stuff? I haven't heard him attached to Florida.

[Disco72]

Are there other teams that won't deal with Boras, or is it only us?

 

It isn't just the Sox. For example, Ken Rosenthal recently talked about the Angels not working Boras.

[3E8]

They all have AJ going to the Marlins. Have I just not been following this stuff? I haven't heard him attached to Florida.

Florida is one location AJ mentioned in interview he would consider going to. Coupled with the fact he lives in Orlando, it makes sense.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Don't forget that 1 person predicted Olivo would come back to us!

[justBLAZE]

Heyman did a similar thing on SI.com with top 15 FA's.

 

He has Paulie staying.

 

8. Paul Konerko: White Sox. He's a favorite of all of the White Sox hierarchy and took less to stay there last time. The smart money says he does it again. They are also considering the possibility of adding some more pop to the lineup. In a radio interview, Sox outfielder Mark Kotsay said the team is trying to acquire a left-handed hitter such as Adam Dunn or Aubrey Huff or possibly trading to trade for Prince Fielder.

 

Here is his take on the rest.

Edited November 10, 2010 by justBLAZE

[Balta1701]

Heyman did a similar thing on SI.com with top 15 FA's.

 

He has Paulie staying.

 

 

 

Here is his take on the rest.

You know, if he hit anything like last year...Aubrey Huff could fill that Kotsay-like roll and also have the benefit of not being a complete joke. (although, his 2009 campaign was notably Kotsay-like).

[justBLAZE]

You know, if he hit anything like last year...Aubrey Huff could fill that Kotsay-like roll and also have the benefit of not being a complete joke. (although, his 2009 campaign was notably Kotsay-like).

 

I'm glad we're hearing from more than once source now that Kenny is trying to bring Paulie and names like Dunn, Fielder are being mentioned.

 

Pretty positive we're not gonna have to relay on Dayan Viciedo to carry this team in 2011 and this will be strong/agressive offseason for KW.

[gatnom]

Mods, feel free to merge this thread with another, but I couldn't decide where to put it.

 

Anyway, the MLBTR writers predicted where the top 50 free agents will go. Not surprisingly the Yankees and Angels are mentioned numerous times for the top few. The Sox are mentioned only twice. Three of the five writers predict Konerko and Damon. I suppose I'd be okay with that, but it doesn't plug every hole. I'd love to see KW make a splash and grab Crawford or Dunn or one of top 5.

 

For everybody who wants to go out and sign some high priced free agents, I'd like you to do this:

 

If you look at the Soxtalk banner at the top, underneath it you will see a few links to SoxNet, FutureSox, etc. I'd like you to click on "Kalapse's Sox Payroll Resource." Then, navigate to the first post and click on the image to increase its size (you may have to do this twice). If you scroll down to the middle of the screen, you will see a line that says "Actual Payroll". The first number in red was our opening day payroll with the money we got from other clubs included. Now, I want you to look at the number directly to the right. That's the money we already have committed to next year's payroll minus Edwin Jackson, John Danks, Bobby Jenks, Carlos Quentin, Tony Pena, Matt Thornton, Omar Vizquel, and Ramon Castro. So in order to get a more accurate place of where we are at next year, add $8.35M for Jackson, $7M for Danks, 0 for Jenks, $5M for Quentin, $1.5M for Pena, 2.75M for Thornton, $1.75M for Vizquel, and $1M for Castro. Adding the numbers together gave me $91.95M. If you compare that number to last years opening day number, we have roughly $8M to spend. Going by the numbers people have been throwing out for Konerko, we can't even afford him, let alone a highly sought after player.

 

Since the salary figures for Danks, Quentin, and Pena were estimates, they are obviously not exact, so if you want to say that I'm overestimating a bit, even if I was off by $5M (which is a lot) what more can you do to sign high priced free agents with $13M that you couldn't do with $8M? You could even take it a step further and say that we took on money during the season, so we have more to spend than what we spent on the opening day roster last year. We ended the season with a payroll of $103M, so that's only $3M more than opening day. It also appears to be the organization's M.O. to leave some flexibility in their payroll to make acquisitions at the trade deadline, so it's unlikely that we would have that money to spend in the off season anyways. Is $16M a year enough to get Crawford (and this is probably less than we have to spend)? Let's not forget that we have some other pretty big holes to fill on our roster, as well.

 

[Jordan4life_2007]

For everybody who wants to go out and sign some high priced free agents, I'd like you to do this:

 

If you look at the Soxtalk banner at the top, underneath it you will see a few links to SoxNet, FutureSox, etc. I'd like you to click on "Kalapse's Sox Payroll Resource." Then, navigate to the first post and click on the image to increase its size (you may have to do this twice). If you scroll down to the middle of the screen, you will see a line that says "Actual Payroll". The first number in red was our opening day payroll with the money we got from other clubs included. Now, I want you to look at the number directly to the right. That's the money we already have committed to next year's payroll minus Edwin Jackson, John Danks, Bobby Jenks, Carlos Quentin, Tony Pena, Matt Thornton, Omar Vizquel, and Ramon Castro. So in order to get a more accurate place of where we are at next year, add $8.35M for Jackson, $7M for Danks, 0 for Jenks, $5M for Quentin, $1.5M for Pena, 2.75M for Thornton, $1.75M for Vizquel, and $1M for Castro. Adding the numbers together gave me $91.95M. If you compare that number to last years opening day number, we have roughly $8M to spend. Going by the numbers people have been throwing out for Konerko, we can't even afford him, let alone a highly sought after player.

 

Since the salary figures for Danks, Quentin, and Pena were estimates, they are obviously not exact, so if you want to say that I'm overestimating a bit, even if I was off by $5M (which is a lot) what more can you do to sign high priced free agents with $13M that you couldn't do with $8M? You could even take it a step further and say that we took on money during the season, so we have more to spend than what we spent on the opening day roster last year. We ended the season with a payroll of $103M, so that's only $3M more than opening day. It also appears to be the organization's M.O. to leave some flexibility in their payroll to make acquisitions at the trade deadline, so it's unlikely that we would have that money to spend in the off season anyways. Is $16M a year enough to get Crawford (and this is probably less than we have to spend)? Let's not forget that we have some other pretty big holes to fill on our roster, as well.

 

Outstanding post! And this is the main reason, not the only reason, that the Jackson/Hudson swap was so pathetic. And why years of neglecting the farm are now coming back to haunt us. Wayyyy too many holes for a team with a 100+ million dollar payroll and little-to-no wiggle room to add to it. KW and CO. better get pretty damn creative this offseason.

[ScottyDo]

Back up...MLBTR has WRITERS??

[GreatScott82]

Outstanding post! And this is the main reason, not the only reason, that the Jackson/Hudson swap was so pathetic. And why years of neglecting the farm are now coming back to haunt us. Wayyyy too many holes for a team with a 100+ million dollar payroll and little-to-no wiggle room to add to it. KW and CO. better get pretty damn creative this offseason.

I expect KW to be super creative this offseason. . what he plans on doing? who knows. . I expect a lot of trades this winter. At the same time- we missed the playoffs the last few years, im willing to head in a new creative direction.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

For everybody who wants to go out and sign some high priced free agents, I'd like you to do this:

 

If you look at the Soxtalk banner at the top, underneath it you will see a few links to SoxNet, FutureSox, etc. I'd like you to click on "Kalapse's Sox Payroll Resource." Then, navigate to the first post and click on the image to increase its size (you may have to do this twice). If you scroll down to the middle of the screen, you will see a line that says "Actual Payroll". The first number in red was our opening day payroll with the money we got from other clubs included. Now, I want you to look at the number directly to the right. That's the money we already have committed to next year's payroll minus Edwin Jackson, John Danks, Bobby Jenks, Carlos Quentin, Tony Pena, Matt Thornton, Omar Vizquel, and Ramon Castro. So in order to get a more accurate place of where we are at next year, add $8.35M for Jackson, $7M for Danks, 0 for Jenks, $5M for Quentin, $1.5M for Pena, 2.75M for Thornton, $1.75M for Vizquel, and $1M for Castro. Adding the numbers together gave me $91.95M. If you compare that number to last years opening day number, we have roughly $8M to spend. Going by the numbers people have been throwing out for Konerko, we can't even afford him, let alone a highly sought after player.

 

Since the salary figures for Danks, Quentin, and Pena were estimates, they are obviously not exact, so if you want to say that I'm overestimating a bit, even if I was off by $5M (which is a lot) what more can you do to sign high priced free agents with $13M that you couldn't do with $8M? You could even take it a step further and say that we took on money during the season, so we have more to spend than what we spent on the opening day roster last year. We ended the season with a payroll of $103M, so that's only $3M more than opening day. It also appears to be the organization's M.O. to leave some flexibility in their payroll to make acquisitions at the trade deadline, so it's unlikely that we would have that money to spend in the off season anyways. Is $16M a year enough to get Crawford (and this is probably less than we have to spend)? Let's not forget that we have some other pretty big holes to fill on our roster, as well.

 

This post is sobering, but it also doesn't mention how creative Kenny can be with trades and such. I mean, who is to say that Quentin and Buehrle don't get tossed somewhere. That's $19M right there that is freed up. Or what is Danks gets shipped somewhere, there is $7M. Not saying any of these are likely (although I still put my money on Danks leaving), but your scenario is assuming we don't trade anyone away.