White Sox Off-Season Catch All Thread

[3E8]

Lillibridge clearly leads the White Sox in sense of humor

 

https://twitter.com/#!/BSLillibridge/st...087719364268032

[Buehrle>Wood]

Everyone knows CQ shoots his State Farm commercials during the offseason.

[ScottyDo]

Everyone knows CQ shoots his State Farm commercials during the offseason.

Hahaha I wasn't the only one to think that, huh?

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Hahaha I wasn't the only one to think that, huh?

 

Nah, I always tell whoever is in the room with me that it's Carlos' cousin. They have no reason not to believe me.

[Quin]

Lillibridge clearly leads the White Sox in sense of humor

 

https://twitter.com/#!/BSLillibridge/st...087719364268032

 

Baahahhahahahahahahahahaha.

 

 

Everyone knows CQ shoots his State Farm commercials during the offseason.

 

Peavy does commercials for the federal post service.

[witesoxfan]

Both are in the same age range. Uehara's a pretty good dark horse option IMO. His numbers are very good, although when I look at that 58% FB%, something tells me there's something fishy going on.

 

I'm seeing 66.3% at FG, but I wouldn't worry about that too much. Fact is, Uehara is a junkball reliever, but there is nothing wrong with that (unless you throw 83 like Shingo and can't locate your offspeed pitch, because then you get rocked). I haven't researched it too heavily yet, but I imagine that fastball has movement and then he has 3 other pitches he can feature too which all do very different things.

 

I really wouldn't worry too much about fastball usage or that the velocity is low. I think he would be a fine addition to the Sox, especially if he could be had for around $4 mill or so.

[nitetrain8601]

Anyone know if the Sox plan on going to arbitration with Alexei or are possibly going to offer him a multi-year deal?

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Anyone know if the Sox plan on going to arbitration with Alexei or are possibly going to offer him a multi-year deal?

 

5 yrs/35M

Edited November 29, 2010 by JoeCoolMan24

[Balta1701]

Anyone know if the Sox plan on going to arbitration with Alexei or are possibly going to offer him a multi-year deal?

Well, the Sox don't have to go to arbitration with Alexei...if he opted out of the guaranteed part of his contract, the Sox got the rights to sign him for somethign like $3 million this year.

 

Next year and the year after are arbitration years, I believe.

[macsandz]

TIFWIW...

Tom Verducci was on MLB Network tonight and suggested the Sox want to add BOTH Konerko and Dunn this offseason. He claims it's possible for the team to do so and says they want them back-to-back in the order. Rosenthal disputed the idea only because he said Ozzie wouldn't want those guys on the basepaths.

 

Sure it's possible, but it's gonna take some serious payroll dumping and back loaded, player-friendly deals. Both PK and Dunn have lost some suitors recently so I suppose it could happen.

And I'm sure the last thing Kenny is concerned with is what "Ozzie wants" as it relates to the roster.

Edited November 30, 2010 by bucket-of-suck

[SoxPride56]

TIFWIW...

Tom Verducci was on MLB Network tonight and suggested the Sox want to add BOTH Konerko and Dunn this offseason. He claims it's possible for the team to do so and says they want them back-to-back in the order. Rosenthal disputed the idea only because he said Ozzie wouldn't want those guys on the basepaths.

 

Sure it's possible, but it's gonna take some serious payroll dumping and back loaded, player-friendly deals. Both PK and Dunn have lost some suitors recently so I suppose it could happen.

And I'm sure the last thing Kenny is concerned with is what "Ozzie wants" as it relates to the roster.

 

 

I don't know how they would do that money wise...maybe trade Jackson? Would anyone even want him? Would we even want to trade him? I don't mean to get into the entire Jackson/Hudson debate again, because I love Jackson, but how nice would it be to have an extra $8 million to play with?

 

 

Having a 3-4-5 or Rios, Dunn, Konerko or any way would want to juggle those 3 would be nice...really nice!

[macsandz]

I don't know how they would do that money wise...maybe trade Jackson? Would anyone even want him? Would we even want to trade him? I don't mean to get into the entire Jackson/Hudson debate again, because I love Jackson, but how nice would it be to have an extra $8 million to play with?

 

 

Having a 3-4-5 or Rios, Dunn, Konerko or any way would want to juggle those 3 would be nice...really nice!

 

Yeah Alexei, Rios, Dunn, Konerko, Quentin 2-6 could be some serious offense.

 

If they want/need to free up cash to sign both they have the means but yes it would require unloading something like Floyd/Teahen which is doable. They both have value. I would suspect if the market and other factors lead Konerko back to the Sox for his last couple years I wouldn't be suprised if he took less dough in order for Kenny to sign Dunn. Much like he did in 2006 for Thome.

[GreatScott82]

If we get both- the central is ours! Suddenly our offense becomes SCARY!

[SoxPride56]

If we get both- the central is ours! Suddenly our offense becomes SCARY!

 

 

True, but then who is our catcher, and who is in the bullpen? It's great to have that offense, but we need guys at the end of the game besides Thornton.

[Jordan4life_2007]

If we get both- the central is ours! Suddenly our offense becomes SCARY!

 

No offense with Juan Pierre leading off can be considered scary. And to get both we'd have to cut salary somewhere (trade Floyd). So we strengthen the offense while downgrading the pitching.

[GreatScott82]

No offense with Juan Pierre leading off can be considered scary. And to get both we'd have to cut salary somewhere (trade Floyd). So we strengthen the offense while downgrading the pitching.

Pierre did lead baseball in SB's last year. Obviously his OBP wasn't the sexiest- but the dude still has legs. And why would they 'have' to cut salary? They didn't come out and say what their budget is yet. Unless I missed it.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Pierre did lead baseball in SB's last year. Obviously his OBP wasn't the sexiest- but the dude still has legs. And why would they 'have' to cut salary? They didn't come out and say what their budget is yet. Unless I missed it.

 

Kalapse's payroll source is your friend. Tell me how in the hell we're going to be able to resign PK AND sign Dunn without cutting payroll with all the committed money and arb raises that are due without cutting salary somewhere else?

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Kalapse's payroll source is your friend. Tell me how in the hell we're going to be able to resign PK AND sign Dunn without cutting payroll with all the committed money and arb raises that are due without cutting salary somewhere else?

We should have the funds to do that but it would mean changes elsewhere. Like, Dunn + PK could mean Quentin is gone ($6M or so in arb?) and Viciedo ($2M IIRC) is used in a trade. Let's say we pick up a cheap RF or CF at the minimum plus we get a reliever at the minimum for Quentin + Viciedo, and say we get PK + Dunn at about $25M combined per season, then we've added about $18M to the payroll while addressing 1B (need area), DH and lefty bat (need area), OF defense (need area), and the bullpen (need area). That would probably cap the offseason minus a bad contract swap of FA bargain kind of thing.

[witesoxfan]

We should have the funds to do that but it would mean changes elsewhere. Like, Dunn + PK could mean Quentin is gone ($6M or so in arb?) and Viciedo ($2M IIRC) is used in a trade. Let's say we pick up a cheap RF or CF at the minimum plus we get a reliever at the minimum for Quentin + Viciedo, and say we get PK + Dunn at about $25M combined per season, then we've added about $18M to the payroll while addressing 1B (need area), DH and lefty bat (need area), OF defense (need area), and the bullpen (need area). That would probably cap the offseason minus a bad contract swap of FA bargain kind of thing.

 

I really don't think you can justify making room for offense by getting rid of offense. If the Sox are going to free up money to bring in both Dunn and Konerko, then the Sox will trade a starting pitcher. Viciedo or Quentin are both certainly possibilities to be traded, but you can't trade both.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

I really don't think you can justify making room for offense by getting rid of offense. If the Sox are going to free up money to bring in both Dunn and Konerko, then the Sox will trade a starting pitcher. Viciedo or Quentin are both certainly possibilities to be traded, but you can't trade both.

If you sign Dunn you can't play Q at DH, and Q in RF isn't working anymore. If you sign PK you can't play Viciedo at 1B, and you're not going to play him at 3B over Omar and Morel IMO. Assuming both are 3-year deals or longer, keeping Dayan doesn't make sense because you don't have a spot for him without attempting to convert him to an OF - something the Sox may be reluctant to do.

 

BTW CQ isn't guaranteed offense. You know that, right? Even when he's healthy and on fire he's still prone to major slumps that seem to go on and on and on. For a guy who sucks at defense, that really hurts. If the idea is to make a charge in 2011 and then either reload or re-sign in 2012 depending on the outcome - and I think that's probably the plan here - then you may very well want to have a bit more confidence in your key offensive cogs. Especially when they're also taking up about $6M or so in payroll.

 

And the last thing this team needs to do is trade pitching.

[witesoxfan]

If you sign Dunn you can't play Q at DH, and Q in RF isn't working anymore. If you sign PK you can't play Viciedo at 1B, and you're not going to play him at 3B over Omar and Morel IMO. Assuming both are 3-year deals or longer, keeping Dayan doesn't make sense because you don't have a spot for him without attempting to convert him to an OF - something the Sox may be reluctant to do.

 

BTW CQ isn't guaranteed offense. You know that, right? Even when he's healthy and on fire he's still prone to major slumps that seem to go on and on and on. For a guy who sucks at defense, that really hurts. If the idea is to make a charge in 2011 and then either reload or re-sign in 2012 depending on the outcome - and I think that's probably the plan here - then you may very well want to have a bit more confidence in your key offensive cogs. Especially when they're also taking up about $6M or so in payroll.

 

And the last thing this team needs to do is trade pitching.

 

Quentin had one of the worst years imaginable in RF last year, but they were never going to play him as the full-time DH to begin with considering that their belief that he is a bit of a nutjob when he has to sit down at all times. I would say that, odds are, Quentin will have a better, but still bad, year in RF next year and that he's going to come back just fine.

 

You are also ruling out the possibility of Viciedo playing in the OF by labeling him as a 1B/3B. If Miguel Cabrera can play the OF (in the early part of his career), then Viciedo surely can as well. I also tend to doubt that Konerko gets 3 years, but it's obviously a possibility.

 

I also disagree that Q isn't guaranteed offense. He will hit for power, and if he ever gets a bit of luck on balls in play, he's going to be just fine. His entire statistical year last year was aided by a 16 game stretch from mid to late June into the early part of July, heading into the All-Star Break. However, every year he's been with the White Sox, he's hit atleast 21 homers. He absolutely has flaws in his game...I recall that 3E8 showed at one point that Quentin generally hits balls early in the count, and when he gets late in the count, either likes to simply wait for the walk or he strikes out. If he is the #6 hitter, he's fine; if you are counting on him to hit 4th or 5th, then you're screwed. The Sox are not doing that.

 

Beyond that, the Sox have 5 starting pitchers locked up to multi-million dollar deals, a guy in Pena who has shown that he can atleast go a few innings at a time and perhaps has the potential to be a backend of the rotation guy, and Sale who was drafted as a starter (though he will almost certainly end up in relief this year). On top of all of that, the Sox can look into signing a rubber arm starting pitcher to act as the 5th man too, so it's not as if they only have 1-2 starting pitchers. They have pitching depth, and trading one starting pitcher will not be taking from a position of strength and then making it a weakness - the rotation will be just fine in the end.

[BigSqwert]

Rate Kenny Williams’ 10 years of trades

[Dick Allen]

Rate Kenny Williams’ 10 years of trades

That was interesting looking at them all. He has had more great ones than horrible trades, but the majority really didn't do too much for anyone.

[justBLAZE]

cst_sox cst_sox

Getting the feeling that it's going to be a long winter for Sox fans - think "The Kids Can Play II.''

 

[Chicago White Sox]

cst_sox cst_sox

Getting the feeling that it's going to be a long winter for Sox fans - think "The Kids Can Play II.''

This is what I was worried about. Merkin has already started the PR spin in the event this happens:

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...ws&c_id=cws

 

CHICAGO -- Near the end of the Giants' 2010 World Series victory over the Rangers, White Sox general manager Ken Williams was asked for an overview of his team's upcoming maneuvers as the Hot Stove prepared to burn brightly.

 

"I will expound on any thoughts, ideas, formulation of plan or plans at the General Managers' Meetings," said Williams, staying well below the radar, where the White Sox thrive on operating.

 

Those General Managers' Meetings have come and gone, with Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings set to begin on Dec. 6 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and it's not completely certain as to which direction the South Siders will be traveling for the 2011 season. Then again, there hasn't been a great deal of free-agent movement overall around the game.

 

Victor Martinez appears to be the most significant signing to date as far as the White Sox are concerned, as the catcher/first baseman/DH agreed to a four-year, $50 million deal with American League Central rival Detroit. Although it was reported that the White Sox presented Martinez with a $48 million deal, either at three or four years, a Major League source has confirmed to MLB.com that an official offer was never made.

 

There was interest in the talented switch-hitter on Chicago's part, but clearly not at this particular level. The bottom line is committed money, and decisions to be made over the next few days will influence how the White Sox operate.

 

Tuesday marks the deadline for first baseman Paul Konerko and right-handed reliever J.J. Putz to accept or decline the salary arbitration offered by the White Sox on Nov. 23. If either player accepts, he will be under team control for 2011 at an increase from last year's respective salaries. Konerko earned $12 million in 2010 in the finale of a five-year, $60-million deal, and Putz earned $3 million.

 

Both are expected to turn down arbitration in pursuit of multiyear deals. Their decline would mean that the White Sox would receive two Draft picks for Konerko and one for Putz. It wouldn't mean that the White Sox are done with an organization staple for the past 12 years, in Konerko, and a key cog to a talented bullpen, in Putz.

 

With just more than $80 million already earmarked for 13 players and with a 2011 payroll expected to only slightly exceed 2010's $104 million mark, the White Sox won't have much room to work when they make their way to Florida. At least one left-handed-hitting run producer and a veteran arm or two to solidify the bullpen remains on the agenda, with a replacement for Bobby Jenks also a possibility, although the White Sox have Matt Thornton as a capable in-house choice.

 

Adam Dunn and/or Hideki Matsui would make sense in terms of filling the needs on offense, and both are more than simply pure designated hitters. It seems unlikely that the White Sox could bring on Dunn and bring back Konerko without making trades to free up salary space, so one of the sluggers signing would appear to affect the other.

 

But let's examine a broad-sweeping, potential "What if?" scenario. What if Dunn signs with the Rangers and Konerko signs with the D-backs, as purely hypothetical examples? What if free-agent catcher A.J. Pierzynski, the team's backbone for the past six years who was not offered arbitration, takes his skills to another city?

 

What if the White Sox non-tender Jenks on Thursday if they are unable to work out a trade? And finally, what if the White Sox can't pull off a deal using their surplus of high-end starting pitching to fill another void in a cost-effective manner? Do those worst-case endeavors mean the White Sox will be dormant at the Winter Meetings and beyond?

 

Not necessarily, especially with Thursday's date to tender contracts to players under team control presenting a new crop of non-tender free agents. Then again, the White Sox could go young, an idea floated by Williams.

 

It isn't about going young through rebuilding, with the White Sox having little chance to contend in 2011 -- not with the starting rotation they possess. It's more about giving such dynamic young players as third baseman Brent Morel, catcher Tyler Flowers, left-handed starter Chris Sale, outfielder Jordan Danks and slugging infielder Dayan Viciedo an earlier chance to prove their worth.

 

That decision won't come without growing pains, according to Minor League director Buddy Bell, who has a strong working knowledge of the aforementioned players.

 

"In our situation it's about, 'How much patience do you have and can you have?' " said Bell of the White Sox going in a younger direction. "You go into a season expecting to get into the playoffs."

 

Bell certainly believes that these players have Major League capabilities, but it's more about this talent playing out over a full season. Look at Jordan Danks, who is probably Chicago's best defensive outfielder but still has room to develop offensively.

 

"Guys have shown the ability to have stretches of playing like big leaguers, but inconsistency always is going to be expected in that situation," Bell said. "Again, it's about how much patience we have. It's hard for me to look into a crystal ball and say honestly what's going to happen."

 

Williams could make the same claim as the front-office crew prepares for the Winter Meetings. One thing to always remember about Williams is to expect the unexpected, which covers a great deal of ground with the GM not saying much about his team's plans.

 

"I've learned to worry about everything but obsess over nothing," Williams said.