Sox breakout player for 2014?

[hogan873]

Gillaspie has what 5 years control remaining?

 

Lefty bat, can play the corner IF, hit 13 HR in his first full season with a .245 BA and an OBP 60 points higher which shows he can take some walks. He's more valuable to the Sox future than Dunn is by a mile. If you fail to understand that then I don't know what else to say. Gillaspie at 26 has a shot at becoming much better while Dunn at 34 is only going to decline. Anyone who would just dump Gillaspie doesn't get it. He has future value, Dunn does not.

Shockingly enough, I agree with MOST of this post. I think I am one of the few posters who thinks Gillaspie isn't that bad. In my opinion, he's a much better option for the bench than Keppinger. But, as far as Dunn goes, he's here to stay at least for the first half of the season. Agreed he doesn't have future value, but there's just no way to get rid of him right now without eating every penny of his contract. So, since he's already on the White Sox roster, put him out there and let him play his last season with the Sox. I'll take the 30+ HRs he'll hit, albeit while grumbling about strikeouts.

 

 

[SI1020]

But apparently not Gordon Beckham...fringe defense at 2B at best? Non-tender? Ouch Keith.

You'll never find less consensus than in rating baseball players defensively. Yes Gordon Beckham has not lived up to expectations but no he is not a fringe defender. I'm not saying he is a Bobby Grich or a Roberto Alomar, but he is not fringe either.

 

[witesoxfan]

Adam Dunn, 2016

 

Voting for him silly, don't ever resign him. There's no way he'd ever resign with the White Sox anyways.

[southsider2k5]

I assume the Sox would take out policies on every sizable contract. That Dunn contract was one of the largest in Sox history at the time.

 

I mean come on, it's JR, the contract is covered.

 

And again the injury point is more to illustrate his trade value and proper expectations. DeAza shouldn't lose playing time because of him, neither should Viciedo, neither should any potentially useful bench player or spot starter such as Gillaspie who probably stands to loose the most, nor should the Sox lose versatility on the bench. They have a 4-man bench most likely which includes Paulie who can stand there at 1B a couple days per week.

 

At least without Dunn the Sox could have Gillaspie, Keppinger and take one of Danks/MIF. DeAza in LF could slide to CF when Eaton needs a day off & someone could cover LF, and when Avi needs the day off maybe Gillaspie or Viciedo are out there. Ideally the Sox would have both a MIF and Danks as a CF backup but that's probably not happening.

 

Edit: I actually forgot about the extra catcher. Jeez the bench is in a bad spot. Sox need to dump Dunn and make at least one trade on top of it.

 

From what I remember, those policies are really freaking expensive too.

 

[lasttriptotulsa]

Shockingly enough, I agree with MOST of this post. I think I am one of the few posters who thinks Gillaspie isn't that bad. In my opinion, he's a much better option for the bench than Keppinger. But, as far as Dunn goes, he's here to stay at least for the first half of the season. Agreed he doesn't have future value, but there's just no way to get rid of him right now without eating every penny of his contract. So, since he's already on the White Sox roster, put him out there and let him play his last season with the Sox. I'll take the 30+ HRs he'll hit, albeit while grumbling about strikeouts.

 

I'm actually somewhat of a fan of Gillaspie too, but he just has no room on this team. He's not versatile enough to be our only backup IF and I'd hate to see him take away at bats from Davidson if he were to start.

[southsider2k5]

Haha. You have a future as a political campaign advisor.

 

Yeah I mean I think the best solution would have been to insist on only carrying one DH. The easiest way to do that was to not sign sign Konerko. But they did.

 

Signing Konerko was not the end of the world, but then they pretty much HAD to move someone else, ideally Keppinger, to make room for a reasonable bench. But they didn't.

 

Instead, they made the logjam worse by adding Eaton. Fine! Great move, assuming now you have to move De Aza. But they didn't.

 

So I don't disagree at all with your assessment of the problems. I would have done things a bit differently, I think. But given what we have now, my solution is move De Aza because he has some small amount of surplus value at his price and should, theoretically, bring some return of significance, even if it's small.

 

Dunn bring NOTHING back at this point, but might bring something back in the summer. The cost is sunk. I would NOT be advocating signing Dunn to a one year deal, but that's not the situation. He's already signed. That's what wite was trying to explain -- Ervin/Dunn are not comparable because we've already paid for one and would still have to buy the other. The argument to use what we've bought in Dunn is not the same as supporting 34 year old FA in general.

 

You could make an argument that Dunn blocks Viciedo, but I don't think that's the case. Actually, Konerko blocks Viciedo, because it makes NO sense to have either of them only hit righties. So the real problem is that Dunn blocks De Aza or De Aza blocks Dunn. Given that Dunn can only be released at a loss but De Aza can be released at some return, and that we won;t win jack s*** either way, the best answer is to move De Aza and keep Dunn to move at the deadline.

 

EDIT: Can I still have the coffee?

 

COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS!

 

[witesoxfan]

I'm actually somewhat of a fan of Gillaspie too, but he just has no room on this team. He's not versatile enough to be our only backup IF and I'd hate to see him take away at bats from Davidson if he were to start.

 

I quite literally could not agree more with this.

[southsider2k5]

I'm actually somewhat of a fan of Gillaspie too, but he just has no room on this team. He's not versatile enough to be our only backup IF and I'd hate to see him take away at bats from Davidson if he were to start.

 

Conor is what he is... a high floor, low ceiling guy. He is a guy that can be had all over baseball.

 

[The Ultimate Champion]

Of course you can have the coffee, EMinor. Same goes for Iowa Sox fan. And Marty.

 

The rest of you? NO COFFEE FOR YOU!!!

 

We're making some progress here. Slow and steady. By the end of this thread wite is going to have "SANTANA" tattooed across his back in old english script just like gangbangers & wannabe fighters do.

 

I also agree that if we can get something pretty good for DeAza now we should consider it, however he may stand to gain a lot more value in a full season of AB while playing LF. He is literally coming off a terrible defensive campaign during which he still stole IIRC 20 bases and hit for some power. He may actually be one of the "breakout" candidates which this thread exists to predict (which it was doing well at until other people decided to hijack it, forcing me to come to the defense) in that DeAza could IMO realistically hit .280 with 15 HR and 20 SB while playing a halfway decent LF and drawing some walks too. That kind of player would have a whole lot more value around the deadline than now, and also, that type of player would be much more in demand than even a halfway decent Dunn (unlikely as it may be) given that no matter how you slice it, Dunn isn't really a "position" player.

[witesoxfan]

Progress? We can't have such things.

 

Ervin Santana is the worst pitcher on the planet. And I didn't want coffee anyways. I'd rather have a beer.

[southsider2k5]

Progress? We can't have such things.

 

Ervin Santana is the worst pitcher on the planet. And I didn't want coffee anyways. I'd rather have a beer.

 

You receive one of these

 

[SCCWS]

Eaton was pulled from 2 games last year. He made 1 pinch hit appearance.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...b&year=2013

 

He was used as a pinch hitter, pinch runner, and (I'm assuming here) a fielding replacement late in games as well.

 

 

 

Eaton played 30 games in CF. He started 28 and came in late in 2. Of the 28 he started, he finished 21. In RF he played 4 games, started 3 and finished 1. Maybe I am reading it wrong????

 

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...d02-field.shtml

 

[Eminor3rd]

COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS!

 

I just exclaimed that at our VP of Ticket Sales yesterday, haha. What a great scene followed by an extremely, extremely depressing movie.

[Eminor3rd]

Progress? We can't have such things.

 

Ervin Santana is the worst pitcher on the planet. And I didn't want coffee anyways. I'd rather have a beer.

 

God I love beer. Let's compromise at Founder's Breakfast Stout.

[witesoxfan]

Eaton played 30 games in CF. He started 28 and came in late in 2. Of the 28 he started, he finished 21. In RF he played 4 games, started 3 and finished 1. Maybe I am reading it wrong????

 

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...d02-field.shtml

 

Some of it was moving LF to CF, some RF to CF, and some PH to CF. Not all of that is a bad thing. They do have two of the best defensive outfielders in the game in Gerardo Parra and AJ Pollock and, having not watched a lot of the Diamondbacks, I'm not entirely certain of what Gibson was doing.

 

The fans scouting report says he could use work, but that he has good speed out there. That's an important tool for defense.

 

 

[witesoxfan]

God I love beer. Let's compromise at Founder's Breakfast Stout.

 

I can work with that. I also have no problem if we each grab a 24 of Miller Lite and just drink all day. You know what they say - you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

[lasttriptotulsa]

Eaton played 30 games in CF. He started 28 and came in late in 2. Of the 28 he started, he finished 21. In RF he played 4 games, started 3 and finished 1. Maybe I am reading it wrong????

 

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...d02-field.shtml

 

That page makes it look kind of goofy. Some of those games he started in CF, he then moved to LF so he does not get the CG stat for CF that you are looking at. If you scroll through his game log it will make a little more sense.

[lasttriptotulsa]

I can work with that. I also have no problem if we each grab a 24 of Miller Lite and just drink all day. You know what they say - you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning.

 

Miller Lite? You have now officially joined my list of Hall of Shame Soxtalk posters along with Marty, TUC and Jose Abreu.

[southsider2k5]

Miller Lite? You have now officially joined my list of Hall of Shame Soxtalk posters along with Marty, TUC and Jose Abreu.

 

Seconded.

[witesoxfan]

I'll drink [almost] anything if it gets me drunk. I'll even drink Samuel Jackson beer.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Miller Lite? You have now officially joined my list of Hall of Shame Soxtalk posters along with Marty, TUC and Jose Abreu.

Ah, it's the common Beer Snob, Homo Confusialis. I could s*** in a bucket and hit it with a blender, throw some hops in that, and as long as I charge $4 a bottle and put a label on it to make you feel nice and German you'd sip it with your pinky finger up and mutter at all satisfactorily at your s***ty little sweater-wearing poodle "Ahhh good show old chap" etc. etc. etc.

 

High Life & High Life Light, Miller Lite too, are all good, honest beers at tasty prices. Go drink your s***ty turd beer & me a& wite will be outside in the bushes at 3 in the morning pelting your house with eggs & s***-filled paper bags. Good honest behavior at a tasty price.

[The Ultimate Champion]

I'll drink [almost] anything if it gets me drunk. I'll even drink Samuel Jackson beer.

Sam Adams is a quality craftsman.

[hi8is]

Ah, it's the common Beer Snob, Homo Confusialis. I could s*** in a bucket and hit it with a blender, throw some hops in that, and as long as I charge $4 a bottle and put a label on it to make you feel nice and German you'd sip it with your pinky finger up and mutter at all satisfactorily at your s***ty little sweater-wearing poodle "Ahhh good show old chap" etc. etc. etc.

 

High Life & High Life Light, Miller Lite too, are all good, honest beers at tasty prices. Go drink your s***ty turd beer & me a& wite will be outside in the bushes at 3 in the morning pelting your house with eggs & s***-filled paper bags. Good honest behavior at a tasty price.

Seriously?

 

Miller, Budweiser, Busch, pretty much all common American lagers are piss water. If you want to get drunk at a low cost with no real care for taste... Steel Reserve.

 

Signed,

A retired hall of fame alcoholic

[lasttriptotulsa]

Sam Adams is a quality craftsman.

 

I'm guessing that wite's joke went sailing right over your head.

[witesoxfan]

Ah, it's the common Beer Snob, Homo Confusialis. I could s*** in a bucket and hit it with a blender, throw some hops in that, and as long as I charge $4 a bottle and put a label on it to make you feel nice and German you'd sip it with your pinky finger up and mutter at all satisfactorily at your s***ty little sweater-wearing poodle "Ahhh good show old chap" etc. etc. etc.

 

High Life & High Life Light, Miller Lite too, are all good, honest beers at tasty prices. Go drink your s***ty turd beer & me a& wite will be outside in the bushes at 3 in the morning pelting your house with eggs & s***-filled paper bags. Good honest behavior at a tasty price.

 

I still keep some wits about me, so don't think you are getting me drunk to get an Ervin Santana tattoo.