Will Sox be buyers, not sellers, at the trade deadline?

[southsider2k5]

89-92.

 

Without Sanchez/Fister and a reliable bullpen, DET is more vulnerable than ever before.

 

They're not going to get much offensively from Romine. Rajai Davis isn't going to play this well all season. Their offense isn't nearly as formidable as it was in past seasons, IMO.

 

The biggest questions ultimately are the continued health of Verlander/Scherzer/Cabrera. If one of those three guys goes down or becomes ineffective for a long stretch, then DET is beatable.

 

With all of them playing at or close to near their peak levels, forget it.

 

There are a mess of players on the Sox who are hitting WAY over where they will be at the end of the season.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Quinarvy can have my beer, greg

 

 

 

sometimes you can be both

 

Still not what he said, but the fact that it's even close enough to be implied is so disheartening to see. Damnit Greg, I was trying to stick up for the poor guy.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Chilihead90

[witesoxfan]

Still not what he said, but the fact that it's even close enough to be implied is so disheartening to see. Damnit Greg, I was trying to stick up the poor guy.

 

First he gets egg on his face when Quin finds a quote, and now you trying to take his money and rob him blind. Guy just can't catch a break.

[caulfield12]

There are a mess of players on the Sox who are hitting WAY over where they will be at the end of the season.

 

 

Just like it's impossible for our ERA to be last or next to last in the AL.

 

Flowers is already coming back down to earth. Ramirez and Viciedo will too.

 

Still Abreu, with his HR/RBI totals, would seem to have room to grow average-wise. Would you be SHOCKED if Dunn was around a 900 OPS in June/July? I wouldn't.

 

Eaton's playing about as expected. It's not like he's at an 850-900 OPS. He hasn't even really mastered the art of stealing bases and wreaking havoc on the basepaths.

 

Semien won't keep striking out like this. He's shown the ability to make adjustments at every level in his career as the season progresses. DeAza won't be this bad. Beckham can't get any worse, so nowhere to go but up.

Edited April 28, 2014 by caulfield12

[Dick Allen]

The better the White Sox are, the more times they beat their division foes, which makes for fewer wins needed to win the division.

[southsider2k5]

Just like it's impossible for our ERA to be last or next to last in the AL.

 

Flowers is already coming back down to earth. Ramirez and Viciedo will too.

 

Still Abreu, with his HR/RBI totals, would seem to have room to grow average-wise. Would you be SHOCKED if Dunn was around a 900 OPS in June/July? I wouldn't.

 

Eaton's playing about as expected. It's not like he's at an 850-900 OPS. He hasn't even really mastered the art of stealing bases and wreaking havoc on the basepaths.

 

Semien won't keep striking out like this. He's shown the ability to make adjustments at every level in his career as the season progresses. DeAza won't be this bad. Beckham can't get any worse, so nowhere to go but up.

 

I think by the time everything equalizes, the Sox are looking at a .500 team. That is what I saw in the off-season, and it still makes sense to me.

[VAfan]

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that the Sox will be trading quality prospects for short term rentals.

 

I am, however, thinking that if the Sox are in reasonable contention for a playoff spot, they will be looking to add pieces cheaply to give themselves a better shot at actually winning. That would mean, in turn, NOT trading Dunn or John Danks.

 

Everyone else they could trade isn't going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things, one way or the other, with the exception of Alexei Ramirez, who I don't think they'll trade whether or not we're in contention. Now that he seems to have re-discovered his power stroke, he's worth keeping. He may not continue playing like the second best SS in baseball (behind only Troy Tulowitski), but if you traded him, there would be a significant drop off at his position. You don't build a contender by weakening yourself at such a key position. And that's not even factoring in the Cuban connection, which could be very significant. Would Viciedo and Abreu have signed here if Ramirez had been dumped?

Edited April 28, 2014 by VAfan

[caulfield12]

As for the pitching: The bullpen has been predictably awful, since teams that know they’re going to be bad have no reason to invest in relievers, but the rotation has actually shown signs of life. Left-hander Dallas Keuchel, 26, has improved across the board in his third big league season, striking out a batter an inning and inducing more ground balls than any other starting pitcher. Collin McHugh, who’s also 26, has been even more intriguing. The Astros grabbed the former Mets 18th-round draft pick off waivers and called him up on April 21 to replace injured righty Scott Feldman, and McHugh has been unhittable in his first two starts. First, he obliterated the Mariners, striking out 12 and allowing no runs on three hits over 6⅔ innings while nabbing the first win of his big league career. Then, he showed he could go deep into games on Sunday against the A’s, firing 8⅔ innings of two-hit ball, surrendering a single run on three walks, and whiffing seven over 114 pitches.

 

While McHugh’s surprising success might be a case of exploiting a weak Mariners offense and catching the A’s on a bad day, it’s also indicative of what teams need to do when they’re all but mathematically eliminated by the start of spring training: throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks. The Astros are going to build around Springer, Jose Altuve, Jason Castro, and the next generation of young talent that’s currently percolating in the minors. If they can find even two or three other useful pieces on the major league roster to supplement that core, they can call this season a win. And hey, if they bank a third consecutive no. 1 overall draft pick, they’ll reap the rewards that terrible teams are supposed to reap, even if it’s ugly to watch … and even if no one is watching at all.

 

grantland.com

[Quin]

Quinarvy can have my beer, greg

 

 

 

sometimes you can be both

 

Finding damning quotes is my main skill.

 

(I'll never let me vs. Victory be forgotten)

[LDF]

I think by the time everything equalizes, the Sox are looking at a .500 team. That is what I saw in the off-season, and it still makes sense to me.

 

500 is not a bad thing, we will be in a good position to continue to build and maybe be active in the FA market next season.

 

 

lets also think about the state of flux our pitching is in. to org has been ranked dead last, then we moved up some and then even

higher last yr. so we were all jazzed about the players we have, but were any pitcher really ranked high beside Johnson? as I have

been a proponent of not falling into the spin doctoring of the sox machine, to paint a rosey pict.

[caulfield12]

500 is not a bad thing, we will be in a good position to continue to build and maybe be active in the FA market next season.

 

 

lets also think about the state of flux our pitching is in. to org has been ranked dead last, then we moved up some and then even

higher last yr. so we were all jazzed about the players we have, but were any pitcher really ranked high beside Johnson? as I have

been a proponent of not falling into the spin doctoring of the sox machine, to paint a rosey pict.

 

 

Nope, just Chris Beck, and there are a million concerns with his early-season pitching performance, "strikeoutability," not having a knockout pitch, etc.

 

Of course, we said the same thing about Jose Quintana as a rookie, and he's simply heard those criticisms and worked harder than ever to to overcome them.

[southsider2k5]

500 is not a bad thing, we will be in a good position to continue to build and maybe be active in the FA market next season.

 

 

lets also think about the state of flux our pitching is in. to org has been ranked dead last, then we moved up some and then even

higher last yr. so we were all jazzed about the players we have, but were any pitcher really ranked high beside Johnson? as I have

been a proponent of not falling into the spin doctoring of the sox machine, to paint a rosey pict.

 

After last year, .500 is great.

[Rowand44]

I got attacked on the boards for complaining about our wretched bullpen, saying otherwise the Sox could be contenders this year. So I would suspect everybody insists the team will be sellers, big-time sellers.

You got attacked because you said this was a 90-95 loss team and then 2 minutes later said they could win the division if they had Reed.

 

I'm one of the few that believe this team is a contender but you basically said that Reed is worth 20 or more wins and that's beyond ridiculous.

[brian310]

What are everyone's thoughts about Flowers? Hope for a big year and try to deal him at deadline if we are sellers or during off-season or try to count in him for the main core going forward?

[fathom]

After last year, .500 is great.

 

+100000

 

There's already been at least 3 victories this year that are more memorable than anything from last year.

[Jake]

I'd say we'll be thinking very big or very small. No "Carl Everett" sized moves.

 

It would not blow my mind if Adam Dunn could bring in a nice haul, though, which would qualify as a decent-sized move. If we are really in contention though, it would be hard to justify dealing him and it very likely could be the reason we would lose the division if that were the case. Then again, maybe Andy Wilkins or somebody will catch fire and we'll want to use them as a DH

[southsider2k5]

What are everyone's thoughts about Flowers? Hope for a big year and try to deal him at deadline if we are sellers or during off-season or try to count in him for the main core going forward?

 

If he plays defense like he has so far this year, even as an average bat, he is a starting MLB catcher. If he can keep up some of the new found hitting, he shouldn't go anywhere.

[ScottyDo]

Two things:

 

The only chips of value to other teams that we really have to "buy" with are pretty much vets like Alexei (and a couple of minor league pieces that I think are too promising to ship without leaving the cupboards bare again).

 

and

 

Two starters and several bullpen pieces add up to way too much for the Sox to acquire in one midseason flurry of trades. We can't make a World Series contender this year unless something miraculous happens with some players already on the roster.

[oldsox]

Even if the Sox are in contention come July, they will probably not be "buyers" per say. They would most likely stay pat and are not going to be willing to trade anything of significant value during a rebuild. Now if somebody becomes available that they can get for minor league scrubs, they may be willing to explore that.

per se.

 

Not trying to be critical.....

[Big Hurtin]

I don't see them being buyers. They are setting up for a run by looking at the youth. They really turned the roster around, especially with Dunn and Konerko coming off the books. What will their average age be going into next year? Now if they hit on most of their young players, they can look at sustained success.

 

They could maybe get lightning in a bottle, but if they miss it won't be just this season lost, but several more (by trading near MLB ready players).

[Marty34]

As I said this winter, this is an older core by rebuilding standards and they have to hit the ground running. Thankfully, they've done that. Too bad the Sox didn't address the pitching situation in a serious manner.

[Balta1701]

As I said this winter, this is an older core by rebuilding standards and they have to hit the ground running. Thankfully, they've done that. Too bad the Sox didn't address the pitching situation in a serious manner.

How on Earth could anyone write that as though it's true?

 

Sale 25

Abreu 27

Gillaspie 26

Garcia 22

Viciedo 25

Eaton 25

Quintana 25

Davidson 23

Flowers 28

Phegley 26

Nieto 24

Semien 23

Webb 24

Petricka 25

Jones 28

 

The White Sox literally have 1 guy who will be over the age of 30 in 2 years and still under contract: John Danks. In 2 years Jones will be 30 and so will Flowers. If they're all held onto (not likely) that's 3 guys who might actually be on the back side of their careers 2 years from now.

[GGajewski18]

If the Sox are primed for contention late in July, I believe the Sox should just stand pat unless its trading Dunn for a great offer and getting rid of bullpen pieces like Downs, Lindstrom that we can just plug in guys to fill them.

 

And then go off the success of this year (if at the end they are) then go after Shields in free agency and have a 1-4 of Sale, Shields, Quintana and Danks.

[caulfield12]

As I said this winter, this is an older core by rebuilding standards and they have to hit the ground running. Thankfully, they've done that. Too bad the Sox didn't address the pitching situation in a serious manner.

 

 

Yeah, because Conor, Semien, Micah Johnson, Tyler, Abreu, Vicedo, Davidson, Eaton, A.Garcia, Sale and Quintana are all so old.

 

C'mon.

 

The only veteran we MIGHT think about holding onto is Alexei. DeAza and Beckham are "old" compared to the youthful feel of the current roster now. John Danks feels like he has been around forever and he's not close to old, either.

 

 

 

They couldn't get Santana for more than one year. Josh Johnson would be on the shelf. Jimenez sucks. Does Matt Garza put us over the top?

 

Obviously, it would be nice to have gotten Tanaka, but $175 million for 7 years isn't automatically a good contract despite how well he has pitched out of the gate.

Edited April 28, 2014 by caulfield12

[Marty34]

How on Earth could anyone write that as though it's true?

 

Sale 25

Abreu 27

Gillaspie 26

Garcia 22

Viciedo 25

Eaton 25

Quintana 25

Davidson 23

Flowers 28

Phegley 26

Nieto 24

Semien 23

Webb 24

Petricka 25

Jones 28

 

The White Sox literally have 1 guy who will be over the age of 30 in 2 years and still under contract: John Danks. In 2 years Jones will be 30 and so will Flowers. If they're all held onto (not likely) that's 3 guys who might actually be on the back side of their careers 2 years from now.

 

That's an older core for a rebuild. Putting it another way, they are further along their development cycle than typical rebuilds.