Sox acquire Jeff Samardzija and Michael Ynoa

[Springfield Soxfan]

I love Rich Hahn, what a night!! This is just awesome!

[Balta1701]

Wait. You think that's what Hahn did last offseason?

Are you kidding? We signed an extra DH and committed to carrying Leury Garcia on the roster before the winter meetings.

 

I canceled my Extra Innings subscription that day because it was clear the Sox didn't care about winning one iota last year.

[Balta1701]

That post is so full of fail

If they do disappoint, will you join me in calling for Robin Ventura's job?

[caulfield12]

Eh, still don't like it and fully expect the team to disappoint, but I'm a lot less annoyed with actually trying to win than throwing in the towel like we did last offseason.

 

 

There wasn't much of a choice.

 

And they didn't throw in the towel, they brought in a Top 5 MVP caliber hitter. Except we didn't know it at the time...and certainly without enough confidence to roll the dice by throwing money all over the place.

 

As has been mentioned many times, nobody expected Nate Jones to be hurt or the bullpen to be such a disaster or Reed wouldn't have been traded....but that's all hindsight.

 

We knew that we needed to give Flowers, Beckham, Viciedo and DeAza (to a lesser extent) one more season.

 

All the answers aren't there...about Flowers, Conor, Garcia (thanks to the injury) and 2B (Sanchez/M.Johnson), but, at the very least, Hahn has managed to pull this team to respectability within the span of two seasons. Eaton, when healthy, proved he could be a significant force offensively and defensively, and he accomplished that without stealing many bases.

 

That's a heckuva lot more than the Cubs have been able to accomplish in 4-5 years.

 

Let's keep in mind that our core group of prospects in Anderson, Montas, Danish, Hawkins and Micah Johnson still hasn't been touched.

 

We have a set of two distinct gambles going on here, one is winning within the next two years with LaRoche, Duke, Robertson, Alexei Ramirez and Samardzija....and then the next wave will arrive and make an impact beginning with Rodon and extending beyond those five prospects already named.

 

It's still a 79-83 win team as currently constructed, but it's arguably one more starter and LF away from being at that magical 86-88 win total that ANYTHING can happen, as proven by the Royals and Giants as recently as last season.

Edited December 9, 2014 by caulfield12

[3GamesToLove]

Are you kidding? We signed an extra DH and committed to carrying Leury Garcia on the roster before the winter meetings.

 

I canceled my Extra Innings subscription that day because it was clear the Sox didn't care about winning one iota last year.

 

Signing Abreu and trading for Eaton had me pretty excited. If you consider deadline stuff in 2013, the Garcia acquisition. Sale being Sale. I was pretty excited--I wasn't expecting them to contend but I think most of us enjoyed 2014 a decent amount, and it was a pretty good offseason.

[NorthSideSox72]

Here's a nice group of posts to look at about Semien and Bassitt, for some background if you don't have it, from FutureSox...

 

Our Bassitt Profile w/ links to videos, etc.

 

This is an article Chris Bassitt actually wrote for FutureSox last offseason, so you can get a 1st person view

 

Interview with Bassitt, 2013

 

Interview with Semien, 2013

 

Our older profile of Semien, not updated since a year ago but good background

 

[caulfield12]

If they do disappoint, will you join me in calling for Robin Ventura's job?

 

 

Yes, unless there are significant injuries to the likes of Abreu, Sale, Eaton and Quintana...or Robertson going down, probably LaRoche, Ramirez and Samardzija as well.

 

If the team has decent health and isn't competitive, Ventura's neck will clearly be on the line.

 

Most likely, he would fall on his own sword instead of waiting to be fired.

[Balta1701]

There wasn't much of a choice.

 

And they didn't throw in the towel, they brought in a Top 5 MVP caliber hitter. Except we didn't know it at the time...and certainly without enough confidence to roll the dice by throwing money all over the place.

 

As has been mentioned many times, nobody expected Nate Jones to be hurt or the bullpen to be such a disaster or Reed wouldn't have been traded....but that's all hindsight.

 

We knew that we needed to give Flowers, Beckham, Viciedo and DeAza (to a lesser extent) one more season.

 

All the answers aren't there...about Flowers, Conor, Garcia (thanks to the injury) and 2B (Sanchez/M.Johnson), but, at the very least, Hahn has managed to pull this team to respectability within the span of two seasons. Eaton, when healthy, proved he could be a significant force offensively and defensively, and he accomplished that without stealing many bases.

 

That's a heckuva lot more than the Cubs have been able to accomplish in 4-5 years.

 

Let's keep in mind that our core group of prospects in Anderson, Montas, Danish, Hawkins and Micah Johnson still hasn't been touched.

 

We have a set of two distinct gambles going on here, one is winning within the next two years with LaRoche, Duke, Robertson, Alexei Ramirez and Samardzija....and then the next wave will arrive and make an impact beginning with Rodon and extending beyond those five prospects already named.

 

It's still a 79-83 win team as currently constructed, but it's arguably one more starter and LF away from being at that magical 86-88 win total that ANYTHING can happen, as proven by the Royals and Giants as recently as last season.

Basically I think you made my point for me.

 

This is a sub .500 team still as it is barring lots of improvement, and just to bring it up to mid 80s and contention they still are probably a starter and a corner OF short.

 

And it testifies to how little they cared about actually building a solid roster last year that they brought in a top 5 hitter in the league and still were a very weak club. no we didn't expect Jones to get hurt, but we didn't expect improvement from Gillaspie or Flowers, we didn't expect guys like Putnam to be surprisingly non terrible, etc.

[Balta1701]

Yes, unless there are significant injuries to the likes of Abreu, Sale, Eaton and Quintana...or Robertson going down, probably LaRoche, Ramirez and Samardzija as well.

 

If the team has decent health and isn't competitive, Ventura's neck will clearly be on the line.

 

Most likely, he would fall on his own sword instead of waiting to be fired.

I'm ok with that, as I'd be ok with him getting another extension if this time he earns it and this team winds up in the playoffs.

[caulfield12]

Signing Abreu and trading for Eaton had me pretty excited. If you consider deadline stuff in 2013, the Garcia acquisition. Sale being Sale. I was pretty excited--I wasn't expecting them to contend but I think most of us enjoyed 2014 a decent amount, and it was a pretty good offseason.

 

The best thing Jake Peavy ever did for this franchise was signing an extension, which led to the Sox acquiring Garcia, Montas and Rondon. It certainly wasn't his health, bulldog personality or performance against the Tigers.

[Dunt]

If they do disappoint, will you join me in calling for Robin Ventura's job?

 

Depends on why they disappoint. I'm of the thinking that the manager doesn't make that big of a difference in the outcome of a team. I mean, Ned Yost just went to the World Series. If there are clear managerial mistakes made, then yes, I will call for his head in the fashion that I am currently calling for Trestman's.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Dunt

[peppers312]

There wasn't much of a choice.

 

And they didn't throw in the towel, they brought in a Top 5 MVP caliber hitter. Except we didn't know it at the time...and certainly without enough confidence to roll the dice by throwing money all over the place.

 

As has been mentioned many times, nobody expected Nate Jones to be hurt or the bullpen to be such a disaster or Reed wouldn't have been traded....but that's all hindsight.

 

We knew that we needed to give Flowers, Beckham, Viciedo and DeAza (to a lesser extent) one more season.

 

All the answers aren't there...about Flowers, Conor, Garcia (thanks to the injury) and 2B (Sanchez/M.Johnson), but, at the very least, Hahn has managed to pull this team to respectability within the span of two seasons. Eaton, when healthy, proved he could be a significant force offensively and defensively, and he accomplished that without stealing many bases.

 

That's a heckuva lot more than the Cubs have been able to accomplish in 4-5 years.

 

Let's keep in mind that our core group of prospects in Anderson, Montas, Danish, Hawkins and Micah Johnson still hasn't been touched.

 

We have a set of two distinct gambles going on here, one is winning within the next two years with LaRoche, Duke, Robertson, Alexei Ramirez and Samardzija....and then the next wave will arrive and make an impact beginning with Rodon and extending beyond those five prospects already named.

 

It's still a 79-83 win team as currently constructed, but it's arguably one more starter and LF away from being at that magical 86-88 win total that ANYTHING can happen, as proven by the Royals and Giants as recently as last season.

 

well said.

 

[caulfield12]

Basically I think you made my point for me.

 

This is a sub .500 team still as it is barring lots of improvement, and just to bring it up to mid 80s and contention they still are probably a starter and a corner OF short.

 

And it testifies to how little they cared about actually building a solid roster last year that they brought in a top 5 hitter in the league and still were a very weak club. no we didn't expect Jones to get hurt, but we didn't expect improvement from Gillaspie or Flowers, we didn't expect guys like Putnam to be surprisingly non terrible, etc.

 

If you look at defense (Gillaspie, Viciedo, Garcia, DeAza, Abreu/Konerko)...baserunning/fundamentals...but especially the back end of the rotation, there's a LOT of room for improvement.

 

Carroll/Rienzo/Danks basically pulled down our rotation to the point where it was below average, then you couple it with the twin Paulino and Erik Johnson disasters.

 

Nobody thought Johnson would completely fall off a cliff. He looked like a solid back-end piece at worst, and a 3 at best.

 

Sure, Putnam, Alexei, Noesi and Conor played/pitched better than expected, and Flowers in stretches as well. But you can point to a lot more disappointments than surprises on the positive side.

 

 

I know Marcus Semien has a lot of fans here. And it's always frustrating to see a young prospect we've watched developing for 4-5 years get dealt away. We should just be thankful that we have enough insurance/depth now to make this type of move without bankupting the future of the franchise like Williams did at the end of his tenure.

Edited December 9, 2014 by caulfield12

[Y2HH]

Not a bad price, much better if he extends before free agency next year. I would've preferred to give them both Johnson and Sanchez to giving them Semien, but I'm guessing that's why they wanted Semien. Definitely an upgrade to the rotation and now the Sox have a rotation I could see as being competitive.

 

Sale

Quintana

Samardzija

Noesi

Danks (to be Rodon by midseason)

 

That could be one hell of a rotation. I would say one more bat is needed at this point to make everything come together.

 

The rotation wouldn't be 2 lefties in a row, and Shark is better than Quintana anyway, he'd be #2.

[Balta1701]

The rotation wouldn't be 2 lefties in a row, and Shark is better than Quintana anyway, he'd be #2.

No he isn't.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Q>Shark. Both can be top ten pitchers in the AL though.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Buehrle>Wood

[Quin]

The rotation wouldn't be 2 lefties in a row, and Shark is better than Quintana anyway, he'd be #2.

 

Debatable. I take Q over Shark.

 

But I'm extremely glad to have both.

[Y2Jimmy0]

I thought that Semien profiled best as a utility player and Bassitt as a reliever so I think this is an awesome deal. Getting Samardzija to extend would put White Sox in contention for a long time. I was hoping that a package like this was all that it would take but I was skeptical. Great thread guys.

[Rowand44]

Agreed that Q is better but I couldn't care less at the moment as we have both in our rotation now!

 

 

[ptatc]

Eh, still don't like it and fully expect the team to disappoint, but I'm a lot less annoyed with actually trying to win than throwing in the towel like we did last offseason.

While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade.

[Rowand44]

While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade.

I know you like Bassitt but he's no where near the prospect that Gio was. He was never pegged as a long term starter for this organization to begin with and that's one of the reasons they had no problem getting rid of him I'm sure.

[Balta1701]

While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade.

I agree the white sox didn't give up a lot, but that doesn't mean I like the concept of going all in on 2015. I can satisfy myself with the fact that such an "all in" kind of move means that in the event it fails, which I still think is likely, I shouldn't have to put up with another Ventura coaching embarrassment season.

[Quin]

While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade.

 

Wait, what?

 

Are you saying Bassitt is the Gio of this trade or the possibility of Danish being involved is the Gio of this trade?

[caulfield12]

While I'm not a huge JS fan, his presence makes the rotation significantly better and the Sox really didn't give up much unless one of the top pitching suspects is in with Bassitt. He is the Gio Gonzalez of the trade.

 

 

Let's hope he is the next Nestor Molina/Zach Stewart...

 

From another point of view, at the Winter Meetings last December, if Erik Johnson and Semien were traded for a one-year rental player, everyone on the board would have gone insane saying Hahn was pulling another KW and bankrupting the farm system.

 

We're to the point where this type of move makes a lot more sense, especially if they can get an extension signed. If not, you don't have to worry about another $100+ million pitcher's arm falling off at least.

[ptatc]

Basically I think you made my point for me.

 

This is a sub .500 team still as it is barring lots of improvement, and just to bring it up to mid 80s and contention they still are probably a starter and a corner OF short.

 

And it testifies to how little they cared about actually building a solid roster last year that they brought in a top 5 hitter in the league and still were a very weak club. no we didn't expect Jones to get hurt, but we didn't expect improvement from Gillaspie or Flowers, we didn't expect guys like Putnam to be surprisingly non terrible, etc.

Disagree with that.

 

How many blown saves did they have last year? I'm not a fan of the "save" stat but what it says about last year's team is that they lost a lot of games late that they should have won. Robertson and Duke alone will improve this. Now add JS and RV won't need to go to the pen, let alone inferior pen talent as often, and you get to .500. I don't think they are a favorite for a playoff spot yet but they are getting close to competing for it.