Did the sox hit all of their offseason targets

[AlSoxfan]

I'm a big Conor supporter. Granted I've been partial to 3rd basemen all my life but nonetheless I think Conor having hit 13 HR's 2 years ago then hitting for a decent average last year has a good chance to now hit for average and power. Late in the year Robin gave him a bigger glove , maybe even one of Robin's old gloves if I am remembering right and seemed as if his defense got better late in the season. So I'm hoping for a big year for Conor.( at least against RH's)

I'm a big Gilli fan myself and would agree with your assumption. I didn't know about RV giving him a bigger glove, hope it helps.

[thxfrthmmrs]

Where are you getting that number from? I have them at about $110M right now.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CH...-salaries.shtml

 

Counting the remaining roster slots as pre-arbitration salaries, and $1 million for Paulie every year until 2020.

 

It should $115 million instead. I forgot Robertson earns $10 mil this year instead of $11.5 mil, and now that Melky should earn $14 instead $15 mil a year. The number could be a bit lower if Melky's deal is backloaded as well.

[bmags]

I honestly didn't think it was possible to have a winter like this. It is almost incredible how many things came together in a month and a half.

 

[Jose Abreu]

Loving the moves, now I'd like us to trade Tank, get a better backup IF than Leury (whether internally or via Viciedo trade), and, if possible, get another RH reliever, because I don't really trust Putnam, Petricka, Guerra, and Webb as our RH relievers (non-closers).

[Rooftop Shots]

Can you imagine puttiung Scherzer on top of all of this? I Know its a bad move to tie up all that money, but obviously the front office IS getting agressive like they said they would at the beginning of the off season. Can't even imagine what a friggin dogfight the central would be if he came on board.

[lvjeremylv]

I'd love to see the Sox go out and sign Ichiro as our 4th OF. Then obviously dump Viciedo for whatever we can get and call it an off-season. Either way, I give the front office a grade of a solid A for their work over the past 4-6 weeks. Well done.

[GGajewski18]

You know what has me thinking, I don't know if its all that important, but I noticed that none of these deals are long enough that could hamper Sale and Quintana's next extensions in 5 years. Maybe besides Samardzija, pending an extension.

 

So I think this is a great off season with moves that help us win now, but not alter the real key pieces of this team.

[bmags]

Can you imagine puttiung Scherzer on top of all of this? I Know its a bad move to tie up all that money, but obviously the front office IS getting agressive like they said they would at the beginning of the off season. Can't even imagine what a friggin dogfight the central would be if he came on board.

My brother and I were joking about this. But really, just for fun:

Sale

Scherzer

Q

Samardjiza

Rodon (for maximal dream sake)

 

That's is a starting five of 2 aces, two top twos and a future #2. That would be filthy. Playoffs you could throw Rodon in pen.

[LDF]

You know what has me thinking, I don't know if its all that important, but I noticed that none of these deals are long enough that could hamper Sale and Quintana's next extensions in 5 years. Maybe besides Samardzija, pending an extension.

 

So I think this is a great off season with moves that help us win now, but not alter the real key pieces of this team.

 

you got a very good point, but it is not hampering the team core, but forcing the

the team to continue to improve thru natural attrition. not letting the team to get

old but to constantly improve it self. it all depends on how the farm system develops

what young FA stars becomes eligible.

 

a constant influx of talent to keep the team fresh and hungry.

[Bob Sacamano]

You know what has me thinking, t know if its all that important, but I noticed that none of these deals are long enough that could hamper Sale and Quintana's next extensions in 5 years. Maybe besides Samardzija, pending an extension.

 

So I think this is a great off season with moves that help us win now, but not alter the real key pieces of this team.

 

Sale's next extension will probably be north of $25 mill a year. I think if Jerry was going to open his wallet for an arm, it'd be him

[Andy the Clown]

I personally think the Sox hit every one of their primary options other than maybe catcher. What do you think.

 

I think we addressed all of our flaws, but created another with the trade of Semien.

[Jake]

If I had to guess, Hahn probably hoped to really improve the catcher position. T-Flow modestly outperformed expectations last year, but it was just last offseason that he made a run at McCann. I'm sure he wishes he could have brought in somebody better. 2B and 3B are also up in the air a bit, but I think catcher is where we have the least upside.

[bmags]

If I had to guess, Hahn probably hoped to really improve the catcher position. T-Flow modestly outperformed expectations last year, but it was just last offseason that he made a run at McCann. I'm sure he wishes he could have brought in somebody better. 2B and 3B are also up in the air a bit, but I think catcher is where we have the least upside.

 

If Sanchez can play a remarkable 2B, I'm fine with crap production.

[southsider2k5]

Sale's next extension will probably be north of $25 mill a year. I think if Jerry was going to open his wallet for an arm, it'd be him

 

Try $30 million annually, as a starter.

[Chisoxfn]

No...we have completely ignored our team defense. I just have a hard time fathoming that given how bad we were defensively and what everyone in baseball saw the Royals do. I'm not saying you need to replicate the Royals as that would be flawed logic. They got hot at the right time and had a bit of luck on their side, but the value of defense in a non-offensive era, is much more significant and we have completely ignored it.

[BlackSox13]

No...we have completely ignored our team defense. I just have a hard time fathoming that given how bad we were defensively and what everyone in baseball saw the Royals do. I'm not saying you need to replicate the Royals as that would be flawed logic. They got hot at the right time and had a bit of luck on their side, but the value of defense in a non-offensive era, is much more significant and we have completely ignored it.

Melky is a defensive upgrade over Viciedo in LF and LaRoche upgrades 1B when he plays the field. How did the Sox not upgrade defensively?

[Reddy]

Melky is a defensive upgrade over Viciedo in LF and LaRoche upgrades 1B when he plays the field. How did the Sox not upgrade defensively?

 

BARELY

 

Melky is still a butcher in LF

 

[witesoxfan]

BARELY

 

Melky is still a butcher in LF

 

I wouldn't say he's a butcher. He's probably below average and a guy who will slow down a bit in the next couple years, but all signs point to him being far better defensively than Viciedo.

[Chisoxfn]

Melky is a defensive upgrade over Viciedo in LF and LaRoche upgrades 1B when he plays the field. How did the Sox not upgrade defensively?

Viciedo is a butcher but Melky is a below average defender, albeit a little better. None are what I would consider measurable upgrades. LaRoche is a bit of an upgrade but we are talking about the least valuable defensive position in all of baseball (1b) and Abreu improved as the season went on.

 

When you look at corner OF D and 3B D, we were putrid and have not really fixed that.

[bmags]

Viciedo is a butcher but Melky is a below average defender, albeit a little better. None are what I would consider measurable upgrades. LaRoche is a bit of an upgrade but we are talking about the least valuable defensive position in all of baseball (1b) and Abreu improved as the season went on.

 

When you look at corner OF D and 3B D, we were putrid and have not really fixed that.

 

Fair to say Sanchez will be an upgrade, but obviously offensively brutal.

[Donny Lucy's Avocado Farm]

A lot of the things being said of Tyler Flowers and the "catcher's position" were said before the 2005 season about Joe Crede.

 

Would it be out of mind to expect a nice season from Flowers? He's definitely good enough defensively. He has shown flashes of offensive prowess. He just needs to piece together a full season's worth...

[NorthSideSox72]

The team has not ignored defense, that's an overstatement. Cabrera is a large defensive upgrade over Viciedo, LaRoche is a good defensive 1B who will play there some of the time, and a guy like Brantly is better than Phegley can provide (and better pitcher handling than a young Nieto). So there have been upgrades. I'd also suggest that 2B is an open question - Sanchez would be better than Beckham was I think, but Johnson would be a downgrade. So that is an unknown.

 

Also worth noting - Abreu looked a lot better as the year went on, and Gillaspie has improved a little in my view. Flowers has improved quite a lot. So even in static positions there have been some positive trends that look good.

 

The glaring defensive holes now are 3B and RF. I just don't see any other major defensive holes now. That doesn't seem that bad.

 

[bmags]

I'm interested in this "Robin gave Conor a bigger glove" thing. It seems ridiculous enough to work. I imagine Conor was still wearing his little league glove as self-punishment.

[NorthSideSox72]

I'm interested in this "Robin gave Conor a bigger glove" thing. It seems ridiculous enough to work. I imagine Conor was still wearing his little league glove as self-punishment.

I didn't see every error he made, but I did see some, and the majority of them were problems of footwork and throwing hitches.

 

[Chisoxfn]

The team has not ignored defense, that's an overstatement. Cabrera is a large defensive upgrade over Viciedo, LaRoche is a good defensive 1B who will play there some of the time, and a guy like Brantly is better than Phegley can provide (and better pitcher handling than a young Nieto). So there have been upgrades. I'd also suggest that 2B is an open question - Sanchez would be better than Beckham was I think, but Johnson would be a downgrade. So that is an unknown.

 

Also worth noting - Abreu looked a lot better as the year went on, and Gillaspie has improved a little in my view. Flowers has improved quite a lot. So even in static positions there have been some positive trends that look good.

 

The glaring defensive holes now are 3B and RF. I just don't see any other major defensive holes now. That doesn't seem that bad.

Melky is a below average defensive outfielder by all defensive metrics. Def rating (Fangraphs) was -12.1 for Melky w/Steamer projection of -13.2 (2013 was -11.5 and 2012 was -5.8, 2011 -5.2, and 2010 was -15.7). That is a 5 year average of -9.2 so anyway you slice it, dude is below average in the outfield.

 

Viciedo was -17.4 in 2014 with a Steamer of -5.3 (however if you project it out over a similar # of games as Melky it is -13.4 or roughly identical to Melky's steamer of 13.2). Viciedo was -12 in 2013 and -10.2 in 2012.

 

Bottom line, Melky Cabrera is not a very good defensive player. Now these projections would make you think they are nearly equally as bad, but I don't think Melky is actually that bad. I'm not really going to get into back-up depth because at that point, impacts are minimized.

 

Re: Gillespie, he was the 4th worst 3B in baseball last year by those same defensive metrics and if you normalized his games played with the people ahead of him, he would slide up to 3rd worse with Castellanos and Chisenhall being the only players who were worse. Got to at least be nice knowing we have the 3rd worst defensive 3B but 2nd best in our division