White Sox interested in SS Ian Desmond

[lasttriptotulsa]

I know the Sox need to improve defense, but I have a really hard time stomaching a FA deal for a guy whose offense is so bad.

 

Yea I'm not so sure about Desmond either. I mean shortstops that can give you 20-25 HRs, 30 2Bs, 80 RBIs, 20 SBs and play solid defense grow on trees right?

[Rowand44]

...which shows you how wrong Heyman is when he says that a SS upgrade is a better fit than another OF.

 

Which is why we should sign a real OF instead.

Yup. Agreed 100 percent.

[chitownsportsfan]

Boras getting desperate, better float some more rumors for his clients. Every single time Heyman posts something like this it's 100% Boras trying to stir up interest in his client. It might be true, but take it with a huge grain of salt.

Edited February 11, 2016 by chitownsportsfan

[ChiSox59]

Always felt that if they had the money and desire to give up a draft pick, my dream scenario was Desmond and Jennings. I wonder if Saladino and Petricka gets you Jennings, as Tampa has been known to be looking for some more SS help.

 

Seems steep, honestly. Desmond Jennings is pretty blah.

[fathom]

Seems steep, honestly. Desmond Jennings is pretty blah.

 

Before last year's injury-plagued season, Jennings had been better than Fowler in 4 straight season.

[Whisox05]

Boras getting desperate, better float some more rumors for his clients. Every single time Heyman posts something like this it's 100% Boras trying to stir up interest in his client. It might be true, but take it with a huge grain of salt.

 

Boras isn't Desmond agent

[fathom]

Judging by his twitter account, Desmond is not in Chicago taking a physical....he's out fishing today

[chitownsportsfan]

Boras isn't Desmond agent

 

my bad, that's the last time I rely on MLBtradrumors, they had a blurb on him saying Boris was his agent. Unless he changed recently it's "Sports One Athlete Solutions".

[Quin]

I'm really not feeling giving up a pick for Desmond. Would much rather do it for Fowler.

[Dick Allen]

my bad, that's the last time I rely on MLBtradrumors, they had a blurb on him saying Boris was his agent. Unless he changed recently it's "Sports One Athlete Solutions".

One thing you were correct about was Heyman when he is mentioning Boras' clients. Boras uses and abuses him.

[hi8is]

Judging by his twitter account, Desmond is not in Chicago taking a physical....he's out fishing today

Jesus Christ, send Ian to Twitter Anonymous for some 12 step recovery.

[SoxSteve]

Judging by his twitter account, Desmond is not in Chicago taking a physical....he's out fishing today

Question for some on this board. What is up with this WAR fascination when determining if the guy is a good fit or not? I see alot of post where this guy is a 2 WAR and this guy is a 3 WAR. I'm not against any metrics at all and teams should try to use everything at their disposal to win games but WAR is the last thing i look at when determining if i want the player on my team. I don't need the WAR number of CESPEDAS, GORDON or UPTON to know that i wanted them on the Sox. I have no idea what is was not should i care. All i know that i wanted any of them with Gordon and Upton being most desirable because of the OBP. Some teams probably wanted Cespedas because they need the power. To each there own. Do most here look at war for a determination on what fits the Sox best? To me it's a non factor but maybe I'm in the minority. Thanx

[hi8is]

Question for some on this board. What is up with this WAR fascination when determining if the guy is a good fit or not? I see alot of post where this guy is a 2 WAR and this guy is a 3 WAR. I'm not against any metrics at all and teams should try to use everything at their disposal to win games but WAR is the last thing i look at when determining if i want the player on my team. I don't need the WAR number of CESPEDAS, GORDON or UPTON to know that i wanted them on the Sox. I have no idea what is was not should i care. All i know that i wanted any of them with Gordon and Upton being most desirable because of the OBP. Some teams probably wanted Cespedas because they need the power. To each there own. Do most here look at war for a determination on what fits the Sox best? To me it's a non factor but maybe I'm in the minority. Thanx

At this stage of rounding out a team preparing for the year - I find using historical WAR and projected WAR useful when evaluating the probability of upgrading from player X to player Y for position Z.

[fathom]

For me, I used to hate WAR. But the more I analyzed it, the more I realized how it was eliminating the viewer bias I had when watching certain players.

[SoxSteve]

Question for some on this board. What is up with this WAR fascination when determining if the guy is a good fit or not? I see alot of post where this guy is a 2 WAR and this guy is a 3 WAR. I'm not against any metrics at all and teams should try to use everything at their disposal to win games but WAR is the last thing i look at when determining if i want the player on my team. I don't need the WAR number of CESPEDAS, GORDON or UPTON to know that i wanted them on the Sox. I have no idea what is was not should i care. All i know that i wanted any of them with Gordon and Upton being most desirable because of the OBP. Some teams probably wanted Cespedas because they need the power. To each there own. Do most here look at war for a determination on what fits the Sox best? To me it's a non factor but maybe I'm in the minority. Thanx

And with that in mind i want Fowler and day of the week over Desmond. I don't think we need another guy with a bad OBP seeing its not Frazier and Lowrie strong suit. Having 2 guys at the top of the order with 360 OBP with one a switch hitter is WAY more important than a BAD fielding injured shortstop with good power with alot of swing and miss in him. Especially when we supposedly have a shortstop waiting in the wings in Anderson. I know Fowler isn't a great fielder but putting him in left will help out Eaton IMO. You can move Melky to right seeing he has the arm for it and Platoon Garcia and Laroche at DH. Improves 4 positions with one player IMO. Thanks again and look forward to the feedback.

[Hatchetman]

I feel like Desmond has the potential to be one of the top 5 SS in the league if he puts it back together. Fowler will never be top 5 in any OF position.

[ChiSoxFanMike]

Sign Desmond and trade Avi, Sanchez, Danish, and Beck for Khris Davis.

 

Eaton (CF)

Melky (LF)

Abreu (1B)

Frazier (3B)

Davis (RF)

LaRoche (DH)

Desmond (SS)

Lawrie (2B)

Navarro ©

 

[Eminor3rd]

Question for some on this board. What is up with this WAR fascination when determining if the guy is a good fit or not? I see alot of post where this guy is a 2 WAR and this guy is a 3 WAR. I'm not against any metrics at all and teams should try to use everything at their disposal to win games but WAR is the last thing i look at when determining if i want the player on my team. I don't need the WAR number of CESPEDAS, GORDON or UPTON to know that i wanted them on the Sox. I have no idea what is was not should i care. All i know that i wanted any of them with Gordon and Upton being most desirable because of the OBP. Some teams probably wanted Cespedas because they need the power. To each there own. Do most here look at war for a determination on what fits the Sox best? To me it's a non factor but maybe I'm in the minority. Thanx

 

It's a very convenient short-hand that gives us an idea of the magnitude of impact a guy would make.

 

So, for example: We all wanted Justin Upton on the team. We all agree that he would improve us via higher OBP, more power, and slightly better defense. But his cost is very high. Is he worth it to the White Sox? We all know he's better, but how can we tell that he would be "worth" the resources he would cost?

 

By using WAR, we can quickly get a sense for where the biggest "black holes" are in our team, from the perspective of total value. When you look at the projections, it shows that Garcia looks like a 0 WAR guy, and Upton looks like a 4 WAR guy, so we say that making that specific upgrade could mean the difference of up to 4 wins, which is obviously huge. Compare that to Saladino, who projects as a 2 WAR guy, and Desmond, who projects (at the most optimistic) as a 3 WAR guy, and we see that the difference might only be about 1 win. So we conclude that getting a guy like Upton would have made a much larger marginal impact than getting someone like Desmond, and probably a wise use of resources (assuming the resources were there in the first place).

 

It's essentially just for context and comparison. All of the specific performance numbers you mentioned are what make up the WAR, but it's close to impossible for us to accurately compare their relative values all at once. WAR let's math determine that so we don't just have to rely on our gut feelings. You may feel like defense is the biggest team issue, and I may feel like OBP is our biggest issue. Both of us might be right, but who knows? If you're a GM, you want an objective way to weigh the magnitudes of those factors, both in terms of your team's composition and the options available to replace them.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Eminor3rd

[Buehrle>Wood]

If desmond ends up sacking I blame fathom

[bmags]

I'm fine with lower OBP, as he is improving our power considerably (as a whole, we are much improved). Looking at a likely 100+ home runs from our infield with Desmond.

 

We had low obp + low power last year. At least have solved one half of that equation in this signing.

[fathom]

If desmond ends up sacking I blame fathom

 

He's not a very enjoyable player to watch. Tons of strikeouts, tons of errors. With that said, he is a great buy-low candidate

[Jerksticks]

Question for some on this board. What is up with this WAR fascination when determining if the guy is a good fit or not? I see alot of post where this guy is a 2 WAR and this guy is a 3 WAR. I'm not against any metrics at all and teams should try to use everything at their disposal to win games but WAR is the last thing i look at when determining if i want the player on my team. I don't need the WAR number of CESPEDAS, GORDON or UPTON to know that i wanted them on the Sox. I have no idea what is was not should i care. All i know that i wanted any of them with Gordon and Upton being most desirable because of the OBP. Some teams probably wanted Cespedas because they need the power. To each there own. Do most here look at war for a determination on what fits the Sox best? To me it's a non factor but maybe I'm in the minority. Thanx

I will say this- I don't think a front office would ever even consider looking at WAR numbers when putting together a team.

[shipps]

I am not a fan of Desmond in anyway but hell, beggars cant be choosers. Anyone the Sox want to add I am fine with to be honest. When you have a team that is short of talent you have to roll the dice with guys who arent considered to be ideal.

[fathom]

I will say this- I don't think a front office would ever even consider looking at WAR numbers when putting together a team.

 

I disagree, and I'm sure every team has a similar formula to determine how valuable a player is.

[SoxSteve]

I'm fine with lower OBP, as he is improving our power considerably (as a whole, we are much improved). Looking at a likely 100+ home runs from our infield with Desmond.

 

We had low obp + low power last year. At least have solved one half of that equation in this signing.

But if you look at the last few World Series winner not alot of them were home runs hitting teams.Royals had 135 last year and 97 the year they were runner up. SF never hit alot of homers when they won nor did St Louis.im too lazy to lookup those numbers but don't think they were big HR hitting teams. Just a thought.