White Sox Outfield Wide Open For 2008

The White Sox may have to hold open tryouts to find outfielders for the 2008 season.  Right now, they've got nothing.

• Jermaine Dye is all but a lock to leave via free agency, unless he's traded first.
• Ozzie Guillen publicly dissed Scott Podsednik, calling him "unreliable."  Pods is a nontender candidate, just like last year.  I supported the decision to keep him at that time, but not to rely on him.
• The hope is that Ryan Sweeney, who will be 23 next season, can hit enough to keep his head above water and play acceptable center field defense.  He doesn't have the bat for a corner.  He's only had 80 ABs in the bigs and has a .776 OPS in Triple A.  He's anything but a sure thing, though the team's best position player prospect.
• The best outfield prospect aside from Sweeney was probably Aaron Cunningham, who the White Sox recently sent to Arizona for Danny Richar.  Richar is probably Tadahito Iguchi's replacement, but Cunningham could develop more power and make the Sox look bad.  Williams already shipped off Chris Young to Arizona. 
• There's Jerry Owens, who will be 27 and has no power.  It might be a stretch to call him a starting outfielder, and you can't have both he and Sweeney in there at the same time.  I mean, technically you can put Sweeney in right but that's a lousy outfield.
• Andy Gonzalez, Rob Mackowiak, Pablo Ozuna, Luis Terrero, Brian Anderson, Darin Erstad...none of these guys have business starting in a Major League outfield for a contending team.  I can see the Sox re-signing Erstad, but he has a .652 OPS this year.

Williams needs to come up with at least one Major League quality outfielder this month via trade, because he pretty much has nothing for next year.  Nate Silver imagined a fun outfield of Josh Fields, Sweeney, and Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome for next year.  Signing a big bat like Fukudome seems almost an imperative.  The Sox will have plenty of options on the free agent market, including Eric Byrnes, Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand, and Mike Cameron.  It'd be superb if Williams could snag one top prospect type, such as Lastings Milledge, Matt Kemp, or Carlos Quentin.   

Comments

[jskohl]

I can't see Ned Colletti trading Matt Kemp. Right now, Matt is on fire as is 1B James Loney. Ned Colleti has made some horrible moves as Dodger GM, and sending Kemp away right now could be his worst move. The only situation in which it would be understandable to move Kemp, would be with Miguel Cabrerra coming back to Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning that Randy Wolf has been feeling discomfort in his shoulder, and he will have an MRI Thursday. He has been very servicable for the Dodgers this year. But if Wolf goes on the DL, that will make Colletti 0 for 2 this past offseason in starting pitching aquisitions. Chad Billingsly has pitched well this year, but this almost forces Colletti to shop for a starter. He just can't give up on Kemp for a rental.

[bigbaddbobbyjenks]

we NEED to sign/trade for a power hitting OF. with dye leaving and thome getting another yr older, we need to insert power somewhere in the lineup for next yr. andruw jones is a borass client, and hes sucking this yr anyways. torii hunter? god, i dunno. we hate him ALOT here in chicago. dunn maybe (altho he has his downfalls, keep reading)? i'd rather have a few 20-25 hr guys in there with good speed than 35-40 hr guys with alotta K's and clog the bases (dunn). theres alotta holes to fill on this team. unless we jump our payroll to 120 mil, i dont think they'll all get filled.

[ArodSucksAtLife]

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[darkstar1661]

Well BBBobbyJ, doesn't the teams need really depend on what the team plans on for the future?

I know Williams sounded reluctant in recent interviews, but the ChiSox should probably forget about completing at all in 08 and instead try to retool for 09. If they were to trade all their FAs-to-be who wouldn't be there in 09 then they could bring high-level prospects and give them 1.5 years to develop at the big stage right now. Keep guys like Buehrle and Garland then give the other spots to the SP kids they currently have while pulling in OF prospects for JoseC and Vasquez. Keep maybe Paully for the offense but dump almost everyone else for whatever you can get. Don't spend anything on FAs other than fillers for experence and teaching the kids you brought and it could work...

Otherwise, if they just plan on doing the stop-gag FA signings while keeping most current players with the intention of competting in 08, they will prob find themselves in that rut for years (ie the Yanks and Giants).

It was obvious in 05 that today was around the corner, KW didn't do too much to stop it from happening then and now sounds like he will still put off what needs to be done ~ although Sox fans might not want to hear it, that's pretty much Full-Blown Quick-Turn rebuild (ie trade for AA or higher prospects for near instant return).

[darkstar1661]

And Arod, are you 5 years old or something? What the heck was that annoying nonsense about...

[ArodSucksAtLife]

Yes.

"we NEED to sign/trade for a power hitting OF. "

" i'd rather have a few 20-25 hr guys in there with good speed than 35-40 hr guys with alotta K's and clog the bases (dunn). "

CLOG THE BASES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ArodSucksAtLife]

"Otherwise, if they just plan on doing the stop-gag FA signings while keeping most current players with the intention of competting in 08, they will prob find themselves in that rut for years (ie the Yanks and Giants)."

You mean like the Kansas City Royals too? Poor drafting and wasted money on Free agents. If only they spent their money smarter. Damn if only there was a way to get cost controlled talent.

[nrmax88]

lol arod

[darkstar1661]

Actually Arod, the Royals have only spent money on FAs the last couple years, they were doing the whole building from the draft thing since the late 80s... Ever heard of guys like Damon, Beltran, etc? What did it ever get them?

See there is one problem when you draft and cultivate one or two big stars in a small market ~ you can't keep them very long! Meaning you have to either somehow get multiple bigtime draftpicks to takeoff at the same time or take lesser draftpicks who might take a little longer to develop and try to get them up about the same time. Miller, Hughes, etc won't help KC too much when they would be up so fast with so many current holes on the club... Rebuilding takes most teams 10 years or so when they do it with internal players. They are only good picks for teams about to compete real soon.

Since drafted players comand so much money, it just isn't worth a small market taking them. Sure, they could and then deal them once they start making the majors ~ but that is spendng money in hopes they will be worth good trade value when you need it. The quickest way for a team like KC to infuse a few good prospects into the lineup would be to sign guys off the FA market then trade them at the deadline for a return. Not smart itself, but does bring multiple upper level guys in to help the club get by.

Trying to build solely through the draft though is the quickest way to ruin your franchise, as you could spend a fortune and have only borderline players 3-6 years from now if they even make it to the bigs. If there was a cap on the bonuses then yes, it would be smart ~ otherwise you would just be paying lots of money to act like a farm club for the bigmarket guys every year as you were spending everything on only one guy.

Look at Toronto after their WS run in the 90s. Guys like Delgado, Green, Orlerud, etc didn't do a thing for the club really and it was only after they were all dealt and the team started spending on FAs did the Jays start to have any life. Pitt has been trying to bring only their kids up and what happens is they find a star and have to flip him off every couple years. Look what it did to the Expos being a farmclub for everyone else. TB has been getting the "they will be so good next year" tag every year for the past 5 years and its looking more and more like none of their stars they brought up will see the postseason with that club and instead be dealt when they are too good. Sea did good with Griff, Arod and trading for the Unit but when they themselves were dealt is when Seatle really took off as a team...

Nope, I see no other way to fix the problems than a total salary cap ~ and although that won't happen soon, one on the draftpicks would help the process along a ton. If teams could draft guys without having to worry about spending all their money on them then the possibility of them getting themselves out of the cellar would be much higher. But, with letting Kids dictate their worth to be 10m 3-6 years (for most) before stepping onto a field means the imbalance of power will continue...

[ArodSucksAtLife]

"Since drafted players comand so much money, it just isn't worth a small market taking them."

For god sakes, fine then let them continue to suck. Maybe they just shouldn't be a team at all. David Glass not poor.

At the end of 2004 Tampa Bay and Kansas City got 19 million each from revenue sharing. Before selling one ticket. The only strict rule about how a team should be able to spend its money, is they should be required to spend that money on drafting and development to actually improve their freaking team.

[darkstar1661]

"For god sakes, fine then let them continue to suck. Maybe they just shouldn't be a team at all. David Glass not poor"

Yes, that's the point! If things are not going to be set up to help spread the talent then why even have small market teams! When there was talk of contraction, almost all of them were mentioned as possibilities afterall...

And even if the owner is rich, that has no barring on the team itself. Sure, a guy could spend tons out of his pocket like was recently done in Det to try and create a winner and hopefully up interest in your club, but so many owners have failed missarably and lost tons doing just that...

But please point out one team who built their playoff club with draftpicks without simultaniously spending millions on FAs. Really, tell me one... And don't give me a team like Min or Oak that were kinda established and then infused draftpicks while trading talent constantly to stay afloat...

HighPriced DraftPicks only work when you have something to use with them ~ and that something needs to be a exaisting good team or money to build one around them. If they themselves didn't cost much money then teams like Pitt would draft them and use the money saved to sign FAs to put around them ~ but with them making so much themselves then the money goes to them and it looks like it isn't spent at all.

It really boils down to the fact that it is near impossible to build a team from the draft, and if you are a team with little money to work with it just will never take hold. If they didn't cost much then poor teams could draft and build a contender with the money saved going to counterpieces...

But you seem to feel that things are just so Cut-&-Dry easy for a team like KC? Risk millions on a top pick while neglecting current club ~ if he is in that 7% and produces star numbers, you have 1 star for maybe 4 years to put into your lineup full of AAAA guys... Yep, they wouldn't suck then would they...

[Cold Golden Falstaff]

Rumormonger: That was one of the best written and most accurate articles on the White Sox I've seen on this site. Thanks! :)

Darkstar: While I agree that the White Sox could be looking at a rebuilding year in 2008, there's two things that lessen that probability.

One is the Sox starting pitching (even if Buehrle and - lets say Contreras is traded) is still top notch. A few wise free agent acquisitions and a major-league ready hitter in return for one or more of the soon-to-be-FA players and the Sox can reload and at least be around a .500 team next season.

Secondly, the Sox fan base (myself included) still treats owner Reinsdorf with kid gloves. If the Sox don't go out and spend some money and try to improve this rapidly aging team, fans won't buy tickets next season, so Sox brass is under that pressure to "reload" as well, or we could have 12,000 fan gates again.

[darkstar1661]

CGFlagstaff,

You really think the Sox staff is TopNotch even if they lose Mark and JoseC? The team would be down to JudyGarland and Vasquez (both of which are 3-4 type guys on good teams IMO) and a bunch of unprovens. I know the Palehouse have some good young arms, but it would still be their first year in the majors (for the most part) and there would be 3 of them..

I do think they could maybe get to 500 as well, but feel it would probably take dealing almost everything worth anything to another team ASAP for prospects who could make the team now.They could try to plug the holes from FAs but there are so many that it would be a stretch to get enough good guys.

What type of money commitment do they have for 08 with Mark and Contreras not around? What kind of money would they have to fill the holes?

[Cold Golden Falstaff]

Garland and Vazquez are both solid starters on a rebuilding team. True, neither is a #1 on a contender, but I don't think either of us expect the Sox to contend next year.

Danks is developing nicely and would be the #3 next year and 4 & 5 would be either current Sox minor leaguers like Broadway, Gonzalez or Floyd or other prospects in return from trades.

Money, there's the rub. Reinsdorf was quoted as reasoning current payroll of $100 million as what is required to be a World Series contender. There's enough disgruntled Sox fans out there now to drop ticket sales significantly next season so my guesstimate for next year's paryoll budget would be in the neighborhood of $80-85 mil to retool (glaring weak spots are both middle infield spots and 2 outfielders). GM Kenny Williams is anticipating a FA market "correction" that likely won't happen so the Sox would be low-end players on the FA market.

BTW: my handle "Cold Golden Falstaff" is an homage to Harry Caray when he called White Sox games on TV when I was a kid. Falstaff was the official White Sox beer he used to push. :D

[darkstar1661]

Falstaff,

First off sorry for goofing up your name ~ live on westcoast so Flagstaff made more sense to the little brain when I was typing quickly. :)

Anyway, so with a payroll in the range of 80-85ish and I'm guessing Paully, JudyG, Vasquez and Thome alone running the team somewhere in the range of 50m (didn't look it up, so guess) you can figure they might have about 10-20m to spend on FAs. Not much to work with...

And that's really why I said more of a fullblown rebuild might be in the best interest of the team. Do understand the problem with the crowds and interest of the fans though, so it seems they really have their backs against the wall huh...

If they do want to keep the fans a bit happier then I think it might be better to trade JoseC and Vasquez while resigning Beuhrle. Mark is more of a face to the fans and with him walking after the year he wouldn't get as good of return value as he would signed at a discount.Add in atleast Dye and maybe even Thome and Crede if the price is right and you could bring in some good return for the team which if they are instantly on the field it might help take some of the sting out of the fans anger.

Who knows, I just don't think the future looks that hot on the southside without some major trading going down... With some trading atleast the next couple years won't be as bad...