White Sox Done With Free Agent Market

Has any team in the Central gotten better this offseason?

more news later, back to you Tim

"Has any team in the Central gotten better this offseason?"

Indians add Wood and DeRosa, get V-Mart and Hafner back.

Tigers- Get a solid defensive SS, some BP help, and Liard to catch. I think overall theyre better than last year.

Royals should improve if only because the young players should continue to progress, i doubt Jacobs and Farnsworth will do too much good.

And the Twins havent made any bad moves, and they could still sign Wiggy.

Has anyone heard anything about the two Cubans that just defected?

B.S.! The Cubs have had the worst off season! they gave away prospects once thought to be their cream of the crop! and got back nothing! and then signed a head case over market value...so explain how the Sox did so much worse by getting rid of non performing players owed alot of money and getting younger players that have a high upside

it is suppose to say How's adding... and end with a ?

"Hey - speaking of defecation, who's playing third base for these guys in 2009? "

Have you heard of Josh Fields???

23 home runs in 100 games in '07. Couple that with a high strikeout rate and poor defense and that the solution for '09. But to be fair he's said to be improving his D this year and either way will be a big offensive improvement over Uribe.

"But to be fair he's said to be improving his D this year and either way will be a big offensive improvement over Uribe."

Between his lack of foot speed, lack of arm strength and lack of baseball instincts he has A LOT to improve upon.

The Sox don't have a back end of the rotation. They lost Cabrera, Swisher, Crede, Uribe, Hall...who's the back-up catcher, who plays first when Konerko has his yearly slump and gets hurt? Who's playing 3rd and 2nd? And who's leading off or playing center? Lots of questions..how did they improve its puzzling?

there biggest pick up was bartolo colon.. that should sum up there off season

I mean...look. I'm a big sox fan. I even bought the ozzie pack (season tix) last year. I got to say I agree that this has been a brutal off-season. To say we're better off without Javy and OCab is not being practical. Although they were a pain we won the division partly because of their consistency. We have not replaced them. The bottom line is that our owner is cheap, lost alot in the stock market and won't commit a dime more to the team. With this team I won't invest in season tix, and won't be going to more than a few games. I'm afraid there's alot more fans that feel the same way. By the way we're not really going "young" as it has been said..the core of the team is in the decline of their careers (Dye, Thome, Konerko, Pierzynski, and we need to move at least 2 from the core to move on...I'm anticipating a long season...but you never know spring hopes eternal.

At least we did not dish out a 30 million dollar contract to a player with an injury history who only played 20 games in the outfield last year.

The White Sox added ALOT of good quality depth to their minor leagues, players with high ceilings but are expected to contribute very soon.

Another quick comment, who won the division last year? Exactly, and who epected them to do that?

Bob Lowlaw,

That lineup and rotation is terrible, and completely unbalanced. No way alexi can hit at the top of the order. He needs to hit near 6 or 7. Colon just had his elbow scoped and won't be ready for opening day...try again please.

People get so sensitive. Name me 1 move the Sox made to improve the 09 team? They picked up some good young prospects but take Vasquez and his 12 wins and 200 innings as well as the 60 hrs provided by Swisher, Cabrera, Uribe, Griffey and Crede (your starting CF, SS, 3B) and tell me how they're BETTER in 09. Just seems that KW and Ozzie are conceeding this year and dedicated to being better in 2010 and beyond.

u guys are attacking him like he is an idiot, when u guys are the idiots Alexei can easily hit at the two spot, floyd is 25 and was a top prospect so no pistol pete. Heilman, Lilly and Marshall is identical to our situation. Plus pistol pete your, division outlook is completely biased by you.

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officer ron, its a lil early to say those guys wont fix the wholes. Sheets is always hurt and garland had a 4.91 mark last year...

ChiSox723,

Why do you keep bringing up the Cubs? As Sox fans, let stay focused. I'm just a little concerned that Alexi fancies himself as a power hitter/RBI man, he certainly not the worst candidate for the Sox, but I liked him down in the order, clutch hitting RBIs.

there are random cubs fans on here...did not mean to write that twice hahaha

he makes adjustments as good as anyone in the majors

if colon is healthy yes, i would take marquez over garland.. if his sinker is as good as kw says it is

lilly is a consistent 4 era with many wins and is proven the last three years.. colon not so much... marshall is similar to ur 5

As a sox fan, it's silly to compare our rotation to the Cubs. We needed to have added one quality veteran to eat innings. This is still my biggest concern. Who makes up Javys innings? Big question. You can't say that Marquez and Richard combined will have more innings than Javy. Maybe Kenny has a trade up his sleeve.

Yanks fan,

The sox have the cheapest GM and they cant throw money aroungd an expect to win like your team.The arent building for 09 they are building for the future.And they will be a great team in 2 years .They can still compete in this division.
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I wasn't knocking what they were doing, just stating a fact. And speaking of facts, the last time I checked the Sox were a major market team that just took about $35 mil off the books (Crede, Swish, Crede, Vasquez, etc). They could afford to add 1 or 2 players can come in under the 08 payroll if they choose to. That being said it should be interesting to see what happens when they rid themselves of Thome, Dye, Pierzynski and Konerko in the near future and how Ozzie and KW choose to reshape/retool the team.

"Colon and Marquez over Garland?"

Yes.

Garland was massive, massive overpayment. Garland pitched to the level of an AAAA pitcher; he was just on a winning team, had a great defense behind him, and got a bit lucky.

Yes.

Garland was massive, massive overpayment. Garland pitched to the level of an AAAA pitcher; he was just on a winning team, had a great defense behind him, and got a bit lucky.

Posted by: melonis rex | January 31, 2009 at 07:15 PM

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Almighty one...please go on with your point and explain why you would sign Colon over Garland, and please leave money out of it...We don't want your opinion, please state facts.

Vasquez is far from a sh*tty pitcher, and this is coming from a Yanks fan that watched him struggle in NY. He definatly comes up short in the big games, but you can't discredit the positves he bring to a team over the course of 200 innings. But Ozzie and Vas are definetly a combustible pair had he stayed.

He was a terrible "big game" pitcher, but his overall stats were very, very good. A pitcher with a career FIP under 4 is pretty damn good. Even if Vaz was going to be traded, the Sox could've gotten more for Vazquez.

Lets play a game, shall we. Which pitcher should net more in a trade.

Pitcher A: A middling 2/high 3 starter who is a pretty damn sure bet to make 30+ starts almost every year, under contract for the next 2 years.

Pitcher B: A bonafide ace who missed the entire previous season, has a massive injury history(had not pitched a full 30+ starts or 200+ IP since 2004), and had just strung together a series of consecutive starts. Controlled for 1.5 years at the time of trade.

"Almighty one...please go on with your point and explain why you would sign Colon over Garland, and please leave money out of it...We don't want your opinion, please state facts.
"

Why leave money out of it? It's part of evaluating signings.

Jon Garland was a below average pitcher in many metrics, FIP, K/BB (actually, he had an atrocious K/BB), tRA, K/9, etc. Garland got 8.75MM guaranteed money.

Bartolo Colon pitched fairly well for the Sox in the starts in which he was healthy. If he can put together a good string of starts with the Sox, he reenters the FA market in 2010 and gets a massive contract. He has a ton to prove in ChiTown. If his FIP stays around 4.5, which is average, and he makes a decent sum of starts, he should be an absolute steal at the 1MM plus performance incentives he's getting. If Colon doesn't pitch much, the Sox release him and they're only out 1MM.

The White sox have Marquez, Broadway, and later on in the season Poreda waiting in the wings to get a chance to start (assuming that Richard is already in the rotation). Thus, they have plenty of #5 starters who could step in if Colon gets hurt. Guys who could very easily pitch to the pedestrian numbers of Garland if given the opportunity.

If it was a farm system replenishment, then they failed.

They added a single good prospect and some throw-ins for a 2/3 under contract for two years and a good OF under contract for three years. Swisher and Javy should have landed more.

Look at what those two guys did in the years before 2008, and you'll see they either misvalued or sold low on both of those guys.

OBPyeahyouknowme- Thats right the cubs have traded or given away first round draft picks for trades or blocked them by signing type A free agents or even a medicore Center fielder in Kosuke Fukudome. Our guys never got a chance becasue we are in win now mode. I am not saying that Pie, Cedeno, Olsen, or Ceda would have worked out into everyday players, let alone alstars that some were projected to be (pie), but at least the Sox are giving the gys a chance to improve and compete to see what they can do and mature by being in the race at the end of the year ( or at least they should be)

If I were a White Sox fan, I would not be particularly happy about their cost-cutting moves this offseason. KW is a terrific GM, but he's clearly been hampered by payroll constraints (no big surprise there).

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet: the defense looks BRUTALLY bad.

Don't know what everyone else thinks about this, but wouldn't it have made sense to maybe trade marquis plus a someone like cedeno, plus maybe pie and another pitcher. Teo out of option players, but they are at holes and marquis only had one year left. I know the Cubs probably would not do it due to Vasquez's contract plus giving up pie cedeno and another guy instead of rrecieveing crap for them, but this gives you another innings eater for one year while poreda/richar develop a little more and solves the cubs problems of 5th starter becasue Vasquez could be our 3-4 while harden/marshall combo move to the 5th spot

Chris W good call on the defense - lf/rf/3b are problems and ss might be as well. i would be tempted to just put anderson in cf and put up with his offense but i don't know if you can afford to put him 9th and then have getz and ramirez 1-2

I seriously doubt Ramirez goes to the outfield on a regular basis. He can play center, but everything I've read says that he plays strong to excellent defense at SS, and we saw that he was more than capable at 2B, however what I've read also says that in center his defense suffers. Owens and Anderson are both better options in center.

Once Beckham comes up, I think he and Ramirez are your DP combo, just a question of which one goes where. I think Ramirez probably stays at short simply by virtue of seniority.

Also, keep in mind that Jordon Danks is coming up and looks to have some serious upside.

In regard to Getz leading off. I think its a possibility, but probably not to start the season. If by June he's proven to be the high average, patient hitter that he has a rep for, then he could be a perfect fit at that spot, thus making Owens expendable and giving us the opportunity to afford Anderson's bat as a trade off for his glove.

Later,
Aaron

'' Did the AL Central get any better?''

Additions
Tigers- Brendan Lyon
Indians- Mark DeRosa, Kerry Wood, Carl Pavano
Twins- No body
Royals- Mike Jacobs, Kyle Farnsworth
White Sox- Bartolo Colon,
Laynce Nix, Brent Lillibridge

No not really. The tribe would have to be the winners of the offseason of the AL central.

"Please let me correctly sum up the offseason for the sox; it was a SALARY/AGE Dump and Farm System replenishment. That's all, this was not in anyway an attempt to improve the major league club so don't expect such. That's it. "

They failed in two of the three objectives you highlighted.

The Sox didn't truly dump older players, like you know, Thome, Dye, and Konerko. Swisher is 27 and Vaz 32.

I like Lillibridge, but his stock has fallen greatly. Flowers is the only other blue chip prospect acquired in the two deals, which isn't really a farm system replenishment. And, Flowers was bought when his value was at an all time high AND he has MAJOR positional questions.

Vazquez and Swisher also were being paid at or below market value. So, they "dumped" two very manageable salaries and didn't get much in return.

"IN 3 years if the stars allign they way they are hoping they will."

Posted by: OBPyeahyouknowme

Wiser words were never spoken. LOL at drunk Twins fans.

Sox are in good shape this year,they got rid of some dead wood and brought in some new blood...yes 3B,CF,and2B are questions...along with the 4 and 5 in the rotation...Fields can hit and is working on his defense,2B is probably the most easily filled position...give me some decent defense and know how to put a bunt down and hit the other way advance a runner and we're good...what's the sabremetric for that? Owens' time is now,Sox can win central if they play unselfish ball like 05.Gotta play the game right

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While reading these post 1 thing concerns me. You people that think Alexei Swings for the fences are nuts! Have you ever watched him play baseball. The kid takes more pitches to the opposite field for base hits than anyone on our team. Sure he lets lose sometimes and tries to mash a pitch out of the park but to say that he swings for the fences all the time is outlandish.

if i said at the beginning of the off season the sox would lose swish, javy, not sign oc or crede, and only gain bartolo colon what would u say??? be honest?

i just cant see someone saying nice moves!