White Sox Thinking Long-Term With Youngsters?

It would be great to say all of them, Alexei included to be offered 4 year extensions.

If Danks was going to have a sophomore slump, it would have been last year as it was his second year as a full time starter. Quentin and Floyd could possibly slump this year, but I think they have good years.

It would be very cool to see Danks locked up long term. He could be the ace that we build our rotation around for the foreseeable future.

Later,
Aaron

If Gavin Floyd repeats last year, I'll eat my Sox hat.

There is no doubt Q and Danks are the real deal.

I want to see Alexei a little more patient at the plate before committing long-term.

FYI, Quentin is no sophomore...

I think Floyd will prove he's for real too. I think in two or three years we will have one of the nastiest 1 2 rotation spots in baseball in Danks and Floyd. You just don't throw two near no-no's and put up a sub 4 ERA if you're not the real deal.

If you look at the guys who have break out years and then falter, they almost always have a stretch in the season where they falter. Floyd was consistently strong all year long. He never had that slump that those fringe players have. He had three starts all season where he pitched fewer than 5 innings, and only 8 starts where he gave up more than 3 earned runs. He allowed a large number of home runs which is worrisome, but he also pitches in the Cell, and any pitcher there will give up home runs. Do I think he's a future Cy Young winner, probably not, but he is a solid pitcher.

Later,
Aaron

I think Floyd regresses a bit, but still is a solid BOR starter (which is worth a ton). That might land him in Ozzie Guillen's doghouse though. Since we all know what happens to players who end up in that house, this could get interesting.

I REALLY think an extension for John Danks is a great idea. He's a solid pitcher and has established himself. I do think he will be the center of the Sox rotation for a while, barring a trade.

Out of the 4 you mentioned BravesFan I think only Getz is starting in the majors this year. Next year I see Dayan at first, Beckham at third, and Getz at second, but that is after they develop in the minors this year. Lillibridge will serve as a sub

Tough,

Yeah, 2010 is going to be interesting. You've got Thome's departure leaving a hole at DH and leaving us in need of the much coveted left handed power. You've got the possible departure of Dye, leaving LF open (assuming TCQ moves to RF). Assuming Getz does well this year, you've got an infield logjam with Ramirez unlikely to be moved, and Getz at second, Konerko at first etc. Konerko could move to DH, as could Dye if his option is picked up. Things could get very hairy.

Rex,

Yeah, I just kinda threw a name in there for bench catcher. Now that I think about it it will probably be Lucy. It will have to be one of the two, because they are the only right handed catchers we have. Ozzie likes to have a righty to throw in against left handed pitchers.

Later,
Aaron

"The Sox have Dayan Viciedo, Brent Lillibridge, Gordan Beckham, Chris Getz who do yall think will make the starting lineup?"

Posted by: Bravesfan10

In my humble opinion, Viciedo and Beckham will be starters but not until 2010. Because Konerko will probably still be around, I see Viciedo in LF initially and depending on how well Fields plays, Beckham at either 2B or 3B... maybe even SS if Ramirez can't cut it and is moved back to 2B.

I know others will disagree but unless a trade is made, I see Getz and Lillibridge platooning a 2B this year.

How about you... are you happy with the moves the Braves have made this offseason?

None of that matters when you win 17 games.

Later,
Aaron

assuming those unearned runs were outs like they were suppose to his production would have been that much better

whitesoxpride: that has to be one of the dumbest comments ive seen on here

The biggest problem I have with Gavin Floyd is that his best pitch is also his most inconsistent.

Curveball pitchers live on the edge because when they throw it like Bert Blyleven, they are unhittable but when they hang it ......it's bye bye.

Also, curveball pitchers tend to avoid their best pitch when runners are on base (especially third) because too often the pitch bounces in. I have no idea if there is a stat kept for this, but I'd be willing to bet that Floyd's batting average against is much higher when he's pitching out of the stretch because of the curveball / wild pitch correlation.

I think we have him second behind Lowe

Well if there is one thing i know, its that KW wasn't desperate to deal Swish and Javy. He obviously has a good feeling about the players he acquired or he would have just sucked it up and let Javy and Swish play for the Sox this season.

Maybe not the best place for him he's definitely not ace material, but I this entire offseason I always thought Lowe (even though I think Atl overpaid) would be the perfect fit for the sox, a groundball pitcher that posted a nice stats last year would be the perfect pitcher at the cell.

By the way, do you know if Flowers will be able to cut it defensively as a Catcher? So far I have heard mixed reviews.

Personally, I couldn't tell you because I've never even seen him play. He was just blocked by Mccann is the reason for which we traded him.

IMO, we overpaid for Lowe, but we had too for two reasons:

1. We DESPERATELY needed an ace and couldn't afford to lose out on him

2. We gave him an ultimatum, if we offered him the 4/60, then he'd take it quick(who wouldn't?)

I think we are WAYYYYYYY over rating Lillibridge here. He doesn't have any power and he has only played 29 games in the majors batting .200 in that span. He isn't going to be a factor this year IMO and has alot of room for improvement.

"fields looks like a .265 36 95 guy"

I have a better chance of winning the lottery then Fields has of hitting 36HR. Fields is a 20HR guy and has the potential to hit 30HR as he develops but to say he will put up stats like that next year is absurd.

Good point Aaron, I looked it up and in 100 games 2 years ago Fields hit 23 HR with 67 RBIs.

The question with Fields is his defense because he will never be asked to hit higher than 7th and is probably slotted for 8th..... I have a bad feeling that Sox fans are really going to miss Crede's glove this year. Hope I'm wrong and Fields does the job.

I think Lillibridge is still a fine prospect. He could very easily steal 40-50 bases if he got his OBP up (which he probably will). He won't hit for high average or have much power, but he has a GREAT glove at SS.

As is Fields. Fields has a decent glove, as far as I've seen. He's going to be more of the three true outcome hitter, but I think he'll be solid. Although I do think that he's in Ozzie Guillen's doghouse, which is a bad place to be in terms of staying on the team.

Sven -

Flowers is a huge question mark, but I think he sticks at catcher at least for the first few years of his MLB career. I do think the Braves traded him at the perfect time (and for the perfect return/player). Ultimately, if I had to guess, I think that the shortage of catching prospects and the very low longetivity/high injury attrition of catchers prolongs his stint as catcher. He will be a poor defensive catcher, but I think he sticks. And if he remains on the Sox, you could see a battle at 1B between Brandon Allen and Dayan Viciedo. I think Viciedo is less likely to stick at 3B than Flowers is to stick at C.

I haven't seen enough of Betemit at 3B to say much about him. Looking at UZR/150 ratings though, he is below average at every position defensively. But then, small sample size probably plays a major part there. I would say that he is not better, and probably worse, than Josh Fields defensively at 3B. Juan Uribe is the best comparison. Betemit is a slightly inferior Juan Uribe.

I thought Konerko started as a 3B a long, long time ago before we traded him.

*Traded for him.