White Sox Reportedly Sign Melky Cabrera to 3-Year-Deal

/

As the White Sox have begun to load up for 2015 contention, a persistent worry has been what to do with the last outfield position. Simply put, a team that won only 73 games in 2014 would be hard-pressed to contend while relying on a bat-first left fielder who can’t really hit and really can’t field. This sentiment was clearly shared by Rick Hahn & Co., who late Saturday night reportedly agreed to sign former Blue Jay Melky Cabrera to a three-year deal reportedly in the $45 million range.

Read More

State of the Central: Detroit Tigers Status Update

/

Despite the fact that the Royals squeaked past Oakland in the Wild Card game and then rode their elite bullpen into the World Series, the 2014 Tigers were objectively the best team in the division. Detroit would win the division and boasted a run differential of +52 as opposed to Kansas City's +27. In fact, they have won the AL Central every year since 2010. Their core has gotten older and slipped some, Dombrowski finally messed up a major trade last offseason, and the window looks like it may be closing. But, like the White Sox, they have had a very busy winter so far. How do they look at the moment?

Read More

White Sox payroll/Dayan Viciedo check

/

I look at the White Sox 2015 payroll and I have the same reaction as any fan: why can't my job find more for me in the budget, man? I work hard.

But the secondary reaction, after curses whispered through tears, is figuring there's still some room for some deals.

Read More

The Pros and Cons of Shark and Robertson

/

Please let me know if you also think this would be a great title for a children's book. Regarding baseball, apparently while I slept the White Sox made two rather huge additions (and possibly some significant subtractions) in trading Marcus Semien, Chris Bassitt, and a third, unknown player for Jeff Samardzija from Oakland and signing David Robertson from the Yankees. Here are my initial reactions:

Read More

White Sox reportedly will trade for Jeff Samardzija

/

Jeff Samardzija, 29, coming off a career year in 2014, offers promise of being the actually good and actually right-handed starter the White Sox have been looking for to place between Chris Sale and Jose Quintana at the top of the rotation. Last year's breakout performance of a 2.99 ERA and 202 strikeouts over 219.2 innings optimistically was the culmination of three years of Samardzija looking transformed from an erratic reliever to someone who can strikeout a batter-per-inning, multiple times through the rotation.

Read More

White Sox reportedly sign David Robertson to four-year deal in the middle of the night

/

There are two extreme poles at work here. One is this extreme outlay of money (Reportedly over $40whatever, not mine) and years of commitment for a reliever, even super-high leverage reliever. The other pole is how utterly hopeless the Sox were looking for a strikeout at the end of games last season, and their lack of immediate options to fix that problems:

Read More

Tony Campana and Rick Hahn

/

Without fail, any time a player with any kind of name recognition signs a minor league deal someone will overreact to it. Another phenomenon in the baseball world is that anyone who is really, really fast will get more attention than they likely merit, because people figure all it takes is a little bit more baseball skill and all of a sudden they are Rickey Henderson and Ichiro Suzuki just waiting to happen.  Another type of player who gets outsized attention is the Undersized Scrapper - David Eckstein became the poster boy for these guys for a while. The White Sox just signed a guy who has all of these attributes to some extent in Tony Campana. My initial reaction was an old one - fear. And then I remembered that Rick Hahn is in charge now and my fear went away.

Read More

Implications of the Duke & LaRoche Signings

/

Zach Duke was added for 3-years and $15 million, and Adam LaRoche joins the White Sox for 2-years, $25 million. Yes, these are mid-level free agents that address areas of need. The lineup needed patience and power, a left-handed bat, and there was room at 1B/DH. The bullpen was very bad last year, and there are very few internal options when it comes to lefty relievers in particular, so Duke makes sense there. But both of these signings have a lot in common, and I think they make a strong statement about where the front office thinks the team is. 

Read More

Roster moves and THE MELK

/

Cabrera would be an ideal signing next offseason. When the Sox know they are ready, know what they are shooting for, and would be seeking maximum output for the first season of the deal. Instead, they have consider Cabrera's worth as a long-term solution, and consider whether they are at the point in their rebuild/retool to be punting away second round draft picks.

Read More

Screw it all, just bring Sergio home

/

Sergio, who famously embodied the overwhelming nature of career relief and satisfaction that you have spent years steeling yourself for the distinct possibility of never feeling, when he wept on camera even as Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen made a joke out of telling he made the 2010 Opening Day roster. And Sergio, who famously embodied adult realizations that even into your late-20's, personal accomplishments can feel married to a sense of duty to justify the dreams and support of your parents, as he wept on camera telling his father the good news...has been pretty bad of recent and hurt a lot. Look at the distribution of words in this paragraph and guess how much I care about the last sentence.

Read More

The Sox Stove: 2015 Edition, Part 2 - Yankees Pitchers

/

The Yankees have made a qualifying offer to reliever David Robertson, but evidently that hasn't stopped six teams from expressing an interest and calling regarding his services.  Normally one would expect a qualifying offer to absolutely torpedo the market for a reliever - the only teams that should be signing high profile relievers are playoff contenders, and the only teams that have their first round pick protected are the ten worst teams from the past year.  As Brandon McCarthy was traded mid-season last year, he was not eligible for the qualifying offer, so all it takes is money. Are either of them worth it for the White Sox?

Read More

White Sox Free Agency: Max Scherzer roundtable/visionquest

/

As our staff has written, the White Sox are going to have a ton of money free this offseason, have demonstrated an ability and willingness to compete in 2015, and a definite need in the rotation.

But will Scherzer be worth the money he will undoubtedly command this offseason? Pitchers are risky investments.

Read More

Free Agent Wishcasting - Part Two

/

The White Sox continue to explore new ground as an organization. They have emerged on the other side of Hitting Rock Bottom (2013), Admitting You Have A Problem (2013 Trade Deadline and Offseason), and are now ending Phase One of the Rapid Rebuild. They now have a new, good core around which to build (Sale, Abreu, Quintana, Eaton, and Alexei) and a ton of free agent money to do so. I recommend reading James' article on this topic first, but I wanted to poke around and see what else the White Sox could actually do with their newfound wealth. 

Read More

Where are the holes the Sox should fill?

/

We've been discussing recently what the White Sox should not bother doing. They should not bother trying to wade into the morass of the free agent catcher market if Tyler Flowers (who naturally followed up Monday night by going 0-3 with 2K) is going to tease at being a league-average hitter. They should not pay up for two starting rotation upgrades if they can get Carlos Rodon to be one of them for the small price of the rookie minimum and the biggest draft bonus in franchise history.

But where should they spend the monies? Obviously.../glances at Tuesday night's box score...somewhere.

Read More

Should the White Sox Pursue Yasmani Tomas?

/

Early Friday, news broke that Cuban slugger Yasmani Tomas defected and will soon be free to sign with any Major League club.

Given the White Sox's current influx of Cuban nationals on their current roster (five), as well as the success of their most recent import, Jose Abreu, one has to wonder if they'll be among the bidders for Tomas' service.

Read More