Chicago White Sox 2009-10 Off-Season Thread

[eriqjaffe]

Well, it's been busy so far.

Chris Getz and Josh Fields have been sent to Kansas City in exchange for Mark Teahen.

Mark Kotsay has also been signed to a 1-year, $1.5 million deal.

No news yet involving players not named Mark, but there's plenty of time before Spring Training.

[Jestor]

I think Teahen will be a good fit, especially since he'll have a stable position with us. There's something to be said for having a pretty sure idea where you'll be playing every day. Beckham at 2nd will be interesting, though I don't know for sure how good he'll be.

I expected it, but I was sad to see Dye's option declined. Probably not much chance he comes back then, is my guess. Although I think he was somewhat overrated, he was still a good, solid player and it's another 2005er gone.

[RchW]

Are you guys prepared for a whole year of Alex Rios?

[Russ]

Getz and Fields seems like a lot to give up for Teahen.

[Jestor]

White Sox sign 43 year old to be Omar Vizquel to a cheap 1 year deal to be their utility infielder.

I'm a little nervous about a guy that old, but we'll see how it works out. He'll be good mentoring for the young kids if nothing else.

The Sox are evidently also interested in injury-risk Coco Crisp.

[eriqjaffe]

Kenny always gets his man.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by Jestor

White Sox sign 43 year old to be Omar Vizquel to a cheap 1 year deal to be their utility infielder.

There was some talk he might sign with the Indians, if only to sell a few tickets. Maybe Shapiro wasn't as interested as the fans were.

[eriqjaffe]

I'm very "meh" about Crisp. I guess he'd be better than Podsednik in centerfield, maybe. Better than Dewayne Wise, though.

[Russ]

Andruw Jones is on his way.

[eriqjaffe]

Originally Posted by Russ

Andruw Jones is on his way.

Hooray?

Actually, for $500k, it's not terrible. It's like getting all the offensive production of Dewayne Wise for half the price!

[Jestor]

From White Sox website

The White Sox have decided against offering salary arbitration to their free agents, outfielder Jermaine Dye, right-handed reliever Octavio Dotel, outfielder Scott Podsednik and backup catcher Ramon Castro.

I was hoping we'd bring Dye back, but it looks like they won't happen. It seems like our bullpen should be okay even without Dotel. I'm not a fan of bringing Pods back, to be honest. Not on the multi-yeal deal he's asking for.

[jbergey22]

Some interesting moves I guess. Exchanging 2 midlins for 1 better midlin seems like an ok deal. Not sure about these past their prime players they are taking a shot on. Sox need to get younger.

[bear]

Originally Posted by Jestor

From White Sox website



I was hoping we'd bring Dye back, but it looks like they won't happen. It seems like our bullpen should be okay even without Dotel. I'm not a fan of bringing Pods back, to be honest. Not on the multi-yeal deal he's asking for.

Dye is one of my personal favorites, too. Hard for a Sox fan to not have strong feelings about a World Series MVP.
seeing the other guys leave doesn't bother me as much, especially the Dotel roller coaster reflief outings.

[eriqjaffe]

Oh, yeah. The Sox picked up Juan Pierre and $10m cash from the Dodgers in exchange for 2 PTBNL (whom appear to be pitching prospects Jon Link and John Ely).

While I'm not overwhelmed by the trade, I'm not upset by it, either. Pierre brings pretty much the same skillset as Podsednik, except about 10% better. Regardless, it means we won't be seeing an outfield full of the Luis Terreros and Dewayne Wises of the world, and that's a good thing

[CommishJoe]

There was a rumor that the Sox were interested in Gardner from the Yankees, but this deal would appear to cancel that out.

[Dwight Schrute]

any comments of the two pitchers you mentioned might be coming to LA? link and ely?

[eriqjaffe]

Link is a power pitcher, but has control issues. Ely is, apparently, a soft-tossing "crafty" righty.

Conventional wisdom has Ely as the better of the two, but given how generally poor the Sox pitching prospects tend to be - Lance Broadway (the 15th overall pick in the 2005 draft) was non-tendered by the Mets, take from that what you will - I wouldn't expect either of them to be fantastic.

Then again, the Dodgers have a history of churning out quality pitching. How much that has to do with actual talent as opposed to how well Dodger Stadium treats pitchers, I dunno.

[johnnybourbon]

nothing on the putz signing yet....yeah for some reason we now have 2 bobby jenkses

did jenks's arbitration number come back yet?

[johnnybourbon]

Originally Posted by RchW

Are you guys prepared for a whole year of Alex Rios?

prepared, no...but the likelihood of him being AS bad as last year is low. KW shown that the sox require more out of the fielding in CF than hitting during his tenure. Rios can field. Rios will hit. .300? no. better than BA or pods? yes.

[eriqjaffe]

Originally Posted by johnnybourbon

did jenks's arbitration number come back yet?

Arbitration figures don't get exchanged until the 19th, and then the hearings are from February 1-21.

Then again, the Sox haven't gone to arbitration with anybody since, what, 2001? If the Sox hold true to form, they'll reach a 1-year deal with Jenks before the 19th, probably not too far off from the $5.6m he made this year.