SB Nation - Wilson Betemit

Worst New York Yankees of the Decade

Ed Valentine — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:00:17 -0000

We had some fun the other day debating the Pinstripe Alley Yankee Team of the Decade. Good points were raised on several controversial choices.

Along the way, some of you asked for the 'Worst Yankees of the Decade' team. I thought that would be fun, so I decided to take a shot at it.

Looking at the rosters over the years, though, I found it almost impossible to narrow it down to a single team. Instead, position-by-position, here are some of the most forgettable -- and regrettable -- Yankees of the past decade.

I am sure there are many other names that could or should be added to this list. But, this should get you started strolling down the wrong side of Yankee Memory Lane.

C -- Alberto Castillo, Chris Turner, Chris Widger, Todd Greene, Joe Oliver, Bobby Estelalla, Wil Nieves, Sal Fasano, Michel Hernandez,

1B -- Travis Lee (.105 in 7 games)

2B -- Tony Womack

SS -- Erick Almonte,

3B -- Wilson Betemit, Drew Henson,

INF -- Alex Arias, Felix Escalona (.000, 5 games in 2004), Mark Bellhorn (.118, 9 games, 2005), Cody Ransom, Angel Berroa, Morgan Ensberg

OF -- Kenny Lofton, Matt Lawton (.125, 21 games, 2005), Mike Vento, Justin Christian,

DH -- Jose Canseco

SP -- Kevin Brown, Tim Redding (54.00 ERA in 1 game, 2005), Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa, Jaret Wright (Carl Pavano BEFORE Pavano), Christian Parker (one 2001 start, got hurt, never pitched again), Jeff Weaver, Darrell May, Sidney Ponson (multiple times),

RP -- Alex Graman (19.80 in 3 games, 2004) & 13.50 in 2 games, 2005), Colter Bean, Bret Prinz, Sean Henn, Gabe White, Billy Traber, Anthony Claggett (33.75 ERA in 2 games).

I am ashamed to admit so many guys like this have worn the pinstripes during the course of the last decade. Yuck!

Cinci Salary Dump?

jscape2000 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:29 -0000

The Post:

The Reds have let teams know they would just about give away Francisco Cordero (two years, $25 million), Bronson Arroyo ($11 million in 2010, $11 million 2011 option with a $2 million buyout) or Willy Taveras ($4 million in 2010).

I know all the negatives about Arroyo- his K/BB ratio is only about 2:1 over the last three season, and he's a fly ball pitcher.

But he's kept his ERA+ between 93-112 in the last 3 seasons and his FIP has been between 4.50 and 4.78 while pitching 200+ innings for 5 straight seasons. I'm not worried about the launching pad worry, because he's coming out of Great American Ballpark, though I would of course worry about the NL to AL dropoff.

If Cashman really could bring Arroyo aboard in a deal reminiscent of the trade for Nick Swisher (the most valuable Wilson Betemit has been in his career), knowing Arroyo would be around for one season with a team option for another, I would bring him on as a 4th starter (resigning Pettitte or signing Lackey remains priority #1).

Friday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:09:52 -0000

by Kathy Willens - AP

John Lackey still probably won't be a Brewer, but that didn't keep his agent from having a beer with Doug Melvin.

View full size photo »

Some things to read while reserving a campsite near the half-pipe.

Yes, this morning's Mug is late again - my apologies. Here's a quick microcosm of what this week has been like for me: At one point while gathering links this morning, I woke up at my desk, holding the dog. I have no idea how long I was asleep. I don't remember picking up the dog. Let's see what I found to write about:

Apparently the list of people who stopped by for a Molson while Doug Melvin was at the GM meetings also includes Steve Hilliard, who represents John Lackey. It's hard to tell if it was a serious conversation or just an effort to "check in," but one can safely say the Brewers have expressed interest.

Here's a stat that's not very encouraging: Fungoes has a graph ranking free agent pitchers by the difference between their FIP and ERA, which is largely attributed to their team's defensive ability and/or luck. Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, Jon Garland and John Lackey were among the six luckiest. You know what else they all have in common? The Brewers are rumored to have shown interest in them.

Technically, we're still in the "exclusive negotiation period" of free agency, where teams are not allowed to negotiate contracts with other teams' free agents. With that said, the OC Register has a deeper look at those rules, and they're pretty loose. For example, a conversation like this one, reconstructed in yesterday's Mug comments by TheJay, TSSC and Yar Nivek, could probably happen:

I don't think you can offer specific amounts, but you can say, "Hey, it just so happens we need someone at your position [wink wink]" and hear back, "I don’t want to play for Mudville [glare glare]."

"You know, the other day, I was so hungry I thought I could eat 20 MILLION HAMBURGERS an HOUR for 4 HOURS. That's 80 MILLION HAMBURGERS."

"I’m looking for my friend BILL. Have you seen any BILLS around here?"

The Brewers have until sometime tomorrow to make a decision on Braden Looper for next season. They can either agree to pay him $6.5 million to return, or pay him $1 million to leave. After having conversation with the agents of at least four free agent pitchers, Doug Melvin probably has a pretty good idea of what the market will look like this offseason, and I wouldn't be surprised if a decision is announced today.

Jonathan Lucroy continues to draw positive reviews in the Arizona Fall League (FanShot), but another possibility has popped up for next season's catching vacancy, as Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach showed up in Rumorville yesterday. I've got a big post on catchers scheduled for later today: stop by around noon to check it out.

Here's a rather odd situation: Ben Sheets, who presumably has some interest in marketing himself to teams this offseason, is nowhere to be found, and at least one pundit is wondering if he may not come back after all. No one has heard from Sheets since his agent said he was throwing off flat ground several weeks ago. Jack Moore of FanGraphs says not to forget about him, though.

If you're feeling nostalgic and don't have anything else going on tomorrow, MLB Network is replaying Sheets' classic 2004 performance, when he struck out eighteen Braves in arguably the best outing of his career.

Larry Stone of The Seattle Times has the full list of arbitration eligible major leaguers for this offseason, so we can once and for all confirm that Carlos Gomez is on it. He qualifies as a Super Two this offseason by two days.

Beyond the Box Score has several visual aids ranking the free agent second basemen this offseason, and of the three graphs, Felipe Lopez leads two (WAR and wOBA), and Craig Counsell leads the other (UZR). Baseball Beat ranked Lopez as the fourth best free agent second baseman. They also rank Mike Cameron as the best center fielder, and Counsell as the fourth best shortstop.

Ryan Braun became just the third Brewer ever and the first since Paul Molitor in the 80s to take home back-to-back Silver Slugger Awards. Prince Fielder and Braun have combined to win the award three times in the last three seasons: Before that, the Brewers had only won one (Carlos Lee in 2005) since 1990.

There's a bunch of stuff in the minors today:

As Dan Walsh mentioned in yesterday's Mug comments, there's a rumor floating around that disappointing prospect Brent Brewer is considering quitting baseball to play college football. Brewer is reportedly planning a recruiting visit to Oklahoma State in the near future. Joshua Kusnick, who represents Brewer, said the report is just a rumor.
Brewer ranked fourth in Wisconsin Sports Tap's look at shortstop prospects in the organization. A 2006 draft pick, Brewer was ranked behind Josh Prince and Scooter Gennett. Both are 2009 draft picks, and Gennett has yet to make his pro debut.
Speaking of shortstops, Alcides Escobar was the shortstop on Topps' AAA All Star Team.
As the AFL season winds down, the Brewer who has gained the most in Arizona is almost certainly Zach Braddock, who has an ERA below 1 and hasn't allowed a hit in his last five innings of work. Braddock also shows up among the leaders in a couple of PitchF/x categories: getting called strikes and getting batters to swing and miss.
The Timber Rattlers have moved on to second base in the voting for their 15th Anniversary Team. Click here to read more about the nominees, including 2009 Rattler Brett Lawrie.
Baseball Intellect gave me a sneak peek behind their pay wall this week so I could take a look at some video and a nice scouting report on the delivery of Eric Arnett. They have a few paragraphs with some notes on Arnett's mechanics and velocity, along with a condensed video showing dozens of pitches from one of Arnett's recent outings. They also have a similar report on Jake Odorizzi. They're brief scouting reports and videos, but if you'd like to see these guys pitch for yourself, there are worse ways to spend $3.

I only have one transaction to note today:

Royals: Signed infielder Wilson Betemit to a minor league deal.

As I mentioned before, I've got a lot more on catchers later today, but here's a link to consider before then: Circling the Bases has a preview of the free agent market for backstops. With the exception of Bengie Molina, every catcher on the market is projected to make the same or less as what Jason Kendall made last season.

The Hardball Times has a look at the successes of the high, inside fastball. There's a lot of graphs, stats and considerations in there, but it seems like they're missing a bigger point: If a pitcher has the control to consistently throw a fastball over ANY corner of the strike zone, they're going to be successful.

I've heard others complain about this, and yesterday it happened to me: After checking the results on yesterday's Thinker, I blew an hour at Sporcle taking other quizzes. My favorites from the last 24 hours:

Name all the members of the NCAA FBS. (I got 107)
Name the conference of these D-I basketball teams. (I had somewhere in the mid-20's.)
This one is Mental Floss, not Sporcle, but name the 16 teams to appear in the most Final Fours. (I had 11.)

Mark Kiefer

Julie Scelfo of The New York Times

Amy K. Nelson

Wrapping Up the GM Meetings

The Cheat — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:31:42 -0000

The GM Meetings wrapped up today, and the baseball writers kept churning out content...

Kenny Williams is busy being his usual brutally honest self

"It's the same thing every year at this time of year," White Sox general manager Ken Williams said. "There is nothing to report."
Williams also discussed the payroll, though without offering any specifics, sticking instead to the marketing and ticket sales side of things, and indicated that the Sox won't be players in free agency until later in the off-season.
The White Sox released their spring training schedule, including 5 games with the Cubs and a trip to Vegas.
Fangraphs uses UZR to rank Jermaine Dye as the 3rd-worst fielder over the last three years. Just think how much worse that would be if he played the wall like Podsednik, one of the few areas where Dye was actually pretty good.
Schadenfreude link of the day: Wilson Betemit will reportedly sign with the Royals.

Take the Braves out of the running for these free agents

gondeee — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:28:22 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Was it Divine intervention that prevented the Atlanta Braves from signing Rafael Furcal... or just his agents.

Browse more photos »

Last off-season the Atlanta Braves announced they had come to terms with free agent Rafael Furcal on a three-year contract... but less than 24-hours later Furcal had signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the aftermath of that episode, Braves President John Schuerholtz stated that the Braves would never again do business with Furcal's agents, the Wasserman Group, headed by super-agent Arn Tellem.

As a side note to this, if we had signed Furcal, then we would have moved Kelly Johnson to left field, we never would have signed Garret Anderson, and Martin Prado may never have emerged as a bona fide major league starter at second base. And we might have traded Yunel Escobar somewhere. Things tend to work out for the best sometimes, as Furcal layed an egg in 2009.

Here are the free agents this off-season who are represented by the Wasserman Group, and are therefore off-limits to the Braves (courtesy of MLBTR):

Wilson Betemit
Aaron Boone
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Giambi
John Grabow
Rich Harden
Shawn Hill
Reed Johnson
Jason Kendall
Hideki Matsui
Jason Michaels
Guillermo Mota
Vicente Padilla
Wily Mo Pena
Joel Pineiro
Matt Treanor
Randy Wolf
Omar Vizquel

I must say that there's no one I really want on that list, so for this year at least, no harm, no foul.

A Guide To Some Relevant Minor League Free Agents

Sam Page — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:27 -0000

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

Browse more photos »

In 2009, the Mets were bereft of minor league depth. It was painfully obvious looking at Buffalo's performance and it became a major issue when injuries struck. Despite what some claim, however, developing prospects is not the only way to build good farm systems. Often those fringe players that never quite breakthrough to the show are the most integral parts of a successful minor league team. So going off this list, here's some MiFA of interest:

RHP Phil Humber: I actually think Humber is a pretty bad pitcher, but need to mention him before everyone gets nostalgic. Humber was, of course, the former Mets top prospect out of Rice that was supposed to join Mike Pelfrey at the top of the Mets rotation eventually--that was, before he had Tommy John Surgery. Somehow included in the Johan Santana deal, Humber pitched really poorly for the Twins in AAA. The only real reason to bring him back would be a show of goodwill and sympathy from the Mets. Don't hold out hope for that lost potential.

IF/OF Wilson Betemit: The top-prospect-turned-super-sub Betemit probably has his best days behind him, even at age 28. He comes from the Mark DeRosa mold in that he has experience at virtually every position, but is good at none of them. And while he hasn't hit very well of late, his interesting blend of power and plate discipline and major-league track record could make him worth a flier at AAA. Personally, I might opt for better infield defense behind the Mets young developing pitchers, but few others on that list can claim being an average major league hitter over their career.

RHP Bryan Bullington: One of many infamous first round busts in the Pirate's recent draft history, this first-overall pick has some upside as a reliever. In 38 relief innings for Las Vegas last season, Bullington had a 43:7 K:BB ratio in 38.1 innings pitched. He also can be as a serviceable AAA starter, but any chance of him making the bigs is as a part of the bullpen. A good guy to have around.

LHP Brian Burres: A long-time Baltimore farm hand, Burres has the stuff to be a mid-rotation AAA guy and a #7 or 8 on an organizational depth chart. Sub-par control and a horrible 2008 with the Orioles will likely prevent him from ever earning another extended stay in the majors.

RHP R.A. Dickey:

Pros:

Went to my high school
throws the knuckleball
the only article I ever wrote for my high school newspaper was about him

Cons:

not as good as Tim Wakefield

Dickey is the rare pitcher who is seemingly improving with age. He started using the knuckleball full-time in 2007, a season in which he was the Pacific Coast League MVP. Last year he had modest success as a reliever with the Twins. Knuckleball pitchers are great because they can pitch a million innings without getting tired and because they throw the knuckleball.

3B/OF Joe Dillon: At age 33, Joe's showing some signs of decline, but with the way he's been jerked around between the majors and minors recently, I wonder whether it's genuine slowing down or just not getting settled in one place. He is one of those AAAA sluggers that makes minor league baseball fun to watch--three times in his minor league career he's had a 1000+ OPS. He's a pretty decent fielding thirdbaseman to boot. This year he was the "last man" on the Rays bench, and he could easily reprise that role with the Mets, or be big boost to the Bisons.

RHP Geoff Geary: Geary is a control-specialist reliever who has had some major league PT recently with the Astros and Phillies. He's not someone I want in the Mets bullpen, but Buffalo could use him.

OF Mitch Jones: .354, .320. Those two numbers are Mitch Jones' Isolated Power in the past two seasons. Sure, he played in a friendly home ballpark in Albuquerque, but a .651 SLG% travels. You could make an argument that Jones is better suited for a starting job on the Mets than Daniel Murphy or Jeff Francoeur.

LHP Royce Ring: Ya'll know Royce. Lefty with the funky motion. I'd take him back on a minor league deal, considering the state of the Mets' bullpen.

LHP Jon Switzer: He pitched pretty well for Buffalo out of the bullpen this year (3.85 tRA). He would be a solid re-sign.

1B Chris Shelton: Like a right-handed Chris Carter, Chris Shelton is another AAAA slugger the Bison's stagnant offense could certainly use. Last year with Tacoma, he OPSed .905 at age 29. With Chris Carter already here, however, he may be "blocked." And as you've probably suspected, I'd gladly platoon him with Murphy, Carter, or Ike Davis, if given the chance.

LHP R.J. Swindle: Of all the pitchers I've talked about so far, Swindle is easily the most desirable. He'll be just 26 next season and has fantastic minor league peripherals 9.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9. He's got forgettable stuff: a low 80s fastball and curveball that is basically an eephus, but he's always put up great numbers and killed lefties. Chad Bradford II?

RHP Joe Nelson: The Rays signed Joe for $1MM after a fantastic '08 with the Marlins. He proved a bad investment with horrible command, but might be served well by a return to the NL East. The Mets were reportedly interested in him as a Major League piece last year, and at the very least would be a great AAA option.

C Guillermo Quiroz: A former top-50 prospect, Quiroz has evolved into a minor league catcher with a sterling defensive reputation, good pop, and poor on-base skills. Basically, he's Omir Santos. I am not even sure Omir Santos is even better than him. In fact, Omir Santos was the Orioles' AAA catcher when Quiroz was their Major League backup. That says more about how poor and ill-equipped for a starting gig Santos is, than how good Quiroz is. But if you're going to entrust Omir Santos with a roster spot, might as well keep his clone as a backup in AAA.

Jeff Salazar, Bryan Bullington Become Free Agents

Charlie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:16:22 -0000

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

8 months ago: Pittsburgh Pirates' Jeff Salazar, right, steals second before the tag of Cincinnati Reds' shortstop Adam Rosales in the bottom of the ninth inning of the spring training baseball game in Bradenton, Fla., Monday, March 30, 2009. Salazar went on to score the game winning run on a hit bit Jason Jaramillo in the Pirates 3-2 win. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Browse more photos »

Since we're at the point in the year where there's nothing to care about except little things, here's some news: a bunch of guys just became minor league free agents. The only Pirate on the list is Jeff Salazar, who went 1-for-23 for the Bucs this year. Salazar probably needed to hit better this season to have much of a shot at a real major-league career, which is too bad; he has an .826 career minor league OPS (albeit in some pretty hospitable hitting environments, like Tucson and Colorado Springs), and it's a shame he never got more of a shot. Most guys who stick as fourth outfielders begin their careers as starters, like Brandon Moss this year; guys like Salazar who have the skillset but are never lucky enough to be confused for starters usually don't make it.

Also on the list of minor league free agents are former Pirate #1-overall picks Kris Benson and Bryan Bullington. Bullington actually pitched very well for the Jays' Class AAA affiliate in Las Vegas, but he didn't make an appearance there after June. The list also includes Chris Duffy, Chris Shelton, and Craig Stansberry.

Other vaguely interesting names on the list: Phil Humber (third overall pick by the Mets in 2004, acquired by Twins in the Johan Santana trade, stalled in the high minors), IF Wilson Betemit (former top Braves prospect, still not that old, bad season in the White Sox organization but versatile and potentially still useful), RP Javier Lopez (again, a terrible season, but he's one year removed from being one of the majors' more effective relievers), RP Greg Aquino (consistently good minor league numbers; certainly a better option than the Denny Bautistas of the world), RP Vinnie Chulk (ditto), RP Jon Switzer (same), RP Joe Nelson (actually a totally decent MLB pitcher for the Rays last year, and a terrific one for the Marlins in 2008), and lefty SP Travis Blackley (former top Mariners prospect finally seems to be pitching with better control in his late 20s and still hasn't been used exclusively as a reliever, where he might find his niche).

Nothing big here, but I'd be mildly psyched to see the Bucs sign Blackley, in particular.

Thanks to WTM.

The White Sox - Huge Contracts to 2010 and Beyond

Jack Moore — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:00:19 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jake Peavy's contract has 52 million dollars remaining on it. Will his contract, along with the 62 million remaining on Alex Rios's contract, bog down the White Sox, or will they be able to win with them?

Browse more photos »

The White Sox have arguably been the biggest movers and shakers of this year's soft trade deadline, adding two gigantic contracts in the forms of Jake Peavy and Alex Rios. The White Sox, through these deals, have added over 110 million dollars of salary between 2010 and 2014. There's no question that Jake Peavy and Alex Rios will provide some sort of production over the course of these contracts, even if it's not the level of production that the White Sox are paying for. The question for the White Sox is whether or not they can still manage to operate from under the burden of these and other large contracts. Before adding Peavy and Rios, the White Sox were already at a $96MM payroll entering the season - 12th highest in the league, but the 13th highest was $82MM. The White Sox certainly belong to that second tier of large-market teams, behind the New York teams, the Cubs, and the Tigers, but more in line with the L.A. teams, Seattle, and Philadelphia.

It's possible that the White Sox could afford to add payroll because they subtracted over 25 million dollars in payroll over the 2008 offseason. Still, these additions have pushed them right back into that 120 million dollar range. With the economy as it is, I find it more feasible for the White Sox payroll to remain in the 100-110 million range as it did in 2006 and 2007. Let's take a look at the team that the White Sox will have under control for the 2010 season.

Now, they will need to fill a 5th rotation spot, 2 bullpen spots, a DH spot, and 5 bench spots (or 3 bullpen spots and 4 bench spots, depending on how they work their bullpen). If they do this internally, those 9 spots will cost 3.6M, taking their total guaranteed money for 2010 up to $93.675MM. Along with Wilson Betemit's contract, for 1.75MM through 2010 and Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo's $2.25M contract, this brings up the total to $97.675 Using Tom Tango's convenient payroll to expected win% formula, we can see what kind of team the White Sox should be getting out of this money.

For the purposes of this exercise, let's assume that the average payroll remains near $90MM, much like last year when it decreased by only $1MM. Then, with a $97.675MM payroll, the White Sox should expect a .505 win%, or win 82 games. With a replacement level set at a .300 win%, that means that a team with the payroll of the White Sox payroll should be roughly 33 wins above replacement. This year's White Sox team, without any major contributions from Rios or Peavy, is currently on pace to be at +37 wins above replacement. However, the White Sox will be losing a significant group of players next year (assuming Josh Fields goes to the minor leagues where he belongs, and Wilson Betemit remains in the minors where he belongs).

PLAYER	WINS
Contreras	2.1
Thornton	1.8
Thome	1.6
Richard	1.3
Dye	0.6
Dotel	0.6
Poreda	0.2
Colon	0.2
Anderson	0.1
MacDougal	-0.1
Podsednik	1.1
Betemit	-0.7
Fields	-0.8

Removing these players and their 8 WAR, the White Sox would only be on pace for 26 WAR this year. Now, of course, given playing time consideration it's possible that the 16 players remaining with the team would be worth more than 26 WAR total. However, I highly doubt it would be the 7 WAR necessary to get up to the efficiency requirement.

Using 26 wins as our base, let's see what kind of performance we should expect out of the 2010 White Sox without any major free agent additions.

The additions of Rios and Peavy (who I project at roughly 3.5 wins each) add 7 wins.
Gordon Beckham should improve and receive more playing time. He could add anywhere from 1-3 more wins than he has produced this year (+1.1 through 61 games). If Beckham is a 3.0 win player next year (a conservative estimate), that would add an extra 1.5 wins to our base.
Aging from Konerko, Buehrle, and Pierzynski should lead to decreased production, on the order of about 1.5 wins.
Carlos Quentin's return to injury could add anywhere from 2-4 wins. For our purposes, Quentin adds 3 wins.

Then our rough projection for the White Sox WAR would be in the ballpark of 36 wins, with pretty large error bars, probably along the lines of 5 wins on the way down and 3 wins on the way up. This gives a win total estimate of 79-87. At the high end, this may be a playoff team, but it would be unlikely. If the Sox are willing to up their payroll to 110 million dollars, though, they may be able to add up to 5 wins, vaulting them to the 84-92 win range and putting them right in the thick of the race. Regardless, the young talent of players like Beckham, Danks, and Quentin offsets the large contracts of Peavy, Rios, Buehrle, and the other veterans on the team, and the White Sox are actually spending their money at a reasonably efficient level, especially given their status in the market.

Looking longer term, the White Sox only have 3 contracts coming off the books after the 2010 season: Paul Konerko ($12MM), AJ Pierzynski ($6.25MM), Wilson Betemit ($1.75MM), along with the buyouts for Dye and Thornton ($1.25MM), for a combined $21.25MM. With increases in the backloaded contracts of Peavy and Rios along with talented players entering their second and third years of arbitration (Danks, Jenks, Wise, Quentin), the relief will not be much. With their core getting older quickly, the White Sox will have to replenish the ML club with a depleted farm system, which has dealt two top arms in Poreda and Richard, and their 2nd best hitting prospect in Brandon Allen, all in a year in which two of their top 5 prospects graduated to the majors in Chris Getz and Beckham. If Kenny Williams is caught in a situation where he is inclined to buy in the near future, due to the large contracts for veterans and increasing contracts for young players already in place, the White Sox in 2012 may be due for a long rebuilding period. Still, Williams has the team in a condition to compete in 2010 and 2011 at least, and with good drafting the franchise could be set up for success.

White Sox Gamble Again

Jesse — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:27:06 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Browse more photos »

Kenny Williams might have just pulled off his second coup in the last two weeks.

Gambling on Jake Peavy was one thing. A Cy Young candidate when he's healthy, it's pretty easy to defend the $52 million Chicago will be shelling out for his services from 2010 - 2012, and maybe even that $22 million option in 2013 could look like a steal when the time comes. Now the Sox have added Alex Rios. He's having a down year, but there's no denying what he could bring to the table in the middle of the order for an aging lineup.

Like Peavy, Rios is owed a lot of money over the next few years. It's $58.7 million from 2010 - 2014, with a $13.5 million dollar option in 2015.

Prior to both of these shrewd maneuvers, the White Sox had approximately $45 million committed to their 2010 payroll, and roughly $28 million committed to 2011. (Figures courtesy of Cots Contracts.) With these two additions they still have room to maneuver, but I wonder how much.

Player	2010	2011
Jake Peavy, SP	$15,000,000	$17,000,000
Alex Rios, RF	$9,700,000	$12,000,000
Mark Buehrle, SP	$14,000,000	$14,000,000
Paul Konerko, 1B	$12,000,000	---
Jermaine Dye, RF	$1,000,000	---
A.J. Pierzynski, C	$6,250,000	---
Scott Linebrink, RP	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
Mike MacDougal, RP	$350,000	---
Dayan Viciedo (Minors)	$2,250,000	$2,250,000
Matt Thornton, RP	$250,000	---
Alexei Ramirez, 2B	$1,225,000	$1,225,000
Gavin Floyd, SP	$2,750,000	$5,000,000
Total	$69,775,000	$56,975,000

That's a lot of money. It doesn't include picking up options on Dye (add $11 million, if for some odd reason the Sox actually pick it up) or Thornton (add $2 million), paying Bobby Jenks more than $6 million for his second year of arbitration or Wilson Betemit around $2 million for his third, or money for first-year arb guys like John Danks and Carlos Quentin. Jim Thome, Octavio Dotel and Jose Contreras are all free agents.

If the White Sox are planning on duplicating this year's $95 million opening day payroll in 2010, it will be interesting to see how they choose to fill their open roster spots.

The genius behind both of these moves is that if they pay off and both Peavy and Rios play like they're capable of playing, Williams will have given Ozzie Guillen a pair of stud 29-year olds who inject high-level and prime-aged lifeblood that will keep Chicago's window of competetive ball open. The gamble, naturally, is that if Rios is closer to his '08 or '09 version than his '06 or '07 version, and/or if Peavy doesn't get and stay healthy, then Chicago has taken on over $100 million worth of contract for two guys.

I haven't always been a fan of the way Williams has run the White Sox, or the way he sometimes handles himself. But he made a couple of ballsy, high-risk, high-reward maneuvers these last couple of weeks, and nobody can accuse him of playing it safe or of not taking the risks necessary to put his club over the top. And the best part (for White Sox fans) is that it couldn't have come at a better time, whether you're thinking about 2009 or the future. Chicago has given playing time to 16 guys 32 or older just this year. This rejuvenation was necessary.

Cashman Kills Trade Talk

jscape2000 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:20:40 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

If Cashman is true to his word, Arod and the Yankees will have to help themselves in the dog days.

Browse more photos »

Not with the Blue Jays, but with the fans.

According to the Times:

I know people still like to debate it. Debate all they want, I think [not trading for Santana] was the smart and right move, and we’re stronger than we would have been with one player and the money attached to the player without all the extra players we have now.

Cashman confirms the pieces for Santana would have been Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, and Jeff Marquez.

Two are on the major league roster, and Marquez was traded with Wilson Betemit for Nick Swisher.

Cashman says that the payroll is too high already. Halladay costs about $7M for the rest of the season.

On the other hand, Cash doesn't think the waiver wire will be a problem to use because teams don't have the cash available to risk taking on a player in a block attempt.