They'll improve but it's not like they'll have .50 ERA.

Everyone thought Johan Santana would crush the NL when the Twins traded him to the Mets. He improved but it wasn't insane:

Twins:
2004 2.61
2005 2.87
2006 2.77
2007 3.33

Mets:
2008 2.53
2009 3.13
2010 2.98

He is 6-1 with a mid 2 era against the AL in the last two years.

Yes - Sale, Kluber, etc would post better numbers. Over the course of 30+ starts, facing a pitcher as opposed to a DH makes that one an easy call.

_________________

Arrieta's 7 GS over the last two years underscores what really makes pitching the AL difficult. In the NL a pitcher can coast against some team trying to pick in the top 5 and rack up 13 strikeouts against guys who should still be in AAA. In the AL even bad teams like the Red Sox and White Sox have David Ortiz or Jose Abreu just waiting for something they can hit out of the park. It's exhausting to have consistently good performances in the AL.

Just a bystander's view, no offense to Brick....

I chat sports with my cleaning guy at work because he hears me with the score on etc. He is a huge Pirate fan and general baseball guy. I mention what if we get Cespedes and he drops his jaw and says guaranteed wildcard.

No other comment. Just a view from afar.

_________________
Elections have consequences.

I agree with your cleaning guy. The implication that Cespedes not signing means the opposite, I agree with as well.

Nothing is guaranteed in baseball. Not even to the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs.

_________________

That depends if you think they can get Cespedes for 3 yrs. I do not. I think he'll sign for around 4yr/$100M or 5 yr/$125.

Now lets say they trade for Charlie Blackmon. He's under team control for 3 years and is arbitration eligible for the first time and projected to make around $5M. He's younger than Cespedes (hell I might be younger than Cespedes) and fits in the lineup better because he hits left handed and he adds a much needed element of speed (43 SB last year). He's also a very good defensive outfielder. All this for the price of 2 or 3 mid level arms. I'd much rather see them do this than overpay for a guy who is a pretty big question mark (at least he is in my eyes) going forward.

Eaton CF
Blackmon RF
Abreu 1B
Frazier 3B
Cabrera DH
Lawrie 2B
Avila C
Garcia LF
Saladino SS

Say hi to Juan.

_________________

I've been saying it for 10 years and have looked online a few times to support my stance..never found anything..but take any guy from Dumpster to Lily or Samardiza n look. I could name 500 more, you seen C.C. in Milwaukee? Santana was good in a Mets uni and he was at the end of his career. Watch what happens to Zimmerman in Detroit and Hamel's in Texas.

_________________

You have the wrong stereotype going.

Say hello to Bogdan

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

No problem buddy!

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I learned on Mully and Hanley this morning from a brilliant white sox caller that Arrietta would be the 4th starter on the white sox. Who ever said sox fans were the smart ones?

he was referring to playoff arrieta.

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

that was playin arrieta

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I knew that was coming. Fair enough.

LaRoche is under contract for $13M in 2016. Bad or not, he will be in that lineup almost every day. That is not the lineup of a contender.

_________________

Well, if he is, Garcia sits and LaRoche plays. Avi had a .675 OPS last year, and a .696 career OPS. Adam LaRoche went .634, which is worse, for sure...but also has a career .798 OPS with an OPS of .752 over the last 5 seasons.

You might lose a bit with LaRoche over Garcia, but not a ton.

_________________
Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I cannot believe they are letting the Nats swoop in here on Cespedes. They could have had the guy signed, sealed and delivered days ago

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

you just know they are going to sign Dexter Fowler and he will suck just like all the other second rate FA's they sign.

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

no doubt. I have seen that name popping up too often for me to not think he is on their radar. Typical Sox will give up a draft pick in a great draft for the privilege to overpay for a non difference maker.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Rather have Austin Jackson than Fowler. Rather have both of them than Melky Cabrera, unless Melky is back on his medicine then I'll take Melky over any of the FA OF's this offseasom.

If Melky is going to be clean the Sox fucked up giving him all that money last offseason.

Do you think Washington just realized Cespedes is a free agent in the last couple days?

Back to the Bargain Cave for the whitesox, Cespedes to the Mets.

So they went after Upton, Gordon and Cespedes and came out with nothing. Gordon took a below market deal to go back to KC, Cespedes signed a 3 year deal (opt out after 1) to go back to NYM and Upton got a big ol pile of money from Ilitch. The Sox were in hot pursuit of all three of them, and came away with nothing.

This your 2016 White Sox...

1 Eaton CF
2 Melky LF
3 Abreu 1B
4 Frazier 3B
5 LaRoche DH
6 Lawrie 2B
7 Avila/Navarro C
8 Garcia RF
9 Saladino SS

and 3 really good starting pitchers and top 10 closer. They gave up Trayce Thompson, Frank Montas, Micah Johnson, Marcus Semien, Josh Phegley, Rangel Ravelo, JB Wendelken... you know what I'm just going to stop. I dont even want to think about how fucking stupid this is. The Top 30 is gutted with only 1 position player even within a good first half in the minors of making the big league team (Anderson). Say whatever you want about Micah, Semien and Trayce those are exactly the guys the Sox could be using now. If Saladino fails the Sox are fucked at SS. If Avi fails the Sox are fucked at RF (they're so fucked at RF). If Lawrie or Frazier get hurt its back to the Carlos Sanchez Show, which is potential fucking of 3B and 2B. On top of all this the rotting corpse of Adam LaRoche is going to get daily AB's at DH.

Why bother dealing away all that talent for Frazier if the lineup was going to stay dogshit? What the fuck is Hahn doing?

Yeah, and they'd be way worse than they are. The object isn't to amass a bunch of unknowns you can dream about in the minor leagues. Guys actually have to be able to play.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Agreed. I certainly don't think that is a World Series lineup right there, but with Trayce, Micah, and Simein it's probably 4th or 5th place lineup.

_________________

I think you guys are undervaluing Thompson and Johnson, Semien is a butcher @ short but he can hit..probably a much better 2nd baseman.

_________________