A modest proposal for the '04 Sox

[mdep524]

Hey guys, this is my first post but I am a diehard Sox fan and have been following this board all offseason and really appreciate that baseball conversations I've read, and I'd like to be a part of them. At any rate, for my first post I humbly present to you my modest proposal for the 2004 White Sox. Working with the $58 million budget, the assumption the ARod-for-Manny trade occurs, and the idea that for THIS team change is good, here's what I would do:

*Trade Maggs to Boston for Nomar and Williamson

*Trade Konerko and Valentin to Los Angeles for Ventura, Mota and/or Miller, NOT Perez.

*Trade Lee to Seattle for Randy Wynn and Carlos Guillen and maybe a pitching prospect.

* Sign Ponson at 6 mil.

*Sign Freddie Garcia when he is nontendered, I'm assuming a salary of about 3.5 mil.

*If it is possible, trade a prospect to Montreal for Carl Everett.

*If possible, trade Koch to the Mets for a pitching prosect.


That would give us the following line up:

Wynn CF
Guillen 2B
Thomas DH
Garciaparra SS
Everett LF
Ventura 1B
Crede 3B
Rowand RF
Olivo C

And a pitching staff of

Buehrle
Loaiza
Ponson
Garland
Garcia

Bullpen:

Mota
Wunch
Williamson
Marte
Another RH set up man, or Koch if he can't be traded
Long reliever: Wright?


That line up isn't super intimidating, but all we've been hearing for the past three seasons is how great our right handed glut of streaky power line up is and where has it gotten us? Plus there's the chance Borchard or more likely Reed will be productive in the near future. We'd have a veteran presence with Ventura (Also a feel-good story in returning to Chicago) and Everett. And what a pitching staff- starters and 'pen-- and thats where games are won. Also we would be saving a TON of money, by my calculations we'd save about $8 million, giving us enough to a.) sign Garciaparra long term (if we fans can show him Chicago is a great baseball town, Scrubs aside), b.) go after another free agent, and/or c.) pay some of Koch's salary if we trade him. This team could be competitive in the weak AL Central.

What do you think? How would you approach it?

[voodoochile]

Hey, Welcome Aboard! :D:

[soxfan26]

First off, welcome aboard!

Second...

Originally posted by mdep524
*Trade Konerko and Valentin to Los Angeles for Mota and/or Miller, NOT Perez.

I'm pretty sure the sticking point in any trade with LA has been Mota and/or Miller. BTW what is wrong with Perez?

*Trade Lee to Seattle for Randy Wynn and Carlos Guillen and maybe a pitching prospect.

Just curious but what makes you think Lee would command that much in a trade?

* Sign Ponson at 6 mil.

Man after my own heart

*Sign Freddie Garcia when he is nontendered, I'm assuming a salary of about 3.5 mil.

Doesn't seem realistic

*If it is possible, trade a prospect to Montreal for Carl Everett.

Which "prospect" is Montreal going to take for Everett?

*If possible, trade Koch to the Mets for a pitching prosect.

Why would we just give away Koch? Seems to violate KW's rule about not making trades to "better the ballclub"


That would give us the following line up:

Ventura 1B

Did I miss something?

What do you think? How would you approach it?

I like your overall message, make the budget, get a leadoff hitter, strengthen the pitching staff, add some left handed bats. Unfortunately now that Pay-Rod has taken the baseball world hostage, what is realistic now might not be realistic after 5 pm ET.

[MisterB]

Originally posted by mdep524
*If it is possible, trade a prospect to Montreal for Carl Everett.


It isn't until at least mid-June. A free agent signee cannot be traded back to his previous team for 6 months after signing.

[RichH55]

I don't read modest proposals unless they involved eating irish kids

[mdep524]

soxfan, you're right, the LA deal is the hardest one to pull off. Also, I forgot to write Ventura in there. With PK, they might be willing to part with Ventura. I didn't put Perez in there because, even though I do like him, if we're able to get Ponson and Garcia we don't need him, and thus we can do the LA trade more efficiently for other guys.

Originally I put Valentin in the Seattle deal too, thinking Lee isn't a huge draw. But Lee is at his highest value right now, and the M's (like LA) are desperate for run production.

About Garcia, you don't think he will be non-tendered? If not, we could work him in a trade somewhere, I'm sure he won't be with Seattle next year one way or another.

If the Everett trade doesn't work, oh well. It was a thought. OFs are a dime a dozen, we could find one somewhere, though I am NOT a Juan Gone fan.

WHy would we give away Koch? Because he is terrible, and if the Mets are dumb enough to take him, even if we have to eat some of his salary, I wouldn't even think twice about it.

[hold2dibber]

I like the approach, but I don't think LA would consider that deal in a million years - it would add about $10 million to their payroll. If they were willing to add $10 million to their payroll, they could just non-tender Perez and sign Vlad Guerrero. And I'm guessing they'd rather have Guerrero, Mota, Ventura and Miller than Valentin, Konerko and Perez.