Danks update

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by oeo

How long do these lame jokes go on until you get bored of them?

Never. Now that KW has again proven himself to be an above average General Manager, the haters need to grasp onto the straws.

[khan]

I say get him signed. With the way the Sox's minor league system is now, we need only look at how Detroit turned their fortunes around just a few years ago.

A few years back, Detroit had neither talent on the big league club, nor much in the minors. But by overpaying [somewhat] for a few draft picks, they were able to re-stock their system quickly. Setting aside their FA gambles with the big club, their having pieces to trade off their minor league system netted them Cabrera and Willis in trade.

I can envision Kenny being able to swing deals of a similar ilk, IF he has the pieces to send the other way. So even IF Jordan Danks won't become a solid major leaguer, he'll be valuable in trade until the rest of the world figures that out. Get Danks signed, if only to be able to move him along for someone more proven. Our big club is laden with aging DH/1B types, and every piece that we can add can only be of benefit to the entire puzzle.

As it stands, The Immortal Josh Fields and his boatload of strikeouts and his inept fielding ability stand as one of the only moveable assets in the system.

[UofCSoxFan]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Never. Now that KW has again proven himself to be an above average General Manager, the haters need to grasp onto the straws.

I think KW is a great GM. However, his short-coming thus far has been the draft (and KWJr looks like a complete reach). To be fair, I think KW realizes our drafts have been bad to very bad and has taken some pretty drastic steps to change this.

The saving grace for this organization is that KW seems great at scouting other team's minor league and major league rosters to get great value while at the same time is pretty damn good at evaluating our own players to trade (and seeing they aren't as good as hyped)...McCarthy, Reed, Sweeney (yes him...he is a poor man's Koske Fukudome with worse defense), Chris Young (strikes out a ton and can't hit for average)...the problem is that he drafted a lot of these "overhyped" prospects in the first place.

[AzureJazzMan]

Originally Posted by UofCSoxFan

The saving grace for this organization is that KW seems great at scouting other team's minor league and major league rosters to get great value while at the same time is pretty damn good at evaluating our own players to trade (and seeing they aren't as good as hyped)...McCarthy, Reed, Sweeney (yes him...he is a poor man's Koske Fukudome with worse defense), Chris Young (strikes out a ton and can't hit for average)...the problem is that he drafted a lot of these "overhyped" prospects in the first place.

Don't you all get it? That is the genius, that is Kenny Williams!!!! He knows exactly who to draft, in order to build them up enough to trade them, knowing full well they will suck, in order to get the other guys who were drafted and not have to deal with signing them!!! It's so simple, that is what's so brilliant about it!!! No one ever sees it coming!!!

[Rockabilly]

Jim Callis believes the Sox will sign Beckham and Danks...

He also mention by late next season Beckham and Alexei will be our starting Middle INF

Originally Posted by Rockabilly

Jim Callis believes the Sox will sign Beckham and Danks...

He also mention by late next season Beckham and Alexei will be our starting Middle INF

God I find that hard to believe, but if we realistically can have TCQ, Alexei, Beckham, Danks, Floyd, Swisher (if he performs respectably in coming years), that is a good, young, and talented core of players that will be here for a long time and help us free up a lot of money to bring in FA's at other positions (CF, SP, 3B, 1B/DH), etc.

[Rockabilly]

Originally Posted by btrain929

God I find that hard to believe, but if we realistically can have TCQ, Alexei, Beckham, Danks, Floyd, Swisher (if he performs respectably in coming years), that is a good, young, and talented core of players that will be here for a long time and help us free up a lot of money to bring in FA's at other positions (CF, SP, 3B, 1B/DH), etc.

I still have hope for Fields. I agree with you it looks like we are going to have a nice young team for many years

also I think Getz, Poerda will have nice careers as well

Originally Posted by Rockabilly

I still have hope for Fields. I agree with you it looks like we are going to have a nice young team for many years

also I think Getz, Poerda will have nice careers as well

I doubt we could get this lucky, but if we could have Getz at 2B, Alexei at SS, and Beckham at 3B, that would be best case scenario. But that is definitely setting the bar high.

I think Fields, Poreda, Shelby, J.Martinez, Ely, etc will be used to bring in a SP or a CF'er. If Poreda can come up with 2 solid offspeed pitches, he could be a force in our rotation for years to come as well since he pounds the bottom of the strikezone. But, time will only tell. For the meantime, we can only hope Getz continues to do well in the opportunities that are given to him, and Fields tears up AAA in spite of hardly playing when he was up here, then promptly being sent down.

[soxball14]

My guy in PR that told me about Beckham signing on Tuesday, just told me that Danks has agreed to

[munchman33]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Never. Now that KW has again proven himself to be an above average General Manager, the haters need to grasp onto the straws.

Above average in the sense he's had one playoff team in his entire tenure?

I don't disagree he's done a decent job and 2005 was great...but there's been just as much bad as good.

[2906]

Originally Posted by soxball14

My guy in PR that told me about Beckham signing on Tuesday, just told me that Danks has agreed to

Agreed to a contract? I presume you meant "agreed too"?

[cws05champ]

Originally Posted by soxball14

My guy in PR that told me about Beckham signing on Tuesday, just told me that Danks has agreed to

Let's hope Danks signing is true as well.... Good job on getting on here and giving us the scoop!!!

[cards press box]

Originally Posted by munchman33

Above average in the sense he's had one playoff team in his entire tenure?

I don't disagree he's done a decent job and 2005 was great...but there's been just as much bad as good.

Chris Carter for Carlos Quentin? Signing Alexei Ramirez? That's way better than decent. Indeed, moves like those are just excellent work. Ken Williams has done many more good (and great) moves than poor ones.

[spawn]

Originally Posted by cards press box

Chris Carter for Carlos Quentin? Signing Alexei Ramirez? That's way better than decent. Indeed, moves like those are just excellent work. Ken Williams has done many more good (and great) moves than poor ones.

You forget that he's still pissed off KW traded future HOF'er Faustino de los Santos.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by munchman33

Above average in the sense he's had one playoff team in his entire tenure?

I don't disagree he's done a decent job and 2005 was great...but there's been just as much bad as good.

This isn't the NBA, only 4 teams in the American League make the post-season every year. The Sox have been competitive for pretty much KW's entire tenure. He's assembled a play-off quality team in 2003 that was torpedoed by his lame duck manager, in 2004 that went down to 2 critical injuries, and in 2006 the Sox had the best record of any team not in the post-season.



I think that's an above average resume; I didn't say great or excellent, just better than average.

Sox record since 2001, KW's 1st season at the helm:

2001: 83-79, 2002: 81-81, 2003: 86-77, 2004: 83-79, 2005: 99-63, 2006: 90-72, 2007: 72-90, 2008: 67-52... Total: 661-593 (.527)