Chris Burke to Sox?

[Fantosme]

According to Steve Phillips in the Winter Meetings blog, the Astros are considering trading Burke to the Sox for an unnamed reliever.

He can play 2B, SS, LF, CF, and RF. So I guess he would be the new Mackowiak.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/...inter_meetings
11:41 PM

[ChiSoxFan35]

Bukvich?

I guess he's a body...

[ChiSoxPatF]

As long as they give up almost nothing, I guess its an okay deal.

My understanding is he was rushed up to the majors in only three years of tearing up the minors (.296 BA w/ 108 SBs by 2004) after being the 1st Round pick (#10 overall) by Houston. His numbers are pedestrian at best with Houston but he could be another high ceiling, speedy reclamation project for Kenny to hedge his bets with Richar. He's also known as a gamer and a grinder, although take that for what its worth because thats normally the way you describe someone who is "tool-ed" out.

We'll see.

[DumpJerry]

Originally Posted by ChiSoxFan35

Bukvich?

I guess he's a body...

Bukvich is no longer with the White Sox.

[The Immigrant]

Burke is $1.5 million cheaper than Cintron and should give us equal if not better production, especially if he can return to 2006 form.

If the reliever traded for him is MacDougal , that's a net savings of $3.5 million. But my guess is that Houston will want someone cheaper.

[Tragg]

Career OPS under .700. - obp under .319---he'll fit right in. We certainly should give less than we received for far better hitters like Iguchi or Rob M. How about trading him for Uribe. Get rid of some of our excess in one of these deals. Uribe is better than Adam Everett. Or give the Astros the A ball pitcher we got for Iguchi - that would be reasonable justice.

Has one of these "reclamation project" position players ever worked out?

Regardless, we shouldn't give anything approaching real talent for this guy.

[salty99]

I hope it's Aardsma or MacDougal.

[BadBobbyJenks]

Originally Posted by Tragg

Career OPS under .700. - obp under .319---he'll fit right in. We certainly should give less than we received for far better hitters like Iguchi or Rob M. How about trading him for Uribe. Get rid of some of our excess in one of these deals. Uribe is better than Adam Everett. Or give the Astros the A ball pitcher we got for Iguchi - that would be reasonable justice.

Has one of these "reclamation project" position players ever worked out?

Regardless, we shouldn't give anything approaching real talent for this guy.

A lot of defensive analysis I have read rates Everett as the best defensive short stop in the game. I dont see the want for uribe in houston

[the1tab]

Maybe they'll throw in a mid-level prospect for Jose Contreras. Burke's a younger Mackowiak but he can run... he just never had a chance to play on a regular basis because he's a natural middle infielder and the Astros had Biggio and Everett in his way. So his development was stunted by not getting playing time.

Let's take my last sentence from above and see who is going to fall into that category in Chicago if Burke is acquired: Burke, Jerry Owens or Danny Richar. Seems like we're stockpiling people w/ nowhere to play them. I still think we'd be nuts to not at least explore a Uribe-to-St Louis possibility. I know they just signed Izturis, but let's all be totally honest with ourselves about what Cesar Izturis brings to the table: Nothing. His injuries have robbed him of his range and he never could hit... he's Pat Listach for the new millenium. I would take almost anything for Uribe at this point, largely because it clears the way for Burke, who has more value to the roster because A) he's younger, B) he's less expensive and C) he plays more positions.

[RowanDye]

Originally Posted by salty99

I hope it's Aardsma or MacDougal.

Yea this would be good for Aardsma, IIRC he's out of options. There is also very little chance of Aardsma ever being worth anything to this team again with Ozzie at the helm. I love Ozzie, but I don't think he is the easiest guy to regain your confidence under.

Does anyone know if Burke can play 1B as well?

[asindc]

Originally Posted by Tragg

Career OPS under .700. - obp under .319---he'll fit right in. We certainly should give less than we received for far better hitters like Iguchi or Rob M. How about trading him for Uribe. Get rid of some of our excess in one of these deals. Uribe is better than Adam Everett. Or give the Astros the A ball pitcher we got for Iguchi - that would be reasonable justice.

Has one of these "reclamation project" position players ever worked out?

Regardless, we shouldn't give anything approaching real talent for this guy.

You could argue that Dye was a reclamation project given his injury history. Uribe, maybe to a lesseer extent, at least for 2005 it worked out. AJ for behavioral issues. I do understand your general point, however. But that is the nature of a reclamation project. Hit or miss, with relatively little invested.

[Tragg]

Originally Posted by asindc

You could argue that Dye was a reclamation project given his injury history. Uribe, maybe to a lesseer extent, at least for 2005 it worked out. AJ for behavioral issues. I do understand your general point, however. But that is the nature of a reclamation project. Hit or miss, with relatively little invested.

Uribe is a good example, though. The Sox turned this strange player into a major leaguer.
Dye had a lot of major league prowess behind him.

Burke is a backup infielder. We'll need one of those, presuming we can trade Uribe. But those guys should come real cheap - like Aardsma cheap.

To me, Williams' best moves is when he trades his garbage for their garbage. Borchard for Thornton; whowever that was (I think he's with the Tigers or someone) for Marte.

[btrain929]

Cintron of '06 was a good project. He was great off the bench. Last year, of course, not so much, but it's hard to have bench players succeed year in and year out outside of Daryl Ward. He can play all the OF positions and the positions up the middle, and can actually play them all well defensively unlike Cintron who plays a lot of positions but sucks at them. If we could get anything like Burke's '06 year off the bench, i'd be very happy. I'd like to think Aardsma would be the likely suspect because he's out of options and I don't think there's room for another righty in our pen, especially one with his control issues. Burke will replace Cintron. I wouldn't mind this happening at all.

[santo=dorf]

Burke last two season against LHP have been pretty good, of course if Richar gets off to a cold start, Burke will become the new Mackowiak.

[ChiSoxPatF]

Originally Posted by Tragg

Has one of these "reclamation project" position players ever worked out?

I'm not at all saying he's going to be a success in a Sox uniform, but, if we get him for a bag of balls and some rasin, it wouldn't be a bad move. He once had upside and he's still relatively young. As long as the Sox aren't banking on him as a starter, he really isn't a bad pickup.