Don't expect Jose Contreras to be traded this season

by The Cheat on Aug 18, 2007 2:10 AM CDT in White Sox News

I was going to write a recap before I read some dumb quotes about the future. In that recap, I planned to focus mainly on Contreras, and that if you paid attention to his stuff instead the results -- that is if you tried to objectively scout him without letting silly things like a Jose Guillen's "excuse me" double and Ichiro's free triple get in the way -- he had a pretty good outing. In fact it was probably his best outing of the season.

It appears that USS Mariner agrees, and is fully on board an attempt to acquire Contreras... Which is exactly the reason it won't happen. I mean listen to their closing paragraph

Honestly, if I could acquire Contreras tomorrow without giving up any real talent in return, I'd make the move regardless of how much salary the White Sox were willing to eat. If they offer to pick up some of the money, that's just a bonus. I saw enough tonight to confirm what I already felt that his performance record was telling us - he's not done, and he's not even really close to being done. He's still a useful major league starting pitcher, and on a team that is running out Horacio Ramirez and counting on Jeff Weaver and Jarrod Washburn, he fills a big hole.

There's no way we should be so lucky. I'd love to be rid of Contreras, even though I agree he isn't completely done. He's appeared like a pitcher whose career was over for most of the season, but since that stint in the pen Jose has regained his fastball and seems to be more willing to attack the strike zone. And that's why the White Sox will hold onto him. That, and with the price of starting pitching, 6 more mediocre-to-good starts will make Contreras much easier to move this off-season.

Remember, if last offseason showed us anything, it's that your most recent year performance isn't particularly important in terms of dollars received, as Jeff Weaver, Randy Wolf, Adam Eaton, and Jason Marquis all cashed in despite miserable 2006 campaigns. $10 million for each of the next two years for Jose Contreras just isn't a significant liability, given the current way teams view the value of guys like him.

If Contreras is able to throw as he did Friday for the rest of the season -- which at this point is still a big if -- the White Sox will have no trouble dumping his entire salary while receiving a quality player in return.

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Comments

KW

forget about OZZIE,and the players on the field the real reason for the last place SOX is the General manager who has no Clue how to run a major league team. Why in god's name did he get rid of two players who could at least hit the ball and replace them with raw rookies. The Sox don't have a position player in the minors who can play in the bigs. To kill the snake you have to cut off the head-- Fire that asshole GM now.

by BIG KLU on Aug 18, 2007 11:11 AM CDT reply actions

go away

by colintj on Aug 18, 2007 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions

JD Resigns with Sox

WSCR reporting Dye signs for 2 years, $22 Mil, Option for 3rd Year

by NSSF on Aug 18, 2007 12:30 PM CDT reply actions

Ugh...

Terrible signing. Way above what I would have guessed market price was per year and he cannot play defense anymore. What an absolute waste of money.

Optimism meter is reading pretty low.

by hitlesswonder on Aug 18, 2007 12:36 PM CDT up reply actions

Wholly Moses!

Wow, three slugging 1B/DH types for two slots in the lineup. Maybe the AL will add a 10th position, short center, for JD to play. Blech.

Stretch!

by stevegoz on Aug 18, 2007 12:41 PM CDT up reply actions

GMAFB

Dye has been one of the best hitters in the league during the 2nd half, the Sox are getting him at a pretty good price, and what other options are there. Like it or not, the Sox system is ripe with talented OF.

by Tony82087 on Aug 18, 2007 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions

This ain't bad

The key is it's only two years, forget the money. Any top FA outfielder is going to demand, and get, five years.

We're not competing the next two years anyway, might as well keep the powder dry.

But seriously, I always love speed.

by ChicagoPete on Aug 18, 2007 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions

How is it a terrible signing?

Dye has looked much better since his knee stopped being so gimpy, and it's not like he's blocking anybody. A few days ago you were complaining about the Sox having nobody to play the OF next season -- this move ensures that we'll at least have one above average OFer next season.

And getting Dye for two years (the third year in an option) is quite the coup.

by CWSKeith on Aug 18, 2007 12:39 PM CDT reply actions

Agree

Dye has looked much better after the injury. Also depending on what goes on with Thome, Dye could be a helluva DH.

by NSSF on Aug 18, 2007 12:49 PM CDT up reply actions

It's subjective...

But his defense has looked so atrocious to me that I just think having him in RF in 2008 is a bad move. If they were to play him in LF, I'd be happier. But to me this looks like a step towards an Owens-Erstad/Rowand-Dye OF and I won't be happy with that.

Also, given Dye's first half it seems like a lot of money per year. Although I agree that 2 years with an option isn't terrible in terms of time. I assume JD or PK becomes a DH in 2009.

by hitlesswonder on Aug 18, 2007 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions

ok...

Ok,so if they didn't resign Dye, wouldn't it be just a step to Owens-Erstad/Rowand-Sweeney OF??

Would you rather have that?

by Tony82087 on Aug 18, 2007 1:01 PM CDT up reply actions

There are other options

The Sox need to trade pitching for a CF or SS that can leadoff. Getting a LF that has a little pop shouldn't be impossible. It could even be Fields. There is no reason to feel locked into Owens or Sweeney...

by hitlesswonder on Aug 18, 2007 1:14 PM CDT up reply actions

There isn't much to celebreate, per se,

but, an OF without Dye next year is downright miserable. I can see it now, a combo of Owens, Erstad, Sweeney, maybe even Pods or (speculatively) Rowand. Not too pretty. At least we'll have one OF'er with some pop in his bad. And 11 million isn't all that bad, especially once the Count or Garland goes.

by southsider80 on Aug 18, 2007 2:01 PM CDT up reply actions

Dye/Rowand/Sweeney

could also be in the cards. It's just hard to say. The real problem is that as long as Erstad and Owens are on the team, they'll be options for playing time to Ozzie.

by colintj on Aug 18, 2007 2:41 PM CDT up reply actions

i dunno keith

it's not a terrible signing but it's not a good one by any stretch of the imagination. it's barely neutral. yeah, he's not blocking anyone directly. but that $11 million is sure blocking us from doing other things. we've got a hell of a lot of payroll tied up in older and injury-prone players. that's a recipe for disaster.

JD looks awful in the outfield - and this is when he's supposedly healthy. it's only going to get worse out there. we already have two guys who are better than JD offensively who should be DHing (or should be soon). if thome were moved this could make some semblance of sense but thome is 1) cheaper and 2) better.

and i certainly don't buy that one month of being healthy is a trend for the future.

there isn't much to like about this signing.

by larry on Aug 18, 2007 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions

WOW! Didn't see this coming

Next order of business:

1.Package Garland for Tejada

Trade Jose
Sign a fee agent outfielders

I'm a disgruntled Whitesox fan and I can't spell

by chisox on Aug 18, 2007 12:59 PM CDT reply actions

I like the resigning.

But I can imagine what Baseball Prospectus will say for us at the beginning of next year. They will predict our entire offense to further regress due to age. I know that computers don't play baseball, but we do have a lot of players on the wrong side of 30. This youth movement is off to a strange start.

by quartz77277 on Aug 18, 2007 1:25 PM CDT reply actions