Juan Pierre to White Sox

[Invader3K]

MLB Trade Rumors has it up, via Tim Brown of Yahoo. They're dealing two minor league pitchers in exchange. Dodgers are paying up to half of Pierre's salary.

 

So Pierre comes back to Chicago in an unexpected way.

[naivin]

I'm just glad he's not coming to Milwaukee. Whatever Kenny Williams gave up for him is too much.

[yoshii8]

The White Sox could be a suprise team next season, especially if they stay healthy. A starting rotation of Peavy, Danks, Buerhle, Floyd, Garcia, and bullpen w/ Jenks, Linebrink, Pena, Thornton, Putz is pretty scary. Now they have a decent leadoff hitter, to go along w/ a solid core of a lineup w/ Beckham, Ramirez, Quentin, Rios, Teahan and Konerko.

[dadofandrew]

Pierre's defense makes him a negative impact, by far. He allows most all runners to go 1B-3B, which adds up over 162.

[Funketown]

Pierre's defense makes him a negative impact, by far. He allows most all runners to go 1B-3B, which adds up over 162.

For what it's worth, UZR still views him as a decent defender. I'm sure he doesn't have the range he used to have as a Cub, and he still has that rubber arm, but I'd probably say he's about an average center fielder these days.

 

That said, I'm just happy he won't be spending any time in Miller Park next year (okay, I'd be happier if he were wearing a Cubs uniform).

[Invader3K]

I said this elsewhere, but if he plays anything like he did for the Dodgers last year, this is a pretty good deal for the White Sox at half the salary price.

 

I really like Kenny Williams as a GM. He is aggressive and takes some risks, but they seem to work out more often than not for his team.

[JohnBriggs12]

Pierre's defense makes him a negative impact, by far. He allows most all runners to go 1B-3B, which adds up over 162.

What makes you think he'll be playing defense for the Sox? They have Alex Rios in CF, currently a possible platoon in RF with Kotsay and Andruw Jones, and Carlos Quentin in LF.

 

I would guess Pierre would play some LF where his arm is less of a liability, but he'll also do a lot of DH'ing.

[endaround]

Because Quentin has turned into a terrible defensive player no way should Pierre be a DH.

[Oldcity]

Pierre as a DH brings back memories of Gwynn as a DH.

 

And Kenny Williams' aggression is sure looking foolish with Alex Rios. I still can't believe he took on that contract.

[MNBrew]

As much as certain trends of his lead to natural questioning of Juan Pierre's worth, you also can't fully ignore what he did last year. If the Dodgers were THAT willing (as in about $10.5M's worth of willing) to get rid of him for not much in return, the Brewers probably could've gotten a half-decent prospect in return had they traded Jeff Suppan to get him.

 

Sure, he's a speedy, GOOD-hitting leadoff hitter with no power, but you need guys like that and Gomez showed more knucklehead tendencies in his 2 years as a Twin than you'd ever believe, so having an experienced, successful guy like Pierre to cover Gomez's spot in the lineup & the field would've been a darn solid idea.

 

I'm willing to place at least $5 on the odds that at least 2 of these 3 things will occur next year:

 

- Juan Pierre, while not a great player, has a decent chance of making the White Sox look smart.

- Carlos Gomez will quickly become a deservingly favorite target of the ire of a zillion posters on this site.

- Jeff Suppan will have more starts in 2010 that are bad than good and we'll spend the whole season counting the minutes 'til his contract is up.

[Robideaux]

I'm willing to place at least $5 on the odds that at least 2 of these 3 things will occur next year:

 

- Carlos Gomez will quickly become a deservingly favorite target of the ire of a zillion posters on this site.

- Jeff Suppan will be more bad [at baseball] than good and we'll spend the whole season counting the minutes 'til his contract is up.

-Tiger Woods wins father-of-the-year award

[Invader3K]

You know what I think is going to happen in regards to Suppan? He will come in with a chip on his shoulder and put up an ERA below 4.50, helping the Brewers make the playoffs again.

 

OK, I don't really expect that to happen, but it would be suitable irony at this point.

[CheezWizHed]

You know what I think is going to happen in regards to Suppan? He will come in with a chip on his shoulder and put up an ERA below 4.50, helping the Brewers make the playoffs again.

 

OK, I don't really expect that to happen, but it would be suitable irony at this point.

Yeah! He is in a contract year... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Oldcity]

It just occurred to me that they replaced Podsednik with a Podsednik clone, except now they're paying 5 mil for him rather than league minimum.

[JoeHova]

You know what I think is going to happen in regards to Suppan? He will come in with a chip on his shoulder and put up an ERA below 4.50, helping the Brewers make the playoffs again.

 

OK, I don't really expect that to happen, but it would be suitable irony at this point.

I don't know about a chip on his shoulder but it would be great if he could fluke his way to a 4.25 ERA or something. Of course, Doug would probably re-sign him after that, so maybe it wouldn't be great.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I am going to guess that Suppan retires after this year unless he wants to hang around the league in a Livan Hernandez fashion.

[HiAndTight]

You guys act as though they just brought in Jason Kendall to play Left Field.

 

They brought in a guy who hit .308/.365 last year in 145 games. Now I realize this was in around maybe 420 PA's, but still, he's a very good fit for that team.

 

Even if he does what he's done the previous several years and puts up a line of .290/.335, that's really not nearly as bad a move as the general feeling on this board would suggest.

 

With regard to Alex Rios, his deal which I believe was roughly 7/70 is obviously a big deal and a big risk, but I'll go on record right now as saying he's going to be a very good player over the life of that contract.

 

In the 3 years prior to last year he had OPS' of .798, .865, .854.

 

I realize he had an awful year last year, but he's one of the most talented players in the game.

 

 

But Kenny Williams seems to be one of those GM's where nobody likes the moves when he makes them, but he ends up with the last laugh.

[joepepsi]

- Jeff Suppan will have more starts in 2010 that are bad than good and we'll spend the whole season counting the minutes 'til his contract is up.

In 2009 Suppan made 30 starts. 12 of them were quality starts (6ip;3er or less). Another 3 starts he pitched 5+ innings allowing 2 er or less. That's 15 of 30 starts that were not bad. He also had two other starts where he left the team in a reasonable position to win: 5-2/3ip, 3er, and 5ip, 3 er.