Saturday, November 22, 2014

REACTIONS TO THE LAROCHE SIGNING

Let's take a look at how the internets are reacting to the White Sox signing Adam LaRoche. I can only assume the rest of the baseball world is trembling in fear at the juggernaut that Rick Hahn is assembling here.


South Side Sox

LaRoche has hit at least 20 homers in every season in which he qualified for the batting title (nine out of 11 years in the big leagues). He's typically lousy in April, but he defied that trend with a .312/.413/.495 performance in the first month. In fact, he carried a .300/.400/.500 line through mid-June until regression crushed him in July (.159/.238/.227 over 101 plate appearances). 
He rebounded back to his usual levels over the final two months, resulting in a season that perfectly fits in with his respectable MLB career. Now we'll see how he fares in his first tour of the American League.




The Catbird Seat

This is a fine deal in most ways, especially for the horror show of MLB free agency, especially with expectations for rapid acceleration in contracts. This fills a need for a 1B/DH (possibly overfills it), without paying and committing your franchise to be centered around an older 1B/DH. And he could really thrive in Chicago. [HERE COMES A MANDATORY US CELLULAR FIELD-BASED EXPRESSION OF OFFENSIVE OPTIMISM] 
It isn't perfect. It's free agency! LaRoche is not some great exception to the issues I might have had with Victor Martinez, or the chattering for 'Bring back Adam Dunn' when he was hot for the first two months. LaRoche is old. He's 35. He's three days older than Dunn, in fact, who just retired. There are no major injuries in the last five years, but occasional back issues. 
His approach seems superb and he's grown increasingly contact-oriented (18.4 K% last season), but he's firmly in Konerko territory where he's productive until he's not, and when he's not, he might just never be again, and that might just come at any time. If it happens in May of 2015, well two years doesn't seem that short, does it?

ESPN

So far, general manager Rick Hahn has filled two major needs in solid fashion and hasn't broken the bank to do it. LaRoche will average $12.5 million over his two-year deal, and Duke will make $4.5 million in 2015, with slight raises in each of the following two seasons.

Not only does Hahn still have more money to spend, but trades remain a possibility to fill needs over the next four weeks, which is usually the prime time frame for making deals. Baseball's winter meetings are set for Dec. 8-11.

Sports Illustrated

If the White Sox are willing to make their soon-to-be 28-year-old superstar a full-time DH, LaRoche will also be an upgrade defensively at first base. For the White Sox, there’s nothing not to like about this deal. For LaRoche, however, it remains a curious choice.
Chicago won just 73 games last year despite tremendous seasons from Abreu and left-handed ace Chris Sale, and according to the advanced won-loss formulas (Pythagorean, third-order) they were closer to a 71-win team. The White Sox have two superstars and a handful of good-to-very-good players. Lefty Jose Quintana, center fielder Adam Eaton and shortstop Alexei Ramirez are all firmly in the latter category, to which they can now add LaRoche. Third baseman Conor Gillaspie took a nice step forward in his age-26 season, and Avisail Garcia remains a compelling talent heading into his age-24 season after losing most of 2014 to a shoulder injury.

CBS Sports

That's a sneaky good lineup. Two legitimate power threats in Abreu and LaRoche, plus a third in Garcia, who missed most of 2014 following shoulder surgery. Eaton and Gillaspie quietly had a 117 OPS+ and a 113 OPS+, respectively. Flowers had a 95 OPS+ in 2014, which is perfectly acceptable for a catcher. 
That's six MLB-caliber hitters plus Flowers, more if Semien blossoms and/or the club finds an upgrade over Viciedo. That doesn't sound glamorous, but you know what? These days having six average or better hitters is a luxury. Offense is way down around the league and the White Sox have some guys who can put runs on the board. 
As Dayn Perry wrote recently, Hahn has quietly built the White Sox into a potential 2015 contender through a series of lower-profile but effective moves. The LaRoche signing is another example. Affordable, impact hitter, great fit for the lineup and ballpark. I don't know if Chicago will contend next season, but the Sox are in much better position to do so than they were two years ago thanks to Hahn.











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