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I hope he gets hotter than shit, gets traded for that top 50 kid in LA, then comes back on a 5 year 10 million dollar deal and wins 5 WS.

I sadly don’t think they’ll sign a big fish... ever. My hopes this past offseason were forever crushed. Missing Harper AND Machado In a year they had planned for repeatedly... I’ll never recover from that kick in the balls.

I’m not saying he’s right or wrong but it was very telling. It’s almost like Steve Stone has now replaced Hawk as Reinsdorf’s personal mouthpiece.

Exactly. So will everyone complaining.

robots.

h He ain't a bum... but .189 572 OPS in July .125 489 OPS since all star break.

Vilehoopster doesn't like facts. He likes to live in fantasy land

Its almost like him hitting nearly 100 points above his career average for a couple months wasn't sustainable with a giant babip.

OK, a lot to unpack here, but I divided up your post into the 3 ideas that bear analysis, IMO. On #1, the lesson that should have been learned by this front office is to know when you have scant competition for a player's signature, and when there will be PILES of teams trying to sign a player. In the cases of Abreu and Robert, there were few suitors, and NONE among the moneyed class of MLB. For that matter, there was scant competition for Machado and Harper, but they fvkced that one up, unfortunately. Turning to THIS offseason, for Cole's signature, I can envision the yankmees, the scrubs, Atlanta, Philly, and Texas, and LAAAA all being interested, and all having more money to spend, and all being closer to competing than the SOX. Part of winning FA is identifying the player, and part of it is signability. If you've been a shitty team for a decade, AND reluctant to spend, your chances to sign top talent in FA are remote. [Unless there are few competing suitors.] On #2, I don't think that the free agencies of yesteryear are all that cogent to today's discussion, in all honesty. There are MASSIVE differences in the CBAs, for example. [Dye would have had a draft pick attached to him, were he a FA today.] There aren't NEARLY as many stupid front offices in MLB as there was when AJP was stupidly given away for free. Were it TODAY, the SFGs would have rightly tried to keep AJP to rebuild his value, THEN trade him away. As for Fisk, that was so long ago, if memory serves, he was only a FA because he came off an injury. Free agency [both MLB veterans and International FA] have long been a massive failing by this front office. Lastly, on #3, this front office crapped their pants on the pursuit of Machado. In no way was their incentives-based deal a good one for Machado. And in no way was this org worrying about a $300MM guarantee cogent, given the natural inflation of top player salaries and the $/WAR for either one. Sorry, but it was a MASSIVE fuckup, and one that will haunt this team for a long time. There won't be another 26 year old stud available in FA for YEARS. There won't be another 26 year old stud, AND none of the RICH teams interested/involved for decades. If you want to behave like a "small market team," then you'd better learn to strike when you can. This front office has earned the criticism and scorn, and we are RIGHT to pile it on them until they prove otherwise.

Shouldn't Abreau count? 6 year $68 million was a pretty ballsy move in 2013 for a guy that never played in the majors. And Robert's $52 million deal (26 mill signing bonus and $26 mill tax)...for a 19 year old. And with each era...Fisk, Dye, AJ...they had big contributors that were free agents. I know it doesn't fit the sites narrative to suggest that this front office IS trying and some of their moves aren't terrible but the negativity is overwhelming. I think they DID try hard...for Machado...they offered according to Ken Rosenthal...$250 m with incentives to get to $350m plus two of his best friends and his brother in law. A confident betting man takes the chance at $350 with the downside being generational wealth. He chose sunny California and the bigger guarantee. Either choice was not wrong for Manny. But too many on here think the Sox made a stupid offer...there was always only going to be one winner for Machado. As for Harper...I think it was reasonable not to pay the guy $350 m. There are currently 13 outfielders that have a higher OPS than him....he's basically having the same year as Marcell Ozuna. I think keeping your power dry for when you REALLY need it (they weren't ready this year even with one of those two) makes sense. That said...they'd better spend it this year. I just think they will and think it's unfair to suggest they never will.

Just being honest - but before I believe they won't fuck it up, I actually need to see some proof.

Wow. that's pretty fast. Must not have been a very serious one. It's a good sign for his future health and injuries to the joint.

I don’t see how you can shred a comment like this. Hahn brought in Nova, Santana, and Banuelos this past offseason as rotation guys. Did he intentionally waste $9 million on Nova thinking he would be bad? No, he thought he would be a good #4/#5 starter. He has brought in other such trash over the past few years (Paulino, Noesi, Latos, Santiago, Holland, MiGo) as rotation solutions. Did he intentionally sign the worst possible answers for his rotations? What big name starting pitchers has Hahn signed/acquired from outside the Sox organization? Big Game James nearing his retirement? Sure, Hahn will supposedly have more money to spend next offseason but does anyone trust him to spend it wisely? Why is there any reason to trust him going forward when it comes to free agency?

Maybe this was posted elsewhere but as someone that's in between Gen X and Gen Z (older millenial) I found his comments spot fucking on.

Social media was a mistake

The only conclusion is the White Sox really didn’t want Machado all that badly. It doesn’t make sense, because of the courting of Alonso and Jay, but then why would they have telegraphed the move of Moncada to third (Machado’s best position)...? it was all to light a fire under Yoan and Timmy? Because if you want to make it clear to Machado that he’s wanted...you don’t move one of the best young players in the game to his natural position. It’s not like he was wedded to playing SS either, as he made it abundantly clear he was willing to move back to 3B. Ironically, the player they most needed was Harper (from a positional standpoint), and they barely paid lip service to that possibility after the initial meetings.

Can we not talk about how much payroll the Padres might have available ever again?

The other thing to remember with Baines is that he missed portions of three seasons to strikes, 1981 and 1994-95. Plug that playing time back in and he's over 3000 hits and right at 400 homers. How many more hits and home runs would Baines likely have logged? Using simple "on pace" calculations: 1981: 40 hits, 5 HR 1994: 51 hits, 7 HR 1995: 14 hits, 3 HR That'd bring Baines to 2,971 hits and 399 home runs. He'd get my vote either way, but his odds would probably be considerably better with those numbers literally scratching at Cooperstown's door.

Greg read your well thought out post about Bummer's value. He digested it, learned from it, and then did some research on Bummer's statistics. He had a change of heart based on the information and statistics at hand.

I know a lot of fans want a Hall of Great Stats and anything that can't be measured and ranked doesn't matter. I believe it is a Hall of Fame and a person's overall contribution to the game of baseball should be taken into account. Baines is a credit to the game of baseball. He played with all the great qualities you want in a player. He never disrespected the game by cheating, doing drugs, didn't gamble on baseball, he was a player that truly was a great role model on and off the field. The HoF would be an even bigger farce if they didn't recognize who builds the game up. I believe the Hall is a better place with him enshrined. Parents won't have to shield their children's eyes from the reality of the man when they visit.

Gladney Bomb #6. Ties the game in the 9th.

By injuries did you mean “way too small. Outfielders will never respect him and play 7 infielders so his OPS will never be high enough and he doesn’t strike out or walk enough too small to function waste of a 4th pick, you need to get higher Ceiling at #4 even though the last 10 #4 picks have almost all amounted to complete shit, hold my beer while I go slap him around and teach him how to hit homers”?

The idea of this thread is perfect. Cole would make us world series contenders tomorrow.

In 2006 I saw the Sox play in Pittsburgh. I went with my dad. He's the reason I'm a Sox fan and we used to make occasional trips to road Sox games. Anyway during the first game of the series he got a foul ball. He gave it to me. He passed away in 2017. Sometimes it's not the most expensive piece or the one you worked hardest for but instead the most symbolic.

What does the 2017 draft have to do with anything?

We can easily afford to add $100 million per year in payroll. Even if we elect to pay a Cole type in the vicinity of $30 million per year that still leaves $70 million per year for a lesser starter, a right fielder and several very good relievers and several nice extensions. I think Jerry is prepared to spend the money but probably not all his eggs in just a couple of baskets. That's not necessarily wrong.

He was a week from 83 at the time of the Manny debacle.

I think that is a little unfair. Most of the saber guys also said he could be a monster, and used things like exit velocity to prove it. They just also added the caveat that he wouldn't reach that status until he cut down his K%, which was correct. The saber projections have no way of knowing who will be able to make that adjustment, so they go with the average case. The average case of a guy with a high K% in the minors and a high K% in the majors is... a high K%. So the saber projections definitely were conservative, but I think this is a case where the saber people and scouts were actually in perfect agreement.

Trading away Allstar Tommy La Stella to sign Daniel Descrubbo.

This is why I don't get the Nova hate. He's not good but he gives you innings and keeps you in games more often than not. He just goes out sometimes and implodes for 6, 7, 8 run games. For what he is and the purpose for signing him this year he's fine.

AJ Reed would have needed a 5 iron to hit that ball

He must have seen you pull the "Ron" on here and decided to deliver.

Barf. This just made me think of trading for Todd Ritchie. Double Barf.

I could go with Dick or Billy Pierce, Minnie Minoso and then Tommy John and Jim Katt.

Know Donn and have spoken with him many times just a class guy, very good interview too.

I'm not sure why anyone would have confidence in free agency. That has been this team's (and not just this FO) biggest challenge. They haven't shown themselves to be anything other than incompetent in free agency.

I'd personally like to avoid 36 year olds off bounce back years

We aren't signing a big fish like Cole. I do think we sign 2 impact starters like Bum and Wood, we will acquire an impact RF somehow, and will sign a bullpen arm. Our FA class will have a big impact on the team but no stars.

How about: Red Sox chose 4 of the following: Bummer, Colome, Abreu, Leury, and Rutherford Sox get Benintendi and Rusney Castillo. Castillo due $11.75M this year and $14.25M next year. Offsets the money the BoSox are picking up in 2019, and gets Castillo off their books. Sox could run Castillo out in RF the rest of this season. Guy sucks, but maybe this is a way for the Sox to get creative to get Benintendi. Again....doubt Dombrowski blows one of his best assets on something like this, but kind of fun to speculate about.

It’s all about leverage, or just simple supply/demand. McCann had none. Playing opportunity was just as valuable as the contract dollars, especially because he was already familiar with all the pitchers in the division. As far as the money crap, if the Yankees were winning every year, that would be one thing. As long as teams like Oakland can afford a Cespedes or the Padres Machado and Hosmer...then there’s still a reasonable balance because every team in MLB has enough incoming revenue from media/broadcasting to afford one of those guys if they really wanted to, even the Marlins and Rays.

Sox were outscored 4-2 by a team that only had three hits. Tells you what you need to know about the Cease start.

He got himself in trouble early with the walks, and you could almost sense the grand slam coming. But, as others have mentioned, he's very calm and collected out there. Afterwards, he came out and pitched much better. He's got great stuff and a very good demeanor on the mound. The rest will come over time, but he needs to keep doing it at the ML level.

I didn't know Cole was a Boras guy. Oh this will be fun. I can see it now...the Sox will have 'a seat at the table', and then Boras waits until April (torturing us all for 4-5 long off-season months) to sign with a team out of nowhere.... I'll go with the Padres again. And for the extra kick to the junk, he'll cite the bright future of playing with Tatis Jr. and Machado for the next 7 years. Hopefully they have a plan, and it's a bit more solid than last winter's. Because signing Machado with a cap of $250 mil guaranteed dollars was never going to happen.

Ok fine, that is true, and I agree, but wasn't your premise and question what position player would you add?

Ummmm. .... why would anyone pick anyone other than Mike Trout?

Be ready for more we really tried.....nothing but bargain basement again, not going too waste another winter being disappointed and lied too.

Well I feel like the Yankees and a few other teams can go 7/210 no problem. Why pick the Sox in that case?

I specifically sit in section 145 a couple rows off the field because it's close to players and there is no net. I got a ball Tim threw into the section a couple weeks ago between innings actually. I also go to a fair bit of games. I get why they are doing it bit I still don't like it.