Sarava

Hopefully they aren't in the position to want to sell at the deadline. But if they are. What concerns me is, I've lost faith that the current management can make proper decisions to be a championship team. When you ignore glaring holes and load up on relievers and utility infielders - why should the people that made these decisions get another swing at the plate?

The Sox have spent money. Not very efficiently though.

I would think the hockey jersey will be the most popular giveaway of the season. You better get there early

13 seems generous for a team playing this bad

Agree with the bolded. I'll also add that IMO Hahn and KW need to go with TLR as well. They are the ones that chose to ignore all the gaping holes this past off-season, and are responsible for the bad drafting and bad developing of prospects/draft picks.

The promotions are an interesting discussion. My sister is a Cubs fan and was complaining that the Cubs never have cool promotions like the Sox have. For instance, the winter aviator hat I use every day in winter for several years, and its still as good as new. The thing is awesome. Also the Sox pullover hoodie from last year is neat. But who pays those costs? I always assumed the sponsors did, but maybe they go 50/50 with the team or something? I wonder how that works out. But I would say the Sox have the best giveaway promotions in town for sports team by far.

Went to my first game of the year on Saturday. Parking was $27. Everything was mostly what I expected. If you go a concert or sporting event, you pay inflated prices.

The Sox have previously worked him at 2B, so that part isn't 100% all new. And I'm not saying he is out of condition in general, as much as he is not in condition for 2B. 2B is a position that requires elite athleticism and agility. I'm sorry I brought that up earlier. Since 3B is already taken by a better player (once Moncada returns), he probably will be a bench fill-in/DH with the Sox at this point. I hope they ultimately find a permanent spot for him in the future. I feel like he has a very bright future, wherever that ends up being.

Come to think of it. I don't see Anderson getting hurt. But you never see chubby 2nd basemen like Burger for a reason. Maybe Burger's future here is as DH? He limits his usefulness to the Sox with his conditioning.

Ok. If it can't happen, then it can't happen. But making the Sox worse defensively at both 2B and 3B is not the answer for sure.

Moncada's really good defensively. The answer might be trying to see if Burger can play 2B competently.

The amount of money is 7th this year. He wont be 7th every year. We could drag up the Sox payroll rank over the last 20 years if someone wants to bother. It won't look pretty for a major market town like Chicago.

Reinsdorf will spend money in spurts, but he's very risk averse. They'll spend at the top of the market for relief pitchers and even Grandal as a catcher. Those are short term deals. Like the Keuchel contract. It's a contract that is going south on the White Sox, but it's a shorter 3 year deal and his risk is limited. He clearly favors deals like this. It's the total dollars and the length of the commitment. He has an out and can have a much lower payroll a couple years from now if he chooses. I think you understand and are just trying to argue or debate? I agree with Jack. Until they go out and sign someone at the top of the market, or hell, even give one of their own home grown stars a massive 9 figure deal - the evidence is undeniable.

Nice seeing the Sox come back strong after Friday's loss

Well they did trade another top 5 draft pick last summer to fill what was perceived as an immediate need. So kind of, yes. Honestly, I dont want the Sox to try for Montas at this point. The ship has sailed on bringing in an impact starter. They chose in the off-season to go in to the season with no SP depth. To try to fix this now would pillage the little prospect depth this team has. It's not worth it.

I wouldn't put a move like this past Hahn.

After the Madrigal trade, I won't put anything past these guys.

The Sox do have a very good rotation. But yes, it's fragile and has no depth in case of injury or under-performance. also, playoff-wise, they probably don't have the dominant #1 that many other contenders have, that can throw the team on their shoulders. That's not to say one of them couldn't turn in to that this season, though.

VAFan feels like Rich Hahn on a burner account.

And I'll add. This Kimbrel debacle.... unless they solve it soon, probably should be viewed as a firable offense from Rick Hahn. While I hated that trade from the moment it happened, I'm not getting in to that now. What was done was done. But to pick up his option. When the Sox did pick up the option - I was fine with it, because I assumed they already had a trade worked out. There was plenty of time to of gauged the market or worked out a trade by the time they had to decide on the option. If it's true that nobody wants to touch Kimbrel at $16 mil, then why not just cut bait and not pickup the option? Why are they doubling down on the mistake from last summer, which in turn causes holes in this team to be left unfilled? Because we all know Reinsdorf will only spend so much money.

Good post. If you want to compare RF - Castellanos had 3.2 WAR last year (despite his defensive shortcomings), and could of been had for the same $20 mil per. And his WAR could easily go up if he continues to improve on defense. For 2B - I still go back to Marcus Semien. IMO there was no player available this off-season that could of impacted the Sox in a positive way like Semien would of. I wouldn't assume the Sox would of had to of paid him the same $175 mil that Texas gave him. Texas was a 102 loss team and they have that horrid Texas heat in the summer. It's probably a team that has to massively overpay a guy to get him down there. And they did that. If the Sox had a solid offer in the $120 mil range, I'm not so sure he might not of taken that. Who knows. For relievers - I think just about all of us agree they way overspent on relievers. Even if you get the expected performance out of these guys - it still wasn't money spent wisely. And unfortunately - relievers are about as volatile as any position on the field. So they're not likely to get the performance they're paying for out of all of them. It's just a poor use of resources. It is true the Sox have few holes. It's just baffling when you go out of your way to not fill them. Why not put your best foot forward in this short championship window?

If he signs a one year prove it deal, it seems likely that would be returning to the Mets.

I'm not going to be emailing anyone. But it sure feels like they've gone out of their way to stifle interest and ticket sales with how they've managed the roster since last year's trading deadline. We'll see. As I recall, most of us weren't terribly thrilled with the off-season in 04/05.

Semien had 30 HR's against righties last year, so he would of had the same effect as adding an impact lh bat.

It also doesn't help the team's need to hit good right handed pitchers better.