Chicago White Sox

Yup, would be huge. And I did read an article that speculated that the Phillies owner might be turned off by Machado’s “antics” in the playoffs. If so, that would be fantastic for our chances.

I think they’ll tender Avi a contract, but his BABIP fueled batting average from two seasons ago doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things IMO.

I mean, that’s not entirely true. Albert Belle was signed to the biggest contract in baseball history at the time. Joe Borchard was given the largest signing bonus ever at the time. Yes these were ages ago, but Reinsdorf has had his moments and recently he outbid everyone for Luis Robert. Regardless, the situation is much different now. Jerry is really getting up there in years, the Sox have almost zero financial obligations going forward, and the team is desperate for attention as it preps to negotiate a new TV deal. Adding a legit superstar isn’t just critical for the long-term well being of the franchise but something that we’re actually positioned to do. As grim as this may sound, I have zero doubts in mind that Jerry doesn’t plan to die during a rebuild. He’s going to add a legit star (and other pieces) to help put an end to this rebuild and the first target will most certainly be Machado. That doesn’t mean the Phillies or some other team won’t beat us out for his services, but I truly believe Reinsdorf will do everything in his power (within reason) to land us a star.

I guess we’ll have to wait & see. But if sports have shown us one thing, it’s that more often than not guys take the biggest offer.

Money talks and the Sox should be the most incentivized team to land a star. If they outbid the competition (which is possible) they should have a decent shot at landing one of these guys. Obviously there are no guarantees here.

The team that invented the opt-out is going to pass on a guy they’re obsessed with because of an opt-out?

People are WAY too pessimistic here. We are clearly planning to go hard after Machado. We wouldn’t have considered trading for him last offseason if that wasn’t the case. I’m a little concerned they have no interest in Harper, but that’s purely speculation. Regardless, I still think us & the Phillies are the favorites to land Machado.

What do you have to lose Jack? Just go for it!

30% for Machado, 5% for Harper.

Baby steps Caulfield...baby steps. I can tell you that I worked for the retail arm of a Fortune 500 company that had no analytics group. We eventually brought on a small team (nothing fancy) and the impact was significant. This is obviously a different situation since the Sox already have an analytics department in place, but more muscle is only a good thing and hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Where did you see dollar amounts? I know one of the roles in an internship so obviously the money is probably little to none, but you have to remember this is the MLB and people will happily take less to work for a professional team.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/job-posting-white-sox-baseball-operations/ I wanted to post this for two reasons. 1) There are a lot of smart, data driven people on this site and maybe one of you guys meet the qualifications for one of the two roles. If so, I wanted to make sure you’re aware of these job postings. 2) I think it’s a great sign we’re adding to our analytics team. From the sound of it, we have one of the smallest analytics departments in all of baseball (but one of the largest scouting departments). I feel like we’re a little bit behind the times in terms of modern baseball, but it does appear we’re making efforts to change that. This is one of the reasons I’m willing to give Hahn a little bit more rope than his track record warrants. I truly believe he’s more forward thinking than KW & Jerry and this another example of the progress he is making in that regard.

This Saturday.

I do think the Sox should DH Abreu a lot more in 2019. That would likely improve the defense and hopefully keep him a little healthier.

Is this Soxtalk’s first ban bet? If so, I am super fucking pumped! I’ve got no beef with you Ron, but you are as good as gone son. There is like a zero percent chance Abreu is non-tendered.

And Ron will hate every single moment of it!

I do know this because we have practically zero future payroll commitments and $18M is simply not enough cash to change the equation. Also, non-tendering Abreu is going to send a negative message to Machado & Harper about our chances to compete in the near-term and make us even less attractive. The idea just doesn’t make any sense TBH.

First stateside HR?

What an absolutely terrible post. You should be banned from this site for this bullshit. Ozzie actively chose himself over his players when the team was battling for a playoff spot. We were heading to Detroit and needed to take care business and he decided that was the time to start whining about his contract. He’s a selfish motherfucker who will always place self over others. I would be enraged if the White Sox ever gave this ego maniac and the clown show of a family that comes with him a second chance.

Avi has had one good year in his entire career and can’t stay healthy. Why in the world would want to keep him around long-term?

If we trade for a first baseman a year away from free agency I will fucking riot.

You have every right to be skeptical, just don’t come in here and say “Why are you guys wasting your time talking about this? It’s never going to happen.” That’s just going to rile up people who want to be optimistic and feel like the organization is serious this time about making a big move.

Maybe you need to do some self reflecting or at the very minimum reread your first post, because your attitude is clearly not “I’ll believe it when I see it” no matter how you try to spin it.

Yeah, the 100 loss team doesn’t a 6 WAR player because Nick fucking Madrigal will fix it all!

Jose Abreu’s 2019 salary is not preventing us from adding Machado or Harper.