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You should put your philosophy on all of this on a bunch of flyers, and then go and stand in front of sports stadiums all around the world and pass them out to fans as they’re entering the stadium. Go and hand them out in England, for example, right before a Liverpool vs. Manchester United soccer match, and see how that works out for you. I’m sure you’d swayed the masses there just like do here with your (oddly contrived) suggestion that those fans coming to the game to fiercely cheer their team onto victory are sadly just seeking a winning performance as a substitute for something else missing in their lives, I believe as your theory goes. Because that’s why they all want their respective teams to win. And when you’re done in England, go preach this point of view in front of a place like Fenway Park right before a Red Sox/Yankees game. I’m sure you’d turn heads there, too. Or maybe locally in the Midwest, before a Norte Dame/Michigan game. See how your “Winning is just a bonus” mandate plays with those fans. So on and so forth. Then, it might make sense to go and have a little chit chat with Rick Hahn and suggest to him he chill out on this rebuild business, the goal, of course, which is to build a sustainable, WINNING ballclub. Psychoanalyze him while you’re at it, figure out what he’s trying to substitute in his life with his pursuit of a winning ball club. Convince him that it’s ok to run out 100 loss teams, because winning just isn’t everything, as you always say. That it’s us the fans who have a problem if we can’t get joy out of the caliber of baseball like he’s delivered to us for quite sometime on the South Side. I’m sure it’d be quite an eye opener for him and he’d understand. Finally, do you ever notice practically no one on this board seems to share your point of view on this matter? Think it could just be you are a lone casual fan thrust in a sea of diehard fans?

Weak response, Southsider.

To each their own, but I disagree. Sports are indeed entertainment and I’ll watch regardless, but when it comes to my favorite teams if they aren’t winning I’m not happy....for a few hrs. I don’t let it consume my life or anything but I’ll never be content to just sit back and watch and not be invested in the outcome.

I think that this board continues to under value Avi. It will be interesting to see what kind of year he has, after his recent knee surgery. Many here are ready to non-tender him. Remember that this is a guy who hit .330 in 2017 and was hitting home runs at a rate, last year, which would have produced 30 round trippers, in an entire season. He did that while hobbled with hamstring and knee problems. It is not unreasonable to think that he might hit around .300 with 25 to 30 homers, if he can stay healthy. That would make him one of the most productive offensive players, on our roster. It certainly does not suggest that he is a candidate to be non-tendered.

Too bad. Could have saved us a draft pick.

Not even that extreme. I can't stand the constant pessimism from some on the board. It's one thing to say "I think it's probably not likely we get Bryce Harper". It's another thing to crap on everyone else here and be like "Everyone should be prepared to be disappointed because our FO is going to get only scraps". Attitude matters, and @Dick Allen's is terrible. We get enough negativity from watching the team lose without DA being like "oh, by the way it's all for nothing!" If sports don't make you happy, don't watch. That's it.

Before the injury, Martes was a very highly regarded arm in the Astros system. BA had him ranked #20 in the Top 100 in 2016.

Great great post. I mean fan is short for fanatic. Message boards generally show you how important winning is to a pro sports fan. Or a college sports fan. My take is if there are zillions of dollars involved, I want my team to win and win now. I'm a fan that gets upset at the price of games and food/drink/parking at games so yes I DEMAND my teams win or try to win. Now we go down to the high school level? I am a Brother Rice football fan. If Rice loses in the semis to Marist will I be the least bit mad? Hell no. They are high school kids trying their best and playing football, a game that is fun to watch when executed properly. Would I ever be mad at a Brother Rice player or coach for screwing up? Hell no. I appreciate them. Even in a dismal season. But the Sox?? Give me victories as our fans give you owners millions of dollars. Just.Win.Baby. (Or try hard at least and contend).

Paxton really doesn’t make any sense for us. Neither does Corbin. I’d rather just go after Kikuchi. He’s exactly the type of arm we should be rolling the dice on given our financial situation.

Who wouldn't love a Canadian pitcher with a maple leaf tat nicknamed the Big Maple. Even eagles love him. https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/bald-eagle-mistakes-james-paxton-for-a-real-big-maple-tree-during-pregame/

Suck it Lombardi

The fighting for the football is the key. He battles for it and moves to make the catch.

While I agree and believe in the grand scheme of things, whether they win the WS or lose 100 games, your life should not be too effected, winning is far more entertaining than losing.

It amazes me to see this posted over and over again. What are people trying to make up for their lives that they need to see a random group of strangers having success to feel good about themselves? Winning is a great feeling and all, but it isn't what sports should be about. Sports are entertainment, not a substitute for success.

Uhhhh

Paxton makes no sense because of the prospects he’d cost...only a move for fully “all in” teams. Unless we are also signing Harper or Machado, which is unknowable.

Is it just a running joke now to pretend that the Rockies are trying to give Jon Gray away for nothing? Is this just being meme'd to death by Soxtalk?

It's at Marist. Biggest game in history of both schools.

Damn: I just told my grand-daughther last week that having fun is more important than winning. Affixed to the backstop of the St. Anthony Little League Stadium in Utica, NY was a small and not terribly pretty sign that simply said: "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnzogby/2013/03/08/its-how-you-play-the-game/#5586339133b7

Personally just one man's opinion, what makes me happy in sports isn't the cold beer, the pretty girls in the stands, the funny hats, fireworks or sunshine. It's winning.... period. That's why they play the game and in the last 12 seasons Sox fans have seen damn little of that commodity.

T agree, as is your constant critique of others posts. Why don’t you actually discuss the topics at hand?

Posting on this site apparently makes you happy, Yet you are miserable in every one of your posts. Hysterical.

If they could sign Harper and trade for a controllable 3rd baseman like Suarez or Senzel, I would cry tears of joy.

I come here to discuss my optimism but you pollute every thread with your dark cloud. I wish I understood you better. At some point you had to have been happy with White Sox baseball, right?

But but this rebuild has been a failure... let’s go back to singing that tune.

I was specifically asking Mr. Hot since he likes to make bets without making clear what he means by his all encompassing statement of a " big name".

We're going to get a big name FA, and all of you pessimists can suck it

Right now, I think you have to score this one under inconclusive. The first wave of guys really struggled and failed to meet expectations IMO. Obviously it’s way to early to jump to any conclusions with those guys, but it would have been nice if even one of them had a strong season or even a great second half. I do have some concerns that Coop may be a bit behind the times now and that Steverson just isn’t good. The 2019 season needs to be make or break for them IMO. Then you had the array of injuries that decimated our term system. I may be in the minority here, but I actually saw positive signs with our player development this past season. Cease made major strides. Basabe, Adolfo, & Rutherford all improved. LuGo became a legit prospect. Dunning was fantastic when healthy. Lambert came out of nowhere. A bunch of minor league relievers had strong seasons. Overall there were far more positives than negatives if you ignore the injuries. The question is whether 2018 was just an unlucky year or a sign of things to come. We better hope it was the former and not the latter. Drafting is a big concern right now for me. At this moment in time, the Burger / Sheets combo looks horrific. I’ll acknowledge that could change with a strong 2019, but it just seems like we selected for need (i.e. power) vs. BPA. I won’t overreact to the Walker pick, but something about going overslot for college juniors seems off to me (same with Sheets). Madrigal better be a big hit or I’m afraid Hostetler needs to be on the hot seat. LatAm is concerning as well and the going “all-in” for Robert but not actually signing a ton more guys seems like a wasted opportunity. That decision goes well beyond Paddy, but if Luis flops that’s another misfire in a long list of them for Marco. At some point we can’t use the “needs more time” excuse to protect Paddy. Overall I’m a little down, but will be far more optimistic if the front office can land a whale free agent. If last year taught me one thing, it’s that we’re going to need more than internal talent to end this rebuild.