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These posts are just so wonderful . You are all getting likes from me. There's so much more to why Abreu got that contract and it has like $4M in deferred money from 2023-26. I'm sure Reinsdorf thinks he was worth every penny of it ,Abreu loves the White Sox more than just about anything and wasn't afraid to show it . He is Mr.White Sox and if you can't deal with that I feel bad for you. He has done everything in his power to make this team better. The more I defend him the more I learn about him and just how influential he is to the younger guys not only on being a better baseball player but being a better person and representing the White Sox in a positive way.

If I'm the NBA, I honor him at the all star game by letting all the players in the East wear 8 and the West wear 24.

This has been a shitstorm for reporting. People are so stupid in an effort to be first. Fucking idiots.

If Nolan Arrenado can be had, Hahn should strike while the iron is hot. Arrenado is signed through 2025. He is 28. He is a top 5 hitter in all of baseball and has been for the last 5 years running now. He is a 7 time Gold Glove winner. At only between $19-25 MM per year, that is a very reasonable contract to absorb for a player of this caliber. Especially given what Harper and Machado got. Won't even mention Cole or Strausburg as they are pitchers. No offense to our nice looking prospects, but none of them are Arrenado. A future first ballot HOF. Any knowledgeable baseball fan would laugh at the notion that any of our prospects are even equal to Arrenado. Why not get the prime years of this guy if we can get him when all scuttlebutt says Colorado is willing to move him for the right offer? Trade package: Tim Anderson, Luis Alexander Basabe, Carlos Rodon, Dane Dunning. Colorado gets 2 major league ready players. Batting champion who can play SS (and is signed through 2022 at a nice contract) and proven innings eating Starter with Ace upside albeit an injury history. Colorado also gets a close to major league ready OF and a Top 100 pitching prospect albeit with a recent Tommy John. Colorado unloads the massive contract and lets them start rebuilding but with ready made pieces to not require a total tear down. White Sox get a legit, top 5 MLB player. An elite cornerstone 3rd baseman especially defensively. A middle of the lineup anchor who just mashes. The kind of guy they can someday build a statue on the concourse for. A guy who can finally play for a true contender for the entirety of his prime years. White Sox can move Yoan back to 2nd and slot Madrigal to his natural, college gold glove winning position. With Eloy and Robert signed for long contracts already, Sox can easily unload Basabe without a thought as there is only 1 OF spot opened for the next 7-8 years barring serious injuries. With the plethora of Pitching prospects and the No. 11 pick in a 2020 draft that is loaded with quality pitching prospects, Dunning would not be missed either ... if they can get Arrenado. With 2, elite, 19 year old pitchers drafted in rounds 2 and 3 of 2019 draft and another elite arm drafted at No. 11 in 2020, why would anyone say "Dunning is a deal breaker"? LOL. To get a player like Arrenado, this package gets it done.

I think there is nothing wrong with Sox fans hating the Cubs and going out of their way to show it. For the longest time the thought was Sox fans were obsessed with the Cubs, Cubs fans didn’t care about the Sox. It was BS. Go to a Cubs/Mets game at Wrigley in the summer. Walk by the t shirt stands a block or two from Wrigley Field. You will see them well stocked with Sox Suck and the 83 logo with SUX t shirts, Since the Sox have rarely played meaningful baseball the past 50 years, a case can be made the Cubs are their biggest rivals. They do play them every year. They are in competition for the Chicago area casual baseball fan. Perhaps the pendulum can swing a bit now. If the Cubs don’t get on Comcast, it could really help the Sox if they start playing well. The Cubs have already priced themselves out of a lot of fans options. Not having them on the regular TV for a large portion of those same people could lead them south. As far as this picture. I thought it was pretty clever. Eloy and Cease being White Sox is a Cubs loss. All the more reason for an L flag.

Opening Day: C - Grandal 1B - Abreu 2B - Yet to be signed vet utility INF 3B - Moncada SS - Anderson LF - Eloy CF - Robert RF - Mazara DH - Encarnacion Bench: McCann Mendick* Engel Leury Rotation: Giolito  Keuchel Lopez Gonzalez Cease Bullpen: Colome Bummer Cishek Herrera Fry Marshall Cordero Fulmer* Collins starts in AAA to get everyday reps at C. * - Mendick probably goes down when Madrigal comes up. * - Fulmer gets one last shot and will be the first arm to go when they need someone else.

Being 24 and being a major league regular for 4 years means the kid has a ton of talent. He could've been in the minors all those years. He started off as a 21yr old hitting 20 HR's. He's been almost the exact same player every year . Maybe he never gets it. Or maybe he decides OK I did it my way the last 4 years maybe it's time for a change . I think he's capable of 30-40 HR's. I'd call that a good improvement and a good ceiling. Apparently you don't agree. I hope you can still root for the kid without an I told you so in your head every AB he doesn't produce . That's no way to be a Sox fan. If the Sox end up with Castellanos I will cheer for him too just as loudly as i would for Mazara.

Then I guess I'm a child at heart.

You gotta be bleeping me.

No doubt...we haven't won anything yet. Thomas and Thome were exciting but I wouldn't bet against Robert and Moncada since they are 5 tool players...something you can't say about Thomas or Thome. I'm not knocking WS legends...just saying this new group can literally be the best of all time. Time will tell but I am very optimistic.

Tough to summarize. But it was first time I’ve ever heard him, not even sure I remember an article interview after his new role. Hes very enthusiastic and I appreciated that he got really wonky while explaining things very clearly. He covered a couple times the difficulty scouting prospects across different maturity curves, such as a prospect from Vanderbilt who is already on a mlb nutrition and hitting plan be a guy at Indiana state. He brought up that Gladney was drafted by them largely because he was an EV darling at a workout they held. He said they would not favor college over high school under him (and I believe him). I appreciate how available Hostetler made himself to blogs and media, but he was a bit arrogant and loved to mostly talk about how much they knew about guys. Shirley loved to talk about the process of evaluating guys. He was super interesting. This from Y2Jimmy summed up my thoughts

It appears everyone has taken the sox stance on nick right now. Nobody signing the guy. As for abreu who cares what the Sox want to pay him. They have proven that if they want to spend money they have it and will spend. They kept konerko too long as well but he gave the Sox great years. Jr is loyal, so what... it’s his money not yours. Let it go. If Mazara does t work out he will be gone and the Sox will move on. Who cares if they gave up some minor leaguer who may or may not make it. They won’t wreck the window. They have a great lineup for the next few years, to me it’s about pitching. Do they have the arms long term? Everyone who is young is un proven Gio needs to prove it again. No stud. Pitching wins.

Good god man you will complain about anything.

Sox fans contributing to the notion that their fans only care when the Cubs lose. Ugh.

This isn't everything Soxfext related but some of it is because of the increased coverage of the Sox during Sox fest. I always wondered why a Sox fan website like Soxtalk never has a pinned thread for news , blogs and articles about the Sox. Something for pics, links etc. I know anything that strikes someones fancy can be made into it's own thread but there are a lot of resources on the internet for Sox related news and as much as I scour the net looking for it, a busy week can go by and I fall behind. NBC sports Chicago is always good if you have their app or go to the website for Sox stuff to catch up on particularly around Soxfest. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/yasmani-grandal-effect-real-and-its-already-happening-white-sox https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/video/andrew-vaughn-wants-wild-thing-no-99-1989-film-major-league Could it be a trend starting with the Abreu 79, Robert 88 and now maybe a Vaughn 99 ? The High Numbers Squad . https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/eloy-jimenez-has-high-praise-luis-robert-hes-going-be-next-mike-trout https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/video/cubs-are-nomar-mazaras-new-favorite-team-beat Some of these videos from Soxfest are funny like Moncada answering a question about Abreu being a leader and a big brother by saying : "Because he's old !" Grandal sitting between Eloy and Mazara and they get asked who is going to hit the most HR's ? Grandal points to both Eloy and Mazara but also says the question should be who is going to get the most walks, cuz walks means runs and runs win games. Funny but notice he said it sitting right between 2 guys who need to walk more. That's a leader. ALready a funny gentle nudge about walking more and being more selective. If you watch enough you see Garfien interviewing Sox players as they arrive, Dunning,Kopech, Yoan , Eloy, Timmy,Vaughn

Looks like a UVa basketball game

Many teams like to bring the starters along slowly and dont pitch them the full 100 or so early on. Extra bullpen help is worth it at that time.

Tim Anderson has more trade value than Nolan Arenado, and it frankly isn’t close. One has 2 guaranteed years of control at market value, the other has 5 at well-below market value.

I once shared a bottle of champagne with my favourite childhood athlete - Stan Mikita. He was in the backseat of a taxi with Brad Park. I was in the front seat with Rod Gilbert. I was the driver. He passed the champagne to me after I had recounted him getting checked over the boards in the Montreal Forum many years before. He disappeared when he went over the boards into the penalty box. The camera remained focused on the spot. He popped up and the serenaded the howling Canadiens fans like a conductor, before jumping back onto the ice. Around 58 years ago. Indelibly etched.

Their best hitters are Nelson Cruz and Josh Donaldson, both major regression risks due to their age and injury history. The Sox best hitter will likely be 25 or under, whether it be Moncada, Jimenez, or (though it's highly unlikely) Robert.

You are right and even though I suggested signing Rendon and moving Yoan to 2nd a while ago they are not moving Yoan either or trading for Arenado .

Hey you know I thought of saying the exact same thing !

LOL Yea that confused me too but Madrigal was the only guy he could possibly mean. That's why I said pretty sure he meant Madrigal ,

Madrigal didn't play SS in college.

Good post . Just a few things . There is an Arenado thread and notice the difference in how I spelled Arenado and how you did.

Arenado is not a top 5 MLB player if you take him away from Coors. Why do people not understand this?

100% this. I’m pumped for the 2020 team and I think with the right development they can be a monster, but more likely than not we are a year away before they enter the “best OD roster ever” discussions with those other clubs.

Hadn't really thought hard about it until I saw it in writing here, but Collins serves absolutely no purpose at all on this roster. Among EE, Jose, Grandal, McCann, Mazara, and Eloy they've already got six guys who can DH at times, 2 Cs, and three at 1B. Roster spot would be better spent on a guy like Holt who could provide solid fill in around the diamond when someone inevitably goes down for a few weeks.

2020 OD lineup is dripping with potential and is super exciting, but 94 was coming off a playoff berth and had prime MVP on his way to the HOF Frank Thomas, and 06 was a World Series Champion that added a future HOFer Jim Thome. I am crazy excited for this season, but 2020 has a lot of proving to do to be mentioned along with those two teams.

Assuming Madrigal is on the OD lineup...potential All Star at every position accept RF. Two and arguably 3 five tool players along with AL batting & rbi champs. All Star catcher as the backup. Eight people in the OD lineup with 30+ home run potential.

Fulmer will be last guy in the pen to start the year IMO. Unless his ST is straight garbage, they’ll give him one last chance.

I know it. I defended him all year again as I'm a fan that not only thinks he's a great clubhouse guy but I like the numbers he's put up. Yes the old antiquated BA, HR, RBI. Me likey.

Hell it would be nice to see Hamilton, Johnson and a few others make noise in the bullpen this season. Sox need guys with great stuff back there.

Nice I asked about this like 2 months ago on here thinking we were so far behind in that.

I guess I wasn’t alone

No

Mike Shirley was SUPER impressive

I think Grandal will have a greater impact on the White Sox than Donaldson will on the Twins. But not for your reasons. Grandal was a 2.5 War last year and a career 2 War. Donaldson was a 6 War last year and a career 5. Certainly Grandal is younger but as a catcher the difference may be negated by wear and tear. I think Grandal could have a major impact on our young pitchers which won't be reflected in his War but will be in theirs Just a veteran presence as well as a catcher who can keep them steady. The other major factor is he adds a LH bat to a lineup that desperately needed one.

The Sox are going to beat the Twins with pitching; it may not be this year, but it should be soon enough.

This photo is so f***ing badass. Only Robert is missing. Looks like the cover of a CD

I am eyeing the idea of a bigger penis...but reality will set in. Wil Myers as part of the return makes this a laughable idea.

Is this how we celebrate the end of Dylan Covey ? Have they ever been seen together in the same place at the same time ?

Was there. Unbelievably still can’t believe I somehow wound up at that game, being that I’m from Southern California.... what are the odds?