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He’s still great on tv. He’s absolutely brutal on Twitter. He’s a yes man and he’s a condescending jackass on social media.

lol

Lol I don't understand the meta-commentary on board mood. What is the point of discussion if you're discouraged for expressing your actual opinion?

This board is becoming a tough read.

Peggy Kusinski’s son always gets his man.

The Sox have committed $26.5M to their already record-high payroll without addressing any of their roster needs. They’re connected to no significant players in the media. They have the worst farm system in baseball from which to make trades. It would be irrational to be happy with their offseason at this point. If they pull off a substantial addition given their current situation, it will rightfully be shocking.

This isn't a cba negotiation. No one is setting arbitrary deadlines.

Every team in baseball takes him for 6 million dollars

When and if the Sox don't make a splash, I'll look back and remember that the White Sox spent 30 million dollars to Kimbrel/Leury/Harrison/Velasquez The Sox could have signed: Goodrum - 2.1 million Conforto - 22 million Wittgren - 1.2 million Chris Martin - 3 million?

Is it just me or do we seem to go through this every year?

I can't watch the Phillies without thinking of how perfect Harper on this roster would be and what a mistake it was prioritizing Machado ahead of him in free agency

I'm not sure how one could compare Carlos Rodon to Freddie Freeman but by god, you've done it!

Fall dominos. Fall.

Tor, Bos, Rangers, Sea, Pads, Atl

Buster Olney thinking he is right that Tim Anderson will be a free agent next year. Soxtalk:

How have we fared against good RHPs? Always fun the garbage righted in the AL Central, but it’s a whole another animal when you face quality RHP in the playoffs. The need is not overblown at all.

Kimbrel won’t be here

Right, at this point, it isn’t even fair to accuse the Sox of being cheap. They’ve spent the money, they’ve made the trades — the problem is that the last 6-7 transactions they’ve made range from ugly to completely indefensible, even in the moments right after they were made. It’s not that they aren’t trying, they’re just fucking it up. They’ve rushed to “beat the market” and spent money on free agents they didn’t need, when there were reams of better players available that played positions at hey DID need. Whenever a normal team has a logjam of MLB-ready prospects at a position, they trade them to fill holes elsewhere — the white Sox have instead decided that they have to keep them all and just play them out of position. It’s brutal to watch. Yes, the team is really good but it could be SO much better and it would have required nothing even remotely clever.

The negativity here is just unbelievable. Here we are coming off a 93 win season that wasn't even better because of terrible injury luck, we got young stars all over the diamond, we have five starting pitchers that could win the Cy Young (Keuchel was top five in Cy Young voting ONE YEAR AGO), the defense up the middle is as good as any team, we have a bullpen that had great pieces and we've just added two of the best arms available making them arguably the best bullpen in the league...Vegas and every power ranking around has us as a top five team...and post after post after post is "everything sucks" and the only thing that can fix this team is if we get this aging, below average defensive outfielder who had a career worst season (Keuchel is done but Conforto just had a one off??) whom the Mets trying desperately to win, with money no object, and knowing their players better than anyone say, hard pass? Let's see how things play out. It's in the 50's tomorrow....spring is in the air...can we just try to pretend we are at the most exciting time ever to be a Sox fan?

Jesus, how is Rick Hahn not in this b****? Even if you have to pay a few bucks, or find some salary dump, you have to take advantage of something like this.

A's without 1b right now (just seth brown). What about Vaughn for Montas?

3 million? Man, they better still make a big addition this offseason. Thus far, they've spent 17 million on Harrison, Kelly and Velasquez. They also have Kimbrel still on the roster making 16 million. If these salaries stop them from going after someone like Conforto...no bueno.

I mean, it’s not overblown. The Sox aren’t a great offensive team against RHP. Generally, as you know, lefties hit righties better - which is why semblance of roster balance is important. Obviously youre not picking a shitty LHH over a really good RHH just due to handedness. You won’t see me really defend the Harrison move, but if you’re gonna sign an OF, it really should be a lefty that hits RHP well. The lineup needs it. Just so happens this guy named Michael Conforto is a pretty good fit and is a FA.

Really? 2019: 6.53 ERA/8.00 FIP 2020: 5.23 ERA/3.97 FIP 2021 w/Cubs: 0.49 ERA/1.10 FIP 2021 w/Sox: 5.09 ERA/4.53 FIP One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong.......

You don't put any stock into Fegan and others reporting the Sox surveyed his market before picking up the option? Or the fact Hahn is openly talking about dealing him when normally the Sox play everything so close to the vest? I think your argument for whether or not Kimbrel has surplus value makes sense, but the Sox are the same organization who didn't want to risk ending up with Rodon on a 1 year deal. And devoted significant resources to Graveman & Joe Kelly. Why would they do that if they weren't confident they could get off the Kimbrel money? It just doesn't make any rational sense to me.

I might log out and delete my account if the Guardians somehow out-spend us for a free agent.

They were also 2-5 against Houston in the regular season. You can believe what you want to believe. I don't think the Sox were very competitive in the 2021 MLB Playoffs. Some of us believe their window to contend is limited based on financial realities set from ownership. Because of that, there is a sense of urgency from some to quote "go for the jugular" these next two seasons. Thus far, these moves haven't inspired a confidence that the Sox are truly interested in pushing themselves over the top. Time will tell.

I’ve been pretty optimistic this offseason but the true difference maker last year was Rodon being an ace. Once he lost that ability, the team’s playoff chances diminished greatly.

Wait when did we get Madrigal back?

The offseason is still young. I assume the Sox are still going to make some more moves. Having said that, I assumed you watched the playoffs in 2021. The Sox were not very competitive against the Astros. I also have serious questions on how they would have stacked up against the Dodgers/Braves/Rays. Thus far, they are seemingly a worse team in 2022 than they were in 2021. And they've already spent around 17 million on new players. That's why you are seeing the comments you are seeing.

Please just sign kris bryant

The Sox have spent 27 million this off-season and arguably have not improved the roster. Pretty impressive.

Between this (broken wrist), the shoulder injury he won't get surgery on despite the high re-injury risk, and all the money invested in him, it's safe to say we won the trade.

Everyone wants Manea... but if their selling the house, give me frankie montas in a heart beat. Guy is a Cy young caliber pitcher. Go for the throat!

Olson is younger, but to give up all that prospect capital when you could have just re-signed the leader of your recent World Series team is weird to say the least.

I'm trying to stay positive, but I also remember Chicago strutting like they were George ****in Jefferson on Machado only to have Preller wipe his dick right across their helpless faces as they scrambled to create a BS counter narrative to try and keep people from grabbing pitchforks and torches.

Well, seeing the statements about Kelly being hurt, Kopech being behind, the general limitations on starters pitches early, makes the reason for this signing all of the more obvious. He's a body.

Hahaha that wording might as well have been lifted off of someone's post from this very thread.

This has been an awful offseason for the Sox so far. Don’t have any faith that they will make a good move at this point.

I've seen enough, the Sox won the Tatis trade lol

https://www.soxon35th.com/what-to-make-of-gavin-sheets-heading-into-2022/ This should help anyone who wants to get a good analysis of Sheets. It's pretty positive on him as a hitter on both his walk and K rate, his ability to go oppo, the way he made adjustments . Not once do you see the writer talk about cherry picked AB's. The fact is , as it was for most Sox players , that they played a lot of bad teams with bad pitching. If you are a left handed power hitter you have to put the ball in the air and Sheets has worked hard on that throughout his minor league career. Sheets also said Grandal was the most helpful to him. That's not a bad mentor. Take pitches , wait for your pitch, hit it in the air ,hit HRs and you will be fine. As the shortened signing period goes on. His fielding left a lot to be desired in right but what if he had started in LF like Vaughn got to do? RF is a more difficult position and even after getting a lot of OF time in LF Vaughn didn't easily transition to RF either. Sheets did most of his damage as a DH. According to the recent Soxtalk poll many are not expecting the Sox to fill the RF hole with a big LH bat. If they don't then Sheets presence in the lineup is a must until he proves he doesn't belong there . But what if he just keep getting better and proves he can hit 30+ HR's from the left side in his 1st full season. The Sox have had so many injuries that we have never got 30 HR's from Moncada or Robert and only 1 from Eloy . What if this is the year we can get 30+ from all of them ? Sheets was on a pace for 30+ HR's if he got 500 ABs It's really difficult to separate Sheets from Vaughn in the Sox equation. I don't think the Sox want to get rid of either one of them but no one wants Vaughn to become the weak side of a DH platoon and no one wants either one of them playing RF. If you are the super fan of Vaughn it's difficult to praise Sheets because if the Sox keep both, you absolutely have to give him AB's which takes away Vaughn AB's.

Buster Olney is to accurate reporting as Jerry is to marquee free agents

He flat out doesn’t want to be here in this role. Fegan’s article about it basically said neither him or the Sox in public or private thinks it’s a good fit.

For the love of God please sign a RF (Will keep posting this every day until we sign one)

Buster Olney googled it, saw "team options" and was like "nah, Chicago isn't allowed to have a franchise shortstop."

Except for Atlanta, yes. If Bauer was around, LA probably wins. If Glasnow pitches, the Rays have a better shot. I don't understand why you think losing major players shouldn't hurt teams if they are built properly. You cannot stash away All Stars in AAA. If McCullers gets hurt a week earlier, the Astros probably don't get past the White Sox.

I am excited to have Joe Kelly though. He was in near all my 2022 mock-ups. Watching bullpen pitcher after bullpen pitcher of ours (except bummer) try to blow fastballs by the Astros and fail, only to watch joe Kelly the next day put in two innings when a LAD starter struggled vs braves and shut them down with all offspeed stuff cemented that. When we are in the playoffs, we now have a bullpen pitcher who won’t piss down his leg trying to find the strike zone when we need them most. Plus he’s hilarious.

Lol…so damn true.