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Merkin is so bad at his job.

This isn’t even a story is it? The Sox have 1 outfielder on their 40 man. Of course Colas is the front runner to start in right field. It’s fine too.

The White Sox are the only team that doesnt spend on big free agents and can't develop a farm system all while pretending to be contending. I honestly cant think of any other.

water is wet

It's pretty cool how risk-averse the team can be with regards to the contracts they won't sign, but they'll go right ahead and throw a couple of first basemen out in the outfield, shrug their shoulders, and see what happens.

There needs to be more bat flipping in baseball.. Make it fun

The Sox need 2 OFs. I doubt anyone argued that Colas would be 1 of them coming June 2023.

If I am to believe Soxtalk's self proclaimed geniuses, he is our next superstar.

Abreu signed a 3yr/$58M deal at age 36 while Gallo will get 1yr/$10M at age 29. That should tell you how severely flawed war is as an evaluation tool.

The JR most risk averse move was to give him the QO. It was a safe easy option. I always liked him and hated to see him go and as you said picking up the Kimbrell option shows you how bad Hahn's decision making is. You roll the dice on your guy, the guy you drafted and developed. Not the guy that had a hot start with the cubs earlier that year and has been hit or miss for a while. Then in the offseason you let Rodon walk, pick up the option and double down on risky arms (Graveman and Kelly). I have zero faith that Hahn has any clue what he is doing.

I just went back and reread that thread. Holy s%*# but I used to be an optimist before last off-season broke me. One of the worst five month stretches in GM history IMO. Just so many mind-boggling moves and even worse when you view the off-season in totality. $40M+ spent on a bunch of role players instead adding a single impact talent. Rick Hahn is epically bad at this GM’ing thing.

I'm all aboard this Mets bandwagon, hot damn. Imagine a team having James McCann in their lineup and going "we're not gonna rely on that rinky dink bat. Better fill the holes with fat stacks of cash."

Certainly prefer Stripling at 2/$25 over Joe Kelly at 2/$18.5, even if Kelly was good. Stripling has had 1 bad year out of 7. I'd take him.

Even Mark Payton would have been worth giving a longer look to if they were that set against starting Colas' service time clock.

It would be nice if for once the Sox prioritized having depth anywhere besides the bullpen

Maybe? I was told the plan was to start Colas in the minors but that's likely to have changed because Hahn couldn't get done what he thought he could. Not that anyone should be surprised by that.

I will never trade for a Yankees prospect they are willing to give up.

Huh? The position they have to fill voa trade or FA is an OF. They can go internal at 2B. Nothing you’re saying is making any sense. Everyone was penciling Colas into their 2023 OFs, what people were likely telling you is that he’s unlikely to break camp with the Sox. He still shouldn’t, but feels more likely now than ever. Sox should really sign someone like Conforto + someone like Frazier who can play OF for a few weeks until Colas arrives.

So you're saying they are adding a left-handed bat. Same as us. Replace the name "Conforto" with "any left-handed bat." It's gonna happen. They can't be stupid enough to run Eloy as primary LF and Sheets as the primary DH.

I would guess 80% of us? 4 months ago was August when he was lighting up the minors.

That might be the straw that permanently breaks my fandom. f*** Josh Donaldson. Launch that Asshat into the sun.

He's especially awful.

? There's room for both. Edit: Conforto or not, they're still adding a left-handed hitting every day OF.

Many of our lovely Chicago reporter are

Yeah I mean I was mostly just kidding but if you’re gonna trade TA + Hendriks, I want an elite near MLB ready prospect back.

I'm surprised those rooting against him. He's been a top 10 cy young finalist two years in a row, right? Pitching is what have you done for me lately. Patrick Corbin was a great pitcher for 1 year and got 6/$140 and that was 5 years ago in a much less competitive time for FA. These numbers aren't really surprising. There was only one surprising move in this whole saga.

I'd rather have Clevinger at his cost. I'm baffled by the Clev hate.

To be fair, you're talking about a Boras client. He's smart enough to prevent his clients from signing contracts like that.

Agree 100%. Hubris and good old fashioned incompetence played a big role on why the Kimbrel option was picked up last offseason. The Sox traded a top 5 pick for Kimbrel. There wa no way they weren't going to pick up the option and admit thier massive blunder.

Hey! All the teams interested in our made up TA rumor, plus the Twins. Am really curious what the Twins pivot to if they miss out on Correa and Swanson. Part of me wants them to win the Swanson bidding because I think that could be a franchise altering move in a bad way.

There’s far too many people here assuming the Sox can absorb the removal of Hendriks and not experience a drop in production. There is no guarantee that Lopez and or Graveman will be as effective as Hendriks has been. I don’t think it’s wrong to say it is a gamble to use him to improve other areas that need addressing. Doesn’t mean it can’t work out in the end either - but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Sox move him and we are all bitching late-May when the Sox are struggling to close games out.

But the context in which they decline Rodon but pick up Kimbrel's option, makes the move indefensible. The risks on Kimbrel were higher, and the value much smaller. Part of this, I'm sure, was due to the Hahn/Haber general fixation on relievers, from allocating a large part of the budget to them, to using multiple high draft picks on relievers, and then to Kimbrel over Rodon.

In 2021 Rodon was not struggling with his health. He was struggling with the fact his arm wasn't conditioned for so many innings that year because of his workload the previous 2 years. I will always maintain that a tired arm is not a health issue but an endurance issue. You can't run a marathon without training for it. I give lot of credit to people in that thread about the qualifying offer who had no trust in the Sox to pursue better players and correctly linked keeping Kimbrel with not extending Rodon. The amount of trust in Sox management to ascertain both Rodon's and Kimbrel's value was appalling . And then also to trust them to replace them with players that would help the team and also to extend the payroll was equally appalling. Guys like @Balta1701 @Eminor3rd @caulfield12 @Look at Ray Ray Run Two Gun Pete and others were spot on and at many points ridiculed for their stances. Yet some of those same guys doing the ridiculing ,despite Fegan saying the Sox payroll was going to be the same or cut from last year, kept posting early this off season that they didn't trust Fegan was right and kept suggesting signings for potential comeback candidates in the OF for $10M + . Reasonable hope is one thing. Sticking to your guns despite all evidence to the contrary is just plain stubbornness and unwillingness to admit your prior stances in this regard were wrong. Just blame TLR and push that Grifol's presence will have a major impact while JR rubs his hands together with glee that the Sox could still finish 2nd and keep that carrot dangling.

Jose Abreu and Joey Gallo's fWAR per game played are nearly identical. Joey Gallo is a very flawed player, but pointing to his batting average as the sole determining factor of his value is really, really dumb.

We are not there yet. We are not actually in the car yet. In fact, we don’t even have a car yet because Hahn is waiting for the right deal on a 94 Mercury Sable to present itself.

Right. You don’t need a closer if you have no catcher, second basemen or corner outfielders. This team has way too many holes to be worried about a lock down closer.

Jerry sucks. Hahn sucks. They are not mutually exclusive.

Given the contracts and the talent on the team at the 2021 deadline, it’s hard to imagine how someone could have messed up things to the point they’re at now.

Absolutely. We didn’t need hindsight to see it was a terrible decision, either.

Does Cleveland really have another freaking Naylor coming soon?

It cant be a top destination, not after last year

It wouldn’t shock me if players think this way. It’s just more evidence that JR and everyone else needs to go.

how do you say you like white players with lesser skillsets that try hard, without having a screen name Grind.... oh wait.

Give me nine dudes who bat flip and are All-Stars.

It is 2022. It is OK to enjoy success in baseball.

Which is the exact reason we should trade Hendriks. We aren’t a closer away from winning the World Series and should take advantage of this market.

Out of all the reasons to criticize TA, the bat flips is the dumbest reason.

Some December Colas for yall.