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Donaldson is good. He makes the Twins better in 2020. He is also 34 years old, and the Twins will most likely be paying him $29M in 2023 in his age 37 season. The backend of this deal is going to hurt them - likely quite a bit. Its a strange allocation of resources for the Twins, but frankly, at this juncture in the offseason he was the guy that made the most sense to the spend the money on. There is no SP left worth paying. The Twins allowing it to get to this point is what is strange. This may be a bit of a kick in the balls to the Sox 2020 ALC chances, but this offseason was never about building a WS contender for 2020. Its about the beginning of a 6-7 year window, and this Donaldson move really does very little to negatively impact the White Sox long term outlook. And if Donaldson is unable to stay healthy the next two seasons - the only two in which you can reasonably expect him to earn his money - this deal is really going to hurt the Twins. Twins fan are excited. And they should be. Their previous forays into expensive free agents have pretty much all failed. The most expensive position player free agent in franchise history prior to Donaldson was a 3/$24M deal to Jason fuckin' Castro. So of course they're going to be excited. This move also improves their IF defense quite a bit by getting Sano off 3B, but I remain unconvinced that Donaldson is anything more than an average 3B at this point, though is 2019 defensive metrics were fairly strong. Everything will be OK Sox fans. Twins weren't just going to standby and make no moves in what is the tailend of their window. 85 wins isn't going to win this division, so let's go out and get 90 wins and see where the chips fall.

I like how after one signing by the Twins and a late signing indeed for an aging 3B, some people seem to forget about the offseason we had and that we bolstered our lineup as well along with adding pitching. It’s just amazes me.

Fan card revoked

This is incredibly anecdotal but at least on my Facebook with my friends it's easily NFL, MLB, NCAA then a mixture of Hawks/Bulls depending if their good or not. I'm in my very early 30's. I don't think there is necessarily some down swing in MLB viewership in my age group. There are just a shit ton of Boomers.

Wonder if the Indians’ drumming guy will switch it up for Houston?

I guess you will have to do your own research on those contracts. But you can agree Donaldson is one year older than Abreu since that is a fact. I also find it odd that despite your railings about people duties as human beings in the Sign stealing scandal that you completely ignored the part of my post about how Abreu stacks up as a model citizen and role model. As far as the difference in OPS I figured that would be the 1st thing I heard about. OPS+ JD 127 ,Abreu 119 . So to use one stat against your one stat it's not that big of a difference and that fielding and the position they play is much of the difference in WAR numbers , But maybe you can't agree on that either. Can you agree that since Donaldson is a year older and plays a more physically demanding position that he is more likely to drop off in production before Abreu ? Perhaps not . It is just one year. If the Abreu contract is viewed as an overpay cannot the same be said of the Donaldson contract ? Which contract is more likely to hurt the team if both go bad sooner rather than later ? Frankly I don't like any comparison between the 2 contracts . It is apples and oranges and It might even be apples and watermelons since Abreu has played a roll as player ,role model, recruiter ,member of the community and might even get a statue right next to Minosos in the future. Donaldson hasn't done squat yet for the Twins.

and if Gio regresses to a 3 WAR pitcher or gets hurt...I mean all the concerns about the Twins rotation apply to Chicago's as well. I don't see an argument for saying their chances are weaker than Chicago's based on a rotation comp.

The Twins sign Donaldson and we are all fighting again

Ok after reading the post from ThunderStruck I admit I’m wrong. Donaldson did have a hip injury late in 2016 but I think saying he has been injured for most of his career may be a bit exaggerating. I will take the L but I’m not going to walk away or stop posting and I hope that’s not what you meant by walking away. I really don’t care if your a MOD or what your title is. We should all be respecting everyone’s opinions on this board. I’m sure you command the same respect as I do so let’s move on.

Lol you don't take an L when another team signs a player that you weren't competing for. The Twins offense is better, the Sox as a whole became a lot better over the offseason. the Sox have 19 games with the twins, they need to take care of business in the other 143 and compete with the Twins when they play them. This division is still wide open, I'm just as excited now as I was before Donaldson signed

Robert will be better than Buxton, and Sano has had like one season when he was better than Abreu. Dude is one year removed from being sent down and finishing the season batting under the Mendoza line.

If Tim doesn't keep that .335 up he won't be better than Polanco. Robert is not better than Buxton, yet. And Abreu is not equal to Sano.

Their is no way of knowing what/ how much what factors goes into a player signing a contract unless the player publicly states it. So we are left with this speculation argument which can go around in a circle. You can't correlate Moncada's decision with Grandel or Robert. All three are different people who could have different motives. One thing is clear Abreu has brought a strong Cuban influence in the clubhouse and does actively recruit for the White Sox. Additionally, It is my opinion that it is a good look to take care of your own players and show loyalty even if it cost you a few million dollars. I think 3/33 would have been a fair market deal. So we paid an extra 12 million dollars over 3 years to a player who has strong club house presence, actively recruits other players( whether this plays into their decision), and has been the face of the franchise during some tough times. To me this seems like small potatoes to gripe about.

Or if Polanco reverts back, or Garver doesnt duplicate, or Kepler goes back to 20 HR Kepler. I am not sold on the collective career years of the Minnesota Twins last year. I think Cleveland is the team to beat and I think the Twins will be the most disappointing team in MLB this upcoming season. Donaldson and Cruz are old guys who were banged up a lot in their career. One or both can't be counted on for full season. I don't buy the Power Surge 100% from Kepler and Polanco. I could be way off and they could duplicate last year but I'm not betting on it.

You have no fucking clue what he did and didn’t do yet you have already served as judge, jury, & executioner.

The White Sox should suspend Keuchel because his teammates with another team cheated while he was there? Like seriously man, you are freaking nuts.

I think they are investing everything on the QB position and its importance. I don't think you bring in coaches so you can land a vet sto-gap like Foles. They are going to add a vet to drive competition and give them a ripcord to pull if things are looking bad 6 weeks in (and in some ways its going to make things even harder for Mitch...because I think he is a guy who lost his swagger this past season with everyone second guessing everything and having someone like Foles/Dalton or whomever beyond him is only going to intensify that). The best case for Bears is Mitch breaks out and basically just doubles down this offseason and takes an F-IT mentality to the field where he just flat out BALLS. Have fun and ball out. Oversimplifying things, but the dude just thinks too much on the field and that breaks down his ability to read and react. And I think a lot of it comes down to that back of the mind, you over magnify on the what can go wrong. vs what could go right). Dude needs a mental coach to help him with visualization, etc. Shoot, I'm not even close to a professional athlete but I deal with that when I play basketball...when I have a swagger that my buckets are going in, they do and I just play quicker and react faster and make moves. When I'm more worried and focused on NOT turning the ball over or making sure I hit the bucket, every part of me moves and reacts just a bit slower and that difference is the difference between me making baskets and getting layups vs. not. Super basic level cause I'm not a professional athlete, but I really think Mitch's issues lay between the ears and not from the smart vs. not smart, but from mental blocks / lack of confidence/swagger. Maybe he can go all Greinke (remember when he finally got past his mental issues and broke through). Dude was ready to retire and play golf cause he was such a mental headcase. Konerko was kind of the same way...he had his best years once he freed up mentally and got over "fear of failing".

The most famous example involves the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s. The following story is related by Jerome Holtzman and George Vass in Baseball, Chicago Style (Bonus Books, 2001): It began ... in 1965 when the Sox were in Detroit for a four-game series. Tommy John was pitching for the Sox and noticed the baseballs had been tampered with. "All the balls I got that day were like cue balls, hard and slick," John recalled. "And the seams were so low, almost nonexistent. When you're a sinkerballer you can't sink the ball without seams." John relayed the information to manager Al Lopez who told him to bring a ball into the dugout after every inning. According to John's recollections, Lopez said, "That's okay. We'll get them when we get back to Comiskey Park." Lopez summoned Gene Bossard, a second-generation groundskeeper who knew all the tricks. Bossard understood what had to be done and began storing boxes of balls in a small, windowless brick-walled room. He installed a humidifier. In two weeks the balls were soaking wet, moist from the humidity. ... In the four-game series at Detroit, the Tigers had hit 13 home runs ... In the ensuing four-game series at Comiskey Park from July 30 through August 2, the Tigers were swinging at the doctored balls. Suddenly, they were shorn of their power. Their longest hit in the entire series was a double.

"Texas man arrested for following Dallas Keuchel around banging on a trashcan"

At this point I’m convinced that Bruce either has vision or hand problems. It’s hard to make that many typos even on purpose.

I got him confused with the other Romine and thought McCann is getting traded.

This is obviously just a ploy to lure Austin Romine here when McCann leaves...I am so sick of the front office playing these games 😁

Because it's Jan 15th and we are all staring out the window waiting for spring?

Man, it would have been so killer if that robertson for luzardo and that crappy 3b trade happened.

Wish I had that KW quote equating Ventura to a four-star general or future CEO in terms of his leadership qualities.

Pretty impressive that Farquhar was the guy to figure this out. The more I read about Farquhar -- his work with pitchers while he was playing, his recovery from the terrifying brain issue -- the more impressed I am. He strikes me as a really smart, thoughtful, and interesting guy, and I'm glad he's in our organization.

Fuck the Twins.

The Twins are going to be right there for the division. All hell would have to break lose for that not to happen.

IMO - if you want to beat this Twins team, it's not even as much up to your pitching staff as it is your offense. You're going to have to win some games 10-8.

ARE THERE ANY ADDITIONAL FEES INVOLVED? All Ring devices will operate without an additional fee or subscription. However, we offer optional Ring Video Recording Plans that cost a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Without Ring Video Recording, you will still receive alerts when visitors press your Doorbell or trigger the motion sensors in your device, and you’ll still get live streaming video and two-way audio, so you can see, hear and speak to guests in real-time, as the event is happening. However, if you don’t have Ring Video Recording and you miss an alert or a live event, you will not be able to review the video. Ring Video Recording will save all of your recordings to your Ring account for up to 60 days, and with Ring Video Recording, you can also review the videos, download them to local storage, and share them via social media, text and email. There are two options for Ring Video Recording: Basic and Protect. Basic costs $3 per month or $30 for the year per device; Protect costs $10 per month or $100 for year, and it covers an unlimited amount of Ring cameras, offers a lifetime product warranty and gives you an additional 10% off future purchases at Ring.com.

The Rally Crede.

I don't think it "Ensures" anything. It improves the chances of Minny being right there, but I can think of a bunch of ways that they're not. Just as I can imagine ways the White Sox aren't.

Tail end? Based on wishful thinking? I guess if Berrios and Buxton elevate their games like Giolito and Moncada....then are lost after 2021, sure, but they should be strong competitors the next 2-3 seasons unless their pitching completely falls apart. Other than Cruz, most of their position players are young/er or close to their primes. Like the Sox, they have control of plenty of that young core, other than the two names I highlighted and Rosario. They also have a very top-heavy farm system, somewhat similar to ours.

You would think they just added 2001 Barry Bonds with the way a certain subset of White Sox twitter is acting.

It would be interesting to see some you compare the various respective parts of the 2 pitching staffs. I would think that the Sox have the distinct advantage, in terms of quality, depth and potential.

Give me Moncada over Donaldson and Madrigal over Arraez.

Maybe Kenny will bring back his old quote from when the Tigers acquired Miguel Cabrera... This just puts the Twins a little closer to competing with the Sox for the division. 😂

If we are building a team capable of winning Division, League and WS titles we need to be good enough to win against good teams. When we win the Central this year...we don't need to listen about how we didn't have to beat anyone. The season just got more interesting. Go Sox.

I just said what I would have done with Abreu in my last post. I have yet to see proof that Robert wouldn’t have signed an extension if Abreu was only given the one year qualifying offer. Moncada has not signed an extension yet so this is a moot point for now. Besides, Abreu could be gone by the time Moncada does sign and extension, if and when he does.

Yikes that is a lot of money and a lot of years for a 34 year old. This makes the Abreu contract look even better for one less year and almost half the amount and he’s the leader/mentor of the team.

How is a 3-yr/$50M deal for a 33-yr old player worse/riskier than a 4-yr/$92M deal for a 34-yr old player that has had a significant injury. Please explain.

The Twins are going to win our division by 8 to 10 games this year. I doubt our roster will be better prior to 2021.

He's not replacing a 0 win player though

Hes 34 years old and has been banged up. They just gave him 4 years. Last year he wasnt worth more than 1 year. I'll go on record to say he has 1 1/2 decent years and 2 1/2 injured or bad. Not sure on the order.

Decent chance he joins Detwiler back in CHA and we see him in Spring Won't trash Covey, he's a good human who played for an awful team during an awful time Wish him the best

Dylan seems like a nice guy, I'm not gonna dance on his grave. Dude just "got fired" so to speak. If anything this serves as a fitting end to a terrible stretch of bullshit Sox shenanigans.

I was at that game in Boston (June 2018 -- near my birthday and have some Boston roots and family). Fortunate to sit right behind the plate. Covey was insane. 95-96 with crazy darting movement. Lots of sink. Sale was awesome too, but if you didn't know their full resumes, one would have thought Covey had every bit the accomplishments as Sale. For a 4-5 week period, dude put it all together and harnessed the potential that made him a high draft choice to begin with and a viable Rule 5 lottery pick by the Sox. But those overall stats for three years in a Sox uniform. Wow are those ugly. Sort of a pitcher's version of Joe Borchard. Some incredible tools on paper. Every now and then you see a flash. But absolutely zero reason to believe there is going to be any sustained and consistent success. Good luck, DC. Seems like a good guy and clearly worked hard at his game. It's just gratifying to see that the depth is improved that we can cut some of these paper warriors without holding them ... forever.

He'll get picked up by Tigers and make some starts against us and throw a no hitter lol

I believe Contreras pitched 8.1 innings in game 1. 2/3rds of a inning from 5 complete games in a row

QUOTE (JoeCredeYes @ May 31, 2017 -> 07:02 PM) I'll miss Hawk. We all know it's time, but I chose to remember the good days. Fond memories of yesteryear, asking my Dad what the heck a cat-bird seat was, what the heck a can-of-corn had to do with a baseball game. I'll miss his candor. The number of guys that can actually get away with saying what they feel in our social justice warrior era can be counted on a couple hands at best. I'll miss his enthusiasm. Hawk has been the voice of my baseball team for as far back as my memory goes, and I think growing up listening to a guy live and die on every pitch in a game where essentially nothing ever happens, made me feel like it was important, like that's how I should feel about baseball, and it worked. He put everything he had in to this gig for a long time, and as corny as it sounds you can't argue with the passion he brought to the mic day in and day out. I'm glad I got to grow up listening to his stories of legends I couldn't pull up youtube videos of at my fingertips. I feel bad for the kids today that will never get to experience that. Sure, the Grandpa campfire story magical feeling waned as I grew older, but I'd still take a tall tale from the Hawk I've heard 100 times over Benetti telling me what his Mom put in his lunchbox. Love em, hate em, somewhere in between, hats off to a legend, the end of an era, this Sox fan will always cherish the memories. Thanks Hawk You might not post very much in all your years as a member of this community but damn this post rocks !