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I’ll take this contract for Bellinger over Benintendi’s $75 million dollar contract all day long.

Except you shouldn't have to waste a Top 20 asset to "motivate" a player...that's how the White Sox got into the mess they're currently in, or having to find "managers" on the field to make up for Grifol and TLR's fault/s, isn't it?

Well of course it is only a one year contact and the people who deal hindsight evaluation will agree. Lao Tzu said (paraphrased as I am not that eloquent) Those who live in the past suffer depression. Those who live in the future suffer anxiety. Only those who live in the present will be at peace.

The Soxtalk Tea Party is formed and takes to the streets for fiscal responsibility in the great state of Illinois.

Spent like 15 million on offensive downgrades on a team that already couldn’t hit. This is going to be so unwatchable.

Nothing will really change until ownership changes and everyone on the baseball side is fired.

I like how, if they win, the games don't matter. If they lose, of course they matter!! Pick a lane, Duber. I hope he's not referring to Fletcher's misplay on that triple. The sky in Arizona is notoriously hard to judge fly balls against. And the no-hitter wasn't an "almost" no hitter. That's petty of the score keeper to rule a clear hit as an error to keep the "no hitter" going. Jonathan Cannon seems to have thrown a nice 2 innings. Each team had 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. I'd call that a draw.

Eh, I really think Getz is starting to overplay his hand with this. Dylan Cease has had 1 very good season with a bunch of inconsistent ones. This is not trading Chris Sale 2.0 - there is much more risk to this the longer the Sox hold onto him.

Colas breaks up the no hitter go sox

Meanwhile, we paid a left fielder $75 million and his bat turned into utility player quality in the first year, but with the added benefit of playing a poor left field as well.

Nightengale Law's write-up on Jones, who is not in his top 100, makes him seem like the next Palka.

Or Quentin for C.Carter.

Mena was a super popular prospect here, so not sure where you’re coming up with this theory.

The Sox actually have a pretty good shot at a good, veteran bullpen. They have rotation depth and bullpen depth they haven't had for a good decade. Tell us the "dumpster diving" options for the bullpen that would have played for the Sox at the money offered. Amed Rosario is not a good fielder. And something tells me he would have had to be offered more to play with the Sox, and somehow, his bat would have fallen off. Pillar's a 4th OF. If he keeps hitting like his first 2 games, he's going to be really cheap. Like zero dollars. Seriously, as long as we all love to list out all the FA and trade failures over the past 15 years, why do you think Amed Rosario would come to Chicago and rake? Why do you think he would not put on a Sox uniform and OPS a whopping .450 in his first 3 months? If we're going to play the "everything this team has done sucked" game, we can't pretend the one guy they didn't sign would be the answer.

While Tatis' HoF chances took a massive hit with the PED suspension...well... Tatis was a just signed, flier prospect Semien couldn't field Bassist was a middle of the rotation arm Montas had the future reliever tag Escobar was a rookie hitting .207 Dane Dunning wasn't ready to produce like Lynn (who worked out, for one season) And that's not counting guys who could have been long term depth like Hudson, Thompson, Devenski, Wendelkin, and Phegley Mena for Fletcher reeks of those trades, even if Fletcher is a rookie. He's five years older and supposed to be the plug and play right field guy. I think a lot of us trust Keith Law's assessment of players (even if it's taken a while to get there) and he's got Fletcher as a weak platoon bat and is profiling Mena as a rotation pitcher with a plus curve that could add mph to his fastball. TL;Dr - Fletcher makes me think of the days of Danny Richard and Matt Davidson.

But elevated revenue normally is most correlated to previous year performance...they make the playoffs, and the real gains in ticket revenues trail the following year in increased interest and usually ticket prices rising as well. So we're now entering the opposite cycle where the teams will struggle on the field, interest in tickets will diminish, I guess from JR's perspective it doesn't matter because it all balances out, 4th or 5th place and low payroll or 1st/2nd/3rd and a higher payroll. But they've hardly ever gone out and invested in the product coming off down years...instead demonstrating that propensity to cut back and claw back any previous losses rather than "investing in the future" like the Royals did with all their spending this offseason, coming off a 106 loss season. Sherman (KC owners) would certainly at least acknowledge this strategy (the Witt extension especially) is just as much for positive PR and goodwill for the new stadium project/upcoming vote as it is for demonstrable results on the field. That's something JR doesn't care about in the least, winning fans over, so to speak.

How do they manage to look bad defensively when they basically acquired a bunch of defensive specialists?

Deivi Garcia, apparently actually in the best shape of his life, just threw a 97.4 mph FB. Sosa got robbed on a .850 xBA liner up the middle. My guy Mason Adams is in to pitch. Ramos, Montgomery, and Hackenberg in on D.

Hitless through 6 innings? Sounds about right.

Besides being a lousy manager the guy is a big jerk.

Maybe WBWSF is Getz dad.

And if we’re only going off of actual results, which is what you seem to be basing your entire argument around…the clubhouse was a disaster last year, they were fundamentally flawed and there was nearly zero player improvement, the team regressed in almost every way. And you have the balls to call Sox fans “impatient?” They haven’t won a playoff series in 18 years. They play in BY FAR the largest market in the AL Central, yet are the only team in the division that hasn’t won a playoff series in that long. And Sox fans are impatient? Respectfully, get fucked.

He’s 28, won an MVP and put up a 4.4 bWAR last year. He’s also had two historically bad years at the plate. He comes with risk, as does any player. But as a fan, I’d much rather have my team sign a contract like this than an 7-8 year deal at an 25 million AAV with no opt outs. If he flames out, you have to pay him for two more years. If he’s great, the Cubs have every opportunity to bring him back, possibly during the season. The Cubs wanted Bellinger back. They did that, and removed a lot of risk from a long term deal

I agree. That debt is *only* $50M. If Jerry isn't willing to cover that, then the state should tell him no. JR is saving at least that much by slashing payroll after the rebuild crashed and burned. There are no term limits for Illinois Governor. Edgar chose not to seek a 3rd term voluntarily. Everyone else since him has been limited due to their incompetence and/or crookedness.

Public funding of sewer water electric and roads is OK. Jerry pays the rest. No one cares about what he needs. The team blows and he has ruined the franchise. First pay off the GRF debts and we will talk.

I have my season tickets and will enjoy the game of baseball.

Shame on anyone who pays for a game this season

Results like a team the GM thought was competitive in a weak division that spent a season at each others throats, where basically everyone underperformed, where they were sloppy and unfocused, and where they lost 101 games? Tell me how I shouldn’t judge Grifol based on his team’s underperformance last year. They had the talent of a 75 win team. Fine, this wasn’t where they wanted to be, but they played like a 67 win team in the first half, so bad that they had to trade people away. Multiple veterans ripped them after they left, all the way to literally yesterday. How many seasons do we have to wait for before judging him? In spring 2025 do we have to hear that we can’t judge the coach until we see the results? 26? 27? Is Grifol still someone we are waiting on in 2028? 2029? Maybe he gets better in season 8, after all it’s unfair to judge any coach based on their first 7 seasons.

Reinsdorf doesn’t get credit for offering Machado $100 million when there were poison pills in there and he had no intention of ever paying that money. It’s as credible as any one of us offering Machado $100 million. Same for Wheeler. It’s easy to offer something that won’t be accepted.

Whatever Tim Anderson ends up being at least there is potential that he can rebound and have a good year. Dejong is just awful. Which has been the theme all offseason we replace guys who had down/terrible years with awful baseball players. So where is the improvement going to come from? Tim Anderson, Grandal, etc were at least bounceback candidates I am not saying I wanted them back but at least last year as a fan I could tell myself Grandal and Anderson are going to hit because they have their entire careers basically. Dejong and Maldonado are never going to hit or be anything except marginal players. In fact if either of those guys even ended up being a marginal contributor that would be a huge positive as far as I'm concerned I don't think either are going to have positive wars or be in the lineup when the season ends.

2024 attendance:

That's kind of the point of spring training this early. Watch the individual performances, especially when they're putting AA guys up against the pros.

Ah yes, I said something along those lines when Giolito said James Shields was helping him pitch better and Tatis wasn't yet going supernova. Eventually coaches need to coach better.

Fan Graphs has the metrics about the same year over year, with Andrew Benintendi somehow getting better as the biggest improvements, and slight upgrades of Lopez over Elvis and Dominic a slightly below average defender over Sheets (and Colas) the other two changes. Maldonado is a downgrade over Grandal, and substantial defensive downgrade vs. Zavala. Hoping Stassi gets the most starts without a call-up. Bottom line, the Sox were 22nd in the league defensively last season, and there is little reason to believe they will substantially improve year over year defensively. If the Sox substantially improve their win record year over year, it will be because of substantial offensive turnarounds (Yoan, Eloy, Vaughn, Benintendi) and solid performances by the SPs brought in since the 2023 trade deadline (Fedde, Soroka, Flexen, Eder, Nastrini, Shuster). 2023 FanGraph Defensive Position Adjustment Metrics vs. 2024 FanGraph Defensive Metric Projections Sox player with most 2023 starts at each position (2023 Games Started & 2024 Projected Games Played): 7.6 Luis Robert Junior (CF 141) vs. 3.6 Luis Robert Junior (CF 149) 4.0 Tim Anderson (SS 117) vs. 4.9 Paul DeJong (SS 76) 3.9 Yasmani Grandal (C 79) vs. 3.3 Martin Maldonado (C 68) 2.1 Elvis Andrus (2B 60) vs. 4.6 Nicky "Three Strikes" Lopez (2B 86) 1.0 Yoan Moncada (3B 87) vs. 2.7 Yoan Moncada (3B 143) -5.7 Gavin Sheets (RF 61) vs. -1.0 Dominic Fletcher (RF 97) -13.5 Andrew Vaughn (1B 143) vs. -11.7 Andrew Vaughn (1B 146) -14.3 Andrew Benintendi (LF 142) vs. -7.5 Andrew Benintendi (LF 138)

After Colas got a hit they couldn't fudge away, the home scorer went back and changed Ramos' AB to a hit instead of an E5. Might as well have an errorless game if you can't get the no hitter, I guess.

I agreed with both of your posts generally over his entire ownership. My point was they need to have a more consistent baseline payroll / team talent so they don't rely on the whims of a fluke World Series, or the couple of mid 1990s years with Jerry trying to kill the union and make a point with the Belle signing over trying to create a sustained championship window with the core Himes built. They've averaged 16th payroll, but more recently Jerry loves tanking, with a single year blip to spite people opposed to his Tony hire. They drew over 2 million in the final season at Comiskey Park, knew from advanced ticket sales he would be drawing a lot of people in 1991, drew just under 3M and still rolled out a dead last payroll (1990), fourth from last in the first year at the new park, and 17th (9th from the bottom) in the league after falling just shy of 5M fans in two years,

I’m missing the last couple seasons, but you can see a very clear correlation between PY attendance and CY payroll. Jerry will support larger payrolls if he has revenue to bank on, but obviously won’t spend big to greatly enhance a currently bad product and definitely won’t risk massive dollars on star free agents. And to make sure I’m being clear here, Jerry sucks a fat one as owner and I’m not trying to make excuses for him. I just think there is reasons to believe elevated revenue would lead to increased spending.

Another reason to get excited for 2024 is John Schriffen. Friday was a bit rough but yesterday was better. Yes sir I am onboard with Stoney & Schriffen.

https://sports.yahoo.com/bill-madden-teams-not-willing-103000682.html Not willing to give Boras what he wants for Snell Montgomery Chapman JD Martinez. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mlb-free-agent-rumors-drag-113050019.html Nightengale “Clubs have plenty of money to spend," Boras says, “but they’re not spending in a matter that is customary to competitiveness. It’s not that they don’t have the ability to pay, but their choice to regress on their payrolls. Just a year ago, the Mets and Padres were in an arms race, spending wildly, convinced it was their year to win the World Series. This season, they’re settling for being competitive, with a simple wild-card berth considered a tremendous accomplishment. “Nobody is saying the revenues in baseball are not going up, or that every team in baseball isn’t getting record revenues than at any time in their history," Boras says, “but you’re seeing clubs that are not in any way pursuing competitiveness in the manner of the past." The stagnant market has caused some of the biggest stars in the game to call out their own ownership this past week. Three-time MVP Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, Yankees MVP Aaron Judge and Boston Red Sox All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers each implored their teams to take advantage of the players available. “Players that have made commitments to their franchise," Boras says, “they’re crying out. They were told by ownership they had a common goal of winning. We’re seeing those situations now where the players are serving as the litmus test for the commitment to winning. “When you have players like this who are available, they can dramatically impact the outcome and goals of teams. It’s like the trade deadline in July. You can absolutely change the culture in the clubhouse by adding one of these players." Several general managers and managers have privately joined the chorus, telling agents to remain patient. They continue to have discussions with their owners, hoping to convince them that reinforcements are needed.

Makes the Benintendi deal look even dumber, in retrospect…there’s just no way the Sox competitive window was ever going to extend through 2027, even with Robert also around, too.

I do actually think they tried for Wheeler, but they weren't willing to step up and declare "We are going to put the highest offer out for this guy". There's lots of components about that. There's the team's hesitation to actually go out and buy guys that are really good fits. There's the fact that they blew $50 million on trash the offseason before that.

Baseball is Life

Not for a team in a major market that was close to even with the Cubs until the late 90s.

JR said the team will be worth more moving out of state.How does moving from one rental to another increase the teams worth if you don’t own anything? The ask is $4 billion. JR doesn’t just want the state to build him a ballpark, he needs them to build him a hotel and bars and restaurants which will all be rent free and he will be in charge of the cash registers. Hopefully, after that, others will want to fill the rest of the 78 up.

That's part of the problem. All of a sudden after being Chairman/Owner of the Sox for over 40 years NOW he's worried about his legacy ? He's already had a long time to build his legacy , after all he's the one who created it. Oh you poor ,dear Sox fans, you're going to lose your franchise unless Uncle Jerry saves you. Let me translate that . I'm worried that my heirs will not be able to eventually sell the team for a massive profit unless they get a sweetheart deal which not only includes a new ball park but a whole White Sox based tourist attraction. I've driven away most Sox fans so the only ones left to exploit are tourists. No Sox fan trusts Reinsdorf to actually deliver on any promise he makes that he says will make the Sox more competitive. He's been in the easiest division to win for 4 decades and couldn't figure out how to do it. Oh in my declining years I've been visited by 3 ghosts like Ebenezer Scrooge that said there was still time to change my legacy. God bless us every one ! Thank you Jerry Reinsdorf ! Thank you !

Yeah I was being polite. The data that indicate there is some big economic boon is looking at only specific gains but not the big picture.

Guaranteed...

I don’t think I’ll ever find myself rooting for him.

The TIF and the ballpark funding are not related. That $500m is already spoken for for the infrastructure improvements needed for the larger 78 development, IE: building the Red Line stop and moving the Metra tracks.