Sarava

I think one of the big problems is the White Sox operate like a small to mid market team. and they treat their fans much the same way. I think they honestly thought Sox fans would be satisfied with them 'having a seat at the table'. Why would you keep repeating that stupid phrase, otherwise? Chicago fans don't want to be treated like that and for Rick Hahn, who grew up here, he should of known better.

Which podcast was Hahn speaking in? I'd love to listen to it.

I agree Strasburg will wait, since he's a Boras guy as well. But Wheeler and Bumganer might not want to wait until March or April to sign.

This sounds highly unlikely, but yeah, that would be a huge off-season.

I think this is very cool. Can't wait to see this.

I think we all know the 2015 comparison was a not a good one. I don't want the Sox spending money just to spend money. And we definitely don't want them to blow their wad, to where they won't be able to afford keeping Moncada and/or Giolito in a few years. The right player and right value needs to be there. Unfortunately that right player was there last winter and they blew it. But moving forward, if they could land an Ozuna and Wheeler, plus throw in a reliever or two to fill out the pen, I'd be pretty happy.How much the Sox compete next year largely depends on how quickly some of these high end prospects develop? Will Eloy right the ship and by how much? Does Robert struggle in his first season or is he an instant sensation? There's a lot of unknowns. Here's one last question - do you bring back Ivan Nova, who is a free agent? He's been the Sox best pitcher (by far) since the all-star break. And yes, the Sox certainly should be better in 2021 than next year, but that doesn't mean they can't be damn good next year. The time to go for it is upon us.

I think there's a chance to compete next year with the right off-season moves. But I don't like the poll options, because I don't blame injuries. It's just the path of development for many guys is getting further along, and hopefully they will make an effort to plug holes this off-season, instead of being content with mediocre players filling some positions as they've done throughout the rebuild (guys like Covey, Sanchez, Engel, etc.).

Atta boy Eloy!

There we go! huge run there

NICE!

The big hole on the team moving forward appears to to be the starting rotation. If the owner is willing to spend the cash in free agency to fill that hole, then obviously that's the best path moving forward.

You're killing me with all these damn edits today lol. I know you've spoken unkindly about Madigral in the past. When I called him a high contact singles hitter, that absolutely wasn't meant in a negative way. So don't be lumping me in with your former negative feelings on him. I think there's a positive about a player like that being on your team. I think he's potentially the #1 or #2 hitter in our lineup for the next 10+ years. Especially since his walk-rate has gone up quite a bit since he left college. But in the end, 82 of his 110 hits have been singles. I'm not looking it up, but that seems like a pretty high % of singles to me. And him being a high contact hitter is obviously true. I think it's already been stated that he has the lowest strikeout % in all of professional baseball right now. For our future lineup, I don't want 7 guys swinging for the fences every at-bat, kinda like the Cubs have right now. They did win a World Series, but they have some serious flaws in their lineup construction right now. And it wouldn't completely shock me if 3 years from now we consider Nick Madigral the best player on our White Sox.

Replying again since you edited your post. To me Madigral is necessary, because we have no 2B of the future without him. Yolmer isn't the answer. My God. That said, for the absolute right guy, I would consider moving Madigral as well. I just prefer they try not to move him. Something about him makes me feel like he could become a special player. Even though he plays against most of the analytics of today's game, being a high contact, singles hitter. And I agree that we have a solid chance of eventually finding a #1 among our big 3 young arms.

The Cardinals won't trade him obviously. If you want a young uber talented guy in his range (or somewhat close), it would need to come from a rebuilding type franchise.

Relievers of any kind. Teams wont hesitate to throw a good reliever in to the closer role if necessary. The market was flooded with sellers and that was known well before the last day. And perhaps we need to be realistic. They probably aren't going to get a TOR or #1 starter this off-season. They wont take the financial risk, or as you said, give up the assets needed to trade for one. For instance, if Syndegaard was available, the Mets would surely want 2 of the untouchables you listed. You simply can't make a trade like that, which we both agree on. As for trading - that's where I go to Andrew Vaughn again. He's the one big piece that doesn't feel necessary for this rebuild to succeed. If you package him with a few medium prospects (Walker, Dunning, etc.), then you might get a really nice young pitcher back for him. He doesn't necessarily have to be a #1 guy. But if the Sox can get a guy they feel has a good chance of being a #2, that helps a ton. You can gamble that one of Cease, Giolito or Kopech might eventually become a #1. Or if none are #1's, but you have a few in the rotation with are #2's, and it's complimented by an explosive offense, that could be a path to winning the World Series. There's many ways to skin a cat.

I don't really agree with you on this. There were a ton of relievers available for trade. We knew that before the morning of the deadline day. This didn't just spring up that day. MLB.com had an article the day before the deadline I believe, and they didn't even have Colome listed in their first tier of relievers available. Now we Sox fans might disagree with how they listed their tiers, but in the end, we knew Hahn would hold Colome to a high value and it would take a lot to pry him away. With so many other options available to teams in need of a reliever, and the known hesitancy of teams to trade away top 100 prospects these days, it added up to the Sox not doing anything. Now, I'm not upset that he didn't move him. I actually take it as a positive and hopefully that shows their intentions are to push this thing this winter. And that's good news. I think big pitcher acquisitions this winter are more likely to come via trade than free agency though.

Yeah, and to be clear about things, I have no problem with the Sox not making any moves this deadline. I very clearly stated here that I didn't think they would make any big moves. How Rick Hahn operates has become very predictable and all signs pointed towards nothing was going to happen. I'm not sure why so many fans misread the situation.

I used the Reinsdorf age thing in my thinking last off-season. Why wouldn't Reinsdorf just go for it? We're loaded with young talent and a signing like Manny Machado might push this rebuild over the top to the promiseland. Unfortunately - despite the reality that Reinsdorf probably won't even be alive by the end of Machado's contract, he still wouldn't do what everyone knew it would take. Why not? Can you imagine if they had signed Machado? He's on pace for 40+ HR's this year. Throw him as shortstop, and Tim Anderson in CF or RF. This team would of been stacked at almost every position, once the last few guys made the team. My only guess is it maybe concerned him that if Machado turned in to a bad contract, that it might bog down the team's value if his family inherits the White Sox (or whatever portion he owns) and tries to sell it. Otherwise I can't come up with anything. They have so little money committed to the future, yet they're still playing games to save 3 mil on Nate Jones and not spending adequate funds on international prospects in the same breath. I absolutely agree with you that they have the funds and should be able to sign most of these guys this off-season. I won't even fault them for not signing Cole - because if you give him 200 mil and he pitches like he did in his last 2 seasons in Pittsburgh, that would be ugly. But others guys - bring them in and cross your fingers. But the strange reality is, any big name pitcher they sign this winter will be a far riskier signing than the Machado signing that they weren't willing to take the risks on for. That's what makes me worried they will balk at the end of the day. You know, settle for 'having a seat at the table'.

I'm not sure the Sox would offer Madigral an extension this early. There's a lot of unknown for what type of impact he can or will have with the Sox. Probably best to just let things play out when he gets here and go from there.

I agree with you all about Renteria. The two things he most controls, his decisions and the team's fundamentals - are both failing horribly. There's no basis for him to continue as manager of the White Sox. He doesn't deserve to keep his job.

Covey did the job for once

Why did they challenge that?

Eh, Renteria is terrible. But the bullpen is gased from last night. I don't blame him for this move.

This is about to get ugly

That looked like a lazy effort by Tim there