Look at Ray Ray Run

Oh my, they just spent 54 million on a closer... how is this any different? The Sox MO is to acquire the top of the line players at the more affordable positions (catcher, relief pitcher) so they can claim they play at the top of the market. They have done this over and over again, but yet they continue to have you fooled.

Yeah, I hope he's right too but him insinuating that anyone who doubts that is wrong is flat out laughable.

1. The Sox would be an even BETTER team today than they were before if they traded for Bryant over Kimbrel. 2. Gavin Sheets isn't a DH on a World Series contender. My goodness. Andrew Vaughn has no business playing right field. 3. No team is paying two relievers 32 million so please spare me your third point as it's complete nonsense and not at all supported by relatable examples. I bumped a thread from before the season with every poster saying the Sox had the best bullpen in baseball. Bullpens are volatile, investing significantly in them is dumb and teams with good ones develop the majority of them internally. Teams who have the best players make the playoffs. The playoffs themselves are a crap shoot. A good bullpen helps but the narrative that it decides post-seasons is reactionary BS.

EXACTLY! The Sox could have signed a reliever that was projected to be nearly as good as Kimbrel in 4 months for less, and made themselves much better this year by trading for Bryant. Anyway you slice it, this team chose to do something that no top-of-the-line organization has done; pay two closers prime market value.

You are arguing this when the same front office just spent 80% of their available off-season resources on a closer/relief pitcher. You have to see the irony in that, no? My lord.

What about what I said is wrong? Kris Bryant is a more impactful add than Craig Kimbrel for this season? The Sox could sign a reliever this upcoming off-season for less than 16 million and still get a very very good reliever? Nick Madrigal is better to have on your team than not have? What above do you disagree with? I honestly can't believe how many people think it's OK to two relievers 32 million dollars. No other great and consistent winning organizations do that, but you think the Sox are somehow the brilliants ones.

So who is the DH? Do the Sox just not have a DH Now? Vaughn and Eloy are in LF/DH. The Sox have NO right fielder. Kris Bryant filled an actual massive hole on the roster. Craig Kimbrel was a luxury item. I am so confused how you can't see how terribly this front office just spent their resources.

The Cubs literally just traded two guys to the Sox; this narrative needs to die. Just as the Sox did this past off-season, they allocated their resource terribly and spent their primary assets on a relief pitcher.

The Sox could have paid a reliever this off-season well less than 16 million who was still really good. They already spent a ton on a closer. I really am so confused by what you can't grasp. This is honestly amazing. The Sox could have kept Madrigal, acquired Bryant, signed a reliever this off-season, and been better this year (bryant > Kimbrel) and been better next year. If the goal was to get better for this year with the Kimbrel trade then Bryant was a much smarter add and way more impactful. If the goal of Kimbrel was to, for some reason, acquire a properly paid reliever (despite just paying 54 million for one) they could have just signed one as a FA this upcoming year. Anyway you slice it this didn't make us better this year (Bryant would have), or more efficient next year.

Kris Bryant would be significantly more helpful to our team this year than Kimbrel, I'm really not sure how you don't see that. Your obsession with 20 innings over 70 whole games is really, really weird. The Sox have no right fielder. Bryant is a star. He impacts every game. The Sox could have traded much less for Bryant, signed a reliever in the off-season for much less than 16 million, and been way better off.

Uh, more is really understating the difference here.

Canario was a top 10 guy in their system.

Anyone who thinks the Sox didn't get bent over in their trade after seeing this one have lost their damn minds. That said, Bob is a moron. I'm like 100% sure it's Alex Canario.

I hate to bump this thread, but with SS2k's thread I just had to.

AHhhh yes, NO ONE could have possibly matched this unstoppable post-season numbers from Aroldis Chapman: How could any team possibly replace a guy with a 3.86 and 3.52 ERA in the two biggest series of the year. The entire Chapman narrative is a laughable joke. Nothing he did was irreplaceable. The world series was decided by the guys who performed in 95% of the innings, not the guy who was average at his job for 12 of them. Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/W WPA cWPA 2016 28 CHC NL NLDS W SFG 0 0 2.70 4 0 3 0 0 3 3.1 3 1 1 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 14 1.200 8.1 0.0 2.7 18.9 7.00 -0.04 1.6% 2016 28 CHC NL NLCS W LAD 1 0 1.000 3.86 4 0 3 0 0 0 4.2 3 2 2 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 18 1.286 5.8 0.0 5.8 5.8 1.00 0.11 1.9% 2016 28 CHC NL WS W CLE 1 0 1.000 3.52 5 0 3 0 0 1 7.2 5 3 3 1 2 0 11 1 0 0 30 0.913 5.9 1.2 2.3 12.9 5.50 0.23 -20.1%

Not only are they investing heavily in money, but they also invested heavily in assets. That's a large investment. And this will be my last post on the topic, but reach out to me when the White Sox actually prove they're going to spend real money. They spent huge on a closer this off-season and it didn't mean shit when it came to opening up their pocket books. The Sox bullpen was viewed as the strength of this team pre-season and it's been trash because bullpens are volatile and investing a big % of your chips into that bucket is not an efficient or intelligent strategy imo.

Which is wild, since you could argue that Heuer/Madrigal is as good as the Rizzo package, and they ate all of Rizzo's contract to get those prospects back from the Yankees.

Not sure what this means at all, but the fact that even "top three reliever in baseball" was bad the two years prior kind of proves how risky it is to invest heavily in relievers, no?

The White Sox spent 54 million on a closer this off-season and they entered the year with the 16th highest payroll in baseball. Literally nothing about this acquisition proves the White Sox are going to open up the pocket books. The White SOx had like 25 million to spend this entire off-season (yearly) and spent 80% of it on a reliever. The White Sox haven't exactly proven to be intelligent with their allocation of limited resources.

I have no idea what you're trying to argue. The Sox just added 6 million in salary; they didn't sign some 100 million dollar contract. Their payroll is league average still while being all in. And if the Sox are spending 32 million on relievers next year with a 150 million dollar payroll, they're morons.

LOL, after the Kimbrel acquisition, the White Sox now have the 14th highest payroll in baseball. I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

Resources are not all treated equally by different organizations. 80 million to the Dodgers is like 25 million to the White Sox. And from the other angle, controllable assets are much more valuable to the 25 million team than the 80 million team.

Come on... this can't be serious. This is the same team that had to put sun glasses on to hide their shock of being "outbid" for Manny Machado. The Sox do not deserve the benefit of the doubt on spending money until they actually spend money.

again, Rodon was merely an example of spending. Not at all meant to be the only avenue of spending. I've been pretty adamant that giving Rodon big money would not be a good strategy, but I'd argue it would be a better strategy than giving a set up man 16 million given this teams spending habits; which is really the point.

I get that, and I'm not saying I'd give Rodon 85 million - ftr, pretty concerned about paying up big for one year. But the point was more about investing heavily in a position player or SP that impacts a much greater inning load than a set up man. I'll say it until I'm blue in the face; The White Sox are not some fiscally lenient organization that can afford the luxury of overpaying two bullpen arms as a luxury. If they prove me wrong this off-season? Awesome, but until it happens I will never trust them to do so because they never have.