Look at Ray Ray Run

You keep saying this as if it proves some point. The A's are spending at that level because MLB decided spending below that level is too embarrassing and sad. Even for the A's. White Sox said hold my beer.

I don't want to keep going back and forth and I haven't dug in this deep, but you just clearly miss the big picture. It's really hard to lose 20 more games. It wasn't a shell problem, it was Getz. Terrrible bullpens are how you end up with historic badness. Getz work there was next level bad. Getz traded Bummer for 5 players, 4 of which played in the bigs for 215 combined games. They combined accumulated .8 fWAR which was less than Bummers 1.1 in 56 games. From a cumulative perspective you're talking about a -4 win impacting trade. 12/28 he releases Declan Cronin who goes on to have a 1.3 fWAR season. He Signs Tim Hill who they release. Signs John Brebbia. Had jesse Chavez in camp and released him and he goes on to have a nice year in Atlanta. Then he targeted Steven Wilson in his prized trade as the bullpen piece and he was not pitchable. I'm ignoring everything but for the bullpen where Getz easily lost 15 games last year alone and he did it entirely to himself.

As Kenny called it when they moved Lee for Pods, it was a reshuffle. Their offense, while incredibly powerful was stagnant. They changed the build up of the team and it worked. I won't stand for the shade being thrown at the '05 sox. That was no fluke and those guys were dudes and that team was built beautifully.

You insinuated that the White Flag trade, as it was known, helped lead them. Caruso had that one year he had 700 infield hits, but then he was done. Howry was trade for Frank Francisco. Keith foulke was a guy no doubt, but they traded three MLB starters for 1 closer lol and that's why they succeeded??

No, actually Getz took over a team who won 20+ more games. It's hilarious to watch people pretend there's no difference between a 40 win team and a 60 win team and somehow that 20 additional losses were the creation of Rick hahn.Hahn. No one would ever excuse someone taking over a 100 win team and turning them into an 80 win team so no idea why 60 to 40 should be any different. Actually even worse imo.

You've been calling everyone overly negative for the past three years. In fact, when I search your name with the word "wrong" what is returned is about 100 posts of you telling others they're wrong while never once saying you were wrong. When people attack you for never being wrong, you say "I'm wrong all the time," but there's zero record of you saying you were actually wrong.

Impressed. Unbelievable. I used to wonder how these MBA's pulled the cloak over people's eyes. Chris Getz just lost the most games in MLB history. He lost 20+ more games than any other season we've ever had. He could manufacture the biggest single season turnaround in MLB history by 5 wins (40 more wins than the year prior) and they still wouldn't get over 500. He also is about to run a payroll out there that is lowest the organization has had since 2004! 21 years ago! The league has TRIPLED it's revenues since 2004. But hey, he gives you some basic business school type of answer and you're impressed. The only impressive thing Chris Getz is doing is lining the pockets of ownership. There are rules in place to prevent the small market A's from spending at the levels the White Sox are spending. Think about that for a second. That's beyond disgustingly embarrassing.

I do think Grayson has a good chance of being in the Cy Young conversation this season.

People applauding this too are amazing... Everyone signs players to 100 million now but for the Sox. We should be signing 200+ million dollar deals by now.

You'd honestly have to be a complete dunce to think there's any justification for the level of spending taking place right now. The Sox have already proven once they won't save and splurge later.

I think analytics and efficiency maximization have hurt baseball and basketball and it's not because of any age old tropes. It's because they've fundamentally changed how the game is played and evaluated in ways that have harmed uniqueness and diversities of skill sets. Sometimes the most efficient way is more boring and less entertaining and this is entertainment after all.

Agree on the strategy 100% and they should be absolutely doing it. I might not sign the same guys you are naming/would, but I 100% agree that should be their strategy. The Sox would have some legitimate +side variance possibilities by doing that. What they're doing now is disgraceful.

Ahh see, this is where they're getting you. Don't let them trick you with their shenanigans. The White Sox have had periods where they were top 10 in spending when they were winning - this has been the case for much of my lifetime. They've been top 10 in spending 7 times since 2000 and only ONE time post rebuild. The main difference is this regime committed to a rebuild where they spent NO money. They had three years of payrolls below 100 million after having surpassed 100 million in 2007. They saved probably 80-100 million plus in those years then they came out and they spent only on internal players and ran one year with a top 10 payroll. They were 26, 29, 25th and 20th in baseball in payroll during the rebuild and coming out of it. They then ran 15th, 7th and 14th During their window where they were supposed to spend the money they saved. They should have spent way more money than they ever had, relative to the league, but instead they just returned to their standard level of spending (relative to the league) that had already existed for two decades.

I laid out my plan in the other thread as to what I would have done. Compile lottery picks, continue to invest in development, and spend 130+ million to put MLB talent on the field.

I'd like to watch major league baseball next summer. The Sox can develop and not offend the game at the same time.

Anyone using the word "efficiently" to describe the Sox need to be the cheapest team in baseball have had their brains broken by the misery.

Sox gotta save money so the next time they're competitive they can not spend it.

People ripping you for wanting to add quality MLB talent to this team are wild. Worried about saving Jerry's money

I'm excited for Sosa and he deserves tons of ABs

Getz obsessed with post-30 guys coming off years of regression. Weird market to corner.

No idea what the O's are doing.

I completely forgot the Angels threw Nevin out there as a catcher one year. Wild world we lived in back then.

Hiring certainly isn't impactful but it'll never stop being concerning that LaRussa still has his teeth sunk in to this org and is clearly guiding some choices.

Since I always hate on moves on this board, I'll say I like this signing as well. Bryse isn't a star by any means, but he's shown an ability to keep guys off balance and get more from his stuff than it plays. He might be a 4.5 ERA guy, but he's a nice swing arm who can go long relief and start about 10-12 games a year in a pinch. For this price, this is a nice viable bullpen piece who will for sure get lit up sometimes, but should be able to eat enough innings in spots designed for him to do so to be worth his roster spot.

Clevinger has been one of the most unliked players in baseball (by his peers) for nearly as long as he's been in the league. The only guy he got along with was Bauer - another guy no one liked. Edit: and it had nothing to do with politics. Majority of big leaguers are conservative.