South Side Hit Men

The alternative and most likely course from this team is LESS than what I laid out, not more. Stick with the SP and C they have, Sheets and Vaughn have RF, Eloy for as long as he lasts stays in LF. Scrub 2B, perhaps one more lower cost RP. Then you have the team also declining to improve for free, employing defensive shifts like the best teams, but passing because 78 year old manager doesn't likey.

https://theathletic.com/2985471/2021/11/29/rosenthal-by-adding-max-scherzer-the-mets-are-acting-like-a-new-york-team-should-but-thats-no-guarantee-of-success/

I'm hopeful for this scenario, felt they rushed into poor signings to jump the market the past two seasons, when better (and less expensive) alternatives were available if they showed patience. Time will tell if their budget is limited to whatever salary relief they can salvage out of Kimbrel. or they have $30M-$40M to spend including his salary. If they can pick up a decent catcher (Stallings, Gomes), second baseman (Iglesias/Villar/Harrison), right fielder (Pederson/Soler) and starter (Matz was the one regret in terms of misses so far - Richards, Martin Perez and Tyler Anderson have some upside) and bringing in a hybrid like McHugh and one more reliever would put the team in decent position entering the year. Detroit will improve, but the focus is having guys firing in October.

Or perhaps he knows Tony is Italian.

This would be a solid add for the White Sox.

Buxton key demand for a no-trade clause finally got this deal done after the Twins refused to offer it in previous negotiations.

White Sox upset Boras isn't accepting their 40% off coupon code on Cyber Monday.

I could see arguments for either. I hedge on 2020 because they entered the season with two legitimate playoff starters (Giolito and Keuchel), and ???s, though COVID unexpectedly impacted Kopech's availability.

Would you peg 2020 or 2021 as the start of the Sox' theoretical competitive window?

Matz and Gray were the only two signings so far I wish the Sox would have done in terms of likely budget and their value vs. what they signed for. The most likely chance to improve is likely via trade with Oakland or another team looking to dump salary.

Meh, they will just trade for Wander Franco and Gerrit Cole, sign Ray, Rodon and Baez, and grab Jose Ramirez and Bryce Harper at the trade deadline for good measure.

Can he come here for 2022?

Liking what Kim Ng is doing in Miami.

Solid article regarding the MLBPA's chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. Jerry's crony "special advisor". I have confidence the players will both win significant gains in this contract, and also help fix the game. https://theathletic.com/2981810/2021/11/28/mlb-players-want-change-and-bruce-meyer-is-fighting-to-deliver-it-the-other-side-is-not-going-to-be-happy-with-me/ Bruce will be the only baseball fan when in a room when he meets with Manfred and Halem. Max is on board, as are McHugh, two of eight on the Player's executive committee.

Players have generally been signing for $5.5M-$6M AAV per each projected 2022 fWAR share. Updated through 9PM reporting: Crowdsourced or final AAV per projected 2022 fWAR (Limited to the 33 FAs with a 2.0 or higher projected fWAR): https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/free-agent-tracker?&pos=all Fan Graphs Top 50 FA Rank ; $ = 2022 fWAR / AAV; (Age / #AAV Years) 1B (2/1): 5. F. Freeman $5.1M (32 5); 29. A. Rizzo $6,4M (32 3); 28. B. Belt $8.8M (34 1). 2B/SS (1/1): 3. M. Semien $5.6M (31 7); 12. J. Baez $10.0M (29 4). SS (3): 1. C. Correa $5.8M (27 8); 2. C. Seager $6.1M (28 7); 10. T. Story $6.9M (29 6). 3B (1): 30. K. Seager $6.0M (34 2). OF (6/2): T. Pham $4.5M (34 2); 20. K. Schwarber $5.8M (29 4); 21. A. Garcia $6.0M (31 4); 9. S. Marte $6.5M (33 4); 22. M. Conforto (29 1) $6.8M; 11. N. Castellanos $7.6M (30 4); 6. K. Bryant $9.3M (30 6). SP (9/8): J. Quintana $0.9M (33 1); A. Wood $4.0M (31 3); 31. S. Matz $4.4M (31 4); 13. E. Rodriguez $4.4M (29 5); 38. A. Cobb $4.6M (34 2); 17. C. Rodon $4.7M (29 4); 7. R. Ray $4.9M (30 4); D. Duffy $5.0M (33 2); 36. A. DeSclafani $5.2M (32 3); 32. J. Gray $5.8M (30 4); 50. Y. Kikuchi $6.0M (31 1); 14. K. Gausman $6.1M (31 5); 19. J. Verlander $6.9M (39 2); 8. M. Stroman $6.9M (31 4); 4. M. Scherzer $7.3M (37 3); 18. C. Kershaw $8.4M (34 4); 15. N. Syndergaard $9.1M (29 1).

Hahn's going the distance. He's going for speed.

If Jerry was anti "scumbag criminal", he would have not big timed Hahn last October with the managerial hire.

And this is why Jerry was a no vote on Cohen, prefers collusion over competing.

Sorry, not in the budget. You'll get Leury, and like it. These were my expectations coming into the offseason (what I expected, not what I wanted), and each day they become closer to fruition. 2B Josh Harrison / Jose Iglesias RF Sheets/Vaughn Util Leury Garcia RP Tepera or Equivalent (Graveman takes this slot, though they may sign Tepera or one more, especially if they dump Kimbrel for prospects) SP Duffy/Wacha/Pineda $7M-$8M Over The Hill Type (perhaps 42 year old Rich Hill) Trade Kimbrel for prospect(s) and/or low-leverage RP Predicted payroll increase to the $160M-$170M range. White Sox Baseball - Broke Since 1901

Correct, the Over The Hill Gang are far more expensive than Alonso or Jay, where were just fillers. There are much better ways to spend $300M, then again this is Hahn we are talking about. Still here $74M Keuchel Ages 32-35 0-1 8.10 ERA, so bad left off roster in 2021 $73M Grandal Ages 31-34 .605 OPS vs. Houston, coming off of two knee surgeries $52M Hendriks Ages 32-35 The one deal which may work out, significantly lower AAV of the group $47M Lynn Age 34-36 0-1 12.27 ERA, knee surgery TBD $21M Kimbrel Ages 33-34 9.00 ERA, unnecessary option pickup, lost Heuer and Madrigal as well for this crap Thankfully gone $12M Encarnacion Age 37 .000 OPS vs. Oakland $8M Eaton Age 32 Cut in July $5M Gonzalez Age 35 No soup playoffs for you Paying guys top dollar at the end of their career is not the way to build a "multi-championship" team.

"You can't spend a dollar if you have only 50 cents." It's not "half-assed", it's half-funded. Not impressed in the "over-the-hill gang" additions Hahn assembled the past two years.