South Side Hit Men

RF Joc Pederson. 2B Jose Iglesias or Josh Harrison.

2022: 1B Todd Helton; 3B Scott Rolen; SS Alex Rodriguez; LF Barry Bonds; LF Pete Rose (Write-in); CF Andruw Jones; SP Roger Clemens; SP Curt Schilling. 2022 Early Era Committee: SS Bill Dahlen. 2022 Golden Days Committee: 1B Dick Allen; 3B Ken Boyer; LF Minnie Minoso. Future Ballots through 2025: C Joe Mauer; 3B Adrian Beltre; RF Ichiro Suzuki; CF Carlos Beltran; SP C. C. Sabathia.

SoxTalk's Chickens, Are Coming Home To Roost!

Was Squirmin' for Yermin already taken on Twitter? Still waiting for the first legitimate White Sox rumor this offseason.

And Hahn has found his OD Starting Second Baseman, perhaps also an OF. Jerry: “$600,000, a LH hitter, such a deal. Much better than that bum from Cleveland. Sign Frazier as well, he can play the corners, all on the Yankees dime. What a country! Hey, can we begin trading our international bonus money again? Isn’t this great!” https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/rougned-odor-homers-14-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-center-field-luke-voit-scor

A NFT Hahn has been eyeing.

Yes, it is similar the Southern states scrambling to incorporate the Confederate flag into their state flags after the Civil War. Not the only instance of MLB catering to their dwindling target audience. Located 15 Miles Outside of Atlanta is Stone Mountain, The park was officially opened to the public to honor the Confederacy and celebrate the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 100 years to the day, on April 14, 1965.

They are solid moves to address what the Sox need, and provide depth, since the Sox wouldn't be trading guys like Vaughn and/or Sheets to fill these holes. In terms of speculation, not sure why you get upset at others hoping for high end FAs. I ignore those posts / speculative threads, and quite frankly was happy the Sox lost out on Machado, it just doesn't fit in a mid tier payroll. Wheeler hurt, but you are not going to win every FA attempt and they made a legitimate top offer to him. Hendriks was a solid move. The Lynn trade also made sense, though not as big a fan of the mid-season extension, with a knee surgery possibly in the works. If he can show up lighter and able to pitch health wise the next two seasons, it should work out. Hopefully he shares the same commitment the team made to him.

I personally like Escobar as a value 2B pick. Primarily against Conforto for payroll flexibility and potential bad contract his final years, but if the Sox make those two work and get two relievers and a #4/#5 starter, I would be ecstatic. T hey are heavily committed top end ($100M Abreu, Lynn, Grandal, Keuchel, Kimbrel and Hendriks), but if payroll opens up beyond $170M to say the $180 + range, and the Sox brought in decent to very good players like the two mentioned, instead of Eaton lotto ticket types, it would be an excellent off-season based on where they started at year end. Really need to be able to move Kimbrel, I think they keep Keuchel and he turns it around next season a bit (nothing stellar, but a decent starter with a 3.8-4.2 ERA).

Alec Baldwin and his fellow EPs have hired the same firm (Jenner Block) as the Wirtz family did to “investigate” what happened on their tragic film set. https://deadline.com/2021/11/alec-baldwin-lawsuit-new-rust-fatal-shooting-mamie-mitchell-gloria-allred-1234876099/ Meanwhile, there was a solid interview with the attorney representing the two victims last week. https://www.audacy.com/670thescore/podcasts/parkins-spiegel-show-63/attorney-susan-loggans-addresses-new-developments-in-case-against-blackhawks-936774314 From the interview:

You put in a lot of of effort into this, and while I don’t agree with all of it (primarily counting on Quintana to be able to be a 4, and losing Crochet), your acquisitions of the Marte’s make a lot of sense, and it’s the most realistic plan in terms of reasonable execution. I also like your emphasis on bringing in younger and more reasonably priced talent than many are proposing (Verlander, Scherzer). It’s a solid plan, likely better than what we’ll end up with. Now that the QOs are set, and additional trade information is available, I’ll try to get something in over the next week.

Solid piece by Keith Law discussing the misaligned incentives between the Angels and Noah Syndergaard. https://theathletic.com/2960809/2021/11/16/law-with-a-one-year-contract-noah-syndergaard-and-the-angels-arent-on-the-same-page/

Indeed, this is the proper take.

And Brandon Belt is likely the only player to accept a QO. Pending final confirmation Players 13 (Castellanos; Conforto; Correa, Freeman; Iglesias; Ray; Rodriguez; Seager; Semien, Story, Syndergaard, Taylor; Verlander) Teams 1 (Belt)

What does Kate Upton have to say about Chicago?

https://www.twitter.com/JRFegan/status/1461009411556528132 “He is going to decide how good he can be,” Contreras said through Russo. “He can do all the things that he wants to do. If he says he wants to be a 20-win pitcher, he can do that. If he says he wants to win a Cy Young, he can do that. If he says he wants to carry a team to a World Series championship, he can do that. Because he has the tools.”

Plus Jay Jaffe's (JAWS creator) articles on his top two selections for the Golden Era Committee. Minnie Minoso Dick Allen

Meanwhile, Rocky Wirtz has still not have been investigated nor answered a single question. This is what Rocky is demanding from the child rape victim while he stonewalls this payment.

“Anyone who thinks we can catch Detroit is crazy” - Jerry Reinsdorf, August 3, 2022

AL Voting Cash 109 Servais 71 Baker 33 NL Voting Kapler 143 Counsell 75 Shildt 25 This is the second straight season a Top 3 selection was fired. Not sure why team funded PR personnel have ballots. Scott Merkin was one of four (30 total voters) who voted for La Russa as their second choice. Tony finished 6th in AL voting. https://bbwaa.com/21-al-mgr/

The Owners have saved far more money collectively with this salary suppression scheme than any risk of paying an injured player. Sox fans saw first hand the detrimental impact on performance of Keuchel and Kimbrel from being three years removed (2018) from a normal season (2019 - FA Collusion; 2020 - Owner 102 game lockout), not to mention the over one year full salary lost by both players in 2019-2020. For the good of the game, Qualifying Offers should be eliminated with the next CBA. Teams should be rewarded for attempting to win, not penalized with lost draft picks. The best players should be available on Opening Day. They should not be sitting around waiting for July 1, because owners rather keep a pick of a player they can pay far less than MV for six seasons.

At first I thought this (in my OP), but with the activity the past week, I think both will get multi-year (2-3) deals for an AAV in the ballpark ($15M -$18M) of the QO if they reject it. Several owners have opened up the purse strings early in the process.