greg775

One reason to be upset is we have to watch McCann hit. I hate acquiring bad players: McCann, Alonso, Jay. Right way to tank. Wrong way to win.

Great post. Legitimate stuff except for skepticism that the Sox will sign any impactful free agents.

Very interesting that the site has lost so much funding because of our team headed to another horrific season in terms of wins and losses. Very sad that our team has hit rock bottom. Our division is there for the tanking, but noooooooo we have to have this long period of tanking. Very sad. Like I've said zillions of times, the Sox front office should lower prices big time this season. Copy Atlanta and have 2 dollar hot dogs and beers all season or something like that.

No offense, but Thompson, Narvaez and Saladino are not very good. I won't offend the Leury and Yolmer lovers by saying they are nothing to write home about. This list isn't exactly a great list of stud big leaguers.

Good post. I can't take it. I get so mad thinking of openers.

He's probably the only "opener" I would ever accept. I love Matt Davidson. He and Palka both have hit some bombs in their young careers.

It's a huge season for him. He's had the seasoning. It's time to rake. If he has a poor year, he's no longer a prime prospect. If he has an all-star year, well that's sort of what you'd expect this season. Again, it's Timmy time.

Personally I would not sign him if I were the Sox. There's just no reason to go there if you are running a business. Am I against him ever working again? Man it's a tough topic. I don't know. I'd like to hear opinions from people much smarter than me. Would it be proper to ask the victim what she wants him to achieve out of his life? Would she be OK with him working again?

No. I worship the DH. I despise pitchers hitting. Look at it rationally. Once all teams get rid of starters and embrace the "opener," what you have is gut-check baseball from the first inning on. Lefty/righty matchups as early as the second inning. The poor hitters are going to be facing closers the first time up and 101 mph heat and they are going to whiff. Maybe a lousy reliever will be in there at some point but if he's lousy you can bet he'll be used L/R matchups mostly. The baseball starter is the lore of baseball. You get to the game early with your son and daughter, see the starter warming up, remembering he started four days ago. On the way to the game you talk about the starter and how you are glad (or mad) a certain starter is pitching the day you are attending the game. Is it Buehrle today or Steve Trout or LaMarr Hoyt or some stiff like James Shields or Todd Ritchie (although I credit James for being OK last season). I'm sure before too long no starter will ever be allowed to face a hitter a third time in a game. I would think analytics shows the odds greatly favor the hitter in that third at bat vs. the pitcher. I pray that when "openers" take over with 5-6 reliever/starters to follow that baseball forbid the opener for opening the next four days or some way to get statnik front office types to stop this insane ruination of the game! Just my take. I see no way openers can do anything but slow down the game and help ruin it more for the Millenials.

Because of the heat being thrown at them each and every at bat by a closer type. The relievers will be coming after the hitters. Starters get in a rhythm, etc., and a hitter once in a while guesses right and boom! Home run. Also Ray Ray, it's a proven fact starters weaken their third time through the order. The advantage will be so heavily weighed against the hitter! I will abandon baseball immediately. Aren't the Rays doing this again this season?

Man we disagree. The idea of an opener sickens me. If teams all go to "openers" I'm done with baseball. The starting pitcher is part of the lore of baseball. Can you picture baseball when we go to all relievers? Flame throwers will "open" the game and progress through it. Batters will have no chance. Statniks are going to ruin the game of baseball if we go to all relief pitchers. I mean in theory yes it makes a lot of sense. Have the guys who throw 95 and above step to the front of the line and each pitch an inning or two five days a week. Again, hitters will have no chance.

I fear our pitching. It is potentially very bad.

I'm watching the spring training game and they said Moncada has officially been moved to 3B. Hope he's good over there. And I hope Madrigal is the real deal our infield of Madrigal, Tim and Moncada figures to man 2B, SS, 3B for a long long time with Abreu at first for now.

Glad you are so high on Madrigal, bleeping me. I want him to be good. I just didn't like his physical makeup, his height. Altuve, I know ... I am hopeful and am glad you think he's can't miss. Cool.

If and when Machado gets hurt, ditto Harper, the complaints will stop. Most free agents are NOT worth the $$$ obviously. It takes no genius to see that. How many times do we laugh at Tigers "being stuck" with contract of Miggy? I am not in favor of mega deals. I want the regular free agents. The only thing that angered me about Manny/Harper is the Sox perpetrated a lie on both. They had no interest in signing either for realistic money, folks.

I like Moncada. Not thrilled with any of the pitching I've seen yet. Sometimes it looks good; often not. The future is gonna be all relief pitchers as starters anyway, right? Teams are going to go with "starters" that work an inning or two then on to the next guy. I like Timmy Anderson. Hopeful like everybody else on all the minor league outfielders/DH types.

I said 'same as I always have.' I don't like our team being out of it in May; hard to get used to.

I've always been fine with the youngsters. Big year for Timmy and Moncada. I think both have had a ton of MLB at bats and it's time. No reason to not believe the Eloy hype. I'm expecting Dave Winfield. True I wasn't thrilled of Madrigal but I'll trust the scouts til proven otherwise. And I've had nothing against Robert, even Rutherford and our MLB catchers til shown otherwise. I guess I'll predict Burger will be a bust. I'm hopeful on the young pitching. It's just that my anger over other things usually erases/supercedes any optimism I express. I really wish we'd dump Jay and Alonso and I wouldn't be as mad/depressed entering the season as I am now.

This is a big year for Moncada IMO. He should be much improved if he's elite. He had a year to digest all those at bats and should adjust to those bad calls by the umps and either swing more or start getting the benefit of the doubt. I also think Eloy is elite. I still like Timmy a lot. I'm hopeful on some of that young pitching and I'll trust the scouts on Madrigal. I also still am hopeful on Robert. Is there reason to be down on him?? GO SOX!

I was talking to some people today about how pathetically easy the AL Central is to win right now. The Sox appear to be just as bad or worse than the rest of the sorry souls in that division. So what I'm saying is if we don't win the Central this year I'd go with KW and Hahn as being worse. Guess what ... the addition of Manny, who was affordable, on paper should have given us the division. The division is that bad one player woulda been on paper the difference. That said I remain happy we didn't get him. I contend it's like Salvy being out all season for KCR. That could happen to Manny at any time. It's kind of scary to sign one player to that kind of money. So I know I'm being wishy washy here. I'm also being demanding in saying KW/Hahn should be ashamed they haven't put together a team to win this crap division by now. You'd think Manny would have loved simply playing 18 games vs Det, KC, Minnie and yes even Cleveland. His stats would have been amazing in the Cell vs. those stiff staffs. GO SOX!

The headline reads: "VP Ken Williams: It's shame if White Sox portrayed as cheap" Yes it is a shame, a crying shame. The Sox are cheap. To a casual observer (me), it seems in retrospect we never tried to get Harper. As far as Manny, KW and Rick H deserve the fans' wrath, because signing Alonso and Jay told us one thing: The Sox DAMN WELL WERE GONNA sign Manny. To me, that's really all they did creative to try to sign Manny. They certainly didn't throw enough money around.

Ugh. I don't believe in booing athletes but I would be all for booing silently if that's possible.

This is a great great post, wegner. Here's my theory. The White Sox only have a core group of diehard fans who would be furious at the lie that they truly were pursuing Manny and Harper. Most of the casual fans don't follow this on Twitter, etc. They probably heard we had a shot at some free agents but truly didn't follow it 24/7, more like maybe thought about it one day a week max. The Sox front office ran the charade all winter that they truly were in the hunt for these guys but their actions ultimately showed they had no intention of paying what it would take to get Manny/Harper. Now the diehard fans who use message boards see through their lies, but so what? The Sox brass figure 50 to 60 percent of the diehards will still go to games while most of the fan base will do what they always do: Go to some games if the team is good. Go to fewer if the team reeks again. Personally I am shocked at the Sox flat out lying about their pursuit of free agents (not mad because I didn't really want either player). Jerry obviously had no intention to allocate that kind of money to 1 or 2 players. No way. So he will count his dollars during another year of the tank/rebuild. Great post Wegner, you are my kind of fan! Perceptive on your part IMO.

Damn. That's very sad. Hope everybody is OK physically and mentally. Take care.

Is there any way some cool person on this board could start a thread every day linking to video highlights of our ST games? It would be neat to see the highlights daily.