greg775

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 04:06 AM) Name a team that has won a pennant dominantly through Free Agency. Literally the last one I've got is the 09 Yankees. That doesn't mean teams don't get some free agents, but literally everyone is using a path different from what you said. No team can make the method work that you keep saying we shoudl do. And if you would have read the post in the Avi thread only 2 or 3 posts before you talked about how "they should sign good free agents instead of bad ones", even the teams that are winning - they have free agent busts. How about your Royals, they have a pennant right? Wouldn't they prefer to no longer have Alex Gordon's contract on the books? The Cubs and that Heyward deal? If you sign 3 free agents, the odds are one of them will be a LaRoche level bust. That's how the Free Agency market works. Yankees, Dodgers, Boston, Cubs, yes Cubs, have all done fine spending moolah and getting free agents. Not everybody doing the rebuild thing has won big. Cubs rebuilt, yes, but also bought some players. I personally think 3 starting pitchers we trotted out there last year were an embarrassment to baseball. QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 05:10 AM) I’m not going to justify this with an explanation since it doesn’t matter with you but no that’s my answer to your original question. Seriously? This isn't a pro-front office board? Hahn is beloved. KW for the most part is given the benefit of the doubt all the time. Meanwhile for some reason Ozzie is destroyed and some of my favorite players destroyed (I know I know Ozzie quit on the team). QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 06:05 AM) Seriously GreggiePoo, why are you still frequenting this site? I honestly can't recall a time when you've done anything other than complain. That's just not true. Again do some research on threads. I stand up for my favorite players for sure and I argue against some of the current vision of the front office, butI don't complain always. Did you read my long reply on the future lineup/roster? I listed players at each position gave my takes. Nobody responds to my normal reaction posts. Some people get me; most don't. I'm a great Sox fan IMO.

Q-What do you think of Burger? Now he played at a mid major school. Do you think the White Sox took him higher than he should reasonably have gone in the draft? Do you like his skill set offensively and defensively? Give me a realistic comparison to a big leaguer. Who is Burger? Thank u.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 03:18 AM) Anyone else feel like this Jose Abreu trade talk is way at overrated? Maybe because of the extremely slow off-season and this was the only remotely interesting thing that anyone could latch on to? No. When Dick Allen heard Hahn speak and Hahn wasn't enthused about Avi or Abreu, I knew both would be gone this winter. It will happen. Dick was there. He heard it.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 11:39 PM) Dude...just...I don't know anymore. You can't admit this board is EXTREMELY happy with anything the front office does? This is a pro front office message board. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 11:44 PM) So why are you so insistent on the strategy of "Compete and win as much as you can" that we used from 2006-2016? Because we didn't execute it right. Sox have had miserable guys in Buddy Bell on the organizational level and Robin Ventura as manager. They've arguably made some of the most bonehead acquisitions ever in trying to bring in guys to win. The ONLY way to win is not trade everybody and rebuild. Some teams with cash have done just fine in adding guys to buy a pennant. I personally think our front office gets a free pass on almost everything on here.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 09:22 PM) I put in a thoughtful post with Jose's stats the last 4 seasons and still get blasted. Hard to go against the group and not get roasted. I wish you guys would be like most team's fans and rip the front office more. What have they done since 2005 to earn patience from our fan base? I am not of the opinion our young guys have to suck a year or two before we are competitive. Folks, baseball is full of mediocre to bad teams. Why not us sooner rather than later to ... win? Put some heat on the front office to develop a bullpen.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 08:12 PM) Greg, go read the comments on MLBTR and argue with them. The comments will infuriate you. I've lost my desire to. I don't want to read opinions of fans of other teams. I deduced long ago there are rabid Sox fans on here who are intelligent and I want to see what they are thinking about the team. I'm just stunned at some of the things I've read on here the past couple years. Hopefully Hahn is a genius and all these trades and future trades and acquisitions (bullpen, defense, catching, bullpen, bullpen) will result in multiple WS appearances and titles.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 05:47 PM) Can't wait for greg to see this lol Why. I fully expect Jose to be traded after reading Dick Allen's comments from the Hahn speech. Jose is gone as is Avi. QUOTE (ptatc @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 06:11 PM) Agreed. There is something to be said for having a veteran, talented, mature player in the clubhouse when they bring up a bunch of kids. Sox obviously don't care. Hahn is out to get that payroll down to the lowest imaginable then allegedly use that money when it's time. Modern baseball. The only time in history teams are glad to get rid of players who are beloved and has THIS KIND of proven production. It used to be you'd keep such stars til they decided to retire. Bye Jose and thanks for these numbers. 2014: .317, 36 HR, 107 RBI, .383 OBP, .581 SLG 2015: .290, 30 HR, 101 RBI, .347 OBP, .502 SLG 2016: .293. 25 HR, 100 RBI, .353 OBP, .468 SLG 2017: .304, 33 HR, 102 RBI, .354 OBP, .552 SLG. Should be interesting to see what positions they target in this deal and Avi deal. Seems to me they already have a lot of outfield candidates especially with Robert and Eloy occupying two slots for many years in theory. My guess is they go for catcher, shortstop (upgrade from Tim is possible), and pile up more pitching. Look for catchers, shortstops and pitchers in teams organizations and that's who Abreu and Avi will be dealt for. You could say 3B as well but if that's the case why did they draft Burger? I guess they could stockpile another there and eventually release or trade my man, Davidson.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 11:29 PM) The problem isn't with the Sox making offers, it is with them making the largest offer. As for the Albert Belle example, Eloy Jimenez was 7 days old when it happened. They haven't really shown a propensity to set the market for top level players for 21 years now. They have been #2 a lot of times. #1, not so much. I was gonna say Albert Belle was a while ago.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:12 PM) you want to be educated, yet you label people "draftniks" and completely shoot down their posts with things like "you draftniks slay me...." when they make reasonable and very educated posts about the matter. You reap what you sow, greg. People try and reason with you, and eventually they get so frustrated that they snap on you because they explain things to great lengths and you ignore them and keep on repeating yourself You are crazy. I don't always call them draftniks. I also use the word "stat people" and sabes people. I have used draftniks but not often. You can't imply I call people names a lot and get away with that. I contend I am normally polite. I'd say 90 percent of the time. Draftniks or draft people do slay me and frustrate me but I don't always call them draftniks. QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:38 PM) I know my plan had us spending like $450M on free agents next offseason, but maybe my handle doesn’t indicate clearly enough that I’m a Sox fan. 450 million would please me. What free agents, though. I stand by my point that we can forget about Manny and Harper.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:51 PM) Another missile launch earlier today, this time with an estimated 13,000km range. That's "anywhere in the continental US" distance. Calling on China to save the day. It's the world's only realistic hope. The U.S. isn't going to allow this madman to blow us off the map. I fully expect some kind of powerful strike at some point. We've been through it before what that means. The Korean nutjob will then blow up South Korea and Japan and Hawaii and probably try to hit our mainland as well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 07:49 PM) Just acknowledge that Trump is the worst and move on. I think by now everybody realizes Trump is not such a good person. Three more years then we give someone else a shot like Bernie maybe.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:08 PM) Because we've been commenting on your position for almost a year now. We are kinda tired of it. It's not our fault you ignore what we say and continue to blindly post. Pitt asked for my position for gosh sakes. You guys are unreasonable regarding me at times. He asked! I delivered. What the heck u want from me?? I've been called a troll. Blindly post? I offered a response to an inquiry. Give me a break for once. QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:11 PM) I actually thought that his recently stated position showed some change. Seems to me that ( at least in that post ), he's on board with the same plan that management is executing. I've accepted the plan. I am a fan. I have no choice but to be on board. I am on board. My only other option is to drop the team from my interest list. Hard to do when you are a lifelong fan. I've accepted the plan. I'm observing it and ready to go with the rebuild. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:13 PM) you dont read responses. You skim them, say "good post" if someone agrees with you, and then move on and repeat yourself without taking anything anyone has said to you into consideration. I dont even know why i wrote that to be honest he acknowledges the rebuild. He certainly doesnt support it or try to understand it Oh come on. I don't have to support it 100 percent especially when they are about to do something I deem very very counterproductive - getting rid of Avi and Abreu. There are a few on here who agree with me they'd like to keep both. You also are being unfair when you say I don't read responses and just say "good post." That is a huge huge assumption to make and just isn't true. You are assuming a lot in your last sentence or two and it happens to be untrue. I want to be educated. My "problem" or my trait is I won't accept what I consider to be rubbish takes without fighting back and offering my own take which you can consider rubbish as well. You guys are very unfair to me at times IMO. Do I support the rebuild in your words? Of course. I have no choice. It's here and I'm ready for all of them to succeed. I happen to think my takes will help the rebuild succeed or I woldn't post them. Avi and Abreu, of course keep them. What bugs me about you guys is you seem to think we couldn't win the other way. I say we couldn't because of inept manager (Robin) and bad scouts and bad advance scouts and idiotic decisions to sign stiffs like LaRoche rather than good players. Have a nice day all of you!

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:02 PM) not greg. certainly you arent speaking of greg of the 775 Why won't you guys comment on my position and my post? I really want to hear what out of all my position entails is wrong or not at least very logical.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 05:25 PM) I didn't say the Sox WILL sign Machado or Harper. I said that there has been plenty of talk by fans about guys like that. However, I do believe the Sox will pursue guys like that, and they will spend during next off season. I don't know if they will get one of those guys, but it's more possible now than ever with the rebuild going the way it is. So what do you want the Sox to do? What do you expect them to do? You say you want them to win, but you haven't suggested how they can do it. I'm surprised you are asking. My position has been deemed tired and boring and everybody knows it. What I preferred to do before? Keep Sale and Q and actually have a manager who can manage and instead of signing guys like LaRoche have scouts who can sign the right guys. I thought we had 2 great starters and should have been able to compete with a competent front office. ... But now that we've rebuilt? I want to let these young guys develop and come up as soon as possible and see if we can win with them while also signing the right free agents to build a bullpen. Of course I'd love to sign the guy from Japan but that's a dream. In short, now that we are rebuilding I'd like to keep Abreu and Avi, have somebody in charge of building a bullpen for when we are contenders and of course sign a veteran starting pitcher at that time to go with the young staff. I now want a mixture that includes Avi and Abreu. Ideally, I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody but for the future: 3B-Burger/Davidson. SS-Tim. 2B-Moncada. 1B-Abreu. OF-Avi, Robert, Rutherford, Eloy, Polo, et all. DH-one of the outfielders or Avi. C-free agent acquistiion or is his name Collins? I think so. P-The plethora of guys to pick from including of course all the big names we acquired including the guy from the Cubs. Put Coop in charge of figuring out which guys to put in the pen. Since we have done the rebuild I am ready to develop the guys and include Avi and Abreu while also realizing SOMEBODY must have a master plan involving the pen or we win nothing. Right now since we did do the rebuild, my only outrageous position (one that greg tends to rehash over and over and get upset about) is to NOT get rid of Avi or Abreu. Include them in the rebuild because greg feels you need a mixture and I feel those two guys are already in-house and actually from all indications are good intangible guys as well as players. They care and Abreu is good with teammates especially. I've heard nothing bad about Avi in that regard either. THAT IS MY STANCE. p.s.: I don't see how any logical intelligent Sox fan (and there are many on here) can a.) think I'm unreasonable. b.) think I'm insane. c.) think I'm a troll when I laid out what I consider a very reasonable viewpoint. I don't consider it a trollish viewpoint or viewpoint of anything but a concerned Sox fan. Notice I don't harp on anger at the rebuild. I presented my plan while accepting the rebuild. QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 05:38 PM) Actually I'm against signing Free Agents to big deals in almost all cases except for the special ones like Harper/Machado or using past cases that I would have been ok with at the time, Manny Ramirez and A-Rod. The huge thing with those guys is that they are in their mid-20s and you don't get the decline years, and if you have to give them a few extra years at the end, you can make them like 12-15MM years, and balance it out by front loading it. For me, value shopping in FA only, 4 year or less contracts, build from within as best as you can. If the "window" is short, so be it. Better to have that flexibility than to have a bunch of money tied up in aging former stars, and be rebuilding anyway. See Detroit for a contrast. Big FA contracts almost always end up badly. In other words you proved my point. Sox fans don't want to spend money. Machado and Harper love doesn't count. We aint getting them.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 01:00 PM) So, you haven't read any of the posts regarding Sox fans wanting the Sox to pursue big free agents like Machado and Harper? Just about all fans on this board want the Sox to spend, and many are in touch enough to realize that they will. Machado and Harper? Cmon. The Sox do not sign guys to 10 year deals. They just don't. Wanting to sign those guys is dreamland. It's not based anywhere close to reality. Tell me names of guys Sox fans want to pay 15 mill a year to for 5 years or so. I'll point out flaws in those players. Hosmer? Not enuf power. Moustakas? Injury risk cause of conditioning. Cain? Too old. Those are just some examples. Abreu? Too old. Avi? Flash in the pan. He'll never repeat those stats.

Serious question amid Trump wanting to be Time's person of the year. ... Except for those who have broken the law and gained fame through horrible means, is Donald Trump the most despised person in U.S. history? I said we exclude anybody who has been arrested or infamous for horrible reasons. I think Donald Trump (think of all the tweets and daily rips of him on TV, Twitter, etc) is in the top five of all-time most despised individuals by Americans. Now I don't despise him as such and I'm still hopeful he gets some things done that are positive, but he is truly despised by people in the USA. Is he top five most despised in history??

Don't shoot the messenger. Discussion on Rush's show today (relax I listed for a total of about 3 minutes before another commercial annoyance drove me back to the safety of the Beatles channel) was that Bernie is gearing up for a presidential run. Rush said young kids are in love with socialism/communism and Bernie probably will win. HOWEVER, my gosh as much as I enjoyed Bernie last time, he is getting pretty darn old. He'd have to have a helluva good running mate cause time stands still for no one.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 02:20 AM) I'd take a shot on CarGo before giving up assets for Avi. and Melky's 2017 is about what you can expect from Avi if he doesn't go back to sucking. There really isn't that much of an incentive to trade for Avi. If I were an opposing GM, looking at corner OF in the market I'd take Melky/CarGo over Avi, I just don't believe in him going forward. The .392 BABIP is insane and a regression probably brings him back to below replacement level. Really, I don't think anyone is interested in him except if they can get him for basically free. It only takes one sucker though, and Kudos to Hahn if he finds that guy. I think the Sox start the season with both Abreu and Avi on the roster, because I don't think anyone would give anything of value for a DH and a regressed Avi. Think about what the Sox got for Melky, because that is the return I'd expect if they move Avi, and both Avi/Abreu are worth more to the Sox than they are to anyone else. .285/.324/.746 17 HR 85 RBI 99 OPS+ 98 wRC+ -Melky Cabrera in 2017. This is about the best case scenario I can envision for Avi in 2018. Think about if you'd trade anything of value for that production with only 2 seasons of team control. You'd want Melky over Avi? I still am waiting to see what established (non prospects) baseball players you guys think are good players and want on your team (and don't list anybody making a good dollar cause we know Sox fans don't want to pay anybody). Modern day fans slay me. Eventually I'm gonna give up and just lurk on here. I am growing weary of defending White Sox baseball players who have been in the bigs a few years.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 12:05 AM) Sure will be miserable for Greg and that WBSASDAJS guy when Kopech, Eloy, and others come up and start performing. I expect them to keep their anti-rebuild positions when this happens. Not miserable. I said as a bad fan I still have the right to cheer for our team. What I want is those guys to perform well and start winning asap. I am of the opinion we've wasted the years of Sale and Q because of bad managing by Robin and bad putting together of a team by KW and Hahn. You have two starters like that and you can't build a team around them? Welcome to White Sox baseball. We couldn't do it. I have accepted the rebuild. I like some of the players we got. I reserve the right to root for whatever plaeyrs we throw out there. That doesn't mean I accept everything the front office does. I'm not going to be miserable when our prospects do well. I want to win no matter who is on the field.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 27, 2017 -> 07:28 AM) I personally don't want "dissenters" to "go away" but rather would hope that you folks would finally... for once and for all... under-flipping-stand that you can't have it both ways. You literally can't spend big in free agency to give a fan base victories and rebuild your entire organization at the same time. If a great buy comes up that is willing to sign, sure - sign him up. But the concept of spending to win has proved itself a futile exercise. Oh f*** me... I'm going down the rabbit hole again. Nevermind... mission abort. Turning around and running away. This goes both ways. You guys who only want prospects to be our rebuilt WS team frustrate me. Why? Our division blows? Yes there's been a flavor of the month, KC when it had the great bullpen and Cleveland (I guess) the past two years. But it doesn't take much to compete in this division. That's why it frustrates me to get rid of Avi and Abreu and push back contention time even more. You guys act like the rebuild is the only way to win a division and get hot and win a WS. And by rebuild I mean the entire roster. Some of us like to have some familiar White Sox names around. It's not our fault it "hasn't worked" before because of an incompetent front office. I understand your position. I don't believe you try to understand ours. Minnie made the playoffs this year for gawd sakes. You guys give our front office a pass for horrid baseball since 2005. I don't.

QUOTE (Tony @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 11:42 PM) Alright, cool. See you in 2020 then. You'll be missed. Some fans don't like those of us who want to win now. They'd rather we just go away for a few years so there will be no dissenters regarding the rebuild. Prospects, baby. Acquire as many as you can. Wait til next year. Some of us think the fan should get a decent product for the excessive costs to see a game. Pretty soon it's gonna be 15 bucks for a beer. That'll be the cost 2 seasons from now. How much will parking be in 2 years? 50 a game? Give me victories.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 07:54 PM) Machado isn't getting 500mil. That is absurd. 400 mil is even a bit high. He didn't exactly light it up last season. I predict something like 10 year 35 mil. Would you rather have avi + abreu or Machado+ more touted prospects? I know what makes sense. The sox will have NO payroll. I don't see why it's hard to imagine the sox making a play for Machado. It makes almost too much sense. What's the different between signing 2-4 free agents vs signing machado? Obviously the length will be different, but they will have LOTS of payroll freed up. I don't know what you have against Jerry or if you are stereotyping, but he will spend if he sees it as a wide investment. If Machado "didn't exactly light it up" why would you want to pay him that kind of money? I'll tell you why? Cause he's not a White Sox. You don't see him fail like you do Abreu and Avi on occasion. All I know is Abreu just had 3-4 of the most consistent seasons in Sox history and should be on this team. Why is baseball so different? Let's say you have an NFL quarterback or RB who is way way above average and your starter for 3-4 years. Do you want to get rid of him? Hell no. Why is baseball so different for a player of Abreu's caliber? Abreu has been great. He should stay on the team. Case closed.

Does he really want a promise of 600 at bats? That's kind of unique. Not many teams "promise" stuff like that. I mean coaches promise all kinds of stuff in recruiting but always give themself a hedge if the player is a complete bust.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 25, 2017 -> 12:21 AM) DON'T HATE PEOPLE FOR BEING DIFFERENT FROM YOU. You have no empirical proof I hate people different from me. You have one case of me not wanting to eat in the same place as a guy struggling to walk in the place in a dress with high heels on. An instant decision to not do it. How do you know on other occasions, in a better mood, I might want to chat up the person, dine with them? How do you know what charities I support, how I treat homeless, how I engage strangers, how I treat elderly, how I treat youth, how I interact with all? You know none of this yet are convinced I am a monster that hates anybody different from me because of one circumstance. Or is it that I don't condone protestors shutting down highways because a.) it is dangerous and b.) somebody on that highway could be trying to get to a hospital or save a life in some way? I must hate all the protestors cause I would never do that. I think it's dangerous you stereotype people off a comment or two on a message board. OK I should be a saint and at every moment of every day be Mother Teresa and go out of my way to speak to all people including the guy in the high heels who probably didn't want to talk to me anyway. I don't go to Subway wanting to meet strangers; that person probably would have been upset as well if approached. I disapprove of your quick conclusions on people's character. I live by the Golden Rule, baby. However I am not perfect.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 26, 2017 -> 07:23 PM) Yep... there's so much more that can be done right now ( like watch grass sprout ) and considering that you represent up one of merely 30 professional baseball teams - it would be expectable to just "sit this one out". You'd be fired, Sir. The Greg Continues to Amaze. Oh, and I believe that "Relevant marketplace characteristics" refers to any characteristics of Chicago which would be pertinent information for Ontani to consider. Ala: Cultural aspects, unique sponsorship potentials, Japanese resources, travel considerations, etc. Chicago wins in so many areas. But cash always wins out. How much can a baseball player enjoy the city he plays in anyway? Chicago in the winter is horrific. Chicago during the summer is great but he's busy playing baseball. If I'm wrong about this one and he takes our pennies compared to what some teams can offer, I will be humbled big time. Cmon. Money money money is what makes the world go round. I'd tell the intern to do a nice job answering the questions and I'd edit it but not spend much time on this.