joeynach

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 11:14 PM) He had major league offers last year,probably more than one. His own fault he is being forced into retirement. Yeah I heard the cubs had like a 3-4M offer out to him last year.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 02:26 AM) Jon Lester signed his deal after he had a little over 2 years of service time and I don't believe he was even arbitration eligible when he signed the deal. Lester also had cancer, so cashing in when he could was a very good idea. That was also 2 years ago in very different economic circumstances as well. Greinke signed his 4 year extension before he won the Cy Young. That $13.5 million free agent year value is for a player who is a 3.50 ERA pitcher with other potential problems. Beyond that, these players wanted to sign extensions. That's why they did and ended up being signed for a "discount," though given the circumstances of both of them, it was pretty fair value. Danks has proven he's durable, he's good, and he's closer to free agency. He's going to get paid. 4/$40 is not nearly enough. If the Sox want to sign him long term, they are going to have to pay him $15 million value, which would be $51 million over the next 4 years. I think he can get more than that, and I think that he thinks he can get more than that, and I'm about 99.7% sure he can. That BOOM! is a door slamming in the White Sox front office because Barry and Danks won't even think about taking $40 million over 4 years. Randy Wolf got $10 million a year. Do you really think that Randy Wolf and John Danks are comparable pitchers? No but all we know is the sox offered 4 Years and 16M before the 2009 season. They could have offered 5/30 as Lester received, they could have made a 4/50 offer this past offseason, but either they didnt or we havent heard. My point is to say the sox have been trying to sign danks for 2+ years when all we know is that in 2009 he was offered 4/16 is retarded. If they offer him something like you are saying now we can talk and say there is some actualy valuation and negotiation going on. But until, then it doesn not appear that either is trying to figure out a long term deal.

Yes Yes we all know the sox are "All In" for 2011 and are going to have the teams highest payroll in history at $125M+. I think "All In" was perpetrated by the amount of money committed to 2011 before the offseason, and I believe the same is true for 2012. The team had something like $75M committed, mainly in pitching, before the 2011 offseason. Add arbitration eligible Danks, CQ, and Pena and it was something like $88M committed before addressing holes at 1B, C, RP, DH. So we all know the sox decided to go for it and add to that payroll figure for 2011. Question is, is 2011 linked to 2012 in the amount of money committed prior to that year. Most of the "All In" campaign resulted in players getting multiyear deals so there is a heavy load already on the books for 2012. My calculations show $93.5M already committed for 2012, thats without arbitration eligible Danks, CQ, Pena, and with holes in the pitching staff with Buehrle, Jackson, Thornton hitting free agency. So with that much $$ committed to a core group of players, again needing to pick up/resign a few players, and another relatively stagnant look to our division rivals, are the sox already "All In" for 2012 too?? Furthermore, do we have to be successful, team and attendance wise in 2011 to be "All In" again (payroll) in 2012, or are we all in by default with all that money on the books and the division looking weak.

I have not heard of the sox offering anything close to what a pitcher like danks would get. Jon Lester got 5 years 30M, Zach Grienke got 4 years 38M. When the sox offer Danks something close to Grienke got then we can talk for real. Until then all we know is that Danks was offered a 4 Year 16M deal, same one that Flloyd accepted. Shocking that he turned it down, hes about 10x better than Gavin. If the sox offered Danks something like 4 Year 40M right now he would probably accept it, 6M in 2011, 8M in 2012, 12M in 2013, 14M in 2014. BOOM!

Hope Danks is next. Something like 4 Year 40M extension should do it for 2012-2015 seasons. Something like $8M, $10M, $10M, $12M, with a 500K buyout or $13M option.

QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 06:37 PM) http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpag...896&id=5292 Rotoworld states that Alexei will still play under his $2.75 million contract for 2011, and the extension is for the 2012-2015 seasons with the $10 million option for the 2016 season. Great to see the White Sox reward him for his tremendous efforts and pay him accordingly after he was making about $1.1M for the last 3 years. Send a great message to the White Sox young core of players.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 04:10 PM) I'm not sure the Tigers really are any better than they were last year. I'm guessing the fall below .500 Added Victor Martinez where they had Gerald Laird before. Added Brad Penny where they had Armando Galarraga before. Will have Maggs back from injury, will have Carlos Gullien back from injury, will have Peralta at SS for all of 2011 (had adam everett before).

This prediction thing is easy. Thanks to a 162 game schedule things tend to even out and the better teams win the most games in the end. 2010 Tigers won 81 games and got marginally better. Probably to the tune of about 84-85 win team. 2010 Twins won 94 games, they got marginally worse. Probably to the tune of about 90-02 win team. 2010 White sox won 88 games, they got much better. Probably to the tune of 90-93 wins. There you go it aint hard. Will be a 3 team race until eventually the Tigers fall out of it, the Sox/Twins will battle for the division till the end. PRINT IT!

There is a rule of thumb when it comes to out of state Chicago sports fans. Now I am jewish so I can say this, and we joke about it all the time. That if you look at any place where you stereotypically see jewish retirement communities, usually warm areas, you will find your sox/cubs/bears fans. In fact a lot of general Chicago transplants find their ways to warmer areas so it holds all around, but LA, SD, Pheonix area, South Fla, Tampa/St, Pete, etc all usually have droves of Chicago faithful. Ever been to Boca Raton, there tons of sox fans there for example.

I think what u are talking about is pure coincidence. Consider all the facts. The sox had something like $80M committed coming into this offseason for 2011. A huge chunk of that was built around our pitching staff, which over the next couple years will see guys like Danks, Buehrle, Peavy, and Jackson become free agents so when you have the pitching core now, generally you go for it. Even if the sox made marginal or no additional FA signings, with their arbitration eligible players their payroll still would have been about $90-$100M. So JR was presented with two scenarios for this off season, pay $90M minimum for a 78 win team and play the kids at 1B, C, DH, bullpen, etc, or add an additional $25-35M to your payroll bring back PK, AJ, get Dunn, sign some bullpen guys and build a 90 game winner on paper. Obviously he choose the second option. I really dont think the cubs and their off season or strategy have anything to do with anything.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 06:26 AM) I understand that, but there is a reason April and May games don't get the premiere or premium tags games later in the season get hung with. Think about it. If you had a couple of kids and had a budget of 2-3 games per season, when tickets went on sale, are you going to buy tickets for a Saturday afternoon in April or a Wednesday in early May, or do you pick the June and July games? I'd be willing to bet since the strike over 16 seasons ago, the Sox haven't had many non opening day April and at least early May games with advanced sales of at least 30k except for 2006. The first few weeks of the season depend on the team playing decently and weather. If the forecast calls for it to be 35 and the Sox are 1-4 on the Friday after opening day, you're going to see a lot of green. If its 65 and the Sox are 4-1, there will be a pretty decent crowd. Isnt that my point. If you know April/May, specifically weekday ticket sales usually lag then get creative. There is no doubt that most summer games and weekend games will see a bump in attendance this year but why not some April/May or weekday deals. You can do 2 for 1's, dollar hot dogs in the UD, half price bleacher tix on April day games, etc. That would at least help alleviate the dependence on weather or a quick start for the team in terms of securing ticket sales in April/May.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 08:03 AM) Let's look at the list of starters or starter/relievers that will likely be in AA/AAA to start 2011. You are saying that one of these guys: Lucas Harrell Phil Humber Charlie Shirek Jeff Marquez Johnnie Lowe Brandon Hynick Charlie Leesman Matt Long Justin Edwards Terry Doyle Dylan Axelrod Is on par with Freddy Garcia? Right now? Sure, a couple of those guys may become decent starters at some point. But to open 2011? Really? I just threw up reading this list!

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 08:59 PM) For those of you Freddy haters out there. Remember when the rest of the staff was sucking early on? Freddy went 4-1 in May and helped carry the team through June until they all got hot. Freddy was 4-0 in June as well. He did more than anyone expected and would be a great insurance policy for this ballclup! SIGN ME UP! I thought lightening doesn't strike the same place twice!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2011 -> 01:12 PM) I disagree on this one...if either Sale or Thornton are going to be the primary closer, then the Sox still needed another lefty even if Peavy started from day 1. Which isnt set in stone either.

I have brought it up a few times in different threads plus mentioned it in the Will Ohman signing. The fact that KW signed Ohman with 2 lefties already in the pen, and now is looking at Freddy, adheres to the theory that Peavy wont just be out 5 or 6 starts, it could be more like 10-15 starts. Thats why I brought up the threads on Capuano and Galarraga, becuase most of what I have read (not from the sox themselves), had Peavy's starts made, his over/under, pegged at about 16.

Ppl ppl please we need to use this thread to focus on whats important........the sluts!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 26, 2011 -> 12:50 PM) If you go by the Forbes numbers...last year, $120 million or so was break-even. Well it depends on what the tickets cost. You know you have 81 home games, at a minumum, if they don't make the playoffs. You have to make a few assumptions about attendance and ticket prices. Stadium Capacity around 40K Assume 20K seats in lower Assume 3K seats in Club level Assume 17K seats in UD Assume lower seats avg cost is $50 Assume club seats avg cost is $58 Assume upper level avg cost is $23 25K Attendance = 18K Lower, 2K Club, 5K Upper 30K Attendance = 20K Lower, 3K Club, 7K Upper 35K Attendance = 20K Lower, 3K Club, 12K Upper 40K Attendance = 20K Lower, 3K Club, 17K Upper If Avg attendance is 25K: {(50*18000)+(58*2000)+(23*5000)}*81 = $91,611,000 If Avg attendance is 30K: {(50*20000)+(58*3000)+(23*7000)}*81 = $108,135,000 If Avg attendance is 35K: {(50*20000)+(58*3000)+(23*12000)}*81 = $117,450,000 If Avg attendance is 35K: {(50*20000)+(58*3000)+(23*17000)}*81 = $126,765,000 So there you have a simple revenue projection from ticket sales only. Keep in mind its all relative to the actual box office receipts, prime/premier games, breakdown of tickets in LD vs UD, etc. But I do think this is a good starts. It tells me that the sox will need to probably average 30K fans at a minimum to get in the break even conversation. Factor the $108M in revenue with parking, concessions, souvenirs, and you are probably coming in around $120-$125M. If this team can really put a playoff run together there is no doubt in my mind that average attendance can eclipse the 30K mark.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 06:49 PM) Like Blaze said: he switched to Boras in March That's what Cots says, looks like they added that recently, last time I checked they had no agent listed for Thornton. Agreed Kalapse, we so sexy!!

QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jan 25, 2011 -> 07:17 AM) We figure we'll sell both Cubs games and atleast one of the two Yankees games to fund some weekend games with friends or our playoff deposit. I'm looking forward to seeing teams like the Dodgers and Nationals, and of course the home opener against the Rays. I'm just hoping we can make it a yearly deal, I have a feeling I'll have an ever growing amount of convincing to do to pull it off again.. But Christmas presents are such a hassle! Thats why you marry a Jewish girl!

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 02:31 PM) well if you want to go to the games cheap, thats when to go i guess. i wanted to see peavy pitch so i went the second game of the season last year(since i knew he was pitching that day) and i got second row on the third base line ,right next to the tarp, they were 19 dollars a piece for 2 tickets, cant beat that. people just dont really go because its cold and school i guess If they went all in and made some sort of move that really puts buts in the seats along with it I think that would have been a slam dunk for attendance. So they did the player and payroll commitment part, but why not some promotions for us, especially for Weekday and April/May games. Maybe some Upper Deck buy one get one free on all April/May tue/wed games. How about buy one April game get another at 1/2 price. How about a turn back the clock prices day on some random wed afternoon game in April. We already know ur heart makes u want to be there, but how about something for the brain side of the equation as well.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 10:45 AM) i dont think its all just about success. its kind of..wrong , i guess, that the sox say how more fans need to go or go when the team wins but its not exactly the cheapest thing to go to. i went to 6 games last year but its just me and my husband. but for a family of, say 4, its expensive. bleachers at 38 a person and parking, thats 175 dollars. and thats not including drinks,food,etc. so its not exactly that easy to say hey lets go to a sox game, especially not multiple times a year. Im just like everyone else, If I could be at every single game I would I enjoy the environment that much over watching on TV. But the truth is unless I get a half price ticket or have a friend with "extras" for free I cant really go. Everytime I go, I already have to make sure I can park for "free" in one my secret spots a few blocks from the park and always make sure that I eat before I go, or stop somewhere and eat for $5 on the way because I cant afford $20 for a dog/pretzel/beer combo. Having mad student loans and not good income is not a good living combination.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 23, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) You got that right. I went to two games last year. It's a lot different when you're living on your own as compared to living with your parents. I just don't have the cash. And I work close to 40 hours a week. Me neither. There is no way I can just throw multiple games at $45 a pop on my CC, I want to, but I cant. Especailly when you consider that of course we would buy like 2-4 tickets, front the money, and then try and fill em in with friends/family prior to the game. No way, do 2 games on that and u have placed $320 on your credit card. Just cant do it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) If fans don't show up in April and May, there won't be anything left to add on with. Hence the early presale for April/May games.

QUOTE (R.J. @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:54 PM) The info actually came from Jon Heyman of SI.com. Don't get the MLBTR bashing. It was garbage a long while back, but since making some changes a few years ago has been one of the most valuable resources on the web for compiling and analyzing anything related to roster moves in a fast and comprehensive manner. I work for those guys so easy on the bashing. And hes right most if not all of our material comes from 3rd party media sources.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 11:04 PM) I think our lineup is much more dangerous if Beck can be successful batting second and Alexi could be batting seventh or eight.....wow....... Love it, as long as Beckham is producing like he can/should. Remember he started last year batting 2nd and lost his job, but if he does what he does he is great 2 hitter for us. Decent power, can hit the other way, good speed.