Marty34

Hawk's comment about who is the player's agent last night I'd bet rules out Rodon, looks like he's going no later than Miami though. My concern about Nola at #3 is has he been moving up on merit or has he moved up because of the struggles of Beede and injury to Hoffman? Best college pitcher available or best player available?

If you replace Paddy's name with Reinsdorf's, Badler's quote would be more accurate.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) This core though to me is nowhere near the core they had in the early 90s with Thomas, Ventura, Guillen, One Dog, Raines, Cora, Karko, McDowell, Fernandez, Alvarez , Roberto Hernandez. Then they would sign rentals like Franco, DJ, Burks, even Tartabull was good his one season. Before he got ultra-conservate, even though that seemed to work out, Schueler did put up an impressive piece of work. Granted he started with a pretty nice core, but his additions, until he sent Black Jack packing, where usually really good. It's not even as good as Konerko, Ordonez, Durham, Thomas, Lee.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 12:24 PM) by you. You just intimated that if the Sox kicked in more money, than a bigger prospect/player than Eaton could have been acquired. Leury Garcia you mean.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 12:15 PM) YOU are the one who believes the Sox could get more, so YOU provide the offers and counter offers. It's all speculation. What is taken for a fact around here is that dealing Rios and his contract enabled the Sox to sign Abreu.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) If the Sox kicked in more money? What does this even mean? You have no idea what any offer or counter offer was. Tell us what the offers and counteroffers were.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) .....they wouldn't have been able to afford Abreu? If they drafted better . . . We can play this game, but the lack of talent in the Sox system meant they had to pay up.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:25 AM) I have absolutely no problem with the return on Rios. He was 32 with another $15 mill or so guaranteed to him, he's always been an incredibly inconsistent player who has not always been seen as a great influence in or out of the clubhouse who the Sox no longer had room for on the roster. Garcia is is not much, I will agree on that, and getting the so called lottery pick included in the deal would have also been nice, but may not have been possible. Really, what more do you expect for a player like that? I expect the GM to make better use of his trading chips, Jury is still out, but the return Hahn received so far is underwhelming.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 11:11 AM) Eaton was acquired in the Santiago deal. Unfortunately, I agree with on Garcia. Rios is a much better player than what the league was willing to give up to get him. If the Sox had kicked in more money . . .

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 08:06 AM) This is ridiculous. If he didn't get enough, what would you have gotten for them instead? He got plenty in all 3 of those deals. He's done a phenomenal job. Jury is still out, but Leury Garcia and a modern-day Podsednik in Eaton (if that's what he is) ain't phenomenal.

Have an uneasy feeling that through some mix of scouting and money that the Sox will not select the consensus best player available at #3.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) Still waiting for all of the Cubs attendance articles... This will be year #6 in a row of falling attendance, and down about 20% from the peak. Also losing media outlets now? This would be front page news for the White Sox. Agreed. I think one of the most underrated bad marketing decisions by the Sox is their awful radio broadcasts. I don't mean Rongey, mostly Farmer and the fact the games are on a sports station (marketing to the choir so to speak.) It would be a feather in the Sox cap if they could cut a deal with 'GN radio at some point in the future. Getting rid of Farmer might be too much to ask for though since Chairman Reinsdorf loves him.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 08:07 AM) The musical chair dance back to ESPN1000 Answered a park survey Sunday where a couple of the questions asked out of the blue were regarding my interest in FM radio. It wouldn't surprise me if they ended up on 'GN FM and brought the Bulls with them.

Eaton and Davidson's struggles are concerning. You could make a case that Hahn didn't get enough in return for the trade chips he had. Like it or not though, this is the core and if it isn't Sale goes on the market.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) I definitely think the game needs to be sped up, but I don't think it has a major impact on attendance. If I am going to commit a day to go to a game, I'm going to go regardless of whether the game lasts 2½ hours or 3½ hours. The length of the game is more likely to impact whether or not I'll watch on TV. They don't care about the guy that goes to a game here and there, it affects the season ticket holders greatly though as well as tv viewership. They have to make it where the expectation is to get the game over in 2:45 or less

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 1, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) Yup, I have no doubt in my mind that Hahn will be active in free agency next offseason. We should have a ton of money to play with and a lot less holes to fill than we did coming into this season. I think getting a #2/#3 caliber starter, preferably right-handed, will be the primary goal of the winter. James Shields would probably be the perfect addition and his age may prevent him from getting an obscene number years in any deal. If we could somehow land him, you're talking about one of the best #1/#2/#3 in baseball in Sale/Shields/Quintana. Between Danks, Johnson, Rienzo, and maybe even Beck, I think we could find two decent enough starters to round out the group and still have one of the better rotations. This doesn't even consider the possibility of us drafting Rodon, who'd likely be ready by 2016. Again, getting another top end starter is our crucial pitching need. Get that guy, and I think will prioritize this need, and I think we have enough pitching depth to fill out the back end of the rotation. I think you have to get a solid #4 as well in order to allow for the possibility that Sale is best utilized for around 30 starts a year during the regular season. Hopefully Johnson shows enough to make it as long man in the pen and he would be the fill in for the starts Sale misses. Rienzo, I think ultimately is a set up guy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 31, 2014 -> 08:33 PM) Which is why you also advocated trading away sale, Quintana, and Abreu. Because it's the only way to make sure that the core you now say is in place is ruined. Great way to make sure te years of losing you want happens. If they are not willing to spend significant money to upgrade the starting rotation this core is not good enough to carry this rotation and there is nothing in the minors that will help the rotation anytime soon. I know you were optimistic (many would say overly so) about the pitching depth in the organization before this season began, unfortunately your optimism has been proven to be unfounded.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 31, 2014 -> 07:26 PM) And your opinion is that it isn't so they should trade off that core and then spend several large FA contracts to replace that core next year, thus guaranteeing that they have neither flexibility nor the resources to add in the future. My position is that it is in place.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 31, 2014 -> 07:19 PM) Which is why you advocated trading that core. Exactly. Either the position core is mostly in place or it is not.

QUOTE (scs787 @ May 31, 2014 -> 06:59 PM) In hindsight MAYBE this is true. Before this season who would have thought Gillaspie/Lexi/Beckham/Dunn/Viciedo/Flowers were all gonna play like they have been so far? Who knew Abreu was gonna take off right away? Eaton, while a highly thought of prospect, still never showed it at the big league level. Couple that with the whole giving up a fairly high draft pick and it made sense to go after a guy like Paulino who, even though he sucked, doesnt restrict you financially. Now next year, if they offense continues to play well, yes, they should absolutely consider spending big money on a SP. My feeling on this is if the position core is not here already they have a lot bigger problems than a $50M contract.

Much appreciate the heads up. Gotta see what this arm slot is all about.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 31, 2014 -> 06:02 PM) hmmm havent heard that. I haven't been to the park this year as often as I have been in the past due to a respiratory issue I'm trying to beat back, but apparently Sanchez has a number of backers in the F.O.

Another reason why they should build the rotation via free agency next year around Sale and Q. is because if it turns out they aren't good enough in the 2015-2017 window start the next rebuild with Sale and Quintana.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 31, 2014 -> 05:52 PM) OMG! We're getting Mike Trout! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 31, 2014 -> 05:38 PM) If this team can manage 80 wins, I think there's a good chance they WILL spend on some pitching. But the great thing about the contract for Quintana is that he's around for more than just next year -- even if it takes us another year to get to where we can start spending, you have Quintana as a building block I don't think there should be a magic wins number they have to get to before they spend money on pitching. The current state of the minor leagues, coupled with the position core basically being in place, dictates that they need to.