chunk23

"Firm, serious offer" makes no indication that the offer was actually competitive. I can firmly and seriously offer someone 40% of asking price.

If you aren't looking to replace your worst position player with an absolute steal (3 for $33M!) I don't know what you're doing.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 24, 2016 -> 12:43 AM) $35 million + the pick is a hefty price to me, especially for a team like the Sox that always seem to be strapped for cash. If they can't afford a legit good player at a steal of a contract like the one Fowler just took, they are in far worse condition than they've let on. More and more signs that they were making "we tried" offers to OF options instead of seriously pursuing them.

Orioles are stealing Fowler for 3 years, approximately $35 million. Makes me wonder how hard the Sox were actually trying to upgrade OF in the first place.

QUOTE (CB2.0 @ Jan 23, 2016 -> 06:27 AM) The A's did because of Cespedes...maybe. The Dodgers because of Puig? No. Come on, man. He had the second highest OPS on the team in 2013 and highest on the team in 2014.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 06:33 PM) Call me crazy but I'm not ready to give up on Avi yet. Cespedes is very inconsistent on offense and may become complacent with a big contract. I would not be surprised at all to see Avi put up numbers similar or better than Cespedes did in 2013 or 2014. Obviously there are still big differences between their defense and base running abilities but if Avi can improve even marginally in both I think he has a shot to be a useful player this year. Avi was historically terrible last year and the historical evidence shows very long odds that he turns into a productive player. http://www.thecatbirdseatblog.com/blog/201...fe8ddp13er5rjrq

He's not saying Avi is the second best trade chip, he just had him second in the list. It's not a ranking.

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 05:34 AM) What ever happened to Jose Abreu trying to "broker" a deal between the White Sox & Cespedes per Phil Rogers?... Based on that latest article, it sounds like the Sox really haven't been involved very much at all.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 22, 2016 -> 12:11 AM) I would disagree. Just because he is the best current choice doesn't mean he is the best choice later in the off season or next year, maybe the team that signs him trades someone for next to nothing. Just because he is the hot topic doesn't mean he is the best choice. The FA class is extremely weak next year and they really don't have the resources to land a good OF through trade, so if they don't upgrade at RF this offseason, it'll likely be an offensive blackhole in 2017 too.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 09:49 PM) @scottmerkin Apparently when the White Sox explore something, they don't mess around. What does this mean? Merkin heard about the Sox exploring bringing Albers back and within 20 minutes of that tweet he was signed.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 08:01 PM) This is the dilemma, if you don't sign Cespedes you can't justify giving up a draft pick for Fowler. Not with the state of our farm system and the reality we're seeing here, which is we're not going to land these big FA with some self imposed limit on contract years. To get a player like Cespedes, we'd either have to draft him or trade for him. Maybe internally they prefer Fowler to Cespedes because he'd be a cheaper sign, but also because that's one less high price draft pick to pay for.

Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal Sources: #WhiteSox would not go 4 years on Gordon, as @BNightengale said. Will they adjust on Cespedes? Gordon 32 this season, Cespedes 30. So maybe it wasn't posturing after all.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 06:53 AM) So I guess the Sox forfeit another pick in the draft? That kind of sucks, but not the end of the world. This is absolutely the right time to stack that though. The first round pick is protected, meaning the forfeit the second and 3rd round this time around, instead of losing a possible 1st or a second with a big FA signing next year.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 07:51 PM) So you are saying you dont want a player, for no reason at all? Rated Fastest Baserunner in the Texas Rangers system after the 2009 seasonRated Best Defensive Infielder in the Texas Rangers system after the 2009 seasonRated Best Infield Arm in the Texas Rangers system after the 2009 seasonRated Best Infield Arm in the Texas Rangers system after the 2010 seasonRated Fastest Baserunner in the Texas Rangers system after the 2010 seasonRated Fastest Baserunner in the Texas Rangers system after the 2011 seasonRated Best Infield Arm in the Texas Rangers system after the 2011 seasonRated Fastest Baserunner in the Texas Rangers system after the 2012 seasonRated Best Infield Arm in the Texas Rangers system after the 2012 season Career OPS .657

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 07:45 PM) Doesn't sound very promising if it's only PTBNL - unless it's a guy on the 40 man. It's almost assuredly Leury Garcia, a weak hitting utility player with a bit of speed and not much else.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 07:28 PM) Well at least we have restocked our farm system!!!!!! sigh. The players acquired in these deals won't be restocking anything but grocery shelves in a few years.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 9, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) Dan Hayes and others still seem to think that the PTBNL will be Garcia. Is there any chance that the PTBNL has anything to do with the pool of players the Cubs are looking at? Could that be why we have to wait? It's most likely because the player is on the 40 man and hasn't cleared waivers.

Trade could still be for Leury Garcia, he's on the 40 man roster. That would blow.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 09:00 PM) I still see a lot of what is saved not being reinvested back in the club. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see the team adding another 20-30M in payroll this off-season. I see them maybe adding 10M in payroll which isn't all that significant. IF they unloaded Rios and Ramirez, then I could see the club dropping 20-25M in the off-season (potentially). However, I could see the team target some young players who will be due bigger contracts sooner and land those players and then extend them. I'm with you on this, they're generally never players for big FAs and this year's FA class is particularly weak. Plus the team needs more than just a few FAs to be competitive, they need to be rebuilt completely. I see them just getting cheaper and keeping the difference.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 08:18 PM) Rios is not a bad player. If we're just eating money to not have him on our team, it makes no sense to do that. I'm with DA on this one...there is no reason to pay Rios to play for another team. If we were bulging at the seams with mlb-ready talent, it would be one thing. But we aren't. They pay him to play for another team so they can get good prospects so they can rebuild. Right now they're just dumping salary and will be fielding an even worse team next year.

QUOTE (Paulstar @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 05:08 AM) Also, I like to think you can add some potential FA signings as part of this deal (Just like in 05 Carlos Lee did not equal only Pods and Vizcaino, but also partially to Pierzynski/Dye/Iguchi). I don't think there was anyway the Sox would have eaten portions of Peavy's contract and also potentially Rios' and/or Ramirez's contracts while also signing an impact player in FA in the offseason. An impact FA makes no sense because this team won't be competitive next year and they need the draft pick they would have to give up.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 05:03 AM) Oh come on...i don't think anyone can say it is terrible...a bit risky, but has a lot of reward potential...just have to hope Garcia pans out, then the rest would just be gravy. Being cheap at the cost of prospect quality will only make the rebuilding process longer and more difficult. They have tons of budget room but they decided to be cheap instead and got fringy prospects that are unlikely to make an impact.

Absolutely terrible return for Peavy, most likely because they were unwilling to assume any of Peavy's contract. The only saving grace is if this leads to better returns for Alexei and Rios and I'm skeptical.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 31, 2013 -> 03:42 AM) My guess and I hope I'm very wrong is Iglesias, Middlebrooks, Ranaudo. I guess the same, minus Ranaudo. It's probably a low ceiling relief prospect.

Iglesias is terrible, all glove and no bat. Hahn really learned from KW.