CaliSoxFanViaSWside

That's all true and was taken into consideration. Until I hear that he's incapable of running the franchise I will act as if he is still capable and his mental facilities are still sharp. All indications point to that still being the case.

Only if you trust that everything you read has a certain amount of validity and that JR is suddenly willing to spend money above and beyond expected levels. Or that there is Ishbia involvement in player payroll. Or Pope Ball is real. Just call me a Doubting Thomas when it comes to the Sox signing Imai. Even if I am wrong Im not sure what part of the story I'll actually believe, JR, Ishbia's or Pope Ball. Or maybe Ill just chalk it up to Getz Vision Quest.

I had already comped his upside to Schwarber and Thome before I saw that podcast. It took them long enough to get to the meat and potatoes portion of Kay's interview. The floor however is what kept teams away from him as we know. I'm hopeful that having a livelier ball to hit than in Japan and a willingness to adjust will be helpful in producing a minmum of 30 HR.

So youre saying my assessment of his ownership is the truth and the conclusions I drew on why it doesnt work are logical ,reasonable and accurate and devoid of any emotional narrative.

No. JR is a bad baseball owner no one has to make up s%*# to make that true. Being a bad owner doesnt mean he's stupid . I would think JR was just getting up to speed on kind of things he might need to work on. What are our analytic guys & coaches intial thoughts on how to help him become a effective MLB hitter ? Since a lot of teams didnt sign him because of holes in his swing then the Sox need a plan to turn him into our version of Thome or Schwarber wouldnt they ? Do you know the specifics of that. No ? Neither does JR. He may have intially ok'd the money but after knowing the Sox won the bidding wanted to know more about him. Doesnt that seem logical ?

Its easy enough to hold a grudge against JR. He deserves it ,but to pretend he's some kind of fool when it comes to there being advantages to signing a Japanese superstar is ludicrous. He graduated Northwestern Law School. Worked for the IRS and then went into private practice. He became known as an expert in real estate partnership tax shelters. Then he formed Balcor, a company that raised significant capital for real estate investments. After around 10 years doing that he bought the Sox in 1981 and in 1982 sold his stake in Balcor to Shearson Lehman Brothers (American Express's investment arm). He bought the Bulls in 1985. He was also the architect of giving the Ishbia's a clear path to go from a Sox minority owner to primary owner rather than them owning the Minnesota Twins. Everything JR has ever done he viewed as an investment opportunity, including the Sox which never aligned with building winning teams. He never was the kind of guy who spends money to make money. He was mostly a facilitator to get others to invest in his projects because of his vast knowledge creating real estate tax shelters. He's extremely shrewd and used tax laws to his and his investors advantage. Fans spending would usually equate to JR spending, never the other way around. That was the main problem. Sox fans were more blue collar than white collars investors. Fans and JR wanted the other one to spend 1st. It's always been a stalemate and without investing in player development they never could maintain the level of success that might have provided a strong return on investment for the fans or JR's satisfaction.

I'll accept failure with Kelenic in exchange for many many Mune-shots. Fuller might bolt the Sox for a much higher paying position if Kelenic, Mune, Colson , Teel, Quero, Baldwin, Vargas , Sosa, Meidroth and Braden Montgomery all continue progression. That would surely be akin to divine intervention. Pope Ball.

"Same organization" or worse in some respects since JR is a lot less likely to allow too much spending with the imminent work stoppage and and even more risk adverse than before to make sure his son's sale of the franchise to the Ishbia family goes as smooth as possible. So bottom line concerns yes still the same or worse. However the "trying" part shouldnt be overlooked. Unless you're blind the progress is easy to see . Lots of wins behind the scenes that were unexpected with media darlings like Bannister , Venable, Rodriguez & perhaps Keller joining the front office and special emphasis on scouting & player development which paid off quickly with the Mune signing. The Shane Smith and Colson Montgomery on field success were mostly unexpected. Especially Montgomery who was being called a bust here by quite a few. Ryan Fuller was credited with taking Colson away from the expectations to perform in games and refocused him on his process. Also a win that motion capture/ analytics may have led to suggesting the torpedo bat. After that little switch it was bombs away. These are things that a bad team in a position to have some advantages took them and produced better than expected results. It gives me hope that whatever holes in Murakami's swing that frightened so many teams can be properly addressed by the Sox and we end up with a Thome or Schwarber type .Remember his power and exit velocities may have been muted by a very real dead ball era in Japan. It's not as if having the Top Rule 5 had historically produced even good MLB players. Hopefully the new DR Academy with Rodriguez and Keller in charge can produce some results in producing alternative sources of talent that the Sox well had always been dry on (DR talent) much like the Pacific Rim well had also gone dry. So in some respects with the emphasis on building culture, communication, infrastructure and PD it's not the same old Sox. They are ramping up for the ownership change.

Ill go with Feinsand on this and add some parameters. Contract 3 years or less White Sox 8-1 longshot. Contract 4+ years White Sox 50-1 longshots.

Wow I had no idea that you were present and that's what was actually said. This is the most made up bullshit I have ever read. How the f*** did get Jerry up to speed become all of that crap you just pulled from your ass ? This is exactly what is so hard to understand To those who were wonderimg why I have trouble understanding the " embarassing" sentiment. Do people not see this as just a made up, imaginary, bald-faced lie of a narrative ?

Its difficult to understand that fans are still getting so emotionally worked up about the current ownership situation. It's been this way a long long time. They take an innocent getting JR up to speed comment and turn it into some narrative like they were in the room with them and Jerry doesnt understand the possible postive impact to revenue sources . Getting him "up to speed" can mean anything or very specfic things. People feel the need to distort it into the usual negative stuff for some reason. It's not difficult to understand many dont see the signing or the comments as anything embarrassing at all. People are different but I'm not making up negative narratives just because its JR, Getz and the Sox and I'm overly senstive about the past.

I think most fans are happy it got done despite JR. And yes it'll be better when the Ishbia's take over. 100 % in agreement there. How are you so sure that kind of thing doesnt cross the owners desk in most places ? That's kind of a big leap and assumption. Has there been some kind of poll that says 65 % of owners of sports teams dont get involved in any signing around $40M that I'm not aware of ? If you make statements like that then you have others following it up with their own narrative quoting you and adding things to it like how JR should know how signing Japanese players could positively effect his bottom line. There's not a single poster here or probably in the front office who can accurately assess how much Munetaka Murakami will mean in terms of a dollar amount with regards to attendence or advertising or TV revenue. This is not Ohtani , The Dodgers or Los Angeles we're talking about. If you were an owner wouldnt you want your executives to try to estimate what US or Chicago based Japanese corporations could be likely to advertise with the Sox now that Mune is around? How prepared are the Sox to make a pitch to these businesses to convince them to spend advertising money with the Sox. That signing has a ripple effect that has to be attacked aggressively with a sales force. Are the Sox equipped and have the proper infrastructure in place to bring sponsors and the Japanese culture into the ballpark and to keep it there ? These are relevent business questions that JR should be asking so bringing any owner "up to speed" would seem to be necessary since they have never signed a Japanese superstar before or any Japanese player in 20 years. We must try to see that things are changing for the better. I think many many Sox fans want to believe that but also know that while JR is still in charge it will be a struggle to make significant headway. Does every good thing really have to embrace the undertow of embarrassment or be met with sarcastic skepticism ? Those are unproductive emotions. Just ride the wave and be patient that the Ishbia tsunami waves are coming ( eventually). Dear Pessimist Optimist and Realist, While you were all busy arguing over a glass of water, I drank it. signed, the Opportunist... No matter the situation you are in ,you must take advantages of your opportunities.

Imagine all the embarrassment some of our fans would have if Getz showed happiness again if they signed Imai like they were with Murakami.

Posting fee is a percentage of the amount of the contract .The bigger the contract the less the percentage is above a certain amount .

I swear its so strange to see people reading so much into comments made after a signing. Tell me what comment was bragging and why is it embarrasing to you ? You never struck me as the jaded type Sox fan before this. You usually seemed to understand that this organization wasn't likely to spend much JR money especially if there's a lengthy work stoppage and JR not wanting to be responsible for his children inheriting any debt. Its just the state of the organization now . It sucks but its not personally embarassing to me . I'm glad they didnt look a gift horse in the mouth. At least Keller and Getz did their due diligence and were able to find a way to get it done. The old Sox just wouldve been spectators. Now that would've been embarassing to sit on the sidelines like fans instead of MLB executives.

I don't think you're wrong. Logically it would be like lightning striking twice under the same set of circumstances that allowed the Sox to get Murakami. I literally was going to start Imai thread on the last Imai posts I made when I read he wasnt getting offers but I posted in the Murakami thread instead. No one seemed to show much interest . Glad its gained some traction even if its just BS. I made the comment that if Ishbia was involved in some way it maybe could happen but that I didn't trust the WhitsoxDave source that said Getz called Justin Ishbia after the Mune signing.

I alway want to say James when I know its Brooks Baldwin.

Charlotte

Im not sure what's so embarassing or funny about that quote. As owner, JR should be brought up to speed from his marketing department and GM about the on field and marketing implications involved with signing Murakami. This is something the Sox have never done before. This isnt Ohtani or LA so can anyone truly know how much this signing may mean as to increased revenue from various sources yet ? If it was expected to make that much of a difference why wouldn't someone else outbid the Sox ? Boyer is going to have to earn his money if there are Japanese sponsorships and advertising and season ticket revenue out there from the Murakami signing. This is just what corporations do before an unexpected major transaction since it all happened so quickly.

The Imai market is moving very slow . Imai made a translated tweet yesterday that supposedly said that he's received 0 formal offers yet . He may not get $130M which seems to be your minimum expected salary. The length of the deal will surely be the determining factor. The starting pitcher market is slow developing and the general feeling among owners is that Cease got too much and some agents may be waiting to see what Imai gets before they finalize any deals for their clients. Owners may be trying to "correct" the SP market prices by keeping Imai years and AAV in the 4/5 years $22-25M range as an unproven arm. Doubt there's much chance the Sox can sneak into the Imai negotiations unless Ishbia truly is involved and I don't trust the 1 rumor that he was called by Getz after the Murakami signing. https://fansided.com/mlb/mlb-rumors-tatsuya-imai-shocker-tigers-bregman-bummer-red-sox-options

2023 he had a bad April but OPS'd over 1.000 in May and June. Maybe I should have said long odds instead of odds are agsinst it happening so everything youre saying is not lost on me. But I did also call it hoping for another Pope Miracle. I just think the situation calls for Getz to go for it as far as trying to get the best return possible. I also thinks it helps to have got the number 1 pick in the draft along with a large pool of draft money. It somewhat mitigated Getz just settling for the best of mediocre offers. We also disagree that a TDL return would only slightly improve IF his WAR and ISO got back to levels in 3 months of 2026 that we have not seen the last 2 seasons. Im also discounting my own JR factor cheapness level scenario that does not allow for paying both Murakami and Robert salary's .

One other thing we have to be aware of if the Murakami signing was predicated on JR insisting that Robert money is at least halfway eliminated. I wouldnt put it past JR to insist a Robert trade be completed by opening day. Getz may not have the luxury of paying him and Murakami at the same time.

Plus Mr.Source of Irritation talks out of both sides of his mouth. He has talked about Sosa's low baseball IQ as much as anyone here.

I understand the doubts but the Sox really have no choice than to hang onto him at this point and hope the Pope miracles continue and he gets the kind of hands on approach in the off sesson they gave Colson in season. No one thought Crochet could stay healthy either or transition into what he became either. I know the odds are against him performing the way I said would make a difference in a trade. But in game power definitely has to show itself again while maintaining the plate discipline and fielding of last year. All that could result in 3 fWAR before entering July. Those kind of numbers would surely increase his value.

Sox were 8th in MLB in HRs after the All- Star break and added the top power hitter in Japan. Baldwin also was a productive hitter in the 2nd half with an August slash of .270/.325/.459/.784 and a Sept./Oct. line of .268/.328/.500/.828 that covered 42 games & 141 plate appearences. That exactly the way you want to see a young hitter finish his 1st go round against MLB pitching who had a tough time of it in April & May. They sent him back down to Charlotte and in 29 games he hit 12 HRs with a massive 1.180 OPS.