CaliSoxFanViaSWside

He's re-upping with the Twins.

Should be a great game .

Go Rays ! Go Avi !

Ok so if I am reading this correctly the burn was because it was business as usual for the Sox when you hoped it might be different once they got out of the penalty.

Ozuna doing nicely for himself .

Was the slow burn due to just not spending all their money or Yolbert getting too much ? Too old ? They did have at least $1M left over that they traded to TX . Or was it something else ?

Benyamin Bailey

Part of my harping was always bringing up the Twins. I've tried to do some research on players from the international Free Agency who have made an impact on MLB in the last 10 years or so and It's difficult to find. Yolmer seems to be the only guy in the last 10 years who made it all the way to the majors for the Sox if you don't count Tatis who we all know was traded away. I did find that the Sox made an offer to Ji-Man Choi in 2017 . They were among 13 clubs who made an offer . And we all probably know same thing with Ohtani but as usual we come up short too may times in any kind of Free Agency. Bailey does give me some hope. I really hope he can do well.

I've been harping on these things in PHT and scoffing at the idea of sustained success for all the things I've multi-quoted. The HS and college player draft just does not add enough talent. There is no reason to keep living in the dark ages with this when guys like Acuna, Soto , Tatis, Jr. and others on contending teams provide cheap young talent, Sure the talent might take 5+ years to develop which is even more of a reason to start using those resources the right way now.not just on LatAm talent but Japanese, Korean ,Taiwanese or even European also. It's an international game and it's well past time the Sox took it seriously .

Yea we would have to pull that thread to see what we all thought. I do remember that the talk of extending Samardzija was rampant here . I don't remember if the board generally liked the trade or not. I don't even remember my own opinion on it except I thought the extension talk was ridiculous .

I cannot say that. I would have to follow every team in a lot of sports so I can't use that broad stroke on my canvas . I just know it's rather pointless to criticize fans in any way.

Sorry but raging fans means squat to the Sox. Hahn and Cooper in season both made disparaging remarks about Sox fans negativity when they should be saying positive things about the fans even if they have to lie through their teeth to say it. Hahn need to put a gag order on saying bad things about the fans. Praise the fans , kiss their ass, be sensible about it instead of chastising them. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Not even sure what this means. It's not like the fans make any of the decisions.

No real reason to be depressed Jack.It's just baseball. I'm as big a Sox fan as there is out there and they mean a lot to me but in the grand scheme of things the best I can do is say sports is a long time hobby. that I really don't spend any money on being a California Sox fan. I hope for the best like many others and have had many complaints about how the have run the franchise and the rebuild, But in the end all I have is my hopes . I didn't need one more quote from 18 years ago to establish what I already knew. Hoping for the best but it's not like I haven't been disappointed with the Sox before in the last 45+ years of my life. It comes with the territory. As an aside. I wanted to mention this at some point but never quite found the forum to do it. My older brother organized an impromptu family reunion and got the Sox to agree to let my 85 yr old father throw out the 1st pitch on the DH games scheduled for Sept. 27 as part of a 4 generation of Sox fans reunion at the ballpark. Amazingly I was able to go as were all 4 of my brothers one of whom lives in Maryland and another in Michigan. I saw many relatives I hadn't seen in a long time including 2 of my father's brothers, my older brothers kids, all my brothers and an adopted niece I had never met since she was adopted 16 years ago Also amazingly I got my daughter who lives in the Bay area to go and also my son from Arizona though all his flights were cancelled or delayed and by the time he finally got there I was gone. The Sox also comped the tickets for around 20 of us. It was a wonderful time even though the games were rained out and my father was very happy to see us all and get on the field and Danny Mendick caught the pitch and gave Dad an autograph on the ball. I bring this up because these are the things that matter most . The fandom can create moments like this or the random World Series win or memories of going to games with the old man when younger and even fiascos like the Disco Demolition game I attended with him and a brother. To put it all in perspective the results are secondary to my fandom .

I think you hit the nail on the head. I won't go as far as to call him cheap but he is fiscally responsible to the ownership group and he is the biggest part of that group. I have no doubt he is very loyal and generous to his employees and loves his charities. All that being said he picks and chooses the part of the baseball operations that he will spend the most on and that has been payroll. The parts of the organization that he wasn't spending spending enough on were the ones you mentioned and international free agency and the scouting , and development processes needed to develop all the young talent whether drafted talent or IFA 16 yr old talent. And you can still see that the Sox are leery of that very young talent when they trade away Nate Jones and $1M their pool money to the Rangers who needed it to sign a 16 yr old : "Texas was short on bonus pool cash which was preventing them from signing star Dominican OF Bayron Lora whom they agreed a deal with earlier in the month. Lora was the 3rd ranked international free agent by MLB.com in this past J-2 signing period. The 16-year old outfielder is noted for his power from the right side of the plate and would instantly become one of the better prospects in the Rangers system. However, Texas had a finite amount of international slot money and after signing other amateur free agents including SS Maximo Acosta, Texas was going to have to make a trade to acquire more pool money. https://nolanwritin.com/2019/07/31/texas-rangers-nate-jones-international-money-white-sox/ "In return the Rangers parted way with a couple of minor league pitchers in Joe Jarneski and Ray Castro. Jarneski was a 12th round draft pick of the Rangers back in 2017 and currently is working as a reliever at the Rookie-Ball level. In 10 appearances, the 19-year old had posted a 1.62 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. Castro was signed as an international free agent back in 2016 and was currently with the Rangers Dominican Summer League affiliate. The 22-year old made 9 appearances, 7 of which were starts and posted a 2.02 ERA in 35.2 innings. " The Sox seem to still prefer older guys like the ones they got from TX. They also traded away pool money to acquire Yeyson Yrizarri, Ryan Burr, Thyago Vieira and Caleb Frare. Also their big signing this year was Yolbert Sanchez who will be 23 this spring in March and just starting off in the states probably at Kannapolis . All of these things limit your ability to hit on the 16 yr olds who develop into 20-21 yr old superstars like Tatis, Jr., Acuna and Soto or others who turn into very solid big league players such as the 3 16yr olds the Twins got with the international picks in 2009 . Kepler, Polanco ,and Sano. Here's a great article on the scouts and development people and patience it took to get them to where they are now. http://www.startribune.com/international-signings-in-2009-prompted-twins-rise-into-a-contender/560076992/

Ok upset, disappointed, not what they wanted just to clarify my meaning but getting Grandal would be a big step in the right direction so ,yea, maybe no one is upset.

I think many forgot about him. I know I did also and I can't remember his name being brought up at all in the RF options thread. Among the right handers it was always Ozuna, Puig, and Castellanos. I wonder what he gets . 6Y/175M ?

Well hopefully we're going to get pitchers and hitters and yes quality is good . But somehow I can't imagine every single person pleased with any signing the Sox make.

Some people would rather have JDM than Grandal and think McCann and Collins are good enough and that a catcher should be farther down the list of needs. I have read those things many time over the last 10 threads discussing the future.

Gennett had a terrible year. He cannot command any decent salary at this point but his upside is probably the best on the market if he can return from injury to his 2017/2018 production which he didn't accomplish with SF. If you are going to be looking to sign maybe 5+ Free Agents then probably one should be a value play, If Madrigal struggles enough to be sent down Gennett offers the possibility of All Star level production if he can regain his mojo from 2018. It's not like his latest impactful season was that long ago. And he'll probably take the first decent offer so he isn't one of those guys waiting for a Minor league offer. He could be one of those guys that takes $5M a year for just a year and an option or a small base salary with incentives.

If that is the case might as well just just do the qualifying offer. No need to give him 2 years at that price. Take it one year at a time since you have that option. He made $16M last year . Hard to imagine them lowering their offer . I'll predict the qualifying offer, No idea who Sox might sign 1st. Unless it's Cole people are going to be upset whoever it is. I'd say Brett Gardner but maybe he will give the Yankees a shot to get him back so I'll go with Brock Holt

I was just pointing out that Moncada and JDM had basically the same OPS+ this year thus making him a current hitter of JDM's quality since that's the question you asked. I've seen posts wanting JDM and Castellanos to be added. At some point, like now, we have to value positional versatility and defense . Going forward if the goal is a World Series then JDM gets put in the OF part time and Castellanos gets benched or vice versa. I don't like that one bit. I know that wasn't your idea but with every single player we get we have to keep all those things in mind that Grandal supplies that JDM doesn't.

Tony might be thinking one of my posts was your post because I wanted the Sox to resign Avi after he was non tendered and one of the smartest organizations in baseball saw value in him signed him and got that value like Tampa Bay usually does and the Sox do not.

Moncada is right there with him now and Eloy will be just like him next year. I don't know if Grandal would have the same effect but I am not in favor of clogging up the roster with DH only types and Grandal does check the boxes in some key areas of need, LH, OBP power and a position player. Even if his D is overrated he's still very valuable playing that position. Don't get me wrong I like Martinez . I wanted him when the Red Sox signed him because not many teams were after him . Many thought then it was too early in the rebuild but I'm never against getting quality players at any time since they could always be given an early opt out thus having the ability to get assets for him.

Good question. They had him long enough to make him a better fielder yet it took individual attention from Ron Washington to get there. You can never say how much coaching helps along with maturity/desire . After all it took him until he was 29 to get that kind of WAR in one season.