CaliSoxFanViaSWside

This is a good post that many of us seem to forget. My take is that as a whole the Sox focus on commanding the fastball 1st and improving the changeup 2nd AND SLIDERS AND CURVES TAKE A BACK SEAT TO THE 1ST 2. sINCE gIO AND lOPEZ ALREADY HAD DECENT CURVES ITS POSSIBLE THEY WANTED TO WORK MORE ON THE OTHER THINGS SO THE TIME IS STILL BEING USED TO DEVELOP THEM JUST NOT IN THE WAY THAT SOME OF US THINK IT SHOULD HAPPEN. i HAVE NOTICED THAT gIO'S CURVE IS FINDING THE PLATE MORE AND HE USED HIS CHANGE UP A LOT LAST NIGHT. lOPEZ ALSO USED HIS CURVE A LOT MORE HIS LAST START. I'm not fixing this screw it. why does that caps lock key have to be right next to the A Edit: We also forget the Sox hired Dave Duncan as a consultant and its my belief if the Sox are going to content it will be on the backs of their pitching. Also why I don't think we go after Harper or Machado . Just too expensive for one or the other. They'll spread the FA money around on position players a tier below the big fish and do their best not to trade away pitching prospects and that includes the highest ranked relief pitchers too.

Forgot about him Ha too recent of an acquisition. But yea he's been doing very well with Charlotte and would also have to be added to the 40. I wonder does Fulmer even get called up at all. He's cut way down on his walks his last 8 appearances (1 in 11.2 innings) but also gave up run 7 earned runs in that time too.

That's what I figured. I know the rosters expand tomm. but need one for today Do we think Hamilton gets added to the 40 and comes up on the 1st too ?

So who's coming up now ? Does Vieira get sent back down and 2 guys come up ?

Again it is not just the money it is both combined. Money is the prime motivator I'd be an idiot not to admit that but not the only one.. I don't know how many times I have to repeat that. I'll look you up when Machado and Harper get big money and from a contender because thats how its going down. If us the Padres or any other team in the bottom 12 or 13 get either one of them i'll concede you win.

And you are taking that history comment out of context as I said before it was just a sidebar to the position that winning a championship such as the Yankees winning history and current strong position as a contender is also very important to many many players. If you were Machado or Harper do you take a $350M offer from the White Sox in their current state or a $330M offer from the current Yankees and all the spotlight that comes for being a great player in the media capital of the world and play on the same field as Babe Ruth , Lou Gehrig , Joe Dimaggio , Mickey Mantle etc etc. if those are the best 2 offers you get ? And in what world do the White Sox outbid the teams like the Yankees or Red Sox or Dodgers or even the Phillies for the best players in the world ? The Sox are going to rely heavily on their pitching and will in no way shape or form spend a shit load of money on 1 position player . They will try to spread their dollars out among position players. If what I am saying doesn't play out please feel free to use this post over and over to force me to eat crow in the future. Edit : If the competing offers get out too and you said you gave examples but I don't see any that you gave. except for saying Heywards didnt count. There have been a literally hundreds of free agent contracts given out ver the years and I didn't see one example where you said this team won the bidding with this offer and this team came in 2nd with this offer and gave links for your research. but still you say competing offers get out too.

What's not realistic ? He did have success. Success is is not having a W on the back of your baseball card,it's in improving from a terrible start. I think he doesnt give a rats ass about yesterdays game except that he has turned around a miserable start and starting to live up to his potential.

Yea the terms of the winning deal are easy enough too find but all other offers aren't. If it was easy you would've done you're own research instead of asking others to disprove your point. Money is always the main motivator but when you're talking about the difference between 330M and 350M its much easier to take the lesser deal when other things like winning a championship or, it being your home town, or your wife's preference or dozens or other things are taken into consideration.

Of course they want wins. Who wouldn't ? But they also know as human beings that they play a team game . If they suck and it hurts the team they take it much harder than they do if they do well and the team wins but they don't. If everyone does their job the main thing is the W goes in the standings. If you were a pitcher you might know that the team is more important than you and that the season is a grind and in order to succeed you can't get too high or too low and you just might have to let go of any goal that does not contribute to team goals . Selfishness has no place on winning teams.

and the chance to also win a championship. Like I said in the 1st place have their cake and eat it too.

What you asked for in the first place is too hard to prove. . It's not like teams come out and say well we came in 2nd place in the bidding or we offered more but they turned it down. It makes them look like sore losers or petty. That kind of info is just not readily available.

I think it's very idealistic to think the Sox won't have to spend much on free agents but not very realistic. The Cubs augmented their rebuild with FA's Lester and Heyward and then augmented it further trading away potential superstars in Jimenez and Cease. They traded Gleyber Torres for Chapman. They traded Jorge Soler to the Royals and he sucked his 1st year but got his act together this year and was doing well before he got hurt. They traded Jeimer Candelario to the Tigers and he looked like a future superstar when 1st brought up last year but has regressed this year but still has a 1.4 WAR he's still just 24. My point is you can't wait for youngsters to develop . Too many of them don't make it and there are always holes to fill. Right now the Sox have a ton of position player holes with only Eloy and perhaps Zavala on the horizon but Zavala may not be better then what we already have at catcher. When you reach that point where multiple World Series are a distinct possibility you hit that competitive window with everything you got. The coming free agent classes this off season and next are filled with impact free agents and too many of the next wave of good prospects really aren't due here for another 1 or 2 years and even then they will be rookies going through the same growing pains that Giolito, Lopez and Moncada are experiencing. Edit: I forgot they signed Yu Darvish for this year and when that didn't work they traded more minor leaguers and gave up more cash for Cole Hamels and Daniel Murphy. They emptied the farm and spent a ton of money to win one World Series and the chance at a 2nd. The Sox might spend a lot of money and trade a lot of prospects for a chance at one World Series but if they get lucky enough to win one . I highly doubt they spend like the Cubs to get a 2nd one . The Cubs could've waited for Jimenez , Torres , Cease, Soler or Candelario but they needed the help in the here and now. The Sox only way to have sustained winning is if many of the propects work out which is why I think they can't afford to be high bidders for Harper or Machado. They are more likely to go after multiple guys who are good but not great players and rely heavily on winning more with pitching than they do with hitters.

I think he understands what's going on . He knows he has to concentrate on himself getting better and not what happens after he leaves the game. He's know everything going on is geared towards the future. His immediate gratification comes from a job well done . His future gratification will come when he does the same good job and the Sox ( not necessarily him) win meaningful games. Team results should come first. Personal reward come when you do your job to the best of your abilities that help the team win when winning means something.

Not a doubt in my mind about that.

Thanks . Yea thats what I meant . I said it in my very 1st sentence. I couldn't have been more clear. I also said neither team had benefited meaning neither the Angels or Mariners had won a World Series after signing Pujols and Cano. Some people are in such a hurry to argue their side they don't even notice the other argument. If he had read what I wrote I don't see how he could completely whiff on my meaning.

Its also very possible with Harper and Machado being young free agents that this will not be the last contract they ever sign. Nowadays players put opt outs in their contracts. To me that just maximizes their chances to go to a winning team . You get that ring have a good year or two while being paid very well in a front loaded contract, opt out, then go for the longer term money . We could argue this all day but to me the chances are slim to none we get either Machado or Harper . We'll just have to wait and see.

They both had already won World Series and without doing the research that Pujols deal was just ridiculous for a guy without too many good years left in him. Once you win championships everything after that is gravy like taking the best offer. Neither team has benefited at all from handing out those kind of contracts for players only motivated by money at that point in their careers. I have to think both Machado and Harper want to win a World Series or 2 along with the big payday. To pretend that money is their only motivation is selling the player short.

I don't think so. It's been bad enough having him around as a reminder of the Sox FO incompetence this long.

Don;'t have to worry about that now.

This half inning seems like it's lasted an hour.

But But he'd be wasted in developmental years

You and me both.

HAHAHAHAH and that's what happens when great hitters don't have to worry about breaking pitches.

Well at least the Red Sox don't have to guess that there was a fastball coming.