chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Feb 15, 2018 -> 12:06 AM) I think they want Engel to win the job because of his defense and athleticism, but unless that bat finds a way over the Mendoza line, I think we'll be seeing lots of Leury Garcia in CF. Yea I agree but I hope the org finds a role for Leury regardless, need more info on him. He has more talent than Engel could dream of overall with his ability to play SS/CF etc and perhaps hit 270/330/420. I'm high on Leury. I think the sox found something there. If nothing else he's probably a really awesome utility guy, like top 5 in the league. Engel strikes me as a guy that's out of baseball in a few years. Maybe one out of two timelines he turns into a cromulent 4th OF borderline 1.5 WAR starter.

QUOTE (JPR @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 10:54 PM) I just want the guy to become that prized gem many MotownTiger fans saw him to be. $6/7 mil...that's nothing. He has Adam Eaton 5 tool potential. Let's see that this year. I feel like we've entered bizarro soxtalk where Avi has more fanboys than haydurs entering spring. I was long a fan boy but he's really not shown a sustainable foundation for stardom. Solid starter? Perhaps. But at the end of the day the dude is probably a 2 WAR RF in the time of Eloy. He's going to get a lot more expensive. For myriad reasons, even if he duplicates his 4 WAR season he's still not going to be a Sox much longer.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 09:37 PM) According to Hahn in the athletic, he implies the players filed for numbers lower than they were giving the White Sox. to avoid arb? makes sense then. I don't think it's a big deal at all. Yolmer laughed it off today. There's no hard feelings. That's what the agent is for.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 04:49 PM) Cuban corner. I like it. Sounds like a new food option at the Rate.

hey can you merge my thread here? thanks SS2k.

Some good quotes as usual from Fegan's reporting: Yolmer on being the first player to go to arb in years: Miguel on Omar Narvaez: Cease on being invited to his first big league spring training: More at the link for subscribers: https://theathletic.com/241236/2018/02/14/l...training-opens/

QUOTE (wrathofhahn @ Feb 12, 2018 -> 02:32 PM) Oh that makes more sense. Just wanted to be clear because Halladay was by all accounts a family man and was only married once from 1998 till his death. Halladay was on morphine at the time of his death. He was battling some demons as well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2018 -> 02:29 PM) https://sports.yahoo.com/ex-mlb-star-pitche...-151448624.html Wow, good luck in witness protection dude. There's no way he has the fortitude to do the time. He's going to sing. Sounds like he was part of a pretty big operation and you know they want they guys he bought from.

Great content as usual guys. Someone else will have to make the "Going to Glendale Spring '18" thread as I tragically I won't be going this year. Plenty of good advice for those that are though, if any questions need answered. I believe the first full squad workout is a week from today. I'd imagine the Sox are going to be pretty lenient with fan access this year, given all the prospect hype. Love to get some first hands reports.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 12, 2018 -> 11:35 AM) Millionaires with disposable income can get into "investment" opportunities with the cartels. Who knows how deep some ex-players could be in these things. yea this could be the start of a great book. I wonder if Esteban will sing. If he's handling that much "product" directly he's pretty deep in but not deep enough (or smart enough) to only be "the bank".

QUOTE (Wanne @ Feb 9, 2018 -> 03:14 PM) I honestly don't get why areas that get heavy tourism dollars aren't more acceptable to dropping a "tourism tax" Dollar or two on a room...or rental car. Can't believe San Diego didn't do that to keep the Chargers. For some reason I think some Maricopa County judge shot down the "tourism tax" after it had been in affect for a while...and said they had to refund money from the car rental/room tax. Said it was "unconstitutional". Not sure how you can randomly describe that particular tax as unconstitutional and not others. I never did get an answer to that. Probably something about out of state residents paying for in state revenues. Not a lawyer. I was in the Tampa area this fall and drove by the Trop -- it looks about as bad from the outside as it does from the inside. It did seem pretty well located, right next to major roads and the freeway. I think the Florida experiment has been bad for MLB it just doesn't seem like with all the other recreation available to people down there year round that coming out and supporting baseball teams is something the locals are inclined to do.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 02:27 PM) This seems stupid and short-sighted to me. From what I understand, the relationship between player and front office is (unsurprisingly) nearly always strained after going through these hearings, as the player has to sit there and listen to the front office's lawyer try to convince a judge that the player isn't worth what he wants. When the numbers are substantial like in Avi's case, I can see it. But there's no way that's worth a hundred grand. The only explanation I can come up with is that the White Sox have instituted and communicated some sort of "no exceptions" policy when players don't accept their offers so as to make it seem more impartial when they refuse to negotiate and/or to dissuade players/agents from offering aggressively with thie intent of negotiating a deal that squeezes some extra money out. Maybe this makes sense in the long run, but it sure looks dumb in this isolated case. damn bro you ninja'd that on me! Thanks for your input on the Yolmer case. It seems odd at first glance.

Maybe I have to remember my SSS account and ask larry but can anybody (SS2K? Balta?) answer why the Sox went to arb with Yolmer over 250k? That just does not seem like the Sox. Are they setting precedent for all the prospects coming through that will be arb eligible in 3-5 years?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 07:28 PM) They did a hearing? Whoa. They submitted offers less than 250K apart you'd think they could have just come to an agreement. Kinda odd, no?

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 01:41 PM) mikecws91 1:12 Listing Zack Collins as a 1B is fightin' words! In your eyes, what are the odds he sticks at catcher? 25% maybe? Kiley McDaniel 1:13 I think he's mid career Carlos Santana. Bat you want in the lineup, 1B/DH and maybe once a week at catcher, more of a 3rd catcher than a backup since you don't want to wear him out multiple times a week. From the chat today. well we'll take that...

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 08:44 PM) Great thread we've reached peak offseason. Luckily, it ends in a week. Then we can read about the new stats that say Yoan Moncada is in the best shape of his life.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 06:32 PM) Should be interesting to see if the voters completely change their criteria in coming years/decades. Because it seems like WAR is the big thing now. However, good luck getting the voters to toss out the normal stats of the past. Well what will happen is those guys will die...

As an adult male that played a lot of baseball and has good reactions and actually watches the game when I'm sitting this close I'm disappointed -- but I get it. You gotta protect the kids, older folks, people who aren't paying attention etc. And yea once a few clubs did it it was only a matter of time until they all did.

yea, but he can't hit.

Two weeks, 11 hours! http://www.springtrainingcountdown.com/#sthash.bqeUQ9PK.dpbs Thank god. I'm about sick of winter. At least the sun is setting after 5pm now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 08:46 PM) It's an interesting debate. Does that mean no other minority who has faced similar discrimination can comment? That seems a bit absurd. From a business perspective, it's a simple cost/benefit analysis. With Native Americans comprising less than 1% of the US population, and far less than 1% of MLB attendance/revenues, owners feel that the benefits of "being forced to change by outside forces" aren't currently outweighing the benefits of keeping or maintaining that name or tradition. Of course, for public universities, that's a slightly different issue. You also get into the dangerous game of classifying the mascots into "respectful" and disrespectful. For example, the KC Chiefs or FSU Seminoles, Fighting Illini or Runnin' Utes (Utah) vs. the Indians or Redskins. What about the Atlanta Braves or the BlackHawks? The Fighting Sioux? And are the Dallas Cowboys now representative of "white oppression" of Native American peoples? Slippery slope... https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/29/opinions/dro...lman/index.html We're also to the point where it can't just be about the symbolism of removing a mascot...where both sides of the ideological divide are looking at the economics and politics of any decision. get real there's no "slippery slope" argument here. This is a disgusting caricature, little better than a hook nose jew or slant eyed chinese and so on. just get rid of the damn thing.

The logo is reprehensible in ways most Native "inspired" mascots are not. It should have been phased out long ago. I'm a white guy and never really thought anything of it until I became an adult but yea it's just time to put it to bed. Long past time really.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 03:53 PM) Per Hahn at media scrum, Rodon has been cleared to start throwing next week. wow, that's a great update and perhaps lends more credence to the "minor" version of his shoulder surgery story the Sox are selling. Hell, if he's already starting his throwing program you'd think he's only a few weeks behind. Maybe a May debut?

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 10:17 AM) The teams that signed Pujols Fielder Ellsbury etc may be tired of setting their money on fire. But I would ask you how many of those franchises are having financial problems because of it. They may not have gotten player production vs dollars spent but did the signing of those players generate income? Did they sell more tickets?? Did they sell more merchandise? Did their advertising revenue increase. These owners are not dummies. They are making money by the truckloads. When their bottom line gets affected they will watch what they spend on salaries. But if spending X ( even if they don't get their true value) nets them X+ they will continue to spend millions on salaries to make more millions in revenue. If their revenue was affected up or down it's really just a drop in the bucket. As I mentioned up thread because of the national money pouring in from revenue sharing, MLBAM, etc -- winning has never been more decoupled from revenue. Baseball's economics are broken right now. We need a salary floor and to seriously reconsider revenue sharing and the bulls*** "small market" compensation crap. There are no "small markets" in MLB right now -- only profitable markets and more profitable markets. Not really. I don't think a single franchise has been "crippled" by any FA in the last decade. What teams are doing is in response to the economic incentives currently in place. Those incentives, for the most part, encourage teams not to spend on FA.

QUOTE (wrathofhahn @ Jan 25, 2018 -> 07:43 PM) Like I said in the other thread players contracts are bloated. His players would sign in a NY minute just not based on the bad deals of the past. You can go through these 7-10 year deals they almost never work out. Pujols. Fielder. Ellsbury. Crawford. Owners are tired of setting their money on fire and I don't blame them. Until you can build a competitive team via FA why should rebuilding teams bloat their caps with a bunch of unmovable deals? Contracts are "bloated" only in the sense that vets are overpaid relative to the amazing accuracy of WAR/$ projections and their younger pre-arb and pre-FA counterparts. (And of course nobody ever b****es about the FA signing that turns into a bargain for the club.) The thing is that the MLBPA did an unbelievably bad job at the last negotiation. The luxury tax is not just a nuisance it's a defacto hard cap. It's also a helluva an excuse not to take on salary not just to go over it -- but to approach it -- in that ethereal Garpax patented "financial flexability" corporate speak. Also, and this is a helluva factor -- revenue has never been less tied to performance. With the revenue sharing, MLBAM revenue, etc there's less incentive than ever to win in order to make money. s*** is really bad and I am pretty worried there will be a strike just as the Sox get good again.