chitownsportsfan

Calm before the storm?

Benetti is ok but he is too corny and too generally naive or ignorant about the nuances of the game for my liking. Stone is fine imo. He is a know it all but most former player analysts are. Hawk? Dude, he needs to be put out to pasture. He was fun in his prime but those days are long passed. Hawk will die in the booth if JR lets him and that is not how it should end.

Hahn sure does know how to nail interviews. Let us hope he keeps dealing and can nail a winning season withina few years. Ty for the synopsis.

I root for the laundry. It doesn't hurt me anymore seeing Sale move on then it did Derrick Rose. As an adult fan now, there are no more heroes like Frank and Robin for me, just guys that I root for when they are Sox. Sure I like some players more than others and will follow their careers regardless but these moves have given the Sox the best chance IMO to win another WS before I hit 40. I'll take it.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) Adam Eaton was my favorite current Sox player. I liked that he was not a genetic freak but made the most out of his talent with hustle and hard work. I would show replays of Eaton to my daughters (who play softball) to show them how I want them to play full speed. I was fortunate enough to go to spring training a couple of years ago and I watched Eaton sign autographs. He seemed like a cool guy. I will keep rooting for him. Damn you stole my thunder. At the two games I attended at Camelback in 2014 he was by far the most interactive with fans. And as a short guy myself that was always told in my baseball career that no scout would appreciate a 5-9" CF I appreciate that he fought through bias in the industry to make it big. That said, at times he rubbed me the wrong way. I thank him for his time here though and wish him well. I'll never forget the amazing defensive show he put on last year.

Well, it certainly appears they don't expect a 40 man roster crunch. It's a fire. sale.

Did they sign David Wells' son or something?

QUOTE (HeGone7 @ Dec 8, 2016 -> 12:37 AM) Great upside but far from on the level of Moncada or the level of the arms the Sox got. Tools are great. Production is what counts. Thing is, if this was 2012 Basabe would be a top 5, maybe top 3 prospect in the system. Hell, if it was two days ago he probably is top 3. He might only turn into a Mike Cameron type CF once every 10 times but hey I'll take it.

Well said Chisoxfn. This is a clear direction. Now, it's not guaranteed to work, but for once it appears the thinking and the process is correct and 100% everybody is pulling in the same direction in the FO. The team could still suck 4 years from now but at least they will suck with youth.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 11:39 PM) The Cubs certainly think so. they won the WS, they can laugh it up.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 10:25 PM) He is also tweeting the White Sox are eating salary. He is full of s***. right you know more than a local reporter that has almost 4K followers on Twitter. Honestly you are one of the worst posters I have ever come across in 10+ years of heavy sports message board reading.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 10:20 PM) He also says they cant come to agreement on who will pay salary, which makes no sense. Q is cheap. So are the Astros.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 10:16 PM) No clue who this person is but: https://twitter.com/ShutdownInning/status/806676420177051651 "Hearing Quintana to the Astros is "all but done." Working out a couple of kinks in the last hour. No word on pkg to CWS. #Astros #WhiteSox" local source, always a good sign for reliability, probably has some contacts in the Astros. This is crazy.

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 09:36 PM) So far they've only traded away the clubhouse troublemakers. There's still some chance this isn't a full rebuild but rather a start of a culture makeover. It's full rebuild. Hahn hasn't sold it any other way in his interviews and other GMs / reporters are basically saying nothing is nailed down on the South Side.

Frazier, Jones and Robertson absolutely have to be moved now. Maybe if Sox are getting low balled you wait until the deadline when teams are more compelled to acquire 1-2 WAR types but there is no point keeping any of those guys around given their age and roles on the club. Q, if his value is through the roof because he's the only good pitcher left on the market, yea move him, but he could also be a big part of the next playoff team if things go well. Jose should probably be kept to see if he can rebuild some value.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 08:19 PM) Sox haven't pulled trigger but seemed to be in big ticket items like that. Recently Tanaka, but prior to that Alex Rodriguez in the texas deal. Harper is coming off by far his worst season. We'll see what his true talent is. If it's 5 WAR and not 8 then forget it.

It appears the Nats asked Giolito to make mechanical changes and he did not respond well. We'll see what Cooper thinks. You know the Sox don't acquire any pitcher without quite a bit of his input. He knows a lot about Giolito already. I have some problems with Cooper's influence IN GAME but as far as teaching guys how to pitch he's as good as it comes and giving him all this clay is exciting.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:43 PM) Cmon. Southsider could have taken a 23-10 team and kept it rolling. Robin, who I loved as a player and love his class and demeanor BTW, was a buffoon. We lose 1 heartbreaker ridiculous game and we all knew the team was finished. No offense to Robin, but we are talking a different class of bad manager here. I truly believe the Sox had enough pitching and 'good' players to do much better than they did the last couple years. The past is dead, it's not coming back. Embrace the future.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:41 PM) Sounds good on Giolito. Thanx for info. Why did Lopez only cost the Nats $17,000 to acquire? Sounds like he may not be a sure bet. Let's hope that MLB execs don't apply your wondrous logic on player value to Q. He was only a MiLB FA after all, not a sure bet.

Moncada has to be on the 40 man he was called up last year for Boston. Same with Giolito and Lopez. I believe the Sox had one extra spot, subtracted Eaton and Sale, and added Lopez and Giolito and Yoan.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:33 PM) Nice. Thank u for the info. That gives me added hope. Another winner. Defense and pitching wins pennants. Speed doesn't hurt. Uh, the Cubs just bludgeoned their way to a title. Good baseball wins titles, regardless of how they are built.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 08:21 PM) That's his problem...command. The stuff is there, let's hope Coop can fix him. Read a postseason interview with Giolito and he said the same thing about himself...he was loosing command of his offspeed stuff thanks to mechanical issues. He became way too reliant on his fastball (like 70% of pitches in ML) and, due to lack of movement on that fb, he was getting hammered. Again, Sox are the right organization for these guys to figure these things out. I have no problems with the struggles of both centerpieces in their cup of coffee last year. Both are still very young for MLB and it will take more than a bad month to derail their elite status as prospects. Now, if they both suck all the way through '17 we have a problem.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:18 PM) Unless I live in Charlotte or Birmingham, nothing has changed. MILB.tv is a thing.

Some reaction from the Winter Meetings:

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 7, 2016 -> 07:05 PM) No...we need to draft well and develop talent. I think everyone totally overrates top picks in baseball, especially in this era where you will no longer really be able to leverage the "extra" cash for more draft picks (since they are retinkering with the funds). Teams that pick in the top 5 don't just automatically get good. EVeryone here is totally overselling that piece. We need to draft well and higher you pick helps, but baseball draft is a huge huge f***ing crapshoot. Christopher Sale / Mike Trout are just some examples where the best player wasn't anywhere near the top 2 or 3 picks. Criticality is on our talent development. Also, look at last few years...a ton of high picks have totally busted (and that isn't anything unusual either). This isn't the NBA where the value of a top pick is clearly huge. sorry, you're wrong historically: