Balta1701

Right now I’m not sure ownership Knows what ownership’s goal is.

It’s a bit much but it’s all critical so I think we can let you off with a chiding? Anyway, if this is true - then make a proposal doing this that you would accept.

Carlos Rodon’s agent is Scott Boras. He will play anywhere if they offer him the best contract.

See, I actually knew you were going to say this so I have this response prepared, and I'm going to challenge you to be honest here. Take this team's roster. You have a DH spot. Assume both Vaughn and Sheets are on the roster, and RF is filled by "Someone other than Vaughn/Sheets". All of these are entirely plausible. No matter how much "we shouldn't turn Vaughn into a RH platoon hitter" is the right answer for Vaughn's career, if both Vaughn and Sheets are on the roster, DH is the only spot they can play every day, and Tony LaRussa is the manager, isn't that 100% exactly to the letter what will happen, with complete and utter certainty? Hell, how many times is he going to be benched to put any random lefty at DH when there's a righty on the mound? We saw this team put Danny Mendick, Nick Williams, and Seby Zavala at DH at various times last year, none of whom should ever have DH'd (and yes Seby isn't a LH hitter, but he also isn't a DH). I think Vaughn can be better than a platoon player eventually as well, but with how this team is constructed that's just the reality - if a RF is signed, he will basically be used a platoon DH unless someone gets hurt or unless Sheets is sent down, and if Sheets is sent down then we'll start seeing either Leury or Grandal taking the at DH bats against righty starters.

The problem is...he kinda doesn't. He's not a great OF, and he's probably a particularly bad RF. He's "not going to murder you there if Eloy gets hurt", but you also don't want to ink his name into the starting spot anywhere other than 1b/DH. And especially since this team is already RH heavy...the fact that he is a righty means he's a guy who might get squeezed out of the lineup just to provide some balance.

I thought this when you said it the first time so I'm going to say it - that is an awfully self-serving message for the team to leak. That sounds like exactly how they work with the rest of the Chicago Media - give them some leaks or stories sometimes, so that when they want good press or when they want to make sure that people don't ask any extra questions, the Chicago Media go along with what the team wants and print it to keep their access and stay on their good sides. Didn't two other reporters get the exact same message that day so that it got onto the radio? That has all the characteristics of the team putting out talking points. Oh...and regarding him "having influence" - want to see something interesting? The "Reinsdorf block" of teams that voted against Manfred included Arizona, Cincinnati, and Los Angeles Angels - 3 of the 4 teams who voted against the last deal on Tuesday (and the 4th team, Detroit, has had an ownership inheritance since then).

Even if they add a LH hitting OF, it is hard to see a right handed DH getting much playing time compared to a LH hitting one in this lineup. They need the balance… Unless someone has a major injury.

While I get what you’re saying…the White Sox have a system that is very weak and low on assets with trade value, a roster that has several obvious holes, a narrow amount to spend beneath whatever the luxury tax will be, and a roster that will be starting to lose pieces each offseason (with big losses 2 years from now so the window seems like it could be 2 years). The White Sox don’t have enough resources to park an asset at AAA to let him get better right now. If he needs time at AAA, it should be someone else’s.

All we know with some confidence is that he didn’t openly oppose a $220 million luxury tax that doesn’t go up again for 4 years. There is probably a reason why the owners didn’t offer anything better than that - they can lose 7 votes but only had 4 against their so-called final offer. This implies that there was a substantial group of owners who made it clear they would vote against anything more flexible than that. Furthermore, it also suggests that there are no powerful owners pushing hard to put a deal on the table that could bridge the gaps with the union and bringing other owners on board - JR could absolutely have been that guy if he wanted.

I just think he will get more than the white Sox can afford. I do worry about him winding up in Minnesota or Detroit on a deal that is like 3 years with an opt out after 1 and doing serious damage to the White Sox, if there is a season.

There are a couple other options you didn’t note here. First of all, the White Sox’s front office could just be dumb and think they can easily find another 5 win pitcher. Alternatively and more worth discussing, if Rodon was on the market in early 2021, had several $3 million offers, and the White Sox offered Boras a handshake agreement that they would not give him a QO, I bet both sides would go along with that and that could be the reason he stayed. Boras hates the QO so he would think removing that is a solid service for his client, and the White Sox would certainly risk being in this situation and having a much higher long term cost to save a half million in the short term. If the second was the case, there could still be some interest. Whether they could fit him and other additions in under the tax is a bigger question.

So are they trying to betray him to the Russians or just idiots?

Does Castellanos have a QO?

so what exactly are a bunch of investments from Kentucky doing parked in Russian banks and companies? (Apparently this is not the only one)

There will be 6 Star Trek seasons on Paramount+ I haven’t caught up on by the end of May. Viacom is even getting the MLB.tv money.

Sam Walton died in 1992.

Forbes listed the family worth as $6.6 billion in 2017 so that has definitely been split somehow.

How much do you wanna bet that the text the players said appeared overnight without them being consulted was the stuff on including meals and expenses under the taxable total?

So they never pushed the owners up to the point where 7 would vote against it?

I keep saying it back - I don't see how things are any different a month from now. When there was no deadline, the owners went 43 days with no offers and then 19 days before their second revision. The next deadline isn't until about June, and that's the "2020 style season" and loss of the full year for them.

So the owners would rather cancel the season than be put in a spot where they would be under pressure to come to an agreement?