Balta1701

I don't know when it will be, and it won't be yet, but sometime soon the White Sox are going to throw their hands up and say the season is starting and they're out, good luck. We're now in the week that pitchers and catchers report, so everyone can suddenly hear the clock ticking in the background.

That was a Monday, so the 18th this year?

There are probably 50 posts by me in this thread saying there's no way he'd turn down a $150 million guarantee for a short term deal and how dumb that would be. If things don't get completed this week, then suddenly that starts seeming possible.

Didn't you just say "They should have read the fine print", in other words you're faulting regular people for not reading the full tax law?

You seriously expect that most people here did?

Um...what fine print? The entire tax law?

Honestly? I think you need to stop talking about the Bulls successfully attracting a major free agent, at least any time in the next several years. Not only do we have the Bulls not being good at it, but take a look at how the league is shaping up. Either you have guys going places because they're chasing rings (Durant), guys teaming up to fill multiple slots (anyone who goes to NYY this year, the Heat), or guys going to destination stops (Lebron to LAL, anyone who goes to NYC, Mia). When's the last time a team had space for a max contract and actually landed a major FA without the advantage of "Being Los Angeles"/having Steph Curry"? Furthermore, 2 years from now - know what's going to be in the way of free agency then? Markkanen will be up for his extension and Lavine will still be under contract. If you want to talk about opportunistic, look at the other teams that are doing it - they're trading first round picks for guys once they're already good. Maybe in a few years the Bulls can get to that point. Building through FA? They're not going to pull it off.

Just to add pages Maybe we should go back to Haikus, they're awesome

I'd agree that's bad money but I definitely wouldn't call it a disaster if what I've heard about their revenue and assets is true. If it came down to it, I think they have the money to spend with the Yankees. Here's a report saying that they just finished paying off their $170 million a year mortgage on the stadium, and they're apparently about to start a 28 acre development project on one of their old parking lots that will produce huge revenue amounts given that housing market. Plus this year in particular they might have another tenant for 8 games - the Raiders. In about 10 years their ownership might be able to fill a room with gold coins that they swim in.

If San Fran, for example, was willing to jump in on Harper for 1 year - yeah that would push them into tax territory but only Washington and Boston paid the tax last year so they'd only face the 1 year penalties. I wouldn't do it, but if they're still insisting they can compete in that division that's a move that could do it.

What's the deal with the bolded? Last I read, even though their payroll was high they owned a ton of the real estate around the ballpark and were one of the most lucrative franchises because of it.

If the players continue to perform - taking 2 consecutive 1 year, $50 million deals, then at age 28 taking a 7 year/$200 million deal - accomplishes the same thing as a $300 million guarantee.

This is a bizarre rant. 2/3 of it is complaining about the greedy players, 1/3 of it is accepting the excuse that the owners are running a business and then asking why there isn't a middle ground. Like you said, they're running a business, and if it means they save $50 million by waiting til March 15 to sign a player, hey that's an extra $50 million. They're running a business and that's a sound business decision.

Same basic problem - talent of a 70 win team, thought they were 1 player away from winning 95. Cespedes woulda made them better, but their #4 and #5 starters were still Mat Latos and John "Shoulder fell apart" Danks, they had no depth when Petricka and Putnam got hurt, Jimmy Rollins was their starting SS, etc. Roster was a couple of legit players and then Ricky trying to patch over gaping holes. Even with Cespedes, and the scenario where the White Sox keep him healthier, they were totally outgunned by actual good teams.

That sounds very much like how I recall it. They had a serious offer for Gordon and not really for any of the other OFs, I believe they had a higher offer out than KC did and at the end KC put a little more money in to make it close and he stayed there. And in the end, the only OF worth signing out of all 4 of the ones available that offseason was Upton, who the Sox showed no interest in.

Don't forget he's a rookie that had some injury problems last year and he just turned 22. We can be ok with him being "Good" his first year and great in a couple years, if that's his path.

Those numbers, to my eyes, are basically equal. Slightly worse WHIP for Nova, similar ERAs.

73-89. PECOTA preferred the 2018 white sox to the 2019 white sox.

Now adjust for the league that has the DH vs the league that has pitchers hitting.

At the very least they're now feeling the hostility.

No, but people strongly alleged that there was a deal very close to completion weeks ago, and the connection between that deal not happening and these talks makes sense.

When your team is sitting on a 70 win projection and that could darn well be optimistic, with the current contract rules you should be doing exactly that.

The fact that Fulmer even as a "maybe someone might actually fix him" last chance guy is more valuable to us than Joc is a great demonstration of why that deal is a poor fit for the White Sox.

The problem with the "warmup" things is that this is commercial break time and MLB doesn't want to give that away because that's money being given away. Frankly, they shouldn't have to, it's not the driving force in these games being longer. Get the batter in the box and throw a pitch.

Narvaez. Rosario's a wild card, not a huge loss, and even if Call turns into a monster next year, he wasn't going to get playing time in our organization with the # of OFs we have. Narvaez was not a good defender, but he was also a raw catcher who hit well, which isn't something easy to find. Stick Narvaez in as the backup behind the beef wellington with the artificial animal hormone injections for a year, work with him on his defense, go sign a reliever for $4 million, and you're better off than the White Sox are right now, unless they can suddenly turn Colome into an amazing stud with a mechanic change. Worst case scenario you non-tender Narvaez next offseason and you've saved $6 million in the process, best case scenario Narvaez improves with the bats and starts looking like a DH or improves with the glove and we start talking about him as a legitimate catcher. They got an overpriced reliever and gave up a player for the privilege.