Balta1701

So they gave up nothing.

I don't know about wagers but people have been guessing the page number the thread will be on since we were back in the 200s.

He hits so many ground balls into the shift that Boras wanted the shift banned.

Am I reading this right that 2 of the seasons where you're quoting Machado's OPS are his age 20 and 21 seasons?

I have seen one article/story arguing that a decent amount of Harper's number drop can be attributed to the shift.

I don't believe that's prohibited but you also have no way of knowing if they're telling the truth.

I believe it might be possible for a union to have negotiated a "strikes allowed" clause in a contract that stands with the NLRB, but it is also possible to put a "no strike" clause in a contract, and until that contract expires a strike under that clause is illegal unless you're striking due to something like unsafe working conditions.

This is legally not allowed and would give the MLB substantial legal authority as the strike itself would be a violation of clauses in the CBA. I believe that teams could start canceling guaranteed contracts with players legally.

I said I wouldn't believe that they were a .500 team counting Eloy and Machado. They were 20 games below .500 last year, 15 is a reasonable guess for what they'd need everyone else to improve by to push .500.

Actually that's not it, really it isn't. My saying that is a measure of how incredibly far this roster has to go. There's a decent amount of talent here already, with more on the way, but to expect that it's all going to go right, to the point that it adds 15 wins to this 62 loss franchise, with even more than that necessary since some people will get hurt as they always do and probably one of our FA/trade additions will just fall apart...that's what I can't see. There's so far to go that SO MUCH needs to go right for this team to push .500 that I would be really applauding the coaching and development staff because THAT MUCH going right in one year would be truly impressive.

Yup, if any talented players improve at all they will immediately win 15 more games this year. That's not even up for debate it's so obvious, if they're better at all that's immediately 15 more wins guaranteed.

Even aside from the Eloy arrival - if you get so many things to go right that this roster can push 15+ extra wins out of the guys that are already here, I'll start thinking that these guys deserve coach of the year honors.

This roster is no where near .500 right now. They may not even be there with Machado.

You remember in the other thread where I said that taking a college prospect and rushing him upwards because of a big league need seemed like such a white sox thing to do? There's your answer again.

Honestly, I still think that group wins a championship if Rose never gets hurt. Noah in his DPOY year as Butler is coming into his own, next to Rose and Deng? That group is monstrous.

I like having 2 options at 2b because I'm not sure Moncada will actually break out this year. I would seriously worry about Moncada if he also had to learn another position again. But, if someone really believes in those 2 at those 2 positions, I would understand why they would not want Machado.

He was replying to me saying exactly that about Harper. Given the choice I think Machado is a better fit, because I don't have confidence in the Moncada/Madrigal shiftover. I have to believe that, counting Eloy as one, the White Sox will get at least one average OF out of their system somewhere within the next couple years.

If people really think that Madrigal will soon be a strong 2b and Moncada will move to 3b and have all star level success there then they should not want Machado, I would agree with that.

But of course...that also would mean that these guys are performing. I will not be mad one iota if Moncada in 2021 gets $10 million in arbitration, because that probably means he's jumped up to be an all star, and having a couple of guys who "Get expensive in arbitration because they're doing really well" alongside Machado and Harper...there's your 95 win playoff team. IMO, the better argument against Harper remains the team depth. What are the odds we can't find a 3-win RF somewhere out of the 5 non-Eloy OFs in our system? You can do that with a weak bat if the guy is even just good at defense. If we developed a 2-3 win player, Harper would still be an upgrade, just not an upgrade worth $30 million. That's just not happening with the IFs in our organization.

I do think trading Rodon makes sense to me but I'm not sure the White Sox would do it. Right now Rodon just isn't worth all that much in a trade - he's coming off an injury, his velocity was down, his performance last year was down, and he's never been anywhere close to a top of the rotation starter. For us to really want to trade Rodon, he has to get off to a great start this year and keep it up through the trade deadline. That would at least convince teams he could be the real thing. But then, if he's actually dominating and an all star and all that, wouldn't the White Sox then say "We want this guy leading our 2020 rotation"? I think that's exactly what they'd do.

Don't underestimate stupidity on the part of rich people. In the Kaepernick case, all the NFL owners had to do was decide individually that "my team isn't going to deal with the racist fans getting angry if we sign this guy". If that was all that happened, then that collusion case would have been thrown out. Instead, Kaepernick's side presented an arbitrator with enough evidence that last fall he allowed the case to proceed, meaning that at some point some of the owners were dumb enough to actually have the conversation amongst themselves where they agreed that "the ______ will never play football again". They may not have struck an agreement, but if they shared information about their belief that salaries for certain players had gotten too high and suggested levels they wouldn't be willing to pay for certain players, that conversation could be collusion.

So the problem is the contract for the player who is still really good and not the 2 terrible contracts?

My guess is some yes some no. See how both 17 has a higher arm slot than 16 and in 18 he keeps working towards a higher arm slot? Isn't that exactly what Cooper and the White Sox want from him, to be more over the top with the ball? I think that's deliberate. But, I also think that the dropping down isn't deliberate, I think that's him doing the "Gordon Beckham" thing and trying to focus on too many things and as a consequence having everything go to hell, up to the point where he has to be fixed again.

From the link above:

no where better to put this than a now - unpinned catch all thread. Former White Sox farmhand Ozney Guillen hired as rookie ball league manager by the Astros.