southsider2k5

He needs to play and he needs to swing the bat enough to keep umps and pitchers honest.

I really hope this is the case.

Welcome to rebuilding.

Wat?

That is a really narrow window to fit into, and really unrealistic. Covey, Rodon, Giolito, and Lopez we want to do well. We want Shields to do well so we can trade him. After that, we want Kopech or Stephens to do well if/when they are called up. The pen is more of a crapshoot, but even then, you should start to see guys like Hamilton, Vieira, Bummer etc start to come in once other guys get dealt. You also want to see Nate Jones come back healthy to be dealable in the off-season.

My bad. I thought that was in regards to the Cubs blowing away the best offer. Carry on.

Hahn sure said it. And I have yet to see anyone say differently.

It isn't about "winning" per se. It is about Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Tim Anderson showing some sustained signs of stardom, or at least big leaps forward in looking like cornerstones of a title team. If those 4 take meaningful steps forward, so will the teams record. It is also about wanting to see Jose Abreu get healthy and start hitting again. It is about James Shields pitching well enough to become a trade piece. It is about Nate Jones and Avi Garcia being healthy and playing well enough to give themselves value on the trade market. It is about the secondary group of guys having some guys step forward and join guys like Yolmer Sanchez and Leury Garcia as guys who could be on our next title team. It is that we might see Kopech and Jimenez, along with a couple of other pieces in September, and we want them to succeed. The more of those things that start to happen, the better of the health of the rebuild is. If this team utterly collapses in the second half, it means the vast majority of those guys have not grown, or worse they have created more questions than answers. If you are getting good performances from key players, teams tend to win. The good play will lead to wins. That is what I want to see. If that means a worse pick, so be it. The Sox do not benefit by guys like Giolito and Moncada continuing to struggle.

I am not sure I understand this deal. What did this do for us that wasn't done before? I get the 5 million freed up, but with free agency already started, what does that do for the Hawks?

All reports are that the Cubs blew away the next leading offer, so it probably wasn't as big as we are speculating here.

Hossa, Hino and Osterlie to AZ. Haven't seen what is coming back.

Yes, this was an obvious attempt to insult someone by caging it up in a less obvious insult which everyone is going to get the cultural reference to. This is using something like "thug" when you really want to use the N word, but know you can't.

Don't we all

This. I want to see the cornerstones bust out and have big second halves more than I want them to keep flailing and get the first pick instead of say the 5th.

This. It was a cute way of trying to call the front office by the R word, without actually having the guts to just say it. The intent of the phrase is crystal clear.

Yeah, with as much struggle as we have seen, it would be nice to see some of that start to payoff in the 2nd half. Breakouts from main guys would be wonderful. We also still may see guys like Eloy and Kopech in September.

If we tank that hard, that is a really bad sign for the guys on this team. I'd rather see them go .500 and see progress from guys like Giolito, Moncada, Anderson, etc.

From what I have read, he wasn't a throw in. Peller wanted Tatis in the deal.

What a mess.

It is uncanny.

You should know by now that everyone is randomly busy when the Sox win, and seemingly free when they get their butts kicked.

What is most interesting to me is that not only were there three contenders, but apparently two teams who "weren't ready to win" in 2017. I wonder who the teams were. Obviously we know the Cubs. The Brewers were the team most talked about before the deal broke, so it is safe to assume they were contender #2. I seem to remember the Yankees being a possibility? On to the non-contenders, there were rumors about the Braves sniffing around Sale, could they be one of the teams? If so, could Acuna have been on the table? What would the choice be, Acuna or Eloy? The Phillies added Arietta during the off-season, could they have been the other one?