southsider2k5

Hopefully they spend a lot of money on him.

I would be all in favor of getting Cano, or a guy like Cano, if it meant we could acquire some top six year controlled talent in the process.

Yeah that definitely wasn't HoiBall.

That is exactly what people are saying when they start talking about adding talent to a team that is no where near winning to get them to win a few more games in an otherwise meaningless year. It is what they are talking about when they say they are sick of losing and would rather see a .500 season than another top draft pick. They might not be thinking it, but that is the effect result. Let's face it, the reason the Astros rebuild is still producing results is because they accumulated talent for a large number of years, instead of just two. They are still utilizing that talent to further things along today. The Cubs are still a playoff team for the same reason. That is why their windows are open. If we don't have talent coming in on the back end, we will end up like the Royals at best, where we have a dramatic rise, followed by a quick and dramatic fall. If this group fails is an even better reason to keep accumulating more talent, not less. The Kenny Williams era can start again when the team is ready to win. This team is not. Except for Machado and Harper, these same types of filler free agents will be there when we want to push an 85 win team to a low 90's win team. There shouldn't be any rush to artificially limit this teams future ceiling. When the team is actually ready to win, that will change.

The Sox aren't making up 30- 40 games to turn this into a playoff team, no matter what they do this winter. That isn't being dramatic, that is being realistic.

If White Sox fans really didn't get this was going to be more than a two year process, they really need to read up on what a rebuild actually looks like. This was never going to be an overnight process, and was never sold as such.

What does winning 5 extra games teach about winning? We aren't talking about a playoff team or even a competitive team. This is going to be a bad to mediocre team at best. What does winning 78 or 80 games teach that 73 does not?

There is nothing the Sox can do to make this team competitive in 2019. We are talking about it going from bad to mediocre. This is Kenny Williams type stuff that people used to throw temper tantrums about of adding people to teams which have no real chance to win in some attempt to convince the fans to stick around. This does nothing positive for the organization.

I really never wanted a rebuild, but here we are. Since we have gone down this road, we should do it the right way. Prematurely limiting the amount of cheap high end talent we bring into the system now will only serve to narrow the window of contention we will be able to sustain down the road. And why? What does winning 5 or 10 more games give them this year. Are you telling me that you are buying season tickets because of Josh Donaldson? That TV ratings will go up because people will be excited about Winning 78 games? It sure hasn't moved the needle over the last 15 years, why now?

It's not a coincidence. Fans are abandoning the team in high numbers, just like I said they would. It will not be cured by a .500 season.

Reading what people post here, and knowing what our history looks like, I don't buy it. An 80 win team does nothing. Heck two years ago I had people telling me that they wanted this, and people would keep showing up and watching this team. Again that isn't how Sox fans operate.

The absolute last thing the White Sox should do right now is trade prospects for a closer.

I don't buy for a second that Josh Donaldson and a .500ish team will do anything for ratings. That is not nearly enough to start the return of the bandwagon fans. People weren't even showing up for a team that was in first place until the middle of September of 2012. I see nothing to support that was .500 is enough for them.

Not really, no. Sox fans aren't motivated by .500 teams.

Again, why? I am not sure what the big addition of moving up another 5 -10 games over what this team will do anyway organically is. It isn't going to do anything for attendance. It isn't going to do anything for ratings. It isn't going to get fans excited at all. What am I missing here?

20/25% seems right.

I can only imagine the meltdown if this had happened on our side of town, but wow. As manager this IS your responsibility. To my ears, this is worse than Manny Machado talking about not hustling at times.

What is the team going to get for moving from 73 to 78 wins by adding Josh Donaldson?

It would take about a 3rd standard deviation scenario of everyone going from zero to ceiling all at the same time. It isn't even enough of a possibility to entertain in any realistic fashion.

They will make a step forward this year organically, which is fine.

There is no realistic amount of money this winter that is going to turn this into a playoff roster.