Dick Allen

We are talking minor leagues so Pods started out his minor league career 48 for 68. About the same. It amazes me how some players get so much rope but some like Madrigal who was drafted only 2 1/2 years ago gets none, and he is supposed to be a finished product. But he sucks so much other teams won’t notice and will give you something good for him. And then Tommy LaStella can come in because a decent faction of Soxtalk has a ex Cub fetish and he will be way better. And it will only cost $7 million more and that is nothing to Sox ownership.

You can’t say he is a one tool player but then say you can get a lot for him. It isn’t right. You aren’t stacking a team on a video game. If you think the guy is an easily replaceable player, nothing special, you have to think, if you give yourself any credit, the guys that get paid millions to really assess that, think so too.

He also is being coached by someone with a clue. Boylen was the Terry Bevington of the NBA.

Wainwright was also implicated using some material for grip and spin provided by the Angels clubhouse guy.

The other thing is they had 2 guys they trusted to start a game they must win. Now they probably have 3 but to get to 3 they had to get rid of the next most trustworthy starter. To put it on Katz n his first season as a ML pitching coach to turn around Cease and Lopez, and to be really confident Kopech won’t show any rust when he is called up is pretty insane. The Sox need another Staring pitcher they can reasonably expect to be around league average , and provide innings. Either you get really lucky or those guys cost 8 figures.

That’s fine and dandy but if they think all of their guys are going to make it through the season unscathed, and pitching full season workloads after last year, they are in for a huge surprise.

I wasn’t buying LaRussa is the GM talk. But if this happens, he definitely is.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t bash him but then think he has a lot of value.

Scotty Pods was 59 for 82 for the 2005 White Sox and he is legendary.

Judging Madrigal right now as he is what he is is being very shortsighted. And if you did that to all players just starting out, the Sox would probably need a new LF, new 3B, new SS, a few new pitchers, and maybe even a new CF as well. What exactly is to be expected from a rookie who gets into about 30 games after spending a month not playing real games but in some sort of camp in Schaumburg? If the Sox trade him, they better get something really good. But, if a lot of Soxtalk is to be believed, how could they get anything worthwhile for such a hopeless player?

The problem I have with Cruz is at his age, the train can derail at any time. Plus he costs 8 figures which they should spend on pitching, plus they have one of the games best prospects who is blocked at 1B by the MVP, so probably needs to DH a year or 2. Its like deciding to buy a spare car instead of fixing a broken heating system with winter coming.

39 year old Wainwright. 40 year old Cruz. Are they looking for guys to hang with Tony?

To be fair, Jerry is hamstrung a bit. What with the moratorium on trading bonus pool money for buyout relief.

The Angels aren’t giving up any decent pitchers.

Isn’t that when he had an issue with his balls?

There is a better chance the pitcher you trade him for gets hurt or busts . Paul Konerko is supposedly the poor man’s Andrew Vaughn.

Hector probably has some inside info, but like the fast food guys, it is limited and when you are being hounded 24 hours a day on twitter, some crave the attention and expand with their limited info. I think he does the same. While he probably does have access to certain information, he wants to give the illusion he actually has more than he really does.

Why would he even be retweeting Heyman if Cruz is signing with the Sox soon? He totally contradicted himself. It's all BS. It didn't make sense.

RIP. I just saw him the other day getting his Covid shot. He seemed healthy.

If anyone knows how to handle steroid aided sluggers, it's Tony LaRussa.

I actually don't mind Eaton. If he gives you what he did in 2019 we will all be OK with it. His offense was about the same as it was with the White Sox. I know it was closer to league average, but RF has some studs. I would imagine the mean is lower than average and since the Sox weren't shopping at the top of the market, he is a decent gamble. But the fact is he is still a reclamation project and most teams in the White Sox situation would have been all over Springer, and/or Bauer and Hendriks. 1-3 for the Sox. Cruz is also looking for a 2 year contract.

If the White Sox don't play a lot of playoff baseball in 2021, and Lynn leaves, it was a bad trade. Hector is the only guy who has this Cruz stuff so I am not buying it. They need to spend their money on pitchers. They are short a starter or two. Everyone is going to be on an innings watch in 2021, If they sign Cruz in lieu of a good pitcher, they are setting themselves up for disappointment. They tried that in 1997. It led to the White Flag trade. You can't overcome a lack of pitching.

Or you can look at it for a team preaching sustained success and multiple championships, they swapped an up and comer young pitcher for an older 1 year guy, they signed an 80 year old with a history of DUIs to be the manager, they went for a reclamation project in RF, bought a 40 year old DH ( I still don't think this is true), and did get the best closer on the market.

I'm not buying it. If the Sox have that money to spend, they should spend it on pitching.

As far as I'm concerned, if the Sox sign Cruz he is a 40 year old just hitting his prime. Anyone else signs him, he is an obvious raging roider.