Dick Allen

Abreu isn't going to sign for 3 guaranteed years. it will be for 1 or 2, probably something performance based which triggers either a 2nd or 3rd year option.

LMAO. If Eloy can't play LF, then wouldn't his overall WAR be supressed? Couldn't you get a king's ransom for him right now? Wouldn't it be selling high?

How come none of the advanced stats only guys have never mentioned trading Eloy might be a good idea?

I have noticed it, but right now, next year you will hope Eloy takes off, you will have a rookie in CF, a who knows in RF, probably a rookie at 2B, and another DH/1B and that's with Abreu. The guy has been streaky as can be the last couple of years. When he's cold, just about everytime, the same people come out of the woodwork, not only Ron, to tell you he is done. Then he gets hot again. Who knows, maybe with a better line up, the cold streaks don't last. But again, he isn't going to cost much relatively speaking. So why not have a guy who is good for 25-30 homers in a bad year when you have all these other holes to fill anyway? And I have no even gone into the pitching. Do people really expect Kopech to be nails next year? I just hope he isn't the starting pitching version of Trevor Rosenthal. The team has a lot to add. I just don't think Abreu is addition by subtraction. That is just another position you will have to fill, and look who would be in charge of filling it, and check their track record. What are the odds of an upgrade? Keep in mind the 3 Sox players who have a better OBP than Abreu are Moncada, .382 BABIP, McCann .380 BABIP, and Anderson, .391 BABIP. They, if not this year, most likely next, are going to have some regression.

Then how come the Sox only have 3 players with a better OBP, no players with more home runs, and no players with more doubles?

It's not very good, but it's 3rd on the White Sox. They are also 13th out of 15 in Home Runs in the AL. Very few teams win these days without hitting homers by the truckload. Jose will sign a short term deal for not a lot of money. The Sox have several other problems to fix before the apparent Jose Abreu "problem".

Last year was the first year the Yankees didn't pay the tax since it came to be. The Dodgers paid the tax for 6 or 7 years. The Red Sox won the WS last year. They paid the tax. We don't need the White Sox to pay the tax. But if they are serious about contending for years, they better be prepared to come very close to the threshold.

I have a coffee table book of Comiskey Park during the 1977 season. It was a dump. But it was a nice dump. JR's group actually did do a lot of fixing up of the place.

Winning the WS kept Sox fans interested a couple of more seasons than a playoff appearance. Maybe winning a few times and some sustained success with change things. The Bulls drew peanuts before Michael Jordan, now either sellout or get very close every night despite being mostly pitiful the 20 years he's been gone. Maybe something like that happens to the Sox. I certainly would like to see if that worked. If winning isn't worth it, maybe the Sox need to be owned by someone who really doesn't fret over hundreds of millions they will never spend anyways. The White Sox are never going to have a payroll under this ownership where they are actually risking a $20-30 million loss. That's fine. But risking a little loss shouldn't be problematic. Look how they run the Bulls. They rarely go into tax territory despite making more money every year than one or two teams at most.

Those tickets didn't start really selling until they made the WS. Go ask a White Sox employee who was around then. The first part is not based on fact.

In 2012 there was a $20 million difference, not including future advertising etc. If the Sox lost to Boston in 2005, their attendance the next several years would have been far less. Buying WS tickets for committing to season tickets in 2006 was a huge boon. Most of those people were gone in a year or two. If the goal is to be safe and make as much money as possible, then being terrible with a low payroll pays off. JR and his buddies have more money than they ever could spend. Either make a legit effort to win with the checkbook, or take the profits and suck back some margaritas.

You probably make more. The $20 million was just postseason ticket revenue and concessions etc. Advertisers then hang with a winner. If the Sox were a perennial playoff contender, the ChiSox Bar and Grill would have a different name. The ads would cost more both at the park and on TV, and there would be a lot more people sitting in the stands willing to pay a bit more than they are now. It's not like the White Sox are Curly Howard and a victim of circumstances. They made the circumstances, and still seem irked by anyone who wants to question them.

Winning a WS pays off. fangraphs estimate for the 2012 playoffs., had the Giants organization pulling in an extra $20 million in postseason money alone.

Hahn has said Ricky will be here, that he is the long term answer. Listen to the podcast. And I know the question would be, what else would he say. One thing RH is better than just about everyone is answering a question with a non answer. That didn't happen here. BTW, Ricky was also in the clubhouse when that supposed bad period was occurring.

Why would he think it was absurd? It's how he has been all along. There is no new revelation here, and Hahn has gone out of his way to sing his praises, and tell us Rickey is the man with the plan who is going to see this thing all the way through. Do you really think Hahn had no idea Rickey felt this way until yesterday? If you do, it's a pretty strong indictment against your boy RH.

The White Sox seem to have an organizational problem with the twitter world. Apparently they feel their track record should give them the benefit of the doubt. One thing though, I actually saw the video of these comments. They didn't seem as standoffish as they do when you read them. I mean his don't give a shit comment, everyone feels. Does anyone really care if another poster has issues with their post? I do think Ricky needs to take things into consideration. Some of his logic is crazy. Eloy isn't ready to hit 5th. The next day, he's hitting 5th. He wasn't ready 24 hours ago? He went with Alonso so long and so high in the line up, why? Jon Jay 6 games clean up? Matt Skole hit clean up, but Eloy wasn't ready to hit 5th?

Not bad.

With the defection and the injuries, Robert had hardly played until last fall. I figured he would have hit a wall by now. Maybe all the recent k’s are that wall. I would give him a break though after the minor league season ends.

I do agree there should be a mix, but I have no idea what batting a guy with a .322 slugging pct clean up does for a team in a positive way.It is time to take one of Ricky’s toys away and cut bait with Jon Jay. They could have saved more money and actually spent the $ 1 million internationally had they just done the obvious and realized Jon Jay would probably not make it through the season on the roster based on merit. The Sox love RR. He is going nowhere, so hopefully he will learn from mistakes. There actually are several teams where the manager doesn’t make ou the line up.

I think the year the Red Sox came in last place they had the highest cumulative WAR. WAR isn't perfect. Navy Vazquez if you go by WAR per inning was more valuable than Mqrk Buebrle.

There will always be more to it than that, or the team with the highest cumulative WAR would always win. One year I think they came in last. Abreu's will sign short term deals. It would be interesting to see how he would fare in a good line up. Nelson Cruz had similar numbers at his age. I know people write off RBIa now, but even while playing for one of the worst teams in baseball, he is in the top 4 or 5 for RBIs since he came in, and one of only 4 or 5 to have at least 25 Homers and 30 doubles every seaon. The hate for him is puzzling to me. In game threads if he does well it's written off if he does poorly he's done. Thome actually got the same treatment . Not too many were upset Mark Kotsay was taking his roster spot .

I never got banned there. I've been banned here. The only controversy I had there was with Daver, the guy who apparently was a catcher in high school, and according to him, that made him know more about baseball than any other human being. He wanted to bet me about something, but then said I was a deadbeat and would never pay. Considering he has no idea who I am, that was a bit unnecessary, and I actually had a couple of posters and mods come to my defense. No bet was made, but if it was, good old Daver would have had to pay up. Are they really gone forever, or just hacked and need a clean up?

Pass. He's been pitching well lately but his peripherals still suck. No more rebuilding. Let's bring in pitchers who can win.

Melton hurt his back falling off a ladde.

If you think about it it is just another version of Hawks stretch, and he just missed it, 1/32nd of an inch.