Dick Allen

Clayton Richard is the last active MLB player from the last White Sox playoff team. It is possible Boone Logan gets some sort of spring training invite as the Brewers released him during the middle of last season, so the total may double.

Free agent frenzy doesn't seem to hurt the other sports. Would it really kill baseball if no one was thinking too much about them in January during the NFL playoffs? Everyone loves trade deadline action, create some motivation to have most of your roster in place before Christmas,. Make the Winter Meetings a spectacle again, and pretty much shut it down until after the Super Bowl. No matter what, most fans and networks think a lot will happen during the Winter Meetings, and more times than not lately, they have been disappointed. It can be fixed. If the owners insist on this path, the strike they will cause could really set them back. And you know there is going to be a strike because it lines up almost perfectly with when the Sox should be good again.

I think that is the counter argument. But is this really healthy conversation vs. the conversation fans would be having had most of the moves been made by now? Wouldn’t Bryce Harper jerseys make nice Christmas gifts? Look at fanatics top selling jerseys. He and Machado aren’t even on the list. Whatever they do they need some sort of deadline. If they think conversation about how many free agents haven’t signed yet is a good thing, I really don’t agree. I think the owners like this because it will help suppress pay outs. If it leads to a strike, I don’t think whatever they think they are saving is worth it.

It’s insane And if something doesn’t budge in the next year or so, I think it will eventually lead to a strike.

I think it was spring training. The other thing mentioned was apparently it used to be after the Winter Meetings, there was no inter league trading for a month or so. That could spur some signings and trades. I also read that as of today, only 6 players have signed contracts this off season longer than two years. And if you are in your 30s, you might want to reconsider ever becoming a free agent if you get a good offer beforehand. I hope the Sox wind up signing both big guys, but if not, will they still do something significant?

Would you put him in the top 10 GMs in the game, next 10, or bottom 10. If it isn't top 10, and the goal as Rick has stated numerous times is sustained winning and multiple championships, how do you justify his continued employment as the GM? Especially after 6 losing seasons as a GM, not all being rebuilding seasons.

Yes. At this point, I'll just take going to the game thinking they should win that day.

He didn't inherit it, he helped create it. He isn't going anywhere. I know that. But he shoudn't be where he is. He seems like a decent enough guy. I think he's very bright, but I don't think MLB GM is his thing. And it's not all on him. KW needs to go as well.

It may be one reason I am so against bringing Shields back under any circumstance. For some reason, my ticket plan synced up with James Shields starts way too often the past 2 1/2 seasons. I can't take another.

It's not just that, it's the fact that they said they NEEDED these pieces. And, they spent $9 million as bait. If it doesn't work, it is a fail. I just hope we never hear their plan was to hopefully get Machado at a discount by paying $9 million to Alonso.

The fact is, rebuilds erode the fan base. It's no guarantee they come back. I know there are people on this board who made excuses for fans not showing up in 2012 when the Sox were winning. It was because they were so smart, they knew the team would fade in September. Really, you don't go to watch a team that has been in first place nearly every day of the season in July, because you just know that they will fade in September? It was preposterous. The fan base has eroded. It's going to take something more than a 84 win season to win them back. And that doesn't appear like it will happen in 2019.

There are no unreasonable expectations. Read KW's quotes. What they need is available now. If they don't land them, they have failed yet again. Why would replacing them now be tearing down what they have done? The same players would be there. Let someone who could actually execute their plan take over.

Why, the same players would still be here. Hahn has already showed he can't make a 74 win team, even an 80 win team. At some point, the Sox may be a 74 win team. JR said when he fired Himes, he can get you from A to B but not to C. Hahn was a B, never got to C, now is at A. I would thing A to C is harder than B to C, and he couldn't get anywhere near C when he was at B.

Hahn has been the GM for 6 years and the assistant GM for about a decade before that. KW has been a decision maker since he took over a 95 win team with what was the #1 ranked farm system in baseball in 2001. There is probably no other team in baseball that would have even considered for a second having them lead a rebuild.

Well the workers in this case would have been responsible for that mold.

The thing is, it can be changed. It won't, but it can and should. If acquiring Machado AND/or Harper, I put and in caps because they leaked to Nightengale, they wouldn't mind both, doesn't happen, would mean their plan has gone awry. It's time for new blood. The team will still have the same players. The Blackhawks weren't ruined switching out Tallon for Bowman, which was pretty much in the middle of their rebuild.

He also was in his age 25-26 season, so it's not that unusual. Theoretically, his best seasons are still ahead.

Maybe, but it's like hiring someone to remodel your bathroom, and having them screw it up, but you like them so you have them re model your kitchen, and they screw it up. Your house is so screwed up, you decide to tear it down and rebuild it. JR called the guys who messed up his bathroom and kitchen, and told them they were the best people to build him a house.

Not at a total rebuild but they were given plenty of chances during their tenure, and except for one season, it was one mistake after another.

Not really. This stuff really doesn't take over my life like it used to. But I do have an opinion.

Rosenthal hasn't tweeted anything for a while. He must be on vacation. I think a lot of these guys have sources that aren't available. I am surprised no one is taking a shot saying Manny is signing with Philadelphia or the White Sox. I read a New Jersey paper the other day before the Clark thing and he made it Yankees favorite, Phillies, White Sox and he said distant 3rd. But he also said he had Corbin to the Nats distant third until they blew away the competition.

I think it's ridiculous these dopes were given the chance to do the rebuild. They already have shown their incompetence. We will wait for next year's free agents, and get shutout and say well he really wanted to be a Yankee or a Cub or a Red Sox or a Dodger, nothing could have been done. Oh well, maybe Yolmer will dump some water on his head again. Why doesn't anyone have their heart set to be a White Sox? We know why, it's because they suck.

Roland Hemond once spoke about when the White Sox signed Carlton Fisk. He wanted 3 years. Hemond told JR that he figured Fisk had 2 years left, but the Sox were trying to do what they supposedly are trying to do now, and establish themselves as a player in MLB, so they wound up giving him the 3 years figuring the last one would be the tax they paid. Of course he played 13 more years. And JR pretty much had instant success with a team that had been a doormat for years. I don't understand why they got away from that.

None of them have shown sustained success in the minor leagues yet. I have bought Rick Hahn's BS for way too long. Not anymore. He's been the GM for 6 seasons, and the team is 134 games under .500, and most likely is headed for another rough one. But hey, they are rebuilding. They weren't winning when they were going for it with guys like Sale, and Q and Eaton signed to team friendly deals. How will this be any different?

And if they can't offer what it will take now, when will they?