Dick Allen

Castillo is under contract for just one more season. I think Collins could be used behind the plate every now and then. Someone mentioned like Gattis. That seems pretty plausible. Besides, Sox catchers usually get hurt, so who knows. By May 1st, Collins may be the starter.

The Blue Jays will wind up paying him about $105 million for about a 3.0 WAR. Not even 1,000 plate appearances.

One thing it shows is Grandal doesn't appear to have a future coaching catchers.

Toronto still owes him about $40 million. How done must he be if they don't even want to see if he can recoup some of that? They paid him $20 million not to play in 2018, $20 million in 2019, $14 million in 2020, and 2015 has a $4 million buyout. That is $58 million for no games.

My source told me Thome showed him around. Then they went to White Castle, and Harper said if Thome could down an entire crave case, he would sign with the Sox as long as each team employee took a bit of a paycut. Being the HOFer he is, Thome downed it in record time. They should be signing something today or tomorrow. It depends on when an acceptable marketing firm is found.

If the White Sox made people who are probably barely making a living wage take a cut to sign Harper and Machado, that would be one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard. I am pretty sure if that was true, my days of being a White Sox fan would be OVA.

You know one thing, Ricky already knows our Chuck is going to ask him that, and the response has already been crafted.

I say just offer him a billion with opt outs every year, and be done with it.

Or maybe $415 million

He said Harper to the White Sox yesterday until there was a snag. Now they have to wait for the new marketing firm to arrive. This guy is solid.

JR is beloved by his employees. These clowns are lucky they get to do what they do. They wouldn't do that to the guy who lets them do it. I think that although now they claim that 2018 was going to be the hardest part of the rebuild, losing 100 games was not what they had in mind. I think they thought most of their youngsters would have taken bigger steps, and they have to do something to hopefully get them back on track and give some fresh air to the fanbase. Now they have to leak what they hope gets their fans excited. As long as they sign one of these guys, it will work. If they don't, they are going to suffer a lot more backlash than if they had just operated stealthy as usual. They have basically set themselves up to fail.

But KW saying what is needed is available now, which he concedes is a year early, but you have to pounce when you can. That infers that next year, what is needed will not be readily available. So he has basically put himself on the spot.

But that is still on them. Why, if you are a team in Chicago, the city voted players' favorite just about every year, would you be in a position where your team is not desirable even if you are offering top dollar? It would show, A. these clowns let it deteriorate so much that players want to be elsewhere, and/or B. players aren't buying the White Sox are going to be great for years just because they traded all their good players for prospects.

Fangraphs has him higher than that.

There were a few moves beforehand. Most of the free agents will sign well after. It probably spurs some activity since they are all sitting in the same place, but not like it used to when they could only communicate through landlines and had to mail medical records.

Because later in his career, he can transition there. And he can "rest" occassionally as a DH the first few years. There aren't a ton of 34 year old OFs playing acceptable OF defense these days.

If Harper is looking for 10 years, the White Sox being able to use him as a DH could be a huge issue.

I have always thought that for players with a QO, if they signed before the Winter Meetings, waiving the penalty would be a way to kickstart everything. Getting the free agents out of the way is what really kick starts trading, and with cell phones, texts, skype, facetime, the Winter Meetings for trades are really more for show than anything else. They can communicate with each other, and share information just as easily from their own office or home. It seems every year i get excited about the Winter Meetings and most of the time it's a big dud.

Not that they would land the big fish anyway, but no way they signa max free agent with Boylen running things like he is running things. For the love of God Michael Reinsdorf, clean house today. Send GarPax packing. Tell Boylen he looks like he could run a few sprints, so have him sprint home. Don’t let them continue to poison the decent pieces you have. Hire someone with a clue.

Also Harold Baines round 2.

If he plays like he did last night, they aren't going far, that is for sure. But I don't think he will. I don't think he will ever be an MVP candidate, but if he can be slightly above game manager, the Bears are in really great shape. Last night, he basically was Rex Grossman, and the Bears still won. It's a shame they lost some of the games they should have won. If the Bears had home field for the playoffs, I think both the Rams and Saints would be the ones in trouble.

The Blackhawks and Bulls train wrecks have an impact on the White Sox as the revenue of their station goes down with less viewership.

It was, but if Mitch plays well, there isn't a team the Bears can't beat. And he is capable of playing well.

Boylen's spin is ridiculous. Now he was the one who called the meeting, and they need a get to know you period. Apparently, his stint with the team as an assistant didn't happen. Yet another GarPax blunder.

Hawk would occasionally mention that Harold would be in the HOF some day. I always got the impression the Stone Pony was thinking "yeah right" sitting next to him, as he would never say anything as a follow up. Personally if it were me voting, I don't think he had a HOF career. I think the point some are making that George Steinbrenner didn't get in, but Harold did, is a good one. But I am glad he got in. DH is a position. I do think it needs to be quantified in a better way.