Dick Allen

It would be really nice to have a guy like this bust out. He looks like a DH to me, but I'm thinking he's going to hit.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:27 AM) Just to clarify: I certainly do not think that Moustakas is a better player than Machado. However, I'm not sure that Machado is a better value, at $35 Million, per year, than Moustakas, at $12 Million per year. Those numbers are merely speculation, but they illustrate my point. A lot of other stuff would go into a Machado signing. The PR alone is probably worth something. But they have to be realistic. It isn't like they will be up against the Padres and Braves to sign him. It's going to be the big guys. And it may even be a team that loses out on Harper thinking well we did allocate these funds, why don't we just add him, and make him fit on their team. I know the White Sox are not operating like they used to. But I still fail to see how anyone can be optimistic about their chances of signing him. And then you move on to Donaldson, who is a heck of a player, but will be older, more expensive, and does have some personality issues. If Moustakas' price drops to where it makes sense to have him on the roster for a worthless season, you can re-allocate all that money on other, sure to be there, holes.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:23 AM) It doesn't. Even if you add a $30 million AAV to our 2019 roster, you're still looking at under triple digits in terms of team payroll. We all know that Jerry is willing to go (and has gone) far above that number when we're trying to compete. The problem is, guys if they are as great as we hope, start to become more expensive in a couple of seasons, and they have to keep an eye out for that.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:14 AM) So what's your point? My point is, first you used incorrect numbers. Second, he's probably entering an area where he is a good buy. Most projections have him between 2.5 and 3.0 WAR for 2018. He was 10th for 3B in wRC+, a stat you find important. The top 9 aren't available for a second round draft pick. If the White Sox are being realistic about signing Manny Machado, and I would love if they did, it means they have a ton of money to spend. Moustakas at a discount, shouldn't hurt adding more players. They are going to need several when it is all said and done. Moustakas can play 1B and DH as well, and could be a replacement down the road for a guy like Abreu. Someone whose WAR and wRC+ trended down until his age 30 season. If signing Manny Machado means the White Sox will not be able to add other big pieces, they are screwed anyway.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:11 AM) Are you suggesting that Moustakas is better than Machado? No, but offensively, last season he was.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:03 AM) I was just looking at Machado's split stats, as you posted this. Not only was his year not as productive as Moustakas', but he only hit 11 HR's, on the road, compared to Moose's 24. Baltimore is a much better park, in which to hit homers, than Kauffman Stadium. I suspect that Moustakas would put up some pretty good numbers, in Chicago. I'm not going to kid myself in thinking Moustakas is better than Machado, although offensively he was last year. I do think Machado is going to put up huge numbers, is elite defensively, can probably play SS and is far younger. But if Moustakas' price drops, there has to be a number where you just say yes, instead of just listing reasons not to. The odds of the Sox signing Machado, IMO, are slim. Maybe they do it. But adding talent to this roster is the mode the Sox need to be in. As long as it won't effect adding others to the roster, that's great. At least for 2 years, it's a far cheaper option than adding Matt Kemp as long as the Dodgers sent along a prospect. Something, several posters were in favor of.

QUOTE (turnin' two @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 09:59 AM) That's all well and good, but mostly they offered the most money. It's always nice when they go through all the other reasons, but money is usually the determining factor. I don't blame them at all, but I'm with you, that story ends with the Padres offered him the most money.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 09:39 AM) 2.2 fWAR is an average player. He's coming off a year where his wRC+, the best statistic for measuring total offensive production (which is league, park, and era-adjusted) was 107th best in the MLB. Last year, in his age 29 season, he wasn't even a top 100 hitter. Now we're talking about needing him to be in the middle of our order in his age 31-33 seasons. That would be a 55 team WAR if multiplied by 25. If that is what 25 average players gets you, let's get 25 average players. According to fangraphs, his wRC+ was 62nd. That's top 2 or 3 on a team. Yolmer Sanchez was 107. So by your post, Yolmer isn't the answer.. Manny Machado wasn't as good offensively as Moustakas last year. I am sure most of us will be doing cartwheels if the Sox give him $300 million plus in the next 10 months.

Reading Hahn's comments, I think they would sign him, but only at their price, and chances of Boras going there are about next to zero. Boras usually pulls something out at the end. Maybe there will be a spring training injury, but Moustakas is definitely a guy who should have a job. The downside of hiring Boras is he can get you more than others, but his elevated demands backfire occassionally.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 08:29 PM) No, there will be a grace year to show "progress." After the last couple of years of poor records, they just need to show "improvement" which really shouldn't be tough. Normally, I would agree, but they are on coach #3 after Lovie, who got fired after 10-6, and they haven't been over .500 since. And only .500 once. 4 straight seasons of double digit losses. If Trubisky doesn't step up and look like a franchise QB next year, and the Bears go 6-10 or 5-11, or 7-9, or even 8-8, I believe there is going to be a lot of push back. The NFL doesn't usually have 4 or 5 year rebuilds. Too much turnover with age, money and injury.

Also like the kid in FL snapping back at Donny Jr. who claims the kid's ex FBI father is feeding him lines. I guess Donny forgot about his meeting with Russians in Trump Tower, and what daddy told him to say. Adoption.

Whatever happened to Trumps cheap, better health care for everyone he promised? I am still waiting for the details. Believe me.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 02:28 AM) Of course...there’s the three obvious points Trump doesn’t want to acknowledge. 1) Nobody thought he had a chance of winning until the final ten days (Comey announcement) 2) Any extensive involvement would have been spun as helping Clinton and hurting Trump 3) Presidents always defer to successors to set new foreign policies when coming so close to a change of power...they can’t even name a SC member their final year https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-inexplicab...-153936234.html Trump inexplicably says he’s been much tougher on Russia than Obama Before the election, the Obama administration issued several warnings to Moscow about its activities, including one delivered by the President to Putin in September, the Post reported. Ultimately, Obama approved only modest punitive measures: the expulsion of a few dozen diplomats, the closure of two Russian compounds, and narrowly targeted economic sanctions that some who designed them described as largely symbolic, the Post said. Another measure, the planting of cyberweapons in Russia's infrastructure, was still in the planning stages when Obama left office. While some closest to Obama defend the response, saying that by late summer it was already too late to prevent troves of hacked emails from transferring to WikiLeaks and other groups, others expressed regret, the newspaper said. Tony Blinken, Obama's former deputy national security adviser, said Friday that the administration took significant action to prevent Russia from interfering with the electoral system itself. "We made massive efforts so they couldn't do that," Blinken, who is now a CNN global affairs analyst, told the network's Kate Bolduan on "At This Hour." "This led to two things: President Obama issued a very stark warning to President Putin in September at the G-20 conference in China. What we saw, or thought we saw, after that, it looked like the Russians stopped their efforts. But the damage was already done." https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/politics/vla...tion/index.html That's a good point. Obama should have done this, Obama should have done that, but the reality is the republicans didn't want Obama doing anything. They stymied him every time he tried.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 06:56 AM) Arming teachers would cost each school at least a million bucks minimum. I'm sure that money will just fall from trees. I don't think I would want my kid at a school with all those guns around anyway. There is a pretty good chance there will be a slip up and they will wind up in the wrong hands.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 07:13 PM) It seems like it's about 85% speculation. It does seem that way, but it’s about the third or fourth time it has been mentioned this offseason, so maybe there is some smoke here.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 06:12 PM) Love that they are embracing the tank. I understand why they are doing it, but I do hope all sports do something eventually to prevent this type of thing. Being horrible on purpose should not be rewarded.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 05:53 PM) Last year's line adds up to a 114 wRC+, which was good for 107th best in the MLB (min. 50 PA). IMO, we need to aim higher than "outside the top 100" for our competitive-window cleanup hitter. And that's assuming he wouldn't decline any, which is possible, but can't be considered likely. Again, I think it's easy to like the homer total, but we ignore the lack of everything else that he brings to the offensive table. He's just not as good as his reputation suggests. Your point is good, Moustakas just isn't that guy. Where did Machado rank?

Felicio, Nwaba, Payne, new Bulls starters. Lopez, Holiday, and Grant to the pine.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 04:55 PM) I think it's a combo of him getting old and being injured a lot, along with a new coaching staff and a team that won't win the Super Bowl next year anyway. I think they would rather get a guy they might need 2 to 3 years from now they can integrate into their system. Maybe, but don’t you agree even with a new staff, the Bears are under a lot of pressure to win as much as possible in 2018? I get looking down the road, but IMO there is an urgency here.

QUOTE (Jimmy3Putt @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 04:49 PM) Let's be honest, there's 0% chance we get one of the big three. I'd offer him the Melky contract, maybe even go an extra year. We have the money and the long term need. It is zero if you don’t try. And signing him probably takes you out of Machado, but if you were really in on Machado, everyone else except Harper is still on the table. And if everyone is worried about his OBP, Machados wasn’t higher in 2017,things can happen.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 04:28 PM) Bears had most $ committed to Guard in the league and were only getting average play. means that money has to count elsewhere, and not just buying crappy depth. That’s tue, but they aren’t anywhere near the cap, and probably won’t be in 2018 either. They must think Sitton has slipped and won’t bounce back. because they are in no position to let good players go. He does seem to be banged up a lot of the time.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 04:29 PM) his statement was very carefully worded to actually produce nothing. He said turn into "machine guns," which is a huge point of debate on why these were legal in the first place. Weren’t they going to be outlawed after Las Vegas? I guess the deal was at least one more massacre then the bump stock will be the sacrificial lamb.

can someone explain KC? Supposedly they offered Hosmer at least $100 million. Now they say they don’t have the funds for Moustakas or LoMo.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 02:40 PM) It's amazing whatever topic you're talking about the other party doesn't know what they're talking about. I think the Russian interference is a bunch of bulls*** and there's plenty of evidence for that. I don't believe in American exceptionalism. Isn't that your whole shtick in this thread?

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 01:56 PM) I think it is a 2nd and a 5th actually. No, that is for teams that exceed the luxury cap. They also lose $1 million in their international bonus pool.