Dick Allen

It looked like Avi was starting to get back to the Avi we have known a couple of weeks ago, but he has picked it up again. At what point is this real? Or is it still the mirage it has been in the past? 40 games and he has numbers Frank Thomas in his prime would be thrilled with. Fangraphs has stopped their bashing, nowhave gone radio silent about him. Could Hawk have been right? he really has been incredible this year. I was at the game early Saturday and when Gene Honda was going through the line up, Avi received the loudest applause. Not bad for a guy who the team obviously held out of Soxfest because he was booed there a year earlier.

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 20, 2017 -> 04:45 PM) Would not be surprised if Moncada helped recruit Robert. He did. The Sox made a video with Renteria narrating and presented it to Robert when they worked him out. The video included Abreu and Moncada urging him to sign with the correct color Sox.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 20, 2017 -> 12:38 PM) His account was private before. I saw all the pictures last night and up until 2 minutes before my post.

If he was sporting a Cardinals hat, there is no one here who would think it was a negotiating ploy.

I hope we get answers today, but I am sure wherever he signs, he is going to have to take a physical first, and that can cause a delay especially here since it has been raining all day.

QUOTE (rowand's rowdies @ May 20, 2017 -> 12:24 PM) His account went private but it does not mean you can't see his profile photo. It seems like it is a last ditch ploy to drive up the Cardinals offer but I honestly take it as at worst a good sign. I don't think an agent would let him go that far as a ploy. But he is a 19 year old kid, he probably has no idea how many people keep refreshing their internet to see if his decision is official So he could be playing. He might not sign today or tomorrow or for a couple of weeks and have pictures of himself in several hats. But, I feel better about having him in a White Sox hat now than another team's.

QUOTE (New Era on South Side @ May 20, 2017 -> 12:13 PM) Can someone provide a link to his instagram account? Do the Cardinals have a history of bringing in Cuban ballplayers like the Sox do? His account suddenly went private.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ May 20, 2017 -> 12:01 PM) Anyone has suggestion for a Cards forum? Are their fans eager to sign Robert? How are they reacting of the new IG pic? Probably freaking out. Even though it isn't confirmation, their GM is clueless and misread the market, and their owner is a cheap bastard who must sell.

He isn't tight with Cliff Alexander is he?

QUOTE (bmags @ May 20, 2017 -> 11:37 AM) Except this already demands our 2017 class be garbage. We have a self imposed penalty box already. True but keep in mind, the entire White Sox bonus pool is exactly the same amount it cost Oakland to sign Michael Ynoa 9 years ago. I don't think it is as devastating as some believe.

QUOTE (ventura_abreu @ May 20, 2017 -> 11:28 AM) I'm sure that Roberts is part A; however, given the money that will be spent and the 2 years of being in the penalty box, that ends up being a heavy price. Plan B would work out fine too. The pull back thing to me is just Hahn being Hahn. It is part of the game. He gets it out there he is pulling back maybe a team starts thinking it is negotiating against itself. They came this far, no way they aren't seeing it to the end. The White Sox basically had to penalize themselves this year for the shot. Most of the big names have deals. I am sure they have some 300k and under guys lined up, and maybe they get lucky and someone emerges in the next month or so who is deserving of a bigger bonus if Robert signs elsewhere.

QUOTE (Footlongcomiskeydog @ May 20, 2017 -> 11:11 AM) Bingo. The Sox are gonna come away with a whole lot of nothing in the intl free agent class if they miss out on Robert. They will have to scramble to sign some marginal guys and will appear desperate. Teams that ignore the intl market or completely bungle it year after year have no realistic chance of building a legit contender. BS. You are talking one year and a $4.25 million pool. They still probably have 300k guys, and maybe another interesting player or 2 will emerge, and they would have everything to play with. If Robert is anywhere near what he is cracked up to be, it is definitely worth passing on giving a couple of 16 year olds seven figures, who, if all goes well, won't help you for 6 or 7 years anyway, to take a shot. Normally, they would have zero chance at a guy like this.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 20, 2017 -> 10:47 AM) How many other teams in the past have completely blown off the J2 signing period? I honestly don't know. They probably have some 300k guys lined up. They only sign one or 2 more than that anyway. They have $4.25 million to spend. Not exactly a ton.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 20, 2017 -> 10:41 AM) I never blamed JR for this. If anything, it would be a failure by Hahn putting all the eggs in one basket and possibly not comprehending how desperate Cards would be. I don't think I would pay 30 mil (60) for him. So he shouldn"t have taken a shot at him? For a guy who feels that way, your posts say something far different.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 20, 2017 -> 10:37 AM) Matter of semantics but isn't this the same thing? Not at all. He assumed by significant it meant higher. Maybe it was higher, maybe not. Then someone said the White Sox made a phenomenal offer. How come JR is cheap? How much would you pay for him? The guy might have decent sources but he got played by a fake DM.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 20, 2017 -> 10:30 AM) - McGuffey says Cards offer more - someone remarks gut tells him money wins out - McGuffey says gut is probably right How does that not show that McGuffey thinks the Cards get him He never said that. He said it was his understanding that they did.

QUOTE (turnin' two @ May 20, 2017 -> 10:15 AM) He did not say that. He said the Card's offer is significant. He says nothing about the Sox offer, but two lines down, Jon Greenberg say the Sox offer is "phenomenal". So you are left to read between "significant" and "phenomenal" from two different guys. People read what they want to read. It is no surprise GreenSox wants STL to sign him so he can spend the next few years b****ing about it. He lost the ability to b**** about trading for Kahnle.

Sale tied his record of 8 straight starts with at least 10 strikeouts he got a ND. He is averaging 109 pitches a start.

Then these teams need to go out and sign an ace. Over the next 3 3/4 seasons, Q is owed around $36 million at this point. During the same time they could get a real ace like David Price, who the Red Sox have already paid more than Q is owed, and over the next 3 3/4 seasons he is owed another $115 million. Plus you will have to pay him for the declining years even more.

Q was sweet. He is getting back to Q numbers. If he didn't have that bad inning vs. SD of all teams, his ERA would be 3.47. Within .03 of his career. Of all the starters available, he is the one guy you can be pretty sure of what you are getting.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 20, 2017 -> 03:41 AM) No rebuttal from me. Between the eastern conference (owners, gms, players, etc) being just incompetent to KD being a trick p**** beta has put the nba in a world of hurt from a competitive standpoint. But what a time to be alive.

So Jared and Flynn have a secret meeting wih a Russian banker who happened to finance Trump's building in Toronto. I guess Trump had no idea they met, and had no idea what they discussed. All the communication between Russia and Trump's campaign, and no one is talking about the time Trump looked into the camera and asked Russia to hack into Hillary's emails when he became unglued. And guess who hacked into Hillary's emails? New reports now say Trump says he should never have fired Flynn. I think he is a bit worried he may sing.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 19, 2017 -> 04:15 PM) Lost amid the chaos today is the administration announcing that they're intentionally destroying the exchanges and millions of Americans health insurance with it. That is exactly what everyone should have expected. They certainly weren't going to do anything to make it do anything but fail. Murderers really.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 19, 2017 -> 03:25 PM) Outside of their run in the 90's the Indians are one of the worst drawing teams in baseball history. There was about a ten year outlier period, but outside of that, this is closer to historical norms. Yes, but previous history was at perhaps the worst ballpark in MLB history.

Not the Kush. I wonder if Ivanka will take the kids to prison to visit daddy. Putin went to Jared is all over twitter now. LMAO