Dick Allen

Cespedes' home/ road splits were ridiculous last year. He was awesome on the road. 25 homers.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 06:49 PM) Harry Caray broadcasting White Sox baseball and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame absolutely made a difference in Sox attendance. He actually had a bonus agreement in his early years tied right into the jump in attendance. And he made such a difference in improving attendance that the Sox had to scrap the bonus because it was getting too expensive. All of this with him initially broadcasting on a radio network anchored by some 5,000 watt station in LaGrange, and then later on TV with the lowly Channel 44. It's an absolute credit to Caray to make the impact he did with such poor exposure. But in his one and only year broadcasting the Sox on WGN, TV ratings were their highest ever, and attendance began to rise as a result. And so yes it does boggle the mind if you understand what Caray was capable of and then wonder how things would have turned out had he stayed with the Sox. So Dick Allen and the Southside Hitmen didn't matter, the White Sox drew 1.5 million one time when Harry was announcing. That is when they won 90 games, not the opportunity to sing take me out to the ballgame. In fact, the attendance per game the next 4 years after Harry left, was higher than it ever was when he was there, and higher than it was at Wrigley with Harry there during those seasons

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 05:34 PM) Deferred dollars are worth less due to inflation. Rich people worry about stuff like that. I think they would be more concerned with interest rates. It is all money they aren't going to spend anyway.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 06:13 PM) Well, you bring up an interesting point mentioning Skip Caray, Harry's son, who did Braves games for many years on the "other" superstation, TBS. And it's interesting because it does go to show that just merely being on a superstation doesn't guarantee success at the box office or in ratings. It does matter who is behind the mic, and Skip Caray was the antithesis of his father when it came to broadcasting. He wasn't particularly exciting to listen to, and certainly didn't inspire people to come from all over the country to see Braves baseball in person in Atlanta. Harry Caray, on the other hand, understood the power of the superstation, and aligned his superb salesmanship with the enormous exposure he was getting on WGN. It did take him a couple of years to endear himself to the Cubbie faithful. He wasn't very popular in the first year, in '82, because he was transitioning from being known as the long-time bombastic voice of the "enemy" White Sox to the voice of the Cubs. It took Cubs fans a little while to get used to his style after decades of listening to Jack Brickhouse. And in '82 he was paired with Milo Hamilton, which was a disaster on many levels. He was paired with Steve Stone in '83, and then by '84 he was well on his way to making the Cubs the national sensation that they remain today. And so my point remains, that could have been the White Sox. The "What if" possibilities boggle the mind. We'll never know, of course, but what we do know is things would have turned out a lot better had Caray stayed with the Sox and had he broadcasted Sox baseball on WGN from 1982 until 1997. There really is no arguing that, in my opinion. It really doesn't boggle the mind. Harry sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame for bad teams on the southside and there was no attendance jump.

Each season during Sportvisions life, befor it moved to cable, the White Sox outdrew the Cubs. They even outdrew the Cubs the next season when the Cubs made the playoffs. Being on WGN would have helped a lot because it would have brought in more viewers from around the country, and cable, which is pay per view, but one thing no one mentions was the Cubs playing all day games at home also helped them immensely. The Braves were on a superstation with Harry's son, and that didn't lead to sellout crowds, I think if they had played the number of night games the other teams played, people from other areas would have been tuned into other things.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jan 17, 2016 -> 02:21 PM) Ten teams doesn't jive with Cespedes demands. I don't buy this. Of course not. 2 freaking days ago he was deciding between a 5 year and 1 year offer. The team that supposedly offered him 5 signs someone else. Now there are 10 teams in on him. BS.

So 2 days ago he was deciding between a 5 year $90 million offer from the Orioles and a 1 year offer from the Mets. Now there are 10 teams interested and he doesn't have to bother with a short term offer. You have to love the Twitter.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 04:16 PM) 3.5 fWAR the year before that and his strikeout rate and walk rate both improved in 2015 (he threw fewer innings which FG weights pretty heavily and his HR rate skyrocketed). I wouldn't have done it, if I were spending that money I'd have spent it earlier this offseason when there were better options, but there's some logic here. And an 0.6 WAR the year before that. And they gave him $70 million, surrendered the 24th pick in the draft,and are most likely stuck with him for 5 years.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 02:05 PM) Mike Puma ‏@NYPost_Mets 44m44 minutes ago It would be overstating to say they are optimistic, but the Mets certainly see the Cespedes situation as getting interesting. I don't know why they wouldn't be optimistic. That boxing guy said he was close to coming back and they hadn't even made him an offer.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 01:02 PM) Really doesn't matter what people on a message board think. There was no way the Orioles were going to lower the offer. He is a popular long term player who they wanted back and want to keep happy. The fact that the Orioles offered a contract and after months of negotiations, Boras got 1 million dollars per year but also had to give up more deferred money. That is a lot of negotiations for mostly nothing. Boras didn't do well in these negotiations. They shuffled some money around, deferring some payments so it looks like a bigger deal than what he initially turned down.Like you said, these guys are in business together, they don't want him to look bad. It is similar to teams always trying to avoid arbitration. They don't want the player to hear all the negative they have to give the arbitrators.

MLBN really has ragged Cespedes for all the movement he has been involved with the last couple years. They keep mentioning it is a red flag. How come the didn't say the same thing about Shark?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:29 AM) The only reason was that the orioles threw him a bone to save face because they wanted davis back. All of the boras tatics of marketing him as a OF and waiting for months got him essentially nothing. I just read there is more money now deferred than the original offer. Now Boras and Davis don't have to look like they went running back with their tails between their legs.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 09:55 AM) Ventura Volquez Kennedy Medlen Young Duffy Jason Vargas (back at midseason from TJ) Zimmer The one thing they do have is some depth now... I know you love random pulled out of mid air made up percentages, sothat clubhouse convo guy said Vargas has about a .1 % chance of pitching for the Royals this season.

$70 million guarantee plus the #24 pick for Ian Kennedy? Wow. There were a lot of these so called experts who thought Kennedy should take the QO. The Royals must have owed Boras one. Kennedy put up a 0.8 WAR last year. Danks put up a 1.8. Dan Jennings put up a 0.5.

According to fangraphs, Davis' WAR the last 4 years is 15.5, Cespedes at 15.4.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 08:04 AM) Honestly, without the Orioles in play, I think 5/$90M may be enough. Not sure the Sox would be willing to go 5 years, but I really don't see another suitor out there that would be willing to either. Unless he's willing to take a 1 year deal (which would be crazy coming off the season he just has), I think this puts the Sox in a great spot. Got to be willing to go 4 years though. I think the validity of the Baltimore offer to Cespedes has to be questioned now, but I was watching MLBN yesterday and they were asking ip the if you were Cespedes question would you sign for one year or the 5/$90 million. A couple of the non players thought about it, but every ex player said they would take the money.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 16, 2016 -> 05:29 AM) For what it's worth Alexei hit .277 with a .325 OBP and 8 homers in the second half. He had shown signs of life after a catastrophic start. Even Hawk was calling it a salary drive. He was a bargain for a long time, but if they spend some money on a big bat, it would be hard to argue the decision to let him go.

Boras is making the commissions this weekend.

$161 million 7 years

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 03:13 PM) Which I dont quite understand but whatever. Its nothing I am going to be mad about being he hasnt been the player we have needed the past couple years. He will probably have even more of a fall off next year as well. With a $4 million price tag, to me it means the White Sox are planning on spending that money differently. If they weren't planning on a major financial addition(s) bringing him back for $4 million would be a no brainer.

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) Can this be true. It's on the Twitter. By law, it has to be true.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 12:28 PM) Well after Jesse Sanchez's tweet I think we can consider this whole thing dead. So in a nutshell, Cespedes is deciding whether to take the Orioles offer, which apparently the Orioles will offer if Davis turns them down or whether to take the Mets short term offer, which they haven't offered yet. Jesse Sanchez has been on this from the start.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 10:56 PM) Because that WAS the market December 23rd. A LOT has changed since then. If the rates were $125-150 million for Upton and Cespedes, clearly those would be longer than 3 years and questionable signs. It's when the money gets in the $75-100 million range over 4 years that the equation changes dramatically...not to mention all the opt-outs/options/clauses that teams are getting creative with, like the Scott Kazmir contract with the Dodgers. You can sign Cespedes to a four year deal with an extremely high probability he opts out after year 2 or 3, so, while technically a four year deal...it's also not one in actuality. At any rate, for Upton and Cespedes, if the rates are reasonable, I would be willing to guarantee a fourth year if that was the deciding factor, knowing the contract as structured made it likely the Sox would only have to pay them for 2-3 seasons. What has changed? Opt outs aren't anything new. Once again you back step. Now, what do you do if the Sox Sign Cespedes tomorrow? Complain about how much they spent and how they will be out of the free agent market 3 years from now. Everyone knows your act. Link us to something that says they would sign a reasonable 4 year contract with an opt out after 2. How do you know the Sox haven't floated that, how do you know they would sign it?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 09:16 PM) Also it sure looks like the Cubs overpaid for Zobrist and Heyward now Just read what caulfield wrote in the thread I bumped about Moore copying kW only doing it smartly. Just read #3, and read his comments here. They are the exact opposite.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 09:00 PM) Yes, because you have that "hometown" discount (see Buehrle, Konerko, Sale, Q) and flexibility with the structuring of the contract...you can then afford to go out and sign another starting pitcher to solidify your team for the two most critical seasons when you need to compete. Desmond and Fowler would make more sense signing late if you had them for team control for at least 2 seasons, if not 3. The reason for that is well-documented...what happened to Morales and Drew. Plus, that gives Desmond time to adjust to playing outfield in 2017 if that's the biggest need of the Sox...IF IF IF Saladino can actually hold down the position for an entire season, which is a big IF. As I stated many times, the Royals are likely to lose Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas, Escobar, Volquez and Wade Davis after 2017...the odds of keeping more than 1-2 are infinitesimal. At that time, at least still they'll have Gordon, Ventura and Sal Perez as "hometown" heroes for bumping up their next media rights deal from $20 to $100-120 million per season. $40 million for Alex Gordon (+ $4 million buyout) over those two seasons won't be the end of the world. He's worth more to the Royals than any other team for marketing purposes. Yeah because a network is going to pay double on a 10 to 20 to 30 year contract based on a player who is aging and has 1 year left to play.