Dick Allen

John Hart must have a White Sox hard on like KW had for old Indians. AJP, Beckham, Swisher, and now T Flow 2 years $5 million with some incentives.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 12:21 PM) 1. They were, in fact, ranked #5 in 2012. My statement continues to be 100% accurate. 2. Taking on money helped yes, but why were they able to trade for David Price? Why were they able to trade for Josh Donaldson (aside from Billy Beane being a fool unless he's negotiating with the White Sox)? Ditto Tulowitzki? They were able to do so because they had chips to cash in. 3. Why were they able to let Melky Cabrera walk and still get better? Because they had a young defender ready to step in. 4. Why were they able to "take on some cash"? Because they developed enough of their own guys or traded for undervalued guys...leaving them room to "take on some cash". It's not the only part. They are obviously better than our franchise at getting the best out of their hitters as well; Bautista, Encarnacion all testify to that. But no where did I say "it is the only part". There's always disagreement of course, maybe some other pub puts a team 7-8 when BA puts them top 5, but that's a good proxy for "having a strong-ish system". It's no guarantee. Being a top 5 franchise in the BA listings does not guarantee you will turn that into success. However, in 2015, it was a necessary but not sufficient condition. 0 teams made it that did not make the top 5 in recent years. In 2015, if you did not recently have a top 5 system in the BA numbers you did not make the playoffs. 0/10 slots filled by what the white sox tried to do is as strong of a message as baseball can send you. Here are their top prospects in 2012. Several they traded away long ago. Tell me again why being ranked by Phil Rogers and Company in the top 5 within 5 years is necessary to make the playoffs? It would be more interesting if you showed us the players that got them this ranking and how those players actually contributed to their winning. In the Blue Jays 2012 list, they actually helped the Mets a lot more. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/11/30/...spects-for-2012

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) Why not? Here are the 10 teams that made the playoffs last year. Texas Rangers Houston Astros Kansas City Royals New York Yankees Toronto Blue Jays Chicago Cubs Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Dodgers New York Mets Out of those 10 teams....every single one has been in the top 5 of Baseball America's prospect rankings in the last 5 years. Every single one. Even the f***ing Yankees and Dodgers, who still spent $500 million between them last year. 10/10. What does that mean? They either have a supply of their own guys they can rely on directly (Mets, Royals, Cubs, basically all of them, etc.) or they have guys available to trade for assets (Blue Jays, Cardinals, Royals, etc.) The number of teams that made the playoffs in 2014 while "rapidly retooling", without developing a strong system to support that retooling, was 0. Zero teams were able to spend their way or sneak their way into the playoffs in 2015 while doing what the White Sox want to do. And out of those teams...we're not going to be the biggest spenders. In other words, we need to somehow be "luckier than every other team that tries this". The games are giving you a clear message about what works and what doesn't. Free Agency and spending money, without a strong system of support, worked for 0 teams last year. Ignoring that message is how we got here. I would say taking on some cash propelled the Blue Jays. Not a stellar farm system.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 11:08 AM) While he is the White Sox top prospect, how does he stack up overall? I don't hear his name mentioned amongst the overall talent in the minors, but I'm hardly an expert on minor league talent. Coming into this season: Baseball America 92 mlb.com 76 Baseball Perspectus 39 And he did develop a bit this season.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) Anderson is good, but he's like a mid-top 100 guy. That's a valuable but very movable asset. A much better (Margot) guy just got moved for Craig Kimbrel, for example. Anderson should not be untouchable; every system;'s "number one" prospect is not the same thing. How is Margot a much better guy? Anderson made huge strides this year defensively, and was better offensively and coming in, he was ranked a better prospect by about 20 with MLB.com and BP, and the Phil Rogers doing the ranking BA had Margot about 20 better. The fact that Anderson also plays SS has to factor in as well. They cannot trade him unless it's a really good deal and what is coming back is going to be around awhile.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) That is less than the going rate that David Price and Zach Greinke got. They will be closer to $150k/IP. Yes, but it is Price or Greinke. Not Jason Motte.

In other breaking news, teams are also interested in Sale, Quintana, Rodon...

They are basically paying him a little over $100k per inning pitched. Jason Motte.

IMO, that is pretty crazy.

If the Sox were to sign this guy, I sure hope they wouldn't be paying for his career year.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:37 AM) Keppinger? Terrible deal. LaRoche? Awful deal. Dunn? Four years of acid reflux. Danks? Slight pass for injury. Duke? Not looking promising. Downs? Ooops. What am I forgetting? Bonifacio, Belisario. There has been a problem with guys not working out so well the past couple of years.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:24 AM) I doubt they eat any of it. Not their MO honestly. They have eaten money recently.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) It's hard to compare the LaRoche situation to Dunn's since he's what 38 now? He could just be finished. He turned 36 last month. He is a year younger than John Lackey.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 09:09 AM) Rick Hahn on MLB Network Talked about "untouchables", Chris Sale, Jose Abreu, and Jose Quintana Interesting note, while Hahn was talking about the untouchables he said "Carlos, err... Jose Quintana". Rodon is not an untouchable? Or maybe he has Cargo on the mind? I have called him Carlos myself several times. There used to be a Carlos Quintana on the Red Sox I think. Or maybe he was thinking Rodon but wants people to think Q is untouchable. All this AJ Pollock stuff, I would trade Q straight up for him in a heartbeat.

If the Sox big moves are predicated on LaRoche's salary being off the books, there will be no big moves. The White Sox know this. They have to. If you need a new laptop but have to sell your 2002 Dell desktop to afford it, you aren't getting a new laptop.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 08:39 AM) It would be terribly sad and short-sighted if the Sox actually DON'T make a move because they can't find a way to move the final $13m owed to LaRoche. Make the right moves, THEN worry about reclaiming some LaRoche money. If you can't, then that's the price of taking a gamble, Mr. Reinsdorf. I agree with this. It will be very hard for them ever to achieve their goal of sustained success if $13 million causes them back off almost fully from improving the team. And it's not like they have any leverage with LaRoche anyways. Fix your roster now if you can, and deal with him later if you cannot now.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 8, 2015 -> 06:32 AM) I'd say if there were $5-7M on the table left over, I would do it after talking myself into thinking that he wasn't as terrible when he played the field and that he's still a good defensive first baseman. Also I think the anger with Konerko was the fact that we already had Dunn and Abreu. Yes but Konerko was the 25th man on a team not trying to contend. Spending your last dollars on Adam LaRoche coming off the season he had would really cause some anger. There are other options for teams with cheaper players with question marks. I think LaRoche can bounce back. I know he is supposed to be good in the clubhouse. I just don't see how another team is going to take more than a million or so, if that, to take him off your hands.

I think people need to look at this another way. Say the White Sox needed a first baseman where economically challenged and trying to win. If LaRoche was coming from another team, how much would the team have to eat to make you not freak out at RH and KW. Remember in 2014, when the White Sox were in a rebuild mode how many freaked out at the team paying Konerko a couple of million to take a victory lap. What if they were actually trying to win? I thing the verdict here is LaRoche is going nowhere unless the Sox eat almost all of his contract.

QUOTE (shakes @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 02:16 PM) I was just having this discussion with some friends. Some of them want the Sox to go to an all defense team to support the pitching staff. They essentially did this late in the year and have this if the play Sanchez/Saladino/Thompson. I think that team would be horrendous. The Sox play in a small ballpark and have no power and no OBP, as constructed. The defense has to be upgraded, but it can't come at the expense of offense. That's the problem with trying to field a competitor this offseason...there's just way too many areas to upgrade. I think defensively, what they do is going to be dictated by what kind of bat they can bring in. If they bring in Upton, that could mean Avi gone, LaRoche gone, Melky LF/DH, Trayce RF. we just don't know. As you pointed out, They did address the defense about as much as they could during the season, so I really don't think they now find it unimportant. They don't need spectacular defenders everywhere. Just make the plays you are supposed to make, and with the Sox pitchers, that should be fine. You can't win when you don't score, hence even when Saladino or Beckham was at 3B, Alexei awoke from hibernation at SS, Sanchez took over for Micah at 2B, and Trayce was in the outfield, they were a pretty good defensive team but still didn't win more games. I will say one of the most fun White Sox teams ever was the 1977 Southside Hitmen, and they were about as awful of fielding team as could be. But they mashed, coming off a year where they couldn't hit at all.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 11:18 AM) Question for older Sox fans. Seemingly random, I know, but this stems from a discussion on a highway/geography discussion board. Between the 1971-72 seasons, the Washington Senators moved to Texas to become the Rangers and got switched from the AL East to AL West. The accompanying move was the Milwaukee Brewers moving from West to East. Chicago is (very slightly) farther east than Milwaukee. Were the Sox not given the opportunity to switch, or did they turn it down? I have no idea but from a logical standpoint it would reason that the White Sox would have preferred the East, so I am assuming they didn't have much say.

He is going to have to be playing really well in AAA to get called up before September. I just hope he keeps improving, or if he struggles, it is early and he figures it out. If he is the White Sox starting SS on Opening Day 2017, a lot has gone right from here to then.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 11:01 AM) J.P Morosi on MLB Network suggested if the Sox don't compete this year. Trade Sale and/or Quintana next off season when the FA market for starting pitchers is weak. iit all depends on whether they truly intend to compete and can put together a roster where you can really don't have to say everything has to go right for the team to win. I do think LDF is accurate when he states the team never seems to be fully committed all in any year. They are at a certain price, but it doesn't appear they would be willing to take on a huge loss if things went wrong. That's fine, it is a business., and these days you don't have to win 98 games to make the playoffs most seasons. Trading those guys is dangerous, and I think the extra year and an alternative to spending $200 million, should make their price tags around peak right now. If the Sox are bad again in 2016, and then they trade these guys, JR needs to clean house.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) From Nashville: I still don't believe the White Sox will add any free agent that will cost them a draft pick. https://twitter.com/scottmerkin/status/673900680839565313 I've been wrong before, and I probably will be again at some time. But as of now, I feel confident on that one https://twitter.com/scottmerkin/status/673900812796563456 White Sox are targeting infield: 3B, SS even 2B. But their real target is simply making dynamic improvements to a poor '14 offense overall https://twitter.com/scottmerkin/status/673901294269132800 The '15 offense was really bad too.

I don't know but many want the Sox to be like the Cardinals and Pete Kozma was their starting SS for a while.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 7, 2015 -> 09:34 AM) Rosenthal:BREAKING: #Dodgers agree to acquire Chapman from #Reds for two prospects. Deal is pending review of medical records, sources say. 2 prospects for a rent. Friedman has gone from Tampa to the hero worship cult in LA. In all seriousness, that probably gives them the most dominating back end in baseball, but listening to O'Dowd yesterday, it makes you wonder if this messes with Jansen. He mentioned the human element when Sean Casey said Jansen probably wouldn't mind if he was a set up guy if it meant wins. O'Dowd mentioned that Jansen really hasn't been paid yet, and a lot of his future earnings are tied into saves. Not closing games costs him money.