Dick Allen

If you can use him as a kicker for something you really like, you trade him, but if he has an option left, you don't give him away for junk. He does have talent. If he doesn't show up hitting this spring, and isn't changed by a trip to Charlotte, so what.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 11:15 AM) Does trayce signal youth movement or d movement? I think the latter. Swapping out Avi for Trayce adds 3 months to the White Sox age.

QUOTE (LDF @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 11:04 AM) ok now i see the point. he was stating for having a bad start and then started about having confidence in the FO. ok. Kris Bryant's July makes me really question Theo.

QUOTE (bruni @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 10:35 AM) Eaton - poor 2 month+ start (along with several others) helped doom this team in 2015. Abreu - they won a bidding war on a guy who looks more and more like Trumbo since 2nd half 2014 than any player that can carry a team to the WS going forward. Furthermore he looks increasingly fragile and is better served as our DH vs 1B. Rodon and Fullmer - you and I could pick top rated undergrad pitching prospects - - this is not evidence of superior or even above average talent evaluation, but merely the byproduct at being a really bad team several years in a row. Montas - potential yes, but let's not make this out as a huge win at this time - - look at his ERA from his cup of coffee in the bigs last season. Power pitching without control does little good. Anderson - we don't know what he can do at the MLB level (and likely wont until late 16 or 2017) but so many are drinking the kool aid here. How many wins is he going to earn this team in 2016? In the meantime our current brain trust (in the middle of their "3-year plan", remember) put bottom 5 production at C, 2B, SS, 3B and RF and bottom 10 production at DH and LF. How do players like Anderson and Fullmer even make an impact in this '3 year' window? How you can point this as proof of a front office we should have confidence in is beyond me. Other than identifying Q as a lottery ticket to target, I fail to see much that gives me confidence in the current and stale 'brain-trust'. Yeah Abreu looks like Trumbo. GMAB.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Nov 19, 2015 -> 10:32 AM) Right because the Sox have never made a good trade or picked up guys undervalued by other clubs that turned out well for them. The Sox have done a very poor job of developing position players, but they've done OK in trades and international signings, this narrative that they're 100% incompetent when it comes to identifying talent is so lazy and tired. It really is. If someone really feels that way, they won't be happy with whatever hitter the White Sox acquire, and will be in rip mode when the deal is made. These guys do have a World Championship ring. They haven't developed hitters for a while but have recognized good ones through the years.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 05:57 PM) Prospects are currency. I understand that you disagree...you only want to look retrospectively. There is an opportunity cost as well. He overpaid for Garcia (yes it worked out; top 10 prospect in baseball and a starting catcher can fetch more than a mid rotation starter), Vasquez, Ritchie, Swisher (and then turned around and gave him away for non-prospects), Jackson, et al. I do 't disagree. KW got a lot of value for s***ty prospects. No he didn't overpay for Garcia. It helped him win a title. You could have watched Jeremy Reed fail with the White Sox or watch Freddy Garcia win the clinching WS game. Guys like Phil Rogers rank guys on BA and a lot of it based on BS they get from Minor league guys. You love the former, I choose the later. And Reed was never a top 10 prospect in baseball. I guess I am more interesting in how the player actually performs, not by what they are ranked before they play a major league game.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 03:25 PM) The Dbacks still make the most sense to me if theyre making a hard push for pitching. David Peralta, Jake Lamb, and Peter O'Brien would be a nice main package (maybe a B level SP prospect as well) for us in my opinion and wouldn't really dent their talent with Tomas and Drury ready to step in and start in RF and 3B. If the White Sox are trading Sale or Q and not denting a team's talent really badly, they didn't make a good trade.

I think the Cubs hype wins Arrieta the award. I also think being teammates hurts the other 2. Greinke was beyond awesome, but Arrieta finished the season crazy.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) Yes, and then having daily conversations about it instead of letting Rick do the things he needs to do. This situation is unprecedented for a White Sox GM, and similar situations have led to resignations from some other high profile GM's. He is asking for Ricks plan and then discussing it daily, which would mean that he has a lot of feedback to the way that Rick wants to operate. Do you think JR asked KW what his plan was? KW is Hahn's boss. I don't find it unusual they talk about what is going on. KW was Hahn's boss when he got the job. Go back to the articles announcing the new arrangement. Hahn knew exactly what he was getting into. Exactly. I just don't understand the KW is dumb, Rick Hahn can do no wrong slant so many take. What is this based on besides nothing? Hahn was trained by JR and KW, the very two people some of Hahn's biggest fans think are total baseball morons. Hahn has been part of the White Sox decision process for years, has had numerous opportunities to jump ship, but didn't. There isn't a GM in baseball that hasn't been overruled a few times by a higher up. That's life. And you probably wouldn't have a problem with Hahn going on some radio show discussing what he has been discussing with other teams. But discuss that with his boss? Oh the humanity. In fact, I'd take it one further, I would bet when KW was the GM, he discussed his conversations with other teams with Rick Hahn, his underling.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 02:02 PM) I honestly don't think selling off and blowing it up would bring back as much young talent as people are hoping for. And young "talent" has a way of disappointing. It wasn't long ago many were concerned about the date Matt Davidson had to wait so he wouldn't be a super 2. If they traded Q, Sale, Abreu, and Robertson for prospects, they would IMO no doubt be considered a top 5 farm system in baseball. If you look at the supposed top farm systems in baseball 4 or 5 years ago, and look at their top 10 prospects, there aren't very many of them making much of a contribution these days.

The guy doing the MLBTR chat yesterdays said take what you would think is fair for Sale and double it. That is what he would cost. If they are going to rebuild, they can have one of the top ranked farm systems in a matter of minutes. The problem is, it's very rare prospects alone get you into contention quickly.

And people were worried they had no plan.................

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 10:54 AM) This quote from KW says it all and I agree. “I’ve been there so I certainly understand,” Williams said. “A lot of things are in play right now. I know it can be confusing, but it’s completely understandable from my perspective that this is what you do before you decide on the definitive plan.” There are so many uncontrollable variables involved and that's what these meetings are for. The Sox can't sit here say they want to trade for player A if player A is not available so its Hahn's job to have discussions with other GM's to see who's available and what the Sox players they might be interested in. Another variable is where JR sets the payroll ceiling at. Relax Sox fans, its mid November, not mid February. Too many fans reading way too far into nothing at all. Right. If every team had their plan in place, there would be a whole lot more player movement by now. There is no November 18th trade or signing deadline.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 10:44 AM) Williams comments directly stated Hahn has no off-season plan. Something he should have been pondering since August 20th. Did I misread or misunderstand something? There is no indication that things are fluid and they are analyzing the scene daily. He stated Hahn has no plan. Yes you did. It's great to have a plan to acquire player X for player Y but what if the other team says, "you're high"? Then guess what, you don't have a plan. He has to see what is available at a price he is willing to pay. Lock yourself into acquiring a certain player or position, and you usually overpay.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 10:10 AM) This. I understanding anything said publicly this time of year is just noise/misdirection, but why make Rick Hahn look bad in the process? How in the world does this make Rick Hahn look bad? BTW, December 3rd is the day season ticket deposits are due. At least the first installment.

Maybe at the very least, people will see Hahn does actually have a big say in things, not only the things you like, although many liked the things that occurred last offseason and praised Hahn, only to rip KW when they didn't work out.

And a lot of his comments are noise. No sense letting the opposition know exactly what you are going to do.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 08:17 AM) He did. It was the "perfect storm" and unlikely to be replicated. 1)Dombrowski as a GM overpays*; 2)Boston had the farm to support overpaying; and most of all 3)Dombrowski's achilles heel in Detroit was that bullpen. There was no way he was going to let it happen in Boston. KW was like that too. Overpaid. It was okay when the Sox had a top farm, like we did c. 2000-2005. But he started getting squeezed as the farm deteriorated. I used to be all for trading bullpen pitchers. But their value is skyrocketing. The modern pen requires 3 lockdown guys (Sox have one lockdown guy). Maybe that their value is skyrocketing is another reason to trade them - I don't know. Who are all the star prospects KW got rid of? People like to play both sides of the fence. KW was an idiot and drafted no one who could play, and KW was an idiot, he traded away all his good prospects. You can't have it both ways.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 08:42 AM) The Sox are further away than just plugging C and 3B holes. One of our holes happens to be bullpen - not championship level. Another is the farm to get off this cycle. We can trade prospects if for equal young players... not hole-pluggers. That main Astros list is really 2nd tier players, some of whom are blocked and about to be out of options. Some should be had on the cheap and we should look and discern the price. The Astros have dumped 2 good outfielders in the last 2 years, so we should inquire. I would say in November, the bullpen looks stronger than it looked in the November prior to the White Sox winning a championship. And adding an often injured Dustin Hermanson didn't exactly make it look like a lockdown bullpen. They are tricky. The Sox could be sitting on gold right now, or maybe not.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 18, 2015 -> 12:11 AM) Why? They just traded a boatload of prospects for a closer. Precisely the reason. They gave up a ton of prospects. They aren't going to empty the cupboard.

Boston will not trade a boatload of prospects for Sale.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Nov 17, 2015 -> 08:24 AM) I'd be willing to bet that Sale would get $400+ million if he was on the open market this offseason. I think he would get a billion to a billion and and a half for 7 years with an opt out after 4, so he could make $2 billion.

Check in, but remember he starts making $20 million a year in 2017, and they aren't going to make Abreu a full time DH yet.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 07:22 PM) Played golf with three Iowa fans today. All I heard was " they would never fire Ferentz". That narrative changes more than any other in conference You should read the Fire Kirk Ferentz Facebook page and those are comments from this year. It is amazing how many Iowa fans can't get in touch with reality. There are posts that say he is being out coached this year. The team has 8 four star recruits on its roster, and no 5 star. When he finally does leave, they aren't going to know what hit them. I don't know what else these people expect. It is really amazing. The team is 10-0 for the first time ever, and some people still can't enjoy it.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Nov 14, 2015 -> 10:12 PM) Jason Giambi fit Beane's model of acquiring players with high OBP. He was also attractive to teams who valued power and average, because he hit near .300 with 30-40 HRs. Heyward and Murphy similarly have value to teams that value other things as well. The White Sox also need to drastically improve their offense. You're going to pay more for a player who can hit 1-6 in your lineup than for a player who would ideally hit 7-9. Giambi was beginning his 4th season with the A's when Beane became GM. When Giambi was drafted, Beane was an advanced scout.