35thstreetswarm

This game of Food guys "Among Us" is one of the weirdest things to ever happen on this board.

Last 13 or 14 years probably works. But I will say that the willingness to spend top-of-market in the 2000s when Jerry really believed we were contenders has kept me holding out hope that we might get back there again during this window. Part of me wonders whether Jerry just doesn't quite buy that we're there yet.

If you lower the bar for what it means to be "in on" a trade/FA low enough, they probably were.

It is often forgotten that the Sox had a top-5 payroll multiple seasons in the last 20 years.

The nice thing about our situation is we have Vaughn waiting in the wings. We also have a stacked lineup. The risk is significantly mitigated by these factors; we won't rise or fall with Cruz.

If you ask EE and Cruz next to stand next to each other, then you bake a cake, then you write "better player" on the cake in frosting, then choose the better player, then give that person the cake, Nelson Cruz would receive aforementioned cake

That's kind of amazing.

Burnes's peripherals are insane. Now I'm all excited, dammit. Don't hurt me. Also, don't trade Vaughn

Man, Cubdom melting down. Seems like losing Lester is making a lot of them see the writing on the wall about the state of their team right now (which is crazy, but that's a different story). Dark times for the baby animals.

They know they need another starter. They'll get one. Rick Hahn's statement is exactly what you'd expect from a front office attempting to negotiate with player agents. He's not going to say "we're desperate for one more starter." I'm really curious to see whether they'll get another bat, which I see as more of a luxury with this lineup.

You know you’ve always been meant to wear the black hat.

Who would’ve thought an NL west team trading for a boring player I didn’t want would make me reevaluate my entire outlook on the White Sox organization, but here we are. Turns out we’re bad now

I’m bored already

I don't understand all this talk about a preference for "the East Coast." Like, he prefers the East Coast as a geographic region? Not any particular team? By the way, the guy's from Alabama as I understand it. Anyway, I know we were (sort of) burned when Wheeler supposedly turned down some nominal additional sum to sign elsewhere because of his wife's geographic preference. But I'm still of the strong belief that players rarely if ever leave *significant* money on the table. And if he's looking at a 1 year deal with incentives worth like 10 mil or so, a million or two is significant money. It's one thing to toy with a million or two on the top end of a nine-figure deal -- that's the kind of difference that can be wiped out with local tax differences. But it's hard to believe he'd turn down a $10 million offer for an $8 million offer. All of which is to say the Sox should be able to get this done within budget if it's a priority.

High-end: the fact that he won 2 Cy Youngs in the last 5 full seasons he pitched, and was one of the AL's top starters as recently as 2018. Low-cost: the fact that his reported asking price is 6-8 million.

Can I interest you in a low priced, high end one? Meet my friend Corey

Boring. Get me Kluber

Yes, love the upside. Not impossible to imagine a 2005 Contreras situation

Ricobene's Cobb Salad

Has anyone factored into their calculation the fact that Hendriks gives 110% out on the field, rather than merely 100? That is literally ten more, which makes a difference when extrapolated over a 162 game season.

But you're making a decision about which player to use in games that haven't been played yet, and those stats you discount are predictive of future results. This backward-looking, one-factor approach is simplistic.

Right, and I don't disagree -- I like the move and I'll take Hendriks over Colome any day of the week. But we're replacing (hopefully upgrading) what was already a position of historical strength. Just don't think it improves our baseline level of team quality as much as, say, replacing a back-end starter, DH, or RF with an above-average player.

Exactly. That's the thing that tempers my excitement a little bit here - it's not like we're filling some massive hole here. I get the doubts about Colome moving forward, but we're just replacing a closer who had great results with another closer we hope will have great results. It's not some massive shot in the arm like a big upgrade at RF or in the rotation.

We get it.

Very excited about our lock-down bullpen. I do find this an odd use of funds for a team apparently operating within financial constraints, and have to chalk it up to the TLR effect. But as long as they go out and sign another veteran starter I think this team is ready to roll in 2021 and you'll hear no complaints from me.