caulfield12

See the thread from the early day/s of that trade. There were a significant number of dubious fans who already believed it was a massive overpay, let alone a good fit for Kimbrel to suddenly adjust to set-up.

I’m only embarrassed we have accepted this for so long. I could care less about a clickbait MLB.com preseason headline, and most of the ticket-buying Sox public is in agreement if they can’t even sell out the opener in nicer weather than normal. Were things going well on the marketing and sales front, we would be getting nearly daily updates about it from Boyer and the PR team.

So you’re saying Kopech or Cease will be THE clear best pitcher in baseball by the last two months of the season? Giolito=Freddy Garcia, Keuchel=Buehrle, and Garland/McCarthy/ed Duque=? Just don’t see any conceivable way the Sox 2005 staff can ever be equaled. Without Rodon at 100% last year, we were clearly outgunned. It would take the best pitching coach/coaching work in decades…and that still doesn’t even begin to touch upon defense and fundamentals that are clearly lacking and rarely addressed in-season.

As long as he gets to play 4-5 days per week....no less than 4.

Then you're sending Vaughn to the minors, or playing him in LF with Jimenez at DH and Gavin Sheets likely traded as part of a package for pitching?

The situation of the team talent-wise, sure. And competing in one of the weakest divisions in baseball with four small to mid-market teams as your competition, sure. But not ownership and front office administration. There, we'd at best be smack dab in the middle tier, at best. I would put it at 16-20, if forced at gunpoint. It's far easier to name 10 better franchises and 8-10 terrible/abysmal/hopeless ones. But no way that it's 25.

Do you want to make that Ron "self-ban bet"? First of all, the goal is not to win the AL Central, and they do have fewer games against a weaker Central this year, compared to the past. The goal was a window to compete for MULTIPLE championships. So I'll go with 93.5 games, you can keep your 109 prediction. 7.75 is the midpoint so that means you are betting on everything from 102+ victories and up, and I have everything below 101. I'll take it, and not think twice. You have 99 wins in 1983 and 2005. In roughly 120 franchise years, never a 100 win season.

Ron, you have money for your own private plane, right? I guess there's always Southwest out of Midway. Do we still have them as a sponsor, or strictly ANA?

Haber went to Stanford like KW...he would be next up, lol. But it does accomplish something. KW and Paddy at least know how to identify and bring in new international talent, if nothing else. And nobody has a more horrific record in free agency than Hahn. Just KW's 2004-2005 combined trumps everything Hahn has done in free agency from 2012/13-2022. Rick basically has McCann, Rodon last year and Grandal/Hendriks. Oh, and the Friends & Family Fiasco.

Or most likely, double plays...with Josh hitting at the bottom of the lineup behind the boppers, unless TLR can turn back the clock to a decade ago when Harrison was actually a very solid #1/2 hitter.

Who is Conforto's favorite personal hitting coach? Just use the Giolito arbitration "savings" as a down payment on a retainer.

Sure, always be respectful. It's like arguing with or berating your Amazon deliveryman when your real issue is with Jeff Bezos and the entire proposition of the gig economy. Those delivery drivers and package handlers in warehouses deserve the utmost respect at all times.

And his fWAR from 2017 or 2018 through 2020? By your argument, Harrison will repeat his 2021 and not the three preceding years. You can't win championships with Vaughn and Sheets in RF. And Sheets has been protected by the most favorable matchups since Dayan Viciedo's rookie season. Conforto is a risk, but much likelier to pay off when combined with Nick Madrigal...players with track records of producing. Compared to Kimbrel and Harrison as the direct substitution we have been provided. No GM is going to trust Sheets to repeat his 2021 numbers as an everyday DH, per alone as a strong side platoon.

I don't know how Twins and Indians fans have felt the last two decades, but they have also (famously) voted with their feet, particularly in Cleveland and to a lesser extent in Minny. The one thing in common is the belief ownership cares more for profits and franchise valuation growth than winning championships. Also, only 30~35% of revenues are affected by ticket sales and sponsors. The teams are increasingly protected/insulated from fan revolts and protests. In the past, those ticket/concession/souvenir and parking receipts were roughly 60% and even 65% of net revenues each year.

The only leadership group doing worse than the White Sox the past month is located in Moscow. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for insular decision making, general hubris, and over reliance on subordinates who are afraid or unable to speak the truth...

See the quotes on page 4/5 of the arbitration thread.

Are you crediting Hahn with facilitating that somehow?

You and Ron883 need to join forces, lol.

Borrowing this from southsider2k5's post about TLR hiring...between Kimbrel, this year's current FA debacle and now the way Lucas Giolito was treated so disrespectfully by the White Sox (just like Black Jack McDowell, although Lucas is 10X the more mature and even-keeled individual in comparison)...don't know how to communicate how disgusted Sox fans actually are with the current state of things heading in what was once supposed to be one of the greatest seasons in franchise history. This feeling today is what we spent a decade building towards???? REALLY? It has already been self-sabotaged in a variety of ways. How do you go from last October to now selling LESS season tickets than you had at the beginning of the 2021 season??? If he was just carrying out Jerry Reinsdorf's orders to punish Lucas for being the team union rep and involved in MLBPA negotiations with Manfred, shame on him for doing so...that's not the type of GM that will ever lead the White Sox to the promised land, it's just not the right way to treat employees, whatever legal-ese nonsense he puts out there on social media about it not having affected the relationship one bit moving forward, yadda yadda yadda. You should know better with all those years of education at elite universities. Treat others how you would like to be treated, it's actually quite simple. Scott Reifert's email address is [email protected] Brooks Boyer is [email protected] Hopefully people feel free to let them know what people think.

Zobrist? Which super-utility player in his 30's are we going after now?

By the way, Rick Hahn HLS 1996, it's not "HAP," it's called a GAP.

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2022/03/23/the-white-sox-failed-to-come-to-a-deal-with-lucas-giolito-because-of-50000/

But still managed a 4.9 fWAR. You can say the same thing for Luis Robert, but pretty much the entire future of the franchise hinges around him and TA/Cease/Kopech to a lesser extent.

He lost his power....he was the coldest hitter in baseball for two months, the best hitter in baseball for two months and then tailed off with pretty much the entire offense the last 5-6 weeks of the season. But he's also a very bad defensive outfielder, to boot. Which you can hide in LF if he's going to hit like expected.

Well, that's essentially the bet that Hahn is making right now with all of his moves...especially for 2024 and beyond. Not sure what the Vegas odds are. Cease was top 10-15 fWAR, but still can't be trusted to start a big playoff game. The variability on Kopech possible/potential results is obviously all over the map, from out of baseball entirely to the 2024/25 Cy Young winner.