caulfield12

Rick Hahn gets brownie points for giving it the ‘ol college try. Funny I got hammered for that when we were sort of in on him and not Soto. Scary to be thinking along with Rick Hahn. That’s not a good thing usually. Compare the number of pages in the respective threads. Granted, the national story broke first with the Soto extension rejected whereas the possibility of Ohtani going is relatively recent.

Every trade article out there just has the White Sox connected to 6th and 7th inning relievers of the world…but no big names other than Happ. And Montas looks set to sail elsewhere, but at least not the Twins for now.

Stiever will probably be the number 5 starter next year, him or Davis Martin…if they miss the postseason. Or they’re going to have to start cutting payroll and/or strike a bargain with Cueto but don’t think they catch lightning in a bottle three consecutive years.

Hader going to get $15 million in arbitration and thats too much for one player with their payroll limitations in Mil. Lamet provides a potential starter and swingman…had one great season and injury riddled ever since. Plus they have a solid bullpen by committee with Devin Williams now getting most opportunities but also matchup based. Ruiz will be a fourth outfielder, defensive replacement and PR. Very very similar to the idea of Rays trading Choi in the next 24 hours to the Yankees, despite his being their second or third best hitter…or Adames last year, which was a bad trade for the Rays that backfired. But they won the Ramirez/Paredes deal this year. All under the radar type moves that never draw headlines. Diego Castillo to the Mariners last year as well comes to mind. Players get to Year 1-2 of arbitration and goodbye, with few exceptions.

Brewers, Rays, Guardians, Twins, A’s until ownership cut their legs out from under them. Some of the better budget-oriented front offices in the game. Zaidi with the Giants, too. The Cardinals have never gone over $165 million despite $52 million wrapped up in Arenado and Goldschmidt. Was trying to think of worse GM’s than Hahn and only had Perry Minasian and Avila yesterday. Probably need to add Dayton Moore, even though his system at least led to two World Series in a row in one of the smallest media markets in baseball. Although the Sox Hydra is so opaque nobody can ascertain who is responsible for what…everybody and nobody simultaneously. The White Sox like a terrorist cell. Nobody knows what any unit or department besides their own is doing. Although it’s not to protect or firewall them, it’s blind loyalty and complacency mixed with a complete disregard for urgency.

And Erik Johnson was originally the key piece, another young pitcher who never overcame his injuries. Part of it seemed almost psychological, too, like the Alec Hansen situation. Too much in his own head, pretty cerebral dude.

How would there be banishments if the Astros didn’t suffer any consequences for stealing a World Series? If another team had, for example, loaned Carlos Rodon last year to the Sox, could that team win a lawsuit for “abusing” or at the very least overusing him since they never planned to keep him long-term?

And if he got injured? How would you split up the compensation?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/34325971/why-race-juan-soto-decide-rest-mlb-trade-deadline The Dodgers have an embarrassment of riches. It’s quite possible they’re just bluffing to get the Cardinals and Padres to draw down from their assets. LA doesn’t have to, unless they want to swoop in and steal Turner and Scherzer at the last second. Of course they still don’t have a 162 game championship since Kirk Gibson over thirty years ago. The Giants see the writing on the wall and know they’re badly outgunned. Even at $230 million, SD might not be able to compete with LA despite their own pitching surplus. Underperformers like Hosmer, Snell, Manaea, Clevinger and Myers are taking up way too much payroll space. All that said, they can still pull off the Soto deal now. If they miss the playoffs or get knocked out in the first round, Preller is likely gone with Melvin remaining.

Well, 3-2 in our easiest schedule stretch isn’t 2-3 or 1-4 at least. That’s .600 ball. On pace for 96-97 wins over a full season, lol.

Snark. I don’t expect anything more…and every baseball message board is filled with fantasy scenarios anyway. Wow, I didn’t know that Colson Montgomery was ranked 52nd by ONE rating organization. Shoot me. I’m sorry for not following the minor leagues when it won’t matter since this team will take another 4-5 years after the rebuild bottoms out to get into contention. The only difference is that it will be 2014-2016 all over again, but minus Abreu’s star turn. In all likelihood, the majority of moderators won’t be around after another decade of futility…except to discuss the Bulls and Bears.

Are we the Mariners or Rockies now?

That was his supposed niche advantage, which really isn't as the Twins and especially Guardians are much better at it. The only call they blew was Straw, but he can at least defend CF and play everyday. They have a tricky decision now with Rosario a FA after next year. At any rate, Moncada Jimenez and Robert have major questions hanging over each of them and the clock is now ticking on Anderson, Giolito, Cease, Kopech and Vaughn. And way too many longer term deals for older veteran players now as well...yet yhey will undoubtedly give Abreu a two year extension. Jerry's gonna Jerry.

That gives just them an easy excuse not to extend Tim Anderson, anyway. Montgomery’s on the way soon. Colas is on the way, etc. Want to make a prediction that TLR sends him off to greener pastures like Mark Buehrle in 2011 so he can get “market rate” value to play for a supposed contender in 2025…? Does anyone actually believe JR will sign off on $200-225 million for Anderson at age 32/33? You can make all the laugh emojis you want…nothing can be more laugh worthy than the Sox organization and ownership group itself. They’re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars on lost ticket sales because they are too stubborn to hire someone as manager in marked mental decline…yet there’s almost no sympathy for TLR because he has even less humility than any occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania throughout history with one notable exception.

You are still with a budget more than 3X the Guardians and behind them. The Guardians and Twins can afford Jose Ramirez, Buxton and Correa at super/star salaries. The reason we can't afford anyone now payroll-wise is dubious contracts trending downwards for about eight different players, not including Keuchel. If TLR made the Pollock and Leury and Kelly moves, what does Hahn actually do now? Hahn knew to go after Cueto? Pollock has been a disaster in LF. Sheets in RF. Vaughn hardly ever plays 1B, where he could at least not a 2-3 fWAR performer. Is Abreu also more powerful than Hahn? Maybe! Carlos Rodon QO disaster? Cuban Connection was 85-90% KW and Paddy...what has Hahn done? Was he really the one who convinced JR to get out the bank book for Robert? He Who Shall Not Be Named. Traded Semien. Can hardly develop his own relievers despite draft focus years to save his life and not blow up the payroll with external signings...along with Leury/Harrison. We can't even produce cheap utility/bench players. Without the Leury contract now on the books we could at least add a veteran reliever, for example. If the Twins and Guardians had Sox budget or we played in any other division, the Sox would be toast. The only worse GM in the AL right now is arguably Perry Minasian of the Angels. That's pretty much it. Maybe Avila in Detroit, although they have been decimated by injuries and other bizarre factors even more so than the Sox this year.

Pretty pathetic Rangers, Orioles, Guardians, Twins, Rays and Mariners all part of trade rumors but Sox just have their proverbial seat the table but soon to be cast aside to the kiddie version. Or relegated, if you prefer futbol terminology.

Well, they did throw a big deal at Bryant after casting Arenado aside…that pretty much made no sense. Normally when a team does nothing at the deadline, there’s also a message sent: “You’re fine. We don’t have anyone of trade worth we want to part with and we’re not close to enough to really add players to fill our holes. So, just keep existing.”

Does he know Oscar Colas or Hector Gomez?

Let’s first depress his value by 25% so that we have to include Vaughn too. Or Robert, Montgomery, Colas and Vera.

And Gausman, the other candidate for first in fWAR…just a bit more expensive. Were the Sox ever connected to him, even like, once?

Much more athletic, plus defender, more pop and playoff experience.

Bard just signed an extension…fwiw. Rockies seemingly the most easily appeased fans in baseball. Consistently top 7-10 in attendance every year without playoff expectations.

Nobody cares about their rankings as much as they did 10-20 years ago. But fine, they won't trade a first rounder to replace another first rounder by the same team. Bringing Gio Gonzalez back five years too late after trading him twice was bad enough.

Well, making Tatis Jr. cry for 2-3 days straight after his trade and then throw out all his Sox gear certainly motivated him into becoming a $340 million player lol...so maybe Hahn should take a GM seminar on how to motivate his OWN players.

Well the other reading of that is everyone on the White Sox other than Abreu with a guaranteed contract doesn't put in the off season work, either. Or they bulk up the wrong parts of their bodies...not concentrating on the legs enough. Rodon has already produced more than enough fWAR in just four months to make that deal a massive win for SF. Then they will get an even bigger payout trading him...as they aren't forced to desperately chase the postseason like the White Sox are right now.