caulfield12

VaFan? Eminor? Even the mods are getting tired of defending the front office…you can tell their hearts are not really in it 100%

This again? Abreu hasn’t done anything in camp to piss you off yet?

We’ve come to this. Who could imagine in 2016-17 we’d be imagining that Tyler Naquin could be the solution to a White Sox WS contending line-up. Seems a lot more implausible than Rodon’s 2021 by a factor of about 10x.

Maybe, call me crazy, having an example of a player who just doesn’t make fundamental mistakes (especially in the outfield) would have been a positive influence on his teammates. Madrigal was supposed to provide this, but it never materialized, as he probably turned off more of his teammates.

Yes, because we had Narvaez and then McCann. See 500+ Balta comments on this. And paying elite closers has never been the White Sox way…and it still hasn’t really paid off. And now we have two. I would guess the excitement with Grandal was maybe 60/40 in for, with Fathom being especially concerned about his defense and the fact he was essentially benched by the Dodgers in the post-season due to numerous lapses that haven’t ever shown up in his brief Sox career. But yeah, it figures somewhat flawed guys like Grandal or Conforto would be the biggest contracts in franchise history, rather than an elite superstar.

Cue Balta with how much bad money has gone to White Sox DH’s since 2011…and the underwhelming offensive performance attached to those players.

How about at least one offseason signing the majority of fans are at least optimistic if not happy about? Baseball is an entertainment business, after all. What’s the answer from Sox fans to Russell Crowe’s question in Gladiator. ”Are you not entertained?” Well, perhaps not in the way Hahn originally intended.

His first three years with the Cubs, 5 fWAR over around 430ish games, roughly 1.9 per season…essentially 2. His original contract was 4/$48, so if you value FA fWAR at 1 unit being worth roughly $7.5-8.0 million, it was at least a fair deal for the Cubs until his final season there when age started to catch up with him. Melky Cabrera had a similar contract in terms of overall value and only ended up contributing around 2.3 fWAR total to the Sox after a 3.9, 4.5 and 3.1 along with one slightly negative year in the four preceding his Sox deal.

Or Sheets. Or Vaughn. Paired with minor league pitching (or lack thereof), which we all witnessed is what ultimately spelled the downfall of the purported Cubs' dynasty.

The record of the AL Central in the playoffs since the Cubs/Indians World Series in 2016 is hideously ugly.

Good idea. Let's just close down the board until the morning of Opening Day. Or maybe we should just follow the Blue Jays just to experience things vicariously. The White Sox went through their kumbaya period in 2017-18 when all the big rebuild trades went down and there was almost universal praise, excitement and acceptance. It is pretty disingenuous to expect everyone be overly excited about two postseason wins over the course of two seasons...when couple with the postseason so far. And I don't remember when we added Robertson, LaRoche, Cabrera and Samardzija that fans were immediately told to temper expectations and not get ahead of themselves after winning yet another offseason where results on the field failed to match the "feel good" press conferences.

Madrigal, Stroman, Simmons (vs. Harrison) and Suzuki four players that will be closely followed and compared by Sox fans. The Cubs still feel like a 75 win team at best, but they're at least getting to the point of being more interesting. Clearly another full rebuild not in the cards, with Cubs' fans increasingly impatient.

They're the equivalent of SD on the AL side...Mariners and Rangers have all been super-aggressive. https://sports.yahoo.com/theres-no-loyalty-in-baseball-explaining-the-braves-shocking-freddie-freeman-move-232631704.html Really good article on the opportunity cost of the last 2-3 years of a Freeman deal vs. expectations for Olson being four years younger.

What indication do we have they're changing their trade evaluation processes in any way to lead to better results overall?

Well, at least we don't have to worry about Nelson Cruz anymore?

Yankees just resigned Rizzo, so seemingly out of the Freeman sweepstakes...where do Voit and Andujar land, if anywhere else? "The Yankees have settled on a first baseman, reportedly agreeing to terms with Anthony Rizzo on a two-year, $32MM guarantee. The deal pays the Sports One Athlete Management client $16MM salaries annually and gives him the opportunity to opt out after the 2022 campaign. The contract is pending a physical." MLBtrade rumors.com

Waiting to see if Correa goes to Detroit first. Keep in mind, Ilitich Jr. was one of four owners opposed to big spending ways, so that would clearly run directly counter philosophically. Only course, historically free spending Arte Moreno of the Angels was another.

This is like saying Jermaine Dye played SS or Jim Thome anchored the left side of the infield when he was younger...Gordon Beckham and Nick Madrigal were SS's, etc.

Royals Ball 2014-15.

A rookie catcher as the back-up...? Well, maybe, but I think that they will give Collins at least through June, if for no other reason than he's LHed and was a former 1st round draft pick that Hostetler claimed he would have taken #1 overall. (And technically Zavala was still a rookie last year, even though it seems like he's been around longer than Jordan Bohannon.)

Seby to the rescue (offensively). What's next this offseason, Yermin Mercedes entering the RF or 2B mix?

Just wait until Lynn, Abreu or Grandal breaks down again...Keuchel is already there, with Kimbrel close behind. Meanwhile, productive younger and cheaper players like Narvaez, Avi Garcia, Madrigal and now Rodon are elsewhere. Do we now have the oldest roster in the AL Central? Have to, right?

Lynn, Grandal, McCann were very solid. (One can argue Narvaez/McCann/Grandal til the cows come home) Hendriks, jury still out. Kimbrel, it's always going to be a net loss at this point, same with Keuchel. Robert was the one franchise-altering coin toss that went Paddy and KW's way, fortunately. Without him, we're under real duress in the AL Central starting in 2023. So we're splitting hairs about after 2023...can they find the pitching to replace Giolito. Then the really big decision with TA7 at age 32/33 a year later.

The one player they can least afford to lose and still compete for a World Series is Luis Robert. Anderson is 1A. You can't take that risk with his health when he's the only true superstar on your roster, and your franchise cornerstone. We might as well argue the plan is to expect to hit almost perfectly on 3-4 outfield additions like the Braves did last year at midseason.

Or the Mariners. Or the Braves. Or the Brewers. Or the Padres. I would never in a million years expect to be a consistently Top 5 payroll team, and we still might not end up being one on Opening Day if they manage to get Kimbrel off the roster. The arguments for being up against the CBT (with Kimbrel rostered) are giving Hahn some pretty decent cover for not actively going after either Conforto or Suzuki.