caulfield12

The White Sox modus operandi before Koch/Linebrink/Dotel was almost ALWAYS to draft and/or find guys on the cheap (or even waiver wire) like Jenks, Foulke/Howry, Santos, Crain, Damaso Marte, Matt Thornton, etc. Paying top market dollar for relievers has almost always been fool's gold, and it was again with Kimbrel. Hendriks worked out fine, but he actually saved a lower percentage of his opportunities than Colome, who was a complete disaster this season.

Or Frazier, who's highly likely to produce in the 1.5-2.5 fWAR range for $7.5 million, or $7 million more than Madrigal for roughly the same level (or less) of production. Going off 2021, he proved he could have ONE really decent (3-4 fWAR) season, but repeatability an OBVIOUS concern to the rest of MLB.

If that's our (very high) standard, they WHO exactly would be an upgrade for the White Sox? He's pretty much right in line, maybe one-half tier below, Zack Wheeler.

What other logical choices are/were remaining? Ray? Unlikely, too much of an overpay off Cy season. Stroman, no way, TLR hate. Gausman, too expensive. Scherzer too expensive 10X. Kershaw about as likely as Corey Seager one day being called Mr. White Sox. That leaves Trevor Bauer and Zach Greinke. (Note, I'm sure there are some pitchers like Daniel Hudson and at least one veteran starter in the $8-12 million range, but even that might take getting rid of Keuchel, and not a supplement to the current rotation.)

They do have a new stadium and dominance in their market...but still not the comparative advantage because Houston, Seattle and LAA are formidable organizations in terms of organizational resources. Three years from now, the situation might have shifted back to the where the Rangers and Sox were positioned roughly a decade ago, where the Rangers were one out away from a WS win.

Everyone thought having Cuban own the White Sox would be fun. But this kind of spending is like late 70's and 80's Yankees, Steinbrenner in his prime. It's got to be tremendously demoralizing to those bottom 6-8 MLB franchises who have essentially been reduced to feeder or relegation status...like the A's, Pirates, Royals, Orioles and Diamondbacks.

Maybe we could follow the KW plan and pay 0.50 cents on the $1 approach...locking him in for $21 million for the first three months, then letting him become a FA again at mid-season.

There were 2 if not 3 times during Machado that it appeared imminent with ESPN banner headlines....that was the most frustrating part, yet not being able to close the deal. It was like the ultimate tease, and it went on and on and on and on with no conclusion. At least with Lincoln Riley saying "he's not going to LSU," it took less than 48 for the guillotine to fall on the heads of Sooners' fans. I can just imagine all the excuses we'll be hearing for the next 3-4 months. Wouldn't go to that 7th year with Semien. Won't go 5 years with Conforto "because they don't feel comfortable." But we targeted the RIGHT guys, it's just the price points were all wrong. "We didn't anticipate the going rates per our own internal calculations on anticipated fWAR to be so lofty." Oh where, oh where did our "unprecedented financial flexibility" go??? As it stands right now, some are trying to extend Cease and Kopech...when we still have Kimbrel and Keuchel on the books, and two bigger priorities on our roster to deal with. One would have to assume Giolito is as good as gone, and Kopech is unlikely to get an extension as well with his own TJ and extreme velocity history. Same with Cease. Other than TA (who will be a FA at roughly the same age as Semien, and one would think asking for at least 7 years himself)...where are they going to spend the money, exactly?

Uh-oh. White Sox falling behind every field but AL Central...with Minnesota making biggest move so far. At least this flurry of signings is more exciting than most years. Hard to charge owners with collusion.

KW Special.

It's the NL/position player equivalent of Cralos Isle of Rodon.

List all the available players (not counting trades) you would be happy if the White Sox were to sign only one of them. Four SS, K.Bryant, S.Suzuki, Gausman, Conforto, Ray, Kershaw...better not hear either Greinke or Bauer.

In Rick (Hahn) and Romy's High School Reunion We Trust.

See early Cubs' career Bryant...

Paging Endy Chavez or Ender Inciarte for RF.

When he played being the three key words...

That might be too optimistic, your last sentence...

Being a Sox fan is like hoping Iowa or NW beats Michigan or Ohio State in football...it happens about 5-10% of the time, enough to just keep you hooked but never enough to set your expectations too high, only to end up totally disappointed. White Sox have to turn 2-3* recruits into All-Stars, just very hard to do on a consistent or sustainable basis. Could we at least be Wisconsin or Michigan State?

Well, there goes my offseason plan. Fascinating contract...still doubt it elicits much of a reaction from Hahn. Heightened risk/even higher potential reward move to the nth degree.

Ummm...so now everyone is using babes? Brad Miller? Leury? Happ? What happened to the $190-200 million payroll White Sox? This is the Aldi/Cub Foods version...the Whole Foods arugula-consuming hopes lasted all of one week.

Levee, as in dam? Or tax levy? Or ESPN's Mark?

Who is left that could be considered TOR if you remove Scherzer, Kershaw, Gausman, Stroman…? That only leaves Ray (that won’t happen), Rodon and J.Gray, basically.

I hope that’s the explanation for Kopech second half and they figure out how to address it somehow, then.

Didn’t anyone besides TLR realize that before the trade was made? How massive the role adjustment would actually be? AS CWS points out, he wasn’t Cubs’ closer for most of 2020…loses the role, regains it again and then loses it yet again in the span of one year. How is that not going to have a massive psychological impact on him to keep changing his prep/mindset?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id/30653/year/2020/category/pitching Almost none of his outings in 2020 were meaningful after those first four disastrous appearances…three save situations, and a hold, which was a one run lead against the White Sox that Jeffress saved ultimately. Then another tie game that eventually became a win in extra against CLE. So how does pitching in all those mostly meaningless situations in the 7th and 8th indicate anything of value? 12 times he pitched in Cubs’ losses, just 7 times in wins…and 3 of those 7 were the first 2 2/3rds IP when he was absolutely getting shellacked to start the season.