caulfield12

If we're going to attribute something to Rabbit (or not), it would perhaps look a bit more professional to use his real name just like Cotillo, Murray, Rodriguez, Sanchez, etc. Sounds like our source was a hit man on WhiteyBulger's Boston townies crew.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 07:16 AM) lol, says the guy with three consecutive posts CF12-ed Can I trademark that? Because the White Sox are skinflints/JR is cheap/franchise is doomed and Nero is playing his fiddle storyline is more fun to banter about than convincing ourselves how great an addition Dexter Fowler will be and how we've gotten temporary amnesia about rebuilding the farm system.

Just putting it in perspective...kind of pathetic that we're going to be fortunate to come out of this with Austin Jackson after all the hype and build-up. According to Harrelson, the presence of Frazier in the line-up alone will make Avi a 30-30 threat again.

Altar... http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/01/20/forbes...-valuable-team/ Bulls worth $2.3 billion, third most valuable franchise in NBA. If you add up all the NFL teams, with the Rams now doubling in value and third highest after Cowboys and Pats...NFL is worth $64.85 billion. NBA at $37.65 billion. Last year, MLB was $36 billion and that will be updated by Forbes this spring so they will be ahead of the NBA but should jump to mid $40's in March. White Sox were 16th at $975 million. Combined White Sox and Bulls, would be one of the top six in the world along with Yankees, Man U, Real Madrid, Cowboys, Patriots...ahead of Knicks and Lakers.

http://nypost.com/2016/01/20/wilpon-steinb...es-sweepstakes/ Yankees pretending to join Cespedes hunt... https://mobile.twitter.com/MibeltRodriguez/...994285467504642 Mibelt claiming the offer of five years for Cespedes will now come from a mystery team...

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/washing...osenthal-012016 If the Mets and White Sox are both limiting this to three years, there's almost no way he would choose the Sox over the Mets...looking at it realistically. What are the odds we'd offer a 10-15% premium on the Mets' best offer?

The other issue with Abreu is his size...guaranteeing a long-term extension for a huge 1B that puts so much pressure and stress on his knees and feet/ankles into his 30's might not be the ideal solution for the organization either, as almost all of his value is going to have to come from his offensive numbers. More importantly, it's kinda backwards thinking. Well, we probably won't compete until 2017 if we don't do something dramatic, but we need to worry about what happens with Abreu or Eaton in arbitration, retaining Sale or dealing with Boras/Rodon in 2019/2020. It's much more likely the White Sox can actually afford Abreu if they maximize their revenues over the next two seasons instead of decreasing them.

Here's another way of looking at it... If Arne Harris was the producer of Sox broadcasts during that time and spent half the time zeroing in on the cutest girls wearing the least amount of clothing in the bleachers (shower shots!) and a bunch of frat nerds drinking Budweisers and not talking about the game, would that have moved Sox attendance one iota? Or would that have increased the negative association with USCF (see William Ligue incident) as not being a safe/family-oriented place?

“A lot of people don’t understand that one guy can change the whole culture of the lineup, either positive or negative,” Harrelson said. “On the positive side, one guy can change it and I think that guy is Todd Frazier. The big thing for me is he can catch the ball at third base. And the next thing is, he’s going to protect the best hitter on our club. It’s contagious.” ZIPS projects that Frazier will hit .255/.318/.449 with 25 homers and 80 RBIs for the White Sox this season. Harrelson hopes those numbers are on the low end. But even if they are correct, Abreu and the White Sox offense should see a significant increase. “If he does that, he’s going to make Abreu 10-15 percent better and it’s going to take a lot of heat off (Avisail Garcia),” Harrelson said. “What a great year Abreu had because they had nobody to hit behind him. For him to get 30 and 100 again with no protection, it would be like if they had nobody to protect Miguel Cabrera, he wouldn’t hit anything either because nobody would pitch to him.” http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/hawk-h...&ocid=yahoo

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 21, 2016 -> 12:04 AM) Think about it though. Say the Sox sign Cespedes to a new contract that pays him 22M annually. What's Abreu worth if he opts out and goes to arbitration? What's he worth in a contract extension? Also remember the current players under contract like Q, Sale, Melky, Robertson and Eaton have escalating contracts so they will continue to get paid more with each year. Then there's arbitration players that get raises. I believe it was Balta that has already pointed out that approximately half of the 28M coming off the books after '16 will be erased by contract and arbitration raises for '17. I'm just saying there is much more to take into consideration when it comes to signing a player and especially with the money were talking about with Cespedes. Look at how the inability to move LaRoche has handcuffed the Sox this winter and were only talking about trying to move13M. What about those years us Sox fans wished we could find a team to take the contracts of Danks and Dunn off our hands to give the team more money to work with? Now that I think more about it, I hope the Sox really are unwilling to go more than three years and if they are I applaud them. Sure, fine. The White Sox have five obvious places they could go for improvement. OF...Fowler, Jackson, Pearce, Victorino, Snider, Raburn and declining dramatically from there (adding an outfielder has the obvious benefit of pushing Garcia out of RF into a DH platoon with LaRoche so you kill two birds with one stone, which is probably the most logical move of all to make at this point) SS...Desmond, but you lose the draft pick and you're going to give him at least $50 million for 3 years. Starting rotation insurance...Gallardo too expensive and the pick attached, that leaves Latos, Fister, Lincecum, Cliff Lee and a ton of question marks Bullpen...replacing Matt Albers, probably the lowest priority add right now

The Nationals have as much payroll flexibility as any team that could pursue Cespedes. Their payroll is about $30 million less than it was at season’s end. Adding a contract worth more than $20 million annually — Upton got $22.125 — could still leave them with a comparable or smaller payroll than they had last October. Plus, Cespedes did not reject a qualifying offer from the Mets, and therefore will not cost the team that signs him a draft pick. Few natural fits for Cespedes remain. The strong free agent outfield market slogged along, but suddenly,when Upton signed, Cespedes became the last man standing. The Tigers seemed like a fit — until they signed Upton. The Angels and their sputtering offense could have used his help, but reportedly are not pursuing him, according to MLB.com. The president of the unpredictable Marlins, David Samson, told reporters his team has “no interest” in signing the Cuban star. Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday the team is still talking to Cespedes’s agent, but all indications are New York would be hesitant to give a long-term deal, too. Reports have linked the Astros to Cespedes. As spring training nears and his options dwindle, perhaps Cespedes will choose a previously unanticipated home. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationa...s-end-up-in-dc/

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14615525...ngton-nationals Offer to Cespedes is smaller than what the Tigers gave Upton (surprise, surprise)... 5 different teams in 18 months, pretty crazy.

If we do sign Fowler instead of Cespedes, we'll just be waiting for the "curse of the second-tier free agent who becomes more attractive" to kick in, haha. About the only "premium" FA we've signed or traded for in recent years who has come close to performing to expectations was Robertson. LaRoche, Cabrera and Shark were huge disappointments. Of course, since this is the White Sox, we have no choice but to play along with the "budget-conscious" approach and just hope that eventually one of these guys like Jackson, Fowler or Desmond will surprise on the upside rather than dragging down payroll flexibility.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:06 PM) Why do you keep mentioning Lawrie as an outfielder? Trying to figure out any possible way to improve the balance of the offense without spending too much money... SIGH. I'd still go with Jackson/Desmond but Fowler alone seems more likely...and then the whole wait and fix things at the trade deadline standby.

If we're giving up a draft pick for Fowler, we might as well double down and add Desmond or Kendrick. Why not maximize your ability to control the potential impact the same way we attempted last year losing the 2nd and 3rd rounders? Fowler/Desmond probably provides the most combined WAR, but the highest salaries to deal with. If you brought in Kendrick, you'd have to move Lawrie to RF/LF and/or change Melky's position as well. Of course, we're just as likely to end up with Jackson.

Knowing where things stand right now, I almost wish they would have just signed Kendrick, Desmond and stuck Lawrie in the outfield. Lawrie couldn't possibly be worse than Garcia out there, could he? That way, we'd have the potential for above average offensive production from every position on the field, DH would be improved with Garcia/LaRoche platooning and Saladino/Sanchez would fall into their more suitable bench roles. To hell with it...it's to the point where you keep wasting Sale/Q/Rodon seasons and you're increasing the probability each and every season that goes by that one of them goes down to injury and then you're absolutely screwed 100%. The thing is, all these draft picks are going to be arriving way too late to "save" the White Sox in 2019 or 2020 anyway. And we still retain our higher first round draft pick.

Does anyone actually believe any of the Twitter activity is going to do anything but influence fans and the media relations groups for each team...and Twitter itself? It feels like one of those "well, we were involved all along and tried our best but the terms just weren't right for the long-term financial health of the organization" things. It's pretty hard to conceive how this will be in any way beneficial to the White Sox unless they end up improving the team significantly before Opening Day.

At this point, the Cardinals and Giants and Angels and all those teams we were counting out earlier (including the Rangers and Nationals, who are now apparently back in it)....have to be considered rivals for Fowler and Jackson to a lesser extent. Who are the last four with QO's left on the market? There's Fowler, Desmond, Gallardo and one more, right?

It doesn't even make sense if it's 3 years THEN an opt-out (for a four year deal). Cespedes would need to get the opt-out after the first or second year to make it more attractive. Waiting until he's 32-33 is going to depress his market in the same way it impacted Gordon.

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2016/1/19/1079...7764.1441920792 Why the Justin Upton contract is the best move of the offseason... Stuck it here because it has a very good discussion of the ramifications of the opt-out trend in baseball and why it's much more likely the Tigers don't end up with Upton long-term but get the benefit of his services these next two years that are probably the last open window of contention.

"The other issue may be the more important one. I'm not exactly sure why giving Cespedes an opt-out clause would make him more motivated: After all, he would have a guaranteed $120 million coming his way. Then there's this: In 2014, he posted a .301 OBP; in 2013, he posted a .294 OBP. According to Baseball-Reference, he created one more run than an average MLB hitter in 2013 and seven more than average in 2014. He was great in 2015 when he was plus-30, but the fear is he regresses to being a .300 OBP guy and that's not a $120 million player." The key point in all this...from espn/Schoenfield article

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...ing-up-momentum Cespedes back to Mets momentum increasing "Sign him to a five-year, $120 million contract with a two-year opt-out and a ton of deferred money. Cespedes, 30, could claim victory -- he would get the long-term security he wants and a higher average annual value ($24 million) than Justin Upton ($22.125M). The Mets would win, too -- the five-year term is shorter than Cespedes desires, the deferred money would lower the present-day value of the deal and the opt-out would ensure that the outfielder stays motivated."

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:55 AM) I would have spent the money on Upton but that's about it. I'm about the only one who is willing to give Garcia another year and think he will improve. He's only 24 and he's coming off his first full year. He should be 100% healthy and I'm willing to give him a chance rather than spend $80-100 mill on Cespedes, who has also put up pedestrian numbers earlier in his career. At this point, if I was the Sox, I would sign Austin Jackson to the 4th OF role and also Pedro Alvarez to be the LH DH. LaRoche is a sunk cost and can be a pinch hitter and give Abreu the occasional day off. Paying Jackson that much money to get less than 300 at bats just wouldn't be realistic.

QUOTE (MDWhiteSoxFan @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:49 AM) I agree with this completely. I didn't think Desmond had played OF it doesn't make sense to give up a pick for a stop gap turned project. I really feel Austin Jackson and a 2nd tier pitcher are the way to go now. Save that pick help 2 positions If you value Desmond as the type of player who was recently worth a $107 million contract to...compared to the $13-14 million value of the pick over the short and long term. How much would Fowler have gotten after 2014, for example, had an extension been offered?

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jan 20, 2016 -> 09:47 AM) They only did ten and the Sox aren't in it. AL teams 2. KC 3. Boston 5. Rangers 6. Astros 10. Jays Honorable mention - Indians and Yankees Crazy prediction for Boston to have improved that much...compared to Toronto falling off quite a bit. Price shouldn't swing things by that much.