caulfield12

Sanchez would be a much better bet than Zavala or Grandal but sunk costs...

But in that case he always preferred the Cardinals and the timing just worked out right...not sure if it was Jack/Joe Buck or Mike Shannon he was originally paired with. Al Hrabowsky?

But Burger can play 3B, 2B and 1B!!! (Just not all that well.)

Cueto covered a ton of innings that would have further exposed the back of the bullpen, though. It's the opposite of years past when guys like Baldwin or Danny Wright were terrible but won a lot behind the Sox offense. (Cueto, to summarize, was good no matter how you slice it. He was also good for settling the clubhouse...along with Harrison and later Andrus.) Losing Crochet also hurt more than realized...as it put even more pressure/responsibility on Bummer. And now having just Graveman/Lopez/Kelly/Bummer at the back end...it's going to be almost impossible to find another closer earlier than June/July if they do falter. Assuming they can add any more salary, which would require much more than the expected 16-24000 variety of attendance for most of April/May.

See the days of Jerry Owens, Josh Fields, Wasserman, etc. They had to make Top Ten lists every year, so naturally fans would get excited...but those players wouldn't have made lists for most other teams other than Fields as a traditionally-challenged Sox first rounder without a position. Can't remember the 2B and catching prospects, but there was a Latin catcher on the BA list for 2-3 years that never even made it to the majors. A similar player that comes to mind is that kid with the Cards (Hahn's high school) who was on the periphery of their Top Ten at the time but did almost nothing for the Sox...could also never stay healthy.

Hate it all you want, but the Padres have five starters (Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo replacing Manaea and He Who Shall Not Be Named)...and eight candidates and counting for the 6th spot. Those eight are Pedro Avila, Jay Groome, Brent Honeywell Jr., Reiss Knehr, Adrian Morejon, Ryan Weathers, Wilmer Font and Julio Teheran. At least four former Top Ten prospects and or high draft picks in that group and they're still not satisfied and will continue to add/scour the market. On the other hand, nobody in baseball can really take the White Sox all that seriously with almost no depth after Caleb Martin...who most knowledgeable fans were hoping wouldn't be in the rotation in the first place. We also are quite well aware of how shaky Lynn and Kopech are health-wise, too. Finally, what are the odds of another Rodon 2021 or Cueto in 2022 under $5 million? Of near perfect health? Mind boggling for a team with the current payroll to be in this dire position depth-wise.

Yeah, made it to Chicago in 2016, obviously many times in Old Com iskey. Minnesota in 2018 and SF in 2019 before Covid. SF is definitely won of the nicest new stadiums. Like it a lot more than Safeco...which is still nice. Both LA for me were nice, especially?Chavez. Old Yankee Stadium. Old Memorial in Baltimore. Wrigley. Both STL. Both Pitt. Tucson for ST. Glendale. Both Detroit. Probably 30-40 in KC. Atlanta Fulton County. Old Memorial in CLE prior to Jacobs/Progressive. Both Arlington. Only 21, half yours. 47 states, lived/worked in China, Colombia, Thailand (w/ La Roche and son on patrol, joking), Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea. Guess country count is low 40's, have to do a summer in Europe to pick up another good bunch.

17 years back is a bit much to cover for all the lean years in between...yes, everything went almost perfectly in every personnel move in 2004/2005. Especially Contreras and Jenks for free.

Like charted, chartered, uncharted, unchartered...basically the White Sox are the modern-day equivalent of algae floating on top of turgid water. Can't imagine any MLB team so mired in mediocrity (at or around .a 500 record last year) with a more dispirited fanbase or less hope/s for 2-3 years from now. "Turgid describes something that's swollen, typically by fluids, like a turgid water balloon that's way too big to resist dropping on your friend's head." Didn't quite use it correctly, but it just sounds right to describe the hopeless feeling described herein.

LOL. Accountability?

"Fall in Chicago." No accompanying Guaranteed Rate down arrow included there?

You're proving/validating the case that race/culture is another potential factor with your five provided examples. (Adrian Peterson inexplicably wasn't thrown into the mix, somehow, as that's more directly related to child abuse.)

They're not going to have a legit pitching staff the next two years, for one...assuming Giolito is gone and no Clevinger and absolutely perfect health from the other three. We sort of have a closer in Graveman/Reynaldo, but that Hendriks situation is problematic from a salary/payroll standpoint. And the Moncada contract is heading in the direction of disaster as well unless we see a dramatic turnaround.

Well, it seems you are making the argument white players are being targeted now and African-American and Spanish players seemingly are not, at least to the same extent. Of course, it basically cost Addison Russell his career. All that said, having lived in Colombia for a year, there's a sense of entitlement for the machismo culture that predominates in a number of Caribbean, Latin and South American countries. Men (especially athletes) used to get a free pass from society...that's slowly changing. Slowly. I saw this recent case on my feed (former Astros' Venezuelan AA prospect dating back to 2016, half expected a White Sox history) and couldn't believe the sense of raw entitlement. Like he was shooing away a fly. https://www.kaotic.com/video/eade1ec8_20230127171821_t (Graphic violence. Not for faint of heart.)

Derek Norris in 2017. https://fansided.com/2022/04/29/longest-suspensions-major-league-baseball-history/ (Oh, what would they make of Chuck Finley and Tawny Kitaen today...? No longer a laughing matter culturally like it was back then. Of course, he was 6'7" too.)

Except they consistently underestimate the long-term costs of short-term oriented profitability. The brand is eroding by the year now with the rebuild failing. Putting profits over what's best for the clubhouse is how we ended up with so many chemistry issues in the first place over the last couple of decades of Sox baseball.

The Tyreek Hill move to Miami is a perfect example of how spreading out the talent with young/athletic players across multiple positions is a better method of retooling than investing 80-85% of your payroll in just a handful of stars. (The other problem is the White Sox don't even have any true stars...Abreu and TA7 being the two closest. And the big league roster was supposed to be finished by now...refer to Cubs' recent competitive run for more details.)

Jazz Chisholm Jr. "Yet another player who comes to mind with the concept of dynamic. Chisholm has been 94th percentile in sprint speed in each of the last two seasons. In just 60 games played last year due to injury, he racked up 25 barrels, just four shy of tying his career high of 29 from 2021 – accomplished in 124 games. Chisholm is one of nine players projected to have at least 25 stolen bases." https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-players-who-could-hit-40-homers-steal-40-bases?partnerId=zh-20230130-814539-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20230130-814539-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=hUuk0kBtR4Zvy3tbvd%2FLrKTlznXRhfr%2Fi5DrGI9JERdjOXqSyUMAZW3hFIz27U8X&bt_ts=1675090163879 Being one of the Top 5-10 candidates in baseball for 40/40 sure seems like a star to me...especially with Tim Anderson likely on his way out and the current dearth of black players in MLB (Bahamas originally). (There's just no way we can afford to sacrifice the prospect haul unless we are willing to part with guys like Robert and/or Crochet instead. Which makes even less sense.)

2008 grand slam and final week of rookie season memories...one of those was against Detroit in those last 2-3 games or clincher before Griffey/Thome/Anderson show in the Blackout?

Former Royals' closer Escobar was signed 3-4 years too late...or pretty much a strong majority of ex Royals/Buddy Bell Specials, like Mark Teahen. Joakim Soria was "okay" but best days also behind him, of course.

The Royals' stadium is nicer aesthetically inside the park with the fountains...basically the same exact stadiums, especially the race or slant of upper deck seats. Crazy have been to both old Texas/Arlington stadiums but not the newest...yet another sign of getting old.

Benintendi has also averaged only 1 fWAR the prior three seasons (to last year). With Hahn's track record, that seems more likely than than 2.8 of 2022. If we extrapolated 2020 out, closer to -1.5 and it would have been just 2 total fWAR over the course of three seasons for Benintendi. (See Pollock's 2021 3 fWAR, coming out of a similar offense to 2022 NYY.) Feels eerily reminiscent of classic Sox buy high and sell low strategy...like the time we almost signed Alex Gordon at peak value and got bailed out by Royals' sentimentality for a fan favorite and Dayton Moore favorite as well.

https://fox8.com/sports/cleveland-guardians-announce-2023-guards-fest-roster/ 28/40 members of active roster, coaching staff and former players... The all-day festival offers stage appearances; autograph and photo opportunities with Guardians players and alumni (with an add-on purchase); a “Field of Dreams” baseball diamond, batting cages, and speed pitch; appearances from Slider & The Dogs, with photo opportunities; and more. Second baseman Andrés Giménez plans to make his first Guards Fest appearance this year for a custom cleats design contest. Fans can submit their own designs. The winner will have their design replicated by Hrusovsky Custom Kicks for Giménez to use during spring training, and get their own pair as well.

SoxTalk/Psych 101...lovely offseason where more off the field issues have dominated again. Unfortunately, Rick Hahn studied law and business, but has never learned the soft skills necessary for doing anything but dealing with softball media questions and diverting blame.

Dick Allen would know. A 40 game package was $1732 so you're talking $3000-4000 per seat (depending on location) for the full season and not even sure if parking's included with that.