GREEDY

Reddit slowly changing their stance to just hating Hahn for signing Clevinger (which was pretty much Soxtalk's initial taek).

She has admitted on multiple occasions that she is doing this because he has attempted or at the very least threatened to attempt to gain custody of their child. She peppers in other concerns on "why she is going public" but it is clear as day as to why she has chosen to do this "now". I think it is complete horseshit for 670 to give an ex the platform to rip a public figure when no charges have been filed.

I've always wondered about the urge to give starts to washed veterans that you have zero control over if they do perform well instead of going with that AAAA 25 year old Davis Martin type. Davis performed well and now the Sox have him for a prorated 700k. Is it because so many raw prospects get promoted, so that is all you are left with in the organization? Kids with stuff trying to figure it out? So you don't have more than a pitcher or two in the organization at any given time (that actually have the command to pitch in the bigs) to promote as your #6/7/8th options? If this is the case I'd be tempted to invest in an independent team and stockpile dudes in their early 20s with multiple pitches that they can locate. Wonder if it is possible to pay them a tad more than most indy ball players, hold their contract so you get paid off if another team comes calling, and otherwise use that to feed Charlotte an arm or three a year that can ultimately fill that #7 starter spot.

This girl leaking just general dirt that she had heard about Clevinger (likely from other spurned exs) and fans gobbling it up because it supports their narrative makes me realize that cat is out of the bag. Partying during covid with a bunch of hookers is scumbag behavior, not domestic violence. My slightly educated conclusion: Clevinger is a scumbag who surrounded himself with scumbags but likely did not commit any actual acts of domestic violence that he would be found guilty of in a court of law. I believe that he attempted to gain custody of his child and his scumbag girlfriend is attempting to ruin him. So, in my contrary opinion he should not lose his job. BUT This does NOT mean the White Sox should have signed him. They were either negligent in the due diligence and signed a scumbag OR were so desperate to save money (There were dozens of SP options) that they rolled the dice and once again... lost.

With Vegas and NashVegas being two possible destinations for expansion over the next decade, it will be more than convenient to adopt a new allegiance.

Bingo. The scenarios where TA would net a significant return, enough to warrant trading a fan favorite and The Sox also being in the situation where they want to trade that version of TA..... Seems like a very small percentage of possible outcomes

Not sure where you got 2B from. I would have moved him to the OF. LF would have lowered the risk of a flop but that ship has sailed. Getting in the SS sweepstakes would have been fun but even just adding Iglesias/Simmons and shuffling them with our pre-arb middles, signing a proper RF (instead of Benintendi) and using TA in LF would have given us a chance for an elite defense over night for the same money we've spent. Could have had above average defenders at 6 of 8 spots instead of the 3 we will likely have on opening day.

Spent some time on this and my conclusion is.... The org missed again not making TA an OF. The elimination of the shift MIGHT mean his next contract is at SS again, but had it not the move would have been a slam dunk. Moving Tim to a corner outfield this offseason would have really really opened up the possibilities. It might not be too late.... some really good defensive middles still on the market.

What if they planned on trading a reliever to clear room on the budget? Now they can't. What if Clevinger isn't completely coming off the books because he is guilty of being a scumbag not an actual domestic abuser? So if you already busted the budget, you likely can't spend a penny until you get some clarity on douchebag's suspension. Do you still trade Kelly or Graveman now and use the money sign Wacha? Feels like a wiser dice roll in the bullpen than a completely vacant 5th starter spot. It was widely reported that the Sox were up against the high end of their budget BEFORE signing the largest free agent deal in club history. I'm guessing the front office is shitting bricks right now.

Honestly? My read is the Sox had an option on Benetti and he was likely asking for more freedom to not do his main job AND still get paid, possibly even a raise. I hate the organization as much as the next guy, but the Sox had an option, they exercised it, and Jason wants time off from his original agreement, to go work for another company. I'm sure that won't be simple for any club to sort through. You don't need to be a #SoxMath wiz to do the math here.

Good teams acquire guys like Lopez in July. Not February. Give me the upside with our pre-arb guys. If they all fizzle, then you can acquire a more established name for very little at the deadline.

1. Dig a moat in front of the Cuban Comet stand. You have to board a raft and float across the moat to get your sandwich. 2. Move the shower from the concourse to outside Gate D for the locals. 3. Somehow manage to get even older beer in the KraftKave. 9 month old IPAs are good but are still slightly tolerable. Not sure it is possible but we can try. 4. Ron Kittle is stationed at a random bathroom and when someone tries to enter via the exit door to jump the line, Ron intercepts him and traps him in a 10 minute conversation with lots of touching. 5. M&M George has to get a jacket with the new non-binary M&Ms. 6. The ushers pretend to be frozen all game and only come to life so they can vibe during Tim Anderson walk-up songs like those street performers that only move after you tip them (this only applies to those few ushers that already don't practice this). 7. Elon Musk boring tunnel under the tracks so we don't have to get scared by firecrackers under the overpass while walking to Lot G. 8. White sitting in Section 506 you have to wear VR Goggles which just broadcast a first person view from a live Darryl Boston cam. 9. Lot F is renamed Lot TLR and it allows camping and/or just sleeping it off in your car. 10. Wider seats to accommodate them XXXL thick boys and girls. 11. Ticket taker scanners say "Yes!" in hawk voice instead of just beeping while checking tickets. 12. The gates open early for batting practice. 13. Concession Stand point of sale systems offer if you want to tip 15%, 20% or a friendly critique of their 4 inch neon finger nails that they dug into your Beggars. 14, Scout Section is renamed Snout Section where all patrons must wear an elephant trunk mask. 15. On Family Sundays the kids race Jason Benetti around the bases. 16. Anytime there is boo'ing, a giant Steve Stone fathead pops out of the seat in front of you BLOCKING your view of the game because you are a bad fan. 17. Elvis Night and Pride Night moved to the same date and renamed "Facebook Comments Night". 18. Leury Legend Statue.

20 years ago Sports radio callers were begging for inexpensive seats to Sox/Cubs games. Crying about the cost of taking a family of 4. It felt like it made up 10% of baseball radio. For the past two decades outside of maybe 2006 they've gotten their wish them. $7 gets you into more than half of the Sox home games, $15 gets you into like 75 games.. yet the tickets go unsold or unused. The reality is those callers were incorrect about the market for inexpensive seats and fans have proven time and time again that they will complain about the price of tickets yet easily spend $30 on a dollars worth of beer. So you cannot blame the Sox for this move.

So why can you tell the athletic that there is an investigation if you can't tell teams?

The MLB Trade rumors blurb looks like the Ex has claimed MLB has been investigating him. If they were they had to have told the Sox when they went to sign him. That does not jive with the report the Sox knew nothing. I'd like to speculate that her opinion of them investigating might differ from what MLB considers investigating since the Sox apparently aren't aware.

From reading her own posts it is fairly clear he has filed or at least threatened to file a motion to take their child away from her for her drug use. If the Sox knew the story and chose to sign him I am pessimistically eager to hear everyone's side. An ex should not be able to just share photos of a scratched arm, tell a few stories and take away someone's livelyhood. If the Sox truly just missed this whole ordeal (as per her posts) then heads should finally role in the front office.

The scratches and "ipad burn"? Or worse? To be honest I'm not saying those are acceptable marks at all but I expected infinitely worse by your description.

You aren't wrong but what do you want people to discuss? Once it was clear that the front office wasn't tearing this down, it goes without saying that the season rests on the core playing more and improving. You want everyone here (and our beat writers) to just log on everyday and post that we hope Robert stays healthy and takes a step forward? No, people are going to talk about the stuff the front office can do to improve the club.

I wanted Duvall. The value saved in keeping Colas down for a bit would have helped pay the bill. Marisnick was necessary cover for CF but still feels like a 5th OF. Even if you want to give Eloy some run in the spring and maybe not completely shut the door on him playing you are still short an outfielder if you aren't calling Colas up on opening day. Frustrating that the budget is so tight that we will either start the clock on a kid that has 240 ABs at or above AA... or you are starting the season with essentially a 1/2 and a 5. Brutal.

I'd say there is a reasonable chance we were going to trade a reliever (not necessarily Liam) to help pay for the Benintendi signing. So, the state of the budget could be really ugly right now. Even if the front office planned an Andrus type retread for 2B that could easily be off the table.

Fake insider clout chasing should probably skip a cancer diagnosis announcement.

Plenty of lessons to be learned from this ordeal. The least of which (but still worthwhile to tell your kids) is to not be so divisive. You can't piss off everyone, no matter how special you are. They will come for you. I'd like to see him to go to another country and play. His niche social media following has to be appealing to another league.

I agree with everything you said... but it is possible they did decide to move a reliever to pay for a LF acquisition. Earlier this offseason most assumed any major acquisition would need to be matched with at least a partial subtraction. Now all of the sudden we've just moved past that possibility like it was required to happen prior the Benni deal. Seems like folks here that were interested in trading Liam for a pre-arb 2B and using the savings to sign a corner OF are all of a sudden against it now that we are halfway through the process. Not sure that is how it works lol. Is it possible we are good on payroll and aren't forced to trade one of our expensive relievers? Sure. Let's hope so dammit. I think Hahn kept adding relievers because they had the money to burn in 21/22/23 before their core started rising in cost, and they found the relievers as the best option amongst the short term contracts. Not that a loaded bullpen was some long term plan the front office had. Now that they need the money to fill giant holes, I think it is possible some funds could be or were reallocated.

I hate to break it to everyone but it makes sense if you have to lower your payroll. And it is a reactive move. Just because old Bruce Levine said we are good where the payroll is... doesn't mean we are. Still have the second most expensive bullpen in the league (and league history?) I think either Hendriks or Kelly goes before Opening Day.

Cohen or Eppler probably read here that our most intelligent fans were demanding the most valuable Met (by a large margin) and decided to just pay Ottavino instead.