jenksycat

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 06:58 PM) The teams that sustain success in football (without cheating) get an elite QB, pay that elite QB well, acquire good talent to put around him mostly through the draft, then keep the players they draft that are worth keeping. Usually the best teams have a few players that they drafted that are among the best in the league and are paid like it, and the draft is absolutely vital to sustained success. In baseball it's almost exactly the same. Still a single extremely skilled position that you have to crush. You don't NEED a superstar shortstop to win a World Series and can easily mask holes on a roster. Can't hide a s***ty QB

QUOTE (Sox-35th @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 05:41 PM) Football isn't that bad. You can find a game-changer in the NFL in the first, second, third, or even fourth round sometimes. Basketball is downright horrible. The Bulls are too good to be bad enough to be good again. The system is totally broken. The NBA makes for good show, but that's about it. While true for football to find talent deep into drafts....its still too lopsided to a single player in the QB. You need an incredible defense to get by with anything less than above average QB...and you have to get all that winning done before you have to pay that elite QB who saps all your cap money.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 05:31 PM) And it is why I don't see "tanking" being a long-term big issue in baseball. You flat out don't get magically better based upon a couple years of draft picks. Baseball's draft and the way the game works is just so so much different than basketball. Basketball has a tanking problem...baseball might have too many teams trying to rebuild at the moment, but I don't think it has a "tanking" problem. I never have viewed the Sox rebuild strategy as being highly contingent on them getting a top X pick...now I do think the rebuilding strategy is aided by good drafting, but I think good teams draft well and how high you pick doesn't have near the correlation it does in other sports (not to mention in baseball..it is so hard for one player to carry a team...case in point, Mike Trout). I do think we will see many teams "humbled" by how difficult it is to tank/rebuild because everyone thinks because the Cubs / Astros did it, it is just so easy. The reality is that it isn't and older, more veteran players are the new "moneyball" as they have ultimately been devalued for the much more attractive, cost controlled young player? Just my two cents...we'll see longer term if I'm right. Yeah it's completely different in baseball. Only sport IMO where outlooks can change season to season and anything can happen in the playoffs. Football: If you don't luck into an elite QB OR a decent qb + dominant defense, no point in even playing Basketball: If you don't have (several) top 10 players on the team, no point in even playing I have no idea what they're doing to do to fix that, it's made baseball the only sport worth caring about for me.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 02:49 PM) The best is when you get to utilize the Scout Seats on an iffy game for a few hours before first pitch. You sit in warm, dry surroundings and then they call it without a pitch happening. Basically get a free buffet for 2 hours. I've always aimed for that, hasn't happened yet. Or they can screw over 40k+ people like they did opening day last year and call the game after letting everyone in to buy concessions for a couple hours. Such a scumbag move that still makes me question ever going to a game again.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 02:36 PM) The Marlins and Indians did the same thing at least twice. Now at least three times in Miami. The A’s have been cycling through tanks over and over again. The Rays? The Twins...the Padres, many examples. Otoh, without the Shields deal, the White Sox have the lowest payroll in baseball by $10 million and clearly the #1 farm system with up to five superstars or at least All-Star caliber talents in the system (Jimenez, Tatis, Kopech, Robert, Hansen, Cease...and, if you squint hard enough, Collins because of the dearth of legit catching prospects, or Micker Adolfo). So the unique differentiating point is teams like the Cubs and Astros based rebuild on hitting/positional prospects moreso than the Sox approach of pitching first. Of course, we’ve already taken hits there...Rodon injuries and inconsistency (compared to say a Bryant, Correa or Lindor)...Burdi injured...Giolito looking more like Gavin Floyd than a true frontline ace (still a net win) due to a dropoff in velocity...otoh, Cease looks more and more legit everyday. Let’s not forget Fulmer is also FAR from a sure thing. And then you have the Burger, Robert and Adolfo injuries. Not quite the linear path those two teams followed (Cubs/Astros), but undoubtedly faster to get back to competitive team, too. Financially, we might be in the best division to overtake rivals as well...over the long-term. The Padres do everything right, still have the Dodgers in their path, for example. Maybe NL East post Harper is equal opportunity for Braves and Phillies? The difference: None of those teams had ELITE chips to trade (sans the Marlins who just had a flat-out we don't care sell everyone sale because they're scumbags). That's the only reason the Sox may have a couple year turn around.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 01:01 PM) That has really started to change. A good chunk of our starting line up is guys who we both drafted and developed. I hope so, I'd still like to see more than just 1-2 slightly above-average positional players

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2018 -> 12:10 PM) They really did tank into the perfect situation. With a depressed free agent market and a situation where their players available were far and above what anyone else who was looking to sell had to offer. If they had tried that now, there are so many more teams into active tanking modes, that the prices being brought back are depressed from where they were. Yeah I wouldn't call the Sox the "most extreme" tanking ever, just happened to luck into a crazy combination of having a few elite assets + contending teams with great farms. The Astros were BAD for 3 years in a row and destroyed the draft a couple times to get them a ring. Outside of Tatis I've loved every move, my only concern is they can't draft & develop a positional player to save their lives (jury out on Anderson still) and will eventually need to do that at some point once this wave of prospects has passed. Having a young core hopefully come along in the next 2 years + infinite money to spend in a great free agent class is a pretty nice spot to be in.

Easter Sunday + garbage team +

QUOTE (Wanne @ Apr 1, 2018 -> 12:52 AM) I’m still beyond pissed they didn’t play yesterday!!!?!!! WTF? Most annoying thing about opening day...play...then wait. Nobody else did did they? Like the need a goddam rest already...on a FRIDAY?!? Every s***-weather-city team does that for opening day to plan for a rain/snow out. Sox opening day is next Thursday and they have off Friday for the same reason.

QUOTE (Tony @ Mar 30, 2018 -> 12:25 PM) Remember when the Sox started the 2016 season at 19-8? The ended the season 78-84. Yep, also cost us Tatis Jr.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 05:23 PM) Benetti so much better doing college football and basketball when he's not making so many jokes They just have 0 rapport with each other. Stone doesn't "get it" and makes it awkward so Benetti forces it feels like.

Basically been begging Sox "premium" ticket dept for weeks to let me buy tickets and can't get anyone to reply. This team sells out 3 games a year, they should be paying me to go to games.

QUOTE (zisk @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 01:09 PM) 3 #1 picks in 2 years. 2 season ending injuries and a complete bust of a catcher. what a rebuild. It had to be said. Dang, should we tell Hahn not to draft guys that will get injured do you think or is there a better way?

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Feb 24, 2018 -> 03:42 PM) The bad guys spent some serious money on their rebuild when they signed Lester, Heyward and Zobrist. That is not going to happen with the White Sox. You realize the Sox are just now entering that spot right? Heyward and Zobrist were signed a year after the Cubs made the NLCS. The Sox haven't been above .500 in 6 years. And do you want the Sox to sign a guy like Heyward, really? I pray our front office isn't stupid enough to give out a contract like that especially since they don't print money and it would cripple the team. s*** they spent 120m+ on teams where the only "stars" on the team were Buehrle and an aging Konerko.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Feb 24, 2018 -> 03:26 PM) Hate to be negative about this but I still think the White Sox will have a much lower payroll in 2019. Low payroll =more moola for JR and his investors. This so called rebuild is going to be a very cheap rebuild. And I don't think Shields or Avi Garcia will be on the team in 2019. Cheap rebuild? Could you list all the "expensive" rebuilds? I despise JR as much as anyone but they're absolutely not going to have a 50m payroll with a (hopefully) bunch of young stars. It would be stupid to spend money right now when you don't know what your holes are going to be. The goal should be a young core with a couple spots to fill and a ton of money to spend, aka - the exact spot the Sox are currently in.

Because we have a bunch of players already on the roster who need to get AB's to see if they have anything and we're not trying to compete this year?

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 03:37 PM) He started pitching with that angle towards the end of the year but I can't remember how long it was for. https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-on-the-...-james-shields/ 54+ innings

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 03:29 PM) How many starts was it last season where he threw on that 3/4 angle? I feel like he wasn't that bad to end last year. I read 2 paragraphs on that same thing last year and am 100% clinging to him "figuring something out" so we can dump him & ease the pain of giving up a top 10 prospect for him.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 01:32 PM) Isn't draft pick compensation for a contract over $50 million? Seems like if it's

Stupid draft compensation kills it. Otherwise I'd love for them to buy low on him

The Marlins just sold for 1.2b with a ton of money committed and just dumped it all. I put absolutely 0 stock in JR planning to keep payroll at 60m so he can sell for some mysteriously higher amount.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 31, 2018 -> 12:51 PM) There isn't a pitching staff that exists that couldn't use Chris Sale. True, but the Sox are not the Cubs/Dogers/Yankees who can have a 300m payroll without batting an eye so I'd rather that money get spread out to a couple people than needing to do it because we don't have an ace

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 31, 2018 -> 11:16 AM) How cool and ironic would it be to sign Sale in 2020? I'd be bummed out if we needed to fork over 150m+ to Sale as that would mean most of the guys below didn't pan out/hit ceilings or exist (Rodon's case). Rodon/Kopech/Hansen/Gio/Lopez/Dunning/Fulmer/Cease/Adams

QUOTE (GermanSock @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 03:00 PM) But it still less money than it used to be in an industry that is making more money. That is not acceptable. The owners should make profit but they can't cut player salaries while making more profit. No team ever was crippled by an albtratros contract. I'm not saying teams should continue to sign pujols deals but they need to give the money they save back to the players in some way. It is really not about the players getting more, it just is about keeping their share of baseball revenue stable. I think a 50/50 revenue share between players and teams would be fair (like it is in nba). Maybe even 60/40 for the owners but players can't put up with any less. They're not cutting salaries, they're just not giving out stupid salaries anymore. I'm not going to fault them for that, if you want them to make less money (which I agree with) then outlaw public funded stadiums, raise payroll floors, and pay minor leaguers more. Complaining that aging players aren't getting ridiculous contracts anymore isn't the answer.

I vote it remains Asche until an 83+ win season.