Y2Jimmy0

Bears are placing the Franchise Tag on Jeffery per Adam Schefter.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 12:43 PM) Rangers sign Stubbs to minor-league deal. Seems like Jackson has run out of options besides the Sox and Orioles. Always still the Angels and Brewers as well

This was way worse last year. Garcia is really the only "black hole" in the lineup now. LaRoche is used vs just RHP has to be better and I don't expect Melky to be terrible. That being said, if LaRoche and Melky are terrible, the White Sox will probably finish in 5th again.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 10:54 AM) I just don't think he's anything special. Maybe better defense but I honestly believe they need another run producing bat. Sox haven't spent much in free agency and if they are at the limit it's going to trade route. Just because Jackson is the next one up that needs a team everyone is now looking at him for sox. Just throwing it out there if the Sox sign Jackson you are looking at maybe only 30 homeruns combined in outfield. Thats why I belive they need another threat in the lineup cause right now the big boys are Abreu/Frazier. Don't have the pieces to get a run producing bat which is why I want to improve the worst defensive OF in the AL. I've wanted Jackson all offseason. It isn't some new thing.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 10:42 AM) I would think the players union isn't too thrilled that Fowler left so much $$ on the table. He didn't really leave any $$ on the table though.

If the White Sox added Jackson they could look like this theoretically: VS RHP 1. Eaton RF 2. Cabrera LF 3. Abreu 1B 4. Frazier 3B 5. LaRoche DH 6. Lawrie 2B 7. Avila C 8. Rollins SS 9. Jackson CF vs LHP 1. Eaton RF 2. Rollins SS 3. Abreu 1B 4. Frazier 3B 5. Cabrera LF 6. Lawrie 2B 7. Garcia DH 8. Navarro 9. Jackson CF

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:49 AM) Eh. He offers an equal or arguably worse bat than Avi at more than double the price. Yes, his D is important (especially considering the Sox current OF), but I think Hahn will find a better value for the money elsewhere. One of them is a 2 WAR player that is great defensively and the other is Avisail Garcia. It's a pretty big upgrade.

I honestly don't really see how Sanchez has a spot on the roster. Rollins at SS. Saladino as the utility guy. 4 man bench doesn't really leave a spot for Sanchez.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:24 AM) would be fantastic, as even though Fowler is a bit better, the lack of comp pick for Jackson makes him more valuable in terms of salary Fowler is better. Jackson could theoretically bounce back offensively though and plays great OF defense.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:21 AM) Levine said that the Sox offered him 2/$17mil They absolutely should offer that same deal to Austin Jackson

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:13 AM) If the Baltimore rumors are true, then this was never about money for Fowler. Baltimore's offer was supposedly for 3/33M and yet Fowler signed a 1/8M with an option for 1/9M + 5M buyout next year. Fowler took considerably less money to re-sign with the Cubs. He said " this is where my heart is" and considering he signed for less, in this case, it's true that it wasn't about the money. It's nonsense though. He'd rather play for the Cubs this season and become a free agent again, possibly landing a better 3-4 deal next offseason than taking the Orioles firm 3 year offer.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:20 AM) Kruger might be as well (RFA). He (or Shaw) is probably gone next year. Gonna need a new contract. Is there any chance that Shaw could be used as part of a package to get a defenseman or will they not damage the chemistry? I just kind of think McNeil could probably do what Shaw does. OTOH, Shaw may be pretty effective on the 3rd line instead of the 1st.

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:50 AM) The Brewers? Really? We have yet to see how they will pan out (similarly, the Braves). The Cubs are reality, they are the best team in the bigs right now. Even if we grant you a few teams, the cubs are on the short list of teams that have been built masterfully. Perhaps, but at this stage in the season it isn't about screwing up the world series, it's about setting your team up to reach it. There's very few, if any, teams that are currently set up as well as the Cubs are. All you can do is create a team to get into the playoffs consistently. That's the quickest path to the world series. Need to win your division and get in the tournament. At that point, anything can happen. Variance trumps everything.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:51 AM) Takes away a potential landing spot for someone better though (Jackson). Well yes that's true. I didn't think Cleveland could afford Jackson though anyway.

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:47 AM) There goes Venable. Another one bites the dust. Will Venable sucks.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:46 AM) You're correct, White Sox fans are the only ones who ever say this about the Cubs. GMAB They aren't but constant worrying about a team not in our own division is stupid. Giants/A's, Angels/Dodgers, and Yankees/Mets don't really have these fake "rivalries" like we have created here.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 01:39 AM) There has been progress, ever since the RBI program started we've seen more black players drafted than any time in recent memory. The lack of black fathers has something to do with it and another thing that contributes to it is that black people don't feel welcome when it comes to baseball, because the vast majority of us feel like our culture is not welcomed. Look at this: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...-his-hat-around You're a black player and when you do something 'not white' you're told to stop. The fact that the NFL and NBA is an immediate payday has something to do with it as well, right? You can make the most $$ playing baseball but it takes the longest amount of time to actually make that $$.

I'd offer Jackson a 2 year deal for $16 million. Would be a nice deal.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 06:38 PM) Who's that? TSN reporter

gary lawlessVerified account ‏@garylawless hearing some conversations heating up between #nhljets and @NHLBlackhawks on Andrew Ladd Ladd has been scratched tonight, FWIW.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 04:38 PM) That's nice. Like I said, I don't really give a crap what the reason is. If you want to look at every free agent outfielder individually you can come up with a fine excuse on why said player didn't sign with the Sox but when you miss out on every single one there's a problem somewhere with how you're operating. You can feel however you want. You are being irrational though and people shouldn't take you seriously.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 11:21 AM) Josh Reddick - free agent in 2017. The A's wont hesitate to move a guy before that FA year The A's have Reddick, Burns, Crisp, Canha, Fuld, Coghlan, and Khris Davis.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:14 AM) We also had a historically bad position player group. Frazier & Lawrie are nice upgrades, but we're still relying on too many players to rebound/improve next year. Melky, LaRoche, & Avi combined for a -2.8 fWAR and we haven't added one player to push them for playing time. Saladino and/or Rollins are likely an upgrade at SS, but the question is how much? Same goes for C. Our team is better and I think we can possibly contend as is, but a lot of things would have to go right, including near perfect health from our pitching staff. Adding a guy like Jackson just makes too much sense, as he provides more value to the team than his indivual WAR contribution. He allows Eaton to slide over to RF, improving the OF defense significantly. He also allows Avi to start the season in a bench/platoon role pushing LaRoche and possibly Melky for playing time. Honestly, I don't know what Hahn is thinking if he doesn't add another OF, because this division is very winnable with one more move. They did upgrade crater size holes at 2B, SS, and 3B though. Catcher is an upgrade offensively as well barring health. They had an all time bad offense and only finished 5 games out of .500.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:42 AM) I agree that if the Sox want to win, having more budget to work with would make the jobs of KW and Hahn much easier. But for me, that's where it ends. I don't know the owners finances and I don't feel it would be right for me to say they have the money and are unwilling to spend it because I'm just a fan and don't work in the FO. Knowing JR wants another winner, I'd like to think that if the money was indeed available, it would be spent to help build another winner. Another possibility is that the money is there but wasn't enough to pry Cespedes and Gordon from their desire to stay with their former teams. As for Fowler, not sure what to think other than maybe the FO doesn't feel the end justifies the means, iow, Fowler isn't worth what he got when factoring in the contract, money and comp pick. Looking at Fowler's average to sub-par defense combined with only hitting .228 against RHP last season makes me wonder if the Sox dodged a bullet on this one. Those could be reasons why the Sox backed away from Fowler. As a fan, all I can do is guess/speculate as to why things didn't happen for the Sox this winter. Maybe at some point, KW and Hahn will provide more insight. Nevertheless, I still think the Sox are looking for an outfielder and still believe it's possible a trade with one of Tampa or Houston could still happen. Both of them have too many outfielders and the Sox have bullpen depth so there's a potential fit. It's not April 4th just yet. This is a good post. I agree with all of it.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 08:40 AM) Yes, you are correct. With the expected release of Bennett and Rolle, the Bears could still afford those 6 players and still have room to get a couple more guys. Remember, last year Bears had half the cap space and signed 3 guys to multi year deals. Bears will have around $65 million in space with a Bennett trade. Could get near $70 million if they wanted to slice Gould and Rolle.