Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 11:34 AM) I would think these "pillow" guys would want something near the amount of the QO offer they turned down. I read that teams value the comp picks at between $5 million and $8 million. Losing a comp pick and signing Desmond to a 1 year contract anywhere near the $15 million + he turned down seems like a bad thing to do. After further review, I'll take back my idea. His K rate has gotten real ugly the past two years and I'm not overly confident a rebound is in order.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 11:43 AM) To those of you who assert that the best way for an organization to structure a contract is to "back load" it, I disagree, if the objective is to give the team flexibility by encouraging the player to opt out. If the big money comes later in the deal, why would the player opt out. Reverse the numbers in my hypothetical example with Cespedes: 6 years for $150 Million 1ST 3 years at $20 Million per year Last 3 years @ $30 Million per year That would all but guarantee that the team will be paying the entire contract, as Cespedes would have little incentive to opt out. Please explain what I am missing, and don't quibble about the total amount, as it is a hypothetical example. The part you're missing is front-loading a contract hurts your financial flexibility now. I'm sure most teams would love to see annual salaries in contracts decrease over time along with expected production, but the desire to win now (usually why you're adding a big FA) typically prevents that.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 11:13 AM) Uh...no team would actually add all of those players. Adding one, let's say Upton, adds about $20 million to the payroll. A guy like Desmond would cost less. The author is simply stating that the Sox are in a good position to add ONE of those players...not all of them. I have no idea how much Desmond will get, but if he's willing to take a pillow contract, he could be a very interesting signing for the Sox. With a decent rebound in 2016 and a poor free agent class next offseason, he's likely to get a multi-year deal to his liking next year even with a comp pick attached. The Sox would give up a 2nd round pick this year, but would essentially get a late 1st rounder in 2017 (again, assuming a rebound) and buy themselves a much more proven stopgap until Anderson is ready to take over. I find it highly unlikely the Sox can add both an impact OF and Desmond, but definitely something I'd be open to if Hahn could make the financials work out.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 11:11 AM) Contract inflation is also way different, which helps Davis. Also true. I will say this, Davis is crazy if he doesn't accept the Orioles' offer. I highly doubt any team offers anything close to a deal of that size.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 11:02 AM) His market reminds me of Adam Dunn when we signed him in 10. It is a limited amount of teams who need him because they already have 1B covered. Past that, he is only one season removed from an Adam Dunn like season where he hit under .200. Good comparison, although the offensive environment is completely different today than it was when we signed Dunn, which is why he'll get a f***ton more than Dunn did.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 10:55 AM) The SOX payroll including committed contracts/arbitration players/league minimum players is at about 119M. Now add in the cost all those players Petriello suggests and get back to me. The guy knows nothing about the Sox front office or the Sox finances. Dude, he did not suggest adding all those players. Is that honestly what you thought? If so, did you actually read the article, because I have no idea how you would of came to that conclusion. He threw out the idea of adding Upton & Desmond to address our OF & SS holes. The logic of doing so makes perfect sense in the framework he put together. He wasn't saying this was likely either, but simply a quick way to make this team a playoff contender, which is hard to argue with. You seem obsessed with this idea the Sox can't add payroll, when in reality none of know the Sox's budget for 2016. What I can tell you there is clearly some wiggle room right now or else we wouldn't be actively involved in discussions with the premier OF free agents.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 10:43 AM) SP Wei-Yin Chen SP Yovani Gallardo SP Ian Kennedy 1B Chris Davis 2B Howie Kendrick SS Ian Desmond LF Alex Gordon LF Justin Upton CF Dexter Fowler Uh, ya. Because the Sox have that kind of money to throw around. Petriello has no clue of what he's talking about and really makes himself out to be a complete moron with this horrible write-up. I see far better ideas by the good Sox fans of this board. Petriello must be talking fantasy baseball or something. Did you actually read the article? He suggested those guys above could have their value reduced to some extent due to the comps picked attached, which would benefit the Sox because their first round pick is protected. His article was well written and made a ton of sense. Not sure how anyone could actually read it and call the author a moron.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 01:08 PM) I agree. The process of this FA market has been historically slow. It seems very unrealistic to expect a player to receive his first offer from a team and accept that the same day. Some on here are acting like the market is flying & the White Sox are refusing to move. NO ONE is signing. Exactly, even the secondary OFs (outside of De Aza) haven't been signing yet. If there truly is an excess supply of good to great OFs available, then teams are smart to wait it out until players' demands drop a bit. It sucks having to wait, but no movement is not a bad sign for us, especially given that multiple baseball insiders have stated our interest in these guys is legitimate and their markets are smaller than anticipated. Now is the time for all of us to be patient and put our faith in the front office to land one of those guys.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 01:06 PM) ...yikes... It's a line from the movie Tropic Thunder. No need to call the PC police on this one, I'm sure he's just having a bit of fun.

And even if we offered Gordon a formal contract today, it doesn't mean he has to accept it today. He'll likely want to talk with his family/agent/etc and make sure he is making the best decision. He may also take that offer and use it as leverage to get the Royals to increase their offer. No news so far today doesn't take away credibility from what bucket said.

QUOTE (peavy44 @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 12:20 PM) Why would gordon want them clauses Why would anyone want a no-trade clause? Provides them control/stability. Given that Gordon has played his entire career with one team and has strong ties to the Midwest, it wouldn't be that surprising if he wanted some security with his new team.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 11:57 AM) This is a buyer's market. Patience. How many teams are in the hunt for these 3 or 4 OF's that are getting the attention? What once cost $20 million+ is probably down to $16-$18M (or will be soon) so I think the White Sox will eventually dip into the market if they are truly going 'all-in'. I don't see the prices dropping that much. I still think Gordon gets at least $18M/per, with Cespedes & Upton in the $20M to $22M range. The benefit should hopefully come on the contract length side. My guess is each guy gets a year less than they were originally hoping for, with Upton getting 6 years, Cespedes getting 5, & Gordon getting 4.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 10:51 AM) Personally, I'm not going to get overly riled up about alternative options until the Sox lose out on the top 3. I still think they end up with 1 of them. Most people lost hope with Frazier after the Lawrie deal & it still happened. Frankly, I think the layover with the holidays, it has people on edge. Nothing has changed for any team & both raBBit & Bucket both said they would move forward this week. Yeah, there is nothing to worry about until these guys start going off the board. At some point, one of these guys will give in and accept it's somewhat of a buyers market this year. Once that happens, the other dominoes should start to fall. No need to think about secondary options until the Sox have lost out on the big 3, and quite frankly, I think we're well positioned to land one of them. With most of the big spenders not interested in OFs (Yankees, Red Sox, & Dodgers), the prices should be much more reasonable than other spots. Obviously nothing is guaranteed and teams like the Angels & Tigers could disrupt things pretty quickly, but I really like our chances to land one of these guys.

No way on giving Parra 3 to 4 years with an AAV of $13M. That would be a terrible use of resources and would barely make our team better. Hell, Jacob May could probably get you better production in 2017 at the league minimum. If we're serious about competing next year, we need to add an impact OF and Parra clearly doesn't qualify.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 10:42 AM) Parra barely put up a positive WAR. Would much rather get Span Yeah, Parra has been pretty bad the past two years, I really want nothing to do with him.

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Dec 28, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) 30 hr's between Avi and Melky would be a lot to expect: Melky hasn't hit double digit longballs since 2009 (when he hit 13), and Avi's career high total of 13 last season was nearly double what he had hit in any previous season. 20 hr's between the 2 would be more realistic imo, if we are stuck with those 2 players as the corner outfielders. By the way, Avi hit those 13 hr's in 601 ab's--if Avi sees 601 ab's for the Sox in 2016, he's either made a sudden and massive jump in ability or more than likely, we're in trouble after having whiffed on all upgrade possibilities. Not sure where you got your numbers from, but Melky has hit double digit home runs in four the last five seasons.

Great job as always. While you already addressed it, I really think Antonio Rodriguez will be starting 2016 in Kannapolis. If so, that should one of the most exciting groups of position players Kannapolis has seen in years and the first major sign our Latin American program is finally back up to speed (between him and Cruz).

QUOTE (Brian26 @ Dec 27, 2015 -> 10:07 AM) LOL, reminds me of a couple of guys who post here with their "sources". Are you that douche from WSI? If so, get the f*** out of here with that trolling bulls***.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 27, 2015 -> 09:03 AM) He has already written off the rest of the decade. He's got a point. The Frazier & Lawrie moves will most likely hold us back for years to come. God forbid if they add Gordon or Upton, might have to reopen the contraction talks at that point.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 26, 2015 -> 07:08 PM) Then it also made no sense for them to acquire several guys who pencil in as a FA in 2 seasons. Because if they're going to acquire that guy, they need to win the division this year, and the FA market next year doesn't set them up to fill in any holes that develop. If they can't field a competitive team this year (and they can't), then that move again sets them up for continued long-term failure. Lol at Balta the grouch already writing off next season.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Dec 25, 2015 -> 02:09 PM) If Gordon wants $100 million on a 5 year contract, I hope that the Sox are able to nudge KC to spend enough to get him to stay there, and Hahn moves on to someone else. We have all acknowledged that KC is going to be in a financial bind, with so many of their core players entering free agency. The Sox window appears to be 2 years. Obligating themselves to a 5 year deal at that kind of money, for a guy his age, doesn't seem consistent with the rest of their moves. Why is our window 2 years? Our three key starters, Abreu, & Eaton are all under contact for 4+ years.

Bad Santa.

Moving Robertson to add Gordon (or the others) is counter-productive. At this point, we can't address all our weaknesses nor do we need to. The key is upgrading one of the OF spots with a legit two-way player and hope Melky can bounce back enough with the bat to be a overall productive player in the other corner. If he's killing you defensively come June, then adjustments can be made to allow him to DH more. But for now, keep all your major league pieces and simply add that impact OF. That move alone should put us in the playoff mix.

The more I think about it, the more I want Gordon over Upton & Cespedes. He's a true baseball player and I strongly believe his skillset will age better than most players his age. Add in how his left-handed bat & on-base skills will add much needed balance to the lineup, he makes the most sense if you're looking to be serious contenders in 2016 & 2017. A 5th year may end up hurting, but we don't have a ton of financial commitments in 2020, so the overall risk is low. I think it's a win if we add any of these players, but if we have a choice, I'll take Gordon.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) Still an upgrade over Avi. At the very least competition for a bench role.