Chicago White Sox

Thank god we didn’t sign Machado because we would have been tapped out in 2028 in addition to 2023. KW always thinking about the big picture saved us though.

The point is Fegan’s new $180M payroll comment along with all the posturing Hahn has done this off-season suggest very little to work with. I’d wager we have $15M or less to work with. Unfortunately none of us will never know how they actually account for things like buy-outs, signing bonuses, etc so it’s really hard to reverse engineer this.

All while signing more and more expensive relievers despite drafting and trading for numerous relief prospects in the proceeding years.

Honestly, I think I’m back at the trade Cease & Anderson for hauls scenarios. I just don’t see how Hahn can address our holes via trade. Montgomery is the only minor leaguer who can headline a deal for a controllable impact player. Even if you could move him, Ramos, etc. for Bryan Reynolds, how the f*** do you address the rotation when you’re tapped financially and prospect wise? I’d rather do a semi rebuild leveraging our couple assets that are worth something substantial than do the traditional half ass “go for it” thing this organization loves to do. Between being cheap and continuously rewarding incompetence, Reinsdorf really is the worst. Can’t wait until we’re finally free of his tyranny.

Glad we’re maxed out at the end of our contention window and can’t fill our couple major holes with legit talent because Hahn is spending $40M+ on a bullpen and $5.5M on a shitty UT guy. That takes a special kind of bad.

Ben Gamel for OF and trade for whoever the modern day of equivalent of Ivan Nova is. That’s your Rick Hahn special this off-season.

Bump

I thought you knew me better than this

Yes

The good news is Hahn has proven to be excellent shopping in the bargain bin.

Here is the quote for reference:

Jerry sure loves waiting until the deadline to address off-season needs

Fegan posted 40 minutes ago that the payroll will be closer to $180M. Cheap ass Jerry apparently wants to close the window even earlier than expected.

I must admit I enjoy watching you turn full heal on this organization after years & years of unwarranted optimism. That being said, I still don’t agree with your outlook. I think there is reason for hope even if a turnaround is far from certain.

I’m pretty sure we were closer to $196M give or take.

Why are we trading from an already weak system if we have $30M+ to spend on a handful of needs? Hopefully this is simple 4D chess that Rick is playing, but Trader Hahn trying to fix the roster is a scary proposition.

Where did we end up at? Pretty close to $200M when it was all said & done right?

Sosa was really good in AAA down the stretch. What makes you think he’s not ready for a shot?

I keep seeing this, but if Spanky could get 1/$8M from us after a rough season so could Pollock. Dude was legit good in 2021 and still crushed LHP last year.

Adam Maloney = ComiskeyFootlongDog confirmed

We wasted a year of potential service time with Vaughn for like 12 total plate appearances. I get a new manager will play the young guys more right out of the gate, but I’m not losing a year of control of Colas for what will be less than 15 games with days off. How many more games do the Sox win with Oscar starting over Pollock during this stretch?

Not sure I follow. My point is the starting OF for the first 15 games should be Pollock, Robert, & some free agent. If someone important gets injured, then Colas is an opening day starter by default.

I mean, the idea is you are trying to gain an extra year of control. That’s worth 15 games of Pollock as your LF. Should have done the same with Vaughn.

Payton

Yup, I think you start the season with Pollock as the “starter” in LF and then quickly pivot to Colas if/when things go off the rails. Definitely need to add a LH corner OF who is capable of playing RF in this hypothetical.