Chicago White Sox

But why would an 83 year old Reinsdorf do this? He’s never been willing to go into the red, but he has a track record of more or less putting most money back into the team. Now, as he approaches the end of his life he’s going to suddenly milk his MLB franchise for profits when he’s already sitting on a $1B+ he can’t spend. You can’t really believe this right? Furthermore, the #1 source of revenue for MLB franchises are local TV deals and us sucking directly impacts the value of any future agreements, both as owner of the Sox & Bulls. There is simply no logic whatsoever to think the Sox will suddenly go cheap, when there is decades of proof we will at least be a middle of the pack payroll team. Regarding your second point, I have zero confidence that this organization will be able to land a whale. The way they failed in their pursuits of Machado was a true disaster. They were cocky as hell throughout the process, swinging their dicks around town and claiming they had “unprecedented economic flexibility” & “economic might”, when in reality they had a hard cap on years (creating way too much optimism within the fanbase). They went out and added two of his friends for a combined ~$13M in salary, when they weren’t prepared to even go to $300M in guaranteed money (which defeated the entire tie-breaker purpose of said strategy). And maybe worse of all they negotiated through the media, constantly informing the market of how ridiculously low their offer was for and inviting other entrants into the process (one who ultimately won). I will never defend their failures with Machado and will remain highly skeptical of their ability to land a whale until it actually happens. That being said, I will also be objective and say confidently we should able to sign the vast majority of free agents this offseason. There are probably three guys who get over $100M deals in Cole, Strasburg, & Rendon and I’m not counting on us landing any of them. However, after those three, everyone should be fair game and I feel confident we’ll add multiple pieces in that next tier. Would an offseason centered around Grandal, Wheeler or Bumgarner, Wood, Gennett (to play RF), & Betances be bad? If they rock a ~$125M payroll (which would be league average) that scenario would be very much possible and such an offseason would put us in a great spot to contend next year.

100% agree. He could be a guy where it all clicks one day, but the both K rate & BB have been pretty disappointing all year for a guy with his lack of power.

I mean, this is a message board and we typically debate various topics without taking opposing viewpoints personally (apparently not the case). That being said, @chitownsportsfan summarized my thoughts very nicely. I keep hearing how awesome Rutherford has been after a slow start when nothing in the underlying statistics suggest that at all. Meanwhile, Sheets has been awesome and doesn’t get nearly as much love. It’s really as simple as that.

Before the Quintana deal, it was one massive signing for us and one “big” trade with the Cubs ?‍♂️

Come on man, it was a totally different environment back then. And both sides have admitted to the risk of making a deal of this significance with each other. This isn’t just some random message board poster claiming this, SoxTalk’s favorite Cubs GM has said this himself. And no, I simply said a lot of the stereotypes the Sox were known for have since been overturned in recent years. I’ve acknowledged the clusterfuck that was the Machado miss many times on here and I’m not banking on them signing Gerrit Cole.

Lol...I guess I’m weird or trying to “win” for calling someone a hypocrite.

I actually admitted I was wrong about Bell (although I still think he sucked with us), but it really doesn’t change my point. That move was 27 years ago and the Sox & Cubs have basically done no significant trade then until Quintana.

I mean, you literally just made fun of me for not remembering George Bell was highly regarded. Pot call kettle black?

Thank you...and that’s the point. A lot of the stereotypes of the White Sox have been turned over in recent years.

I’ll admit he was better / higher regarded at the time of the trade than I originally let on (although he wasn’t very good by modern metrics). That being said, if we have to go back to 1992 to find a “big” Cubs-Sox trade that still reinforces my point.

Does that make you four years old, because I’m still struggling to see how Josh Donaldson wasn’t a great player.

That was @Moan4Yoan claiming it was “regression”.

Sheets has been awesome since a slow start, Rutherford not so much despite the common perception around here.

Yeah, that 1998 roster just reaks of rebuilding with no namers like Frank Thomas, Albert Belle, & Robin Ventura.

Lol...so was Ken Griffey Jr, but I don’t really call that a big trade when he was at the end of his career. Bell was out of the league after two seasons with us and wasn’t very good at the time of the trade. But hey, keep on reaching.

Yeah, unfortunately I don’t work in the front office and can say with absolute authority that they’ll raise their payroll to ~$125M. I can say with certainty they can afford a payroll of that level, that they should spend at that level, and that I think they will spend at that level, but whether they immediately jump there in 2020 remains an IF until they do.

What are these big trades you’re referring to? Sammy Sosa for George Bell in 1992? Matt Karchner for Jon Garland in 1998? Neil Cotts for David Aardsma in 2006? I know Sosa became a star, but none of those were anything like the Quintana deal in terms of scale and the risk both clubs took on. Also, White Flag Trade had nothing to do with rebuilding. They traded a couple of decent pieces, but kept the vast majority of the core. That is one of the biggest reaches I’ve seen in a long time.

Just like we’d never rebuild, never trade a star to the Cubs, and never go into the international free agency penalty box.

Oh my bad, thought you meant the majors.

I saw him at SoxFest and he’s easily the most impressive physical talent I have seen in my life baseball wise.

Who else would be impacted other than Sanchez?

The only pitcher getting more than five years will be Cole IMO. That means everyone else should be in our wheelhouse (see Danks deal.) And I get people being skeptical if we’ll ever sign a guy to a $200M+ deal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t land the vast majority of free agents this offseason. People are just so butt hurt over last offseason that they’re no longer being rational. We’ve always had middle of the pack payrolls or better under Jerry and that isn’t going to suddenly change because we temporarily cut back on spending like all rebuilding teams do.

Oh remember, Reinsdorf finally decided to rebuild at 80+ years of age so he could line his pockets with all those sweet rebuild savings!!

Just like many others here, he won’t be willing to take a guess but will then say we won’t sign anyone implying a $80M payroll next year.

Who is saying they’re moving?