Chicago White Sox

Basabe > Walker > Adolfo > Gonzalez > Rutherford

Like where do you guys come up with these conspiracies?

Lol...you actually think Kenny Williams got fired?

Hostetler got a promotion.

Walker: 9.0% BB rate, 15.1% K rate, .152 ISO, .294 BABIP, .760 OPS, 119 wRC+ Rutherford: 7.0% BB rate, 18.5% K rate, .143 ISO, .351 BABIP, .781 OPS, 120 wRC+ Not sure how you’re saying Blake outproduced Steele, especially when acknowledge Walker’s numbers are impacted by some BABIP regression carrying over from Low A. And remember that Walker’s adjustment period carries a bigger weight on his overall numbers than Blake’s because he’s spent much less time in Winston-Salem.

Without question Walker.

Walker has been on fire these last few days...keep it up kid.

I’m sure the Machado sweepstakes helped them sell a few tickets, but the long-term damage of failing to deliver on their “the money will be spent” promise will far outweigh those extra tickets in 2019. The one thing I can say with certainty is the front office really wanted to land Machado. Whether they were incompetent in terms of valuation or they simply botched the process and got outplayed at the end, they actually thought they would land him. There was no con here and Reisndorf isn’t this boogeyman whose sole goal it to make rebuilding profits. They simply fucked up at the end and let a small market competitor jump in and steal their guy at what ended up being a reasonable price point. It’s really that simple.

What would this elaborate con actually accomplish? I mean, all it takes is about five minutes on this website to see how enraged the fanbase over us botching the signing. Was their end game just to piss off their fans?

That’s who they’re promoting?!?

So you actually think our months long pursuit of Machado and $250M offer were all part of some extensive con?

The fact anyone could think this is honestly incredible.

Lol...absolutely no goodwill came out of the Machado miss. All it did is make our fanbase question their inability to spend even more-so. The reality is our front office actually thought $250M with options could get it done. Now, either they’re completely incompetent to act that cocky all offseason knowing that was their cap or they thought Lozano was bluffing at the end with SD and botched it completely. I lean towards the latter because it’s almost impossible to think Hahn would swing his dick around so much if he knew they were capped at $250M. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter because they didn’t get it done in an incredibly friendly market for a club of our stature.

But what about $80M or less for Wheeler, Ozuna, or Grandal?

And the best part is it’s all because we didn’t sign Manny Machado to one of the five largest deals in baseball history. Despite the fact we offered him $31M+ per over eight years, many believe the White Sox will never sign a quality free agent in the future. If people actually believe that, then they are simply not being rational anymore. All but two or three free agents will get deals for under $100M. For those citing history, we’ve spent $60M on Abreu, $50M on Robert, & $65M on a Danks extension. To think we won’t go up to $100M for a player when we’re sitting on $45M in payroll commitments next year is insanity.

Moncada not an untouchable...WTF

I’ve never once said we would sign Cole or even said I was even optimistic about signing him. I have simply said that we should sign him (as he would be the perfect addition for us) and that we have the financial resources to do so. And there’s zero reason we can’t sign Ozuna if we so choose. I’ll keep saying this but the Machado miss wasn’t due to money (i.e. AAV) but rather years and the corresponding risk that comes with them (in Jerry’s eyes at least). We should be fair game for anyone commanding a five year or less deal and that will be pretty much everyone but Rendon & Cole. I would have included Ozuna in my plan, but my feeling is the Sox want a left-handed bat in that spot. It has nothing to do with reduced expectations.

Lol...I’m definitely going to lose the motivation at some point. In terms of reinvigorating the fanbase, winning is ultimately what matters. We have a ton of exciting young star caliber talents, but don’t have the depth to plug the holes around them. I think people underestimate how much going from 0 to 3+ WAR across multiple spots would help our team next year. It may not be as sexy as adding Cole to headline our young staff, but it can still be effective. As for Gennett, the arm is a legit question, but he’s already expressed a willingness to play OF (at least for the Reds prior to being traded). I highly doubt he’ll be garnering much of a premium to play the OF, more likely he goes to whoever offers the most money period.

This post is ridiculous but par for the course. Grandal is a consistent 5 win player. Wheeler is a 4 win guy when healthy. Wood & Gennett are probably 3 win guys. Betances is a nasty backend bullpen piece. Adding those five guys would radically improve our team...just look at the production we’ve gotten out of those spots. Would I prefer Cole or Rendon? Sure I would, but the path to contention doesn’t require them.

Yup, down to ~4.5 on the season, still not bad for a closer. Too bad other front offices are still calculating WAR incorrectly and missed out on this opportunity.

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.