royoung

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 24, 2014 -> 06:12 AM) Talk about trolling. Sale can continue to improve as he pitches. Sitting him for a year (I'm still baffled by the mere suggestion) would do nothing but possibly cause him to regress. There are health risks for anyone, and Sale is not a bigger health risk than any deal the Sox can enter into. Signing a 31 year old pitcher to a 4 year $40MM+ contract has much more risk. Here's the point that you are missing (or refuse to accept): There is no reason to go spend money on a veteran starting pitcher just to sign a veteran. It doesn't make any sense, and we should just stop talking about it. Let's just punt the whole 2014 season. Why play? We can forfeit all our games and rest up for 2015! Seriously though, this is baseball and we have a lot of young talent that I am excited to watch develop at the major league level. Are we stocking up like the Yankees? NO. But 2014 will be a step in the right direction and Hahn can continuous evaluate the roster and the trade/FA market for ways to improve the future of the ball club.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 06:02 PM) Its going to be another long year watching these dudes behind the plate. Even Hahn seems deflated in recent interviews in regards to the catcher position. Keep exploring every option, buddy! Please, Please explore every option... three way deals, financial creativity... do what you need to do, Mr. Hahn. It's going to be ugly, but a lot of teams punt the catcher position. I am ok with him not making a bad move just to put a band aid on the position in 2014.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 12:58 PM) Davidson shouldn't start the year in AAA Why not? He's only 22 and hasn't dominated AAA. Kepp and Gillaspie can form a halfway decent lefty-righty platoon and keep it warm he's ready to stick for the long term. Keppaspie? Gillinger? So many possibilities!

2020?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 10:19 AM) Also as much as I want to see ARod gone, now I have a need to see him come back next year so the Yanks are stuck paying him till his contract runs out in 2017. They are paying his contract in 2015-2017 no matter what. They just got 27 million in relief when he was suspended for the 2014 season.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 10:07 AM) I'm not all that upset about either. At the prices they went for? Me too. Also, thanks for the information Rock. Very good stuff and kept things interesting to the end. Appreciate it

QUOTE (dayan024 @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 10:04 AM) Phil Rogers ‏@philgrogers 1m @Ken_Rosenthal reports that White Sox were one of five teams in Tanaka bidding until the end, along w/@Yankees, @Cubs, @Dodgers @ @astros. So Hahn foiled by the Yankees in pursuit of two free agents targets this off-season. (McCann and Tanaka)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 09:34 AM) You also have to look at it if he needed an opt out after 4 years, is your team ready to win the next 4 seasons? If winning a WS isn't realistic the next 4 seasons, signing Tanaka and paying the fee makes less sense. Yep. The way I see we have a 6 year window with our current roster construction. Correct me if I am wrong, but Sale, Abreu, Eaton, Garcia, Davidson, EJ, Semien, etc etc are all under team control for the next six seasons. That is why I believe Hahn felt comfortable offering six years at that price. But there is certainly other ways (and perhaps wiser) ways to upgrade the roster with that kind of money.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) I spread out the 35 million over the course of the contract and added the posting fee, and as I pointed out, it wasn't much different annually averaged. Obviously I am not adding interest made on money sitting elsewhere, but rates are pretty low right now. Maybe in 4 or 5 years that could be very different. 7 years is scary, but so was 6 and 5 and 4 and 3 for that kind of money, but if he pitches well, the 7th year is irrelevant, it won't go that far. He will be re-negotiating after 4. Brutal either way, but you can only push so far. You assume that he pitches well enough to want to re-negotiate a contract that pays him like the a top five pitcher in all of baseball from his age 29-32 years.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 09:20 AM) I am just assuming the Sox were as well, but there's no difference between 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 30th in a free agent negotiation. I wonder if the Dodgers and Cubs also went to a 7th year, because I am guessing the Sox would not.

Joel Sherman ‏@Joelsherman1 7m #Yankees #dodgers #Cubs were finalist for Tanaka. #Yankees went from 6 yr offer to 7 in past few days, told without that could not do deal

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) Please do. Add the posting fee. 6 years 120 million plus the 20 million posting fee= 6 years 140 million=$23.3 million a year 7 years 155 million pluse the 20 million posting fee=7 years 175 million=$25 million a year You can spread out 35 million over as many years as you like, but it matters to a team like the Sox and obviously doesn't to the Yankees.

I remember reading from a reputable source that one team went for a shorter contract with a higher pay per year, which could of explained the "nearly" caveat on the 5 offers over 100 million. I wonder if Hahn tried to be creative on the years and payout rather than the length of the contract.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 08:58 AM) If you were OK with 6 and 120, 7 and 155 isn't too much different. I want to know what the Cubs offer was? What is Cubbie blogger saying now? Bruce, I thought the Cubs were the "lead team"? An extra year and 35 million isn't too much different? I'll quote you on that if we signed Garza or Jimenez to a year one 35 million dollar contract.

Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 2m With Tanaka signed, #Yankees have committed 29 years and $471 million to nine free agents this offseason. Unbelievable. Evil Empire indeed.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 08:54 AM) Too bad. Now I hope he sucks. The problem with the 4 year opt out is then it basically costs you $5 million extra per year with the posting fee. Hopefully in a few years Tanaka will look back and say he should have signed with the White Sox, but the Yankees were desperate. They probably would have paid him whatever it took. I like the White Sox agressiveness, and Hahn is either a great actor or really thought he had a shot. This bodes well for the future IMO. I bet the Yankees just upped their bid when Close asked them to and the Sox weren't willing to go the extra year/cash. And I don't blame Hahn, that is ridiculous amount of money for him. 6 for 120 would of been a lot but reasonable, this was too much.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 08:51 AM) Whose to say they weren't at one time? Money talks. This deal is probably at least $35 million more than the Sox were willing to go. Exactly that is an irrelevant sentiment. If we offered 6 and 120 and they offered 7 and 155, where would you go? I would bet you anything we just got outbid. Period.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 22, 2014 -> 08:45 AM) Eh, he's gonna suck anyway. #bitter Even if he maxes out on his "potential," he's viewed as a step below Darvish and he just got the 5th highest contract for a pitcher EVER. NO THANKS. I would of been ecstatic for 6 for 120.

7 years? 155 million? Opt out after 4th year? No thanks to all that. Good effort by the Sox, went all in for the top two international free agents. Great off-season, now let's play some damn baseball.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 03:02 PM) Darvish Iwakuma Kuroda Hideo Nomo Tomo Ohka had a couple good years but sucked more often than not. Then a glut of relievers Tazawa Uehara Hasegawa Kaz Sasaki Otsuka Saito The obvious failures are Dice-K, Igawa, Irabu. Forgot Kuroda, good call.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 02:53 PM) Specify "decent track record of pitchers having successful transitions". I see a group who, with only one exception I am aware of, are all pretty awful by year 2 or 3. Show me a list of Japanese pro pitchers coming over and being successful for more than about 1.5 seasons. Maybe I am missing some, beyond the one I am aware of. I say decent, because as the case with most high profile FA's, it's about 50/50 on worth it. Nomo, Darvish, Uehara, Iwakuma were or are profiling to be tremendous successes. Irabu, the later years of Dice-K, Igawa and others are disappointments. It's a mixed bag, but there is a decent track record to be found.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) I can't believe anybody would guarantee 100M+ to a guy that's never pitched in the majors. That's an incredible risk. Edit 120M+ Motherf***ers stupid. The Japanese league is considered the 2nd strongest baseball league in the world and has a decent track record of pitchers having successful transitions. We committed 68 million to a Cuban who has never seen a MLB pitch and that deal is widely applauded, I don't see the big difference in risk here.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 11:11 AM) OMFG WE'VE SEEN THIS INFORMATION A THOUSAND TIMES ALREADY I can't help but read your posts in Gob's voice and it makes them so, so much better

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jan 21, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) @RobertMurrayMLB tanaka had asked his followers to send a photo for his profile pic. A bunch came in, and he tweeted "can't decide" Trolling haha

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 20, 2014 -> 01:51 PM) Tanaka is likely going to take the offer that makes the most sense for him financially. I don't believe you are going to see a straight 6 year deal get him signed. I think it's going to involve some creativity, ie the out clauses. He just turned 25. I think you are going to see him sign a 6 year deal worth around $120 with an out clause at year 4. He'd enter free agency again at 29, which allows him the opportunity to get another 4-6 year deal on the open market. If he flops or is less than expected, he gets to earn out the contract and move back to Japan. Has Theo ever done anything that creative with his contracts? Hahn and Cashman have. I think Theo is going to throw money out there and say "come to us" and they are going to rebuke it. They won't want him to be a free agent again at 31, because he'll be exiting his prime years and likely only looking at a 2-4 year deal. I think this makes a lot of sense. He is young enough where he can get two mega contracts in the United States. Having an opt out clause in case of a team declining rather than competing, (or he pitches so well he could get Kershaw or Verlander money) would be wise of him. There is money incentive for him to control the later years of the contract so that he is not wasting his prime years.