Thad Bosley

I’m actually getting more comfortable with a Mazara/Leury platoon. With their unique splits against RHP/LHP, respectively, it seems like the team would get very decent production out of the #8 spot in the lineup.

You can count on one hand the number of major spending expenditures for premium talent this owner has made over the past 40 years to improve his organization’s ability to compete for a championship (the Robert signing being one of them). The fan base has been and is very aware of this reticence to spend like the major market team that they are, which is why many aren’t quick to rush a pat on the back to the owner on that rare occurrence when it does happen.

Do you think putting his locker in between Abreu’s and Grandal’s could serve to adjust his attitude some? Maybe the Sox’ clubhouse could be the best one for him at this point.

Yes to EE’s thunderous bat in the lineup at DH in 2020. No to Castellanos’ sub-par defense in RF for the next four years. The Sox can do better.

Which team got the better pitcher to help them compete for a championship over the next few years? The Phillies or the White Sox?

Wow - $90M. That would represent a 23% increase over the largest contract ever signed into effect by the White Sox, that mammoth (snicker) $73M contract handed over to Grandal. Yet even if Washington signed Donaldson at this amount, it wouldn’t come close to being their largest contract awarded. No, both the Strasburg contract recently renewed AND the Scherzer contract still in place both dwarf this potential Donaldson deal. Which begs two questions: is Washington a major market team that can magically afford all of these massive contracts? And when we hear the familiar phrase “The money will be spent”, does our fan base need to respond with “Yes...but by whom?”.

Well, new poster, we certainly understand how the cubbies would benefit from such a stupid trade idea, based on how you articulated their benefits. Why would the White Sox even remotely entertain such nonsense?

I think you and I are essentially on the same page, in the sense that any and all of what Hahn, Williams, or Reinsdorf says these days amount to nothing but empty words. That we are officially in “Shut up. Just do it.” mode with these clowns. For me, and this was my point with sharing Stone’s post, but there is still time to make some meaningful moves this offseason. Not a whole lot of time, but some time. Six weeks or so until Soxfest, so if they come through with the types of acquisitions between now and then they’ve been claiming they’ll make, terrific. It should be a grand, ‘ol time at McCormick Place that weekend. If it’s another collection of the typical dumpster dive moves we’ve been accustomed to seeing in recent offseasons, well, it won’t be as much fun at the fan fest as it should be.

This. Steve Stone captured it well yesterday when he noted that the offseason isn’t even halfway over, so people should just relax at this point. He followed that up with if we’re in the same position in February that we are now, then complain away.

Hawk in the Hall; Stoney signed to a new multi-year contract. That would make for a real feel-good for the organization all in one swoop!

Unfortunately, where we stand today, the reasons for pessimism far outweigh the reasons for optimism. Reinsdorf and his FO have no one to blame but themselves for the fan base to have this mindset at this point based on their track record. It’s up to them to do something meaningful to change that mindset. Sadly, second tier names like Ozuna, Castellanos, and Keuchel don’t do much to move the needle on that front. I mean, are these truly the guys we’ve been waiting for to augment this core set of players? These are the guys we want to go up against the likes of the Yankees and Astros with in the postseason during our competitive window? If so, we really better hope the core hits their ceilings.

I'm still very thrilled about the Grandal addition, as I'm sure all Sox fans are. But it's probably best to be hush-hush on this "it was the biggest deal in the team's history", because that statement is an embarrassment, since it's been beat in prior years by 25 other teams. And speaking of "good talk", that's all your references to "offers" that didn't eventually land the player is - "good talk".

You mean the $73M deal for Grandal, which only 25 other teams in baseball have signed bigger deals than that? Perfect time for serving up the "Reinsdorf-isn't-cheap" meme.

Um, yes, I would have had zero problem with the White Sox, FOR ONCE, pay what it takes to bring in a much-needed premium arm into this organization to significantly advance the team's ability to compete for a championship. Premium free agent pitchers ALWAYS sign for this type of money. Always! There are no bargains to be had for the types of Cole and Strasburg. So to always avoid these types of talents because of the sticker shock value of the contract, then the team will always be at a competitive disadvantage. And btw, how has the strategy of never paying for these types of talents worked out for the Sox in recent decades? Can you point me to the multiple championships the team has had employing this strategy? While these contractual numbers seem very large to the average mortal, they aren't in the grand scheme of things when considering how awash in cash MLB is, and that includes the Sox. Reinsdorf could ink one of these contracts in a heartbeat, and the fiscal health of the organization wouldn't take a major hit.

You have the combination of Reinsdorf whining about his age and wanting to advance to the "winning stage" of things, along with Hahn stating over and over again that they want to remove the narrative that the team won't compete for "premium talent" on the open market, and then crickets on the Cole/Strasburg front.

"Always"? Why is that? What revenue stream will always be lacking no matter what which will restrict them to always being a "team on a budget"? They just inked a new TV deal, and unless it was for less than the previous one, they now have a top ten TV deal in place (they were 11th with the previous deal). Sustainable winning will take care of the attendance problems. So if you put the TV deal together with improved attendance, what prevents this team from taking it's rightful place as a major market team operating under a major market budget?

Why oh why oh why can't this team, with all of its money and financial flexibility (which Hahn boasts about, btw) be in on Strasburg. Cole I sort of get because of the strong signals that he wants to play in SoCal, but why not Strasburg? That's the guy you want in this rotation for this upcoming competitive window far more than MadBum or any of these other second tier guys. This is the moment to make a statement and show the seriousness of moving out of the rebuild into full-on competitive mode. I would love to see the Sox make that kind of statement with a Strasburg signing, similar to how the statement would have looked had we signed Machado. But to not even seemingly be in that discussion to pursue him, I don't know, it's just a little disappointing.

The Sox’ need for Nick’s services severely decreases with a Joc acquisition, which means the team wouldn’t win any $$$$ bidding war, because they wouldn’t need to.

If you get Joc first, what incentive does Castellanos have to sign here?

The rest of the poster’s message clearly suggested the “I love Jerry Reinsdorf” statement was very much meant tongue in-cheek.

Unprecedented “massive amount of financial flexibility”. AND the Sox are a major market team, with a shiny, new TV deal in place. To NOT be in on either Cole or Strasburg dismisses outright Hahn’s claim that the “money will be spent” on premium talent when the time is right. If they don’t compete for the Coles and Strasburgs of the world now, they never will, which would call into question their true commitment to winning. Wheeler is a nice piece, but he’s not on the level of the other two.

Loyalty to the fans has been missing, though, these past 40 years. Bigly!

Well, you’re right about that - Abreu is “just such a good guy”. Nice to see the improvement in your way of thinking on him! But you’ll be also happy to know that money being spent on Abreu is a drop in the pond in the grand scheme of things, what with the new TV contract in place and what not. Still plenty left over to spend on elite talent to help take our Sox to the next level - with Jose, leading the way!