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QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 11:30 PM) Is it Hahn's fault if they aren't allowed to spend though? I should clarify: when I say "Hahn" in this context, I'm referring to "the current White Sox front office braintrust that is (at least) expressly led by Rick Hahn." I have no idea whether it was Hahn, KW, JR, or anyone else who has been deciding to "only go to three years at all costs" at this point, and I don't think there's any way to know. And so I don't really care to speculate. But whoever it is is missing the forest for the trees, IMO. It would be one thing if these guys were successfully demanding $200m deals, but to refuse to play at the salaries that Gordon/Upton have demanded is to entirely ignore the ocntext of their current situation. And that is just really bad, dumb decision-making. They can still get Cespedes, but it sure is hell isn't going to come at a comfortable price now, as there are too many suitors still remaining that are now realizing they overplayed their hands. They can still settle for an overrated guy like Fowler or a bounce-back hopeful and/or average-ish role player like Jackson, but neither situation will be as cost-effective or efficient as being the first team to offer Upton $20m/year for ages 28-34 -- and both alternatives may very well end up being a handful of wins short of enough for the post-season.

Well, Upton was the guy I wanted all along. Hurts doubly that he's filling a significant hole on a division competitor. Hurts triply that the contract terms are reasonable. For the first time, I'm really believing that the "three year" bulls*** is real. And it really sucks. If we don't end up with a significant upgrade in RF somehow, this will be the first time since Hahn took over that I legitimately think he f***ed up.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 04:58 PM) Funny read from an Astros writer POV. He makes some good points that won't be popular with folks that want the Sox to sign Cespedes. http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2016/1/18/107...igning-cespedes "Second, Cespedes isn't a great hitter. I'll pause while the over-reactors pontificate. Done yet? He's not a great hitter. He's a good hitter coming off of a magnificent walk year. And the most important thing to know is: never get involved in a land war in Asia. Only slightly less important is this: never overpay for a free agent after an awesome walk year that could be classified as an outlier." This is exactly what I've been saying since september

It brings me joy when other teams sign terrible contracts

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 03:12 PM) Here's a good one. Would the Avi haters rather have had one year of Rios at 4-5 million or one of Avi at 2.1? Rios is still available I believe. I'd prefer Avi by far. I'm telling you, he's gonna get one more year of 400-600 at bats and this will be his last shot with the Sox obviously. For this to be an effective argument, you would need at least one person to actually want Rios.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 15, 2016 -> 01:24 AM) I'm telling you, we need an upgrade at ss. Anybody out there?? An infield of Frazier, Lexi, Lawrie and MVP excites me as far as potential. An infield of Frazier, Offensive Black Hole/Defensive question mark, Lawrie and MVP is scary. I thought we wanted to contend. To keep Lexi it would have only taken 6-8 mill for one fricking year. I don't understand lest we sign Desmond. I don't that's the right way to look at it. What we need is another bat. I don't think it matters whether it's at SS or in the OF. Since Saladino can play defense, I don't think we NEED a SS. Ultimately, if we truly stick to this ludicrous "three year deal limit," we may end up in a position to settle for Desmond instead of an OF. I'm not as down on Desmond as most here simply because his price has plummeted since 2014 -- a 3/36 or 2/24 might be a nice short-term upgrade there, and I think he'll bounce back to at least a league average bat with some extra power upside.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) We all hope. It will be interesting to see what Alexei received. I think most of us assumed the Sox would just give him the $10 million this offseason. I sure did.

I'm interested in Bruce only as plan D and if the cost is appropriately light. But yes, Avi is plan E to me.

QUOTE (Baron @ Jan 13, 2016 -> 07:21 PM) Rodon no...Q very possible. My god no

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Jan 13, 2016 -> 03:47 PM) I think the disconnect between us seems to be that I think more suitors will come as the price goes down. As far as the money issue, that was more of a separate thought & just a suspicion of mine, although talking with raBBit, he brought up a few good points that throw that thought away. I still think that as the price drops, more suitors will jump in because the demands are that much lower & easier for other teams to meet. If more suitors come in, the price goes back up. At the end of the day, the team that gets him will be the one that's willing to pay the highest price.

Yes, I do still want him. Just not at anywhere near the price that Colorado seems to be asking.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 13, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) Based on what I've seen in photos and video, and what I've heard from our AZ correspondant, he's very strong and probably has a little weight to lose but not a lot. But if you want to see a bad weight guy, check out Taylore Cherry. Good lord.

I'm just assuming he's Andy Wilkins/Dan Black. Hope I'm wrong!

BP has lost a ton of scouting talent the to Big Leagues the past few years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 10:34 AM) When do the Dodgers hit the point of diminishing marginal returns in pitching signings? Not for a while as long as they all have so many health "question marks." Even if everyone stays on the field, they can trade depth midseason.

I think the BEST stat in baseball is, by far, wRC+.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Jan 8, 2016 -> 04:12 PM) I am not enthused by this news. Don't get me wrong, I would be very excited if we acquired him, but why would we give up top prospects to acquire him rather than just signing Cespedes/Upton? Money. Cargo is signed to a 2/37 million dollar deal and we would need to go far beyond that to land Upton/Cespedes. It just seems cheap to me to voluntarily give up young talent when equal or greater options are available in free agency. We won't trade top prospects for CarGo. It'll be like Adam Engel and Jace Fry or something.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 8, 2016 -> 12:51 PM) Let's say this all happens: LAA signs Parra STL trades for Cargo BAL signs Davis Wonder what the market for Cespedes would look like at that point. White Sox + Tigers + Nationals + #mysteryteam

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jan 8, 2016 -> 12:33 PM) Would you rather: Sign Cespedes and then sign Desmond to a 1 year prove it again deal worth 11-13 million, then offer him a QO after this year and recoup that pick for the 17 draft. Sign Cespedes and resign Alexei to a 1 year deal 5-7 million dollar deal. Sign Cespedes and let Saladino be the bridge to Anderson. Thoughts? Option 4 = Sign Upton, keep Saladino, find another starter.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 7, 2016 -> 04:32 PM) Less patient in the zone, yes. But his walk total is climbed as well since his breakout. I wouldn't be surprised if the walks went up simply because he established himself as a power threat and pitchers got more careful.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 7, 2016 -> 03:37 PM) So to become a better hitter he became less patient and stopped trying to go the other way. He's becoming more of just a pull hitter. Looks like it, yeah. He just decided that he was going to live or die by the homer, embraced it, and so far has been good enough at punishing everything that he makes contact with to be able to sell out the rest of his game.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jan 7, 2016 -> 02:42 PM) Started pulling the ball a lot more, which, speaking of Avi, is exactly what he needs to do if he's ever gonna hit with any power. Martinez Pull% by year: 32.5 34.6 36.9 44.9 *Breakout 2014 41.1 For Avi: 34.8 37.7 *Highest ISO of any single-stop sample in career longer than 8 games 36.1 Nice find, I didn't dig that deep. That's pretty much Jose Bautista did too, if I remember correctly.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 7, 2016 -> 02:53 PM) MLB teams are never going to admit to making tons of money. The proof is in pudding. Whether the Forbes thing is accurate is obviously debateable, the fact is their team values and where they are actually sold when they are sold usually shows the "value" if you want to define value as what they would get if they are sold is always reported lower than reality. There is no question these teams all make money. How many times did Hawk praise Bud Selig and talk about how everyone is making money? There was one time KW said the Forbes stuff was way off, but then used Forbes when Forbes said they Sox used the highest percentage of its revenue on player payroll. Exactly. The whole thing is PR.

I work in the Minor Leagues, and I certainly do not have anything like credible knowledge of MLB teams revenue/finances, but I do end up coming in contact with some of the executives from time to time and have been part of a few interesting discussions. One of my favorite things is how everyone laughs anytime someone brings up the Forbes projections of team value and revenue. It appears there's a pretty clear consensus that those numbers are a joke.