Eminor3rd

“Being excited about the team” and “being happy about the offseason” are not the same thing. It is possible to BOTH (1) feel that the team is in a good position to win, and (2) feel that the FO squandered opportunities to put it in a much better position to win. You just have to be able to hold a couple different thoughts in your head at the same time.

There’s only one Rockies

Ok that’s definitely a bit higher than 5/70. I guess I wasn’t all that close, haha.

I was pretty close! Obviously a ton of risk with a signing like this, but this is the safest Japanese hitter to come over since Matsui. Hard to hate the idea of taking a similar gamble that we took on Abreu.

He's a true RF who could fake CF. Elite arm. Unproven in MLB as a hitter, though, true. I'm an NPB fanboi, but It's not unreasonable at all to scout him properly and conclude he isn't worth the risk. However, given that the Sox haven't been seriously involved in any NPB player since Tanaka, and it seems that a lot of other teams are liking what they're seeing with Suzuki -- I think there's a good chance they just didn't allocate the resources to be involved in the first place. If so, that's tough to swallow only because they needed a RF so badly. You hope they at least did the due diligence.

Lmao touche

Lol I don't understand the meta-commentary on board mood. What is the point of discussion if you're discouraged for expressing your actual opinion?

Right, at this point, it isn’t even fair to accuse the Sox of being cheap. They’ve spent the money, they’ve made the trades — the problem is that the last 6-7 transactions they’ve made range from ugly to completely indefensible, even in the moments right after they were made. It’s not that they aren’t trying, they’re just fucking it up. They’ve rushed to “beat the market” and spent money on free agents they didn’t need, when there were reams of better players available that played positions at hey DID need. Whenever a normal team has a logjam of MLB-ready prospects at a position, they trade them to fill holes elsewhere — the white Sox have instead decided that they have to keep them all and just play them out of position. It’s brutal to watch. Yes, the team is really good but it could be SO much better and it would have required nothing even remotely clever.

The Sox have committed $26.5M to their already record-high payroll without addressing any of their roster needs. They’re connected to no significant players in the media. They have the worst farm system in baseball from which to make trades. It would be irrational to be happy with their offseason at this point. If they pull off a substantial addition given their current situation, it will rightfully be shocking.

This is the issue: relievers are the most volatile performance bets on a year to year basis, by a lot. It isn’t clear if they’ll be better — it’s nearly just as likely that the poor performers you were excited about going into last year will bounce back. There’s a very good reason that zero franchises spend their offseason budget nearly exclusively on relievers. The last team to do it was the historically inept Rockies, and they were laughed at when it happened and again when it didn’t work out for them.

Already blew his load treading water, signing a couple utility infielders and a couple relievers

I think, unfortunately, you may need a bidding war. Doesn’t look like they’re going to address the RF or SP problem with cash at this point.

Good depth piece flyer. I like these types of pickups, but I fear the Sox tend to see them as reliable solutions instead of insurance policies with upside.

It's absolutely silly to only consider last year's OPS when projecting performance. Hernandez is three years younger and has been a better, healthier, and more consistent player throughout his career. I don't think there's a massive difference between the two of them for 2022, but we chose the older and riskier option.

I don't know why you didn't just pick up Hernandez's option instead. Obviously dude had a rough year but who is really more likely to be better in 2022?

You mean more veteran RPs

Yeah, I just don't get this. More RPs is always a good thing, but there's just no rational argument that this money shouldn't be spent on an impact bat or starter. Scratching my head here just like with Graveman.

His point though is that it isn’t a pure lottery ticket as you’re describing it — you can do analysis on peripheral indicators that will give you more information about whether or not you’re making a good bet. The trade can still turn out either way, for sure, but that doesn’t mean the odds were equal. Shields was a CLEARLY bad bet — coming off a year where his FIP was more than a run lower than his ERA despite those numbers tracking identically for the rest of his career, and IIRC having an even bigger disparity so far in the season leading up to the trade — and it was frustrating and embarrassing at the the time because the White Sox seemed to be the only ones that didn’t know it, making them look unsophisticated. Chris’s Bassitt is 34, but how do his peripherals look? I’m not gonna take a deep dive (and it may be that there ARE some problematic signs), but just glancing at his FIP tells a much different story than shields at the time.

It was stupid. Shields was an absolute textbook example of a pitcher whose peripherals very clearly showed he was in decline and that his recent results were not sustainable. That was clear at the time of the deal, not merely with the benefit of hindsight. I, and many others, hated that deal at the time it was made, and it had nothing to do with Tatis, but rather with the opportunity cost attached to making such an obviously bad and costly (in terms of salary added) decision on an upgrade they sorely needed.

I have/had no problem whatsoever with runners starting on base during extra innings.

Now brace yourselves for the most insane flurry of player transactions in the history of the sport.

MiLlIoNaIrEs vs. HuNdReD ThOuSaNdAiReS!

Contract staff is fine, salaried staff are fine until they decide to lay people off, seasonal staff are screwed.

Like Derek jeter but better. Was that the line?

For your lockout enjoyment: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2022/01/14/baseball/japanese-baseball/yamamoto-takatsu-hall/ https://www.mlb.com/news/shingo-takatsu-white-sox-cult-hero Second all-time in NPB saves https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=takats001shi