1 minute ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said:

I'll hate on the cheapness as much as anyone on this board, but let's be real here. The Sox make something out of nothing on this transaction.

Which will only matter if all the bad vibes from last offseason, the Samson debate on second place finishes and the taste of dumping IFA pool money (twice) because we couldn’t find anyone to spend it on is replaced by high/er quality FA signings that affect the next 3-5 years for the franchise.

And bringing back Abreu into the fold can hardly be considered be considered one of these key/impactful moves to any but the most casual of Sox fans.

1 hour ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said:

I'll hate on the cheapness as much as anyone on this board, but let's be real here. The Sox make something out of nothing on this transaction.

Nothing wrong with making money but something is amiss with the Sox IFA agency process. That's the much larger story here.

1 hour ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said:

I'll hate on the cheapness as much as anyone on this board, but let's be real here. The Sox make something out of nothing on this transaction.

That is apparently what they determined. I think they gave up $1 million for Jones, $250k here. There was no one worth signing with the $1.25 million. I am guessing 5 or 6 years from now, some name or names will emerge that will make their determination incorrect. 

And it's the optics. Is it really worth the buyout for all the negative publicity they are going to take? It's not like $500k is going to be a difference maker for an MLB team. 

Edited November 1, 20196 yr by Dick Allen

1 hour ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said:

I'll hate on the cheapness as much as anyone on this board, but let's be real here. The Sox make something out of nothing on this transaction.

they saved some ash tray money in order to not invest in their Latin pipeline.  That's like me saving money by not carrying auto insurance.  It's a fucking short sided stupid decision.

The money will be spent. For a team that gets so defensive when they are thought to be cheap, they sure seem to go out of their way to make many feel that way. 

Edited November 1, 20196 yr by Dick Allen

30 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

The money will be spent. For a team that gets so defensive when they are thought to be cheap, they sure seem to go out of their way to make many feel that way. 

It just reeks so much of trading 2nd round NBA draft picks because you don’t like anyone available

37 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

The money will be spent. For a team that gets so defensive when they are thought to be cheap, they sure seem to go out of their way to make many feel that way. 

- Sixto Sanchez: $35,000
- Fernando Tatis Jr.: $825,000,
- Victor Robles: $200,000.

All signed for less than $1.25M. Plenty of guys like Soto sign in the $1.5M range.

2 hours ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said:

I'll hate on the cheapness as much as anyone on this board, but let's be real here. The Sox make something out of nothing on this transaction.

This has literally been the response to every single story that has come up in 2019 on international free agency, but it's impossible to have this opinion when looking at the whole. They basically voluntarily punted on a 3rd straight latam class. That's a huge disadvantage.

2 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

That is apparently what they determined. I think they gave up $1 million for Jones, $250k here. There was no one worth signing with the $1.25 million. I am guessing 5 or 6 years from now, some name or names will emerge that will make their determination incorrect. 

And it's the optics. Is it really worth the buyout for all the negative publicity they are going to take? It's not like $500k is going to be a difference maker for an MLB team. 

Unless people like us start making a big deal of it at events and phone calls there won't be negative publicity, not that they care about. Only a handful of people out in the real world care about this and what it really says about the organization. 

Find Rick Hahn at Soxfest or a callin show and make this your question. This is the most blatant example of them not doing everything they can to win.

6 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Unless people like us start making a big deal of it at events and phone calls there won't be negative publicity, not that they care about. Only a handful of people out in the real world care about this and what it really says about the organization. 

Find Rick Hahn at Soxfest or a callin show and make this your question. This is the most blatant example of them not doing everything they can to win.

No kidding. As rabid sports fans, we make things important that the general population doesn't give a crap about.  The majority of the population is not sports fans.  You need to look no further than this year's World Series.  TV ratings were 3rd lowest ever.  Even at their best, the ratings indicate that a very small percentage of the population is watching.  Sports talk radio stations are usually in the bottom 25% of the listener rankings.

1 hour ago, Quin said:

- Sixto Sanchez: $35,000
- Fernando Tatis Jr.: $825,000,
- Victor Robles: $200,000.

All signed for less than $1.25M. Plenty of guys like Soto sign in the $1.5M range.

But when the Sox find a LatAm steal, we either deal him for damaged gets or get outbid by an Astros scout spying

It’s just hard to take a team is serious about signing top of the line guys when they do something like this more than once. They look more like the Marlins or Pirates than the Yankees or Astros or even Cubs.

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

Unless people like us start making a big deal of it at events and phone calls there won't be negative publicity, not that they care about. Only a handful of people out in the real world care about this and what it really says about the organization. 

Find Rick Hahn at Soxfest or a callin show and make this your question. This is the most blatant example of them not doing everything they can to win.

It could hurt them even more directly than fans,. When they bring these guys in, they give them a big presentation showing the player how he will fit in with the White Sox takeover of MLB.  This will involve signing or trading for other high priced guys, and eventually having to pay their young guys a lot of money. What other teams give away bonus pool money to eat negligible buyouts? Would you buy the White Sox willingness to pay for sustainable success if you were a star player? What would you think a guy like Boras thinks?

Its like trying to impress your dream date by showing how smart you are byusing a BOGO coupon on your first date.

Edited November 1, 20196 yr by Dick Allen

Or being owned by The Billionaire Next Door instead of someone who runs his team like a fanboy/hobbyist (Illitch, Crane, Ricketts, Cuban, Lerner, Ballmer) who knows his team will appreciate in value by hundreds of millions no matter how much he loses on a yearly basis in the pursuit of a championship.

On 10/31/2019 at 2:11 PM, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Who was the poster who was so sure Castillo would be on the Sox in 2020 ?

 I wasn't sure but it was my greatest fear since the Sox are content with really bad.   Consider it good news that Rickey can't play him.   

The only way things will change is Reinsdorf is 6 feet under and new ownership. Tired of the same broken record. It really is sad that every major league team is committed including Baltimore internationally. Pathetic 

13 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2019/10/31/texas-rangers-make-series-of-roster-moves-on-1st-day-of-mlb-offseason/

Interesting they originally want to rehab Jones and resign him to incentives-laden deal. 

Hunter Pence for RF!!!

Pence would be a nice under the radar signing IMO.  

On 10/31/2019 at 8:23 PM, southsideirish71 said:

And for those who dont respect IFA remember some of these 16 year olds that get signed, turn into guys like Juan Soto.  I for one would like a wildcard or two and hope they pan out.  

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/nationals-sign-dominican-outfielder-juan-soto/c-134216106

 

Soto got 1.5 mil though, not a low bonus signing. Still you could have gotten like 10 Jose altuves for the250k:).

Albeit you have to consider that this is rare and like 95% of the sub 50k signings never make it past A ball.

10 hours ago, PolishPrince34 said:

The only way things will change is Reinsdorf is 6 feet under and new ownership. Tired of the same broken record. It really is sad that every major league team is committed including Baltimore internationally. Pathetic 

40 years of stubbornly ineffective strategic vision from Reinsdorf.  But he’s the one who will be leaving behind the losing legacy on the baseball side of his ledger.  

Wonder if that even matters much to him, a billion dollars later.   

17 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Nothing wrong with making money but something is amiss with the Sox IFA agency process. That's the much larger story here.

Completely agree.  You could have signed a team of 100k guys for what we gave up in the Jones and Castillo deals.  I can understand if they feel spreading the money around on multiple players vs one high dollar player is their philosophy but a philosophy of none is not good.  This is compounded if you sign free agents who require giving up draft picks.  Maybe one 1.25 million dollar bonus guy would help offset losing a second or third round draft pick but having neither will show up in a farm system in a couple years.

15 hours ago, PolishPrince34 said:

The only way things will change is Reinsdorf is 6 feet under and new ownership. Tired of the same broken record. It really is sad that every major league team is committed including Baltimore internationally. Pathetic 

And I was beginning to come back from the depression of last years Manny Machado fiasco. Oh well.

4 hours ago, Saufley said:

And I was beginning to come back from the depression of last years Manny Machado fiasco. Oh well.

LOL expect it to happen again with Cole and Strasburg.

On 11/1/2019 at 1:35 PM, caulfield12 said:

Which will only matter if all the bad vibes from last offseason, the Samson debate on second place finishes and the taste of dumping IFA pool money (twice) because we couldn’t find anyone to spend it on is replaced by high/er quality FA signings that affect the next 3-5 years for the franchise.

And bringing back Abreu into the fold can hardly be considered be considered one of these key/impactful moves to any but the most casual of Sox fans.

Sox fans on twitter will burn down Sox Park if Jose isn't brought back. People are somehow that passionate about it. 

22 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

Unless people like us start making a big deal of it at events and phone calls there won't be negative publicity, not that they care about. Only a handful of people out in the real world care about this and what it really says about the organization. 

Find Rick Hahn at Soxfest or a callin show and make this your question. This is the most blatant example of them not doing everything they can to win.

I disagree. When Kenny and Hahn speak, you can tell the fans are pissing them off. The media and baseball folks are even questioning their motives now about winning and spending. The casual fan won't care too much but their reputation amongst the baseball world is important to them. 

3 hours ago, SonofaRoache said:

I disagree. When Kenny and Hahn speak, you can tell the fans are pissing them off. The media and baseball folks are even questioning their motives now about winning and spending. The casual fan won't care too much but their reputation amongst the baseball world is important to them. 

I'll tell you this, the hard core baseball fans in Dallas-Fort Worth love the White Sox.