9 minutes ago, Texsox said:

But not drink and drive. 

When you're a hall of fame person, they let you do it.

1 hour ago, Tony said:

TLR is going to have a ton of options to play with. This isn't going to be a team with a "regular" lineup. 

Now the Sox have a bunch of OF Haseley, Pollock, Engel, Robert all real OFers. Eloy, Vaughn, Sheets Leury, Romy, Harrison can all play OF at varying degrees of competence.

This kind of gives some renewed hope for a Manaea or Montas trade. Plus now we have to change our grades for the offseason.

57 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Also, has anyone checked on TLR?  Getting a right fielder might drive him to drink.

Drive…. Drink…. I see what you did there. 

4 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

The rare move that is met by almost no negativity on SoxTalk.  Now if they go out and get Manaea, SoxTalk may melt down with positive reaction.

One year of Manaea?   No thanks.    I saw three trade ideas for him, and none were worth it.  We've tended to get fleeced by Oakland on one-year pitcher deals.   

1 minute ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Now the Sox have a bunch of OF Haseley, Pollock, Engel, Robert all real OFers. Eloy, Vaughn, Sheets Leury, Romy, Harrison can all play OF at varying degrees of competence.

This kind of gives some renewed hope for a Manaea or Montas trade. Plus now we have to change our grades for the offseason.

Yeah, I don't think they are done. I think they got one more move coming. 

2 minutes ago, VAfan said:

One year of Manaea?   No thanks.    I saw three trade ideas for him, and none were worth it.  We've tended to get fleeced by Oakland on one-year pitcher deals.   

This is one year where being fleeced could be ok. But they could also just re-sign manaea.

Here's a 2021 look at our new player.

 

4 minutes ago, ShoeLessRob said:

Drive…. Drink…. I see what you did there. 

You guys insult Hasely who is about as good as it gets.

12 minutes ago, Jake said:

Worth keeping in mind that the option increases in value every 50 plate appearances starting at 400. Pollock's track record tells us it's a dicey proposition for him to get much over 400, but if he does manage to play nearly every day it's a $15M option.

Full contract details here if anyone is curious:

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/aj-pollock-10693/

Pollock is best new beard. Best since Mazara, who was best since Nicky Delmonico.

9 minutes ago, XplodingScorbord said:

Look at this uni! Grinder!!

 

The thing I love about Pollock is he's gritty as fuck but he's also really good and a complete player. I hate gritty and bad or gritty and below average players who people have to first talk about their intangibles and then mention their abilities and production as some after thought.

6 minutes ago, VAfan said:

One year of Manaea?   No thanks.    I saw three trade ideas for him, and none were worth it.  We've tended to get fleeced by Oakland on one-year pitcher deals.   

I would think if the Sox traded for Manaea it would be incredibly likely they'd extend him and he'd basically be replacing Keuchel going forward.

1 minute ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

The thing I love about Pollock is he's gritty as fuck but he's also really good and a complete player. I hate gritty and bad or gritty and below average players who people have to first talk about their intangibles and then mention their abilities and production as some after thought.

Where would you bat him in the order, Ray?

40 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Balta, I was with you in that boat of it was terrible to pick up the option and they'll never get anything of value for Kimbrel.

Turns out they did. Hahn >> Ray Ray today. It's good news, not bad. Always good to be wrong when the outcome is a positive one. 

Everytime I saw people mentioned Bellinger and Pollock I thought they were crazy. Turns out, Hahn knew what he was doing with the option and he turned it into a viable talent that filled a hole on the roster. 

It doesn't change the off-season process in other areas from being poor, but Hahn won this one. Pollock has risk, but so did Kimbrel. At least Pollock wasn't a guy being paid to play a position he wasn't even going to play with the Sox.

Bravo.  Much respect here.

40 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Balta, I was with you in that boat of it was terrible to pick up the option and they'll never get anything of value for Kimbrel.

Turns out they did. Hahn >> Ray Ray today. It's good news, not bad. Always good to be wrong when the outcome is a positive one. 

Everytime I saw people mentioned Bellinger and Pollock I thought they were crazy. Turns out, Hahn knew what he was doing with the option and he turned it into a viable talent that filled a hole on the roster. 

It doesn't change the off-season process in other areas from being poor, but Hahn won this one. Pollock has risk, but so did Kimbrel. At least Pollock wasn't a guy being paid to play a position he wasn't even going to play with the Sox.

Kudos to you for posting this, Ray Ray.  

12 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Depends on what they give up for him.

Certainly will be a cohort of Sox talk that will lose their mind if Sheets is involved.

I'd love to keep Sheets around myself, but recognize Sox probably don't have the bullets to get it done without him.  Would still try to pry him loose without Sheets, but just seems like an A's guy to me. 

3 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I would think if the Sox traded for Manaea it would be incredibly likely they'd extend him and he'd basically be replacing Keuchel going forward.

Boras is his agent.  Sox don't have a good track record there.  

Remember: The last time we had an "AJP" we were World Series champs!

34 minutes ago, michelangelosmonkey said:

Ohmigod...Soxtalk has been like a great festering abscess...Kimbrel is terrible, Management is stupid for picking up Kimbrel's extension, we only have 1B playing RF, worst offseason ever...there were 100 negative emails a day.  And then in one single move...the pimple has burst...after cleaning up the puss...the end of Soxtalk negativity.  . 

Nah, on to the next thing.

It's like you don't remember the timeless classics such as
"we can't draft and develop a position player"

"I would trade everything for one World Series title"

"We never have made back to back playoff appearances"

2 minutes ago, wegner said:

Where would you bat him in the order, Ray?

1. Timmy
2. Moncada
3. Robert
4. Abreu (because we know they won't move him)
5. Yaz
6. Eloy
7. Pollock
8. Vaughn/Sheets
9. The legend

I'd guess they'd likely bat Sheets 7 and Pollock 8 when Sheets plays to break up the Righties.

Meh, I guess this is better than having kept Kimbrel.

I'm not too stoked about yet another geezing geezer being acquired; 34+ year olds tend to suck when they come to the south side.

Also, his BABIP for 2021 suggests that he was a bit lucky; between his age and a decrease in BaBIp luck, we should see his offense decline a bit.

 

That said, "Yay, they got an OFer for RF," I guess.

Shocking that they made this move after the huge Haseley acquisition.

2 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Certainly will be a cohort of Sox talk that will lose their mind if Sheets is involved.

I'd love to keep Sheets around myself, but recognize Sox probably don't have the bullets to get it done without him.  Would still try to pry him loose without Sheets, but just seems like an A's guy to me. 

As much as I would like to have Sheets around, I think Kenny Williams said it best with "Where is he going to play?"  Sure there are still some ABs to be had as a fill in and part time DH, but if he gets us a SP, I am better with that.

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Nah, on to the next thing.

It's like you don't remember the timeless classics such as
"we can't draft and develop a position player"

"I would trade everything for one World Series title"

"We never have made back to back playoff appearances"

"You are just carrying water for the FO thinking they will get RF worth anything for Kimbrel."

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

As much as I would like to have Sheets around, I think Kenny Williams said it best with "Where is he going to play?"  Sure there are still some ABs to be had as a fill in and part time DH, but if he gets us a SP, I am better with that.

Pitching, always pitching.