You'll notice that most of the mods aren't getting overly optimistic either

Checkmate, DA

At least Rabbit is having fun with all of his tweets, so there's that aspect in terms of entertainment value for everyone.

Let me state once again my belief that Ian Desmond (or perhaps Fowler in June), one of the remaining Tier 2/3 starting pitchers and Parra/Jackson OR a trade for an outfielder that doesn't cost Anderson/Fulmer...that's the better set of options.

 

Two of those four. All needs being addressed is completely unrealistic. As it stands, doing more than one might be hard.

 

 

I'm pretty sure Upton is the only player left that the White Sox would give up a top 30 pick for.

Let me state once again my belief that Ian Desmond (or perhaps Fowler in June), one of the remaining Tier 2/3 starting pitchers and Parra/Jackson OR a trade for an outfielder that doesn't cost Anderson/Fulmer...that's the better set of options.

 

Two of those four. All needs being addressed is completely unrealistic. As it stands, doing more than one might be hard.

 

Highly doubt fowler and Desmond are waiting till June.

Then it's simple, you go with one of the 3-5 remaining FA pitchers on the market, Parra OR Jackson AND/OR make a trade that doesn't cost you Fulmer/Anderson and ideally Adams.

 

The last part's going to be tough to do without taking on a large salary like CarGo/Ethier/Bruce or ending up with someone just as likely to end up at a 1.5 WAR as a 3 WAR in the OF.

 

 

Semi-related, but Abreu is learning more and more English so that he can get endorsement opportunities.

 

In Chicago.

If we don't end up with 1 of the big 3 it will be some what depressing for as much as we were linked to them since the winter meetings. Who are the tier 2 and 3 pitchers available now?

raBBit are you hearing anything

I have a feeling that something will happen soon.

Ian Kennedy, Latos, Fister, Chen (probably too expensive, at one point Boras was aiming for $100 million) and Y.Gallardo are probably the top five remaining pitchers on the market.

 

Except for Fister, all of them should be in the $12-16 million range. Latos might be on the lower end as well. Chen the upper end and probably unaffordable/Boras Factor.

 

But you have to look at JA Happ's contract and think anything is possible with pitching contracts STILL, as well as Leake's deal with the Cardinals. These aren't dominating or frontline starters by any stretch of the imagination.

Edited January 8, 201610 yr by caulfield12

It's my personal opinion that Cespedes will sign ,at the minimum ,a 5 year contract. That would take him through his age 30, 31, 32, 33 and age 34 seasons. This is not unreasonable to expect . He has carried teams on his back a few times and has good defensive numbers. He is a run producer. He loves hitting with men on base. He has seen a sports psychologist to better prepare himself to perform and focus in situations that require a big hit.

 

He is exactly what they need. You can gripe about him being inconsistent . All that means to me is that he only carried 2 teams on his back out of the 4 he's played for. (Oakland and Mets ) How many guys are even capable of that ? Harper ? Pujols in his prime ? Who could possibly be better to pair with Abreu ? How sweet would it be to have a 3,4 ,5 all capable of 30+ HR's ? Abreu and Cespedes are RBI machines.They will push each other to excellence.

 

This needs to happen.

 

 

I have a feeling that something will happen soon.

 

Crazy. My sources say the same thing.

Is it better if I naively cheerlead with all my posts that we actually are going to get Cespedes or Upton?

 

You'll notice that most of the mods aren't getting overly optimistic either...

 

 

So you're on record as being how confident that we sign either or them?

 

You'll notice that many times in the last few weeks I've put forth alternative/Plan B scenarios in anticipation. There's nothing wrong with the fallback options if you can find the right values.

 

That's going to remove some of the sex appeal or marketing sizzle but it's the more pragmatic approach unless the contract terms are reasonable. Usually in FA they're not, as we learned last off-season.

 

 

 

PS: In the end, I'm sure every agent like Jay-Z looks at the tv and radio ratings and considers the White Sox 30th place standing in those two categories a positive for their client's endorsement potential.

You know there's a middle ground between cheerleading and looking for every reason under the sun that Cespedes/Upton won't sign here, right?

Oh, and one more name for the pitching list....a big wild card in what Cliff Lee has left over.

 

 

Okay Omar, what in your gut instincts tell you the White Sox have much of a connection with Upton?

 

If you're looking at the field of all of MLB versus any one single team, the odds are not better than 25%, realistically.

In the last 3 years Cespedes has 462 AB's with RISP . In those 462 AB's he has 191 RBI's . 191 !!

 

With the bases loaded in the same time frame he has a .455 batting average , .788 slugging pct. and 1.220 OPS. OK only 33 AB's with bases loaded but still you get the point .

Edited January 8, 201610 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Ian Kennedy, Latos, Fister, Chen (probably too expensive, at one point Boras was aiming for $100 million) and Y.Gallardo are probably the top five remaining pitchers on the market.

 

Except for Fister, all of them should be in the $12-16 million range. Latos might be on the lower end as well. Chen the upper end and probably unaffordable/Boras Factor.

 

But you have to look at JA Happ's contract and think anything is possible with pitching contracts STILL, as well as Leake's deal with the Cardinals. These aren't dominating or frontline starters by any stretch of the imagination.

 

 

I would love Chen but as you pointed out he well Boras is over pricing him. I believe Kennedy would cost a pick so I 'd pass on him. Not sure on Gallardo but if he doesn't cost a pick I'd have him top of my list.

raBBit are you hearing anything

 

 

http://twitter.com/chisoxrabbit

 

There

Why do you post on a White Sox message board?

Should we all be connoisseurs of Kool-Aid? Personally, I find it too sweet.

Ian Kennedy, Latos, Fister, Chen (probably too expensive, at one point Boras was aiming for $100 million) and Y.Gallardo are probably the top five remaining pitchers on the market.

 

Except for Fister, all of them should be in the $12-16 million range. Latos might be on the lower end as well. Chen the upper end and probably unaffordable/Boras Factor.

 

But you have to look at JA Happ's contract and think anything is possible with pitching contracts STILL, as well as Leake's deal with the Cardinals. These aren't dominating or frontline starters by any stretch of the imagination.

 

There are other threads to talk about pitching. Just sayin' this the Cespedes threasd.

There are other threads to talk about pitching. Just sayin' this the Cespedes threasd.

He was responding to a poster literally asking for a list of the tier 2/3 pitchers, chill.

He was responding to a poster literally asking for a list of the tier 2/3 pitchers, chill.

 

I just put a list of the Top 10 remaining Tier 2/3 guys at the thread started on this very topic.

 

 

Back to "grass/es" (Cespedes in Spanish) talk...

If you're Cespedes, and you're getting the same offer from the White Sox and Nationals...where would you go?

 

You can play in the nation's capital with one of the two true superstars in the game on what everyone considers a playoff contender versus a White Sox team that's somewhere between 3rd (optimistic) and last (pessimistic) right now out of a 5 team division. You're also even more confident in the NL East than the AL, where you now have a proven track record and just put up near MVP numbers. You've also got two "dead in water" franchises in the Braves and Phillies to pick apart offensively.

 

The White Sox would probably have to overpay by at least 5% to get it done, if not 10%.

 

Same thing with returning to the Tigers...unless the draw of being paired with Abreu is truly that enticing.

NASCAR

Why does cespedes care about playing in the nations capital

NASCAR

 

Talk about short track racing at Bristol.

If they're not going more than 3 years then they're not getting Cespedes. I believe Nightengale's report and while some fans may be po'd at the Sox stance, I get it. Cespedes is good but he's not Bryce Harper. At this point it might be worth Colorado and seeing what it will take to get CarGo.