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It is easy to crap on people for this kind of stuff, and it is a pretty Boomer attitude to do something. No matter what you think of it, it is real to the person who is experiencing it, and really that is all that matters.

I would like to see if Vaughn can handle the move to catcher

While not terribly optimistic, I'd love to see if he could perhaps handle RF.

1/2 a year of service time for a player you believe is a full-time starter after that = 0 service time. They would still get 7 years. The question is: Will Vaughn hit enough to be worth it this year? I will say this: If he can't outhit Leury, Mendick, and especially Romine, he's an odd pick at 3. Personally, I'm thrilled that they're trying him at 3rd. Imagine if he has positional versatility. That's a much better profile than a 5'10" R/R first base only guy. That makes him more valuable for the Sox in the future or in a trade. zVery exciting even if he's taxi squad all year.

I think the fall back option would be Garcia. There is no way they are playing Vaughn in the MLB this year.

This is a case where the text hidden by the ellipsis could drastically change the implication of the quote.

everybody has mental health issues. Kopech is just more honest because he's a zoomer.

Is it really speculation when the guy has flat out said he has mental health issues?

Good lord that bullshit tweet sure did get a lot of miles. People now speculating on "mental health issues".

If we really are talking about mental health, it is a scary realm. Whatever it is Kopech is looking for or needs, I hope he finds it. While we all know him because he can throw a ball 105 mph, he's just as human as the rest of us and isn't some sort of super-human because of his ability to throw a ball. Hopefully the kid gets whatever he needs for his own well-being.

George Springer seems like the type of guy the Sox could heavily target while the big dogs compete over Betts. Kind of like how the Sox jumped the market on Grandal while everyone else was focused on Cole and Rendon.

You must not be familiar with Sox fans. Hell there are ones on here holding grudges over stuff going back to the 1950s. If the Sox fan base is good at anything it is being upset about stuff that happened a long time ago.

* external event leading to massive suppression of salaries * Reinsdorf: Rick I think this offseason let’s again try to find the exact equilibrium of supply and demand for some marquee free agents.

Just give me Mookie fucking Betts and this team has a chance to do some very special things for the next half decade.

It got done about a week before they quit for covid.

No on Kopech. Forgot about Moncada too. I’ve had a few of those baseball memory things the last couple months- Encarnacion: oh yeah he’s on the team. Last week I looked up Eloy to see if this was his second or third season.

If more than 50% of a team is infected, the whole league will have to shut down. The scheduling is too tight for a ravaged team to miss even a couple games without a major cascading effect around the league. Buckle up, this season is gonna be bonkers

I think if we start seeing teams "getting hit hard" the season will most likely get cancelled by either MLB or the Union.

Literally no teams are going to believe that Vaughn is a 3b, especially after this season, in any sort of trade talks. They'd have to see him play there in a full minor league season first such that they could both scout him and see him in a large variety of game situations, which he won't be doing any time soon.

Because of this, I think this move is all about trade value. It is very unlikely that Vaughn would play 3B for the White Sox anytime soon. I think their preference is to keep him, but he is also just about the only legitimate trade piece we have, and if a front-line starter becomes available, it is always nice to at least have options. The Sox believe in Vaughn despite being a 5'10" righty 1B, but other teams might be much more inclined to believe in Vaughn if he can play 3B.

Let’s look at next few days. Could be a lag from holiday weekend and reporting.

I think this is a future play here. If you can give me skills at 1b AND 3b, it means you have an extra place you can plug him in down the line even with the Moncada and Abreu deals in place. Maybe he becomes more of a "utility" guy, and plays around the field instead of only a 1B/DH type. I 100% believe this is not for keeping him on the roster today. This is a guy who is a 2021 play and down the line.

I think allowing indoor dining and bars is monumentally stupid and harmful and we have pretty solid evidence of that, so yes P3 vs P4 does make a difference. But at the same time, you're right. When there's no actual plan or path forward beyond magical thinking and "live with it" amid health and economic devastation, lots of people will just say "screw it." And if you focus on the individual failures, rather than the public policy failures and the propaganda failures that convince millions to not do the simple things like wear a mask, you'll miss the real culprits that have put us in this position.

I actually disagree. If Vaughn is one of the 44 guys in camp, you have to imagine that he's in the 2-deep. God forbid that the team gets hit by a significant Covid outbreak, you could see him being called up to play 1b, dh, 3b, hell, even 2b, which was his position in HS. I believe this year is so unpredictable that a lot of unlikely scenarios are on the table now.

The massive eviction wave getting underway is going to be absolutely brutal so much unnecessary pain and suffering and death in this country

Because pandemics can grow exponentially and if you're sitting at somewhere between 500-1000 and you don't have good systems to isolate all those cases and their contacts, that can quickly become 1000-5000 or more. Unless you can get this under control and keep it under control, businesses will be hurt. People will be hurt. There isn't a good answer here. Because of widespread political failures, we are left with only bad options. The common theme that I think we agree on is the complete and continued failure at the federal level. But I don't want to watch Illinois join the "massive outbreak" states like we're seeing across the South and West right now. A whole slew of European and Asian countries have been able to safely open after lockdowns because they have functional national governments that took the appropriate measures and enough citizens who actually care about each other and their community rather than pure selfishness. Unfortunately, we do not have that here, and we failed to get this under control. We're paying the price for that now.

Hopefully Hahn has learned at least the basics of the concept of "salary dump" . But so far,it's been ugly when Hahn wades in these waters.

Last 5 days for IL: 862, 639, 614, 587, 980 Had you posted 30 minutes ago the 980 wouldnt be there and the trend would have been down and the statement "Climbing upward" would have been false. So I dont think you can say IL is climbing upwards just yet. Outside of today, IL was trending down. And there are no other states that operated identical to IL, so you cant really compare.

One of the IDPH's stated requirements for Phase 4 was 90% contact tracing within 24 hours. We decided to ignore the guidelines set out by health experts. We're seeing what happens when you try to "balance" but aren't adequately prepared to actually handle the pandemic on a bunch of states, and Illinois is climbing upward in cases too. Setting official policy too aggressively can lead to worse health and economic outcomes. If the pandemic starts raging here again, you'll see traffic to stores and restaurants drop off anyway.

I was told by soxtalk to panic though...

Upon further review, yes they did. Good catch.

Problem is, the Sox will only control him 4 seasons by the time he's ready to pitch in the bigs again (assuming the worst for this season for a second). Unless, of course, the Sox do what they should do and option him if he doesn't come back in the next couple weeks. But the Sox being the loyal group that they are, I'd be a bit surprised to see him optioned if its mental health isssues. 2/3 of his cheap control gone with a grand total of 14 MLB innings pitched. Not great.

Take this as just a baseball specific post -- however Kopech is a guy I'd like to trade if he comes out of the gate hot. A guy who really relies on his "stuff" likely isn't going to age well. i mean the Sale trade sucked, but we got out about the right time. Also i'm not going to act like i know anything about his life because i don't pay attention, but from punching the teammate (that was him right?) to seemingly liking the fame aspect/reality tv in the past, to the mention of mental health issues? I just don't think he's a guy i personally would want to give a $150mm contract to. Again, this is strictly a baseball angle. I wish him well in finding whatever peace he needs to live a normal, healthy life.

It means absolutely nothing. Abreu has gotten reps at 3rd base every day for the last 6 years

Andrew Vaughn is getting reps at 3rd base so that’s probably not good news regarding Moncada potentially having COVID.

If I had enough money I'd buy an entire section and fill it with an army of Klingon soldiers.

I rarely pay $49 for a ticket. I'm supposed to pay $49 for my photograph? Pass

I think you gave her sound advice. She shouldn't work for that moron. I hope she is Covid-free.

sounds perfect to me. I would be interested to see how much his (and all astros) stats drop this season..

nick Swisher is a sore spot with me.

Just to get this straight, "unprecedented circumstances" means the continuing fight against Covid and the likelihood of a strike after the 2021 season? Or perhaps it just means Covid since 1 more season can supposedly be played in 2021. If this season cannot be finished and the possibility exists that 2021 will not be better, what is the rationale behind spending big ? If this season is a failure and does not result in the playoffs for the Sox or the season cannot be finished what would be the incentive behind spending more money when the money spend this past off season would be basically flushed down the toilet . I know that the FA contracts paid out by the Sox will not be fully paid but that still leaves a lot of risk especially if we are no better off next year regarding the health of the nation. Owners too will be hurt if we cannot get people back into stadiums to watch games. There is bound to be lasting effects from Covid that will hurt attendance for at least a few more years. I can't imagine spending more money in more years marred by Covid and a players strike in the 3rd year in which Covid still may be around. That could be 3 years in a row that only partial seasons are played and all 3 could result in the World Series being cancelled. The Sox window could not have opened at a worse time. I am not being pessimistic . I'm just looking for a reason that ANY team would spend big in "unprecented circumstances " that may become even worse than they are now.

Madrigal wasn't apart of the original "summer camp" roster the Sox released that had additional spots open (that Madrigal will assume). Smart money is Yoan & Ruiz (unless he's been picture/referenced at the stadium the last 24 hours) for the corona positives.

I get the feeling that this winter will see the biggest discounts on deals that we will see for the next decade for sure. If we can spent through this, there could be some big bargains.

You also still have the Electoral College problem. A 3rd party candidate who does well enough to actually win some states just makes it really, really likely that no one candidate gets 270 EV's. In that case, the election just goes to the House but not based on current representation, instead each state getting a delegation. With today's breakdown, it's just guarantee that the GOP gets to choose the next President since they control more states even though they have so many fewer representatives. Our political system makes it basically impossible for their to be three or more competitive parties at the national level. If you want a multi party presidential system, you probably need to require a majority of the popular vote and do run offs with the top two candidates if no one comes away with 50%+1 in the first round.

For me I'd have illinois in a modified phase 3 with much more leniency on outdoor activities but would not allow the indoor restaurants/bars that are allowed now.

cleaning out my old graphic folders, here's an unused one from 2007