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I'll be the one who takes the unvalidated but can't be ruled out shot at him...one big change since last contract is the presence of LaRussa. I expect a 2/3 split in favor of laugh responses. Get to it.

I don't know that the offseason has been a disaster yet.

Man some of these AL teams are loading up. Sox should try to sign at least 2-3 more bullpen arms to counter.

Blue Jays FO right now:

This is a very fair take and where I'm at. I'm real pissed at the Sox right now. As the days go on, picking up the option on Kimbrel so they could try and squeeze just a little bit of value out of the failed Madrigal-Kimbrel trade looks to be a mistake, which they then compounded by not giving the QO to Rodon, which still doesn't make any sense. Then they have spent 17 million (not even counting Graverman) this offseason on guys you would hope your minor league system could produce, and haven't addressed RF or SP in any significant way. I just don't understand the process here. I really, really hope it becomes clear in the coming days, but I'm losing faith.

It’s amazing how much the failures of our minor league system are costing us right now. From 2015 to 2018 we had five first round picks. Two of them were eventually DFAed, one of them is a backup catcher who can’t catch and only has one option left, and another was a guy who contributing but was traded for 1 to 2 years of a reliever making ~$16M. At this point, our only hope of extracting future value is from a 3B/1B type coming off two Achilles injuries and who turns 26 next month. That’s all we have to show from our 1st round picks from four drafts. And non of these guys were high variance HS picks, but rather safe college picks. Let’s go another level though. The Sox had six total 2nd & 3rd round picks across these drafts. Out of these six players, only one remains in the organization in Gavin Sheets. Of the five others, one was traded for two months of Caesar Hernández, one was traded for one year of Nomar Mazara, one was traded for one year of Yondor Alonso, and the other two retired or were claimed off waiver. Again, all six of these college picks, most of them of the safe variety. I could go a level further and point out all the relievers we drafted in the middle rounds, all the relievers we acquired by selling international bonus slots, and the fact that we invested $2.5M in Yogurt Sanchez instead of signing teenagers who are a currency rebuilding teams actually want. Good thing we have all those relief prospects and near ready utility man in Yogurt so we can prioritize other needs in free agency…whoops.

It really is amazing how things go if we don't trade for Kimbrel. That trade screwed up a lot.

Weren't you going to quit the Sox/Sports/This Site like 2 months ago?

Maybe we give Eaton another shot?

SoxTalk: We need an outfielder! Just not Joc Also SoxTalk after Joc signs elsewhere: Why didn’t the Sox sign him!?

It's so refreshing that you can see into the future and are able to let us know that every move the White Sox have made is going to turn out terrible. It's super that coming off a 93 win season with players that have barely scratched their potential you remind us we are doomed because we signed a 2War second baseman. It's so nice that you let us know that Dallas Keuchel who was a top five Cy Young candidate two years ago is washed up because he was terrible last year, and that Kimbrel who has had a hall of fame career and last year had four of the greatest months ever by a reliever but then finished off with a bad two months is also finished and yet Conforto who was a pretty good player two years ago and a very good player two years before that but was terrible last year is certain of a bounce back and we should sign him for $100 million. It's great that you can tell us that the same Conforto who was a -1 dWar last year and has had a negative dWar every year of his career will be a great RF and we are screwed if we try Vaughn/Engel combination. Its super that we hear over and over how cheap we are...until we are a top five payroll...and then you can nimbly switch to...it's not that we are cheap it's that we spend money stupidly. It's also great that even in the face of the evidence that the teams with the top 6 bullpens last year averaged 95 wins...we are morons for investing in our bullpen. Some people are half glass full, some are half glass empty...Soxtalk is the glass is half full of poison.

The entirety of baseball outside of Sox twitter and this site think the Sox are stacked

Oh Bob...

Honestly, this window is like 3 years right now, if the 4th year of that contract sucked so be it. I know that’s not how the Sox are looking at things and I know we want to have a sustained run but this is where we’re at right now imo.

They havent lost out on anything realistic. Conforto is still there. I'd still bet Kimbrel gets traded and there will be another SP.

That lineup isn’t that good…

This is amazing:

Meanwhile the Sox FO is content with a bad platoon of 1B in RF and a bunch of meh at 2nd.

Anyone with a small semblance of baseball IQ can see, Sheets has ZERO business logging any time in RF. Gracious, this organization...

Just a warning but I am going to be absolutely merciless with Sheets defense if he's out there

Here's the thing. If he really has "seen the books" he is 100% violating the obvious non-disclosure agreements he would have signed to be granted access to those records. Not only is he risking personal lawsuits, reputation ruin, and professional suicide, he'd also be risking his firms contract, as well as being stripped of whatever professional credentials he had which allowed him the knowledge which would have made his viewing any financials of a 2 billion dollar company, worth while. And on top of it all, it would take about 15 minutes to put together who talked based on the info leaked. Is it possible that this is real? Sure. But the odds are about zero of his version of the story being accurate.

My question is why did they trade Arenado if they were just going to turn around and give it all to Bryant????

Haha yeah, we're not getting an OFer.

Conforto's 3 year ZiPS projection 2022: 2.4 WAR 2023: 2.5 WAR 2024: 2 WAR I'm gonna assume 2025 is gonna be sub-2 WAR. So in all, you're getting around 9 WAR the next 4 years. If the asking price really is 4 years and $88 million, I can see why the Sox would be hesitant. But that does not excuse how they've mis-allocated funds so far this off-season.

Haha, Baez and Garrett in same division again

How I started the post-lockout: I'd like us to go with Rodon or Kikuchi, Suzuki, Tepera, and Miller or Villar. How its going: Holy. Fucking. Shit. I hope we get Pederson.

Tampa did want Kimbrel last year. Meadows for Kimbrel and some money.

I think some of y'all are at the point where you think KW and Hahn should be fired and the Sox should just blow up the current team and have a fire sale of absolutely everyone. Except Moncada and Eloy, they should just be cut because their flaws are so glaring that no one would trade anything for them.

And truthfully, I hate this front office. I hate their drafting, their development, Free Agency work, and short term philosophy. They have lucked their way into building a Championship Caliber Roster. And for that, I'm 100% grateful and positive.

Me. I don't love the offseason so far but it's still not over. I'm not entirely optimistic on what might come, but I have better things to do than gnash my teeth and wallow in misery about an offseason that isn't complete yet. I'll reserve my right to be annoyed and upset after we see the final results.

I think the Graveman one was even more egregious. 1 year of 3.2 FIP baseball as a reliever in his career. Not a huge strike out guy, expected ERA was north of 3.7. Pretty decent BABIP luck last year. No reason to give him 3 years at 8 million per year. Projections, which aren't perfect given his change as a pitcher slightly last year, paint him as a 3.7 ERA reliever going forward with FIP's near or over 4.

I’m glad the Sox didn’t sign Schwarber. We don’t need another DH.

Also to those who are content with just having a strong core and are ok with the Harrison, Kelly, and VV signings, I give you the Toronto fucking Blue Jays.

That’s fine and dandy, but will they experience the health & defensive improvements that we will organically?

The Blue Jays are doing what we should be doing. That’s what a team with World Series aspirations do.

It’s amazing because Stoney keeps talking about how they have to be smarter and better on defense, yet the defense is worse on paper heading into the year than last season

Any lineup where Eloy ends up batting 7th is one of the best in baseball. That's why I wanted Conforto. He gives the lineup balance and depth.

Yermin for RF!

Ray Ray is right. We are a lot closer to 8-9 than #2 in the majors. Especially with how thin that starting rotation actually is…even one season ending injury there to Gio/Lynn/Cease and they’re quickly behind the 8 ball in May/June desperation mode and sporting the worst farm system in baseball to trade from.

Seriously, who hasn't lost it yet this offseason with this bullshit plan? I want to know because I commend you for your patience and your positivity.

Who's joining me with rooting for the north side this year?

The Sox spent: Velasquez - 3 million Leury - 5.5 million Harrison - 5.5 million Kimbrel - 16 million Kelly - 8.5 million Graveman - 8 million Total = 46.5 million Sox could have spent: Escobar - 10 million Chris Martin - 2.5 million Conforto - 22 million Knebel - 10 million Brad Miller - guessing 2.5-3 million Total - 47-48 million

Fans out there should get hazard pay.

Honestly don't care to follow and compare any of those guys.

Nick Ciuffo! j/k They literally have done nothing to fix the most important areas of need. This team is still good enough to win the division, but a lot is going to have to go right for them to go deep into the playoffs.

All this complaining about RF and they still don’t have a backup catcher.

Also, much rather they spend the money now to upgrade RF than have to use minor league assets (the few they have) at the deadline.