Leaderboard

Rick Hahn content with mediocrity, news at 11.

This is gonna end up with some stupid s%*# like Eloy winning a Gold Glove in right field, but completely forgetting how to hit.

Go get Kemp & Duvall, sign a couple pitchers to minor league deals, and call it a day. Would this be a great off-season? Not at all, but it would probably be about as good as we could have expected assuming payroll has to be kept flat and if Hahn refuses to tap deeply into the minor league system. Lineup: 1) Anderson, SS | 2) Benintendi, LF* | 3) Robert, CF | 4) Jimenez, DH | Moncada, 3B# | 6) Vaughn, 1B | 7) Grandal, C# | 8) Colas, RF* | 9) Kemp, 2B* Bench: IF) Gonzalez | OF) Duvall | UT) Garcia# | BC) Zavala Rotation: 1) Cease | 2) Lynn | 3) Giolito | 4) Kopech | 5) Clevinger Bullpen: CL) Hendriks | SU) Graveman | SU) Bummer* | SU) Lopez | MR) Kelly | MR) Diekman* | MR) Ruiz | LR) Lambert Depth: IF) Sosa | IF) Sanchez | IF) Gonzalez | 3B/1B) Burger | OF) Reyes | OF) Hamilton | OF) Cespedes | 1B/DH) Sheets* | C) Perez | SP) Davis | SP) FA #1 | SP) FA #2 | SP ) Burke | SP) Bilous | RP) Crochet* | RP) Santos | RP) Foster | RP) Stiever | RP) Padilla | RP) Banks* | RP) Sousa*

We’re reading too much into this. This is nothing. Why wouldn’t he prepare to play defense? Depth and versatility are important.

Did you write this nonsense post and start it off with “what does this mean?”

January 4, 1993 - The Sox signed oft-injured outfielder Ellis Burks to a one-year contract. Burks would have a breakout season in 1993 and finally stop the revolving door in right field (at least for that season.) Burks would produce 17 homers, 71 RBI’s and hit .275 in the divisional championship season. He’d catch the final out to clinch the division title that season as well. In the six game A.L.C.S. he’d hit .304 with seven hits including a double and a home run and drive in three RBI’s. He also walked four times. Unfortunately, then G.M. Ron Schueler, wouldn't give Burks the multi-year deal he was looking for when the season ended and he left for Colorado where he became an All-Star.

I guess the question is has he ever played defense before? ?

He literally just told him to be ready. I don't think the Sox plan to play Eloy in RF much, if at all. But does it really hurt for him to be prepared for it? He's obviously not playing much LF now with Benintendi in the fold. I think Eloy's 2023 will shake out as follows, assuming he's mostly healthy: DH: 125 GS LF: 15 GS RF: 5 GS

I think we as Sox fans are just a little fed up with his empty platitudes, and it’s a fair place to be. Of course he isn’t going to say that the guys in line to fill 2B suck, or that the plan sucks, or that he’s a feckless incompetent boob that can’t get anything done with what little he has to work with. Still, it all just rings hollow at this point.

I hope they're just saying this just to keep Eloy happy about not being a full-time DH.

Yikes

Hahn basically said they are trying to add at 2B. Of course he hedged in saying it wasn't entirely necessary. I would hope they're getting some sort of LH bat who can play 2B and another spot on the diamond or two. Eduardo Escobar just seems like the guy they end up with. Cavan Biggio is a good fit. Nick Gordon seems like a Sox type and they were rumored to be on him but obviously complicated with the Twins and I am not sure that Gordon is a good player. Thinking outside the box, the Pirates have glut of middle infield prospects and obviously have Oneil Cruz entrenched at SS. I would love to take a look at one of their MLB ready guys in Rodolfo Castro or Ji Hwan Bae. I look at Castro as a young Escobar and I think Bae has some nice upside. Bae might end up on more in the outfield and they may keep Escobar due to his switch hitting and positional flexibility. In any case, Cruz is obviously going to play. Pirates just took Termarr Johnson who will be a 2B fourth overall. While he has time to mature and they wouldn't necessarily make 2023 roster moves with him in mind, both Nick Gonzalez and Liover Peguero are top five prospects in their system and both will be MLB ready in 2023 playing 2B and SS.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/video/white-sox-60-leury-garcia-baserunning-miscue-costly https://www.mlb.com/video/diaz-picks-off-runner-at-third

I gotta disagree here. Leury could be the difference between Adam Duvall as our 4th OF instead of Victor Reyes. He’s just such an awful fit for this team as he can’t hit RHP (which doesn’t help us at 2B) and we have a guy in Romy who can likely do his job for league minimum. I think Leury will be way better than last year, but I think he’s been grossly overrated by this organization simply because he is “versatile”.

I mean if the choice is Eloy in RF or ride or die with a completely green rookie in RF, count me in as #TeamColas

Maybe "Get Some Work in RF" is the new "Pack a Fucking Lunch"??

The whole Leury thing is so overplayed by Sox fans. First off, the Sox dumped more money just last year on Keuchel. So there is precedent. Secondly, Leury can be a useful bench player. Tony just criminally overused him and he got buried in his failure. I would not be surprised in the least to see Leury rebound to the .270/.325/.375 type player he was from 17-21. For $5M, that's earning your paycheck.

And they get roasted for not having SoxFest, for good reason. They talk, they get roasted. They don't talk, they get roasted. Now, there is plenty to roast them about. But I am not sure what exactly Hahn is supposed to say when he's asked about a 2B? "Romy and Sosa simply are not ML-caliber players - we must acquire a 2B"? Not only is that bad mouthing your own, but its also theoretically impacting leverage. There is plenty to roast RH and the FO about. But this really isn't one of them. Also, ST doesn't start for like 6 weeks. Plenty of time left to finish off the roster.

It would be ideal if his actions would speak louder, versus needing to speak BS at all.

I don’t think I the headline is really all that reflective of the key quote: "If, in the end, we're choosing from Romy and Lenyn, with Leury as a potential backup – that's something we certainly feel gives us an opportunity to win, but at the same time isn't going to necessarily preclude us from looking at ways to get better." That’s not really saying they’re satisfied, and it’s also like, you’re not going to go on record saying these guys are s%*#. This is a classic Hahn interview where h says absolutely nothing; I’m not reading into it.

Yes. They need someone who can play CF when Robert misses 50-90 games.

I think the main point of what Grifol told him is "be ready IF we need you out there. Continue to work on your game as always. Do not think of yourself as a useless guy only capable of one thing. Be prepared to be more even if we don't think that's where the best you is. The best you is staying in the lineup as a hitter. That's what will help the team most." Grifol is all about positive reinforcement and encouragement but if he doesn't see you trying to be the best you possible he will get on you for your lack of effort in the tough love way that every parent should have inside them. Probably much the same way he raised his girls. Kindness with expecting firmness of resolve.

I kind of like White Sock. I was at a game in the late 80s when the team was really bad, and I was sitting behind the White Sox dugout. Russ Mormon was on the team, and he whiffed. He was coming back to the dugout with his head down, and some guy yelled "keep your head up, youre a White Sock" at him. For some reason,, that cracked me up, and I'll never forget it.

It's that attitude that has partly gotten the Sox to where they are at today. "Welp, this is the way it's going to be, I'm still going to buy tickets and watch every day because I love the White Sox, hopefully it's different in 2032." Sorry, that's not good enough for me when teams in the same league the White Sox play in operate in a totally different fashion. I have higher expectations for the teams I root for than that. I've said all along I'm not going to stop anyone from being optimistic or rooting the way they want, but doesn't mean I have to agree with it, or join the "Being mad doesn't solve anything" group. The fan base bending over signifies this type of behavior is acceptable. Being upset with the team might not change ownership, but my wallet is going to be heavier, and my time will be spent on things that better serve my interests.

I have the straight payroll as of right now at ~$180M. That includes Clevinger's 2024 buyout and Benintendi's signing bonus as 2023 obligations. It does not include Pollock or Harrison's buyouts that were paid in 2022. Of course we'll never know exactly how the Sox account for these things things internally, but they should still have around $10M to spend before getting to last year's final total. If that is a hard and fast limit (doubt it is), that of course means there would be no room for mid-season additions if it were spent on say Duvall ($7M) and Kemp ($3M) in the coming weeks, to use @Chicago White Sox latest projection.

I love these two posts. @Dick Allen is spot on laying out how first how they are refusing to finish the job after initiating a multi-year rebuild. And second how Reinsdorf teams tend to successfully create the image they operated with their very difficult constraints. A classic was paxson, who limited himself in team building strictly thru draft and adding free agents with salary cap space and was constantly saying well who else could we have gotten with those very specific routes? And then you pair that with @Eminor3rdsummarizing the Jays offseason in which they were unsatisfied with their first round exits after years long rebuilds, saw their right handedness and poor defense as a culprit and did a huge renovation of their outfield and added pitching. The $$ added is less, though obviously prospect capital out was much more. The Sox did also address their handedness and defense, going from a LF that was very below avg to avg and improving on a bizarrely bad year from AJ pollock. The blue jays took a bad defense and made it one of the best in the league. They added one of the best starters available and added pitching depth.

The actual quote is not quite that though. But maybe?

Let’s hope so. Don’t want them wasting $2.5M on a Yolbert Sanchez type prospect because there is nothing else to use our money on.

Luis Reyes is signing for $700K, Rafael Álvarez is $300K and Uribe is $200K. Not sure on the others but Sox should have like $3 million left. No idea what their plan is

Which is why it’s annoying we’re stuck with a homeless man’s Ben Zobrist instead of a bench player better suited for this roster.

I’m no Leury fan and didn’t and still don’t understand the extension beyond TLR wanting his guy. But the if we weren’t paying Leury we could have Duvall analysis is worthless because they are stuck paying Leury.

Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys....let em be Right Fielders, 1st Basemen and such.

Never forget…bottom right box

Bad baserunner and a dumb player to go with it.

This has probably been one of Hahn’s better off-seasons from a communication standpoint. He basically told us up front payroll wasn’t growing and that large free agent expenditures were unlikely. So far, he’s exceeded the very low expectations he set. This is preferable to saying we have “unprecedented financial flexibility” and then be maxed out after signing Yasmani Grandal and Dallas fucking Keuchel.

Great runner of the pigskin. Not a great (or good?) thrower of the pigskin.

No wonder they hired him, he’s as delusional as the front office.

Yes, to byoass proven commodities so we can roll the dice. Lets GO!

Burger and Sheets are good AAAA depth IMO for few week stretches.

No competitive team would DH Sheets. Also, where is his power? Or do we just say that cuz he's a big guy..

He’d be content with a hot dog at a steak house.

It’s just hard to take his empty statements seriously any more. They are content doing nothing at 2B. Hooray! Exciting stuff there Rick.

Decent jump so far for Buehrle. I can see new age voters that value defense helping him out as the years go by.

Hahn's comment yesterday that they don't see the team as complete leads me to believe they are still looking to add, hopefully at 2B. The options out there aren't great, unless they pull off a surprising trade. However, I'd rather them go into the season with a more sure option rather than relying on Sosa or Gonzalez being able to perform out the gate.

My guess is that moving both championship game weekend and the wild card round would be super brutal on the TV networks. But maybe if you’ve played this out in advance, you have a little known “emergency clause” in the TV contracts already negotiated? That would limit the seat-of-your-pants planning if they were smart businessmen.

But he’s the richest contract in White Sox history what do you mean people won’t buy tickets to see him play???

I’m not anti rookie, but rookies usually struggle at some, point if not right away. A supposed championship window isn’t when you usually put that much on them. Who do they have to give Colas a break if he needs if? Who do they have if he struggles? He might be great right away, but it’s unlikely. And they are doing it at 2B as well. Why can’t they ever really go for it?

Cheap 1 year deal in March if nothing else materializes? Sure. Any sort of real guarantee right now? Nah. Try to do better; he’s not very good and has never play 2B. But I’ve been on record and remain convinced that just handing Romy/Sosa the job and relying on Leury to play a few days a week there is silly. You need to bring in some level of competition for the kids and make them earn that job, while also hoping they do.

I miss Alex and Ursula Snelius, our Lithuanian, $64M IL Lottery winners, HR sponsors. May they rest in Peace.