Look at Ray Ray Run

What major problem? How are the closest thing in the minors to solving it many years away? This year, in AAA and AA the Sox will have: Luis Gonzalez Basebe Rutherford may be there Micker should be on a fast track assuming health is there ETA for Gonzalez and Basebe would be 2020 - possibly, if all things go well I wouldn't be shocked to see one of them in 2019. Micker you could realistically put at late 2020 as an ETA. Rutherford is probably the furthest out and we're talking 2021 there. Also, if the Sox sign Manny, then Anderson or Moncada may be shifting to the outfield. This doesn't even account for Robert who, if he succeeds this year, will be fast tracked given his contract and expectations. To say the closest thing is many years away is just wrong. I'm not sure why it's better to trade from depth than depend on it. That's an odd thing to say.

Mike Trout had a 672 OPS in his first 40 big league games.

Why? Deadlines work in every other sport. This off season is terrible for baseball. A deadline should absolutely exist.

Just so everyone understands. The limits on a prop like that are about $250. There is no market set by that. It's just fans

Business men dont have come to jesus moments about spending 300 million dollars they didnt plan on spending 1 month ago.

And a bum. Dont forget a bum.

I miss when the White Sox were considered to be good enough and known that they were the villain in baseball movies.

Eh, I like to give them away to fellow Sox fans.

Yes. Theres a reason we dont get a competitive balance pick and teams like the Cardinals do.

If I have tickets to give away this year - I dont even try to sell them - I will PM you. Usually give away 10-15 games a year.

Jack, Most fans are fairweather fans and honestly there's nothing wrong with that. I have been a season ticket holder myself and my family for my entire life. Love the White Sox, but I went to 8 games last year - usually I'd go to 20. I didn't record and watch every game last year - which is something I usually do when they're remotely competitive. As you get older, it just feels stupid to waste 2 hours a day 162 days a year watching something that sucks. Fans have other things to do. The diehard fans will always be there, but the casual fan isn't going to tune in to watch Adam Engel put up a -24 wRC+, or Lucas Giolito give up his 14th homer in the first inning. The casual fan will return when you're good.

You don't need unlimited dollars for it to work. The thing that separates a good rebuild from a bad one is the GM's ability to evaluate his own talent and part ways with those who are high valued/rated but overrated in his eyes, and retain the guys who are going to develop into stars. It's ones ability to evaluate their own talent that separates a successful rebuild from an unsuccessful one. If you work your salaries right - lets use the Sox for example - you sign support pieces to contracts that are off the books the years your youthful talent is about to hit free agency. You retain the ones that you think will continue to produce, and you move the ones that have produced but that have red flags to acquire more young talent to supplement for the support pieces you may lose. You can compete for a decade this way, easily, if you make the right decisions and retain the right people/move the right people.

and one more comment; yes, since 2007 you see more Cubs gear because the Cubs are good. I don't see much Bulls gear around right now, is it because there are no Bulls fans left? No, it's because the Bulls are the worst team in the NBA. No one wants to rep that stuff. When the Sox are good again, you'll see plenty of Sox gear and coverage and you'll be reminded why judging a teams fan base based on their enthusiasm during following 3 HORRENDOUS years isn't the best way to evaluate the fan base.

I just presented a map that had like 30 places on it that had more Sox fans than Cubs. What are you talking about? My town is listed as 42/40 and it's not a small place. The majority of the West and South Chicagoland area had more Sox fans than Cub fans. I have no idea why you want to dismiss that.

That's not really how it's supposed to work. Sustained success is suppose to consist of consistent drafting and development - head started by being bad at the beginning and stockpiling your system. Then you are supposed to sign the ones you want to keep, trade the ones you can afford to trade for younger controllable pieces and continue on your journey of success. The concept of a rebuild is never to rebuild, be good for 5 years, and then be bad for 5 again to rebuild again. Rebuilding from the ground up is supposed to allow you to maintain excellence for 10 years+. You should be good twice as long as you were required to be bad for to become good.

Yes. Sox gear was everywhere in 2006 - how quickly people forget. As the article states - the Sox aren't the Mets. No where in New York is MET first. Chicago is actually split and divided. The Sox have no excuses. They ran payroll in the top 5-7 for years. They can afford it. The Sox don't even receive revenue sharing or compensation picks because they aren't a small market team; meanwhile the Twins and Cardinals both receive competitive balance picks.

Because they have a tourist attraction tied to their location and their ballpark maybe? Because nationally they have more of a following because of WGN playing their games nationally?

The comments in this thread are just factually inaccurate. The city is not split as is being portrayed. The Sox are not a small market team. Their fanbase is larger than 90% of teams in baseball. Oak Park is one of the largest suburbs in the CHicagoland area, and it's split, so to say you don't see Sox fans in suburbs is just categorically wrong. If you are using gear seen to judge - people wear less gear when the team sucks.

29th in ratings; ratings are based on population. No one watched games because their horrible, yet their TV contracts are still substantially larger than the teams you listed so networks much know something.

Dude, you can go to the map. It's right there. Just so you know, there are a lot of counties that the Sox are leading the Cubs according to that study. Cook County is a pretty big one to be right there for too.

From the article: Helped by the charm of their field and by WGN’s national broadcast reach, the Cubs have always been the better-loved of Chicago’s two teams. But the White Sox — unlike the Mets or the A’s — do have a patch of their own territory, on the city’s South Side and into the southern suburbs. Interstate 290 (the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway) is a rough guide to the border: Know whether you're north or south of it before you put on your hat.

The White Sox are not a smaller market than the Twins and Indians. That is complete nonsense. As I said, produce actually numbers and studies refuting the number - don't just throw out some random number. If you think the Twins and Indians have a larger market you might want to talk to the TV networks because the local contracts for the Sox blow the Indians and Twins out of the water, and I'm using the Sox last contract not the current extension.

I would disagree; having been someone who grew up in the Western and Southern suburbs, I can say that I saw more Sox fans than Cub fans. Being someone who lived on the north side of the city, I can understand how anyone living their could view it differently than me, but 45ish seems about right to me.

Yes they do. I grew up in the Western Suburbs and it was split pretty much evenly - Oak Park/River Forest area. The South Suburbs are Sox heavy and the North Suburbs are Cubs heavy. The Cubs have a further reaching fanbase - ie, they have central illinois with the cardinals, iowa, and northern illinois/southern wisco. Their reach goes further, but in the immediate Chicagoland area, the Sox are nearly evenly split. 47/53 is pretty accurate imo, unless you want to produce a study that refutes that point... or you can just stick to pointless first hand experience to draw erroneous conclusions if you prefer that.

No chance. The Sox control 47% - according to this study by the Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/23/upshot/24-upshot-baseball.html - of a major metropolitan area. According to that study, Cook County is split nearly 40/40. Cook County alone is 5.3 million people, meaning the Sox have nearly 2.2 million of that in Cook alone. St Louis has 300,000 people - the metropolitan area has 2.8 million people. Of Sox Fans in Cook alone, they nearly match the total of St Louis. Chicago is a MASSIVE market in which the Sox have a 47% share of. There are 10 million people in this area, and if you want to say the Sox just control 40% of it (It's higher, FTR) then they control a fan base north of 4 million people. That's bigger than the entire St Louis Metro Area. The White Sox are not a small market team; don't let them sell you otherwise. In the early 90's the Sox were a bigger draw than the Cubs. Jerry being a big part of the strike hurt a lot with the fan base, but the Sox still have a market share bigger than 90% of MLB teams.