The Kids Can Play

Is there anyone who doesn't hate Rick Hahn other than Jerry and his family?

Time for the Sox bats to wake up and score more runs. Lucas needs to have a great game today and go at least 7 innings and a solid bullpen. I can't recall the last time the Sox won two games in a row when both starters back to back had an awesome 7-8 inning game and the W.

Kopech's best major league start. Like Steve Stone said, it was a good of a performance as Giolito and Rodon's no hitters. A key comment that Kopech said after the game, he has been working hard on controlling his emptions on the mound. You could definitely tell Kopech looked relaxed and kept his high emotions in check, which normally gets him in trouble with the control and walks. Grifol also pointed that same fact out in his post game talk. I also liked Grifol's comments about how electric Kopech's fastball was. He referred his fastball right before batter sees it...as a ball that has an extra gear to it. It was nice to see Michael hit 97-99 several times with major movement. However very frustrated and concerned the offense is going backwards again. Horrible situational baseball effort.

We all know Moncada is not probably on the long range plans for the Sox future. Plus while this team is losing and not making the playoffs, the best thing for the Sox is to get prospects on a trade for him to hopefully improve our 26th ranked farm system. The best time is now at TDL. He is making 17 million versus 24 million next year. As I said, if Moncada is playing healthy at the TDL and producing numbers like he is now, there will be several teams wanting Moncada. His salary could be justified if he produces. Every year all the teams at the TDL in the hunt for the WS, go trade for those players they think will be the final pieces to the WS title. This year will be no exception. It makes no sense to wait until his final year before becoming a UFA. The longer you wait to trade Moncada the chances of getting good prospects back will diminishes as he gets older. Keep in mind, if Moncada has always been prone to injures at this age, as well as when he was younger, what do you think it will like on his final year at 30 years old in 2025 and trying to trade him as a rental? 2023 - 17 million - 28 years old 2024 - 24 million - 29 years old 2025 - 25 million or Sox club option of buying him out at 5 million - 30 years old 2026 - UFA - 31 years old We have to improve this roster. It's not capable of being a playoff WS contender. We need to build the farm system back to relevance. The quickest way is through trading away our assets. In this case we have Jake Burger ($720,000) to replace Moncada and we need the prospects back off the trade.

Why would we wait until the 2024 TDL to trade Moncada? The Sox are not going anywhere this year and realistically not making the playoffs. Let's trade Moncada now at the 2023 TDL. The fact is, if Moncada stays healthy until the 2023 TDL and keeps producing solid numbers, be rest assured there will be a few teams wanting that last piece, to go for the WS title and give the Sox some quality prospects in return. There is one huge risky problem if the Sox don't move Moncada at the 2023 TDL, especially if he is playing healthy and producing great numbers at the deadline. That potential nightmare would be now you are stuck with him and in 2024 his salary goes from 17 million to 24 million. If hypothetically Moncada would be slumping or injured a lot in 2024 like previous years, your trade value at the 2024 TDL will be significantly worse, versus trading him at the 2023 TDL with a potential healthy Moncada producing good numbers. There won't be too many teams wanting an injured slumping player making 24 million at the 2024 trade deadline. That's why you trade him now if he is healthy and producing good numbers by the 2023 TDL.

Seby not only sucks, but it gets me even more irritated every time I think of the brilliant Rick Hahn trade giving away Reese McGuire for our recently departed DFA Jake Diekman.

Wow, some interesting reading there! Not to get off the baseball and White Sox discussion, but since this is about all 5 teams in Chicago GM history, I noticed a few ironic and humorous side notes from that top 77 GM's : 1. #61 - Jim Finks - Bears 1974-1982 It was Jim Finks who was responsible for putting the great '85 Bears Super Bowl team together Finks brought in the following players on that 1985 Super Bowl championship team roster: Walter Payton - HOF Dan Hampton - HOF Mike Singletary - HOF Otis Wilson Steve McMichael Mike Richardson Dave Duerson Keith Van Horne Jay Hilgenberg Kurt Becker Jim McMahon Emery Moorehead Gary Fencik Matt Suhey Ken Margerum Dennis Gentry Maury Buford 2. #63 - Dale Tallon 2005-2009 It was Tallon who brought in the initial great Blackhawk players that won that first Stanley Cup title in 2010. Tallon brought in the following players all on that first of three Stanley Cup titles: Jonathan Toews Patrick Kane Marian Hossa Patrick Sharp Niklas Hjalmarsson Brent Sopel Jordan Hendry Andrew Ladd Kris Versteeg Cristobal Huet Brian Campbell Ben Eager Tomas Kopecky 3. #69 - Rod Thorn - 1978-1985 Drafted Michael Jordan who is only the greatest NBA basketball player ever and probably greatest athlete of all time. I get why Thorn doesn't get much credit because he did luck into Jordan falling in his lap, when Portland made the dumbest draft pick blunder in NBA history and took Sam Bowie over Jordan at #2. 4. # 77 - Ryan Poles 2022- He might be last for now, but only because he inherited one of the worst rosters in the NFL. I know there are no guarantees going forward, but IMO from what Poles has done so far in the draft, trades and free agents signings, he could be moving up a lot higher in the next several years. At least that's what all Bears fans hope for.

Today...it's been somewhere else all season. Tim is a shell of the man he used to be a few years ago.

Fond memories of that 1983 team. What a pitching staff we had!

As you correctly pointed out, Jake has closed the gap at third. The Sox will be fine with Burger at third and trade Moncada. Plus Burger is a more charismatic and fun player to watch over Moncada. If Jake continues this great play not only this year, but for years to come, he will be a guy that the Sox fans will want to cheer for and want to come to the ballpark to see play. You are also right Moncada is not part of the long range Sox future. Get what you can for him and move on.

You are probably right. Then put him in left and tell him to stay away from Robert. Let Benintendi play right. The good news with Robert and Benintendi, they can cover 3/4 of the outfield and tell Eloy just stay out of the way. lol

I agree with you. Just because the Twins lost 2 of 3 to the Dodgers does not mean they are falling apart. Guess what, the Twins lost to the Dodgers who have the best record in the NL and 3rd best in MLB.

Where are you coming up with that? Be more specific.

I am sure Eloy is already hammering Pedro to play RF when he gets back. LOL There would have to be some strict rules laid down for Eloy to play right. One of them would be let to Robert take most of the flyballs near Eloy and not pout like he did in previous years when Robert came over towards Eloy's left field area. Or telling Eloy no stupid running into nets and fences. LOL!

You're absolutely right the top tier teams would not sit Burger or platoon him. Then again, we are not a top tier team and will never be one as long as the POS losers Reinsdorf, Kenny and Hahn are running this team. Plus Pedro isn't a good coach. A winning and veteran manager like Francona would have no problem sitting Moncada down and telling him what the team needed.

Then trade Moncada because you can save 17 million. The fact is he is never healthy. Burger for third will only cost $720,000

Moncada will never win a glove glove. There are many 3rd basemen better than him in this league.

I wonder what is wrong. He is injured or Pedro just babying Moncada once again.

It's very simple! When Eloy comes back, Burger cannot be on the bench nor can he play part time. Either he plays DH and Eloy moves to the outfield, which I know could be a disaster. Or the better thing move Moncada to second. Everyone is posting how Moncada is the better offensive player over Burger and that is not true. Besides the fact Moncada does not have anything close to Burger's HR power, he is behind Jake in most other offensive metrics: AVG OBP SLG OPS ISO BABIP wRC wRAA wOBA wRC+ WAR Burger .278 .348 .747 1.095 .468 .400 20 9.3 .447 189 1.2 Moncada .310 .344 .534 .879 .224 .363 10 2.9 .336 140 0.5 In the history of the game many players have made position changes. He won't be the first or the last. Plus we are not asking Moncada to learn a new position like Vaughn and Sheets had to do. My god, he played second base his entire life and even a short time for the Sox. He was traded here as a second baseman and not a third baseman. If he such an amazing athlete and player as so many claim here, then he can make the adjustments at 2nd. For now I agree Moncada is a better third baseman than Jake. However Jake has played well this year and not been bad there as in the past. He made a huge improvement on his game at 3rd. Even if Moncada is not as good at 2nd, he is at least better than Andrus and Alberto at 2nd. Moncada's offense is worth playing him at 2nd and it will easily outweigh and justify Moncada at 2nd versus any of the other White Sox slugs at 2nd. I seriously don't like Eloy playing outfield. That is an injury IL waiting to happen. Plus these moves won't be for that long as most have agreed in here, several players will be traded at the deadline and Moncada will probably be one of them.

Jake Burger is the real deal. It's official...he is really good! There shouldn't be anymore of the doubters to say, "he's just on a hot streak, it wont last!". Pedro better start today to s figure out a solution in how he will keep Jake in the lineup when Eloy comes back. Just when we were all concerned about Andrew Vaughn struggling with the power...Boom! Joe Kelly is filthy nasty! Last 7 outings: 7.2 Inn, 1 hit, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K I even noticed a slight chance that TA might have woken up. Just hoping! Yes, Luis Robert struggled and that was just because of the pressure of being too anxious to hit a HR in 5 straight games. Hopefully he will learn from that. As much as I am not a Clevinger fan, he did pitch well and he did amaze me how he kept getting out of jams and did go into the 7th inning. Lopez has amazing stuff, but please, someone in the Sox org, please work with Lopez on his mental frame of mind and physical mechanics when he is on the mound...because he can't be having 30 pitch innings anymore. Finally let's keep these last two games in perspective. We are playing a bad Guardians team that was missing Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor who both kill the Sox. Let's go for the sweep today! Going forward for my own sanity, I am taking little baby steps with this team and not having any real positive expectations. If they prove me wrong, then what a nice pleasant surprise I can enjoy down the road.

I totally agree Reinsdorf is the biggest blame here. It absolutely starts at the top. I didn't mentioned JR, because sometimes out of frustration, I get tired of calling the POS loser out. I have been as vocal about this loser owner in here as anyone. However at some point, I just come to grips that it's not going to change until Jerry passes on and the team is sold. Having said that, even if your owner is totally incompetent, which he clearly is...that is no excuse for Rick Hahn. Hahn was given a fairly aggressive payroll over the last several years. The fact is, even if we got the greatest owner in the world to come in, he is not going to hold the GM's hand in helping him do the scouting, drafting and development of players, or the free agent acquisitions, roster design, trades and farm system structure. It is 100 percent NOT Jerry Reinsdorf's fault for the following: 1. Terrible free agent signings by Hahn. 2. A horrible history for making bad trades and getting fleeced, especially at the trade deadline. 3. A horrendous history of scouting, drafting and developing players. One of the worst farm systems in baseball for several years now. Hahn is just so clueless in how to set up a farm system to get young prospects ready to be productive at the major league level. 4. Hahn creating a roster from the original 2016 rebuild that has turned out to be constantly injured and/or underperforming to their potential. What clearly IS Jerry's FAULT; is not terminating the employment of Kenny Williams, Rick Hahn and all the other losers in this dysfunctional organization. A long time ago Jerry should have gone to the outside and found some executive from a winning organization who has experience and knowledge...of "Best Practices" that was part of a successful FO for a consistent winning baseball team.

I fully realize there are other metrics for fielding, but I've watched every game this year he has played at 3rd and he hasn't been a liability there in costing them games. I know Moncada is better than Jake right now at third. That is not my argument. My argument is I want Burger's bat in the same lineup with Moncada and Eloy when he is back. Since Eloy will be at DH, I feel Moncada needs to step up for the team and go play second. Burger is not capable of playing second. Moncada has and can play second. Having Burger play part time when Eloy gets back if he is still hitting well, is just dumb

You are right there is no doubt the Sox have never put this talent all together at once due to injuries. Maybe it never will happen because regardless of the talent, maybe the Sox players are just seriously injury prone and won't ever be able to stay healthy to reach the potential they actually have. Right now Eloy is out. Then when he gets back, it could be Moncada, Burger or Anderson or whoever. Yet the bottom line is, that is the responsibility of the GM to put a strong roster together that get on base and score runs, but also is capable of staying healthy. Consequently Hahn has failed miserably in that area.

You're right he doesn't, but then again, this underachieving organization doesn't deserve to have Rick Hahn as the GM which is the major reason Robert is not surrounded by more talent around him in the lineup.

He joins great company with the other Sox pitchers on the staff to have TJS, along with Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech, Jimmy lambert and Garrett Crochet.