joeynach

I wonder if a -31.3 wRC (weighted runs created) value against Major League fastballs over his 6 seasons with the #WhiteSox had anything to do with Beckham being traded. They sent a great message today, you can't hit or progress, you can't stay here.

I have generally become very skeptical of signing free agents at or above 30 years of age to be the "fill in the gaps" and put us back in contention types. Most of them get exorbitant amounts of money in their mid to late 30s where if you dont win the WS in the first couple of years of these contracts you are in bad shape. Not just the mega deals for the 8 WAR guys like Puljos, Cano, Kershaw and such, but even the 7 year $214M for Fielder, 7 Year $120M for Werth, the $140M for Choo and Elsbury, the $120M for Hamilton. Ugh even the 5 year $80M deals guys like BJ Upton, Brian McCann got makes me want to puke. If the Sox want to improve and have money to spend now with the very low commitments they have on the books keep doing what they are doing. More int'l scouting and Free Agents where the value is greater, more draft picks aimed at immediate contribution (not turn an athlete into a ballplayer projects), more trading for players with numerous team control years left, more Free Agents who can be had on short term deals or who are in need of rebound prove it type contracts (Sizemore, Cruz, Chris Young, Corey Hart, Michael Morse).

Rosenthal speculates that the White Sox would prefer to trade an aging slugger with an expiring contract (making $15M) over their everyday SS (making $9.5M) having a nice year and still under contract through 2016 (if option picked up). Wow, he really stepped out on a limb there with that insightful baseball wisdom.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2014 -> 11:15 AM) Hahaha. So, in retrospect, if we had actually kept Sergio Santos and Jake Peavy, we would be on the cusp of contention in the AL Central this season. Weird. Yeah right, this team scored an AL low 598 runs last year. About 150 less than the league leading Tigers. Throw Santos and Peavy back on this roster and all the Eaton and Abreu in the world isn't gonna get you over the hump.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 11:42 PM) The Sox averaged under 22,000 per game last year and that's just about what the United Center holds. The Sox also sell $5 or $10 tickets to many games, while it costs you $60-$70 to stand at a Hawks game. I do realize that money affects decisions for fans, but to act like that's the #1 thing keeping Sox fans from attending is ridiculous. It's an extremely front running fanbase that isn't that big. Now with a really bad baseball team and the sport itself becoming insignifcant to the casual fan in the city of Chicago, no one is attending Sox games right now. Spare the price and economy talk, there are some very cheap tickets available to nearly every game. Cheaper tickets aren't just a function of a bad team thats rebuilding with low expectations. It's also a function of how baseball is digested today, more so through digital mediums and TV than ever before, and as a result teams draw more revenue from those mediums then ever before. The end game, lower attendance, lower ticket prices (in some markets), and less reliance on ticket sales for revenue or payroll. Baseball isn't the same business it was even when I was a kid in the 90s, there was no advanced media, live streaming, HDTV, baseball apps, baseball blogs, twitter, etc. Thats how I consume White Sox baseball more than ever, much less dependent on going to the ballpark to get my fill of whats important to me. And I think thats OK and I certainly think he Sox have adjusted to this. Of course you through a 95 win team with high expectations out there and you can fill the park, but for the other 90% of teams out there every year....this is the reality.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 07:55 AM) First pitch tomorrow night--37 degrees. There wont be 10K people there then. U could give me scout seats to tomorrow nights game I am not going out there to freeze my a$$ off. Much happier from my couch and 55" LED in HD.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2014 -> 12:06 PM) Some portion of that was likely due to the White Sox having one of the highest average ticket prices in MLB over previous years. Either way they obviously figured out how to not only survive, but thrive with proverbial low attendance.

Attendance doesn't matter anymore, this isnt 1990. Have you seen the AAV of the TV contracts that a good 1/3 of MLB has received in the last 5 years. Have you not noticed the influx of revenue all teams receive from MLB advanced media. Have you not noticed how the White Sox in the bottom 1/3 in attendance almost every year are constantly in the top 1/3 in major league payroll. Teams, especially the White Sox have introduced so many non ticket sale produced revenue streams into the equation in the last ten years it just doesn't matter. I wouldn't be surprised if half of MLB get more money from media rights than ticket sales every season. This old default view that attendance and team payroll are proportional needs to go away, things have changed considerably since 2004.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 10:42 AM) I would love for it to be Jack Daniels Field. Its probably a hard sell right now with attendance down, the team struggling, and companies trying to pull back on some of that type of spending. As far as the US Cellular name goes, it appears did not acquire that piece in their acquisition, and I am sure like most contracts, there is an early termination clause to address situations like this. I think this gives a good indication where that extra money from MLB went if the team has lost its major sponsorship's. Since when are companies trying to pull back on that kind of spending, most of the fortune 500 are at record high profit margins and have you seen stock the stock market lately, record highs upon record highs. ATT named Cowboys stadium for $19M per year. Insane.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 31, 2014 -> 10:05 AM) I have some experience with Sprint dealing with large contractual obligations. My guess from that experience is that Sprint has looked at every way possible to break that deal and can't. In my opinion, US Cellular Field will never be known as Sprint anything because Sprint doesn't want it. That Sprint can't wiggle out of this contract is a testament to what a skilled negotiator Chairman Reinsdorf is. Um really, If I was Sprint and I can get access to the naming rights to a major league ballpark in a city I am looking to expand my footprint and customer base in and all I had to pay was $3.4M a year for the next 10 years.....I'm feeling I hit the jackpot. Thats a bargain by today's standards, in price and years. Look at what Citi pays to the mets per year, $20M, look what AT&T pays the cowboys every year, $19M. Sprint gets a ballpark naming rights deal for 10 years $34M if they would have included it in their takeover of US Cellular, seems like a no brainier to me. Strange that US Cellular didn't want to budge.

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Mar 30, 2014 -> 10:19 PM) I asked my guy at the sox about this. He said us cellular have the rights contractually. It's not the sox call on who replaces them. Basically, it's in us celluar's court. The man who brokered the deal, Jack Rooney, is no longer with us. And new management may not feel that the contract is worth the money. It's all conjecture at this point. I am sure this is some sort of language in the contract that if US Cellular gets acquired, liquidated, or goes out of business there can be changes to the naming rights. The thing is what US Cellular has done puts them kind of in limbo. They acquired the naming rights deal as a means for branding and exposure in Chicago, a big market for them in the early 00s. Now they have no assets or customers in Illinois after selling to Sprint. So why hold naming rights in an area where you don't and will never provide service? To me US Cellular should have sold the naming rights to Sprint along with the spectrum and customers, or negotiated a buyout with the White Sox so they could pursue a sponsor that has meaning in Chicago and Illinois.

About a year ago when I heard that US Cellular was exiting the Chicago market and selling their spectrum and customers to Sprint I emailed Brooks and asked if he was aware US Cellular was folding in Chicago and what the Sox would do. Being that the Corp sponsor whose name is on the stadium will no longer be present in this market I too found it strange. Brooks responded something along the lines of "We are aware of the situation with US Cellular and will be making arrangements". I remember when the Sox announced this partnership with US Cellular in 2003 I was thinking its only a matter of time before US Cellular becomes Sprint or Verizon anyway. I figured at the time I'd give it 5 years before US Cellular Field turned into Verizon or Sprint Field (the other large CDMA service providers).

The line opened at most sports books in Vegas at 77, most sites have it now anywhere between 76 and 77 wins. And when you make a poll for over/unders you should always use the hook man, the 0.5, so that you cant have ties.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 27, 2014 -> 08:25 AM) The Sox had an agreement lined up with Juan Gonzalez to play RF had the Magglio trade gone through. That's a guy that I don't think even Herm Schneider could have kept healthy due to the ravages that steroids took on his body. He was signed by KC, barely played, and was only moderately effective. I then recall seeing his one and only AB in 2005 against Minnesota. He hit a weak ground ball and was immediately in pain, as, if I recall correctly, his hamstring tore itself clean off the bone. Wow, I dont remember the Juan Gonzalez part of the deal, but he was one of the most obvious juicers. Any dude who gets massive and then has this muscle tears off the bone injuries is so obviously a steroid injury it's not even a question. I remember feeling the same way when Nomar tore his groin of the bone and Ortiz tore his wrist tendon of his bone.

I just got finished watching the ESPN 30 for 30 called "The Deal", highlighting the Rangers desire to trade Arod after the 2003 season and frenzy between the Red Sox and Yankees that ensued to acquire him. Really fascinating program, many details not previously known about the Red Sox deal that was in place that hinged on union approval. Obviously this was rejected, and Arod was later traded the Yankees, but during the program Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were speaking how it all came together. At the end of the 2003 season they were having difficulty agreeing to terms with Nomar on a contract extension, his original deal signed in 1997 was set to expire after the 2004 season. In order to make the Arod deal work with the Rangers the Red Sox needed to shed payroll and move Nomar as to open up SS for Arod. Both said in early December 2003 as a prelude to making their for Arod they had a deal in place to send Nomar to the White Sox for Magglio and Brandon McCarthy. The Nomar for Magglio swap was almost the same contract structure, both free agents after 2004, Magglio set to make $14M and Nomar $11.5, so the White Sox were actually taking on salary in the deal. The deal for the Red Sox would have then essentially been Manny and Nomar for Magglio, Arod, BMac. As we all know it fell apart when the union rejected the reduced salary Arod and Red Sox agreed to and placed into the contract. But for me this brings up an interesting memory for the 2004 White Sox. I do recall the Sox struggling to come to terms with Maggs on a contract extension around this time and into the 04 season, as a result I do remember some trade rumors swirling. However, if they deal would have gone down the White Sox would have been left with no RF and a jam at SS with both Jose Valentin and Nomar, and with Crede at 3B and Big Frank at DH there was literally no where for Valientin. Does anyone remember the specifics around this deal for the White Sox? What was the plan for Valentin had the trade gone through? What was to become of RF for the White Sox for the 04 season? Also, interestingly enough, if the White Sox had made this deal, McCarthy isn't around to contribute to the 2005 team in which he started 10 games and posted a 4.03 ERA, even more important then McCarthy isn't around to be traded for John Danks in 2007. Perhaps that deal never takes place, and perhaps the White Sox don't win the division in 2008 without Danks 195IP at 3.32 ERA. Crazy game this baseball is, crazy.