Balta1701

I don't know that the total tax number would matter much to them as compared to the multi-year penalties. As a big IF - IF they wanted to try to keep Shohei, they would have to go over the tax line to do it. Going over the tax line this year would take their penalty from 20% to 30% next year, and from 30% to 50% in 2025. That's like another what, $15 or $20 million in total cost compared to staying below the tax line this year?

I'll grant you wouldn't get away with that now, with how the league has changed. Probably would be a good idea to have extra pitching depth!

2005 was built in absolutely huge part out of a strong system. Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede, Paul Konerko were core parts of that roster. Other parts like Garcia were acquired by trades out of guys from that once-strong system. Those guys were not only developed by the White Sox, but having them all pre free-agency was what gave the White Sox the resources to do things like sign Dye and Pierzynski. No matter how many times people say it was a fluke, that team was quite strong for a number of years - frankly, if anything, they were held back by coaching in several of those years. It is also worth noting that player evaluations have absolutely improved since 2005, and this has made it harder to get away with stealing a Pierzynski.

Worked great with Benintendi and Clevinger and Andrus this year. More of this!

What's wrong with it...is how well it is working right now. What's wrong with it is 2023.

Are they on board with this season? Happy with how things have gone in both 2022 and 2023? Ready for more of the same next year? If another tank job is insane, what is this?

It’s been over a decade since I was really able to get excited about the White Sox (coincidentally starting at the same time as someone took a new job in their front office). I loved watching Sale starts for a while, but seeing how they let him and Quintana down with disastrous decisions around them really grated on me. These days, I’m well past the point of getting any joy out of single performances on a 70 win team. I want to see actual well played baseball by a competitive team, for several years on end. I want them well coached, talented, and well prepared. I want to see them fight for a number 1 seed, not for a top 5 pick. I have pared back my subscriptions a ton, I had the TV package in 21, the radio package last year, and nothing this year. Cheering for Sammy Sosa to hit a home run on those mid 90s Cubs teams doesn’t excite me, and same thing with Robert right now. I’m tired of the sloppiness, the laziness, the stupidity, and the losing. Oh and having a pitcher I still think should have been suspended is an extra ugh.

What am I looking at here? Is there a website that turns out future projections for prospects like this?

You're completely correct. The White Sox are also 21 games under .500. They are currently 0.5 games away from the top 3 in the draft lottery, that's how bad they are. They are expensive, with several bad contracts for next season. They have zero help coming from the minors next year. Hell I can barely remember the last game they won, I guess it was against the Mets? Let's say that Luis Robert continues to be worth $60 million a year for the next 2 years. Fantastic. How much value are the White Sox getting from this performance? Are they doing anything with that $60 million in value this year? Isn't this value that the White Sox are effectively wasting, which could be vastly better used by a contender? If the White Sox could get $30 million in value per year in 2026 through 2032, isn't that worth more to them than $60 million a year in value in 2024 through 2027?

If you're putting this together, wouldn't it be more useful for traded guys to prorate their money by how much the Angels are paying? The White Sox clearly have not cut their payroll by $15.9 million through trades.

There's a decent argument for trading Robert. You probably won't get the incredible value you'd want to move an all star with his level of control, but any team acquiring him would still give up a lot, and you'd remove all the risk of him getting hurt or struggling at any point in the next 4 years onto another roster. But that said..."what good is more top prospects going to do to help this organization"? - it's literally the only reason they were able to make any playoff appearances in the last decade. They were able to get there because they had enough cheap guys to go sign a few free agents, and that combination together was enough to make even these fools a wild card caliber team. That should tell you about how necessary the strategy is sometimes, it actually got a Rick Hahn/Tony LaRussa team into the playoffs.

“Unfortunately I know it’s only my first year, but it’s the year 2032 and this team has a fresh start here in Nashville. Our direction will be to improve over the next few years to become a regular contender.”

Anderson and Kelly instead of Lopez for two top 100 prospects. We saw how much a struggling SS is worth today, we saw Kelly’s effectiveness, and Rushing of course outranks Quero for now.

You gonna admit you were wrong about him being worth 2?

Bush is totally going into next years’s bullpen isn’t he?

Naw, they will go with colas. Literally every move is going to be trying to find a player who is super cheap but who fans will convince themselves will actually be way better than expected so that they can compete. This offseason but on steroids, basically.

Does he need work?

Ironically this would take away a HR tonight.

Be careful what you wish for. In 2013, Ventura presided over a 99 loss team that had added players in the offseason and intended to compete. Worst coached team I’ve ever seen. Accountability for Ventura was a 2 year contract extension.

“You’re going to love Joe Kelly”.

Yeah, there's no reason to eat this much money right now. You may as well play him or IL him and try again next year.

It's currently over $35 million.

“Your what hurts?”

I think we have seen and heard enough around baseball to expect that back surgery is a last ditch option with a good chance of ending your career if it is done, with a risk of long term quality of life issues as well. Bringing him back now if there is still pain is questionable, but you try everything else before you do surgery on that body part.