Balta1701

Well congratulations, I’m sure you’re important enough to deserve this victory lap.

This is NOT what any other owner would do. A responsible owner in the 3rd biggest media market in MLB would take advantage of the fact that they have a strong credit rating and are associated with a major real estate company and would privately finance this stadium. They would ask for some public support for this deal, but wouldn't threaten to walk to a worse media market. While this would put the franchise into some debt, the combination of the new ballpark, revenues from it, and the huge revenue potential associated with developing a plot of real estate in urban Chicago would be a game changer. Even privately financed, successfully completing this project would be a massive boost to franchise value. This project, with Related as a partner, is a huge overall win for the White Sox if they get it done. On top of that, if the Nashville group can come up with the money, that owner then gets to take advantage of an extra $50 or $75 million in income from the new franchise expansion fee. A responsible other owner would look to get this deal done in Chicago. They would recognize that its going to be a partnership, that the state will put in some money to make the site workable and as a tax break to get it developed, but the government will not fund the whole project as that would be stupid for them to do. It is only Jerry Reinsdorf who believes that he shouldn't have to put up any money for this, who is willing to walk to a smaller media market if he can't hurt the taxpayers of Illinois enough. Jerry Reinsdorf is willing to move to a smaller market and take less money if he doesn't get his way from the taxpayers of Illinois.

It is only Jerry Reinsdorf’s arrogance and desire to soak and hurt the taxpayers of Illinois that requires a billion dollars in public funds to go to Jerry. If he was willing to finance a billion dollars using the fact that his teams financial status is amazing due to the last deal, and asked the state to put up like $500 million to prepare and assist with the site and to support it through tax breaks, I bet this deal is done and ground is breaking already. Furthermore, having the deal done would have instantly boosted his franchises value, and it would have gone up more as the ballpark approached completion. This would also be true for a team in Nashville, if they have the money to buy the team, they have the money for a stadium, and financing the stadium would be a sound decision for them. But Jerry can’t tolerate this, even if it makes him money, because it doesn’t soak the taxpayers like he did last time. It’s either all or he walks, because that’s the kind of businessman he is. He is willing to sell the ball club for less than it would otherwise be worth because he has to punish politicians and taxpayers if they don’t bow before him.

Here’s what I can’t get over - what’s the backup plan? He’s literally asking the state of Illinois to build him the most expensive ballpark in history, and he’s spent a year issuing threats to leave if they don’t cave. if the politicians decline to play ball, has he not backed himself into such a corner as to guarantee a move? He can’t come back and suddenly be reasonable and put up his own money after 3 years of threats to leave.

They probably decided that LaRussa could handle that role.

What is more interesting is what Pedro probably had to say to do this. It probably sounded a lot like what we heard from him. 1. Hahn did a great job putting a roster together and it just needed better coaching. Yeah that was part of it. 2. We are going to play hard nosed tough baseball. We are going to play veterans who play the right way. We are going to bunt and put pressure on the defense and play fast. We aren’t going to mess around with stuff like walk rates and launch angles, that’s for nerds. The latter is stuff we heard from Grifol for a year and a half. How much of that is the same stuff Chris Domestic Violence Enthusiast Chris Getz talked about and that Reinsdorf talked about in his press events? They did a great job of putting out a consistent message. Reinsdorf wants guys like Eckstein. Getz wants more bunting and for women to know they deserve to be punched if they don’t keep quiet. The leaks tell us the baseball people are back in charge. Getz wants guys who play the game the right way, beat women, and play sound defense. Grifol wants them to play “fast”. Thats the direct line to 121 losses. Grifol didn’t just tell them they had done a great job, he told them that he would play the game the way they wanted, the David Eckstein game. The results speak for themselves, 121 losses and multiple articles about how they wanted to play an old style game, and now this time I’m sure the baseball people will totally change their perspective and embrace a more modern approach, right?

Because if it reflects badly on Reinsdorf, it has to be challenged forcefully.

Naw, the White Sox leak like crazy, most of It now is on purpose. That reputation goes back to KW, it hasn’t been the case in more than 10 years.

Because right now the Bulls are available only on one of those options. It would seem silly and dumb to launch a network with only one of those options available in the regular season of a major sports team in one of the largest cities in the USA, but saying that this is dumb is an attack on the people who made the decisions that led to it happening, which means it is an attack on Reinsdorf and Reinsdorf must be defended.

However people want to be creative with this...if JR doesn't get his sweetheart deal and $1.5 billion check or whatever he wants now, I don't see how it ends any other way than the A's way.

I think no matter what, Jerry is going to take this to the wire with a full blown threat to move to Nashville. He knows what a sweet deal he got last time, he's going to follow the same game plan.

Maybe crossing it up mentally with HOF knuckleballer Phil Neikro?

First of all, ok, I'm not perfect I did this on my phone, but double checking now I can't tell which one I missed. Which did I miss? Anyway, here's the list for starters only: Atlanta, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Diego, Detroit, Washington, Baltimore, Minnesota, Houston, Boston, Cincinnati. No team in the top 12 in WAR from their starters is still alive in the playoffs. 3 of the teams in the bottom 12 in WAR from their starters are still alive in the playoffs. It looks like good starting pitching helps you get to the playoffs, but really doesn't matter at all if you get there. It's also no guarantee, as teams like Seattle and Washington got a lot from their starters but missed the playoffs, while ATL barely squeaked in.

Eh the Orioles had an ERA of 1.50. The Yankees have an ERA of 2.4, the Royals 2.55.

But if you notice the other teams, “a guy you put on the bump in a playoff situation” really ain’t that important any more. We just saw what happened when the current best pitcher on the planet tried to face guys a third time through the order on Saturday. In terms of pitching WAR, the top 13 this season were Atlanta, Philly, Kansas City, San Diego, Minnesota, Washington, Cincinnati, Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, St Louis, Pittsburgh. Notice anything?

So far the Yankees have paid Rodon over $50 million for 1.1 rWAR/1.6 fWAR.

lol I don’t think the Bills like the Jets.

Isn’t the lesson here that yes they could use Crochet but in the playoffs today no single starting pitcher is a true difference maker any more? And that instead, it’s more useful to have a deep bench of guys who can give two innings in a bullpen game or after a starter gets pulled in the 4th inning?

You underestimate his ability to find others to blame.

But you have to imagine that they need to sign someone to cover 3b in addition to their other needs and this removes their money. So they’re missing Moncada and Grandal, or Moncada and Keuchel, both of whom were important that year. Maybe Hahn pays Sale the $50 million remaining on his contract and as a consequence he doesn’t sign Robert. Maybe they still make it because the difference in teams was big enough, but a lot closer.

With hindsight - had the White Sox not done that deal, counting the money spent on Sale that they couldn't spend elsewhere and the lack of Moncada at 3b (who was a strong contributor on their playoff teams), they have 0 playoff appearances since 2008 today and it is the longest running playoff drought in sports.

Mark Buehrle pitched over 10 years ago now. There is a reason we don’t see guys like that commonly any more, hitters have gotten better too. The stuff the white Sox eschew - electronic tools, launch angles, exit velocities - hitters are way more primed to take advantage of guys like that. Guys like that wind up with ERAs over 5 and are put in the bullpen and told to throw as hard as they can for an inning since throwing 89 as a starter doesn’t work any more. Thats the reality if you try to force starters to throw 100 pitches each outing too, every starter is going to have an ERA of 5 because hitters for most teams have gotten better.

Lonzo Ball expected to be active Wednesday.

How? Things are moving progressively more and more in this direction with time because it's effective. How do we do this? Move the fences back everywhere and add in 2 more outfielders?

Is that the case if Crochet is gone? Between Crochet and Fedde, that’s most of the quality in the White Sox pitching staff. Hard to count on rookies, even heralded ones, to make up for that.