Dick Allen

i watch MLBN a lot, and one thing that was mentioned a while back were teams really think there is close to a break through with training that will allow the aging curve after 30 to flatten out a bit. Call me skeptical. They can't even keep players on the field, let alone stop Father Time.

If anything, I think this decreases the chances of the Sox trading TA, not that I thought there was much of a chance anyway. This pretty much knocks the Twins from serious contender.

This is a similar contract to Harper and the price of poker. I think , because it is more than one or two teams that are doing this, baseball is telling you something. There is a lot more money available than the owners want you to believe.

I read where the Dodgers want to reset their tax bill and are going after Ohtani next year.

How does William Contreras throw? With bigger bases and a shorter route, more stealing in 2023.

Hahn and LaRussa have something in common . Hahn threw in Tatis Jr. for James Shields. LaRussa signed off on trading Dansby Swanson a few months after taking him 1-1 for the great Shelby Miller. JRs baseball minds are top notch.

I would expect him to whine about the Sox trading for Moncada in 2016 because he had a bad year in 2022.

Merkin said to be patient. I wonder if he means like last year when Hahn got Harrison and Kelly and Pollock and Velasquez. Or at the deadline when apparently there was nothing to do.

The reason they traded him was Chris Sale on a team friendly deal. The gut has a 5.5 and 4.0 WAR seasons. You are making it out like he can't play at all.

There's plenty to bash Hahn about. But not trading for a top 2 prospect in baseball.

Moncada was the #1 or #2 prospect in baseball and people are butt hurt?

I don't think so. The Sox had to take back Tyler Clippard to make it work. They struck out on 3 pitches with the prospects.

I think you have to play it out, but I do agree with your other point, the position players pitching is tired and has to stop.

It’s a touchy subject. The Blackhawks got burned and the cap probably cost them another cup or two because they couldn’t pay their guys due to it. I think what this shows is owners make a lot more money then they want to admit. It never made sense. Big time businessmen spending billions for a business that was lucky to turn a profit, and the teams value just keeps increasing. JR has run his team like a mom and pop hot dog stand for 42 years, constantly saying that he breaks even at best yet it’s worth probably more than 100 times what he paid for it. He chose profit over winning. Runs the team anything but the large market they are. Could you imagine how bad his teams would be in Tampa if the state of Illinois didn’t build him a new stadium?

Who gets luxury tax payouts?

I've defended Bruce Levine in the past, but not anymore. He's a hack who needs yo hang em up. I've been waiting for the first shot at the fans. Sorry Bruce, they rebuilt. A decent amount showed up then. In 2020 when they first became pretty good, fans were not allowed to attend. In 2021, there was limited capacity for a portion of the year. Certainly it's not the fans fault only 2 million showed up to watch a mediocre at best product from whichever way you look. KW has used the same complaint. An amazing way to run a business. If a restaurant operated like that and said it would make better food after people came to support the s%*# they made, they would be done in a week. JR just keeps adding piles of money into his estate.

I just wonder what the plan is moving forward. If everything goes as planned., whenthe contracts of the current Sox players expire , if they played as hoped,they all will be too rich for JRs blood. So no TA, no Robert, no Moncada, no Colas, no Vaughn, no Gio, no Cease, no Kopech. the White Sox ownership and front office need a reality check. Either financially, philosophically or both, they are no longer suited to own and run a major league franchise that ever expects to win championships.

I saw a thing about guys 6’6” and taller before he signed. Pretty much the same thing. The one exception seems to be Dave Winfield. I don’t know what Winfield weighed in his 30s, byput it was more than the 220 he was listed.

Pedro seems almost too good to be true. The problem I have is they can’t rely on him to fix everything. They were short in 2021. They still have those same holes today. Plus a catcher a couple of years older, and most likely not a 4 WAR player anymore. And they lost Abreu. So that isn’t even counting what they need to snap back. Everything goes right, the team will be fine. But that normally doesn’t happen. We all should have known better. This is how the team operates. They never have been willing to stick their neck on the line to be awesome. All that banked money from the rebuild we were promised would be there, is somewhere else.

The Sox aren’t going to bag the 2023 season. The play is to keep TA, hope he has a healthy and side piece less season, Hope Montgomery continues to develop to the point TA is expendable next year. They may talk about it, but IMO, there is no way they trade TA unless they have a capable replacement.

The grass is always greener. It probably is human nature. Yes a guy passed his prime just might get back to his 2019 level, or some other guy shoukd be even better than he was in the minors,but there is no way a 28 year old Moncada can possibly be the player he was in 2021.

Who was the manager?

Sox will not need 16 rookies to come in if all their guys improve. Not only improve, but actually play. Abreu and Pollock were the 2 highest in games played. I don’t know if it’s possible everyone suddenly is available 140 games in 2023. I would tend to doubt it. But they will add a couple more players in all likelihood, and if they get across the board improvement, their run differential and win total will trend very positively.

I can assure you if all the guys improve, there is no way they are going to be below .500. I actually think Balta knows this, but anything negative White Sox is a bandwagon he can’t help but jump on. I’m guessing the Zips projections before last season told the Guardians not to bother playin in 2022.

They wouldn’t, but the Sox have bored even their most knowledgeable fans to the point they spend their time on trade scenerios that will never happen.