35thstreetswarm

And I would give you a "no worries" emoji if I could. Instead I will give that Tom Cruise guy a laugh emoji in your name.

Huh? That's 100% consistent with what I said. Ricky didn't play to win at the end (i.e. "didn't finish off the division race."). The FO wasn't on board with that approach at all. (Neither was I).

The willful amnesia about this obvious fact is astonishing. Ricky essentially said he was "experimenting" with crazy bullpen decisions once we clinched. Resting players. Putting bad/recently-injured relievers in highest-leverage situations to "test" them. We were obviously the best team in the division in 2020 and didn't care about our seeding once we clinched and went 3 games up on the Twins.

This thread is so far up its own a$$ it's long since disappeared. But I have to say that every time I'm reading a super-earnest, overwrought post screaming at others to stop using laugh emojis, then I hear the little "blip" and see a laugh emoji appear next to the post, I actually laugh out loud. As the kids say, this is what I'm "here for"

posts about rumors>posts about the veracity of rumors>posts about the source of rumors>posts speculating about the identity of the source of rumors>posts about the veracity of speculation about the identity of the source of rumors>posts about the morality of attacks on the veracity of speculations about the identity of the source of rumors.....

This game of Food guys "Among Us" is one of the weirdest things to ever happen on this board.

Last 13 or 14 years probably works. But I will say that the willingness to spend top-of-market in the 2000s when Jerry really believed we were contenders has kept me holding out hope that we might get back there again during this window. Part of me wonders whether Jerry just doesn't quite buy that we're there yet.

If you lower the bar for what it means to be "in on" a trade/FA low enough, they probably were.

It is often forgotten that the Sox had a top-5 payroll multiple seasons in the last 20 years.

The nice thing about our situation is we have Vaughn waiting in the wings. We also have a stacked lineup. The risk is significantly mitigated by these factors; we won't rise or fall with Cruz.

If you ask EE and Cruz next to stand next to each other, then you bake a cake, then you write "better player" on the cake in frosting, then choose the better player, then give that person the cake, Nelson Cruz would receive aforementioned cake

That's kind of amazing.

Burnes's peripherals are insane. Now I'm all excited, dammit. Don't hurt me. Also, don't trade Vaughn

Man, Cubdom melting down. Seems like losing Lester is making a lot of them see the writing on the wall about the state of their team right now (which is crazy, but that's a different story). Dark times for the baby animals.

They know they need another starter. They'll get one. Rick Hahn's statement is exactly what you'd expect from a front office attempting to negotiate with player agents. He's not going to say "we're desperate for one more starter." I'm really curious to see whether they'll get another bat, which I see as more of a luxury with this lineup.

You know you’ve always been meant to wear the black hat.

Who would’ve thought an NL west team trading for a boring player I didn’t want would make me reevaluate my entire outlook on the White Sox organization, but here we are. Turns out we’re bad now

I’m bored already

I don't understand all this talk about a preference for "the East Coast." Like, he prefers the East Coast as a geographic region? Not any particular team? By the way, the guy's from Alabama as I understand it. Anyway, I know we were (sort of) burned when Wheeler supposedly turned down some nominal additional sum to sign elsewhere because of his wife's geographic preference. But I'm still of the strong belief that players rarely if ever leave *significant* money on the table. And if he's looking at a 1 year deal with incentives worth like 10 mil or so, a million or two is significant money. It's one thing to toy with a million or two on the top end of a nine-figure deal -- that's the kind of difference that can be wiped out with local tax differences. But it's hard to believe he'd turn down a $10 million offer for an $8 million offer. All of which is to say the Sox should be able to get this done within budget if it's a priority.

High-end: the fact that he won 2 Cy Youngs in the last 5 full seasons he pitched, and was one of the AL's top starters as recently as 2018. Low-cost: the fact that his reported asking price is 6-8 million.

Can I interest you in a low priced, high end one? Meet my friend Corey

Boring. Get me Kluber

Yes, love the upside. Not impossible to imagine a 2005 Contreras situation

Ricobene's Cobb Salad

Has anyone factored into their calculation the fact that Hendriks gives 110% out on the field, rather than merely 100? That is literally ten more, which makes a difference when extrapolated over a 162 game season.