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michelangelosmonkey

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Posts posted by michelangelosmonkey

  1. 55 minutes ago, Dominikk85 said:

    Ganzalez is not great but he also had a. 240 babip last year, he is projected to have an ops that is about 50-60 points higher than leury. 

    I don't know about projections but Marwin's last 1100 at bats his OPS is .713. Leury's last 1100 at bats his OPS is .703...and he's two years younger...and we already have him...and he's probably the worst position player on the team.   I would feel sad if we felt like we needed to clone him (though cloning Robert I'm fine with).     

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  2. 1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

    Average MLB hitter, can cover legitimately every position but catcher and CF.  Switch hitter. Can fill in for a week or two anywhere on the diamond when Eloy and Moncada make their annual trips to the IL.  I agree he's comparable to Leury, but he's a better infielder than Leury.  I think he'd the perfect guy to have around as a bench piece.  I also admittedly am not a Mendick guy, and don't think he's a major leaguer.  

    I'm not sure why you dont like him...I feel like Mendick can be a nice part of the surge.  He plays all infield positions...plus defensively...put up .740 OPS in the minors.  Seems like a near perfect utility player.  If hes got to play two weeks he'll be solid...but not so good he wants to leave for starting spot.   

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  3. 2 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

    Man just noticed the Red Sox scooped up Marwin Gonzalez for $3M.  He certainly would have been a good fit on this roster for that price tag.  

    What do you like about him?  He's 31.  He put up a .600 OPS last year...and his career OPS is .729.  He's basically Leury Garcia and we already have him.   

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  4. 1 hour ago, Snopek said:

    I wish we had one of those word cloud things for this forum. “If,” “could,” “should” and “potential” would be size 8,000 font. Great organizations recognize potential, but don’t rely on it. (Hi, Dodgers.) For a team with World Series aspirations, the criticism of and frustration with the FO is 100% warranted. 
     

    That said, even though I struggle to see things through the same lens, I truly do appreciate the more optimistic posts on here. While my pessimism/realism often gets the best of me, the optimism helps center me when I teeter a little too far on the negative end of the spectrum.

     

    In conclusion, holy sh*t. We have Luis Robert on our team. OUR team.

     

    Past criticism is fine.  I really hated the "go for it" 2014-2016 period...but I also get it...we got really lucky with how great Sale/Quintana/Abreu/Eaton were...in 2014 we had four guys that put up a combined 21 WAR...that's HALF way to the WAR you need to get to the playoffs with 4 guys...if we could just fill in around them 21 one-WAR guys but the problem was there was SO much garbage there (and yes, budget).  But as a fan,  trying to go for it in those years made sense, because...how could you not win with those four?   But credit to management that they signed those guys to good contracts, recognized the hopelessness of the hand and then went full rebuild.  Which I think has been executed beautifully...still as a fan it's been four painful rebuild years after four painful go-for-it years.  But frustration with the FO now?   Given the bolded part above...don't you kind of feel like we are the 2012 LA Angels where Mike Trout comes up...except...we have this amazing team around him already under construction.  When Ken Griffey, JR came up at 20...the Mariners had 27 year old Edgar Martinez, 26 year old Randy Johnson and 23 year old Omar Vizquel...that's four hall of famers...and for five years they were a non-contender.   The problem was that was it's just not enough.  It's why it's so hard to win in baseball...but I feel like the management has built a group of really good players...of the likely opening day roster...who is your worst guy? Leury Garcia seems a professional backup.   Adam Eaton, same.  A lot here would say Collins...but lefty hitting backup catcher with power and a batting eye seems very useful.  Reylo and Rodon I supposed but again...with upside.  If the plan is 8 years of excellence what management did this year...short term Lynn and Hendricks, long term with Vera and Cespedes...and not handing out bad contracts...and being patient.  Seems like the way to go.  Probably also why Hahn is so frustrated with fans negativity.  HE is so excited...which is a good sign.      

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  5. 49 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

    And yet despite all these failures, some are calling the White Sox the best team in the American League. Could be worse. ?

    Yeah I wish we were the Phillies.  Top 4 payroll this year...always landing the big fish.  Its really the one path to success.

  6. 41 minutes ago, Rounding_Third said:

    Completely agree with you up to the bold.  This is where we part company.  Its just a continuation of our previous disagreement.  Rodon and Lopez cannot be counted on at all.  Rodon is a DL just waiting to happen,  When you combine TJ with 3 years of reoccurring shoulder injuries, a bicep and a wrist, a WS contender has no business relying on him with an absolute mess behind him in Lopez.  Kopech & Crochet are out of the SP picture and I do favor this Sox 2021 plan for them; suggested it weeks ago before they announced.  If early planned starters then they would get shut down too early and leave gaps to fill down the stretch.  This way, they are both relative & involved throughout most of the season.  Though I do believe Kopech should & will get a handful of planned spot starts like in makeup DH's or top 4 skips which will happen.  Once they signed Rodon, they kind of locked into him.  I wish they had signed another more reliable innings guy for #5.  Once signed, he should be #6, at best.  That way, he could have proven in Charlotte that he still has an arm. There are lots of "ifs" & "hopes" and nowhere near the SP depth to cover them.  

    For the record, I was not a Bauer advocate due to $.

    I think they will do the K-C fifth spot.  Katz is a smart innovative pitching coach and I'm sure that he has watched what Tampa Bay has done.  Having a regular reliever game fits everyone's needs...Crochet getting stretched out to be a starter, Kopech getting stretched out to be a starter...limiting the innings for each (27 starts at 3 per start is 81 innings which would be near perfect) the White Sox not really needing two more elite arms in the bullpen...and the Sox filling the fifth starter role with either a lefty or righty starter depending on the team you are facing.    I can't name a single available pitcher this offseason that I would rather have than that.  Yu Darvish??  A Pirates pitcher?  As for no faith in Rodon...you shouldn't have faith...but again...go look at Mike Minor's career...very similar in expectations, disappoints and long stints on the injury reserve...and then at 30 he was really good.  Maybe you give Rodon a few April starts while we earn back that year of eligibility from Kopech.   The team invested in starting pitching with Lance Lynn...I'm not sure I wanted to throw more assets at that spot until we see what happens to the guys with dazzling stuff.      

  7. 34 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

    Hahn is arguing that the money already has been spent though.  And he’s calling out fans on the internet who feel underwhelmed by that.

    The full article was behind the paywall so I just saw he was irritated at the meme.   Sox payroll right now is at $125m  A top 5 payroll is $175m.  If we really don't increase payroll aggressively in the next couple of years...I agree and will hate on Hahn (or JR).   Still if looking at this strategically I love our position...zero bad contracts and a low payroll as we enter the window.  So many ways we can go.     

  8. 1 hour ago, Rounding_Third said:

    Totally agree with this.  Cease has such a high ceiling.  And his delivery is so smooth and powerful right through his release and follow through; a great baseline to become an outstanding pitcher.   If he can be a steadying force, it will go a long way to supporting the terrible lack of SP depth.  If not, he could contribute to a domino effect throughout the rotation.  Hopefully, Rodon and/or Lopez can reverse their respective fortunes but history says that's unlikely.  That they don't cause TLR/EK to use Kopech more than planned;  hitting his shutdown prematurely, assuming he has no physical issues either.  Or that it causes 1-4 to pitch on 4 days rest too often.  If Cease is also on a pitch/innings limit, he's got be efficiently effective.  The rotation will probably have bumps that cause them to skip some starts from time to time.  There's currently not enough SP depth to cover it all; particularly down the stretch.  And this outstanding bullpen can become overtaxed by dog days.

    It wouldn't surprise me if the Sox force themselves to trade for even 2 SP's and an RP or 2 by the deadline.  There'll be lots of 2022 FA SP's for rent and RH/KW have a solid trade history so that's very encouraging,  Hope they don't have to go to that well too early but a real possibility.  It's baffling that the Sox meticulously & cunningly rebuilt this incredible team over 4 long years but are potentially allowing a baseball fundamental of SP depth to bring headaches & hitches all season.  And if this fumbling causes just a handful of inexcusable extra losses, it could significantly effect the final standings.  But ST can also bring many surprises; hoping....  Stiever? McClure? Vargas?  Other(s)?  ...step up & prove worthy of a next level depth role?

    This is frequently stated by many but I'm not sure I exactly follow.  We have three proven innings eating front line starters.  We have Cease who is half way there.   We have Rodon and Lopez with lots of starting experience and we have Kopech and Crochett who I keep advocating as the "fifth" starter with three innings for each.   I feel like that is five exciting starters (K-C as the fifth) with two back ups with experience/upside.  If you pay Bauer that eliminates the K-C concept...and also eliminates the extensions of Gio or Lopez...or stops us from getting Sale or Wheeler at the deadline.  I'm not sure outside of the Dodgers that any team has MORE starting pitching depth than the White Sox.   Obviously one of the top three blowing out their arms ruins things...which is true for all none Dodger teams...you can stay up at night worrying about it but I'd ask you which move would have fixed it?  

  9. 46 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

    Nothing about squashing my fun. I haven't expressed any real negativity here and I'm excited for the season. Frustrated with the FO but excited for the group of guys. 

    I just find it incredibly hypocritical of you that you don't call out VAfan for starting the same nonsensical thread over and over because it's optimistic but you feel the need to constantly call out posters who post negative thoughts. Just my two cents. Have a good weekend. 

     

    Edit: now not being blindly optimistic = pissing on threads

    Being blindly optimistic though = great board contributions 

    Lol you cradk me up pal. And banned myself lol. I don't post as much because of nonsense like above

    I appreciate a good counter argument...I'm just not sure what is the point of being nasty about it...I give a range of potential outcomes...given the argument that Vaughn could be worse than EE.  And you don't just counter my position...you say it is ridiculous and nonsensical.   You could come back and say...let's call his upside Konerko instead of Frank...that's fair.   I think it's great when people point out that the last "can't miss" guy we had was Gordon Beckham.  It helps me frame things because I remember in GB's rookie season he put up a 2.2 WAR in his first 100 games and then 5.2 WAR his next 1000.   I think secretly we all know that any of these guys could end up being bums.   And when I start talking about 2021 with potentially Frank Thomas at first, Rod Carew at 2b, Mike Schmidt at 3b. Ken Griffey Jr in CF, Manny Ramirez in LF...you can tell me to put down the crack pipe...I probably need that occasionally....but man we are all fans of the same team...we all WANT that to happen.  Sox brothers if nothing else.  

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  10. 10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

    I'm a big vaughn Stan but we should probably slow down on comparing him to one of the 5 greatest RH hitters in the history of the game. A 1st ballot hof'er who didn't even play the field. Thats... a bit aggressive.

    But I didn't...I said that was his range of outcomes...EE's .673 and FT .983.   And if you look at a lot of his attributes he is like Frank...great batters eye, great approach, natural power.   He is VERY unlikely to be that good...but I think he could be 90% as good as Frank which would be about a 5 WAR a year for 7 years.  

  11. 8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

    What a strange take.  Are you actually suggesting White Sox fans should be content with the amount of money spent since Hahn uttered those famous words?  I’m not looking to cancel the dude over his comments, but he can’t whine his way out of what was actually said in the past.  Calling out the org for not spending what was signaled a few years ago is not a “hot take” and fans have a right to be frustrated.  Maybe Hahn should focus on the team and not what people say about him on the internet.

    I think it must be frustrating for Hahn because I think he has a clearly defined plan that really seems like its working...and yes he has a budget...and yes the money will be spent.  But isn't it possible he didn't like any of the big names this offseason?   The big fish were...Bauer...who had an amazing 73 innings in 2020 COVID year, after being fairly mediocre in 2019...a year where his contending team traded him at the trade deadline...that is a very controversial guy...and he got $40 million a year???  Instead he got Lance Lynn.   Realmuto who we didn't need...and Springer who was going to be paid a premium as a centerfielder which we didn't need.   Maybe he could have outbid everyone...but what if he uses that money to extend Gio...or take bad contracts (Sale, Yelich) at the deadline or watches how the team unfolds and spends then.   We don't know...but given our lack of knowledge, and with the predicate that he's done really well with the rebuild...he gets to hear he sucks and he lied by 3/4 of the twitterverse...and 3/4 of Soxtalk.   At THIS point we should give them man some trust.   Not total but at least guarded.  

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  12. 13 minutes ago, RagahRagah said:

    I prefer to civilly engage than this crap. I encourage you to.

    Like I said, I all but retracted my comments about the Yankees comparison. Wish it had been noticed.

    What have I misrepresented? Most of your responses to me have been insults, so...

    All your "100%" assertions of me are hyperbole and are false.

    I insult no one else on this board.  I did not start out by insulting you.  Months ago, after half a dozen arguments with you, I realized that you weren't here to discuss or persuade or follow the White Sox you were here to troll people...and honestly...you are great at it.  I'm getting the hang of this message board thing.  It's mostly fun...you just have to check under every bridge you cross because trolls exist.  Have a great day RagRag.      

  13. Just now, RagahRagah said:

    And shit like this is case in point.

    If I talk about apples and you immediately ignore it and start talking about oranges...

    Christ, this is grade school stuff.

    Dude...you distort EVERY argument...and then come back with a pomposity that cannot be real.  And yes, I have been cruel with my comments...and yes I then did reengage because you comment on every stream and I am inexperienced enough with message boards that I did not really understand what a troll is.   As for "If I talk about apples and you immediately ignore..." is EXACTLY what you do.  I try to put reasoned responses on here...I try to make my arguments and I respect even those who strongly disagree with me (honestly Collins is going to be great)...but 100% of the time you misrepresent what I and others are arguing, 100% of the time you insult the people you disagree with and 100% of the time you view the White Sox in the most negative way.  I don't think you are real...I think you are a Cubs fan...or maybe a Yankees fan...that thinks it will be funny to come on a teams message board and wind people up.   Thus my too often "too stupid to argue with" comments.  I apologize.  I won't say it again.  Neither will I engage.        

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  14. 13 minutes ago, RagahRagah said:

    Some things are more likely than others and can be quantified/have higher probabilities. What a concept. 

    Strange position on a forum full of people who love to crunch numbers. Selective thinking, I guess.

    For instance, a few of those points, such as what he said about Hendriks (that said, Colome was great last year so that needle is not likely to change much this year) and LaRussa being a better manager than Ricky, I'd say are pretty safe bets and I fully grant those. 

     

    I thought I was too stupid to argue with? You've said that to me about 5 times now. Might wanna pick a street, buddy. I'm a little tired of you insulting me and running away when arguments are presented that you apparently can't counter and then picking the ones you think you can and attempt a serious argument only then (which you eventually run away from anyway). It makes you look silly. Either consistently attempt intelligent posting or consistently make an ass of yourself on purpose. If you have nothing to respond with then maybe just don't respond at all instead of throwing a sucker punch out of bitterness and then running away. Kid stuff. I'm here for sensible and reasonable discussion (notice how consistent I am with responding and taking arguments seriously?), not to play games. 

    Ha ha....yup.  Too stupid to argue with.  

  15. 3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

    Meanwhile, I'm guessing most of the fans who remain highly critical of the team have continued living through those painful years, and feel that team ownership and management owes them something for them having to endure those years.  Is there something to that? 

    For me, returning to the team as I did last year, all I see are good things and growth.  Here are a few things that I really like (whether or not other Sox fans do)...”

     

    I can just imagine every loss bring blamed on TLR, just like previously with Renteria...but it’s going to be even more polarized.

    Because lots of fans who have been dormant for the better part of a decade are going to come back to the fold.

    Expectations are high...the most interest/excitement in fifteen years now since the 2006 team.   That’s half a lifetime for quite a few posters here, or at least covering high school through mid to late 30’s.

    Many posters have left the bachelor lifestyle behind and now rank the Sox in their list of priorities well behind family, friends, work and Covid concerns.

     

    Personally, I tried to find other reasons to follow baseball (see Puig or Tatis)..but still followed most of the games on a daily basis until that mid 2016 collapse up to the Moncada debut and then Kopech in 2018 and in and out through 2019.

    What doesn’t sit too well with me is judging other Sox fans when you deliberately avoided following them for so long.

    You can argue or assert you’re not judging or preaching or carrying JR’s water or seeing everything White Sox through rose-colored glasses...but you can’t suddenly reappear and suddenly anoint Mr. Collins as a potential everyday player without having watched his at-bats the last three seasons.

    That will not be well received, certainly.

    So this relentless, new thread each day or even multiple threads cajoling everyone into being more optimistic are just going to start a war after every loss.

    If the White Sox were running a $140-150 million payroll out there for Opening Day, I might be convinced they actually were aiming to win a World Series, or at least advance in the playoffs or even to the ALCS.

    The Royals went from 20th to 17th to 9th in MLB Opening Day payroll from 2014-2016, but they at least set a new franchise high every year from 2013 through 2017, increasing for five consecutive years.

    The Cubs went from 19th to 13th all the way up to $184.5 million at the start of the 2016 World Series with the Indians around $95 million.

    The odds of teams not in the Top 12 payrolls advancing in the playoffs over the last four seasons is basically limited to the Rays and A’s over the White Sox.   90% of the frustration is that unwillingness even in the second year of the competitive window to spend at least in that $140-150 million range....it’s even harder to take when you see the Padres spending $162 million with the best team with the deepest pockets the team in front.  It feels like if we were in the NL West we would simply aspire to 3rd place and maybe a wild card, but that would be the extent of it.   And that self-satisfaction without having really accomplished anything yet is pretty galling.   We had the division and coughed it all away the last two weeks...and the main reason we were there was beating up on the worst teams in baseball, particularly the Royals, Tigers...we only went 10-10 versus the relatively weak NL Central, too.  We were 7-13 against Cleve and Minnesota, but 18-2 against Detroit and KC.   17-23 is closer to where we really were against the majority of MLB, but the unbalanced schedule and 16 team playoff field saved us.

    Some of your criticism is fair...we optimists should not be dunking on you pessimists...but it just can be exhausting on Soxtalk where it seems 3/4 of the regular posters are so negative...and yes not 100% negative...it generally starts out as "I'm excited about this team but..." and then we have to hear some tirade about Tony LaRussa being a drunk or JR being cheap.  Why is that interesting reading?   Giolito had an interview the other day where he said "Bummer has the best pitch in all of baseball".  That's so interesting especially compared to the 1000 time we have to read where we are idiots for having traded Tatis.  As for the "not spending money" constant concept...I get bored re-writing this but JR HAS had top 5 payrolls in the 2000's, 90's and 80's when the team was good.  If the plan is to have a long window part of that is not handing out bad or un-necessary contracts.  Dodgers and Yankees can get away with that...but being the second, and somewhat unloved, team in a market is always going to make that hard.   If you think spending money is the way to win...the Phillies, Rockies, Angels, Mets, Giants etc would like to say hello. You win by talent evaluation...which I'm pretty pleased at right now (and was very unhappy with for decades before).  You sustain winning by sensible budgeting.   Right now we are in a great position to be vultures...when the Brewers season crashes...ask them about Yelich.  When the Bosox season crashes go after Sale.  When the Phillies season crashes go after Harper or Wheeler.  Right now the Padres have $100 million committed in 2022 to four guys that are in their 30's.   I'm ok watching this play out.      

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  16. 10 minutes ago, RagahRagah said:

    At least 7 of the points you made are 100% speculation. Not to mention you completely ignored the actual point that was made (AGAIN).

    I rest my case. 

    You know what is speculation? Everything you and everyone else here says.  The difference is your speculation is always negative.  There is a range of potential outcomes for Vaughn this year...EE .627 OPS from last year would be the ridiculously lower bound.  Frank Thomas's rookie season...roughly same age, same path, same hitting style (high average, high walks, plus power) OPS of .987 would be the upper bound.  I'd be happy to bet you any sum of money that Vaughn's OPS will be better than .627.  It is absolute speculation that 30 year old Bauer will be the Cy Young TB of 2020 and not the TB with the 4.5 ERA of 2019.  It is absolute speculation that the 31 year old George Springer will be the amazing 2020 GS and not the meh GS of 2018.  When you look at young players you SPECULATE on how they will evolve...we saw Robert destroy the minor leagues, we saw him destroy MLB in his first month...and then he was TERRIBLE his last month.  If you want to look at that body of work and say...he'll probably continue to be terrible...ok...that's a position to take...no one can refute that.  I just think you are the guy that sees pictures of your co-workers new baby and says...she'll probably turn out to be ugly.  You might be right, you might be wrong but you are always unlikeable.      

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  17. 13 minutes ago, Vulture said:

    If the Sox are using Baseball America prospect rankings to evaluate their players value, they’ve got more problems than apparent. Actually, maybe that does explain it.

    Any team could have had him for a million dollars of international pool money.  Are the Bucks geniuses for drafting Giannis 17th and all the other teams idiots?  Every NFL team passed on Tom Brady about five times including the Patriots.  Sometimes there is just damn luck in player development.  

  18. 2 hours ago, Rowand44 said:

    That'd be a huge problem if Rick is afraid to trade away a guy because the Tatis deal was botched.  I don't think that's the case but if it is, not good.

    It was a debacle.  Every single statistic that was available would tell you Shields was regressing big time and that he was basically done.  Obviously Tatis has ended up about 8 billion times better than anyone could have possibly imagined but trading anybody with any talent for Shields at that point was an awful, awful idea.

    There are two separate arguments...trading for Shields=bad...which MANY on Sox talk said at the time (though your regression story isn't true...he averaged 3.5 WAR the previous 5 years and had a 3.00 ERA and 0.7 WAR through the first third of the season. looking elite until he gave up 10 runs in his last start before being traded).   Lance Lynn could absolutely become James Shields 2.0.   Those that argued about trading Dunning for him should have used JS as exhibit A.   

    Including Tatis was not a bungle it was bad luck...no one on Sox talk or anywhere that I can find, concurrently, bemoaned including him in the trade.    

    I can accept the Shields=Bad argument because it's reasonable at the time.   Though Its only a debacle in hindsight...I have made the argument that at the time of the Verlander trade the Astros could have been getting James Shields 2.0...it just turned out right for them and wrong for Shields.   Roll the dice you take your chances.   

     

  19. 4 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

    That's nonsense. This is one of the few young high quality teenagers the Sox signed, due to their club and Jerry's aversion. He had the pedigree with a professional baseball player father, and was given a half a million by a Wall Street hedge fund while he was in A ball, because unlike the White Sox, they had enough reason to believe it would pay off big time based on their algorithm. 

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/fernando-tatis-jr-340-million-investment-fund-padres-11613732572

    The Padres and this hedge fund were playing at a level several levels higher. Analysis of data separates the haves from the have nots. While the Sox have attempted to improve in this area, they are still light years behind other clubs. Six years ago, they were further away, hence Fernando Tatis Jr. for James Shields.

    Yes...by the time he got state side he began turning people's heads.  But that's not when he was traded.   Months before ANY TEAM in baseball, including the Padres could have had, Tatis, Jr for a million dollars signing bonus.  In the exact same signing period the White Sox gave twice as much money to Franklin Reyes who also had a family member (brother) who was a major league player.   He "...has shown raw power and a plus arm"...and he was out of baseball two years later.   If the Padres had taken him instead of Tatis we wouldn't be talking about a debacle.  There are tens of thousands of 17 year old baseball players and only one of them turned into the greatest player of all time.  If you think this was not just bad luck...OK.  

  20. Just now, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

    I'll have to disagree with the lottery ticket analogy. Lottery tickets are not scouted by a highly respected guy and signed and then traded for because the other team values the skill set and the position he plays. Lottery tickets are a complete unknown, baseball players are not. You do not target specific lottery tickets because they are all the same. Lottery tickets are complete luck so you can't look stupid. Once again luck is the residue of design. The Padres luck was by design.

    Tatis was not on anyones top 25 list of international prospects that year.  Look over the last fifty years at the players outside the top 25 international players and how many made the major leauges...then look at the ones that went on to be the best player in baseball.   Heres the list:  Fernando Tatis, Jr.  If he were signed this year he wouldn't be in our top 50 prospects.  If by design you mean the White Sox went to the padres and said "you can take any one prospect outside our top 50"...It was a reasonable upside bet for them.  But it was really just horrible luck.  

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  21. 1 hour ago, SoxSteve said:

    I never said is Tatis.  I said it was ridiculous to even talk him getting traded in any realistic trade. Hahn would never do it after the Tatis debacle

    And I just have to repeat....The Tatis trade was not a debacle...it was putting a lottery ticket in a birthday card for someone at work and it turns out to be the winning powerball.  You sure look stupid after the fact but at the time it was a lark.  

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  22. 2 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

    I'm not angry. I've been a Sox fan far too long to get angry. I enjoy every season of my favorite team on the planet. You don't have to sell me on the team. I just don't take making the playoffs for granted.

    It's a good team capable of greats things if they live up to their potential and a little luck.  But that's the crux of the matter. The Sox depend on a lot of things going the right way.

    Branch Rickey said " Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.”

    Brilliant words by Branch.  Still...it seems like the 2013-16 Sox were the team counting on luck...Sale and Quintana and if we can just make the playoffs we could make a run.  The 2021 team has been built methodically and the off season seemed to be a part of the plan.  I like where the team is at and you know who else is counting on a little luck?  The Dodgers...for ten years they've had one of the highest payrolls, one of the best teams in baseball and one of the best farm clubs...last 8 years averaging 98 wins, went to the playoffs 8 times and won one world series.  You are right that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves...but I also think it's fun to dream a bit.   Dynasties rarely happen but it's every fan's dream.   That's why I pooh pooh adding Musgrove or Teheran or Brantley or Cruz...the team as constructed should make the playoffs and none of those guys is going to make them a can't lose team...but a breakthrough by Cease...and Vaughn...and Madrigal...and Kopeck...could boost us from good team to legendary.  When legendary is still a possible outcome I think you try to play that hand to see if it can happen.    

    • Like 2
  23. 1 hour ago, RagahRagah said:

    Ownership has clearly shown that winning is not the main priority. (And the truth is our rotation might be a big crapshoot all the way this year; that is not trivial)

    So the question is who are you referring to when you say "we?"

    To stupid to argue with.  

    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 1
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