Chicago White Sox

Is your argument let’s never sign expensive free agents because there is some chance they don’t work out?

Ray and Winkler is shit?

Your view on the farm system is very, very wrong. Most teams have a lot more players like the ones you cited above than we do.

Where?

Which is absolutely disgusting.

I think we need to accept the fact the Tainted Glove rumor was BS at this point.

Wouldn’t the default assumption be they were maintained if we didn’t hear anything about them?

Can’t take that challenge until another year as you’d be selling low. If Eloy has a monster year, his value will skyrocket from where it is now.

Just depends if they’re willing to go into the tax. They were a tax offender last season, but I believe there are additional penalties for being a multi-time defender which teams typically try to avoid.

Yeah, the possible need for Texas to go over slot in the next draft is something not discussed much, but was something Rangers’ beat writers & fans were discussing pretty confidently. I don’t see Texas giving up that bonus pool for Conforto when they can wait a year and avoid any QO impacts. At this point, I’m really struggling to see much of a market for Conforto. Obviously all I takes is one team to do something stupid, but Sox should be a decent position assuming they are still interested.

Why is a rebuilding team trading for Kimbrel?

I really don’t see how they need him more than us

Probably that dick Preller too.

So after reading through a Rangers message a bit, it really doesn’t seem like they are going to be a big player for Conforto. Most fans would rather wait until next offseason before adding anymore payroll of significance since they’re unlikely to compete this year. And several beat writers believe they are more or less done for the offseason, with Jamey Newberg of The Athletic specifically pointing out that the QO would be a deterrent to signing Conforto and fans also mentioning it would prevent them from being able to go over slot in the 1st round of next year’s draft given the picks they’ve already lost. Point is, there are some valid reasons why it doesn’t make sense for the Rangers to sign Conforto. I really think this comes down to the Sox and Padres. Will San Diego fuck us over for a third time? It’s possible, but hopefully Hahn can stop fucking around and land the left handed bat we desperately need.

You don’t have any idea what Hahn is asking for him right now. Let’s wait and see what kind of trade actually materializes before we keep making these declarations.

2019 + 2020 represent less than 60% of a regular season for him. And why start at 2018 and not 2017 when he posted a 1.42 FIP with Boston? And regardless, is the 3.13 FIP he posted in 2018 really “slightly above average”? For the millionth time you’re overreacting to one horrible partial season (~20 innings) in which he didn’t get a spring training. Yes, he is inconsistent, but he’s ranged between good and great in every single full season. He is much better than a “slightly above average reliever” even if he wasn’t one for the Sox over his two month stint with us.

“Slightly above average reliever” who posted the 6th best FIP amongst 144 qualified relievers and only 0.09 points below Liam Hendriks for 5th place.

Here’s the problem…there isn’t anything left after Conforto and we’ve already settled on a cheap, low ceiling 2B. So I agree the order doesn’t matter, but if they don’t land Conforto then they basically have zero plans to improve the lineup through the addition of power and/or left-handed balance. And that’s simply unacceptable when in the middle of their championship window. At a bare minimum they should have signed Eduardo Escobar to play 2B as he would have at least addressed the power need. And honestly, I could live with Harrison if he’s paired with Conforto, but until that actually happens, it’s a failure of an offseason. That one big move is going to make or break it for us. And I still think we need another starter, but let’s agree to disagree on that one until the Conforto situation plays out.

I mean, it’s him or Graveman by default. Harrison is the opposite of exciting and Velasquez is the definition of just a guy. Still can’t believe we spent $30M on those four plus Leury.

I have in the bat, just don’t think the glove will ever be good enough for RF

lol…26 guys listed and we still didn’t make the cut.

True and it makes me nervous as well. That being said, Conforto is not as attractive of an asset as Machado was. He’s coming off a rough season with a draft pick attached to him. Boras is going to push for him to be paid like he’s coming off his 2020 season or receive opt-outs that let him quickly test free agency again. I personally think his market is limited enough that Boras will eventually have to cave to some extent. Doesn’t mean the Sox will land him, but I think we got a halfway decent shot assuming we haven’t repurposed funds already.

We don’t know that they’ve done that yet.

I’m talking about guys that we know we seriously pursued but didn’t land. That list is basically Machado & Wheeler. Our fanbase destroyed the shit out of the organization for the Machado fiasco and continues to rip them to this day with “seat at the table” puns. As for Wheeler, we made the biggest offer. Sucks he wanted to be in Philly, but we can’t really blame the Sox for not negotiating against themselves. And not one person came out and said Wheeler is overpaid in defense of the Sox. Hell, he’d be the steal of the century right now and we probably wouldn’t be dealing with the Keuchel mess we currently have. Regarding Conforto, we don’t even know where things stand other than it sounds like we made an offer before the lockout. I still believe we’re negotiating with him and that Hahn’s first call post lock-out was to Boras, but that’s simply speculation. Ultimately, we can’t jump to conclusions until Conforto signs with a team and we see what else the Sox have in store. But I don’t agree the Sox leaked anything about Conforto to appease fans, as there would be nothing to gain from a token bid, especially when his market is suppressed and he should be very attainable.

The real solution here is emulating what the Red Sox just did with Story. Give Conforto a 4/$80M deal with opt-outs after years 2 & 3. If the Sox want to lock those final two years in, then they have to exercise an option for year 5 at $20M which the pushes the entire deal to 5/$100M. Boras can sell it as a possible nine figure deal with opt-outs as a safety net and the Sox get two guaranteed years of control plus the ability to secure more by guaranteeing a 5th year. Both sides win and us Sox fans can put the pitchforks away for a few months.