Lip Man 1

Sun-Times has a nice story today on his situation and lists the money teams are allowed to spend to potentially get him. Both the Sox and Cubs have only 300,000 remaining. He won't even consider signing for that in my opinion even if there are side deals in place: http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/reports...cubs-white-sox/

QUOTE (ron883 @ Sep 13, 2017 -> 05:10 PM) This team looks good enough to compete for the WC or division next year. Indiana have some stats who are aging. Never know what happens in baseball. Sox will also have Kopech and eloy at some point. Rodon/Kopech/Lopez/giolito/ shields or guerrero or Stephens or Adams 1B abreu 2B moncada SS TA/leury 3b Davidson/nicky/yolmer DH delmonico/davidson/abreu RF avi CF leury/engel LF nicky/eloy C: TA/Kevin smith Supersubs yolmer/leury Bullpen - wing it. I think this team will be a pleasant surprise and the Sox very May well have a chance to compete. This team isn't even close to competing in my book. No bullpen and only 2/5th's of a starting rotation. Plus a number of easy outs in the current lineup. Not even close. Stay the course, keep acquiring young talent, let them mature in the minor leagues, DO NOT rush them...and we'll see you in 2020. They should be ready by them.

Jose has played very well as far as hitting is concerned through a lot of losing and deserves credit. Based on RH's comments it will be interesting to see what happens moving forward. Much will depend I think on what Jose wants salary-wise and in length of a deal. Phil Rogers wrote this today on the Sox web site: "Abreu wants to stay long term. He's made that clear. Don't be surprised if Hahn offers him a four- or five-year package this winter, which would keep him around through 2021 or '22. If he turns it down, intent to chase maximum value when he reaches the free-agent market, then the White Sox will probably shop him."

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 9, 2017 -> 11:22 AM) Jones was injury-free those years, but Petricka had 1 DL stint and Putnam had 2 (1 in each year) over those spans. Jones also only appeared in two games in 2014 and 19 in 2015. Robin was the manager in those years. Perhaps the 135 appearances the previous two years plus the number of times he had to warm up had something to do with it. My point was how many times did we see Ventura use three, at times four pitchers to get through an inning? He was strictly by the book / match-up's as a manager. And it hurt him and the team in my opinion. If you are a major league pitcher you should be able to get left handers out, right handers out, even if a guy hits with his feet...you should be able to get them out. But with Robin the vast majority of the time he never gave his guys a chance to do that.

Plus this is from the story on the White Sox site: "Rodon's first start in 2017 didn't come until June 28 after he missed the first three months of the season due to biceps bursitis. The southpaw didn't feel right on Thursday when he started warming up, and he said this most recent MRI showed the same results as one done at the end of Spring Training. I take that to mean he has the same injury situation again even though the Sox were very cautious with him. That is very troubling to me.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Sep 8, 2017 -> 03:51 PM) Jones, Petricka, Putnam. Cursed bullpen trio. You wonder if the way they were abused under Ventura if that's part of the reason they can't stay healthy if their lives depended on it.

More flotsam and jetsam.

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Sep 7, 2017 -> 02:55 PM) Is Petricka done or was this just a bad year due to injuries? Wondering if hes someone they are counting on to be in the bullpen next year. He's been done for awhile.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2017 -> 05:55 PM) The White Sox spent some of their highest payrolls in team history during those seasons and as you noted got no where close. Here's the basic problem - the White Sox did not have a strong "cost-controlled set of core players". They had a pair of excellent players and about 2 other good players to go with them, and then a roster full of waste. They had to bring in "mid-tier scrap heap types" every year because they had so many different positions they needed to fill alongside that small group. They had no roster depth, and the tiny bits of roster depth they did manage to create Rick Hahn would immediately package for his next big name acquisition. With no roster depth and 5-6 key positions to fill every single year, they weren't going to be able to spend their way out of it, with the failure rate on the FA market, without challenging the Dodgers in payroll - they had too many needs. What they need to create is the opposite situation - they need to create a situation where they have roster and organizational depth. They need to create a situation where they know they have 1 or 2 obvious needs. Fill the OF, starting rotation, 2b, and leave either 3b or SS as a weak spot and they know they need to go out and grab a 3b or SS and maybe bullpen help. That's manageable in an offseason without having to go scrap heap diving. Well done sir!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 5, 2017 -> 12:34 PM) Colleen Kane is moving to Bears coverage for the Tribune. Former Blackhawks beat writer Chris Kuc, is going to be on the White Sox beat. The Trib actually wanted her to leave the beat a month or so ago so that Kuc could start getting acclimated. She refused (guess she wanted those trips to Boston and L.A.) Kuc will do a much better job in my opinion.

Welcome to the big leagues Mr. Fry (he's as bad as the other gas can's--not that it matters this year anyway) Hey Mr. Beck! How do you hold your gopher balls? LOL.

When this team is good, he'd be a useful late inning defensive replacement.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Sep 5, 2017 -> 11:18 AM) Based on attached, JR and Sox are also losing money with attendance drop. So lower payroll is not pure profit for Sox. http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/0...tm_campaign=AOL With respect I don't buy it. MLB teams are making money hand over foot with the multiple revenue streams. The Sox may not be making "as much" money...but rest assured they are making it none the less. Attendance is still important (and parking and concessions) but it's not as important say as in the 1960's. TV is supplying a lot of the income as well. In fact I remember reading where TV money is now supplying 53% of all MLB income, and at least some of that is shared revenue among all teams.

About time...wish they'd do the same to Shields.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Sep 5, 2017 -> 08:01 AM) Milwaukee had the lowest MLB team payroll on this past Opening Day with $63 million dollars. The 2018 White sox team payroll will be the lowest payroll in MLB.It will be much less than $63 million dollars. After the trade of Avi Garcia and probably Abreu the payroll will be less than $40 million. Always remember, low payroll=big profits=more moola for JR. Do you ever get tired of repeating yourself in literally every single conspiracy-themed post? You know what? If the Sox payroll next year, for the team, is 15 million dollars, WHO THE HELL CARES? They are going to suck next year, get used to it now. It's part of the plan. And you know what? That's completely fine, they aren't ready to win. As for me this is the last time I'm going to respond or read any of your tripe.

And with that the Sox now have officially recorded their 5th straight losing season (and 8th in the last 11 years). Last time it happened? 1944-1950. But at least now there seems to be some real hope for the future (and we all know what happened for the franchise starting in 1951 through 1967 don't we???)

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Sep 4, 2017 -> 07:21 AM) Avi becomes a free agent at the end of the 2019 season. If Hahn doesn't sign him to a long term contract this off season it presents some bad possibilities. Lets say Avi has another good season in 2018 and he's not signed to a long term contract. He'll be looking at some serious money once he becomes a free agent after 2019. There's no way Hahn/JR is going to give Avi a gigantic contract. Everything points to him being traded this off season. I keep hearing that the 2018 team payroll will be less than $40 million dollars. Low payroll=more profits=more moola in JRs pocket. Right (sarcasm implied) Do you really believe the stuff you write or are you just trying to get a rise out of people?

QUOTE (Donaldo @ Sep 3, 2017 -> 05:32 PM) With the depth we have at SP (Rodon, Kopech, Hansen, Gio, ReyLo, Dunning), I'm guessing Lucas will eventually be a #4 or #5 starter. That's scary, isn't it? Let's hope so although I personally think Rodon will be traded in a year or two because of his agent and the fact that he'll take him to free agency.

I still have my doubts on him and apparently so does Hahn who a few weeks ago left open the possibility of Avi not being around when the team is good.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 28, 2017 -> 10:48 AM) Take a Jay Cutler. The dude had Hall of Fame potential, but no coach could get through to him. Does that mean all of the coaches that had him were failures? Very fair point.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Aug 28, 2017 -> 08:15 AM) Can you give any specific examples for any part of this post. I'm genuinely curious. For example I have on the computer the screen shots of Cooper's comments on twitter ripping Sox fans. I'm sorry I have no idea how to post those but that wasn't the first time he's done this. Also numerous times on his radio show segment, he has gone off on the fan-base. It's unfortunate since the Sox need all the fans they can get. I've always been very surprised since this has happened often that JR or someone in the front office, hasn't spoken to him about this. It simply makes no business sense to rip on the paying customers / potential future customers. http://sportsmockery.com/2015/04/pitching-...white-sox-fans/

QUOTE (ron883 @ Aug 27, 2017 -> 11:12 AM) I was just thinking how lucky the Sox are to have one of the all time great pitching coaches. Sometimes I take it for granted that we've got him. He is one of the best, and he seems to love the south side and the organization. He will no doubt have a job with the team until he decides he wants to hang it up. How do you rate Coop currently and in terms of the all time greats? I'm really not sure the best way to rank pitching coaches. People always say hitting coaches don't have a huge impact, but I think most can agree that pitching coaches are a bit more impactful on the game. Cheers to Coop. He's the man. Don is a good pitching coach (although the last few years have shown mixed results) but by far the best White Sox pitching coach ever was Ray Berres who worked for many years under Al Lopez. The number of pitchers he helped and turned out in the 50's and 60's is staggering. And Johnny Sain, Chuck Tanner's pitching coach had a run of years (including many when he was with other teams) of having at least a 20 game winner every season. Those two stand out to me as 1-2 for the Sox all time.

Another one bites the dust. You can't make this stuff up folks.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 26, 2017 -> 06:12 AM) Belated Happy Birthday if you were talking about yourself. Many thanks. I fooled them again made it through another year! LOL.

Always nice to get a win on your birthday.