he gone.

Was that $200 on the secondary market? I am part of a season ticket plan in the diamond box - so like 5 rows behind the dugout ... thats why Im concerned. so far i've heard nothing from my partners which to me, means we've heard nothing. I just don't feel like paying a bunch to sit behind the dugout and get kicked out to the outfield or something. Scout seats will be odd this year too ... doubt they'll have buffets this season at all, so my guess is it will be more like a restaurant. going to be interesting to navigate things like that and the patio deal -- assume that's shut down for the year too. Though ... at same time Pete's Grocery store has their hot bar open. going to be an interesting year of organized chaos and people get wayyyyy too worked up over a baseball game. Glad I'm not in the position of a vendor or any game day operations. They get the brunt of it all for like $11/ hr.

30% at lets say 40,000 = 12,000! I'll take it. I mean, it's kind of like regular April anyways if that happens. Maybe not 2021 april with a good sox team, but a normal April when it's shitty out. Does anybody know the season ticket base? That would be my guess too. All season tickets have first right or something. I do wonder how they'll navigate seats. If you're all spread out you're likely not going to be in your seat and likely a worse seat - so do you get a partial refund? Like if you have seats even with 1st base and get kicked to the corner pole area? That kind of sucks.

they always are so damn vague in these reports. lori is letting 50% gather indoors at bars, but a fully outdoor stadium? cant decide yet. grrr. either way these vaccines are starting to come out and the J&J one is right around the corner. my guess is something like 25% in april, maybe 50% within a month or two after, and maybe even more by late season. im interested to see how they handle the season ticket angle and pricing and money. ive got some real nice seats but i'd assume my seats will be moved. aka I'm assuming some lower deck will be in the upper deck to make this work spaced out. shall see. just gotta roll wiht the punches i guess.

true, it will be fun baseball for the next 3-5 years regardless. I'll enjoy that and just hope we can keep it going like a cardinals team rather than a sell off like a royals

I think that's even tough to do optically. Punt one of your aces during a World Series run? And then if someone is acquiring him that means they're a contender. So you're punting to a competitor. More likely he plays out his contract and then Jerry offers 5/150 or something while he goes out and gets 6/200. It will Machado 2.0 -- we made an effort "the money will be spent". etc.

At that point its just splitting hairs really. Leury and Marwin are kind of the same player. $3mm is a nice deal for a team that has more of a need - agree there for sure.

I need context on that. Chamath's head is in the right place, his execution has been strong as well. He's no dummy - striking while the irons hot. He also at least has a strong conviction and are picking companies that generally lead to a better future. I can't say im a huge fan of him levering his name and stature which is leading to inflated prices that aren't tied to results at all. I personally like the dude, but haven't blindly followed all of his SPAC's. I get his idea behind SPAC's which is there has been way too much consolidation - which is true - and will continue. cheap money leads to consolidation. less risk to integrate as efficient. leaves more wiggle room when its cheap. it also leads to inflated sale prices. less companies to trade on stock market and SPAC are allowing a work through to get more companies out to market. its the pendulum swinging the other way. probably an overcorrection that will come back towards middle over time. I'm on MP Materials and Desktop Metal - i've eyed opendoor and sofi .... haven't been convinced yet.

That's the rosy outlook, likely not the realistic one. As someone else noted you'll need an ace or two if you lose Giolito. I'll preface this with the link to the 2017 MLB top prospects list. http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017/?list=prospects -- then take a look and see which have really made the impact 3-4 years later. And these were the top of the top. Prospects don't always develop, nor they develop on a linear path. we cant just expect that if giolito is gone that a kelley or some other guy can just slot in. its quite the opposite. Ohtani - meh - good, injured, up and down. Torres - solid. Robles - very meh. some nice tools, but hasn't really come close to even an all-star. vladdy jr. -- still waiting. eloy - starting to turn into that star, but hasn't been instant. acuna -- superstar. brendan rodgers - still hasn't contributed. kyle tucker - finally got his chance last year and did well. nick senzel - nada. kopech - nothing. buehler - superstar in making . honeywell - nada. lewis brinson - nada. f. mejia - nada. alex reyes - nada. just saying that if you think you can count on cespedes, cease, kelly, thompson, vega, etc. etc. you may be mistaken. hell you can't really even put kopech on that list STILL. or vaughn. or madrigal. there will be hits and misses. we'll have a nice core no doubt but just saying it's not as easy as plugging next man up which is why it's so imperative to sign the good ones long term when you luck into one. Just go back to 2017 - the board read like this: Kopech - ETA of late 2018 - bonafide ace. electric stuff. future star. replaces sale. 2020 run he'll be right in the mix near the top of rotation Reynaldo Lopez - good stuff - might be more of a bullpen piece, but was rated in top 10 of ALL prospects in 2016-17. he has the stuff to be a monster possibly! our staff is going to be overloaded with talent! Carson Fulmer - ETA 2017 - mixed bag so far in AA/AAA, but nasty stuff, think coop can fix him. nice bullpen piece at worst. Blake Rutherford - starting in RF by 2019. #40 prospect overall!!! what a trade to get him. this minor league system is loaded! just 3 spots behind Juan Soto in the rankings! (to be fair the trade hadn't happened yet, but just saying) Alec Hansen - man did he tear up low A ball. this could be a #2 type starter if he keeps this up. what a nice steal by the sox scouts! Dane Dunning - just a solid workhorse. consistent. not flashy, good. (turned out true for those 20 innings or whatever it was) Zack Burdi - ETA 2017 - our future closer. Zack Collins - nice bat, questionable glove. ETA 2018. definitely has the bat to contribute right away - maybe more of a DH/C role long term. my point is ... i don't count on anybody until they've proven it for more than one season in the mlb. that goes for madrigal. that went for giolito going into last year. that'll be the truth for vaughn, cease, etc. Cease could go balls to the wall this year and I wouldn't trust him with the ball in game 5, 6, or 7 in the following year. I want to see consistency before crowning any of these guys. And once you crown them? Open up the bank vault. That's what we should do on giolito but were not a very good orginization.

ya, i dont think anybody is surprised. ONly way sox approach him is to tack on a year or two - but giolito doesn't seem like a guy to give up those 1-2 years of his prime and possibility at a giant contract to lock in wealth. He's already going to be very wealthy after this season ... I bet he just plays out the arb years & moves on. We have 3 years on the clock for this exact nucleus - after that you'll have bits and pieces - but this is the 3 years based on JR track record.

Yep - it really isn't much more than that to be honest. Printing money inflates assets. Stocks are inflating - commodities are generally going up - everything goes up ... minus salaries and hourly wages sadly. Most corporations are just going to give you 1-3% raises --- if that --- and the regular joe loses out. The hourly workers get hit even harder. Meanwhile the corporations/CEO's etc. do fine because their compensation is really more so driven by stock price - so they get even more of a windfall because of this. It's not reversing anytime soon because there's really just a giant disconnect. Ultimately i think these type of decisions are going to lead to a downfall. I'm not sure that downfall is very close though - I think this can continue for another 3-8 years. In a way, it has been going on really since 2008, so there's run in this type of economics. Just think it ultimately tumbles.

I'm still driving the Rodon bandwagon if anybody wants on. I was driving it last year too, we went off the road for a bit, now were taking the backroads. Hopefully I don't regret it - still think he turns into a major part of this team and their success not only regular season but into playoffs.

I'm really into art, so been someone who I probably followed more closely than most since leaving the Sox. He's got some really cool pieces. I think there was a guy on the Cubs too -- kinda their AAAA version of Micah Johnson who also was doing art on the side too. It really is true - we always pin these guys as just athletes and say things like "good" when a NIcky Delmonico or MIcah or Palka doesnt make the team. Sometimes easy to forget these guys are chasing their dreams and are people too. Glad hes finding a ton of success right now.

Just thought I'd drop this in. Been following his art career for some time, really cool stuff. His popularity has really taken off over the past 12 months which is cool to see. Wasn't more than like 2 years ago where he was tweeting about making art for anybody who is willing to pay like $200. Now he's selling over a million worth of art in minutes. His biggest piece is AKU - really making a killing in the NFT space which is super cool to see. (NFT -= Non fungible token) basically putting art or songs, etc. on blockhain as a way to create authenticity and know what you're buying is really one of one, etc. https://beincrypto.com/micah-johnson-nft-artwork-sells-for-120000-on-async-art/ I can't find the article from Nifty Gateway, but it's on Twitter if you search, he sold like $1.4mm or something yesterday on his release. Cool stuff. His Jackie Robinson piece has always been awesome to me. Give him a google search if you're interested.

yah the tweets back and forth this weekend are the example of the "bad" bauer. I dont disagree that sometimes he's just dumb. it was one thing to tease back and forth with mets and dodgers fans at the end ... but selling merch as a trolling is kind of meh. I'm sure he thinks its funny - that said a lot of people find poop and dick jokes funny after 20 years old ... so who knows. different strokes different folks. I woulda paid the 40mm but this type of unnecessary baggage woulda been not ideal.

This. These GM's aren't really anything more than lucky in a way. Right place, right time. Sure I"m sure these guys are good at their job, but I 105% believe I could be just as successful if I put in 50-60 hour weeks as a baseball GM as my career. That's not cocky - that's just real. This guy is a moron. MORON. you don't say your #1 prospect ... which by the way YOU offered a contract to BECAUSE you think he's going to be so good .... you don't say that this kid turned US down because he thinks in 6,7,8 years from now he thinks HES GOING TO BE SUCH A STAR. The way he even said it was pompous. Or the who interpreter thing. I'd like to stick that guy in the Dominican League and tell him good luck. No speaking english - oh and dont forget you have to be available to the media to talk every single day. Maybe he should focus on putting a winning project on the field - arent they the longest drought without a playoff appearance?

I'm not convinced Vaughn will have a good year at DH. My thesis on this is the Sox never produce from the DH spot. It's just science. Whoever we put there sucks. Since 2010 we have a combined -2.3 WAR out of our DH spot. You have to add the last two years of Thome to get to a positive WAR out of DH. Back to 2008. It's so laughably bad. Just joking really - Vaughn will be good - but I'm still not counting on much year 1 - we never seem to have rookies do well out of the gate and our DH spot is cursed.

I think it depends on the makeup of the player. Money plays a role, I also think pride and just being a competitive person also plays a role. I'd guess in the majority of cases when you get to be the level of these guys that they have a different motor that keeps them running. That said I obviously don't know any of the guys or which are motivated by what. From what I've heard EE thinks he can play 2 more years and wants an everyday role - guessing he doesn't want to go out the way he did. But its a valid point - i sure as hell wouldn't want to come back.

Ozuna had comp pick attached to him. think it's tough to give up that pick for one year of ozuna during what at this time last year, was probably a stretch to win a world series. I think also if you look back on the EE signing most of us were very much on board at the time. now i know age and sluggers are generally a slippery slope and fall off quickly - it appears we got on at the wrong time -- that said we were happy with him at what .... $11mm a year ago ... 50 games later ... are we convinced that he is DONE DONE? If not, is it that far fetched to pay him $3mm and let Vaughn get some bats in AAA through say ... June? Who knows - maybe you get 30HR version of EE back and it's a steal of a deal and a nice bat to have around. It's definitely devil's advocate angle. I'd offer him up to $3mm on my end. Really I'd offer any of these guys in the $1-3mm range to fill that short term role: Cespedes Soo-Choo EE Scooter Gennett Brett Gardner Markakis

Still crazy to me that Jerry didn't even entertain this. It's so up his alley in terms of years given to pitching. I'll be sad about this one for a while. It had it all - short deal, during our window & arch rival to Jerry making bid (Cohen). Woulda allowed our team to thrive this year, let Lynn walk next year, Kopech/Crochet take over that role, let Bauer walk the next year, both of those guys now are the "ace". It was just so perfect - to not even entertain it - to not even reach out? makes me sad as a sox fan.

Call me crazy -- I'd entertain bringing in EE again ... I know he wants consistent AB's so he may just rather sit out than get a short leash/playing time, but I'd imagine you can get him for $2-3mm. He could fill in at DH for a month or two - if it's going well keep sprinkling him in, if it's not? Cut bait. Not saying I'd actually do the deal - I'd just consider it. : Ducks head:

Yes, that was the MLB network list criteria - I laid mine out with the caveat of who I'd want on the White Sox for this year only. If it was any team ya, I can totally see Tatis above Bogaerts and Anderson. Like if was the Royals or Tigers give me Tatis all day with the edge. That said my list would be: (and my list is predicated of who I'd most want starting this year only for the White Sox as SS: 1 - Lindor 2 - Bogaerts 3 - Tim Anderson 4 - Tatis Jr. (he's almost in TA category from a few years ago that i keep waiting for his underlying stats to catch up (ala baez), but think he's just that good) 5 - Turner 6 - Story 7 - Bichette

At least you put out your own rankings unlike some other people who just criticize. For one year, with this Sox team, yes, I'd stick with Anderson. He's an established leader on this team & think that value plus his play over the past few years justifies him as a viable pick over tatis. they are pretty neck and neck at this exact juncture in their career and could go either way - but intangibles and him having rapport with this team already lead the nod over tatis in my list.

Are you demanding the same of the MLB Network of why they chose Story over Tatis? Or why they have Bogaerts ranked neck and neck with Tatis? I don't owe you anything - opinions can't be wrong. You personally can disagree with them, but they can't be wrong. But just to please you, Xander is age 27, in his prime, with experience, and has proven himself over many years. Tatis has 1.5 years under his belt and susceptible to the curve ball. I think he'll be every bit as good, if not better than Xander, however for one year I'd go with Xander on this team, as constructed for the Sox. There's something to be said of a guy who has been there and won a world series, been on winning teams, and has the experience and how they'd fit in on a sox team. This is a guy who had 52 doubles, 35 homers and drove in 117 in 2019 ... and you think the questioning of putting him above a guy like tatis is so set in stone. He's put up 30 war in his career. This is not like I"m comparing kevin newman w tatis. this is me comparing two top 5 SS's in the game for a hypothetical one year stint on a sox team. Tatis has done this for a shorter time and whiffed at above a 50% and 40% clip on breaking balls in his first two years. That concerns me. Not enough to outweigh the rest of his game which is why hes still ranked very high and why i said over a three year period I'd probably want him number 1 overall. Tatis is a fastball hitter at this point in his career - no doubt he'll develop, but at this point he hasn't done as well against sliders, changeups and curves. Year Pitch Type Team RV/100 Run Value Pitches % PA BA SLG wOBA Whiff% K% PutAway % xBA xSLG xwOBA Hard Hit % 2019 Splitter -7.9 -1 11 0.8 2 .000 .000 .000 100.0 100.0 40.0 .000 2019 Changeup -2.3 -3 149 10.7 48 .200 .400 .266 41.9 39.6 33.3 .154 .329 .215 33.3 2020 Slider -1.1 -2 165 16.7 43 .211 .342 .290 48.1 30.2 23.2 .223 .363 .292 52.0 2020 Changeup -0.8 -1 133 13.5 38 .226 .355 .333 34.3 21.1 18.6 .266 .564 .400 56.5 Is that enough to justify my ranking your grace? This ought to be good.

only as smart as soxfan49 says we are haha.

I mean, that's fine that your opinion differs from mine. That's how opinions work. I also literally said FOR THIS YEAR ONLY, not 3 like you. I also caveated that I am probably ranking him too low like I have with Anderson in the past but that some of that statcast stuff makes me question if he can continue at this clip. If it was for 3 years I'd have Wander Franco in my top 5 as well as Bichette with Story probably barely making the top 10. Tatis would likely be #1 in a 3 year list for me too. This is an ANNUAL list released by mlbnetwork meant to be the top at the position currently. So yeah, i don't think you read very well