he gone.

I can see what camp your in. I'm not here to rebuttal your stance as its not going to change your mind. Long live AJ Pierzynski and all the guys breaking rules. It's a game - it's entertainment ... and I'm here for it. Also not sure why 110mph in a 70mph zone is mind blowing to you. He was a 22 year old kid. I'm sure you've only gone the speed limit in your life. Hell i'll accidentally hit 90mph not paying attention on 55 when there's no traffic -- and that's in a shitty V6. Lighten up a bit. It's baseball.

He doesn't fit is an okay argument -- I guess. He doesn't fit because we're rolling the dice on a Mazara revival and you want to fully test that out over 500+ AB -- fine then he doesn't fit. He doesn't fit because his splits favor the same side as Mazara? Fine. But he doesn't fit because he's somehow worse than Mazara? Not sure about that. I'd take Puig over Mazara. Hell who are we rolling out as our 4OF and at what cost? Leury? Engel? He's not good anymore? MiLB deal?!!! ST injury depth?!!! And how did you come up with that? Once he suited up with Cleveland he hit .297 wtih a .377 OBP, .800 OPS. He stole 20 bags on the year.. hit what, 25 dingers? And that's MiLB to you? just not sure how that doesn't equal a $2mm contract in your book. I mean we signed Jon Jay last year to a $4mm deal ... people have been in favor of several million to Yolmer to play backup ... we're paying Leury $3.25mm to be a nobody UTIL. how Puig isn't an upgrade to Engel or some other 4OF is bananas to me. How we can be making such a dismissive argument of Puig at ... 1 year and 4mm contract to be our 4OF compared to what ..... Engel, Leury, etc? Come on ... this is a guy who has been to an all star game, finished top 20 in MVP voting twice, really doesn't strikeout all that much ... has a career .350OBP, .823 OPS, can steal bags, has a nice arm in the OF ... but meanwhile we're paying Leury $3.25mm this year ... we don't have $3.25mm for Puig, but Leury is okay... sure. SMH. Leury stats .256/.292/.649OPS, 23 CAREER home runs ... This is such a Sox mentality it hurts. I can't wait to rid this team of Engel, Leury, Yolmer types. They are all replaceable and nobodies in the grand scheme. Fine people i'm sure ... but just take a step back ... let's say right now we didn't roster any of Leury/Engel/Puig and all were free agents. You can have Engel at 1 year and $600k, Leury at 1 year and $3.25mm and Puig at 1yr and $4mm. What are you taking?

I am one of the few okay with Leury and Mendick for the time being. Doesn't concern me in the least. However I think Madrigal and Gennett are clearly better options.

Giants ain't happening. Rays just traded for another OF not happening. The Cubs are probably more of a fit than either of those teams, they just have Souza. Here are some teams that might happen ... Baltimore, Boston (JBJ to 4OF, Verdugo CF), both Chicago teams, Cleveland (most likely), Detroit, Seattle, Toronto. I think he ends up in Cleveland personally. I think he may have several offers on the table but that are low balled. Im guessing he's looking for playing time to build some sort of value. I'd take him in a heart beat. Him and Scooter Gennett.

I love how easy it is to cast stones. None of us know Puig personally but a lot of us are acting like we know how he acts in a closed clubhouse for a 180 games (ST included). I have a feeling if he signed here that he would be an instant fan favorite. My personal opinion though. I'm all for it. Keep the game fun.

I hope for the best out of Mazara. I haven't watched the kid enough to know what his true issues are & am not going to try and figure it out via stats. A few things are probably pretty evident -- he's got the talent to perhaps be a star. As we saw with Avi Garcia or maybe even a Dayan Viciedo it's not always as easy as "hit ball hard" and have success. We can tout age, new team, new instructors, change of pace, etc. etc. etc. but its probably more likely than not that Mazara is basically what he's show. Maybe something clicks and he taps into the talent like Avi has shown flashes of - that's what we can hope for. In other news -- Joc and Stripling being traded and then pulled back .... we should be looking at that. We're not ever competing with the Dodgers or Yankees for a WS this year, however if you can get Joc and/or Stripling for a return that doesn't jeopardize your future I think you definitely have to explore. Stripling has long been one of my favorite fantasy weapons - the guy just throws the ball well. I think he's been stuck in a poor spot on the Dodgers bouncing between the rotation and bullpen which is unfortunate becuase i think he'd be a Quintana/Musgrove/Miley/Keuchel type of SP. A guy who keeps you in games and generally doesn't blow up. #3/4 type guy. Obviously we have too much pitching (in theory) already with Lopez, Gio&Gio, Keuchel, Cease, Kopech, Rodon, Dunning, etc. etc. So maybe adding Stripling isn't the best use of talent - but he would make the team better.

We spend the whole off-season making up our own FA targets and discussing how'd they'd fit in to the Sox roster -- not sure how this is any different than a conversation in November about a random FA that we were never connected to. I for one don't feel like working today so I've been going over this (fake) scenario and all the negatives and positives that would come along with it. aka - Arenado's road splits are quite pedestrian, would he be really worth the contract? I think in a regular ballpark he's probably more of a $20mm/yr player If the Sox are giving up Cease what does that do? To me, Cease seems to have his head on straight and I really like him. However there are many pitchers (overwhelming majority) who really never pan out to their expectations - maybe it's okay to sell, especially if you have faith in Reynaldo, Dunning or Steiver. Because considering you have Gio, Kopech and Keuchel locked in for the future... you really just need two spots filled by those 3 guys + Gio Gonzalez (or any other free agent you sign -- aka Quintana as your 4/5??) All of a sudden maybe Cease is expendable. Where would Moncada play? Do you shift him to 2B for a month and then to RF? Do you mess with his success by moving him AGAIN. Seems like a somewhat unnecessary risk. But then again, you fill out your roster 1-9 pretty damn well.... If you're willing to take on $35mm a year or whatever the number is for 6-7 years, why not just wait an extra year and try to go after Betts for 10-11 years at that price and properly fill RF rather than shifting a Moncada? If you're willing to trade Cease, I'd imagine you could pick up a controllable RF who is paid a lot less than Arenado that can contribute a ton too. Those are just things I thought about - again - it's likely a fake rumor, however isn't the whole offseason just a line of fake rumors geared towards clicks and ad sells? These blue check mark "journalists" don't really know anything eihter -- they're just puppets of the agents and baseball teams trying to drive up prices and also puppets of the companies they work for trying to drive traffic for ads. So whats the difference that this troll/fake internet reporter is leaking this fake story? To me it's just fun to discuss like it's fun to manage a fantasy baseball roster.

I'm not sure a white sox fan board is really steam. i dont think he's getting his rocks off on us discussing this.

Rockies have enough infielders - it's already an overflow situation of talent. They don't want Madrigal at all. If they move Arenado they just shift McMahon to 3b, Rodgers and Hampson STILL have to split 2b and they have Murphy at 1b. Once Murphy is gone next year, then it's Rodgers to 3b, McMahon to 1b and Hampson to 2b. Rockies are actually in a great position if they trade Arenado for pitching ... they just need to dump Desmond and his salary and then go sign another SP.

Theoretically Moncada can move to RF. Problem solved.

Depends on how you view Cease.. or really how you view Kopech, Giolito, Lopez, Dunning, Keuchel, Gio, etc. Can never have too much pitching depth, but there's a log jam there if all pitch to their potential, plus we could always draft one in the 1st round this year. If you turn quintana into Eloy and Arenado and sign Quintana in the offseason ... that'd be cool

Why are the sox acknowledging this at all? Seems to throw more fuel on the fire.

If it's for Cease and a few others I'll take it. Move Moncada to RF. Screw it - i'll buy into the rumor just because now i kind of want to.

it's all fake but out of boredom i'll post ... would be unwise to trade for arenado when you could've just acquired rendon for the same price, but not give up prospects. however, if you did give up madrigal, it actually isn't terrible since you'd have moncada at 2b and arenado at 3b. no real need for him at that point.

Bored on a Friday and thought I'd revive the financial thread a bit. About 16 months since the last post - what are peoples thought on the DOW about to hit 30,000? Does this feel like a highly functioning economy or is it your opinion that your day to day life isn't reflected in stock prices? Tesla market cap exploding -- any predictions or thoughts? Bitcoin still not dead and still hovering around $10,000. I personally am guessing the US moves to negative interest rates and joins the madness of the rest of the world. An arms race to the bottom. The experiment of our hard earned money continues & when it his the pendulum is going to have to swing the other way. I think we're due for a flash crash, a fake recovery, and then real downturn/recession. I think the flash crash will hit by the end of 2021 and the recession, if we maintain this path would be 2-5 years after that.

so ... a recruiter? also, this is my opinion, it's up to the human to show self growth. Take a personality test, get a life coach, find what makes you happy, understand what makes yourself tick. Cant rely on others to do things for you & if so, you'll never be truly satisfied.

Anybody who is saying it was a terrible pick is a clown. The kid never even had a shot to prove one way or another that he could play - injuries have derailed his shot so far. He might have crushed the ball and been our DH this year - we really dont know. So to say the pick was terrible is really a sad keyboard stance. On a side note, i hope he mentally gets right if that's truly the case here. He's still young and talented. Hopefully he can string together a few healthy seasons to realize if this dream really does have legs or to move on comfortably knowing he gave it his all. Would suck to go through life not knowing because your body kept giving up on you.

My takeaways: What's the equivalent of Verdugo in our system? Would you say Madrigal? I feel like the Verdugo, Madrigal, Bientiendi, etc. of the world are kinda one of the same in a way -- like - good baseball players, important pieces to championship rosters, but kind of replaceable in the same right. Like the ceiling isn't Robert, but the floor is also still a very good player. So just for my sake - would have I traded Madrigal for one year of Betts (with the unlikely shot we convince him to sign before FA) + David Price at $17mm a year for 3 years? At this point in our rebuild -- no. But I'd be tempted. Which kind of feeds into my next reaction -- as much as I get excited sometimes looking at the 2020 lineup -- how to slot Robert, Madrigal, Yoan, Eloy, Abreu, Grandal, EE, Anderson, etc. -- moves like this really make me quickly catch myself. It doesn't matter how much lines up right this year -- we're not even close to the same tier as the Dodgers or Yankees. Add in the Astros, Rays, Philly, STL, Min, Cin, ATL, etc. and you really have to squint to see the light. Which is fine. We don't have to win this year - just learn how to win more consistently and cross over into winning, consistent baseball. It's just moves like this that make one realize we're not even in the same ballpark as the top tier teams, even with our improved lineup. Final takeaway - dang it's got to be hard to be a BoSox fan right now. It's one thing for the Rays or Pirates or Brewers to lose a talent like that because of money -- and when you can conceivably still give yourself a SHOT at contending .... and then on top of that losing him to a team like the Dodgers. Woof. Shoot if we want Sale I wouldn't be surprised if he's available. The Red Sox aren't competing with that current roster... Moreland, Peraza, Jackie Bradley, Martin Perez is in the rotation now? They have a completely barren farm system ... the Yankees are just entering their likely 5-8 year dominance ... the Rays are stacked already and have a ridiculous amount of talent in the minors ... If I'm the ChiSox I'm making calls -- maybe not immediately, but come July and next off-season? That's a team that has way too many holes to seriously compete this year and into the next 2-4 years -- I think JD, Sale, Eovaldi, etc. are all up for grabs ... and ... relatively cheap in terms of prospects. The Red Sox are going to go through a complete rebuild here in the next 3 years

Aka Wilmer Flores and Dubon basically take his chances of real playing time down significantly. Nice guy, bad break. He picked one of the worst mlb teams and one with an opening, just doesn't seem like it will work out well.

The Dodgers are the only place I don't want to see him go. They have the best chance at resigning him - I doubt if he gets to LA that he'll make it to FA.

I'll leave a specific power prediction out of it since I think that may be determined by the baseball this year ... However, I am going to put a bit of pressure on Eloy & go .315BA, 350OBP, 95RBI. I think HR should be in the 25-35 range. That's expecting a lot -- but looking at this career MiLB numbers? I don't think we scratched the surface last year. Also, I want to see less strikeouts and more doubles - let's say 30 doubles and the same 134k's over a full 150 games.

Yep, it's tough out there. All we can do is try to own our own sh*t and grow from it. That's why things like the White Sox & sports are so great - it's working together as a team for one goal regardless of background. It's also a break from real life for a few hours a day. That being said. Go spend some more Jerry so we can enjoy those few hours! haha

This is sad that you have to ask this question in 2020. And I'm sorry you have to. Always just kill with kindness and understand the people who are racist are compensating and are missing out on a whole bunch in life by not accepting others.

I don't think anybody really is the authority to take the temperature on who and who is not a bigger fan of Kobe. China does love the NBA though... he was a mega world star.

Anything over $100, H2H point league preferred, okay with ESPN or Yahoo.