Two-Gun Pete

Dude, the whole "hatred" thing is a canard. Its tired, and it does nothing to advance the discussion, in all honesty. But, to your SSS point, Harrison's 34 going on 35. Since the end of the steroid era, there aren't that many FAs that were that old when signed that performed well. Especially a replacement-level token who had a nice SSS run. Hes not good, and he's not young. There really weren't any 2Bmen worth a damn that were realistic options. But a 34 year old geezing geezer wasn't any kind of solution.

I disagree. This org doesn't play in the top free agent market because they mismanage their finances and allocation of resources. Earlier upthread I reviewed the SOX resource utilization on RPs vs RF. Since The Nomar Mazara Era, this org has spent a total of $119.4MM or so on RP contracts. Just by cutting spending on RPs, and finding a handful of league min contracts for RPs, this org could have signed Conforto or Bryant or Suzuki, full stop. It ain't "cheapness," or "the budget." Its just that they're too fucking stupid to do this.

I dont give a shit about "TWTW," "The Fire and The Passion," or anything a spring training clickbait piece says. Harrison hasn't been good at baseball for a long time. Unless he gets on the cream and the clear, Father Time will take whatever ability he had sooner or later. Again, spring training clickbait would have you believe that Lance Lynn and Jake Burger got their body fat % down to 7% in the offseason. I give zero shits about some preseason story calling Harrison "a ball of energy," if the Invincible Father Time is coming for his baseball abilities. That said, to be fair to you, I re-read my post, which wasn't my best work; I failed to include that I'm entirely ageist against old pieces of shit. Especially old players that have never really been good. For me, I would never sign any FA that was > 33 years old, unless there were no other alternatives. We learned that old players tend to lose their abilities when this FO signed Encarnacion. We re-learned that last season with Adam Eaton and the decline of Dallas Keuchel. And, I believe that we will once again re-learn this with Josh Harrison. As this pertains to Hernandez, yeah he sucks. But he's also not yet old enough to worry that he'll be DFA for being too fucking old to play. So when I posted that I'd gamble on him, I suppose I should have emphasized that Hernandez is, at least young enough where a bounceback wouldn't be entirely unexpected. Regardless, arguing Hernandez v Harrison is like asking if you'd rather eat a turd with peanuts, or a turd with corn kernels in it. At the end of the day, they're both turds.

I should update this. How it started post-lockout: I'd like us to go with Rodon or Kikuchi to solve SP, Suzuki to solve RF, Tepera to fill up the BP, and Miller or Villar as either a LHH or SH 2B. How its going: Holy. Fucking. Shit. This FO is just too fucking stupid.

OK: FANGRAPHS has his defense as being negative according to UZR, and exactly 0 by DRS. He's 34 going on 35. If they had wanted DEFENSE, then Simmons [who went to the scrubs, has played SS, and is younger than grandpa Josh] was the superior signing. If they had wanted OFFENSE [relative to what was available], then LHH Miller or SH Villar were the better choices. If they had wanted a mix of the two, then gambling on Cesar again would have been defensible. There is no real reason to want Harrison here. He is not better than Leury, and will likely be DFA'ed just like Eaton was DFA'ed.

Now do all of the other projections on fangraphs. Convenient that you cited Engel's HIGHEST projection, while citing the 2nd-lowest projection on Pederson. You may not like Pederson, but he's an actual OFer with a career wRC+ of 123 vs RHP. That's a metric fuckton better than watching the galloping mastodons, or the china doll out in RF.

To be intellectually honest, Pederson is projected for ~1.8 fWAR this season. IOW, even as a platoon RFer, he's worth $6MM, and probably more. Josh Harrison is projected to be worth 0.9 fWAR. He probably won't be worth his $5.5MM contract.

Damn. And so, Rick Hahn's ongoing quest to replace The Legend of Nomar Mazara with relief pitchers, 1st basemen, and other odds and ends continues. Jorge Soler, come on down!

No worries. I tried reading through your previous post, and let's just say that I disagree with you. 34 year olds-going-on 35 year olds typically don't get better at baseball, unless they're on the cream and the clear. But since there's PED testing, I doubt that Harrison will ever eclipse 2 fWAR, let alone 1 fWAR before he retires as a White Sox. Similarly, 34 year old pitchers typically don't magically discover new velo and spin rates. Especially soft-tossers like Keuchel. And no, it doesn't take much imagination to envision Velasquez doing poorly, because, ya know, bad players like Velasquez typically play poorly. Taken together, it doesn't take much to see that this team is worse now than it was at last season's end. Meanwhile, other teams have taken steps to improve. But hey, if you're a beacon of positivity, you do you.

Two things: 1. I appreciate your reply. 2. Paragraphs are your friend. Using elipses to separate half-thoughts is difficult to read.

Sure. And the rest of the baseball world forgot that we don't have Rodon, that we have an AARP candidate at 2B, and that as of right now, the 3rd most fWAR in the OF comes from Leury Garcia. But just like Pepperidge Farm remembers, so too do we. In a few weeks when Velazquez shits his pants and Harrison is DFA'ed, the rest of baseball will remember.

Ok, I can respect that view. But, if that was their "strategery," then it would have behooved them to maximize their other acquisitions. They STILL royally fucked up by picking up the option on Kimbrel and not offering the QO to Rodon. They STILL shit their pants by letting FA SPs go by, and now, trying to go to a gunfight for As SPs with their middling collection of trade assets. They STILL embarrassed themselves by picking up a 35 year old geezing geezer for 2B. And they STILL screwed up by adding as much payroll as they did to the bullpen. Had they, for example, re-signed Rodon and found a 2B better than Harrison, we could have squinted and seen a 2nd tier/short contract RFer being a worthy gamble. But, lamentably, here we are. Just based on "general fucking principle," to show that they're not complete fucking morons, they pretty much HAVE TO sign Conforto, and then pray that he's not broken or in decline already. Otherwise? The entirety of the baseball world will take them for fools.

Look, much of the board is now having the same meltdown i had weeks/months ago. I've settled into the level of "acceptance" already, so Pederson doesn't bother me as much as it should. So while the "rebuilding" scrubs get Stroman and Suzuki, the "contending" white sox get Pederson and Velasquez. This is fine.

Yeah, I thought he was already 30... Doesn't matter, because while they're totally comfortable splashing $16MM/per on a closer they don't need, $20+MM/Per is just "too much" for an everyday player.

Couple things on that: When Matsui came over, there wasn't as much focus on statistical analysis and comparison to others. Looking at Matsui v Suzuki, you'd subtract .010 off the slugging, but add .010 to the OBP to go from Matsui's NPB numbers to Suzuki's. So yeah, Suzuki projects to be Matsui; people were HOPING for Matsui to be Ichiro, but they honestly had no fucking idea, TBH. On the LH pop thing, we've already covered this. The SOX were 6th in wRC+ v RHP last season. The difference between the SOX's 108 wRC+ v RHP and the 2nd place wRC+ of 111 was marginal. Yes, there is "a need," but it is not at all a "serious issue." So, if Suzuki replicates his NPB gold gloves over here, he's probably a ~1.5 to 2-ish fWAR player, assuming he can hit an Adam Eaton-like 80 wRC+. If he's ANYTHING AT ALL like his ZIPs projection, he's a 3 fWAR player or more.

Here you go.

How I started the post-lockout: I'd like us to go with Rodon or Kikuchi, Suzuki, Tepera, and Miller or Villar. How its going: Holy. Fucking. Shit. I hope we get Pederson.

Ok, are we agreed that Suzuki's bat profiles to be Matsui? I'd think so. But, in reading the Fangraphs article, they profile him to be below-average with the glove. However, Suzuki, after having changed from 3B/SS earlier in his career, won 3 NPB gold gloves. I think Fangraphs is too negative with this assessment, given that defense should translate more easily from NPB to MLB. And yes, I'm imparting my opinion on his glove, but I believe the potential is clearly there at 27 years old. And thats one reason why I favored him being here.

Man, I dunno. Velasquez really put this roster in a solid position.

Yeah, no. Fukudome was not only 30 years old, but did not have nearly the star power that Suzuki does now. Fukudome also came pre-injured, with an elbow surgery before the scrubs got him. Suzuki is only 27, is healthy, and is, since Ichiro, probably the 2nd best player to come over after Ohtani. Sure, Suzuki might bust, as any FA can bust. But his offense profiles like Matsui, and his defense profiles like a gold glover. He would have been a great get for the SOX. But we'll be lucky to get Pederson at this point. Kenny Williams always gets his man.

I was just about to post that I would rather have had the scrubs' offseason than what RH/KW did. Seriously: Suzuki vs ??? Stroman vs Velasquez Simmons vs Harrison Also, picking up $16MM of Kimbrel, and adding $41MM more in RP contracts. Who's rebuilding, and who's "competing?" To the point if Suzuki himself, I'm disappointed that this FO apparently didn't even fucking try to look into him. I dont care that he's a RHH, he would probably be the most promising RFer here since Dye.

I'll disagree on the bolded. He's really not cheap, IMO. Spending ~$119.4MM or so on RP contracts isn't "cheap." Its stupid. Its short-sighted. It's poor allocation of resources. It's been a massive blind spot in this org for years. I mean, cut the spending on RP contracts in half, and allocate it elsewhere, so that we don't have to bother arguing if Sheets or Vaughn is a better OFer. (They both kinda suck at OF.) Or have to drink in the replacement level 2B while we're supppsedly trying to contend for more than a division. Or finding that extra SP that pretty much every fucking team in all of baseball needs. Or finding a LH bat to balance the lineup. Lavishing this much time, money, draft capital, and trade assets on this one position group, while neglecting others is one reason why this team is so incomplete. Once again, this org ain't "cheap." Its fucking nauseatingly stupid.

This FO sent a MiLB piece to get this turd, who was all but certain to be DFA'ed from Texas; they probably could have gotten him for free, if they really wanted to do so. Let's take a look at RP vs RF since then. Since the glory of The Mazara Era, they’ve: Spent $54MM on Hendriks, Drafted Crochet in the 1st round, and have done nothing to even bother to see if he can start while burning 2 years of control, Burned 2 years of control and forced Kopech into the pen while not stretching him out to start, Spent $7MM on Eaton, Square-pegged players as widely varied as Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets to Danny Mendick and Billy Hamilton in RF, Spent ~$8MM and 2 league min pieces on Kimbrel, Spent ~$400k and Bailey Horn on Tepera, Picked up $16MM on Kimbrel, Spent $24MM on Graveman, and Spent $17MM on Kelly. IOW, they've spent a grand total of ~$119.4MM on RP contracts since they stupidly traded for Mazara. They've also spent 2 MLB league minimum pieces, someone named Bailey Horn, and have burned 2 years of control each on Kopech and Crochet. On RF, they've spent $7MM on RF contracts, and have square-pegged everyone from Danny Mendick to their galloping mastodons in Vaughn and Sheets to play RF.

Sure, the Rays, Yankmees , and sawx didn't let 4.9 fWAR walk out the door for free. The trashstros are still working to bring back Correa, and the sawx are looking to replace Schwarber with Suzuki. By contrast, RH has added Velasquez to replace Rodon, and has replaced Hernandez with Harrison. IOW, those teams have not subtracted as much as the SOX have so far. For those teams that have had subtraction (sawx and trashstros), they have both the track records and plans to replace or return potentially lost parts.

If this would be true, then you should be happy. If memory serves, you called me "a contraindicator" when RH was pursuing that awesome Kimbrel trade last season. How'd that one work out? Thus, if I'm calling the SOX "Top 10-ish," it would mean that the clickbait had legs. But what I'm seeing is that the SOX losing 4.9 fWAR out of the rotation and replacing it with just a guy, a 2B addition who looks like this year's prime DFA candidate, and still nothing for RF, sure, that's "tunnel vision," if you like. But other orgs have added and have gotten better this offseason. If that makes you as happy as you were for the Kimbrel trade, hey, lots of luck to you.