Black_Jack29

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:40 AM) Hopefully he will pull a Trayce Thompson. Yep. I'm wondering if Hahn's decision to go with Anderson over Sanchez is partly because he's planning on dealing Sanchez closer to the deadline. Not that Sanchez is highly coveted or anything, but a packing containing him, Avi, and a decent prospect may be able to land a halfway decent bat.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:32 AM) The main concern to me would be how would he handle it if he did come up and fail. So far he's had some failure on just about every level and overcame it. I think the big worry in rushing a prospect is if he does real poorly, you can lose him forever. I don't think Anderson is in that boat. I do question if he is currently capable of upgrading the position. It's difficult to tell at this point if rushing Anderson will have a permanent, negative impact on him. Given the current mediocre state of the Sox farm system, I'd error on the side of caution. I do agree with your last sentence, and that alone makes this a dumb move, IMO. Saladino is better defensively than Anderson and I don't see any evidence that Anderson would put up the .700 or so OPS that would merit his presence in the lineup.

I'm all for DFAing Rollins, but nothing I've read about Anderson this year suggests that he's ready yet. And with Carlos Sanchez available as an option to fill Rollins' role, I think it's a dumb move. It's one thing to waste $30M on Shields, but rushing your only really good position player prospect in the last several years may be an even dumber move in the long-term.

I like that we drafted a catcher with a nice bat.

Well, at least Morneau doesn't cost them $30M. And I'll take this over the symbolic sacrifice of the manager.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 09:39 AM) Here is my question. What exactly does this accomplish? Red meat for the type of folks who call into the postgame show. Other than that, I agree that it wasn't a smart thing to say.

QUOTE (sammy esposito @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 12:05 PM) Winning that many games we were lucky now you want to project Shields as a catastrophe. Rick Hahn isn't the only one making the decisions at whitesox headquarters. I will give shields the benefit of the doubt. I don't think they spent thag kind of money without a good amount of deliberation. I'm not. He's 34, he's lost velocity, and he was a below-average pitcher in a pitcher's park in the NL. While I don't think that Shields will necessarily be Danks-bad this season, he is clearly in the twilight of his career and is not going to be better than a #5 in the AL. He might not even be a viable major league pitcher in the last half of his contract. The Sox front office is in desperation mode right now. That's the only way to explain paying $30M for a pitcher very near the end of his career.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 07:02 PM) Maybe they should have kept Danks. Was he this bad? Approximately, but he was only half the cost.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 06:58 PM) There is a reason the Sox got him and no one else. I wonder if there really was anyone else bidding for him. There was probably some interest from other teams, but they apparently didn't want him that badly. I was hoping for Ervin Santana instead, but the Twins probably wanted something of value in return.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 06:56 PM) Are you joking? Padres couldn't even get much for him when offering to pay half his contract. Yep, Shields' market value is squat right now and may be less than squat by the end of the summer.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 06:52 PM) Some explain to me how a team starts off like the Sox did then just collapses out of nowhere. It's all Ventura's fault.

So does Shields get Hahn fired?

Holy crap, Shields looks even worse than I pessimistically imaged that he'd be in a hitter's park in the AL.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 05:11 PM) There is a big difference behind an erosion, and a huge hit to the fan base, ala White Flag. White Sox fans are a bitter lot, and would absolutely flee in droves over another massive sell off. Think more like 1997 to 1998. That massive selloff occurred when they were 3.5 games behind at the end of July. If the Sox sell off when they're 8 or 9 games behind, the bitterness won't be there. Realistically, I think that this current squad has until the summer of 2018 to do something. Even if they don't sell off players at that point, the soon-to-be expiring contracts will force the rebuild.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 10:39 AM) Let me know when this organization is good at scouting and development for that to be considered a reality. That would be the when JR dies or sells, and all head office removed plan for that to be a reality. The Sox wouldn't get prospects only for Sale and Quintana.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 03:38 PM) Or Brian Anderson, although Anderson was lacking in work ethic and just had a terrible swing mechanics-wise. The thing about Anderson and Beckham, though, is that both were very good defensively. So I'm not sure that they had confidence issues so much as they just weren't able to hit major league pitching. A *lot* of players fall into that category.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 03:21 PM) They haven't drawn 24k a game since 2012. Just under 20k/game so far this year. School got out just recently. It'll go up a little bit if they're in the hunt.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 03:07 PM) Looking at that era of numbers tells me that it won't be short term, and it won't be small. Especially if they fail at all in the rebuild, of which I have zero faith in them being able to do. I honestly don't see how the organization is going to be worse off financially drawing 24k per game with a $125M payroll vs. drawing 17k per game with an $85M payroll. The Sox are going to be forced to start over in the next 2-3 years anyway, when the contracts of Sale, Quintana, Robertson, Frazier, Abreu, Lawrie, etc. lapse. Selling some of those guys off to the highest bidder in 2018 and 2019 makes more sense than letting them walk as free agents and getting comp picks in return. So starting over is more of a question of when vs. a question of if.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 04:10 PM) With Saladino giving them a lot of positives, I am really good with this. Part of this teams issue has been rushing position player instead of letting the players force the issue. As raw and Anderson was, I am very OK with letting him pound away at AAA for a season, and then calling him up in September. I'd really not rush him if we don't have to because of injury or something. I agree with this.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 01:55 PM) And with the fan base, you don't have a lot of patience for rebuilding. The flip side of that argument is that if you're not winning, they're not showing up anyway. So why not do a full rebuild and take the short-term attendance hit? The Sox survived the late '80s and late '90s, and I don't see why they can't do it again.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 11:21 AM) I read today where Robin said Putnam has a sore elbow again. I don't know what his status is or will be moving forward. Mark Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 11:53 AM) This is so depressing but it is likely true. From what I'm hearing, when JR passes, he told his family to sell the White Sox and hold on to the Chicago Bulls. FWIW. Apart of me really wants JR to win one more title before the Cubs get theirs, unfortunately the Cubs are much closer than we are. How did they get there? The new owner made some bold moves and brought in a GM who made the bold decision to tank for 4+ seasons in an attempt to replenish the team with young talent and right now they are enjoying the fruits of that hardship. It pains me to say, Reinsdorf does not have it in him to make these type of bold moves. I'm not saying-- let's lose for 4+ seasons to build up the farm. However, when your front office tries over and over again to patch up the team via trades, middle of the pack free agency signings and continuously neglects the farm, why should we even expect to see different results? This lightning in a bottle method needs to end. The problems of this team goes well beyond Robin (who i dislike as a manager). The problem of this team is a true lack of direction. In 2013-14 I saw the promise of a team actually acquiring young talent and they put a premium on draft picks. Suddenly 2015 hit and instead of maintaining the course- they decided to prematurely GO FOR IT! Which meant the farm system once again took a back seat and the evidence on the field demonstrated that they were not even near ready for that yet. By the look of it this year, even with the additions of Frazier, Shields and Lawrie-- they are still not even close to where they want to be. They will be lucky to finish .500 this year. How much longer will they try this 'retooling' crap? I guess we can question their methods until the cows come home and crave change as much as want, unfortunately nothing will change with this team until that time where the Riensdorf family does sell to new ownership. The Sox either traded or let some really good players walk between 1995 and 1998. The organization suffered in the short-term, but were better off in the long-term (beginning in 2000). If the Sox are mired in mediocrity next July, I could see them trading a few key players for young, ML-ready talent and doing a proper rebuild around their better young players. Given this organization's past, I don't see them continuing on the current path indefinitely. If JR decides to sell the team in the foreseeable future, he'll definitely dump the higher-salaried players to maximize the organization's value.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 10:08 AM) I did not. During that time there was rumblings of a manager that couldn't get it done in the post season. Huh? By 1991, LaRussa had three pennants and a ring with the A's. He was recognized as a very capable manager well before he took the job in St. Louis.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 09:59 AM) LaRussa was not the legend until he became part of the Cardinals organization. They seem to do something right most of the time. You forget that LaRussa managed the A's in the late '80s and early '90s.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jun 8, 2016 -> 09:54 AM) Maybe the question at this point isn't so much who can do better but can anyone else be any worse? Maybe it's making a change for the sake of making SOME sort of change but a new voice in the clubhouse could spark something. If they do it mid-season, it'll look like an obvious desperation move. It seems to me that DFAing players who aren't performing (*cough* Rollins *cough*) is the best way to light a fire under their arses. It also sends the (correct) message that players are responsible for their play, not the guy who fills out the lineup card.