turnin' two

This offseason, in light of what has happened, has been a complete disaster. Every move looks bad in context. Catchers. Letting Smith go for nothing, ok not too terrible, but he was a catcher that could hit and frame (if you dig that sort of thing) and was a guy to whom the pitchers seemed to like throwing. Let him go for nothing. Trading Narvaez for Colome. Ok, in a vacuum, I like this move. I liked it at the time. Narvaez is a decent offensive catcher. Great discerning eye at the plate, decent hitter, little pop, with some serious deficiencies defensively. That apparently the Sox didn't know how to fix. I like Colome. Good pitcher, back end guy, experienced, good stuff. I like him. He could help a decent team. But on a team like this, well he is trade bait and that is pretty much it. What makes this move bad, in my opinion, is that his contract is basically market rate. For his rate (or pretty close) you could have just signed Joe Kelly, Cody Allen, Soria or for a little more, Ottavino. SIgned McCann. I would certainly prefer either of the other guys to McCann. Who they are paying more than either of the other two. Seems like a net loss. 1B -- Brought in Alonso, let Davidson go. No big deal with Davidson. But Alonso, well makes no sense. You helped a division rival shed payroll, you traded away a guy that at least was maybe something, and you brought in a guy that you frankly don't need. What was that about not bringing in stop gaps? I think I heard something... Oh yeah and Justin Bour, who is superior in what, every way, signed for 2.5 million and Matt Adams signed for 4. 2B -- Nothing. If Moncada stays there. Fine. If you end up needing to move him to 3rd, there could have been some attractive options. But that is stretching it a bit. SS-- You got Tim. 3B--- hmmm, I seem to think something happened here. OF-- Jay, fine as a 4th OFer. but if it weren't for the Sox, he probably would have gone to camp on a minor league deal. There were a couple of guys they could have signed that would have made a decent impact who they didn't. Pitchers Colome was already discussed. Herrera is much the same boat. I like him, on a different team, he helps. Good reliever. Market rate, fine. But what does he do for a 100 loss team? Trade bait? Maybe. He will help, but it won't matter. Nova. Yeesh. For less, you could have had guys like Marco Estrada, Wade Miley, Tyson Ross, Mike Fiers, Derek Holland, Matt Shoemaker, Trevor Cahill and Lance Lynn. Only Lynn and Fiers got multi year deals. If you need a guy to eat innings on a bad team, you don't need to trade for a guy making 9 million, which is market rate, or above. Pretty much every move has gone badly. Every move has a simple move that would have been better. If they had gotten Manny (or Harper, but I'm not holding out hope) moves like Colome and Herrera make sense. Jay and Alonso make sense. But without one of those guys, it is a disaster. Everything went awry. The Whale is what pulled this together. Now it is just wasting what little money this team had on guys won't play any role when the team is good, and won't do much when they aren't.

This actually gives me hope for Harper!

They always do. They are so risk averse it is amazing. They are run like a senior citizens portfolio. Slow and steady, don't take any risks. I guess in a way, that is exactly what they are. Ugh.

I don't believe it is the insiders that are incompetent. It mostly seems like the FO. I will gladly retract everything I have said about them if they sign Harper, but I see no reason to be optimistic about it, and I don't see much reason to give the FO the benefit of the doubt with what their track record.

This is how I feel right now about the Sox right now. Or maybe this Or finally

The Hawk line as great. I am worried about him.

Don't do it to yourself. They don't deserve the faith you are allotting them. With the garbage spewing out of the FO right now, they don't have the brains, guts, or capability to land Harper.

Why are people getting on Hector? Didn't he have the offer exactly right at the 8/250? Isn't that what he kept saying?

Don't have hope. They will only let you down.

I feel like I will watch a lot of Cardinals games this year. Good team, interesting young talent, superstar. Plus the cub hate is strong, and that makes me happy.

I would have been perfect to conduct this interview.

Went in on a 10 game package last week. I was thinking even without a whale, it would be fun to see Eloy, Moncada and Co. I completely regret it. Not because they missed, but because of the crap show that the is our FO.

I did. Gave you a like for it.

Harper is not Adam LaRoche or Dunn. He is a 26 year old with a career OPS of .900. But if they can't bring money to the table, it doesn't matter.

I can think of 2 things he has done better than his White Sox counterpart...

For me, missing out on Manny isn't the worst part. It is how this whole charade happened. It is Jay and Alonso. It is the whole "we've been planning for this offseason for years". It is the "we tried really hard narrative". It is being over .500 1 out of the last 8 years, with that likely being 1/9. It is pulling for a franchise that has become completely irrelevant. It is the circus. It is the whole damn thing. It is just the latest proof that my favorite team, in my favorite sport, just isn't competing. They aren't competitive on the field or in the front office, or the ownership suite. This whole entire offseason has been a complete disaster. They geared up for Manny, and they blew it. They didn't understand the market, their own offer, or their competition. It is more incompetence. I'm glad they invested in the bullpen, nevermind that the rotation, offense and defense are terrible. That was a good use of player capital, as well as cash. Nicely done. Now maybe they won't blow the 12 games in which they lead late.

No way he is taking a deal with fewer guaranteed dollars than Manny. I would bet on that.

I think he does have a pretty strong reputation of really knowing and understanding the LatAm prospects.

You can go Wrigley and root for the Reds. The Pirates. The DBacks. The Rockies. The Cardnials. You can take the train to Miller Park. Evil is never the only option.

Shouldn't you be pulling for the cubs to get him to play with his buddy Bryant?

It is one thing to leave. But this is intolerable. There are 28 other teams besides these two. Any other one is acceptable. If you would even entertain this notion, you are despicable.

This franchise does not deserve us as fans. We deserve a better run team. This sucks. I wish I could just make myself a Cards fan. But I'm too invested I think.

huh?

Had to double check the list, couldn't even remember who Turner was. The answer, not one of the several good ones.

I wish I lived in the alternate universe where the Sox had Manny or Tatis. I can't even imagine having both in the organization. My delicate set-up-for-failure White Sox fan brain can't even comprehend those levels of competence.