Anthony Swarzak to Brewers; Sox receive Ryan Cordell

[GreenSox]

I can buy your premise if the guys we get for Swarzak have a chance to help a contending team someday but I severely doubt that.

A lot of good major league players were nondescript prospects when acquired. Acquire enough of them, and you will hit on some.

It's a no-lose situation to trade players who are impending FAs, which includes Swarzak.

[beautox]

I think Swarzak could go to any team in contention because he is an impending FA making league min, my guess is he goes to the Rockies for Yency Almonte & Brian Mundell. It wouldn't be the first time the sox reacquired a prospect. Both Almonte and Mundell would add some nice depth to the system with out being a crazy ask or get for a reliever like Swarzak putting up a career year.

[GGajewski18]

Rick Hahn has the best job in America by far. So for about five years he can put the worst team imaginable on the field (LOL, cringe worthy rotation of Pelphrey, Miguel G, Holland, Shields) and be lauded and loved for it. "Good job Rick," Reinsdorf will say after the season, "you are doing a good job of losing and getting us top draft picks. Hope you can keep acquiring horrible players so we can lose even more games."

Then in the meantime he trades the few good older players we have. Real difficult. Anybody could sit in an office and trade Eaton or Sale or Robertson or Q. Oh wait ... he hasn't even traded Robertson or Q yet in the supposed rebuild.

 

So in conclusion, what a great great job Hahn has: Lose as many games as possible with the worst players you can assemble while working on trades that anybody could execute. Obviously Boston wanted Sale. So you get a list of their best position player hitting prospect, Moncada, real difficult to pull off. Sign a top guy like Robert. Everybody wanted him. Real difficult to pull off.

 

Hahn can enjoy 4-5 more seasons of horrid baseball and be praised for it, cause it gets us a good draft pick. I hope Hahn is enjoying his easy high paying job, putting a loser on the field and fans not being mad but saying, "PLEASE LOSE MORE!"

 

Dude, just give it up. You're impossible to deal with.

[Bob Sacamano]

Dude, just give it up. You're impossible to deal with.

 

Seriously it's becoming unbearable. Well it already was.

Edited July 7, 2017 by soxfan2014

[southsider2k5]

Rick Hahn has the best job in America by far. So for about five years he can put the worst team imaginable on the field (LOL, cringe worthy rotation of Pelphrey, Miguel G, Holland, Shields) and be lauded and loved for it. "Good job Rick," Reinsdorf will say after the season, "you are doing a good job of losing and getting us top draft picks. Hope you can keep acquiring horrible players so we can lose even more games."

Then in the meantime he trades the few good older players we have. Real difficult. Anybody could sit in an office and trade Eaton or Sale or Robertson or Q. Oh wait ... he hasn't even traded Robertson or Q yet in the supposed rebuild.

 

So in conclusion, what a great great job Hahn has: Lose as many games as possible with the worst players you can assemble while working on trades that anybody could execute. Obviously Boston wanted Sale. So you get a list of their best position player hitting prospect, Moncada, real difficult to pull off. Sign a top guy like Robert. Everybody wanted him. Real difficult to pull off.

 

Hahn can enjoy 4-5 more seasons of horrid baseball and be praised for it, cause it gets us a good draft pick. I hope Hahn is enjoying his easy high paying job, putting a loser on the field and fans not being mad but saying, "PLEASE LOSE MORE!"

 

As opposed to making the worst possible posts for years...

[Y2Jimmy0]

Rick Hahn has the best job in America by far. So for about five years he can put the worst team imaginable on the field (LOL, cringe worthy rotation of Pelphrey, Miguel G, Holland, Shields) and be lauded and loved for it. "Good job Rick," Reinsdorf will say after the season, "you are doing a good job of losing and getting us top draft picks. Hope you can keep acquiring horrible players so we can lose even more games."

Then in the meantime he trades the few good older players we have. Real difficult. Anybody could sit in an office and trade Eaton or Sale or Robertson or Q. Oh wait ... he hasn't even traded Robertson or Q yet in the supposed rebuild.

 

So in conclusion, what a great great job Hahn has: Lose as many games as possible with the worst players you can assemble while working on trades that anybody could execute. Obviously Boston wanted Sale. So you get a list of their best position player hitting prospect, Moncada, real difficult to pull off. Sign a top guy like Robert. Everybody wanted him. Real difficult to pull off.

 

Hahn can enjoy 4-5 more seasons of horrid baseball and be praised for it, cause it gets us a good draft pick. I hope Hahn is enjoying his easy high paying job, putting a loser on the field and fans not being mad but saying, "PLEASE LOSE MORE!"

 

At least we now know that greg775 is actually Rick Morrissey.

[greg775]

At least we now know that greg775 is actually Rick Morrissey.

Did Morrissey blast the rebuild?

[witesoxfan]

Let's blow through 4 trades in the last 30 years, real quick:

 

-In 1987, the Braves traded Doyle Alexander to the Tigers. In return, they received John Smoltz.

-In 1997, the Red Sox traded Heathcliff Slocumb to the Mariners. In return, they received Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.

-In 2008, the Indians traded Casey Blake to the Dodgers. In return, they received Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana.

-In 2016, the Padres traded James Shields to the White Sox. In return, they received the second coming of Christ.

 

This is why you trade guys who don't have much trade value. Anthony Swarzak has been a very good reliever, but he's 31 on a 1 year contract. If you understand economics at all, you understand why he doesn't have much value. You are not going to spend a lot of money on a 22 year old Honda Civic that recently had work done to the transmission, even if it's running phenomenally right now. Same story, except that you don't have a contract that expires with that Honda Civic at the end of the year, whereby that Honda Civic can pick its new owner.

 

Greg, you're smarter than this. Stop trolling.

[hi8is]

As opposed to making the worst possible posts for years...

Some people are just that special.

[greg775]

Let's blow through 4 trades in the last 30 years, real quick:

 

-In 1987, the Braves traded Doyle Alexander to the Tigers. In return, they received John Smoltz.

-In 1997, the Red Sox traded Heathcliff Slocumb to the Mariners. In return, they received Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.

-In 2008, the Indians traded Casey Blake to the Dodgers. In return, they received Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana.

-In 2016, the Padres traded James Shields to the White Sox. In return, they received the second coming of Christ.

 

This is why you trade guys who don't have much trade value. Anthony Swarzak has been a very good reliever, but he's 31 on a 1 year contract. If you understand economics at all, you understand why he doesn't have much value. You are not going to spend a lot of money on a 22 year old Honda Civic that recently had work done to the transmission, even if it's running phenomenally right now. Same story, except that you don't have a contract that expires with that Honda Civic at the end of the year, whereby that Honda Civic can pick its new owner.

 

Greg, you're smarter than this. Stop trolling.

Good post. We'll see how it shakes out. If the Sox are able to trade the impending free agent guys like Frazier, Swarzak, Melky, as well as guys I happen to despise (Holland, Pelfrey) I'll just wait and see what you all think of the return. Even though you make a good point that whoever we get could make it and our players are free agents anyway and we might as well get 'something back' we'll see if you guys think the return is reasonable or kind of a worthless exercise.

[Quin]

Why in the world do you despise Holland and Pelfrey?

[Chicago White Sox]

How about when the Astros recently traded Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez? There are plenty of examples in baseball history of teams turning modest assets into gold by targeting raw, low level prospects with big ceilings. The idea of holding onto a free agent to be because somehow you don't think the return will be worth it is beyond ridiculous. In fact, it comes across as trolling as it defies all logic and common sense.

 

And Greg isn't Rick Morrissey, he's Skip Bayless. Say something stupid, ignore all (well argued) counterpoints, rinse & repeat. Whether he's a true troll or not is up for debate (I have my suspicions), but at a bare minimum he is purposely being obtuse & outlandish to get attention. I mean how many times can we sit here and allow him to say "alleged rebuild" when there is zero doubt we are rebuilding. Honestly, I love this website and the community of posters, but Greg is starting to make posting here a challenge. And sure, I could block him, but his presence will live on through the numerous responses he gets a day. I'm just really tired of having to sift through his bulls*** to get to the quality discussion & debate. It's really unfortunate that one indivual poster can have this much of an impact on the board and nothing can be done about it.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

How about when the Astros recently traded Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez? There are plenty of examples in baseball history of teams turning modest assets into gold by targeting raw, low level prospects with big ceilings. The idea of holding onto a free agent to be because somehow you don't think the return will be worth it is beyond ridiculous. In fact, it comes across as trolling as it defies all logic and common sense.

 

And Greg isn't Rick Morrissey, he's Skip Bayless. Say something stupid, ignore all (well argued) counterpoints, rinse & repeat. Whether he's a true troll or not is up for debate (I have my suspicions), but at a bare minimum he is purposely being obtuse & outlandish to get attention. I mean how many times can we sit here and allow him to say "alleged rebuild" when there is zero doubt we are rebuilding. Honestly, I love this website and the community of posters, but Greg is starting to make posting here a challenge. And sure, I could block him, but his presence will live on through the numerous responses he gets a day. I'm just really tired of having to sift through his bulls*** to get to the quality discussion & debate. It's really unfortunate that one indivual poster can have this much of an impact on the board and nothing can be done about it.

Greg may be smarter than you all think or the best troll ever. It seems the only reason most people won't put him on ignore is because the temptation to respond to his posts is too great. It makes you feel smarter ( not you per se, all those who do respond to him).

 

He is the most responded to and notorious member of Soxtalk. You can make brilliant observations and outstanding analysis but purposely being "off" gets you far more attention and responses.

Edited July 7, 2017 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[Bob Sacamano]

Greg may be smarter than you all think or the best troll ever. It seems the only reason most people won't put him on ignore is because the temptation to respond to his posts is too great. It makes you feel smarter ( not you per se, all those who do respond to him).

 

He is the most responded to and notorious member of Soxtalk. You can make brilliant observations and outstanding analysis but purposely being "off" gets you far more attention and responses.

 

I've tried to put someone on "ignore" before. You still see that the person posts so you can't really fully ignore them.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I've tried to put someone on "ignore" before. You still see that the person posts so you can't really fully ignore them.

I read his posts and everyone elses for that matter and for the most part move on. It's easy not to say anything to him because I know he will get his responses without me.

To get attention you must be somewhat annoying and open to criticism .That's why Caulfield is probably the 2nd most notorious member of Soxtalk. Also a catchy member name helps.

[FT35]

I kinda want to hear his solution! How he thinks we should be doing things. Is he the guy who sits in the back of the room and just constantly finds something wrong with everyone's ideas but has none of his own or does he actually have an alternative solution that would work!? We're taking the same route that successful GMs have taken to pull a losing franchise back into relevancy, but for some reason it's wrong when we take the proven track record path that other organizations have taken. There's never any sort of thought behind the complaint--any sort of direction moving towards an alternate way of doing things...it just starts and ends with a complaint. Come forward! Step right up to the box and lay out the master plan behind all the sarcasm and doubt to the way we're doing things! Just make sure it's air tight, because all of us will "help you" seek out any holes in your theory in the same way you have "helped us" see the holes in ours. Readyyyyyyyyy GO! We're all ears! Teach us!!

[GreenSox]

How about when the Astros recently traded Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez?

That's a really good example because Fields was far worse than any pitcher that anyone contemplates the Sox trading. It would be like getting something for Pelfrey.

 

One can just look at pure scrap-heap pickups to find gems: start with everyone's favorite team - the Brewers - and Jesus Aguilar.

 

[witesoxfan]

I kinda want to hear his solution! How he thinks we should be doing things. Is he the guy who sits in the back of the room and just constantly finds something wrong with everyone's ideas but has none of his own or does he actually have an alternative solution that would work!? We're taking the same route that successful GMs have taken to pull a losing franchise back into relevancy, but for some reason it's wrong when we take the proven track record path that other organizations have taken. There's never any sort of thought behind the complaint--any sort of direction moving towards an alternate way of doing things...it just starts and ends with a complaint. Come forward! Step right up to the box and lay out the master plan behind all the sarcasm and doubt to the way we're doing things! Just make sure it's air tight, because all of us will "help you" seek out any holes in your theory in the same way you have "helped us" see the holes in ours. Readyyyyyyyyy GO! We're all ears! Teach us!!

 

He wants the White Sox to rebuild by signing all the free agents. It's pretty much the worst plan.

[greg775]

How about when the Astros recently traded Josh Fields for Yordan Alvarez? There are plenty of examples in baseball history of teams turning modest assets into gold by targeting raw, low level prospects with big ceilings. The idea of holding onto a free agent to be because somehow you don't think the return will be worth it is beyond ridiculous. In fact, it comes across as trolling as it defies all logic and common sense.

 

And Greg isn't Rick Morrissey, he's Skip Bayless. Say something stupid, ignore all (well argued) counterpoints, rinse & repeat. Whether he's a true troll or not is up for debate (I have my suspicions), but at a bare minimum he is purposely being obtuse & outlandish to get attention. I mean how many times can we sit here and allow him to say "alleged rebuild" when there is zero doubt we are rebuilding. Honestly, I love this website and the community of posters, but Greg is starting to make posting here a challenge. And sure, I could block him, but his presence will live on through the numerous responses he gets a day. I'm just really tired of having to sift through his bulls*** to get to the quality discussion & debate. It's really unfortunate that one indivual poster can have this much of an impact on the board and nothing can be done about it.

Don't worry. I'll lay off. I'm just mad at the current state of the team and the fact I can't get over the fact this division sucks this year and I was convinced we still had enough talent to contend had we not traded Sale and signed a few free agents.

 

If Hahn can get 3-4 players for Melky, and Frazier, good for him and do it now. I happen to think not much of them and that they won't bring anything of note, but if Hahn can bring "something" in I guess I'm wrong. I have expressed my position enough and everybody knows I am down on the team so I will stop ruining the board with my anger at the team.

[greg775]

Greg may be smarter than you all think or the best troll ever. It seems the only reason most people won't put him on ignore is because the temptation to respond to his posts is too great. It makes you feel smarter ( not you per se, all those who do respond to him).

 

He is the most responded to and notorious member of Soxtalk. You can make brilliant observations and outstanding analysis but purposely being "off" gets you far more attention and responses.

I don't mean to be notorious. It's taken me this long to express my anger at the fact the team isn't going to be good for several more years. I'll just stifle and respond with my opinions of the upcoming trades once they are made.

By now my main points have been made clear and I will not repeat them: I am mad at Hahn, mad at Jerry, still mad at Robin, mad at Renteria's bunting, mad that Fulmer and some of the draft picks have not been so good. Since everybody knows where I stand I will not repeat these positions. If I find myself unable to do this, I'll just go away. Give me a clean slate starting now. I can accept that my positions are well known on the state of the team.

GO SOX!

[FT35]

I don't mean to be notorious. It's taken me this long to express my anger at the fact the team isn't going to be good for several more years. I'll just stifle and respond with my opinions of the upcoming trades once they are made.

By now my main points have been made clear and I will not repeat them: I am mad at Hahn, mad at Jerry, still mad at Robin, mad at Renteria's bunting, mad that Fulmer and some of the draft picks have not been so good. Since everybody knows where I stand I will not repeat these positions. If I find myself unable to do this, I'll just go away. Give me a clean slate starting now. I can accept that my positions are well known on the state of the team.

GO SOX!

 

Clean slate...you got it. I get it...no one is happy we're in this position, but it's something that every franchise faces from time to time and we're all along for the ride. Love it or hate it, at least they have picked a direction (that has worked for many) and are going in it. All we can do is sit back and watch at this point--watch how the future slowly comes together. It won't be perfect, but you have to admit...our strategy as far as team building philosophy was getting quite old. Bouncing between 70-80 wins for the better part of a decade calls for mega changes to be made. If that means we have to endure a few 60-70 win seasons to get a stretch of 90+ win seasons down the road, it's something to try a different approach to go after. Stick around, no one wants to see you go--you've made it through the toughest years--the years that made us all angry! Now, they're finally doing something about it. This is the real "all-in" White Sox. All in on a plan to get us a better team.

[greg775]

Clean slate...you got it. I get it...no one is happy we're in this position, but it's something that every franchise faces from time to time and we're all along for the ride. Love it or hate it, at least they have picked a direction (that has worked for many) and are going in it. All we can do is sit back and watch at this point--watch how the future slowly comes together. It won't be perfect, but you have to admit...our strategy as far as team building philosophy was getting quite old. Bouncing between 70-80 wins for the better part of a decade calls for mega changes to be made. If that means we have to endure a few 60-70 win seasons to get a stretch of 90+ win seasons down the road, it's something to try a different approach to go after. Stick around, no one wants to see you go--you've made it through the toughest years--the years that made us all angry! Now, they're finally doing something about it. This is the real "all-in" White Sox. All in on a plan to get us a better team.

Yeah, I'll have to accept it. At least I know my position is well known by now and I'll have to stifle and merely comment on what I think of the trades. And thanks for the clean slate. I am finally accepting the fact my anger is not healthy for me or people who have to read my angry responses. It truly has taken me until mid July to get it off my chest. So I must stop and try to enjoy the ride and maybe the improvement of Anderson and Avi and some of the players.

Edited July 7, 2017 by greg775

[hi8is]

Give me a clean slate starting now. I can accept that my positions are well known on the state of the team.

GO SOX!

[steveno89]

Clean slate...you got it. I get it...no one is happy we're in this position, but it's something that every franchise faces from time to time and we're all along for the ride. Love it or hate it, at least they have picked a direction (that has worked for many) and are going in it. All we can do is sit back and watch at this point--watch how the future slowly comes together. It won't be perfect, but you have to admit...our strategy as far as team building philosophy was getting quite old. Bouncing between 70-80 wins for the better part of a decade calls for mega changes to be made. If that means we have to endure a few 60-70 win seasons to get a stretch of 90+ win seasons down the road, it's something to try a different approach to go after. Stick around, no one wants to see you go--you've made it through the toughest years--the years that made us all angry! Now, they're finally doing something about it. This is the real "all-in" White Sox. All in on a plan to get us a better team.

 

During the rebuild we will need to hang together as we suffer through some miserable seasons. Hopefully the pain and agony is manageable.

 

I will say it is much easier to accept losing knowing that the organization has made rebuilding the clear priority with the Sale and Eaton trades. A higher draft position will only help us in the future.

[hi8is]

During the rebuild we will need to hang together as we suffer through some miserable seasons. Hopefully the pain and agony is manageable.

 

I will say it is much easier to accept losing knowing that the organization has made rebuilding the clear priority with the Sale and Eaton trades. A higher draft position will only help us in the future.