Why hasn’t Chris Sale been dealt yet??

Posted on November 27, 2016January 11, 2018 by mysoxsummer

I keep hearing lewd claims by most of the local media as well as some boisterous fans about how the White Sox hold all of the leverage with regards to any potential Chris Sale trade and how they should hold out for a kings ransom for the fiery left hander. I’m here to tell you why that line of thinking doesn’t resemble reality in any way……so pour a stiff drink (I prefer a Tequila neat, or a Zin of your choice from Turley) and throw another log on the fire and let’s get started……

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First a definition….Leverage

“use (something) to maximum advantage”

This is a tough position when trading a top player is your best option, as is the case with the White Sox who have failed to win with the current core…….due to the fact that you never get full value for a top player being traded in their prime………think someone like Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Walt Wesley for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman…….Babe Ruth traded for $125,000 and a $300,000 note……….Patrick Roy and Mike Keane for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and Jocelyn Thibault……..Charlie Sheen for Ashton Kutcher…..I know what you are going to say, Chris Sale isn’t a star like these stars……he is for this trade market. As you can see, you never get full value, why?

White Sox current position (Leverage) – Teams that end up in position to trade a top star in the league have no leverage whatsoever…………most situations are more dire than the White Sox, which is to mire in mediocrity. Some situations, like when Charles Barkley was traded, are sort of forced trades by the star. This case isn’t quite that bad, but its pretty obvious to the other 29 teams that the White Sox have to do this. That will drive his price down. The White Sox aren’t completely backed into a corner, they could theoretically go for it, but they really shouldn’t and everyone knows it.

The commodity is scarce (Leverage) – I have heard a lot of talk about Sale’s contract being a big boost to his value in this trade market, but its really not. The teams we have heard about vying for Sale’s services can all afford a market rate starting pitcher if need be, so the cost savings doesn’t really factor in much………..I know, I know, you say, a penny saved is a penny earned or some such bullshit, but you just aren’t going to squeeze additional prospects out of any team for his market friendly contract. The big market teams give as much a fuck about that, as the wetback making dollah fitty an hour when you stealing from the boss. The White Sox might get one of these teams to take a bad contract of theirs, which is probably what ends up happening (possibly Shields, but more likely Robertson). The only way the contract matters is that it could potentially add additional suitors, small market teams like the Pirates or Cardinals who have potentially enough prospects to get him. If you are following the news, I don’t think any small market teams (save for the Braves) are even sniffing around.

I have heard there aren’t other top pitchers available in this market, but this is clearly also untrue, as Justin Verlander is very available and he had as good a year as Sale last year (if one were to believe the buxom Kate Upton, it was better), except he’s right handed, which might be more to the liking of certain teams. Again, the Bostons and LA Dodgers and Houstons of the world might just prefer to take on Verlander if the demands in return are lower. Chris Archer is also “available” per many rumor sites, not to mention Jose Quintana on this very same roster, so I won’t say that Sale is fungible, but he’s not a unique commodity and his lower salary doesn’t matter very much.

The commodity’s future value (Leverage) – We have a declining asset folks, no matter how you slice it…………with every pitch, he’s a declining asset. His value will decline faster than Mona Lisa Vito’s biological clock was ticking. Think about those beautiful avocados you bought this morning to make some guacamole, if you wait too long, they’ll be brown and gross and getting Tommy John surgery, or worse, they’ll have a bad year and damage their value permanently (in this sense, since the trading window is small). It’s risky to hold Chris Sale any longer as he has almost zero upside pitching for the White Sox and infinite possibilities being dealt…..psss…if we realize this, then for fucksake the other 29 teams can piece it together, even the fucknuts team that is still employing Tony LaRussa in their front office.

Your trade partners position (Leverage) – Boston and the LA Dodgers are not in dire need, they have unlimited (basically) resources and might find it more valuable to try and post for Shohei Otani and keep their prospects, or trade for Verlander or sign Rich Hill. They could also both stand pat, they were division winners last year, returning their cores (BoSox need to replace Papi). These are not trade partners backed into a corner and forced to pay your price. These trade partners are like Trent and Sue, they’ll get those digits and wait 6 days to call their beautiful babies. Let’s look at Houston……they are closer to really needing “a Chris Sale” ($1, Mike North), their pitching staff was rough last year, they have the position players in place and have traded/signed more reinforcements this winter. That’s a team that has more need than the others, but are they really dressing up like Santa Claus and planting drugs on Billy Ray Valentine desperate…..I don’t think so…………looking at the rest of the pile, you need to find teams that are coming to the end of a playoff window, teams that are more desperate……the Washington Nationals come to mind, would they leverage their future for this? I could see them being Cousin Eddie kidnapping Frank Shirley desparate……..then again, if I were them I would probably just sign Edwin Encarnacion to take over for Ryan Zimmerman‘s corpse at First Base and run with it. The truth is, I don’t see a single trade partner that looks like Marcellus Wallace during the gimp scene…………not a one!

I know what you are thinking, WTF? What we gunn do now BeefLoaf?

Let’s pour us another drink and look at a picture of 108 fave Alexandra Daddario

Now……….

The Climax

The White Sox aren’t going to get a kings ransom for Chris Sale, but they are going to get a nice package of players, sort of like the year you wanted Castle Grayskull for Xmas, but only got Snake Mountain……….they just aren’t going to be 2 top 10 prospects from the Red Sox, okay? The White Sox don’t have leverage over anyone, they have a good trade piece with which to work out a deal with another trade partner that might like that trade piece. Then the White Sox will trade several other players that will get little pieces here or there, then Rick Hahn will sign several low cost free agents, some will work out and be traded for even more young talent………..and it will snowball from there…….this isn’t going to work overnight and the Sox aren’t going to get all stars from the Chris Sale trade, it will just be the first and most valuable part to starting over.

– BeefLoaf

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The 5 – How the White Sox can compete in 2017?!?!?!?

Posted on November 16, 2016January 11, 2018 by mysoxsummer

It is your buddy BeefLoaf here, now that the Hot Stove season has started and the Atlanta Braves have already signed 85 years worth of starting pitchers, I figured I would opine on how the White Sox could compete in 2017. Now, let’s get this straight, I already have been totally on board with a rebuild as I believe there isn’t a lot of mileage left for this core. I am very, very excited about the Chris Sale trade rumors and I even submitted a plan to SouthSideSox stating such, but I figured I would take the opposite side and discuss how the White Sox could put themselves in position for a playoff birth in 2017.

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5. Add lots of salary, go over $150 million in payroll – This will probably take quite a sell job on JR, but if it can be done, the White Sox are back in business………I know what you are going to say, the free agent class is weak, and you’d be correct, BUT spending a lot more money can mean taking on substantial salary in trades, say, agreeing to take on Ryan Braun‘s salary and trotting him out there at DH…..or just bucking up and signing Edwin Encarnacion………..after adding an impact bat with high OBP, the White Sox need a Catcher and a real Centerfielder………….its going to take a lot of money and creativity to fill this out but it has to be done………..maybe you trade for Yasiel Puig and put him in CF……..maybe you trade for Brian McCann and offer to take on all of his money. If the White Sox were to really think outside the box, they would go request permission to post and sign Shohei Otani, who is the best two way player in the world. LET’S GAMBLE!!!

4. Add substantial depth – As Chorizy-E has mentioned previously the season can’t end because Austin Jackson gets hurt (the CF you grabbed 4 seconds before the season). The only bench player on this roster that should still be in that spot next year is Tyler Saladino, the rest need to go, someone like Carlos Sanchez needs to be in AAA for now or in another org. The bench needs to be filled with real players who can step in at a moments notice. I’d also ensure you have some major league players at AAA (including SP’s).

3. Carlos Rodon becomes a star – This doesn’t require a write up, Rodon needs to realize his potential.

2. The bullpen needs to take shape, quick – I’m not talking about David Robertson getting his shit together, this year has been rough, but he is what he is………….we need the Putnam’s and Petricka’s of the world healthy, we need Michael Ynoa and Jacob Turner to take steps and we’ll probably need Zach Burdi to be here and be good. This team is based on run prevention and the bullpen has been terrible post-April, so we’ll need this group to get real strong real quick.

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1. Build the Baltimore Orioles West, but with better starting pitching – The Orioles are the perfect team to play in US Cellular Field, they have excellent infield defense and they bash a ton of home runs. This was the same formula of the good 2000’s teams of the White Sox…..more OBP would also help, but this team could thrive if we got plus defense from everyone up the middle, plus Eaton and Frazier and the boys bashed 220 home runs.

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The Kenny Williams Dream Team

Posted on November 5, 2016February 26, 2018 by chorizy

I am all in for the rebuild and I really hope they do it. So let’s, for a few moments, imagine that they do. And I mean, completely gut the team. Sale and Quintana traded, Abreu to the Mets, Eaton to the Cards, Melky and Robertson returned to NYY, tender a bunch of guys and then move em, and so on and so forth. But this article is not about the haul we’d get back for these guys or the future of the Sox. This article is about the team we’ll field in 2017. It might just be the team that Kenny has always dreamed of.

Let’s start with who stays:

Position Players: Anderson at SS, Saladino utility man, Narvaez backup C, and Tilson as 4th OF
Pitchers: Shields, Fulmer, Rodon SP; Jones, Petricka, Jennings, Putnam, Danish RP

So let’s start filling in the blanks:

Right Field

This is so obvious, I’ll get right to it. Ichiro is playing RF for this team. If there is one guy out there that Kenny would tell Rick they need if we’re rebuilding or even if we’re going for it, Ichiro is that guy. He’s just under 75 years old, he’s lost a couple steps, he can’t hit all that well anymore, and his defense has fallen off. He’s a perfect fit. Meme courtesy of @HashTagReggie

Left Field

You’re probably feeling like I’ll say Carlos Beltran or Matt Holliday. Trust me, neither would surprise me, but there is a LF out there that we’ve been tied to in trade rumors so many damn times, he has to come here. Plus he strikes out a ton, which is something we’re always looking for.

He was a top prospect in STL and I thought we were gonna trade for him as they got tired of him. Then he seemed to find his way in TOR momentarily and again he looked like an option for the Sox. Then, in HOU, he showed that he’s good for about 20 HR and 130 Ks per year. I thought he was gonna be a Sox last year, but then he took the qualifying offer from our side chick. I give you Colby Rasmus, whose neck beard will look beautiful in front of the bleachers.

Center Field

There is nothing better than a once highly touted speedy free agent who became an albatross contract and can’t get on base enough to get more than 20 SB. And oh yeah, he’s 34! Michael Bourn is the perfect piece to finish off this outfield. He’s already made over $62MM in his career. While that probably makes you sick, it tells me that he might be willing to sign pretty cheap and see if he can get traded to a competitor if he can get on base.

First and Second Base

Unfortunately Jimmy Rollins didn’t work out, but that should not stop us from going after the rest of that infield. Give me Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Utley obviously hates his family if he’s still playing, so why not come hang out with his boy Ryan Howard in Chicago. Howard on the other hand is chasing 400 HR, so he’ll come here, hit 18 HR to get there and strike out 250 times while he’s at it. Shockingly, the Phillies did not retain his contract, so he’s just sitting out there waiting to be signed.

Third Base

This position is very very thin this year, so they’ll definitely consider trying to get Chone Figgins to come out of retirement. However, we all know who needs to be back on this roster. A favorite of the 108, Juan Uribe. Honestly, if this is the only off-season move we make, I’d be happy.

Catcher

Calm down, we’re not bring back AJ. I just gave you a 2005 guy, so get that out of your head. Instead let’s go after a guy who had a lot of promise coming up, but has time and time again proven he’s terrible. At the very least, you’ll get an excellent Bob Nightengale article on how Jarrod Saltalamacchia is gonna be the piece that brings it all together. Yeah, I’m taking Salty. Shut up, catcher is thin for names. Other than having an extremely long last name, he was part of the massive haul that the Rangers got for Teixeira and now both he and Neftali Feliz (also in that trade) are available in free agency. We’ll get at least one of them.

Bench Players

Who cares?

Relievers

We need about 3 of these, so we’re gonna get two names that have haunted the Sox: Pat Neshek and Fernando Rodney. Don’t know how old and/or injured these guys are and I don’t really care. Sign em up. Neshek was one of those Sox killers we hear so much about. This was when he was playing with the Twins and both the Sox and Twins were contenders. If that seems like a long time ago, it was. Rodney was part of the very bad and then very good Detroit Tigers and he played a key role in the bullpen. Since then, he’s played for about 35 different teams, so it’s time for him to land on the southside of Chicago.

And oh yeah, Edwin Jackson will be our closer. Sorry Nate, we’re trying to create more trade value here.

Starting Pitchers

Did I mention that when we sent Robertson and Melky to NYY, we had to take back some salary? Sorry if I didn’t, but yeah we got CC Sabathia. He hasn’t been good since 2008 when Ned Yost ruined him by pitching him 46 times in the final 50 games of the Brewers season. But we all remember when he was good. And to truly round out the staff, we’re adding back a favorite and another former Indian: Bartolo Colon. This may not help our win totals, but it definitely increases the sheer size of our staff, and you know that’s a good thing.

The fact that they’re both former Indians makes me think of Major League when the players show up for spring training:

Renteria: “I thought you said we didn’t have any high priced talent.”
Hahn: “I forgot about Sabathia, because he’s only high priced”

Renteria: “I wish we had Colon 8 years ago”
Hahn: “We did”
Renteria: “14 years ago”
Hahn: “We did”

Designated Hitter

I left this for last because I just really want it to happen. Kenny tried damn hard to do this a while back, but finally, we get A-Rod. Yeah, I know you hate A-Rod, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to see this. A-Rod has taken on the bad guy role better than Andy Kaufman could ever have imagined it. He’s like a passive-aggressive Dennis Rodman. Staying in the league on a bad team so he can pass Babe Ruth on the HR list is the ultimate bad guy move. And from the Sox standpoint, why not bring in a guy who will hit his 700th and possibly 715th while in your uniform?

Look, I’m not trying to tell you that this is gonna be some great team. This will be a pretty bad team. And if anyone plays well, they should be traded immediately. But look at the roster I just assembled and tell me that this isn’t everything Kenny Williams has ever dreamed of. You have guys chasing HR numbers, you have players that were dominant within our division that are old as shit now, you have former all stars that can no longer play, highly touted prospects that never panned out, and most importantly players the Sox failed to sign when they were good. At long last, Chorizy-E and Kenny Williams have aligned on an off-season plan.

-Chorizy-E

Why I’m wearing my Sox jersey tonight and you should too.

Posted on November 2, 2016January 11, 2018 by mysoxsummer

5_cans — Beer. It’s what’s for dinner. And breakfast. And lunch. And snacks.

The time has come my friends, tonight we all lose. Either the Indians (a hated division rival) break a multiple decade streak, or those damn northsiders will finally have something to celebrate other than their perfect attendance. Sorry Sox fans, unlike the 1985 Bears championship, our total dominance in 2005 will soon be forgotten (and one can make a case that it already has) by the lazy media and half the city of Chicago. Don’t fret though, 11-1 is always gonna be in the record books, baseball fans will never forget and us Sox fans will carry that torch till we win it again. So tonight wear your Sox jersey proud as it might be the last time we can celebrate that magical season without hearing a northsider him and haw about how they have 3 rings now too! And how they did it in dramatic fashion.

Which, as a side note if it does happen that way, is nothing to be proud of. Facing the brink of elimination to make your guys give you the best they have isn’t the sign of a great team. Wining the World Series in any amount of games is a great accomplishment, don’t get me wrong, but if it happens tonight Cubs fans, doing it in 7 after being down 3-1 doesn’t make it any more magical.

Tonight should be a wake up call to the Sox organization. Since 2005, 5 AL Central teams have been in the World Series. Hell, if you just look at recent history, 2012 till 2016 4 out of the 5 AL teams have been from the AL Central. That alone should make us want to compete, which it looks form the casual observer that we are, but we all know the deal. Seems like when we do spend money, it’s on guys who we shouldn’t have. And the guys who we should spend money on, we don’t. Its just odd that we will take a risk on James Shields (Dunn, LaRoche), but won’t put out the scratch to get a big name free agent.

This team has no identity, between our two big stars, one has hissy fits and acts like a child, the other can’t speak english. Nothing wrong with that mind you, but there is no leader. We haven’t had a leader since AJ left, and if you don’t believe that, look at our defense in 2013. Best in all of baseball in 2012, 2013 we just sucked. So we need to get someone to sack up and lead this team. Will it happen? Not sure there is anyone here that can do that. I had hopes for Eaton, or Frazier, but they came into a situation with Sale and Abreu being the guys that should be the leaders and I am sure that is awkward. Plus, seeing how many people that have been blocked by Frazier on Twitter, not sure how that guy could lead anyways. I would tweet him about it, but yup you guessed it, offering to buy him a drink when he first signed with the team got me blocked. No biggie.

Our organization doesn’t have the stones to do a complete rebuild, and from listening to some of the fans, I am not sure that the reason is valid. I’ve heard from several people that the Sox couldn’t afford to do it as the remaining fans would just check out. Which, 1- I don’t know how it could get worse and 2 – Us true fans would rather being watching L’s with youngsters trying to get better other than the older guys. It feel like the Sox have been half in and half out on everything and that just doesn’t work. Cubs looked like shit for years, but it paid off. Would it go that way for us too? Don’t know. I doubt it, but we can try? What we are doing now isn’t working either, so let’s develop some talent and get some of these guys that are good to some better teams so they have a shot to win one.

Alot of our moves for new guys seem rather stale, shit we’ve seen before. Is it time to shake up the front office? Develop some new ideas? Have a new plan of attack? HELL YES, HELL YES, HELL YES. I like loyalty, I live my life by it, I trust people based on it, but you have to have results, which we just don’t get. So why are we loyal to people that aren’t getting the job done? That’s fucking wrong.

I hope tonight while we watch a team that is a division rival or a created rival due to proximity (and jackwagon fans), win a title that we should have contended for, someone on 35th and Shields decides that enough is enough. That .500 isn’t good enough. That we’ll catch up with the rest of the AL Central. That we’ll make the moves to win another one. That our loyal fanbase deserves better. That just showing up doesn’t cut it any longer. That they won’t accept losing anymore.

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So while the world is watching another curse or streak get broken, take some time and don your Sox jersey and remember that moment in 2005 when we were on top. That night we SWEPT the World Series. It really doesn’t seem that long ago, but watching other teams just pass us by without a fight from our organization is hard, really hard. We’ll get there again Sox fans, believe me. Have a Lite and a smile.

-MSS

@mysoxsummer