Just some baseball thoughts…
“I got to give (team chairman) Jerry Reinsdorf a lot of credit,” general manager Rick Hahn said Friday. “He’s given us the flexibility during these extraordinarily uncertain — and obviously difficult for a lot of people — times to have the the economic wherewithal to aggressively pursue premium upgrades to a team that we feel is pretty good. Not everybody gets to be in that situation.”
I gotta think that the White Sox are done. I think the solid 3rd starter need was addressed. I think our closer is an upgrade. But what remains out there is a big gaping hole in RF and DH. So close!
Let’s just say, fuck it, Adam Eaton defensively MIGHT be an upgrade in RF. BUT we thought last year that Nomar was gonna bring that bat AND defense. I don’t know how effective Eaton will be at the plate, can he be worse than Nomar? Possibly? But anyways, it would have been great to get a bat / defense like a George Springer. Marcell Ozuna (repeatedly mentioned by yours truly as the guy I want) is a guy who can make an IMMEDIATE impact on the DH position, but it looks like we are doing what? Are we really gonna bet this heavy on Andrew Vaughn? Woah buddy…
Fuck it, maybe he will slide right in and smash the fucking ball. But let’s look at a guy like, oh I don’t know, Luis Robert who is infinitely more hyped/talented than Andrew. Luis Robert STRUGGLED in 2020. Hot start, creamy finish, but that middle. Oh that middle. So you are banking on a dude that hasn’t played MLB ball to be your savior, I mean SHIT, that shit’s risky. Like not wearing a condom at a rave in the 90’s crazy. Like trusting the pull out method with a single mom with 3 kids. RISKY SHIT BRO!
Now, as our friend Jim Margalus pointed out in his blog (which you should read, cause Jim is a real fucking writer) this is rather frustrating basically because of this –
By sitting out the top of the market year after year, even when it so beautifully bends to their will, it makes the scorched-earth nature of the rebuild all the more pointless. They could have traded Chris Sale, José Quintana and Adam Eaton for the same packages and attempted to compete a year or two earlier. Instead, the Sox saved money they didn’t spend in service of flexibility they’re afraid to use. The White Sox still may well succeed without either thanks to the strength of the rebuild-starting trades and the lackluster efforts elsewhere in their division, but it sure would’ve been nice to see Jerry Reinsdorf try spending money to make money, since making Reinsdorf money to spend hasn’t been a strength of this front office.
SoxMachine’s Jim Margalus 1/20/21
I like making analogies and this is one thing I think we in the 108 are very good at. 80 grade analogies IMO. 80 grade hair too. In my regular life, I skimp on many non-essential things. I brew my own coffee. I make my own lunch. I do this mostly cause I like to control where I spend that money. It gives me a bank roll to spend more money on something that I might need or want later. Sox have been brown bagging it for a few years and (2020 not withstanding) spent very little on payroll while bringing in some money. Rick had been telling everyone and anyone after the Manny / Bryce incidents, “The money will be spent.” And as others have said, with the division ripe for the winning, we cheap out on a position we have cheaped out on for as long as I can remember.
Much like my household, sometimes things come up. And it’s nice in my fucked up head to think, “Hey, it’s awesome that I can overpay on this pizza cause I have saved all this money eating in.” Or even splurge on a frente-java-almond-milk-latte-ariana-grande here and there cause I WASN’T buying a $5 coffee EVERY FUCKING DAY. And that’s where the Sox are! They can SPLURGE. I have yet to see a contract get signed that would have broken the Sox. I can understand the Manny / Harper situation a little more than I can with the Springer loss. We saved money then to sign someone now, but yet here we go not signing anyone.
It’s frustraing to me and I am a little more rational than some of our fans. I’ll be 100% honest, I think you’ll have great years outta Eloy and Luis. I think Yoan will bounce back. I think TA will continue to do his thing and Abreu won’t be what he was last year but he’ll be better than average. Yaz will bring the noise.
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It is what it is, but it sure would have been nice to land a big bat this off season. Maybe there is something in the works we don’t know about. Maybe our guys know we are gonna be fine and we don’t need 7 or 8 consistent bats. But when I see guys suggesting Danny Mendick as an option at DH, HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Zack Collins? GTFOH. I like them dudes but expecting them to be consistent (when their playing time and skills are anything but) seem silly. I know all teams need role players, I was just hoping that ours wouldn’t be starting.
-MSS
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Is it my cheap-o PC or does Andrew Vaughn not have any eyebrows?
I think all the hand-wringing, especially from Jim Margalus, is ridiculous. In a year where there was 0 revenue from attendance and the TV revenue was seriously curtailed, we really expect a frugal small market team (dont fool yourself, we are a small market team) to splurge on a George Springer? Not a chance that was going to happen. This team was already among the best teams in baseball with mostly homegrown talent and it certainly appears the plan is to continue this pursuit. I dont see any of you offering to give Jerry several million dollars, and if you just lost 9 figures, you would be cautious too. Honestly tell me the Sox aren’t a better team now than a year ago…try it. They did it creatively and leaving them flexible. The way this team in this market with this fan base needs to operate in order to stay relevant and competitive is by growing ball players at home and signing them to team-friendly deals. They’ve done that so far to great effect, but if you think Giolito will be cheap, you are crazy.
Id be in favor of the Sox bringing in a stopgap dh like Nelson Cruz for a year or two because it won’t require a serious commitment in years or resources, but you dont go out and get the best international outfielder who is 23-24 years old just to have him rot on the vine behind an expensive and aging rightfielder. The EXACT same argument can and should be made for the people clambering for a 4th starter. You people are all dreaming and that dream will end up like a nightmare (cough…Cubs decline…cough). Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech and the gang need to develop at the big league level. They are affordable, home grown, and you can lock them down cheap (relatively) if they perform well.
The purpose of the exercise, as Rick Hahn has said, is to win MULTIPLE championships. Even if we went with a platoon of Collins and Mercedes as DH/backup catcher, we would likely still be better off than EE last year. (And a personal aside, since when do people care so much about the defense of a backup catcher????? Its a stupid concern in a league where no one runs anymore.) We wait for Vaughn to get his feet wet while Adam eaton and our DH platoon scrape together a collective 3 WAR…which is insanely better than what we got from those positions last year.
Everyone is George Costanza now, with a plan to “get Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. Without even having to give that much up.” But we aren’t the New York Yankees. We made strong bids to good young talent three off-seasons ago and, despite having the most lucrative offer on the table-to one of them at least-Machado and Harper said no. So move on and follow the plan. Bring forth the first wave of talent and start working on the second one. Don’t mortgage the future for this year, especially since we are looking at A BETTER TEAM THAN LAST YEAR!!!!!!! This is a team that will win close to 100 games without any clear weakness.