bear_brian

I wonder if the Sox are planning on the September roster expansion along with Robert and Grandal coming back. That would mean keeping Burger and Sheets in September, as well as having (hopefully) Robert and Grandal back.

A couple of random thoughts; - As I remember, Harrelson's hiring resulted in Dave Dombrowski's departure from the Sox. Dombrowski's initial successes in Montreal and Florida, and his "theft" of Miguel Cabrera from Florida when Dombrowski went to Detroit surely haunted the White Sox for some time. - A different view of Vaughn in left field: Tony La Russa today is not the guy from the '70's. He is extremely knowledgeable. If he believes Vaughn can play an adequate LF and give our line-up a boost, then I am all in on that decision.

Good idea. I might disagree with Abreu vs VVoit, since Jose is MVP, RBI leader, etc. He might regress, but Voit is not in that arena. Likewise Timmy vs Torres.

I have them at $118M right now, and still to add a closer, an SP and then to replace Vaughn with that lefty bat.

They are at $ 118M now. IF they add Hendriks (13M0) Quintana (10M) and La Stella (7M), they hit slightly under $150M. Not saying any of those moves will turn out, just spitballing based on the hamburger guy's conjecture.

Depending on when the season actually starts and how Nick's shoulder surgery heals, there may be a logical opening for La Stella in the opening lineup. I have been a fan of his for quite some time. He works counts, is a lefty, has some pop and can play at least three positions fairly well. With Leury and him we would have an excellent bench.

In an ideal world we would add a veteran LH SP, a LH OF and a top shelf closer. This would balance out our starters (2 LH, 3 RH) and give us flexibility in our lineup as well as defensively. What may happen is that we will add Quintana (fills the LH SP), probably not get Hendriks and bring back Colome, and then not get the LH OF but instead sign Tommy La Stella (who I personally like) to be a LH DH and/or start the year at 2B depending on Madrigal's recovery.

If money is the issue - and it sounds like it will be - then if they sign Liam (13M) and Quintana (10M), how about Robbie Grossman at $3M?? He is a switch hitter, plays good outfield, would allow quite a bit of flexibility in lineups and late inning defense. He is not Brantley, but has a career OBP of .350 and played well for Oakland last year.

Brantley is the DH, Joc and Engel platoon, Keuchel then becomes our #3 starter.

So how about Brantley and Joc for a combined $25M - roughly same dollars as Springer? We then trade Vaughn as the centerpiece for Snell. resign Colome and we are off to the races.

Add Wheeler (21.5), Pederson (10), Quintana (10), Colome (8) and McGee (7) and Sox payroll goes to about $ 160M.

I would like us to sign Colome, and then add another backend veteran who has had successful closing experience. Jake McGee or Blake Treinen come to mind.

If the new pitching coach is anywhere near as good as reflected in Giolito's improvement, then we would seem to have the interesting fallback option of just keeping what we have and hope to find some more gold. With Cease, Dunning, Lopez, Kopech, Lambert, Stiever and even Crochet, it's not like there is no potential there. I would prefer at least a solid #3, but that will depend on either cost or what we would have to give up.

Brantley and Ozuna are poor defenders who belong in LF, not RF.

If we want a left-handed hitting RF who can play defense, then Pederson, JBJ and Grossman become the FA alternatives, at least as far as I know.