Sox Sign Kelvin Herrera; 2 years/$18 mil, 3rd yr club option; Clarkin DFA

[Lip Man 1]

On 1/7/2019 at 3:40 PM, Jack Parkman said:

Both Hahn and Sale have mentioned it in the past. Hahn and Sale still talk during the offseason. (This is straight from Hahn himself) I think that it may have always been known between the two of hem that Sale was coming back after his contract was up, and that his little escapade with the Sawx could get him at least one ring, and hopefully more on the South Side.(this is my opinion and nothing more than speculation) It all comes down to dollars though, as this will be Sale's only mega contract. I think that the Sox got such good value on him the first time around in many ways that they're ok with spending what it takes to bring him back. I think the goal is Machado in 2019, Sale in 2020 and titles to follow. 

I have a hard time thinking Sale will return given the issues between him and the front office. They seem personal not professional to me. Always a chance if the Sox drastically overpay (which JR doesn't do for pitchers usually) but the odds seems to me to be vvvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy long.

Edited January 8, 2019 by Lip Man 1

[Chicago White Sox]

20 minutes ago, shago said:

Sale will be converted to a closer a la Eck and Glavine .... right mentality, limit wear on arm / shoulder 

You mean Smoltz.

[Chicago White Sox]

God, the community at SoxMachine b****es about everything.  Pnoles is already whining about this move as if it somehow prevents them from doing other things.  And they still don’t understand that Yonder was acquired to aid in the pursuit of Machado.

[SCCWS]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

There are already rumblings that Boston won't extend him long term because of his late season fades.

Not sure where you heard those rumblings but I haven't seen any. Chris Sale really seems to stays out of the spotlight in New England. This article popped up last month:   

Sale is open to extension talks, sources told NBC Sports Boston, with indications that he is more open to those talks than most players of his caliber would be when sitting just a year away from free agency. It’s unclear if there’s any movement on that front yet, with one team source noting that extensions generally brew later in the offseason.

Now there are rumblings Betts will eventually test the open market. 

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/could-healthy-chris-sale-be-candidate-contract-extension

  

[The Sir]

1 hour ago, OmarComing25 said:

Again what’s so can’t miss about Rodgers? From what I’ve read he’s an average defender and he’s really only had one standout offensive half season in High A that was largely due to a .413 BABIP and a hitting environment that is basically Coors on steroids. He’s a fine prospect but seems more like an above average regular than a future star.

Yeah, I’m kinda abandoning this ship at the moment. Rodgers was one of the best examples, outside of Benintendi, but no one was really crushing it that year. Even highly touted guys like Meadows we’re starting to reveal some serious flaws. There wasn’t a Vlad, Eloy or the like, just destroying the high minors.

I stand by my point that guys like Sale shouldn’t be traded for anything but the best, and you certainly shouldn’t settle for anybody in the least bit flawed, but looking at it, there probably wasn’t a true phenom like we have today in MiLB that year.

[Chicago White Sox]

4 minutes ago, The Sir said:

Yeah, I’m kinda abandoning this ship at the moment. Rodgers was one of the best examples, outside of Benintendi, but no one was really crushing it that year. Even highly touted guys like Meadows we’re starting to reveal some serious flaws. There wasn’t a Vlad, Eloy or the like, just destroying the high minors.

I stand by my point that guys like Sale shouldn’t be traded for anything but the best, and you certainly shouldn’t settle for anybody in the least bit flawed, but looking at it, there probably wasn’t a true phenom like we have today in MiLB that year.

I’ll be honest, even with Eloy we got lucky.  He probaly would have been untouchable just few months later if you believe he would have replicated his 2H 2017 performance (post trade) with the Cubs.  We literally got him right before he took his game to another level.

[The Sir]

25 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I’ll be honest, even with Eloy we got lucky.  He probaly would have been untouchable just few months later if you believe he would have replicated his 2H 2017 performance (post trade) with the Cubs.  We literally got him right before he took his game to another level.

I agree, dude's been insane with us, and I think Cubs fans are going to regret that one hard. But I don't know about "untouchable". I don't think Jose Quintana would merit him today (especially not with how he's played for the Cubs). If Sale and Eloy both performed the way they have to this point, we would have been absolutely justified in identifying Eloy as the starting point if the Cubs wanted Chris. If he, a super promising but still unproven prospect, is untouchable, then so is the second best LHSP in the game. That's the non-negotiable price for a star like that.

Edit: Regarding Eloy, is there a good article on how he transformed so much after the trade? We got a good MiLB player, but he totally morphed into something else after we got him. I'd be interested in reading about that.

Edited January 8, 2019 by The Sir

[NCsoxfan]

Eloy and Cease was the proper return for sale 

the sale/moncada trade was the appropriate return for Quintana 

[bschmaranz]

1 hour ago, shago said:

Sale will be converted to a closer a la Eck and Glavine .... right mentality, limit wear on arm / shoulder 

Glavine has never had a single regular relief appearance, ever.

[The Sir]

7 minutes ago, NCsoxfan said:

Eloy and Cease was the proper return for sale 

the sale/moncada trade was the appropriate return for Quintana 

Took me a second to see what you did there (brain just fills things in without seeing the actual words), but I agree completely.

[ChiSox59]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

God, the community at SoxMachine b****es about everything.  Pnoles is already whining about this move as if it somehow prevents them from doing other things.  And they still don’t understand that Yonder was acquired to aid in the pursuit of Machado.

Pnoles is insufferable on Twitter. His outward love for Notre Dame just makes it that much easier to dispise him. 

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

God, the community at SoxMachine b****es about everything.  Pnoles is already whining about this move as if it somehow prevents them from doing other things.  And they still don’t understand that Yonder was acquired to aid in the pursuit of Machado.

I can't wait until we swing back towards intellectual debate instead of screaming like an idiot to get attention. 

[SoxBlanco]

39 minutes ago, NCsoxfan said:

Eloy and Cease was the proper return for sale 

the sale/moncada trade was the appropriate return for Quintana 

Possibly in hindsight. But at the time we traded Sale, don’t you think Theo would have given up Eloy and Cease for Moncada and Kopech?

[Orlando]

@ChiliIrishHammock24 where are you bro! 

[Chisoxfn]

8 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Not a super big fan, but I get wanting to add some back end stability to this pen.

He had a tough time with Nats (and the season before with Royals) but outside of that he's been at least a good reliever. I know nothing about how well his stuff has maintained, but I like the idea of strengthening the pen.  

[BlackSox13]

4 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

I have a hard time thinking Sale will return given the issues between him and the front office. They seem personal not professional to me. Always a chance if the Sox drastically overpay (which JR doesn't do for pitchers usually) but the odds seems to me to be vvvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyy long.

Not a problem the Sox go with the Machado approach. Bring back Sale's friends LaRoche, Eaton and the Drake. Sale will quickly sign.

[CWSpalehoseCWS]

49 minutes ago, Orlando said:

@ChiliIrishHammock24 where are you bro! 

He's getting Manny scoop for us!

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

3 minutes ago, CWSpalehoseCWS said:

He's getting Manny scoop for us!

Lol, nah just got home. Been at work all day when all this news broke. Got surprised with a nice little bump on Twitter, thanks Jimmy. lol

[greg775]

This move is OK with me. The Sox appear to have a much much better bullpen and in this day and age if this bullpen can be a 7 out of 10, we'll win 10 more games next season provided our lineup is as good and not much worse than last year's. Right now with Jon Jay and Alonso and McCann we are trending to have a worse lineup.

Whatever ... I am all for bullpen pieces. Our payroll is slowly going up and the age of our roster is going up, folks. Some of you that think Avi was too old to be a piece for the rebuild might be freaking out soon over our team getting older.

p.s. the longer we remain a bad team, the easier it is to shut up fans like greg. I'm getting numb to our lousiness and my level of outrage is decreasing year by year.

Edited January 8, 2019 by greg775

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

4 hours ago, NCsoxfan said:

Eloy and Cease was the proper return for sale 

the sale/moncada trade was the appropriate return for Quintana 

That's actually a really great way to put that.

[TomPickle]

8 hours ago, greg775 said:

This move is OK with me. The Sox appear to have a much much better bullpen and in this day and age if this bullpen can be a 7 out of 10, we'll win 10 more games next season provided our lineup is as good and not much worse than last year's. Right now with Jon Jay and Alonso and McCann we are trending to have a worse lineup.

Whatever ... I am all for bullpen pieces. Our payroll is slowly going up and the age of our roster is going up, folks. Some of you that think Avi was too old to be a piece for the rebuild might be freaking out soon over our team getting older.

p.s. the longer we remain a bad team, the easier it is to shut up fans like greg. I'm getting numb to our lousiness and my level of outrage is decreasing year by year.

How do you figure that? Alonso will likely replace Delmonico's ABs in the lineup and he's a better hitter than Delmonico. Jay will most likely cut into Engel's playing time and everyone is a better hitter than Engel. McCann is a backup catcher and will probably get ~200 ABs that won't be massively different than what Kevan Smith provided, but he will probably be a slight downgrade, I'll grant you that one.

[Greg Hibbard]

should I be concerned about Herrera's Washington splits from last year?

[fathom]

1 minute ago, Greg Hibbard said:

should I be concerned about Herrera's Washington splits from last year?

Had a shoulder issue it sounds like

[bmags]

4 minutes ago, fathom said:

Had a shoulder issue it sounds like

Great, nothing to see here

[southsider2k5]

16 minutes ago, fathom said:

Had a shoulder issue it sounds like

Wasn't his the foot surgery?