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Offseason Targets


soxfan49
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I've mentioned Mike Tauchman of the Yankees here before. LH hitting OF (can play all 3 OF positions well). Currently the 4th/5th OF for Yankees.  SSS for 2020 but he can hit and play strong defense, cheap (hasn't reached arb. years) and local (from Palatine). Would be a great addition to platoon with Engel or take over LF in late innings. Yankees might accept Lopez and return of Rutherford in trade. 

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52 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am just going to say it.  With the line up the Sox have it is WAY easier to hide a bad to mediocre RF, than it is to hide the fact our starting pitching was not deep enough.  We need a top half SP WAY worse than we need a RF.  We could go into next season with internal options in RF, and as long as we do something with the rotation, I will be good.

100%. I've already thrown out Robbie Grossman and Josh Reddick lol.

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55 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am just going to say it.  With the line up the Sox have it is WAY easier to hide a bad to mediocre RF, than it is to hide the fact our starting pitching was not deep enough.  We need a top half SP WAY worse than we need a RF.  We could go into next season with internal options in RF, and as long as we do something with the rotation, I will be good.

Totally agree with you.  I am at the same place this offseason that I was last offseason...starting pitching is the absolute #1 priority.

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1 hour ago, bmags said:

I think it's interesting the focus on right field. I think part of it is there seems to be a lot of solutions.

SP is really going to be nervewrecking especially if Bauer sweepstakes are super competitive. I've said before - I'd like to take a shot on odorizzi. But it's going to rely a lot on sox FA scouting to find some quality depth.

Odorizzi is my cheaper target. I'd rather him than Stroman. 

Edited by Jack Parkman
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Our division got dog walked in the playoffs, as did the division we played in Interleague. The team that beat us in the playoffs just got dog walked by a team that will get dog walked by the Rays/Yankees. We need to sign a TOR arm and a good bat RFer. If we want to win next season we have work to do. 

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If picking up a RF means we have less to spend on pitching, then I’d say roll with what we’ve got in RF including Mazara. He looked a bit better down the stretch, and he may have also been impacted by getting no summer camp since he had COVID. If it still seems like we need to fill a hole in the lineup, then we could pickup someone before the trade deadline.  Put all resources towards pitching this off season.

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On 10/8/2020 at 11:27 AM, fathom said:

Stoney was so down on Mazara on today’s podcast that it makes it hard for me to believe he is still in their plans

Steve's opinions very rarely directly reflect the FO plans. It's not that he's always incorrect, just that he's not in the know as much as some assume.  

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2 hours ago, SonofaRoache said:

Our division got dog walked in the playoffs, as did the division we played in Interleague. The team that beat us in the playoffs just got dog walked by a team that will get dog walked by the Rays/Yankees. We need to sign a TOR arm and a good bat RFer. If we want to win next season we have work to do. 

It's a best of 3.  It's an insult to teams like the Twins and Cubs for example who are division winners that they have to play teams like this year's Astros and Marlins and get swept by them.  I'm not just talking about the Cubs and Twins but just making a point.  Anyone can win 2 baseball games.  The teams with the better records generally have better records because they have better depth, and making those teams play a short series against other teams without such depth only caters to lesser teams while hurting greater teams.

There is no question of the talent in our division.  It's a quality top 3 and if the Indians ever spent any money they could have been a juggernaut since their WS appearance.  The Twins have flaws but are as dangerous as anyone, and we're very clearly on the rise to prominence.  Also the NL Central is a quality division in its top 4 teams.  There may not be a single great team in there, but 4 out of 5 teams can flat out beat you, at least on some days.  And even the Tigers and Royals are getting better pretty quickly.

Re: our needs, it all remains to be seen, but we have enough young talent that theoretically we could do nothing at all and end up a significantly better team.  We have young guys like Cease who are bandied about in trade ideas who could end up as better players than they guys they would be traded for in 2 years or less.  

Edited by YourWhatHurts
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One thing worth pointing out is that we have six guys under salary for the 2023 season at a total cost of $70M.  That’s Grandal, Moncada, Timmy, Eloy, Robert, & Bummer.  That doesn’t include Giolito who will be in his 3rd year of arbitration, which could push that total close to $90M for just seven guys.  Even if Reinsdorf goes all-in with say a $170M payroll, that only leaves $80M for the remaining 19 spots.

Point is the Sox will not give up on a cheap young talent like Cease very quickly because we’ll need several guys like him to develop into useful pieces to offset the rising costs of the core.  I also wouldn’t expect a sizable long-term investment in RF this offseason.  A stopgap like Joc or Brantley is far more likely with resources being allocated towards more near term pitching needs while Cease, Dunning, Kopech, & Crotchet continue to develop in the majors or AAA.

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If Giolito won't sign an extension here then it makes sense to deal him to the highest bidder with 1-2 years left before FA, but only if we already have in-house replacements already here and performing.

Even the guys with extensions could be traded with 1-2 years left.  There's the possibility also of reworking the contract as part of an extension, depending on the situation.

The Sox will most likely need to make at least 1-2 deals later on to bring in the youth necessary to extend the contention window and delay the next eventual rebuild, which is what they will try to do.

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10 hours ago, soxfan2014 said:

Honestly same. Just find a lefty bat to pair with Engel and role with that. Doesn't have to be a huge signing. Even if they end up having to go with Engel as the primary starter, you at least have good defense and speed in a deep lineup.

It is a rare game that Engel doesn't contribute something.  Defense and speed play a big role in winning many games.  We need both starting & relief pitching as much as we can find.

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12 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

Kind of like Betts?  Oh wait....

yea oh wait we aint the Dodgers and Chicago isn't LA who every year has a chance to win the World Series. Every year we go through the same thing . Let's trade for a dude and extend him.

There was a lot of that talk round these parts when we traded for Samardzija  and we paid for it against the A's with Semien and Bassitt doing some damage.

Edited by CaliSoxFanViaSWside
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12 hours ago, Rey21 said:

I understand who Conforto’s agent but you can look as far back as last season Mookie Betts forgoing his free agency, Yelich same thing - the 2 best right fielders in baseball. The Sox aren’t in this position anymore where they can sit on their hands and let these superstar/star players slip through the cracks, unfortunately the tough decisions to get rid of young high ceiling guys is upon us. I would GLADLY get rid of Cease for “1 year” of Conforto

You win with pitching. I'm all for trading to make the team better but you don't give up years unless you get years in return. Just because the ultra rich, always in contention, alway in perpetual sunshine Dodgers can sign a guy they traded for doesn't mean the Sox can duplicate that because they can't.  Trades have to be smart.

Chicago is not bathed in sunshine year round. The payroll isn't $250M  and we aren't in contention year in and year out. Dodgers are an elite franchise. The Sox can't even beat out Cleveland, Minnesota, KC, or Detroit for division titles. Giving up players when they are still cheap unless you get back other players who are still cheap is pretty much the only way the Sox can operate. It's a lovely fantasy though.

If you want to talk about Yelich I prefer to look , not at the extension, but at the trade that landed him in Milwaukee . The Brewers didn't trade for a guy with one year left. They traded for a guy with 5 years left. They gave up a bunch of prospects for a guy on the rise who then became one of the best in baseball. That's how you do it. I can accept comparing the Sox to the Brewers not to the Dodgers.

Edited by CaliSoxFanViaSWside
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9 hours ago, macsandz said:

Steve's opinions very rarely directly reflect the FO plans. It's not that he's always incorrect, just that he's not in the know as much as some assume.  

I don’t think this is true. Every time he mentions that the Sox are or aren’t in on somebody it comes to pass.

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9 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

You win with pitching. I'm all for trading to make the team better but you don't give up years unless you get years in return. Just because the ultra rich, always in contention, alway in perpetual sunshine Dodgers can sign a guy they traded for doesn't mean the Sox can duplicate that because they can't.  Trades have to be smart.

Chicago is not bathed in sunshine year round. The payroll isn't $250M  and we aren't in contention year in and year out. Dodgers are an elite franchise. The Sox can't even beat out Cleveland, Minnesota, KC, or Detroit for division titles. Giving up players when they are still cheap unless you get back other players who are still cheap is pretty much the only way the Sox can operate. It's a lovely fantasy though.

If you want to talk about Yelich I prefer to look , not at the extension, but at the trade that landed him in Milwaukee . The Brewers didn't trade for a guy with one year left. They traded for a guy with 5 years left. They gave up a bunch of prospects for a guy on the rise who then became one of the best in baseball. That's how you do it. I can accept comparing the Sox to the Brewers not to the Dodgers.

IIRC, Sox could have been in the Yelich sweepstakes, except Marlins insisted on Alec Hansen being in the trade.  This was after his one good year in minors.  Oh, well.

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20 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am just going to say it.  With the line up the Sox have it is WAY easier to hide a bad to mediocre RF, than it is to hide the fact our starting pitching was not deep enough.  We need a top half SP WAY worse than we need a RF.  We could go into next season with internal options in RF, and as long as we do something with the rotation, I will be good.

This is how I feel exactly. 

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Platoon with engel in RF. Even though Engel has been frustrating he has worked hard and gotten progressively better every year offensively. If he continues his progression he is a .270 hitter with great speed and defense. For what he will cost us it is a good value. Would like to see him work on his pitch selection so he can walk more and improve the OBP.

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20 hours ago, YourWhatHurts said:

It's a best of 3.  It's an insult to teams like the Twins and Cubs for example who are division winners that they have to play teams like this year's Astros and Marlins and get swept by them.  I'm not just talking about the Cubs and Twins but just making a point.  Anyone can win 2 baseball games.  The teams with the better records generally have better records because they have better depth, and making those teams play a short series against other teams without such depth only caters to lesser teams while hurting greater teams.

There is no question of the talent in our division.  It's a quality top 3 and if the Indians ever spent any money they could have been a juggernaut since their WS appearance.  The Twins have flaws but are as dangerous as anyone, and we're very clearly on the rise to prominence.  Also the NL Central is a quality division in its top 4 teams.  There may not be a single great team in there, but 4 out of 5 teams can flat out beat you, at least on some days.  And even the Tigers and Royals are getting better pretty quickly.

Re: our needs, it all remains to be seen, but we have enough young talent that theoretically we could do nothing at all and end up a significantly better team.  We have young guys like Cease who are bandied about in trade ideas who could end up as better players than they guys they would be traded for in 2 years or less.  

True, but the teams all put their best feet forward. The better teams won for sure and handily in most cases. The Cubs have been trash since their 13 and 3 start, so I'm not surprised the Marlins beat them. The last round was normal, and again, the better teams won. We do not want to be that team that wins 95 games a year and is bounced in the first round every year, like the Twins and As. 

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8 minutes ago, BigHurt3515 said:

What about Shin-Soo Choo for a stop gap?

Still a useful player, but much like Michael Brantley, I'm afraid he can't play RF regularly. Unless of course you want him to DH until Vaughn is ready with the occasional corner outfield start, in which case I could see a fit

Edited by Jose Abreu
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