FriendlyNorthsider

It's getting kind of depressing in here so I wanted to highlight some bright spots in the org. Crochet is a building block. 31 Ks in 4 starts isnt a fluke. We all knew this one. If Andrew Vaughn was hitting in the way Gavin Sheets is hitting .270/.391/.541 we would be pumped. Gavin is only a year older than Vaughn so just pretend they switched bodies. Nastrini looked awesome today, He didnt have the best results in AAA, but 13ks in 7 innings is something Colson Montgomery homered in two of his last three games. Colson's pop is on the top of my watch list this year. We will see what Cannon does tomorrow but hes had a solid showing in AAA so far (2.79 ERA over 9.2 innings) Brooks Baldwin was an 80 Grade name and is a 23 year old in AA with a .985 OPS in 26 ABs and has more BBs than SOs. Hes a 2022 12th rounder who had an .800 OPS across A ball last year Wilfred Veras is a 21 year old at AA Birmingham with a .941 OPS in 34 ABs. He hasn't taken a walk yet but is 12 for 20 with 2 homers when he puts the bat on the ball. Edgar Quero (also in AA) has 4 homers already this year in 25 ABs. Hes a catcher that was acquired in the Gio/Reylo trade. Hes 21 years old and is a legit top 50-100 prospect that is MASHING. Plus he's Cuban which is fun. Ky Bush was acquired with Quero and had a very solid start to open the year in AA (5IP 1 ER 7K) Drew Thorpe who was a huge part of the Cease return has dominated in AA. He's a 23 year old 2022 draftee that has a .82 ERA in 11 innings with 15Ks to 2 walks. Him and Schultz (getting to him later) are the two most important pitching propsects and they are dealing. Jairo Iriarte (22 years old) was also acquired in the Cease trade and has also been dominant in AA. He hasn't given up an earned run in 8 innings and has struck out 11. Last years first rounder Jacob Gonzalez is about the only guy hitting in Winston Salem (A+) but he's the most important by far. Hes slashed .281/.410.438 in 39 PAs. He also has 6 BBs to 5ks. I imagine he'll work his way up to AA by the end of the year. Noah Schultz is a guy. He's had 17 ks and 2 bbs in 8IP in A ball. The 4.50 ERA is deceptive and I think he'll work his way up faster than Gonzalez. 2023 6th Round Lucas Gordon has dominated in Kannapolis so far this year. In two starts he has 16ks and 3bbs in 11IP. He was dominant last year but the walk rate was way too high. If he continues on this path he'll be a legit prospect. A college pitcher should probably be succeeding in A ball but hes a lefty that generates K's and that always plays. He's not a Fangraphs top 30 guy and his South Side Sox prospect #59 due to bullpen risk/lack of upside but hes doing everything that can be asked of him so far. Pitching wise the Sox systems future could be a lot worse than Crochet/Nastrini/Cannon/Shultz/Thorpe/Iriarte/Bush. Hitting wise Colson is coming around and Quero is a rising prospect. If Gonzalez keeps hitting he'll be grouped with those two before the end of summer. This is far from an exhaustive list of quality propsects the sox have but some guys have had rough starts or are hurt to start the year,

For what it’s worth the Cubs were in a 40 man jam and didn’t really want to trade Horn. Hes been electric in spring training this year but would be a bit of a risk to keep over someone like Cuas or Riley Thompson. There was talk of a Keegan Thompson trade but that didn’t materialize. I was looking forward to seeing horn pitch this year. edit: he also added a sweeper like every other pitcher in the cubs org. He’s probably going to be a 7th inning guy for the Sox this year but was sometimes used as a multi-inning guy in AAA last year. Lots of upside in return for a guy that was lost in the Sox org in Thompson

The Diamondbacks chose to stick with McCarthy and feel that they can fix Menas fastball. Seems like a nice opportunistic buy for the Sox. These trades are exactly what I wanted the Sox to do. They should be taking shots on the 25-26 year old players that are boxed out of big league ABs on other teams. The goal for the 2024 Sox should be to have as many ABs as possible from guys on the 2026 Sox. As for pitching, that’s another problem for another day. If you don’t think Mena is a guy don’t keep him just because you have a weakness in pitching. I think this might increase the likelihood that the Sox focus on a starter as the building block for the Cease trade

The cubs are paying Smyly $12 to be a swingman so I don’t mind this investment. As for Cease I think the Sox will get a Kings ransom for him eventually, I just think it won’t be this winter. It’s certainly possible I just think the market isn’t as robust as it will be once the top guys like Montgomery and Snell sign at the very least. Once we are in season there is only one way to acquire talent and while there will probably be other similar pitchers on the market, Cease will have the advantage of being both affordable and under control for a second year. The downside of waiting is that Cease could get hurt or underperform. Even if he underperforms look at what Giolito brought in at the deadline. If he’s hurt and it’s not TJ you still get another crack next season. The upside is that he comes back to being the pitcher we know he can be and brings in a top 10-20 prospect (in the mlb) plus at the deadline. I would roll the dice and wait unless Getz is blown away by an offer.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/james-triantos/sa3017295/stats?position=2B/3B hes probably going to be a second baseman at the next level. he was an over slot second rounder in 2021 that has lived up to the pick. He’s got a very good hit tool and walked as much as he struck out (10% each) in high A as a 20 year old. He finished the year in AA and is a bit of a controversial prospect. Most everyone thinks the hit tool will play but some people think there is some power to be had once he matures and when he adjusts his approach to be a bit more aggressive. Triantos will be blocked by Hoerner and Matt Shaw and may be expendable. He is not a centerpiece for a cease trade but would be in that next tier.

I don’t think it makes a ton of sense for the cubs to go after Cease because I’m not entirely sure the cubs will be good during the duration of his contract. At this point I think it’s pretty dead in the water unless the cubs are willing to move Horton or the sox are interested in taking a quantity type of deal. if the Cubs take PCA and Horton off the table I think there could be a suitable package made up of a few of the other guys towards the top. Something with a combination of Wicks, Brown, Triantos, Morel, Mervis, Assad could be interesting. Morel has a cannon but he may be a decent fit at second based on his inconsistency with accuracy. Mervis would be largely blocked at first by Vaughn but if they feel they can get him consistent DH at bats they’re a big power upside. Assad could be interesting for the Sox. He was very solid last year and might find himself the odd man out on the roster if they were to trade for Cease. I could also see Wesneski as a trade fit. Personally I think he will make a nasty reliever for the cubs next year and I would keep him but there is some upside in giving him another run as a starter. As a Cubs fan I would not like a move like this, but I can’t deny the fit is there for both teams.

I’m a cubs fan but i wholeheartedly agree. The cubs attract a lot more casual fans and the discourse is generally not good most of the time. The cubs have some interesting decisions ahead of them. Belli makes a ton of sense but has big bust potential and the Cubs also have a possibly CF of the future in PCA that could be up this year. If Belli is pushed to 1B I’m not sure his dollar amount will be justified even if he continues hitting. I think the Cubs should bring in Hoskins to play first and allow Mervis to DH a bit. I like the idea of bringing in Turner to play third for a year while they see what Morel can do there. The cubs have a pretty solid 3B prospect in BJ Murray Jr that could force his way up by summer. In general I think it makes some sense to keep some powder dry on the long term deals while this “wave” of PCA, Horton, Wicks, Morel, Murray, and Mervis get big league run. They already let Velazquez go for nothing because he was blocked. At some point you need to see what you have. In the meantime, shore up the bullpen

I put exactly zero stock into it. This time last year the Sox had zero blue chip guys. Colson is an easy top 50 prospect in baseball and is probably closer to top 25. Schultz and Ramos are top 100 (conservatively) and Gonzalez will be knocking at the door. Pallete seems like a solid prospect and Christina Mena is holding is own in AA (the ERA isnt too pretty but 102 ks in 78IP as a 20 year old is). The system is still way below average but has some good top end talent. This trade deadline should help replenish the farm. I could see going for a Yu Darvish type return for Gio in which the sox grab a few lottery tickets they like rather than some upper minors talent thats more projectable. There are lots of ABs and innings to go around for the Sox and there aren't concerns about prospect logjams (maybe SS but Colson and or Gonzalez may move to 3rd). I'm optimistic about the direction of the farm in the past two years. Hitting on first rounders goes a long way and this draft draft as a whole has gotten solid reviews. I think the international draft will help the Sox with the struggles of non-Cuban IFA as well

The points about the contract difference with Strider and good, and if starting is important enough to Crochet, I could see him signing a team-friendly extension to give the Sox some more incentive to potentially have him spend 2023 and even 2024 building up innings and developing a third pitch. Crochet's injuries are going to cost him in Arbitration so maybe there is some wiggle room there. Strider was a late bloomer (size and talent wise) that had TJ during his sophomore year of college. He changed his arm action and built up his legs, both of which took pressure off of his elbow. When you watch Strider pitch, his 100mph looks effortless, which is crazy for a guy that is 6'0 200. Compare that to Crochet who has great size (6'6 230lb (not Lynn weight but actual muscle) who has absolutely nasty torque. Between the leg kick, the hips, and the arm action, his delivery is somewhat violent. His entire profile reminds me a lot of Hader or Chapman. Randy Johnson had a similar arm slot and similar violent delivery, but there has never been another of him Whether he could or should change his mechanics to take stress off of the elbow is another debate. The way he used his hips and his elbow not only create his velocity but a ton of deception. He hides the ball really well which makes him unhittable at times. I'm not sure that a toned down version of Crochet can have as much value as he would have as high-leverage reliever.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/tickets/season-tickets/full-season-plan An 81 game plan in the 15th row (Platinum Box is rows 11-25) is $6322 for the season. The second ticket ($6322) plus parking ($1396) puts the total up to $14,040, which is $86 per ticket incl. parking. If you move a few rows back it's $5039 a ticket ($70 per ticket per game) and a few sections down the third base line and its $3836 ($56/ticket per game) a ticket.

Sorry I'm late jumping in on this, but this was the biggest surprise on the list to me other than maybe how low Vera was. Kath went from a 40+ to a 35+ based on his performance in A ball in which he was almost two years younger than the competition. The AA experiment was a failure and the strikeouts were horrendous, but thats quite the drop. In general going from one 45+ and four 45 grade players to a 55, 50, and four 45 grade players is pretty solid. Hopefully Schultz becomes the pitcher this system desperately needs.

He was 28 for 81 (.373) with only three strikeouts to six walks against the Sox last year. He was essentially prime Tony Gwynn against the Sox, so good return or not, I'm happy to see him leave.

I would like Grossman personally. He was awful last year, but so was the rest of Detroit's offense. He's a decent defender, a switch hitter, takes walks, and had some pop once upon a time.

For sure. The Cubs offense is bad enough that he'll probably play some DH against righties and Mervis will play first. I don't think the Dansby Swanson pitch included a photoshopped Eric Hosmer trying to pick one of his throws out of the dirt. If Mervis doesnt turn into a player the decision to not extend Rizzo looks pretty bad

1 year 700K for a guy projected to have a 110 wRC+ is a low risk low reward move. The cubs first base options last year were awful and they need some lefty bats in the lineup. Worst case this puts the Cubs 700K closer to the tax. It's not as if the bottom of the 40-man roster is crawling with talent