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ABS {anyone but Sheets}.

45 million dollar contract? Lol

I’m not comfortable at all waiting to the deadline. If all offers are crap, then you really have no choice, but waiting on perfection is a really bad idea IMO.

Rafaela is a R/R undersized player who doesn’t walk. I bet the Red Sox want to trade him for Dylan Cease. After putting up historically low walk rates in a 101 loss season, I hope to God Getz is prioritizing pitch recognition/swing decision skills in all prospects acquired this offseason. Rafaela is the OF equivalent of Popeye Rodriguez.

Rentals are expiring deadline acquisitions, not 2 years of cost control with qualifying offer compensation if acquired this season.

If they prioritize anything it has to be up the middle players. SS, SP, C, CF. Shirley obviously knows this and now that the biggest impediment in the draft room has finally been removed we will see White Sox drafts looking very different going forward.

2 years IS controllable. A team could immediately flip the player, trade the player at the upcoming season’s trade deadline, trade the player during the next year’s offseason, or trade the player at the next year’s trade deadline. That’s 4 total chances to move a player, which is definitely “controllable”.

Depends how old the lamb is.

To me, the TLR emoji means pure bewilderment.

I'm sure buyers at the deadline will be glad to know that players with contracts expiring after the remaining half of a season will apparently cost the same as folks with two years since well they are both "rentals"

I understand why orioles fans want to include Ortiz in a trade for a pitcher, but a guy who is going to be 26 before he reaches 500 AB’s doesn’t really make sense for the White Sox. Kjerstad, Norby, Beavers and a pitcher like De Leon/Baumler

Part of why this is even a point of discussion is how the draft has worked out around the #1 pick. you’ve got a clear and deserving non QB who some people would say should go number 1 even if a team has no QB. The kid could be that good. You’ve got 2 clear top QBs. You’ve got the #2 and #3 drafting teams needing QBs, as well as other teams like the Raiders. If they want to guarantee they get a QB, the number 3 team has to move up, and they can’t let the Raiders jump past them. If the number 2 team wants their pick of the QBs, they have to move up to do so. If you want to trade down and take the WR, the draft has worked out perfectly to do so. You’re even set up to trade down twice if you’re that nuts.

It’s definitely a tough decision. To even be in this position, where we have the number one pick (plus DJ Moore, plus 25’ 2nd rounder) with a team just outside of playoff contention, says a lot about how this trade has worked out in our favor. Poles deserves credit there.

I have no idea what they should do anymore…which is awesome. Yesterday was just incredible. The hard part with Fields to figure out is he’s still so explosive. He does push it downfield, or try to, he does have huge game changing runs. Usually when QBs are inconsistent they also are just boring. And so yesterday you see that and it’s hard not to think about just adding these big weapons. And yet it still hangs over how when the big plays are taken away…can he execute enough? I don’t really know, but it does feel painful to think about trading this guy away. I have been thinking about one combo that keeps fields but hedges…that would be JJ McCarthy. He seems like a good candidate to sit and develop, and wouldn’t be drafted high enough to be such a distraction. I also wonder if we could get Fields to sign a Jordan Love type deal in that scenario.

Josh Allen’s career QB eating is 92.1 and it’s hung between 92 and 96 the last 3 years. He hasn’t been able to get over the hump, but that literally came down to one coin flip. So while yes, I wanted to see more from Fields this year, especially at the start of the season, I’m not sure I’m dumping him yet, if I can still add MHJ and also another trove of high draft picks.

So which QB this year is guaranteed to be that since you know they are?

f*** Bob Nightingale, but let's be honest, f*** Jerry Reinsdorf for putting him up to it.

To be fair, Frobby has been a reasonable poster. Don’t indict him with Sports Guy’s arrogance. I don’t think he intended to post an article from an Orioles’ fan on Fansided. I’m choosing to believe he was focusing on the “SI” portion.

Love that not even finishing seems to be an implied option for the White Sox...

Bears trade Fields for a 2nd rounder, trade their first for 3 more picks, and draft Penix with their 2nd pick.

Penix Jr. looks outstanding tonight. I love watching this kid play. He could end up being a real steal for some team.

Yep, I’d be more worried about a mediocre performance just because the team is so bad. Defense will be better behind him, but losing a ton with no fans in attendance can deflate a player.

I do wonder if last years trade being as big a disaster as it is will temper the enthusiasm for big trade ups. It didn’t work for San Fran. It didn’t work for Carolina. I think a smaller trade up from Wash/NE is more likely.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Ortiz doesn’t have value…but you just described a lot of the reasons for not wanting him. It’s mostly just about upside. The White Sox are far away from filling holes with solid players. We should be in the acquire as much talent with upside as possible and sort it out in 2 years stage. Hell, you guys can keep both Ortiz and Norby honestly. Beavers and Horvath probably interest me more. Kerjstad, Beavers, Horvath and DeLeon I would consider but would hope another team could beat. Anything less and I’ll roll the dice on Cease being able to string together 10 good starts to start the season

I was OK with him as a second piece if you get a LH savage bat as the first piece, but the fact that the Orioles fans here are trying to push him on us is kind of a red flag to me, so now I'm now concerned he could end up like Madrigal here (not in the sense that he's a midget egotistical slap hitter but rather just the bust concern in general). I need to see @Frobby etc. putting up some resistance to giving him up so I can feel better about him.

I’m always wary of using words like “elite” because some folks are more liberal using that word than others, and you never know exactly until the guy is playing in the majors. But in the minors, Ortiz was considered the best defensive SS in our system, which is saying something given that he was on the same team as Gunnar Henderson a good deal of the time, and Gunnar is a pretty good damned SS. So, we’ll see, but at a minimum I’m expecting him to be above average for a major league starting SS. Offensively, I don’t know that I’d call a guy with a .904 OPS in 504 PA at AAA light hitting, but I’m definitely not expecting him to lead with his bat. Honestly, I could see scenarios where Ortiz is the Orioles’ starting SS, with Gunnar at 3B and Holliday at 2B. But it’s not the most likely scenario given we also have Westburg, Mateo and Urias.

While he was never elite, Tim Anderson in 2020-2021 was a solid, slightly above average fielder. No amazing tools but DRs, UZR, and OAA all Say the same thing those years. He collapsed in 2022 for reasons we still don’t understand. It all started right around the time where his “personal issues” started hitting Twitter - there was a game with the Guardians, Keuchel was on the mound, and all of a sudden the entire White Sox infield forgot how to infield. Anderson had 3 errors, Abreu had 1 and iirc there was another play by someone that could have been an error. Keuchel publicly commented on his defense after the game and the White Sox immediately started an 8 game losing streak - Anderson was terrible in the field for much of that, I think he had a couple more errors. I remember joking that the Mon-Starrs had stolen the infields baseball abilities, it was so bad and such a sudden collapse from those guys, Anderson in particular. There was probably more going on behind the scenes than just Anderson and an affair going public based on how the whole team flatlined, this was where you could really see that LaRussa was completely lost. That said, Anderson was a bloody mess in the field in 22-23, but was perfectly fine before that. Not elite, but fine. With Montgomery and Ramos coming up, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical about the White Sox needing a defense first SS right now. A SS who is adequate defensively and elite with the bat is fine by me and hopefully that’s Montgomery.

And the threat to do so isn’t unreasonable at all. Those teams have to know the Bears will be sizing up Fields vs. Williams and Maye also. If Poles were to decide to go with Williams I certainly wouldn’t call it a mistake on paper, so if Washington wants one of these two QBs they can’t low-ball any offer to the Bears.

Right now I’m picturing Ryan Poles in 2028 with 9 first round picks.

IMO - if they decide to go with MHJ they also need to come out of this with a couple of extra picks again. E.G

Again, I said I don’t believe that Fields is the guy. However if they decide to throw the chips where they may fall with Fields then they absolutely have to get MHJ. I know it’s a crapshoot which QBs are available but it seems like every season there is one looking for a soft landing spot with a team ready to go. It’s not my ideal scenario

Finally seeing the light? Dude, go back and read literally every comment I’ve made in this thread. I’ll wait.

Thank you for finally seeing the light. This is the selling point that is part of the presentation that asks for 1 top 30, 1 top 100, 1 future MLB player just out of the top 100, and a lotto ticket. And leakers have already been leaking that teams are thinking this out loud.

I will point out that I said "prospects."

I don’t claim to be an expert on the BoSox prospects, but Rafaela would be a very underwhelming main piece for Cease based on scouting reports I’ve read. Diminutive glove first RHH. The glove does sound awfully nice, and I would not be opposed to acquiring him as the 2nd piece, but I am not trading Cease to BoSox without them dipping into their top two prospects.

Ehhh I'm coming from the standpoint that this franchise is likely a decade out anyway from any sort of relevance and if we're not really getting needle movers for Cease then what's the point? May as well roll the dice on an awesome first half and see if you can get someone's actual top prospects. No one should be untouchable for a guy like Cease, especially if he returns to 2022 form. May as well give him that chance.

Good...let's just keep him.

Paul DeJong, Nicky Lopez, Martin Maldonado? Yeah, we don’t care about that.

I think it worked out pretty well they traded the pick. I get your position. I just think the Bears maximize their offseaon haul trading the pick, and if Fields doesn't get better, he's at least not terrible, they would probably have 2 high firsts and at least 2 high seconds in 2025 which would be more than enough to get them at the top of the draft again.

If the Bears don’t draft Caleb with the first pick, they absolutely have to draft MHJ. I don’t think Fields is the guy, but if they want to flex the 5th year option then you have to get Marv. At the very worst, if Fields busts out next year then the Bears have a very ready made offense for either a free agent QB or whoever they would draft

I bet Fields QBR goes up next year if the Bears add Maserati Marv to the mix. If he plays like he played yesterday in playoff games, he’s definitely good enough to win a Super Bowl. I get everyone’s feeling from both sides, but I think the point about the Bears , if they didn’t draft a QB this year, worst case scenario being pretty set with draft capital because of it, to draft one next year.is spot on. It worked pretty well this year. They have Moore, Stevenson, Wright, the first pick this year, and a second next year. They get a similar haul for this pick, and all their bases are covered. I did read an article a few weeks old where ex NFL GMs said Fields would only get the Bears a second or third rounder. The talent is there. I agree he is inconsistent, but he has thrown some unreal balls, and his legs are such a weapon. Maybe I’m drinking the kool aide, but this team isn’t far away from being really good.

I was watching MLBN a month or so ago and they had Ted Simmons on. A HOF catcher back in the era guys through 250 innings a year. Also was a long time executive. He said if he were running a team today he would limit pitchers to 10 batters an appearance. It’s hard to believe you could go through an enitire season like that, but we may be heading that way. I’m sure some team will experiment with 2 or 3 bullpen games a week soon.

Amazing how we actually have recent proof that a worse pitcher with less control brought back more and yet some posters are still clueless to reality.

I hope the exclusive on the Grifol extension will be worth it.

So I get people questioning the rookie class - but I don’t get the Fields defense: Meanwhile - in 3 NFL seasons - Justin Fields consistently makes routine throws look difficult. We talk about his downfield passing attack - yet the Bears rank 27th in downfield passing advanced stats (despite having Moore). And we can knock Mooney but Fields has consistently missed Mooney down the field. Point blank - Fields has shown one thing - he is a mediocre to poor NFL passer, a hard working dude, and a stellar physical athlete at the position. Unfortunately the poor NFL passer hinders everything else and you really can't win consistently without making massive strides. Oh and by the way - this is the same knock he had coming out of college and why he fell in the draft (as teams worried how Fields couldn't show the progression progress in his final season at OSU). Why we as Bears fans like to make excuses for Fields and not hold him accountable is beyond me. But reality is - this is a guy who outside of a few games has consistently looked like a poor passing NFL QB with elite athleticism. If it weren't for the elite athleticism he would have been benched a year ago and been talked about like Zach Wilson (who is a historic bust). Him and Lance are why I would never go early on a small school QB. If you listened to Mark Sanchez the last 2 weeks - you could hear it in his announcing. He toes the line and I get it, its Mark Sanchez, but lets not forget that he knows a heck of a lot more than us. Sanchez was consistently showing Fields being off rhythm and off timing. And no - I don't think Getsy is a very good OC - but I think a really good QB can make a mediocre OC look good more so than a really bad OC can make a top notch QB look bad. Read that a few times - I think a good OC can absolutely help - but Fields has flat out looked BAD as a passer for 3 years. I think at best a good OC could make him look decent - is decent really what we are striving for. And I get it - if I were the Falcons or someone else - I might take a shot and see what could happen and design an entire offense around him, but with the Bears being where they are - they don't have to take a Hail Mary at Fields, they have a ton of options.

Um, no. There is nothing about this that makes me smile. In any way.

Trevor Bauer settled his case with his accuser. Does he look any closer to playing in the MLB in 2024?