SoxBlanco

It would not be wise for them to make a statement about payroll expectations. If they come out and say, "We are willing to increase payroll to $150 million", and then they strike out on some big free agents, it will only lead to more disappointment. I think they learned their lesson last year and will just let it play out.

Do players have 3 days or 5 days from the end of the World Series to make a decision on opting out?

You need the Sheets app for it to work on mobile.

Agreed. Let's take a look at another right handed DH as a comparison: Edgar Martinez. In 1995 (age 32), he had a ridiculous .628 slugging. Two years later, the slugging had dropped to .554 (very similar to what we are looking at with JDM). Edgar Martinez went on to post slugging percentages of .565, .554, .579, .543 in the four years that followed during his age 35 to 38 seasons.

If we get Cole AND Wheeler, we could play Adam Engel in RF for all I care.

Fantastic post.

It was a hypothetical situation. Nobody wants to rely on those guys in those spots, and nobody thinks we are keeping Nova for $10 million. There is no question that is not a playoff roster, but the debate was over how many wins that would produce.

Yeah, we're basically on the same page. I guess the real question in terms of what you had an issue with would be this: What would you think our record would be with this roster next year: Lineup: 1. Robert CF 2. Moncada 3B 3. Eloy LF 4. Abreu 1B 5. Collins DH 6. Anderson SS 7. McCann C 8. Leury RF 9. Madrigal 2B Rotation: 1. Giolito 2. Kopech 3. Cease 4. Lopez 5. Nova Bullpen is the same as last year.

I don't "want" it to work any specific way. I admit that it was a very inexact way of looking at things, and I believe poppy is being overly optimistic, but I just don't think it's as outlandish as you were making it sound that those three guys could improve the team by 10 wins. I wasn't saying Madrigal was replacing the DH. I was saying Madrigal was replacing Yolmer (so improving from 1.0 to 1.6), so I was only adding 0.6 there. Robert and Kopech replacing our horrible outfield and 5th starter production could amount to several added wins (yes, like you said, Robert is actually replacing our CF, but either way, he could add a lot more production). Bottom line: Adding Madrigal, Robert, guys like Grandal and a decent RF, Kopech, two more free agent starters, and another bullpen guy could realistically improve this team to 90 wins or so. Nothing is guaranteed, and it completely depends on who we sign, but we should be a playoff contender if we have a good offseason in terms of free agents. Even if guys like Giolito and Moncada regress, we will be adding enough to still be in the hunt for the playoffs.

Thanks, ChiSox. @Balta1701, do you think it’s reasonable for Madrigal to have a 1.6 fWAR, Robert to have a 2.6 fWAR, and Kopech to have a 1.6 fWAR? That would be about 10 extra wins right there.

What were the WARs of Yolmer, our RF throughout the year, and our revolving door of a 5th starter?

How much worse is JDM in the outfield compared to Ozuna?

I love that lineup. I've always said that Anderson will be batting around 7th or 8th when we are really competitive. Trivia question: How many teams in the history of MLB have had the first and second place finisher in the batting title race on the same team, and they were batting 8th and 9th? Answer: One...the 2021 White Sox

So teams are only interested in the guy they draft? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?

JDM has to make that decision a few days after the World Series ends, right?

How do you know they weren't interested in Kelenic?

I would be happy with either guy, but Grandal gives us more flexibility. With Abreu and JDM, you have your 1B and DH locked in for almost every single game. With Grandal, Collins can still be in the mix at C, 1B, or DH. You would basically have 4 guys (McCann, Grandal, Collins, Abreu) rotating three spots, as opposed to the 1B and DH locked in every game without much flexibility. Also, Grandal's left handed bat gives the lineup more balance (not a huge deal in my mind, but certainly some added benefit).

A trade would most likely get us a better right fielder than the free agent options, but would a guy we could get via trade be so much better than a stop gap RF free agent that it would push us to a World Series? And if the answer is no (which is almost certainly is), then why waste any prospects at this point in time? Just sign a guy to a one year deal and see if any of our OF prospects can be our right fielder in 2021. If they can’t, then maybe there is a better RF free agent option next offseason. And if that doesn’t work, then make a trade next offseason. I just don’t see any benefit of a trade right now.

Let all the other teams argue and negotiate over Cole and Strasburg while we swoop in and lock up Wheeler.

It’s a running joke that Ron hates Jose.

Yeah, sorry for not clarifying, but that included Abreu and banking on a buyout for Calhoun. Like you said, it leaves us open to making more moves next season, while addressing some needs this year.

Nice. Thanks for doing this. I had us signing Grandal, Calhoun, Will Smith, Wheeler, and Hill. Total payroll is at 116.7 M.

Stone and Merkin have stated multiple times recently that Cole is not likely. Seems like this was intentional because either... A) We truly aren’t going hard after him and our front office wants to keep expectations in check. or... B) We will make a push for him but our front office doesn’t want another Machado situation where there was such a let down because of the expectations.

I think 7 for $250 gets it done.

Great thread. It reminds me of how many people criticized Hahn about the Sale trade when Moncada was struggling in his first year. "We should have demanded Benintendi...blah blah blah" The hindsight bias that exists on this message board (and every sports message board in the history of message boards) is so ridiculous at times. Bottom line: We had three great cost-controlled assets, and Hahn got a great return for all three. In addition, the extensions we gave them prior to that made them such a valuable trade chip. Hahn deserves a lot of credit for those trades.