Flash

Just spitballing possible lineups in 2020 (or sooner) and, assuming reasonable development and no FA signings or major trades: 1 Basabe (or Gonzalez) CF/LF 2 Madrigal (2B) 2nd 3 Eloy (DH) 4 LH hitter batting 4th to buffer Eloy and Robert so thinking Moncada (3B) vs. RHrs (assuming no Harper) 5 Robert (CF) 6 Rutherford/Adolfo platoon RF 7 Collins/Adley platoon C/1B (If Adley taken, I'd settle for Vaughn at 1B 8 Collins/Vaughn/ yet to be named trade acquisition 1B/Dh platoon 9 Anderson SS Guessing can sell some tickets with that lineup, regardless of the rotation, which should also be formidable and be a fun exercise to forecast

Cubs have issues. Russell poses a huge PR problem and will be hard to trade for comparable value. Bryant struggled last year with injuries that might not be fully mended. One of the guys on the Cubs I liked for the White Sox is Bote...can play 3rd and SS and has some pop. Guessing Bote might be counted on by Cubs to play a lot of innings next season, especially if they dangle Bryant (who I would be suspect of).

I commented in another topic that Sox should seriously consider Jed Lowrie. Guessing 2/yrs. at $12.5/per w/3rd year option. Switch hitter and natural middle IF who has also played third efficiently. Kind of a Zobrist type with more pop (23 HRs and 99 RBIs). Lets see if Yoan can stick at 3rd. If not, Lowrie can cover it. I'm pretty sure I saw he delivered 4.9 WAR last year. Perfect piece for us.

Announcers not overly enthusiastic re: Roberts due to lack of exposure resulting from injuries. He didn't look very patient at the plate. On the other hand, thy were effusive regarding Vlad Jr. ("best hit tool I've seen in last 30 years")

No more tanking. Now its time to begin shaping the roster of the future. Lots of positional questions to answer. Time to begin determining what the ultimate 'steady state' roster/lineup needs to look like and test our current assets against the vision of the future. For instance, is Moncada our future 2nd baseman (or 3rd or CF)? Determining Moncada's future position will help define positional priorities going forward.

So I guess Frazier is out of the question....

Not sure if this goes under this topic but would really like to see Hahn be creative/aggressive re: trades this offseason. Don't know what kind of haul we should expect from a Rodon trade but I'd have to believe the Cardinals might part with either Reyes or Hudson plus Gorman. I'd also consider taking on Dexter Fowlers contract if they would through in Knizner (C).

Forget about Machado and Harper. Noodle on Jed Lowrie for 2yr/25M w/option for yr. 3. Switch hitter w/pop (23 HRs/99RBIs) who can play 2nd or 3rd. Might as well see if Moncada can play 3rd now and Lowrie can be a more than adequate place holder until Madrigal arrives. If not, keep Moncada at 2nd and Lowrie at 3rd. While were' at it, try to pry Greg Bird away from the Yankees...perfect buy-low, change of scenery candidate who is a huge defensive upgrade at first. I'm guessing the Yankees might entertain Yolmer straight-up as IF insurance until Gregorius returns (maybe Glaybar at SS and Yolmer at 2nd). No reason to NT Avi since he is blocking no one and for some odd reason, I think he is gonna come out strong in 2019...if anything, flip him at the deadline. Keep Jose as platoon 1B and DH.

I think Jack and everyone else has reason to be skeptical of the expectations of our young prospects as the raw material for future competitive teams. I would sort our OF prospects as follows... 'A' list - Jimenez; 'B' - Basabe, Gonzalez; 'C' - Rutherford, Adolfo and maybe Call; Incomplete - Robert, Walker. I'm optimistic we will find at least 3 top contributors among this bunch but I'm less enthusiastic than previously re: Robert. IF is another story and I'm more sanguine about some of the kids in the lower minors, such as Sosa, Rivera and Bush than some of the names in Charlotte and Birmingham. I like Madrigal and probably would select him at #4 again in a 2018 draft do-over but there are the obvious concerns. I'm less of a fan of Collins and Sheets but between them, I'll take Sheets as future 1B (although he appears several years away). Not sure what we do with Collins. Burger may yet surprise. We do have some interesting young pitching prospects and I wouldnt object to experimenting with some of our young RP'ers to see if any could transition to SP, especially Tyler Johnson. The way teams use pitchers nowadays is evolving and the traditional role of the SP might soon rely more on the ability to go 2-3 innings then bounce back on short rest. As for the young prospects already on the roster, I wouldn't hesitate to trade any of them. I believe for WS to reach the promised land, we need to be active in the trade market, even if we take on bad contracts in order to get key pieces i.e. Cardinals (Dexter Fowler/Nolan Gorman anyone?). I understand the support for Anderson and Moncada on this board but I just can't project either of them into being key contributors of a highly competitive team from what I can tell today. Not saying we shouldn't stay the course with them since expectations will remain low for 2019 but, if we could get valuable assets in return, I'd do it. Same for Giollito (I think Rizzo, Washington GM knew exactly what they had in Gio and was more than happy to include him in a package for Eaton, which at the time seemed head scrathingly rich). Lopez surprised and projects as a 4-5 rotation arm. We have to ride Rodon to start next season but if his performance is such to net us a huge prospect haul, I'd do it. We just don't have enough talent to run with the big-dogs, despite what we feel the development upside is for current prospects. Just one man's opinion.

What makes you believe this will be the worst year?

There were 27 teams (90% of MLB) better than the White Sox last year. All but 1 or 2 are seeking to improve...nothing remains static. For the Sox to gain ground, they will need performance improvement at virtually every position. Replacement level players won't cut it vs. the Red Sox, Astros, Yankees, Indians, etc. For this reason, the rebuild cannot be over. This is where the FO needs to be creative, such as take on bad contracts, package minor leagues talent, make smart FA acquisitions, etc. I believe this off-season will define the effectiveness of this FO, the results of which will determine the fate and timeline of the rebuild. This will be the hard part.

Thanks....just noticed college prospects. Nice to see Vaughn get some notoriety.

Thanks for posting. Can you share profiles of Witt and Carter Stewart?

My guess is we will all be surprised at what Gray brings in trade and it will be considerably more than the collective view of this board.

100% this.

I agree. I think he was trying to correlate positional thinking system required between 2B (analytical system of brain) and 3B (instinctive system) with attention span (shoutout to Daniel Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow). Its a legitimate point but was poorly expressed.

Carson Fulmer and Kevan Smith ?? Maybe they throw in Kahnle if we include ???

Cashman on record Yankees will seek to trade Sonny Gray. Return expectations wouldn't seem too high. Huge delta between his home vs. away splits suggest there might be change of scenery improvement potential. Wonder what it might take in trade for both Gray and Greg Bird, LH hitting 1B rendered redundant by Voit's performance.

Gray and Sheffield for Rodon?

For what its worth, among high 2018 picks considered to be power hitters, Bart, Bohm and Beer rated 55s and Gorman 60.

Based on MLB.coms rating of the top 100 prospects there are exactly 2 who score higher than 60 for power, Eloy (70) and Vlad Jr. (65).

60 not spectacular???

I believe there will be an opportunity to gain on Cleveland in the Central with a few personnel moves, possibly competing for POs in 2019. Of course everything will need to converge perfectly. That said, unless we have a viable alternative, I'd keep Avi and roll the dice on his returning to 2017 form. He showed flashes between injuries last year. Abreu is another story but I doubt there is a market. Hahn might try to extend him (2yrs at $30M?). At this point, he appears best suited as a DH and platoon 1B along with his clubhouse influence. One player I would be interested in is Greg Bird on Yankees. He is 26 yrs. old and a big defensive upgrade. He struggled last year and was replaced by Voit but he has a big LH bat and might be a change of scenery candidate the Yankees would part with (Yankees can use a back up catcher). I would also move on Donaldson and any/all starting pitchers with potential.

Guessing Vaughn will be a candidate for a position change as a pro. Was a HS shortstop/pitcher who has also thrown a bit at Cal. He appears to have a 3rd baseman build with a strong arm. The WS could use help at 1st and/or 3rd.

Vaughn... Started all 54 games at first base and hit .402, a mark that ranked third in Cal single-season history. Hit 23 home runs to equal the Cal single-season record set by Xavier Nady in 1999. Finished the regular season second in the country in the category. Set a Cal single-season record with an .819 slugging percentage. Also had 63 RBIs, 44 walks, 12 HBP and struck out only 18 times. Ranked fourth in the nation in on-base percentage (.531) at the conclusion of the regular season. Reached base safely in each of the final 35 games of the season and only failed to reach base in two of Cal's 54 games. Also a premier defender at first base, Vaughn earned Pac-12 All-Defensive team honors with a .992 fielding percentage.