Look at Ray Ray Run

If the Sox bring Kopech up immediately following the deadline, he would have a case regardless of everything being presented in this thread as evidence to the contrary. If he dominates AAA in April, then what? If your argument is innings management, it's going to be more difficult to argue that if he's called up at a very convenient time for the organization.

What are you implying? Everyone around baseball seems to think the Sox are going to continue to make substantial splashes. Do you think that's a league wide fabrication?

This is quite the reach. I'm not sure how it's bad to deny something until it becomes final. That seems like a normal way for the FO to do business.

Yeah, I don't think we know enough of the inner workings of the organization to know what's going on here. If Hahn is given a budgeted amount to spend in FA this winter, and he handles the negotiations, it could be that Jerry won't even hear about a deal until it's at it's final stages. If the organization runs everything through Reinsdorf before submitting any bids, then obviously the story would be a complete fabrication. We don't really know how things work, so it's tough to pass judgement, but that seems like a pretty strong denial from the owner of the team.

Villar is a SS and utility guy, and he was claimed so I'm not sure it's safe to say that because the Orioles are cheap as fuck and want to spend no money that Villar is undervalued by baseball. Villar also isn't exactly a beacon of consistency; he has 5 sub 2 WAR season and 2 3+ WAR seasons. Steamer projects him to be a 1.8 WAR player which isn't something people are writing home about.

Yeah, Heyman seems to have an issue with people pushing stories or narratives that he doesn't jive with. I don't really trust anything Heyman says, but these are some damning words from the owner of the team that's for sure. Seems odd that if the Sox were interested in the two that Jerry and Hahn had zero conversations about them though...

Yeah, would seem odd for Jerry to come out and flat out deny it like that.

Sure, but the Sox have said he's 100% healthy and ready to go as well. I understand the argument they would make, and it may hold up for all I know because Bryant may even lose his Grievance - that's the favorite right now - but the Sox need to be careful with these decisions going forward as baseball is clearly at an impasse between the union and the owners on this topic.

Yeah, but the White Sox said he was here to stay.

The signings and price has been low because those players are bad. Schoop? Dozier? Kinsler? These guys are finished. I don't think you can argue that 2nd base is easy to fill when baseball in general struggles to fill the position with above average MLB players. I agree that it's a position you can switch a player into, but in general the position is weaker than SS, 3rd base and the OF in regards of quality big league talent.

Sox own words could come back to bite them on this one. If he was truly ready for the big leagues and here to stay, then what other ready for the big leagues starter is spending 2 months in AAA? Plenty of big leaguers get hurt and don't spend months in the minors to gain a year of control.

Robert is damn near impossible to pitch this way, and Kopech would have a hell of an argument if the Sox bring him up within a week or so of deadline; figure it this way, he was ready enough to be called up for good right before his injury (Sox were quoted at the time saying he's here to stay), and then he recovered fully from the injury by ST. You could argue they want to control innings and limit his risk in the big leagues, but they can't argue that and then call him up a week after deadline. Madrigal I think the Sox would be fine on, as he doesn't have any explosive tools. Robert I don't think anyone could make an argument for him not being ready.

There have been rumblings that this was going to be decided soon. I don't think some realize how big of a deal this ruling is. I don't think Bryant wins, but he has a better chance then anyone before him and this ruling has massive ramifications for the White Sox and the rest of baseball. Assuming they rule on this prior to the start of next season, if it does rule in Bryant's favor the White Sox are better off just starting Robert in the big leagues - same with Madrigal obviously. They likely can't call him up real close to the deadline without losing a grievance and a year of control. I wonder when this is finalized because if the Cubs wanted to trade Bryant this obviously has huge ramifications on their return.

Yeah, they're just giving you a new rundown of their top 30 for each team. They said at the end of the year, that they were done moving guys and they took a lot of questions regarding the Robert situation, and they stubbornly have stayed consistent with their valuation on him.

Yeah, this is my argument as well. His bust potential with his bat is obviously legit as he has some swing and miss, and he hasn't been tested yet so it's hard to conclude how he will adjust. That is a fair take to have, but his BR and defense are elite. He doesn't even need to be a great bat for this to matter. Buxton was just a 2.7 WAR player in 1/2 a season! The point of being a legit 5 tool prospect is that if one of the tools doesn't show up in the big leagues, you have 4+ tools to carry you. The less tools you have, the more carrying power one tool must have, but when you have 3 carrying tools and 2 + FV tools, you've got some security.

Nah, they already did their year end updates on the BOARD. That is where Robert will sit to start next year.

Yeah, I think baseball is infatuated with ceilings; always has been. Robert has a best player in the World ceiling, despite his bust potential. The amount of prospects that have this ceiling is incredibly low. I also find the Robert ranking by FG to be odd. They loved Buxton because his floor was so damn high. Bux was getting sent down when he was on 3 WAR paces solely because his bat hadn't played up. Robert's glove and base running probably make him a 2.5-3 WAR player just rolling out of bed; look at Victor Robles for a comp if he doesn't hit next year. Robert could also, like many incredibly talented players before him, make an adjustment really quickly in the big leagues to his approach and he could dominate from the beginning. He's never really had to change his approach, so it's tough to say whether he can do it or not. That is the big question for Robert. If he does that, you're talking about as elite of a talent as you're going to find around the league and teams are infatuated with that kind of talent.

Their entire basis is because of one player that they overvalued before and looked wrong on - Brinson. It's a stupid way to evaluate a player, but if that's what they want to base their rankings on then so be it. Fangraphs was also higher on Moncada than Law who had him pushed down in the 20th range. At the end of the day, Robert I think is valued much higher (league wide) then that rankings but who knows.

I think the Marlins sold high on Gallen more than they bought low on Jazz but that's just semantics anyway.

As of the last FG's prospect update: Madrigal - 25th Jazz - 28th At the start of the year: Madrigal - 32nd Jazz - 31st Not a huge change, and their FV's are the same so they are classified the same, but Madrigal jumped him with this past season according to them.

So you think he goes up and not down? Certainly possible as he was still 12% better than league average and a 21 year old, but k'rates north of 30 can scare off anyone. Hell, moncada fell in some rankings solely because of his bat to ball skills and he struck out a lot but his batted ball numbers were absurd.

I don't know if he'll fall out, but he just hit 220 with a 33.8% k-rate at AA. He was young, and still was 12% better than league average but I wouldn't be shocked if he felt a bit; not out of the top 100 though.

I never said there was a handshake agreement. I am saying it's plausible the Sox made an offer and Ozuna was going to accept it, and he was flying in today to formalize things. I have no idea either way, but I think it's certainly plausible. This is a sport where people like Katyperrysbootyhole breaks stories.

Again, if you think it's not plausible that a Domincan reporter could get a scoop from a Dominican player then so be it. Jon Heyman is wrong about 95% of the things he reports in the off-season, so I'm not sure why he's being used as an example of someone who knows what he's talking about.

Why is 2nd base easy to fill? Outside of catcher, 2nd base has consistently had the fewest 3+ WAR players in baseball over the past decade. That means to me, that if Madrigal is a 3+ WAR player for the next 7 years he's an incredibly valuable piece.