Rounding_Third

They can easily do both with the gap up to $140m,

I could see La Stella getting >=75% of his AB's as DH. Sit him against LHP with Eloy DH and Engel LF.

If predictions are true, La Stella at 2/14 is pretty cheap for what he can do. In essence, 2 players for the price of 1. He's such a perfect Sox fit, can't believe its not done already.

IDK, his numbers digressed the next 2 years. Big K rate, too. Wonder if he had a weakness exposed. Low risk for sure, though.

Yes, according to Bob Nightengale.

Incentive based; low start, highly rewarded.

a sorry

Tommy La Stella DH, 1B, 2B, 3B

Definitely agree about SP is 1st priority. But I think LH DH is pretty close. Our 2020 sub .500 (-4) record against RH starters and our limited # of LH bats is a little concerning. I would rank priority; SP - 1a LH DH - 1b Backup C - 3

Then he wouldn't have used phrases; "would have been" & "would be"; if you replace them with "is" then I agree. As a fan, I hope Vaughn crushes it and creates a great problem for the Sox. But, with my GM hat, I searched roughly 20 of today's best MLB players and can't find any who didn't spend at least one full and/or multiple partial seasons in the minors crushing it before getting their chance; aside from Abreu who built his phenomenal multi-year resume in the highly respected Cuban league. Anything's possible but history emphatically says he plays the entire 2021 in the minors. Right or wrong, GM's are unwilling to jump start that service time clock without a substantial resume. His college stats credit ran out on draft day and he's next level-ground zero (plus a few AB's). And its possible that he could smash .350/.900 and still not get called up, its happened before. They are also grooming him to be the next great Sox 1Bman. Sitting him on the bench as DH doesn't get that done. Not taking anything away from his incredible talent & future; just being realistic about how orgs operate.

Yep, not uncommon among all teams.

Charlotte played 139 games in 2019. 120 games player games is pretty much a full season in the minors with days off. In 2019, Madrigal hit .311 in 120 games and Robert hit ;328 in 122 games and neither saw the show. Both progressed A to AAA so that may account for missed games, as well. You would think that Vaughn would start in AAA.

From December; ‘‘If Andrew had had daily competition outside of what we were able to do in Schaumburg, it would have been evident to everyone that he was ready for next year, if not sooner,’’ Hahn said after the season. ‘‘That was just sort of a mild casualty of the pandemic. But the skills are there; the tools continue to grow. He’s a remarkable hitter, real solid makeup and a guy we envision being part of this thing in the not-too-distant future. ‘‘The only hesitation is that he didn’t get a chance to play 120 games last year against outside competition". Sounds to me like they're not quite comfortable bringing him up just yet.

Sorry but I can't see them starting the MLB clock on Vaughn based on a 50 AB resume in AA ball. There's no history that the Sox would do that. And what a mess if he struggles.

Maybe but safe to say he'll get millions more than Sox willing to pay for backup catcher given their other much more important needs and limited $'s.

Never happen, way tooo expensive for Sox backup catcher. 3 predictions have him $9m, 10m, & 12m.

The Sox just raised the bar on closer $. When they're all signed I think we'll agree they got the best quality per $. Ofc, there be a chicken/egg debate as well. lol

La Stella's got enough savvy and skill to be full time DH when not IF platooning.

Yep, $2m tops. Plenty of choices too. Too bad we missed (Giants) on Casali at $1.5m

Based on Sox history with Madrigal & Robert, I think Vaughn spends a year in Charlotte. 1st choice - La Stella with his multiple roles as DH/utility IF and still get 500+ AB's. 2nd choice - Daniel Murphy has a chance to be very good at a very affordable price.

If $140 target, ~$15 more for SP, DH, @ backup catcher is very doable.

You would have to place him on the team immediately, right? ...and get that suspension out of the way and increase his value. If they don't sign La Stella or another IF, they have their 2 utility IF's. If they sign another FA IF, have no IF injuries, and Beckham's out of options then they trade or release him. If he has option(s) left, got to send him down. I would hope they wouldn't play that option game with Mendick to appease Beckham, assuming Mendick isn't struggling big time.

They not in the same category; next level down, at best.

There's only 2 quality closers left, right? Colome and Hand? With at least a half dozen teams looking for closers, including the friggin Dodgers, I think Colome is going to sign for just a couple $m under Hendriks. No proof just thinking logically. If true, give me Hendriks for a little more.

is he out of options to minors so they'd have waive him if they kept Mendick up?