WhiteSox2023

It won’t happen. This is overthinking.

So true. From $150+ million dollar contract estimates to not being worth $21 million a year and $63 million total if he hits all incentives due to the opt-outs in his deal. Meanwhile, the Sox just gave $20 million plus a potential $2 million dollar buyout to a player no team will give up anything of value for. 🤣

How about Alex Verdugo on a cheap one-year deal coming off a bad year? He has usually hit righties fairly well in his career and I believe he is known for playing pretty good defense in the corners with a strong arm. He’s still only 29 and made $1.5 million with the Braves last year so I doubt he’s in line for a raise after last season. Seems like he would be a better stopgap than Tauchman that could actually stay healthy and may actually net a prospect if he has a good first half, until the eventual Braden Montgomery callup. What other team could potentially give Verdugo starting time in their corners, if Benintendi is truly going to spend most of his time at DH? He probably doesn’t have many options at this point. If Derek Hill can potentially get $900K, Verdugo has to be worth more than that guaranteed. Better than wasting it on another volatile reliever. I’m just done with the old man Tauchman experience. He will get injured again. It’s inevitable.

Let’s be honest. He signed with the team that made him the best offer.

Was going to mention his baserunning but wasn’t going to blame that all on his old age, considering he probably came back too early from that hamstring strain and also tore his meniscus. Either way, he isn’t going to be getting any faster.

Tauchman was limited to 93 games last season due to injuries. He just turned 35 and he is only going to decline further. If he wants to accept a minor league deal, fine.

That’s what I figured. It wouldn’t make much sense for a young team to acquire Pereira and even Kelenic to then give playing time to older players like Tauchman and Conforto that are already nearing retirement.

Having a Murakami Jersey for potentially only 2 years isn’t all that much longer.

Good article. Thanks for sharing. So you think the Sox want to give Kelenic a shot and would only add another cheap outfielder at the level of Tauchman/Conforto?

I wouldn’t be surprised if no team signs him. His strikeout rate is ridiculously low. He’d have to come cheap for a team to take a chance on him an also pay a posting fee.

Hagen Smith needs to learn how to not walk the world, but moving him to the bullpen this early would be a failure.

Just like with Murakami…

This is true to some extent. It is a very player friendly deal, but if you can still get one good year out of him if he truly does pan out and can still give him a qualifying offer and potentially get a draft pick, I don’t see the problem. Now if he sucks, it could be a waste of up to $63 million. My follow-up question would be, what free agent starters out there with the potential to be as good as Imai can be signed for similar money?

Go look at the string of events and NBB’s replies. He totally fell for this Japanese dude’s tweet and made up some BS that there was still some hope for the Sox to sign Imai in his hasty attempt at appearing to know something. Then he realized that this dude was just referencing the original Yahoo Japan article and changed his tune 3 minutes later. That is what happened. NBB didn’t get any communications about the Sox and Imai at 12:45 AM on New Year’s Eve/Day when even Chris Getz is hitting a beer bong for cripe’s sake.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/astros-to-sign-tatsuya-imai.html

You could always sign Imai’s teammate Kona Takahashi. He’s on the same signing deadline as Imai but he’s a year older and doesn’t strike anyone out, so he’ll be much cheaper.

Yep. Dude is a clown and a sham. He didn’t say we got him, but he did waffle and say there was some hope… for all of 3 minutes cuz he bought into some random Japanese dude’s overreaching tweet.

Yep. He basically either gets paid for 3 years if he sucks or gets a chance to opt out each year for a long-term deal if he pitches well.

Framber Valdez replacement..

He was literally swayed for 3 minutes by some random Japanese dude’s mis-worded tweet. He’s fake news.

The dream is dead. Boras client…

When I first read the story, I assumed he was going to be a coach.

I only round up quarter inches to full inches when I am measuring length.

Supposedly he’s 5’11”. Every inch counts when it comes to height and length.

I know your post is in jest but the premise of that article is that the Yankees don’t want another mega contract potentially surpassing $150 million. If that’s truly the number for Imai, Jerry is out as well.