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Hector Gomez says the Giants are eyeballing Sanchez

It's always necessary for teams that cry poor at inopportune times to sell off a piece every now and then. You can't let players walk for nothing even in the middle of windows. It's just too hard for teams to build through the draft. It's a little easier to scout players already into their pro careers than amateurs. Players have a finite shelf life and for fans letting go of them is hard. It just seemed so obvious that the Sox might have to trade Hendriks to gain some traction in other areas.. One of their few strengths may have been RP although that is certainly an area that is difficult to gauge. Fan reaction here seemed around 50/50. Many didn't want to trade Hendriks even though Lopez appeared as ready to handle the closer role as anyone could be. Now we will find out.

From the article: "We’ve now had a few years of the current hard-capped bonus pool system, and it’s become clear that some teams habitually over-commit pool space that they neither have on hand nor have the capacity to trade for. Those teams will then triage prospects later in the process and nix whichever verbal deals they see as the least favorable. Again, verbal agreements are sometimes made a couple of years in advance of a player actually being eligible to sign, a phenomena that tends to happen most often with top-of-the-market prospects. Because just a few months of physical development can be quite meaningful for such young athletes, prospects have a tendency to change a lot between when they make a handshake deal with a team and when they actually sign. Teams will sometimes renege on their agreements if they think the player has regressed, or if one of their other commitments has progressed enough that the team feels compelled to up their offer to prevent another club from swooping in with more money “late” in process, closer to signing day. Players have little to no recourse when this happens, though that might change depending on the outcome of a recently-filed lawsuit in the Dominican Republic. According to a source, testimony in that case was heard last week, and we may soon learn more about its outcome and subsequent fallout." As far as what you said about player reps prefer to do business elsewhere in the future, that is a balancing act. They know how the game works. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Reps from other teams do the same thing. In poor countries reps of players cannot afford to be picky. You have to remember anything you hear in a podcast will often paint a rosier picture such as oh no we never break verbal agreements when in fact it does happen because MLB jobs are on the line and things can change, a player gets hurt, others advance more in a given year etc.

Not sure what long game moves you are talking about. Those only occurred during the rebuild. The Sox have pretty much always in Reinsdorf's ownership played the short game . You always have to play the long game but that includes getting better in the IFA market and drafting and developing better . When you have more depth because of that, it makes you better at the short game filling holes internally. If the Sox long game was actually good as you suggest you would think they'd be in contention a lot more in a crappy division than they have been.

. fWar has him 2.9 fWar in his whole time with the Sox . You're using bWar from the years where he had more PA's to accumulate his best War years than in 2022. 2017, 326 PA ,1 fWar ; 2019, 618 PA, 1.7 fWar ; 2021, 474 PA, 1.8 fWar. One could draw the conclusion that Leury has usually been better the more he's been used instead of that he was overused by TLR thus leading to his bad year in 2022. Perhaps he was hurt a lot. Leury is the poster boy because in his short time with the Sox TLR wielded way too much influence and his star guys like Leury and Kelly sucked the most. The Sox spent money on Leury and Kelly, put 1st basemen in the OF and ignored our LH hitter needs for 2 years. There's just a whole lot that went bad last year . We have quite a few poster boys . People around here were suggesting Giolito would be non tendered, that TA screwed up a good thing and the Moncada contract is a huge albatross .2019 is so long ago for him that people now just hope he can repeat 2021 with above average defense and a .375 OBP. Very few expect Yoan ever to slug .500 again .

I understand where you're coming from but if you are talking about Montgomery being ready in 24 that's putting an awful lot of faith and a guy who hasn't had a full season in Birmingham yet. Hes still got 2 levels of the minors to go. Unless he slays AA and gets promoted to Charlotte and also slays there for a another 50 games I'm having trouble buying into that timeline when he'll be only 22.

TBH I don't think Jazz is available. Marlins want hitting. Trading a possible 5 War player doesn't help them. I just thought it odd that adding Jazz and removing TA somehow makes the Sox worse in a one to one scenario .

So you're saying TA will have a better year than Chisholm ? Or is it SS is more important. TA wasn't missed when Andrus stepped in . Straight up trade I think most of the board takes Jazz just for his cheap years and longer term usage. It would be so lopsided there's no way Marlins would take TA for Jazz.

I think most trade solutions went out the window when they signed Benintendi. As of right now I see no trade that they can make unless it means taking on more salary and if we view Moncada and Grandal as unmovable. And if they are going to take on more salary you can just sign Duvall and let 2nd base ride as is. Now you also have the unenviable task of how to replace Liam. It's a mess. Jazz is a pipe dream. The next guy out of Miami is Pablo Lopez because the Marlins want hitting. Giving up Jazz isn't going to help their hitting.

Don't be surprised if that happens !

All those things can only happen if Alberto sticks around in AAA. If he's gone on May 1, that's not close to enough time to see the things you want to see.

Any time we talk about doing anything it's always the FO sucks. Do you trust them to rebuild since they screwed up the 1st one? Do you trust them to trade for veterans . No. Do you trust them to trade the small amount of prospects we have ? Umm no . That's why we are playing GM. But you can't give up on 2023, the money's committed in it's limited way. The Sox seem pretty stuck unless they can find a taker for Grandal or Moncada. Without Liam it might be over before it's begun They did use FA for the short term but they shot their wad on Benintendi and Clevinger. I don't see a way out for them to fill remaining holes. FA's cost money and guys in trade have salaries not likely to be offset by anyone we give up. Right now it's Sosa, Romy, Marisnick . Things got ugly for the Sox before the season even started . With Miami wanting hitting for Pablo Lopez I see almost no scenario that entices the Marlins to part with Chisholm. Right now the Sox are trying to create depth through NRI guys hoping that some stick around in AAA while others may walk after a certain amount of time.

Still don't get why they can't play the short and the long game. Unlike many here you don't think the Sox can make the playoffs in 2023. Many also think it might be our last chance for a long time to be in the playoffs because the minors is so bereft of talent and because of the starting pitching we are likely to lose after 2023. Since when has the long game worked for the Sox ? I don't see how they will have more talent in the 5 years following 2023 than they do now. We don't even have a clue how the long game would proceed since JR might not be around for any long game.

I think he can be elite. That 2.6 came in only 60 games and he could've been playing with a torn menicus AND a stress fracture in his back. If you are going to get him the time might be now before he actually puts up a 4-7 War season. After all if he becomes as injury laden as Eloy and Robert have been, that's very devastating when your top talent can never show it. It's hard to even imagine the Sox having a healthy Robert and Eloy in the same season and what that might've meant to the 2021 and 2022 White Sox. He's got all the tools, Speed, defense, power, LH. The only knocks on him is his arm, injuries and swagger ( if that's even a problem). I do think he has to tone down his act a little but only with umps. Stay on their good side. Shake up the team . Make a blockbuster for him and Pablo Lopez. Montgomery, Moncada ( plus pay part of his salary) Kopech and how ever many other spare parts you need to throw in among Romy, Sheets, Burger , Crochet, Sosa, Cespedes, Popeye, Vera, etc. even some of the guys who had good DSL seasons, seven or 8 guys for those 2. Marlins have pitching but they need hitters. The question is do they feel they can compete with their pitching staff and would they want MLB talent, close to MLB talent, or a mix.

As I said in my original posts the rankings are very subjective and the fact that Guanipa is 6th ranked in this one just means he got a $2M+ bonus and then was ranked according to what Longenhagen thought were the top players among those who got 2M+. I think there are teams that follow the rules ,not just the Sox but I think It's an easy excuse to use for when they fail to go after top DR talent on a consistent basis. I supposed the real question is just how many teams are getting verbal commitments a couple of years in advance ? If we take Guanipa for example, just because he didn't sign at 16 doesn't mean he didn't already have a verbal commitment to sign at 17. However it is a risk for him to do that because verbal commitments don't mean squat if the team thinks he regressed from one year to the next. Teams will pull out of verbal agreements if they think the money will be better spent elsewhere and the player is now competing with another group of players. Maybe he could've got $500K when he was 16 but someone said we'll pay you $2M if you wait and we see sufficient dedication and growth. Of course if the player waits he could get more from another team also so it's not just the teams that renege on verbal agreements.

I edited my post but the main crux said any of the guys you mentioned without Montgomery and you can expand it to make it a blockbuster. Not that I expect you to like including Moncada and Kopech but I'd include Mongomery to get those 2, Jazz and Lopez. Might as well think big for some top young talent.

Seems like a lot for a guy with all of 800 Career PA's . Start with offer for way less excluding Montgomery. Not that they would bite on that but I'd throw as much as possible at them including Burger, Sheets, Crochet and any of those you mentioned. He has tremendous talent but also had a stress fracture in his back and torn meniscus surgery and didn't play after June 28th. But if you get the feeling Miami may undersell him work on it for a month if you have to.He has had a fair share of injuries. He's a good personality , very accessible , not outspoken ,seems to be grateful for everything . Jazz can be a 6/7 WAR guy if he stays healthy. Ok I'm going to edit this to say I'd trade Moncada too and pay part of his salary to get him .Hell make it a blockbuster and ask for Pablo Lopez too and trade Kopech.

Good for the Twins !

I had actually said the next move had to be for a reliever when the Hendriks trade stuff was running rampant in order for them to be proactive and have a replacement reliever already in the fold first in case all the talk about trading Hendriks or another reliever was true. Right after I said it they picked up the guy from the Giants but I was hoping for someone with a way better track record.

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Prime is different for every player. Traditionally prime was maybe 26-31 or 32. But the super talented have primes that start younger. We probably already missed a couple of Eloy prime years due to injury.

I didn't participate in the poll just the thread ! ?

Quite the optimistic take on Sosa and Popeye. Vaughn's been around 2 years and he hasn't put up those numbers yet. The Sox are going to have a lot of work to do on the starting pitching staff in 2024. But won't happen anyway. Sox arent spending a player or paying Torres salary. They can't even find a 4th OF who can play CF yet that they are willing to pay for.

Is there such a thing ?

Merrifield also had a hot September finished with 1.5 fWar, Torres 2.7, Andrus 3.5. Kemp 1.5, Escobar 2.3. Andrus is the only one that would only cost money. The rest have higher salaries than Andrus is likely to receive except Kemp and all would also cost a player. The Sox are going to sit tight for a while on 2nd base and see if anyone worthwhile gets released which isn't likely.