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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.

Actually he was sound defensively in 2022. Good power. Can always use more of that. But him for Crochet who probably won't be pitch til July or August is laughable. Levine can speculate all he wants but I wouldn't even rank his speculation or ideas for trades equal to some of the best fans here.

1st of all you could have read the article to see the Braves are on the list. What I said is to assume that with so many of the MLB teams represented in that list that most of them are doing underhanded things and that the only reason the Sox aren't on that list is because they are one of the only teams with scruples is BS. Plenty of these 25 teams are more than likely not getting commitments 2 years in advance. Since the Braves are on that list and ,as you say, they were embarrassed, then it stands to reason they would be one of the teams now doing things the right way. The Sox not being one of the teams represented is garbage. They have sucked in the DR forever.

Maybe he's one of those half dozen guys already committed to signing in 25/26.

And you should be annoyed. This is the Fangraphs article on the 2023 Int'l amateur class https://blogs.fangraphs.com/board-update-2023-international-amateur-prospects/ It's basically a ranking of the top 33 guys. All are slated to receive $2M+ . 25 of the 32 teams are projected to sign those 33 players . Of those 25 teams 8 of them are projected to sign 2 of those players (Dodgers, Cubs, AZ, CLE. ,Minn., TOR., Hous., and BOS. ) The Sox are among the 7 teams not on that list . I'd venture to guess that a certain amount have had commitments for a couple of years now , but to suggest that the majority of them have had commitments for a while is saying most of the teams are doing underhanded things the Sox aren't doing is BS. The average age of these players looks to be about 17 years old. It appears as if either the Sox aren't signing anyone for $2M or if they are they don't appear to be high in the rankings. I know it is difficult to rate these players so Longenfeld is basing it on the bonuses and then scouting the players after he knows what their bonuses are going to be. Over 50% of these players are from the DR.

Right, I agree, all things I brought up when addressing a 2 year contract and Leury and the cost of Andrus just for a year given the Sox will spend as little as possible to address needs. Of course in a perfect world Leury would be the one hoping for a minor league deal and an invite to ST. Still hoping he get's Keuchel'd but then we're right back to the Sox spending as little as possible now, if that is indeed the case.

Can we add a 4th choice of I'm done with talking about anything TLR related ? That might've been the poll winner.

2023 WHite Sox hopes, wondering if Hamilton's leg's and glove and Leury Garcia can be used on a 26 man roster that only has 4 position player bench pieces where 2 of the 4 will be a 4th OF, and a catcher . f*** HR's !

Except Biggio still has 3 years of eligibility left and as you said is LH and Toronto needs their LHH's so he wouldn't be as cheap as you think. Espinal isn't a FA until 2027. Sox aren't exactly flush with LH minor leaguers or pitching depth in the minors so finding a way to pry Biggio from the Jays seems difficult. Between Merrifield, Espinal and Biggio they have depth at a lot of positions . If they gave up anyone it would be Merrifeld the oldest and most expensive of the 3 and ChucK Garfien would be very happy.

Who should start ? I can't find a reason for Romy to start or Leury . That leaves Sosa or someone not yet on the team.

You're a reasonable guy. Offensive production all around baseball was bad last year. I don't know how much the new shift rules will help but I don't understand how Andrus on a 1 year deal is blocking anyone. Popeye isn't ready. Romy looked legit in 2021 in Birmingham for 400 AB's and for 15 games in Charlotte but expecting a .700 OPS from him seems farfetched given his setbacks in the minors in 2022. Sosa is capable of that and I sure as hell hope that he hits the dickens out of the ball in ST if no one else in brought in. Romy could surprise us too if 2021 wasn't a mirage. It's just very hard to know what to expect from those guys because their track records were kind of skewed by missing 2020. All we have to go on with Romy is a very good year in the AA in 2021. I don't see how this argument about Andrus as depth and with his hitting being on par with Leury's going back to 2018 means anything. Leury doesnt even have a career War total to match what Andrus did in 1 year which is the most recent sample from 2022. The aggregate of Andrus skills as a total player dwarfs Leury's skills unless the ability to play a lot of positions badly means that much to you. But so be it. With a good organization that would spend some money we wouldn't even be having these petty arguments about who's the best slug to start and backup at 2nd base. Depth be damned lets go Leury ,Romy and Sosa !

Pretty unlikely anyone signs him for 2 years at his age and offense prior to 2022. No one will think he can get 3.5 War again but a solid 2.0 WAR could still be in the cards for him with regular playing time .Plus if he plays 2nd base it's likely he won't be getting the same defensive high marks he did at SS. Anyway here's an article on Fangraphs from 9/20/2022 that searches for answers about why Andrus did so well with the White Sox. Hint: Doesn't look like he found any real answers. Most Sox fans who enjoyed watching Andrus last year will enjoy this article. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/elvis-lives/

Looks like he robbed Benintendi 3 times on this highlight reel. Also Tim got doubled off 1st on a nice grab. Eloy robbed also. Not sure how old most of these are but he's still a very good fielder.

He's still very fast and has one of the best arms in baseball. Right now he's our best option for 4th OFer.