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No , not really Katz was recently talking about how Lopez really likes the challenge of being a late innings reliever. That's the reason why I've been suggesting trading Hendriks. Just put Rey in at closer. Probably won't get you Hendriks like results but Hendiks might be the only guy capable of netting you a decent return that could net you a LH MLB ready OF and something else if they expand the trade a little it to include one of our prospects.

I mentioned Varsho as one of my targets last year and he responded with a career year. Really solid offensive and defensive player . Good power still only 26.

Nice he got another year . Who would've thunk it ?

Isn't it unusual that there's nothing in Future Sox about our guys in Winter Ball ? Where are you getting game results from ? Just from your post I can see Perez already played 32 games with Margarita in the VEWL. Not sure that Venezuelan Winter League even has a AAA talent level but he is doing fairly well. But he is playing against older competition . Probably seeing some Venezuelan crafty vets.

Agreed probably a few guys in the $1-$5M million range for the pen. Sign them trade Hendriks. Sox need to trade some guys while at their peak once in a while when the farm sucks, especially when the Diaz contract is making Hendriks look more enticing. They can go for MLB ready or guys in AA.

Exactly. If you notice this about Reynolds from the story: "....having played just 13 games with Triple-A Indianapolis. During a breakout rookie year in 2019, Reynolds hit .314 with an .880 OPS across 134 games, with 37 doubles, four triples, 16 home runs and 68 RBIs,.." Colas has had 7 games in AAA and is perfectly capable of having the same type of year as Reynolds did his rookie year. Pay way more and get less years when you may just get Reynolds type production from Colas through his pre arb . Put some faith in the guy who has shown in just one season in the minors he has All-Star talent all while adjusting to the states and missing his family. Colas wanted to be a White Sox so such he waited longer so the Sox could sign him.

You reap what you sow. Don't invest in scouting and development, don't go after that many Int'l guys under 18 , trade away money and on and on.

Same thing I was thinking. Nimmo us Jerry ! yea right !

The Disney money is burning a hole in the pockets of owners and GM 's now. They got it and they're spending it.

Everything you're counting on this year to compete involves big risks but the Sox need money and they backed themselves into a corner handing out too much money to guys like Kelly in the BP. Unfortunately you sometimes have to pay for your mistakes by giving up a tradable player near his peak. If a lot goes right and they need BP help there's always the trade deadline. It It's all up to the guys from last year to stay healthy and perform better. By this time the Sox were supposed to have 4 or 5 guys better than ABreu but they haven't done so yet. The risk is will they ever do it all in the same year. That's what we are waiting for.

It's almost better that Hahn does next to nothing than do too much. He's terrible with veteran acquisitions. He does better trading for minor leaguers with his top notch talent. He should pretend the Sox are selling off pieces for an on the fly rebuild. Hendrik's will be the only guy traded off which could produce results. I think Colas has a bright future and Outman may also. I keep talking about him but the Dodgers may have big plans for him this year without Bellinger and Gallo also gone. Trace Thompson and Chris Taylor aren't exactly world beaters. Betts of course is still there and Dodgers making a big push for Judge would help but we're hearing more about the Giants and Yankees more than the Dodgers lately in that regard. https://dodgersway.com/2022/09/28/dodgers-james-outman-explains-power-surge-incline-podcast/

There goes TB's Disney money. Maybe the Sox will spend more but on what ? I think I prefer that they might be forced to go with younger guys in trades instead of relying on Hahn's miserable record in trades and FA's Adam LaRoche, Jeff Samardzija, David Shields, AJ Pollock, Edwin Encarnacion, Melky Cabrera, Adam Eaton, Wellington Castillo, Kelvin Herrera. His record on guys under $5M dollars has been even uglier but propped up in recent years by Rodon , McCann and Cueto.

The two logical choice are Hendriks or Graveman. They have too much money in the bullpen. The recent contract the Mets gave Diaz for $20M per year might make Hendriks contract more palatable for some teams. There is some concern about his arm that might lower a return but I've been recommending an MLB ready OF like James Outman of the Dodgers . They can see if the could get another minor league pitcher also from the Dodgers if the Sox also throw in a prospect. It's certainly risky to put 2 Rookies in the OF but Colas is a natural RF with a nice arm. Outman in LF or CF and perhaps move Robert to LF to ease the strain on the complete tear of the left hip flexor . He just wasn't the same guy defensively in 2022 and a move to LF may re-energize him. Outman is a very good defender with an arm equal if not better than Colas. We'd certainly get much better defense in the OF. Both being LHH's provides them with an opportunity to face mostly RHP. Both have big time power also and the new rules with shifts will also help them and in Outmans case, the new pickoff rules could help both him and Robert steal bases easier. Depending on what they have to spend you could replace Hendricks with Lopez as the closer and fill out the BP with other guys . The core guys have to be kept healthy and bounce back no matter what if the Sox are going to contend. If they can stay healthier and produce, the better OF defense should be very helpful. Obviously no matter what the Sox do they are taking risks on either rookies or some expensive OF many of whom are also bounce back guys. Right now the risk is higher with the more money you spend and only a year or two of production, which is why I'd rather roll with the rookies. If the Sox can hang in the race til the trade deadline, they can reassess the areas of need. Saving money on Rookies gives the team a brighter future and the ability to spend more money at the trade deadline if the core can stay healthy and guys bounce back. If they don't then no matter what the Sox do this off season they won't contend. Even if they can pry Outman away from the Dodgers and have big plans for Colas the Sox just may keep Colas down to gain the extra year. They would need another OF but I don't expect Conforto, Gallo or Bellinger. Perhaps David Peralta on a 1 yr deal who is much better against RHP than LHP . Most of the Sox players coming off bad years are worth more to the Sox than they are to the rest of baseball so I can't see many trades unless they just go psycho which isn't their style. It'll be a pretty quiet off season and we'll just have to wait and see how the guys that need to play better and be healthier perform. It's a long list, Lynn, Kopech, Giolito, Robert , Eloy, Moncada, Grandal, Anderson all have to step it up a notch.

I was thinking that you would tell me Pepiot was the centerpiece ! I think Colas and Outman are ready to rock and roll. They both might have 30%+ K rates but I'll take the defense and power since they will both be facing RHP the majority of times they bat. Extra money for the pitching staff.

The Dodgers put more resources into scouting and development than just about anyone. It's why they come up with late round gems and can turn Trace Thompson and others into valuable pieces. Plus it's a fraction of the costof spending money on 1 yr. middling contracts for questionable talent. The Dodgers go big or go low often.

I'll change it to bad if it makes you feel any better. Once you're up , you're up to help the team. This was supposed to be a World Series team. He didn't help the team to win very much. -7.6 offensive WAR, -11.6 defensive WAR according to fangraphs. Should have been in the minors. I agree with that.

Who is this Outman guy you're trading Hendriks for ?

How sustained do you mean by sustained ? Daniel Hudson, Nathan Eovaldi and Jameson Taillon are guys who have done it. It's a tricky situation. If most of those guys were not very successful before the surgery or too old after the 2nd surgery for it to help them much, there's not enough of a sample of guys who could have a good shot at being good again after the 2nd one. . It helps that he'll be 32 in 3 weeks and not past his prime as a pitcher age-wise.

I'm a hopeful guy and often hope I'm wrong. But the results of how JR has operated gives us a reality check . I'd love to sit and dream that Bellinger, Gallo etc could come back to being a 3+ WAR guy but that's what sucks about the whole situation. Reduced to hoping we sign retreads and catch lightning in a bottle which won't even matter if the guys already here can't stay healthy or have rebound seasons. I'm guessing Abreu got disillusioned just like we are. Good for him for going to a team that wants to win . He's heard enough BS to say I've got to get out of here. I've got no patience for guys who can't even read a tweet properly or question if the guys I've been suggesting are out of options so It might not even help the farm or depth if we have to keep them in the majors. Why bother arguing with me when you can check that stuff yourself instead of forcing me to make you look foolish ? Why bother hyping Vaughn's fielding in 2021 when using defensive stats in small samples can be extremely misleading. Anyone with eyes could have seen what came from him defensively in 2022. It's like when you got a bit insulted when I suggested Bellingers 2022 numbers were like Billy Hamilton's 2021 numbers (BA,OBP, Slg. OPS) but I then showed you how similar they were even though Hamilton had way less AB's so Bellinger accrued a higher WAR and wRC+ just through volume. How the Dodgers gave him so many AB's performing like he did is a mystery. Who would have guessed that Trayce Thompson would have a better year than Bellinger in half the AB's in 2022 ?

Could it be he didn't pass the physical ? They do the physical after signing or before ?

Did you see anyone else predict the real salary of Clevinger besides me .You told me it was $8M which means you misread the quote from Morosi. Someone asked me if I thought Cueto or Clevinger would get a larger salary. I said Clevinger just because of the age difference, while many said it'll be roughly the same or equal. I believe that's when you told me Clevinger was getting $8M. We found out later it was $12M just as I said (over $10M). That part of the equation has yet to unfold but I'm pretty (70%) confident Cueto isn't getting $12M. I also thought the Sox should've re-signed Rodon and that he wasn't injured just tired. How many here said " trust the Sox they know his medicals better than anyone" while I said he had improved his mechanics and had a much better chance of staying injury free. I also said Vaughn was a terrible OF and didn't have the speed for it no matter what the numbers said his 1st year. The Vaughn and Rodon opinions were not very popular at the time. I had some entertaining run-ins with many. I also predicted the Lynn for Dunning trade and also nailed the numbers Abreu would put up his rookie season so closely that I remember someone saying, although they didn't mention me by name, that some people were just too close to his actual numbers and probably edited their post. I do often edit my posts . You can see I do it often but it's not to omit anything I said that was wrong. I just make a lot of typos and have a bad habit of not proofreading until after I click submit post or just think of more to say. I mean we're always posting twitter guys and I'm way better at reading the tea leaves than any of them while also having a mind of my own to know the direction this team needs to take without any insider or scouting knowledge. I also don't kiss Hahn's ass like White Sox Dave. Oh one more thing I predicted the failure of the rebuild maybe 2 years ago. I'll have to dig up that post one of these days if I can find it. No idea which thread it might be in. Never trusted Hahn , KW and especially JR to finish it off. I just saw someone ask if the Sox would end up with one of Benintendi, Conforto, Nimmo and someone else although Bellinger probably should've been added to the list to make it 5 guys. The majority of people who answered said yes. While it is possible if the Sox free up some money , I'll say its highly improbable if we believe Fegan telling us what the budget is which is when I decided that younger players had to be found for depth and put my faith in Colas and Outman. I don't believe the Sox will get Outman any more than I think they will get any of the other guys but that's the direction I'm going. You can wait around and hold me to my opinions just like I'm sure many were waiting for Rodon to be injured.

I think the Sox have to go forward with Vaughn. This is one thing I agree with everyone on. 2023 could be an even bigger breakout year since it'll be his 3rd year in the league. 1st year was a disaster offensively but not unexpected given he was out of position and had very little time in the minors . 2nd year was a disaster defensively but he started showing his potential offensively. He didn't have the legs to play OF and it wore him out. He'll be in more of a comfort zone playing 1st base. Sheets :I really wanted him to do well last year. He showed it at home offensively but as a whole that's only 1/4 of the job. the other 3/4 is offensively on the road (terrible) and defensively both at home and on the road (also terrible). There's no room for him in the OF. The Sox have to improve defensively. A Sheets /Colas platoon doesn't work for me because it requires Sheets to play OF and both are LH. Colas showed in the minors he can hit LHP. I'm not expecting miracles from him as a rookie but he needs to play every day and more than Vaughn did his 1st year. He should have the chops defensively . Offensively I don't think he'll be a liability but he has holes in his game. Mostly ones that a lot of guys do, mainly K's and plate discipline but I think he needs to be just playing and helping defensively and the bat may surprise us all. At least the majority of pitchers he'll be facing are RH so that will help as much as it hurt Vaughn. Sheets should be traded. He isn't versatile enough to be on the roster as a bench piece. Of course he could be a depth piece in the Minors at 1st base if Vaughn gets hurt.

I probably 1st mentioned him as who I wanted to get before the Kimbrel trade went down. Instead we got Pollock. Money down the drain as usual with this team.

I think that if he wasn't a 7th round draft pick and because he took time to develop his swing to where it now, he is under ranked. As far as comparing him to Busch. Busch is not really an OF . He's a 1st baseman, a late 1st round draft pick and much more highly touted than Outman. (1st round vs. 7th round.) So as far as needs go the Sox need Outman more than they need Busch. Very good defense to go along with his bat so I'd say his upside is higher than Busch because he can earn WAR offensively and defensively. Busch is only 6 months younger than Outman. Since his promotion in 2021 to AA he's been about a .950 OPS guy and one of the best, if not the best, defensive OF in the Dodgers system. As far as hitting goes I think he is equal to Busch and far better defensively. So if Busch is ranked 45 and you want a definitive answer I'd say right now I'd rather have Outman than Busch. The need for an OF far outweighs our needs for another defensively limited player. Plus I think what you asked is a loaded question. I'm not a scout and I don't rank prospects for a living. Asking me if I think Outman should be ranked in the top 45 is not up to me. I just identify Sox needs and see who fits them and think Outman may be under ranked and therefore thought of as less than ideal when people tell me "but he's only the 13th ranked player in the Dodgers system". Do deeper dives instead of surface investigating.

I really do love all the responses here.