CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I'd rather watch this team make a serious run at the World Series this year than count on Jerry to reload the starting pitching staff or count on 2 of Giolito,Cease, Kopech or Keuchel to pitch as great as Rodon and Lynn have this year.

Caused Jerry to go cheap ? When hasn't he been cheap ? What you fully expect and what will happen could be 2 very separate things. I guess the difference between us is I don't see trading prospects from a bottom ranked farm team to supplement a very strong contender as going all in . It's just doing what needs to be done like all teams who are serious about winning do.

The main problem as far as I see it is that the Sox still operate on a year by year basis and will not do what the other rebuild World Series winning teams like the Astro's and Cubs did to win the World Series. Nor will they trade for big contracts or spend like the Red Sox, Dodgers, Astros or Cubs did. They also did not focus on the farm system right at the beginning of the rebuild like they should have and the result is in a barren farm right now. The Cubs signed Lester and Heyward to big contracts and then traded for Chapman and then Quintana to try to extend their window. The Astro's traded for Verlander on August 31th to barely make him eligible for the playoffs by the Sept. 1st deadline. I don't think there is an August 31th date any more for trades is there ? The Astro's after winning the World Series traded for Gerrit Cole and then Zack Greineke. Somehow Houston still has a system with more talent than the Sox. Oakland and Tampa Bay make the playoffs a lot , haven't won a World Series but also still maintain good farm systems. Boston signed David Price to a huge contract and also signed JD Martinez to a big contract. The Dodgers spend money everywhere so not much sense talking about them. The point is it wasn't me who chose to go all in this year it was the Sox when they traded for Lance Lynn since they can't afford trading or signing anyone with a big contract. The farm system is now a wasteland and will take years to build it up again. They also got extremely lucky with Rodon. They got to this point without really spending much. The Sox talk about sustaining success but they will not get as lucky as they have with Lynn and Rodon every year when they need to fill holes. I don't think it's asking that much to get a few rentals and some relief pitching by parting with a few pieces from the farm and a little bit of salary for less than half a year . I have no idea if they are interested in Marte, Schwarber or Gallo but they should be. I wouldn't even call Gallo a controllable guy . He's 1.4 years worth of a player. Texas can ask for the moon for him , like they did for Lynn but eventually all they are doing is lessening the cost for him or risking an injury the longer they keep him. The only thing that will extend the Sox window is finding a way to actually spend money on pitching like all the other World Series teams have done but the Sox appear to be incapable of doing that. I guess we will see eventually with Rodon , Lynn and Giolito. I don't see what difference it makes whether the Sox are the worst farm system or the 2nd or 3rd worst.

Wondering if we see more of Moncada at DH to give his throwing shoulder some rest and play Burger more. Might help getting more power from him but how long would it have to be to get that result or if it would help with the power outage at all.

The Sox bullpen has pitched the least amount of innings in MLB. So if you think our situation is bad look at every other team.

This is pretty much what I've said all along yet one of my fav. posters @Chicago White Sox thinks I am ridiculous for wanting to use the farm now on this year but would not engage me in discussing it. I did not think the farm would be all that helpful in any future window and 2021-24 was the window that @Chicago White Sox specified to me. I don't really see how our opinions differ all that much. The low low ranking does not shock me at all. I will say however that luckily trades aren't made based on Longenhagen's rankings. I highly doubt the Sox ever take on salary. I mean they were tapped out just the last off season which was essentially why the Sox ended up with Rodon. JR might be OK with taking on players remaining salaries for whoever they trade for (somewhere around $10M plus the prospects) but there's not going to be any taking on a bad contract to lower prospect cost . Why should there be unless you don't think there are enough prospects in the whole system worth Escobar and some relievers ?

He's a less than 1/2 season rental. These teams are just playing stare down to see who blinks 1st.

The guy with the most seniority on the roster and my Adopt -a-Prospect extraordinaire !

Way to go Goody ! 2 hits off a lefty. HR off the righty.

I hope Timmy All-Star goes out there between innings with a Sharpie and signs that ball for that poor kid.

Ryan , Aaron weird how I said Aaron since I am way more a baseball fan than a historian . But after all I am an aging boomer

You and your 3 thank you emoji's post aged well.

Yea 1st base has plenty of opportunities for disaster maybe more so than LF.

Not only that but you did him a disservice by including his pitiful stats against LHP. Eshleman is RH and Goodwin has crushed them . .327 .439. .673 1.112 200 wRC+

I know everyone is chomping at the bit and happy to speculate on position players even devoting multiple pages to the absurdity of Cease vs. Pederson. However a very under the radar aspect of the Trade deadline is relief pitching. I think there will probably be 10 to 15 relief pitchers traded at the deadline since they should be the cheapest yet extremely important aspect of the 2nd half and the playoffs. The Sox certainly need them . I know it's been interesting now that we saw Foster throwing a cutter and every outing by Heuer is scrutinized and no really trusts Ruiz, Fry Marshall or even Aaron Burr to be impactful . That's a lot of current arms to be uncertain about. Do the Sox contemplate moving some of those young arms for more established arms or at least arms having better 1st halves of the season ?

I think the asks for Frazier and Gallo will be high just like the ask for Lynn was high last year. But these teams that hold onto players expecting a big haul for just 1.5 years of control end up holding onto them until the returns are diminished or they hurt themselves with an injury. Gallo missed a lot of time in 2019 with a strained oblique and broken hamate bone in his wrist. Gallo has expressed a desire to stay in TX but should they really want to re sign him when they are so bad or keep him until he becomes a FA ,give him a QO (if thats still possible) and get nothing for him but the comp pick ? Will be quite interesting to see how the Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Kimbrel, Story, Jon Gray,Scherzer Tyler Anderson, S. Marte, Castellanos will be handled and how much they end up going for as it will be for guys with 1.5 yrs left. Will pitching demand more of a premium than hitters ? Right now it seems like no one really wants to set a high market value and there will be some type of frenzy as the trade deadlines get closer and teams are faced with getting nothing for their impending free agents or a guy like Castellanos would could opt out of his deal with the Reds. Kind of amazing the Sox got Lynn for Dunning and Rodon because no one else wanted him instead of just paying for Jose Quintana who so many wanted. Sox need to take advantage of their very rare fortune in getting those 2 plus the fortune they have received in many players stepping up to fill holes created by injuries. No one should fool themselves into thinking that guys like Mendick , Goodwin, Lamb, Sheets, Burger , Leury or Hamilton would be getting much time, if any, in the playoffs. I don't think we will see the teams who truly want to win a world Series hesitate to add important pieces.

Well he is pretty bad out there and he continually gets hurt playing in LF. I think others would be OK with him playing LF if he didn't get hurt so much. That is the main concern. He does not seem to have the ability to figure out how to play the field and not get hurt. Anyone can get hurt of course but he seems to go out of his way to do things, odd things , that injure him.

Who said he isn't playing it here ?

Yolbert

He was 4 for his last 22 but 2 were 2 HR's and he took 6 walks . I guess If you take away today it was 3 for 19 with 4 walks. After today he is at .273 .357 .636 1.011 which is damn good in 39 PA's.

Cubs have a decent BP unexpectedly . They have 3 or 4 guys from the pen they may move. Kimbrel is obviously the prize but they had 6 no name guys pitching well. Wouldn't mind checking those guys out, Maples (Last pitched for Cubs 6/15 , on rehab assignment now, not doing great), Chafin, Thompson, Winkler, Tepera, Wieck (on the IL with irregular heartbeat after having earlier heart problems in the spring.)

Never ! But hopefully we can manage to snag Escobar. He just hit his 20th against the Dodgers.

Escobar just hit his 20th HR against the Dodgers.

It's ok to expect it. Really it is.

It won't always be this easy. Wait until after the All Star break But hey if the scrubs hit more HR's than the regulars .. The Sox only have 4 regulars playing. and Vaughn was forced into regular duty by injury.