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We should also keep in mind that the most attractive offer to Wheeler might include an opt out after, lets say, his 2nd year of any contract in case he turns into an injury free Cy Young candidate , This is one of the reasons why I have been advocating it could be necessary to get another multi year pitcher so each one could be kept for a minimum of 2 years at which point we will have a clearer picture of how the young arms are doing. If we somehow end up with an embarassmnt of rihes either one of the 2 multi year guys could be traded before they reach free agency again.

Oh look I can use stats too and the most recent ones which should count way more than when he was at A and AA. The Sox had him up for a cup of coffee in June and July . He sucked. So he went back down to AAA to work on a few things. So in July at AAA after being sent back down he hit 43 AB , .349 BA , .453 OBP , .488 SLG , .941 OPS . Pretty impressive but he was just getting warmed up for August. 80 AB, .338 BA , .455 OBP .763 SLG , 1.217 OPS .Monster numbers , These numbers are just ridiculously awesome even if it was for just 80 ABS . Combine it with July making it 123 AB's and they are still crazy good. His last 8 games with the Sox 34 AB, .276 BA , .382 OBP , .552 SLG , .934 OPS . His full season stats at AAA BA .282 , 403 OBP, .548 Slg , .951 OPS. I'd hardly call that "not a very good hitter." If Collins can hit ,240 have an OBP of ,350 and hit 25 HR's he basically is Yasmani Grandal as a hitter without the switch hitting .We should all be hoping he can be a good enough catcher defensively to be the catcher of the future .

I could see Rendon getting $35M AAV if he's serious about not playing after age 35 . 5yrs @ $35M would be $175M

Are people answering no.1 based on all free agents signed by all teams or just what the Sox will do ? I mean i'm surprised seeing so many no's for #1 if that applies to every free agent contract signed in all of baseball.

He's a former big league legend who probably wasn't going to stay in the low minors long anyway. He probably wanted a raise and promotion and I'm sure the Sox will hire someone who cost less. Getz was just giving the standard speech that comes with the real reasons being private.

We'll never know if he would've been picked but I think that he had a 50/50 chance of being picked. He's definitely major league ready as a hitter and a bad AL club would take him and keep him as a DH occasional catcher /1st baseman especially in light of the 26th spot.

I'm not sure about that. As a switch hitter Grandal is best against lefties. As a righty McCann is best against lefties. The majority of pitchers are righties which is who we will be seeing Collins against, SO against a LH should see either Grandal or McCann catching with the other at DH Grandal is better against righties than McCann and is a better pitch framer so Grandal would probably get the bulk of the starts at catcher but that leaves Collins to catch perhaps once a week while Grandal DH's. McCann would be on the bench against righties. I guess I'm making it sound like McCann would get the least amount of playing time but I'm sure he would also catch once in a while against righties, but ideally I'd want Grandal and Collins getting most of those AB's switching DH and catcher duties every so often with a bit of 1st base sprinkled in for both when you might want to rest Abreu against a tough righty. It should also be noted that according to what I've been reading Giolito and Lopez were among the pitchers hurt the most by bad framing which is on McCann and Castillo. I don't know how Collins is viewed as a framer yet but McCann and Castillo were pretty bad. Narvaez and Phegley were both listed higher than McCann and Castillo was near the bottom. Between McCann and Castillo we basically had some of the worst pitch framing in the league. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/catcher_framing

Not sure it means much for Collins and Grandal. It could mean that just want to keep a guy who showed a plus bat in AAA without letting him go for barely anything in the Rule 5. You never know when a mostly bat only guy like him could turn into the next great DH . He good depth in case of injury .

As a player you are in charge of your own destiny. You can makes changes based on something a coach suggests but if you feel it's not working for you then tell the coach and go back to what makes you comfortable. Shouldn't be any fallout from that.

More room on the front page for your ABreu threads. Just looking out for you.

Don't have to give up a draft pick for Grandal but more than likely will have to for a pitcher if we can sign Wheeler Cole, Strasburg, or Bumgarner.

Don't forget there's a draft pick now attached to him and giving up that slot money.

you are too fast I was in the process of editing my post

Already a thread on him that Jack Parkman started. I realize this is your Future Sox article about him though so thats why it's pinned. Merge ?

I think all this early talk about so many teams interested and him landing a big contract are rather silly. It's like someone on Ozuna's side is just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if it sticks. But it will not stick. Baseball people are well aware of his shortcomings. I think 3/$50M is what he will get.

I'm going to have to agree with Balta here, The one advantage that everyone seems to overlook is OBP prospects have a much better chance to become highly valuable pieces going forward due to that plate discipline. Not only does it produce a lot of walks but you can become a much better hitter once you figure out how to use that great eye on hitting pitches in the zone like Moncada did. You want more examples ? Ok Look at Semien and Narvaez both have far surpassed any projections of them because they used their great plate discipline to learn to hit pitches in the zone. That doesn't mean Collins will become great. But it does mean if he does start to use that batting eye to become a better hitter like Moncada,Semien and Narvaez he will be so much better than an undisciplined hitter such as Avi who has all kinds of talent but never was very good at plate discipline. If he was he could've been a superstar. Once the hit tool catches up to the plate discipline we are looking at All Star level production. Of course that's what also makes Grandal an All-Star I'd love to have Grandal on the same team as Collins because along with Moncada there are 2 guys Collins can probably learn a lot from about using that great eyes to become much better as a hitter. No need for a DH then between Abreu, Grandal Collins McCann Eloy . Sox learn a lesson from past mistakes. Keep high OBP prospects , Draft more of them.

Never ever look at career stats when talking about a player. If you are going to look at K's look at his K percent especially from more recent years . No Dickerson does not walkvery much but became a contact hitter a few years ago so he is not the same hitter he was earlier in his career. Just don't check stat lines. You have the internet so you can make informed decisions on players. All it takes is a little research. I don't think a single person has a problem with his K rate. The question with him is injuries and can he play right fielder having had a few throwing shoulder injuries over the years. His bat is really good.Try looking at career OPS+ and his stats for the last 2 years as a hitter since that's when he decided to cut down on his K's and make more contact.

Also from farther down in that article, Yoan Moncada (.369) has the highest BABiP of any player (minimum 1,400 plate plate appearances) since the start of the 1969 season.

We're actually in lockstep here except Avi will be cheaper than Puig, plus i like him better but I like Dickerson better than them both. I wouldn't call Nimmo a 1 year wonder either . The one good year he had was 2018 , the only season he had over 500 PA . 2019 injured so only 254 PA but OBP was .375 and he actually can field well . 2017 started in the minors played in 69 games total but also had a partially collapsed lung. When he came back Mets hitting coaches suggested he make changes by not striding and instead turning his front foot which opened his hip and started slugging higher which was a precursor to the 4 WAR 2018 season.

This is more like it. Hawks pound Preds 7-2 Kane with 2 more points. 13 different Hawks get on the scoresheet Some beautiful passing plays. That Dach takeaway and quick feed to Kubalik , then the move by Kubalik showing patience to get the goal was awesome. Nylander with 2 goals. The Cat also made a nice play pinching behind the net and a nice feed to Kane for a goal. Toews and Saad both with 2 assists. On a side note Quenneville got his 900th win .

I feel this way . Have to find out what we have . Remember Hostetler saying they've would've taken him 1-1 in the draft ? Just because of that and everything they've invested in him I don't see him being traded. Sox need some draft wins because only Collins, Madrigal and Vaughn of the 1st round picks are still healthy but all still a mystery going forward ,too.

I think he's the most likely guy to put up an .850 OPS if healthy ,other than maybe Castellanos .

Richard Justice columnist on MLB.com same as Anthony Castrovince who made the bold prediction about the Sox signing Cole. Justice seems to like talking about the Sox more than any other MLB columnist. He's been on 670 the Score talking about the Sox rebuild a few times over the last couple years.

Can't see a thread to put this in so ...I heard on MLB Network from Richard Justice that the Astros inquired about Lucas Giolito. Not surprising since the Stros must have been impressed when Gio threw a 4 hit complete game shutout against them back in May. Gio also wanted to meet Verlander at the All Star game and modeled part of his game after Verlander. https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/lucas-giolito-hoping-to-meet-justin-verlander That link is about the 2 wanting to talk at the All -Star game and also about the specific things Gio does between starts now to prepare for those starts.

Sure can't be any worse than Palka. He won a Gold Glove in LF in 2018 so I'm sure he would do fine for a year. I think he'd become a very popular player here if he stayed healthy. .300 hitter, 20-25 bombs ,actual real production from a LH free agent. How often have the Sox seen that ?