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This may be part of Tampa's general philosophy on keeping pitchers healthier and keeping value high and taking them out before they get hit hard. I'm more concerned about trading with TB than most organizations. I really don't think Snell goes anywhere this off season . Tampa might sniff around and see how desperate teams are for him but ultimately they don't trade him before the start of the season.

I didn't misunderstand you I just think his contract is awful and especially awful for a guy who's best years are in the rear view mirror and it's an overpay on one guy to get another guy and the Rockies still wants us to eat Blackmon's salary and give up a good prospect which is why the talks have come to an impasse if you believe Portillo's.

I already gave one answer to this but I didn't address what i think the Sox specifically will do as I lumped them in with the rest of the teams. The honest answer is I don't know . If staying pat means the same payroll as last year that means they have moves to make since they lost about $30M worth of payroll if both Mazara and Rodon get non tendered. Raises for some guys lower that to around $25M . So the real question is will they go beyond that $25M ? The answer to this should be yes if they are seriously about having a good chance at the World Series . However all the "money will be spent" talk was pre- Covid. My best guess is they disappoint us and start talking about adding at the trade deadline when the vaccination picture should be much clearer if not already resolved. Of course they could shock me and sign Bauer which is what I would do.

I think most teams are going to wait it out and put off major decisions hoping for good vaccination news . Maybe agents too take that approach but until then many will be fishing in the vast school of cheap talent available after Dec. 2nd .

No one has a clue what even the Sox payroll is going to be, maybe not even JR. We still have months to go and it all depends on how fast Covid vaccinations become available to the general public.

So if the Sox don't get any pitchers Cease and Dunning would be in the starting rotation and if we get no closer then Bummer is our closer so in theory we give up 2 starting pitcher both with years of control and a top notch setup guy who just signed an extension for 3 years of a starter who has a small track record and doesn't pitch deep in games. No thank you.

Ahh yes it's the off season , rich with talk of extensions for who we trade for and taking on salary of an overpriced veteran to get who you really want.

I don't want to get rid of many and I would just prefer they go hard after Bauer. However knowing the Sox and lack of interest in a much higher payroll vs using prospects as capital then I have to assume that prospects will be used. On the other hand With EE, GG ,Mazara and Rodon off the payroll that's almost $30M freed up. Add in the raises for Giolito, Leury , Engel, Fry , Marshall and Lopez and I wouldn't be surprised that any of them besides Giolito gets traded or non tendered. Leury has already got his raise for 2021. But all of them still are very cheap and are valuable to the Sox.

https://sports.yahoo.com/former-mlb-player-earns-thousands-193932426.html Micah Johnson and his art.

In concert with this : https://sports.yahoo.com/luis-robert-landed-white-soxs-025000183.html

In what way ?

Baseball survived yes but the Sox have always seemed to shoot themselves in the foot and they don't need much help or excuses from mother nature and labor upheavals to accomplish that. The fact that they all seem to be conspiring against a successful rebuild is concerning to say the least.

We'll have to see about 25% capacity. Covid is just getting worse and worse. People routinely ignore precautions . I don't usually watch TMZ but I left the TV on after a football game and watch reports and film footage of people partying in a strip club with a rapper throwing around his money with people jam packed together and one person with a mask on. I know this isn't typical behavior but it is illuminating that people can be so stupid. Party and looking pretty vs your health and the health of others ? Let's party !

For sure. I keep pointing out Covid is as big an obstacle as Sox management to screw up a good thing. Throw in the possibility of a prolonged player strike while hopefully coming out of Covid and that gets you another screwed up season.

But he is also not the guy I want to be giving $20M per year . I have said it before but the Sox don't usually operate in that arena so I don't see them doing it in the current financial atmosphere especially not to a 35yr old to play a competent RF. Please please stay away from mid 30's players.

That has been my criticisms I mentioned in past posts about not doing everything they should have been doing during a rebuild.

This is where I agree and want to prioritize Bauer and fill in around him. 1 max contract hold onto as many prospects as you can.

They do lie if that is the only stat you use. As Harold said players are usually better at home. LeMaheiu is much better in Yankees stadium than away from it. Any stat used in a vacuum can be misleading. If we want to embrace sabermetric stats, then to evaluate hitters you have to look much deeper. Having an accurate opinion should always be based on how much effort you put in your use of the resources available to you.

Thank you. I have given a lot of thought to the questions I asked you and have even tried to do my own research on it but it a difficult thing to research. I have never seen a comprehensive report on the best current MLB players who were signed internationally and for how much they were signed .And I have often thought about the best way for the Sox to approach that market while being somewhat ignorant in my criticisms of that approach. I appreciate your efforts to enlighten us all.

Thank you so much Jimmy ! I think your assessment that the Sox do well seizing opportunities like Abreu and Robert but don't do enough to use their full resources is spot on. The one question I have is in regard to you mentioning that 20% of the top 100 prospects are international signings. What I would like to know is,of that 20% how many were given the top dollar values that the Sox do not do ? How many were signed in the range the Sox tend to spend ? What is your opinion on signing top dollar guys as opposed to accumulating lesser known talent and accumulation of them and trusting that Paddy can identify sleepers ? Is it possible to have a better balance of both types or are the Sox just too opposed philosophically as well as financially to achieving that balance ?

I think we have enough DH candidates and he's RHanded.

I rather the Sox throw everything they can at Bauer and sign no one else and make no trades until after Bauer signs. I don't care about the board freaking out if there is no activity . That should be priority one and make it clear to him how much we want him and plan on winning some World Series with him and would like to sign him asap so we can get on with filling in the rest of the roster. Throwing a shit load of money at Springer is not addressing our priorities.

His splits away from Coors are bad. Throw in that he will be 35 in July and makes close to $20M in 2021 and the years after that are player option years. I rather just pay Bauer $30M /year for 5 years as our 1 big off season acquisition and fill in around him and not dick around giving out 3 or 4 $10M contracts or taking on an aging RF for multiple years.

I feel the same and also throw in Gallo and Pederson

I think trading and taking on salary for a 2nd piece is the least likely scenario of what the Sox will do this off season unless it is a pure salary dump where the other team pays a good portion of whats owed and we give up a minimal amount of players/prospects. The pieces are just too old for the most part. The Sox rarely do that in other seasons. If someone can remember any trade like that please enlighten me. It's even less likely in a year where teams are claiming huge losses.