CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Well this is somewhat of a small change of heart on your part . I had suggested this very thing when you and others told me there is no need for 2 multi year guys. i know I've made a few posts about it some with Wheeler and at least one suggesting Ryu and another 2 year type pitcher signing.

Oh I know it's true for the reasons I listed. I suppose I shouldn't have asked if that's really a thing because I know it is.

Yankee tainted ? Hmm Is that really a thing ? Is that because it's the Yankees and the east coast bias that Yankees prospects get hyped a lot more and thus are over rated ? Seems to me the Yankees are pretty good at drafting and developing. Just because there's more press and therefore more written about those prospects doesn't mean they should be considered any better. All it means is they become more well known.

You're probably right.I just take all emotion out of the equation when evaluating any player so I didn't take what you just said into consideration.

Why is Rutherford everyone's favorite target ? Why single him out when Gonzalez, Adolfo and Basabe have just as much to prove especially when he is the youngest of that group ?

Thought I'd go digging into other than the usual names we see mentioned . Hilliard is like 6'5" 240 with big time power who K's a lot and seems to be a late bloomer because he pitched a lot in JUCO. Seems like a good combo of speed and power and defense which we aren't seeing a lot of in the regular names being tossed around. He's also a RF so no need to switch him to anything he's not used too.Rockies seemed to be impressed but he has no pedigree as a 15th rounder who is 25. Colorado may look to move Blackmon whose numbers look impressive on the whole but the difference between home and away is staggering. He isn't a great fielder by any means either. I'd start off asking about Blackmon then stealthily go about asking about Hilliard .

They're probably doing their homework on 25 guys including blocked or unblocked AAA guys.

You've certainly earned the 2 words under your name Mr. Sheloy.

I also think Collins is severely underrated around here even though he got quite a bit of support in the Collnis thread. I suppose the negative voices are the loudest because everyone is unsure about his catching and he looked bad the 1st time up. Someone like Mendick didn't set the world on fire at Charlotte at least not the way Collins did and he did great in his SSS time with the Sox. Plus Collins put up crazy numbers in July and August when he went back down and finished with very strong numbers in his last 8 games with the Sox (yes very SSS and cherry picking). Remember the Sox got Colome for Narvaez and he was a terrible catcher with good OBP and limited power (supposedly) with not much of a minor league track record. Obviously a late bloomer who the Sox thought they were selling high but turns out they sold low on him. Compare what Collins did in the minors to Narvaez and Collins blows him away. I think Collins has a lot of value being a LH , high OBP power bat even with questionable catching skills Do we really think he is worth any less than Narvaez was even with Narvaez having been in the bigs for a few years but with only around 700 PA's but showing a slight uptick every year before he was traded. The whole reason why we are all so stoked about getting Grandal is he is a scarcity, a good hitting switch hitting catcher w/ great framing skills and high OBP but he's an otherwise mediocre catcher defensively. Collins has a chance, in my view, tobe a strong part of what makes Grandal so rare, good hitter, high OBP and likely even more power. so all he has to do is become a good framer and everyone will be able to live with mediocre catching skills like they do with Grandal. Now is not the time to start dealing prospects for veterans . I could however see a prospects for prospects trade for a LH/SH hitting OF who is ML ready. Sam Hilliard who had a big season in AAA then came up with the Rockies and performed well, is a big LH with big power and a high K rate who despite his size (6'5" 238) is pretty fast and a good arm. Of course it's possible the Rocks rather move Charlie Blackmon than Hilliard. Blackmon's defense is pretty shoddy . The Rockies also have another AAA guy who got a look in the bigs, Jonathon Daza . He bats RH, doesn't K much, hits for high average but limited power. Defensively he's described as a ballhawk and has a 70 grade arm. He played CF in the Rockies system. Hilliard isi the 9th rated prospect and Daza 10th in the Rockies system. Both are 25 yrs old. Anyone interested in looking at these guys can go here : http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=col

Sox have very little starting quality pitching of left in the minors . Go look at our top 30 prospects, It's Stiever, Pilkington and Flores some guys just drafted from High School. Lambert and Dunning won't be back until mid season at the earliest. If the Sox traded any of those guys I'd be very surprised.

Strong defender right handed hitter ? Heck sounds like Engel to me. Straight up Engel for Nimmo . Done and done !

it wont be Dunning or Lambert. They aren't even expected back till mid season or later. Getting anything but relief innings from Hansen would be a plus. Burger who the heck knows anything about him? He should ve been back last year but something always held him back. Surprised you didn't mention Burdi but he's been looking like one of those guys who doesn't just bounce right back from TJS.

I did not see this when I wrote basically the same thing only instead of Reed I used Fulmer . Reed is a very good choice though.

Preach brother !

Actually you don't know that and neither does anyone else. It's your best guess based on a 2nd half that wasn't as good as his 1st half and his career up to that point.. Of course with Grandal we may never know because he won't be getting full time AB's any more.

Hey hey what's Collins doing in that list ? Moncada struggled mightily as did Giolito so much so that people started writing them off and they are are a big part of why the rebuild could succeed. Collins was never a fringe player who got year after year of chances to succeed like the rest of those guys you listed. How would you like it if when Madrigal struggles in 100 AB I put him in a list like the rest of those guys > FUlmer yea I'd understand but not Collins, :)

“I don’t care where I’m going as long as I see a future in the pitching staff,” Grandal said during Thursday’s conference call. “If I see that I can help that pitching staff, for me that’s pretty much No. 1. So, their sales pitch was: Look at the young arms we have, look at the guys we have coming up. We have an opportunity here to win, and we think you can help them out.” “Even if you just look at the team and the core, there’s a lot of young talent,” Grandal said during his Thursday conference call. “The way that I looked at it, this team could be a dark horse in the next year or so.” https://ontapsportsnet.com/2019/11/22/grandal-signing-abreu-extension-signal-that-the-white-sox-refuse-to-lose-again-this-winter/

I know. I've seen that spin here in arguments for Puig. He is who he is . It's like someone marrying a criminal and expecting the love to change him. It doesn't work that way. Change comes from within. If people want to pretend his countrymen will have some kind personality altering miracle affect on a lazy, egotistical, glory hound who takes his own talent for granted they are delusional.

I think you're seeing marketing angles where none exist. How will the Sox market Puig ? Hey Sox fans watch this dude ignore coaches telling him where to position himself in the OF , watch him ignite bench clearing brawls that could result in someone more important getting hurt, watch him continuously overthrow cutoff men with his rocket arm , look on in amazement as he licks his bat and best of all listen to him talk and say things like "The last couple years, I didn't work hard because I still have a contract to go," Puig said in February, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. "Now I think I'll work hard more than any year in my life." (because he was going to be a free agent.) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2822390-yasiel-puig-says-he-didnt-work-hard-in-the-past-due-to-being-under-contract

Did you mean players that are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft rather than Non Tendered ? The Non tendered players list doesn't come until Dec. 2nd. It took me a moment to figure out what you meant. I am a Minor League Manager. I have no idea where these designations come from.

Definitely worth looking into as long as you wait until after Dec. 2nd. No need to make any trade offers before then.

No you are not the only one. I've made posts like yours too. I've mostly sighted how long it could possibly take Kopech, Cease , Lopez to reach the level worthy enough to be in the top 3 in the rotation of a World Series Contender. Especially now with the addition of Grandal the lineup is looking much better and it appears the need to sign a DH is unnecessary even though people continue to post about getting one. I understand the mistrust of Collins but why so much trust in Kopech and Cease ? Are they not all similar in that we don't know how they will perform ? Collins actually has the most recent dominant performance in the minors among the three which give me some confidence that among ABreu, Grandal, Collins and McCann we have DH covered. I also have much more confidence in the starting lineup with the additions of Robert and Madrigal who are also unknowns but I just expect position players to be more durable and more likely to hit the ground running than young starting pitchers. A big year from Eloy helps too and I'd be fine with a repeat year from Moncada if he plays a few more games. I don't think it's that big of a deal to sign someone like Wheeler to 4 or 5 years and also sign another guy to perhaps a 2 year deal which would allow Kopech time to get back to a full schedule of pitching and to experience the highs and lows associated with that and allows Cease the time to ramp up his game also. When Rodon comes back perhaps he can start or relieve depending on how the rest of the rotation is performing or if Kopech is piling up too many innings take over for him. In order to get the innings eater type we want it might be necessary to go to 2 years anyway . I just prefer someone better than Nova to be that 2nd FA starter and if it takes giving someone better 2 years instead of 1 so be it. Trades can always be made if all of a sudden we have too much pitching.But I don't think signing a second FA starter to a 2 year contract instead of 1 year will result in too much pitching.

I can't answer that with any degree of knowledge so I'll just guess. I've made previous posts on JR perhaps not liking the whole IFA system regarding how exploitative it is towards very young players who get surrounded by people looking to ride their talents for cash. In light of that argument my guess is JR is sympathetic to how Jose Abreu ended up getting out of Cuba, leaving his family behind , not seeing his son for a while and the dangerous and frightening journey it was. In spite of all that he is not bitter, is quite humble and a leader and perhaps had a lot to do with Robert signing and Moncada 's assimilation/comfort . You cannot compare any of that to American born players even though I'm sure there are some American hard luck stories out there .

I think there's a pretty equal amount of people sympathetic or not upset to the signing as there are people who think it's terrible. The people not overly upset don't see the money as all that wasteful and can see the value of or even approve of the "kind" nature of the deal. For the rest it's all about the bottom line and applying that to creating the best team possible.

Unfortunately there's not much of a pipeline anymore. The Dodgers became much more involved with signing Cubans than the Sos were. Not sure if it's paying off for the Dodgers. The Sox haven't really shown us they are that interested in signing anyone besides the big names like Abreu and Robert recently. Maybe they made an effort for the Gurriel brothers but I can't recall it. They just haven't used International free agency to it's full advantage. It might mean something with a player like Grandal or other major leaguers but money is always the determining factor. Grandal was born in Havana, Cuba, where he He emigrated to the United States with his mother, step-father, and maternal grandparents at age 10 "the easy way," through the lottery system. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmani_Grandal