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I don't think the Sox have starting pitching depth as much as you probably think. We certainly have the potential for starting pitch depth but how long that takes is in question, Adding Wheeler and Ryu gives us the depth that I am questioning because the unpredictability of youth is removed which is more important when wanting to compete in a hurry. 2 guys who can both be good with the youth ,should one break out ,allows insurance against someone getting injured. With Cole or Strasburg alone an injury can be devastating especially to Cole or Strasburg considering all the extra post season games they pitched. I feel more comfortable having the potential Big Three of Gio, Wheeler and Ryu than having a big 2 of Cole/Stras and Gio., The bottom 5 guys ( Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Rodon and Dunning) are just too unpredictable at this time to consider them enough depth to win a division or go far in the playoffs. Wheeler Ryu Giolito Kopech Cease Lopez Rodon Dunning Rodon and Dunning shouldn't be counted on for much of anything this year except to get back to pitching and maybe give the bullpen a boost in the 2nd half or with Dunning get starters innings back in the minors and see if he can regain his once promising career. With Lopez perhaps limited to the bull pen it's not perfect for his development but maybe he would start the season in the rotation while Kopech starts in the minors and makes a good impression. Kopech will be on an innings limit anyway so down the stretch if the Sox can compete losing Kopech won't hurt as much with either Lopez or Rodon to replace him. Right now Rodon isn't a long term piece so anything we get will be gravy . Having the pitching depth to trade from is also a plus if we all of a sudden have too much pitching from all being good and uninjured in 2020. Odds of that happening probably 500-1.

Yea I guess with Murph back they figured they had to but sure would be nice if they had just found a way to keep him up.

If the Sox could get Wheeler and Ryu I'd be doing handsprings. We have no idea if Gio can be the Gio of last year consistently and we still have no clue on how good Kopech, Cease, Lopez , Dunning and Rodon will be and how long it will take them to reach a plateau. After that they could sign Rocky, Bullwinkle , Natasha and Boris for all the other positions.

No chance Dickerson becomes Jay unless you just mean injuries preventing him from playing Jay was older and never was the hitter Dickerson is and now he's even better. Injuries just prevented him from showing it but when he was playing he had a very very good .905 OPS. If he had as many AB's as Castellanos, Puig and Calhoun and maintained that . 905 OPS he might be looking at a 3yr/$50M contract instead of perhaps 1/$10M plus incentives. The longer term commitment is a problem as we both mentioned since Betts and Springer both become available next year. If you can get Dickerson for a year then you can go after those guys in 2021.

I don't think he'll be expensive or require anything longer than 2 years or even one year with incentives plus an option which is very appealing for a guy with a lot to prove and or the signing team who could get a really good hitter for a bargain.

Wondering about your rationale for rating the OF's as you do. With his youth and how he showed he can hit away from Detroit he seems like a good choice except for his defense which is a big concern for some since keeping Robert healthy will be a priority and sticking him between 2 subpar OF's seems like a bad idea. The bat however is the best of the bunch and could be elite now. Dickerson easily is the best hitter of the remaining 3, Career .832 OPS. Made changes to become more of a contact hitter 2 years ago and it showed that he can still hit for power with that approach . Not Castellanos type power maybe not even Puig or Calhoun power but can't be sure because those guys got a lot more AB's than Dickerson last year because Dickerson was injured. which hurts his FA status but helps a team who can see he's a much better hitter now. He also won a gold glove in left field in 2018 so even though he never played RF he's shown a good ability to play the OF. He's probably the best example of balancing hitting , fielding and consistency of the last few years. Being a lefty who can also hit lefty pitching also helps . If he can stay healthy I'd expect a .300+ BA. .850 OPS and .340 OBP. Perhaps 20-25 HR. He also wouldn't need to be a long term commitment like Castellanos will probably be. I don't like a guy like Calhoun who sucked as a hitter 2 out of the last 3 years. Also don't like Puig who is a loose cannon at best and a potential clubhouse cancer at worst.

It's a very good sign they could finally beat Vegas and Fleury especially in Vegas and coming from a 2 goal deficit. . It's a really good sign that the change they made is working. They are still lousy on D but at least now they are playing to their strength which is offense and goaltending. Also nice to finally see the defense get a few goals. Back at .500 after playing around for the 1st month of the season. Always love to see (Whatsup ) Dach score.

I know in late June his velocity was better last year than it was at any time the last 2 year. It wasn't just the mileage ,he had that dirt bike accident 2 years ago. I don't know what his final stats looked like but he might not be as bad as you think.

I think I have a Scott Coolbaugh baseball card from 1990.

Too early for the hot seat and a shakeup did occur but not a player shakeup. After the last road trip. the Hawks changed their scheme about how they exited the D-zone. The run they went on at the end of last year bought him some time . They added some good players and now Boqvist and Dach look like they will be sticking around. Seems like the new guys need time to gel . I've liked what I've seen from Kubalik, Nylander ,and Carpenter. I know Maata isn't a favorite here but he's only a -1 and doesn't take penalties. DeHaan is a +3 and also doesn't take too many penalties. Lehner has been great. On paper this Hawks team should be better Looks like the Hawks opened the season playing a more defensive minded game maybe because their defensemen are slow and can't score . That scheme however stifled the offense specifically with how they exited the D-zone, So after the last road trip and perhaps with the urging from players, Collition changed the scheme to allow quicker exit from the D-zone because it seemed clear the offensive guys said too many dump ins and they had no flow. So the shakeup was in changing the scheme. Seems to be paying dividend right away . Hawks are 2-0-1 since they switched it. Kane is back on a streak getting 7 points in those 3 games and the power play seems to be much better. If they can continue to play well on the penalty kill without giving up a a crap ton of SOG 5 on 5 they should start playing much better. But as we can see from that last game against Toronto they took penalties and gave up too many SOG and Toronto ended up with 57 SOG with 26 in the third period. Lehner had to be spectacular to pull that game out. So now the players can create more and as Kane goes so go the Hawks. There was a reason Toews had a much better year last year and DeBrincat got 40 goals so if we're now going to see that again I'm all for it. It should also help all the other forwards because the lines have more offensive depth than last year. I give Colliton and the players a lot of credit for communicating . Glad Colliton is the kind of coach who isn't afraid to try something different and if it's not working to go back and change it. Hopefully it keeps working and if they are better than last year, which I think they are, perhaps they will start winning a lot more games now. Would be cool if the new changes free up Dach and Boqvist more and increases their playing time. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/blackhawks/jeremy-colliton-explains-schematic-change-and-why-blackhawks-made-it

If Rendon turned down 7/$210M seems and doesn't want to be playing baseball at 36 yrs old doesn't it seem likely that he just could 've told the Nat's give me $200M for 5 yrs. and it's settled ? Or even 5/$175-200M ? Why test the market at all if 5 years is all the years you want ? $35-40M AAV might be more than the Ntas want to go considering the luxury tax perhaps ?

Which is odd to me. They spent so much on Robert ,an IFA , right around $50M, and that included a lot of their own money along with the bonus pool money. Yet the bonus pool money which is given to them by the league right , hasn't produce anything. You'd think someone would realize those fairly minimal investments could produce someone as good as Robert or better for much much lower and you then only spend your own money on the scouting or running an academy or whatever other teams do to get a foothold in LATAM. But I also seem to remember before they signed Robert the Sox got a big chunk of money again from the league for another reason and it was something the league gave every team. Money for selling the rights to streaming maybe ? Hmm so basically I'm suggesting they really didn't spend their money on Robert but used the money the MLB gave them to acquire him and accepted the penalties because they don't really care that much about the investing their own resources in IFA.

You could also list the search for finding undervalued assets by listing all he scrubs he brought in hoping someone would break out. AJ Reed, Palka, Gillaspie, Manny Banuelos, Dylan Covey Ervin Santana . You could probably find another 10 names some acquired by trade like Banuelos who you did list , others being waiver claims. It's a pretty big failure not to find a diamond in the rough when 4 or 5 of them seem to pop up every year. Cleveland found Luplow and Mercado. Dodgers found a few besides Max Muncy. Astros scammed the Dodgers for Yordan Alvarez. Maybe you put this all under player development /talent evaluation. Tampa does it all the time . Oaklands pretty good at it too. Maybe many of those stiffs are listed in the negative FA values. I haven;t checked the Sox Machine article. A good way to find most transactions is just google it by year such as "2019 White Sox player transactions" and see who has the most comprehensive list.

Pretty testy aren't we ? In case you missed it. Because you surely missed my point entirely. I am not saying Mazara would be a good choice nor comparing him as a player to Yelich. I am using Yelich as an examples who became more than what we thought they were and how long that process can take.He went from good to very good and in the last 2 years to elite. If it's your position that young players cannot be more than what you have already seen then it is you who should never be taken seriously. Mazara was productive at age 21 in the majors. He obviously has talent if he can do that. The problem is he has only gotten slightly better . If you want to contend now there are much better choices but there is very little the Sox can do in free agency or trades to overcome the lack of depth and the many holes the team currently have. If any one is counting on Cease, Kopech or Lopez to be great next year you will most likely be disappointed. You cannot win with good hitting alone. I m only advocating the need to continue to look for undervalued assets more than I am advocating Mazara as a top choice for RF. Free agency alone and trading young assets will not put them there or keep them there. It's easy for you to say as an ignorant fan to just buy whoever you want. The Sox are not the Yankees or Dodgers or Red Sox . They will reach the top of the payroll iceberg fairly quickly that way and the farm more than likely will be rated much lower when Robert and Madrigal graduate so the farm is getting pretty barren . I will continue to say the Sox need to operate more like Tampa Bay when meathead fans say just buy who we want as if we were the Yankees or Red Sox. Even Boston realized how well run the Rays were when they hired Chaim Bloom , a key figure in Tampa Bays success at using a low payroll.

That and his injuries last year to his shoulder of his throwing arm and foot and the fact he doesn't play RF but it's hard to ignore that .900 OPS in the 260 AB's he did have and the fact he has become a much better hitter going for more contact without sacrificing power . With him it's once again me looking for an undervalued asset. I just don't think the Sox are in any position with the amount of unproven youth they have to pushing for the playoffs in 2020. They also are not in the position to ignore or trade young assets like Collins or Mercedes who have untapped potential to become the next Big Papi or Edgar Martinez both who became monsters when they were 27. People may laugh at that but it's happened . Big Papi was undervalued by Minnesota despite showing a lot of potential from age 21 to 26. People would also have laughed that Marcus Semien was a potential MVP candidate too. It's also crazy laughable the Sox continued to give AB's to Castillo and Sanchez down the stretch . At that point who the hell cared about Castillo and Sanchez when we needed to know more about Mendick and Collins. A few extra wins only hurt draft position when a guy like Mercedes could've been given a look along with the aforementioned AB's Collins and Mendick could've used.

This and also there ate literally 100's of examples of guys who broke out between the ages of 24-27 in baseball history. They could go from good players to great players like Yelich or go from nothing to good players or even great players. Ignoring that possibility and continuing to sign veteran free agents who's upside is behind them hurts payroll and the possibility of finding the undervalued youth like Tampa Bay does.

I already said Yelich was better in his first few years. I was pointing out he wasn't close to being what he is today and how long that process took and that pigeonholing guys especially a 24 yr old like Mazara as being who he is shortsighted at best. Is Mazara closer to being AVi than Yelich ? Of course he is but when you comapre the amount of Ab's it took for each to show more, Mazara is right at that point.

Let's put it this way . It's more of a rebuilding year than it 's a year to think the Sox can make the playoffs. Sure if everything goes right they can make the playoffs but that's asking a lot of the young guys. I'm all for filling the holes especially pitching and I'd be quite satisfied with stopgaps at positions in need or the fangraphs projected 2 yr commitments to guys like Moose, Hamels and Ryu . Plenty of talent there to contend in 2020 without breaking the bank and leaving payroll flexibility in tact.

If those pan out being accurate then give me Ryu ($16M AAV) Hamels ($14M AAV) Moose ($16M AAv) and Grandal ($15M AAV) Add a stopgap RF and a relief pitcher for a combined $15M AAV. That adds $76M to payroll this year. Add Abreu from anywhere from $14M to $18M. What's that bring the payroll to ? $!40M ? 2 years apiece for Ryu and Hamels gives the young starters time to develop or even remove Hamels and sign someone who costs less or just roll with Ryu and the core starters. Then in 2 years lose Moose, Ryu and Hamels to free up payroll that you might commit to extensions to the core or add in others ways. Of course I don't really believe anyone except possibly Hamels signs for only 2 years especially Ryu who I think is being severely undervalued by the amount of times he gets mentioned as a serious guy to sign. It's always Wheeler pretty much. But if Ryu does only get 2 years i think the AAV is higher for a guy who had a damn fine year.

He won't be 25 til April and already has 4 solid seasons behind him. Nothing spectacular but 20 HR's a year and a steady but rising OPS in each year. When I look at Christian Yelich who also came into the league as a 21 yr old for the 1st 3 years he had very little power but hit for average and got on base so his OPS+ was decent but as a corner OF he was nothing special and his OPS for those 3 years was only slightly higher than Mazara 1st 4 years. If he is like Avi then maybe he has one great year coming. If he is like Yelich without the good fielding and OBP perhaps once he "gets it" he ends up being somewhere in between Avi and Yelich . It's not the worst thing to take a chance on a guy who can be very close to figuring it out. Ignoring his vast upside is a mistake in any discussions of Mazara. It took Avi over 2000 AB's to have that 1 great season. It took Yelich 1400 AB's to show more than a little power and over 2700 AB's to become the great player he is right now. Mazara has around 2200 AB's so if he is going to break out it's coming soon.

But this is another rebuilding year . Just because the Sox are looking much better with the emergence of Giolito , Anderson, Moncada, Bummer and Eloy doesn't mean the Sox are looking to win now. Granted it's much more hopeful than it was last year but Kopech, Cease, Lopez, Robert , Madrigal and Collins still have a lot to prove. They don't have the money to go get anyone they want. How long is that money going to last if you get lucky enough to sign a top starting pitcher plus Grandal ? According to most here you also have to fill DH ,a back end starter, a bullpen piece AND RF. Saying they have the money to sign anyone they want in RF if like saying they have the money to fill all their holes that way. They simply do not. The options at the other positions of need, the candidates are pretty good, unlike RF where the candidates are all not good fits.

Well he did also say It's a bold prediction because it only has a 1.6% chance of happening so that recognizes the 98.4 percent chance he signs with the Angels or elsewhere.

Take a lesson from the Padres ? That is not an organization the Sox should be emulating. Just because you have the payroll space is no reason to throw it away early nor throw away any potential piece to the core. I don't understand your constant referral to the luxury tax limits because the Sox will never come close to having that problem . Their payroll is limited to far below that limit and therefore they have to be much more cognizant of signing elite Free Agents. I could see an argument for signing Cole or Strasburg or even Betts but not trading for Betts and hoping for a miracle resigning. The successful rebuilds didn't sign rentals and give away young talent too early they let that talent play out or like the Cubs traded it away to get a piece for the World Series run and to then try to sustain it afterwards , the same with Houston. The Sox aren't close to a World Series and neither are the Padres. I'd much rather emulate those 2 teams since they had success at it or Tampa that has proven time and time again that extended runs are more about using payroll wisely than signing top name talent. Leave those things to the free spenders like Boston, Yankees and Dodgers and 2 of those 3 teams still have a good farm and the other one just brought in Chaim Bloom from Tampa to try to fix what Dombroski broke by decimating the farm and operating near the luxury tax.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt on where that idea came from and if you thought before I don't understand now I am really confused because you lose credibility posting fantasy notions that the Sox could resign him. When has a team ever resigned a rental ? The last time posters talked about resigning a rental was Smardzija and thank God everyone who wanted that to happen or thought it was a possibility were wrong. That trade only cost the Sox this years MVP candidate and 3 other players who have been major leaguers . The Sox couldn't get 3 major leaguers for Chris Sale unless Basabe can make it and Sale was a dominant pitcher with a great contract. Sure let the same guys who traded for Smardzija and can't recognize talent give the wrong guys away again for a rental.

Finally found a link for it https://www.mlb.com/news/bold-predictions-for-2020-offseason