bmags

So this is deeply depressing from a talent standpoint, but for SP I think I would most like them to get durability this year. They completely lost out on top talent, but I think the best thing they can do is prevent needing to go deep into their AAA depth of pitching (which doesn't exist). Keuchel is attractive there. So is Porcello. It would be two SPs that you know would be there every time. Hell, that was one of the good things about Nova, and by showing up every time his value eventually ended up paying off decently. Anyhoo just a thought.

Yeah and I think this year vindicated strong and elite starting pitching even more. i think teams were struggling to keep bullpen players fresh and didn't have enough. BEing able to throw a SP deep into must win showed up.

I hate not spending money on a single really good player, i'd be fine with these moves if it was coupled with a lucrative contract for a great player that everyone is like "they overpaid him, oh that will bite them". That's what I wanted. I could go without an offseason of dallas keuchel and castellanos. To be those are fine moves, they are good players, but they effectively end the rebuild as they don't have much flexibility for an elite player beyond it. Ah well, nevertheless

I mean people are misdrafted all the time. If you do re-drafts each year it doesn't line up perfectly to the draft order. Hell in 2013 the best player is I believe Bellinger in the 5th round.

So...it looks like the people saying the yankees operate differently now were incorrect.

Ha, this is a good point, though also why I hated the Walker pick. He was a fine guy but that draft was stocked in HS pitching and they went overslot for him

No offense but this has been the rationale for so many bad moves the sox have made.

I said last night but if this was just a "our scouting team loves this guy and he's available, let's get him" but they aren't relying on him I'm fine with it. Walker is a decent, steep price, but it could pay off.

me: "aw man, I did not want this offseason to go after only a slightly above average offensive outfielder with meh defense long term while giving up a pick" me: "haha, yeah! Looks like it's not happening" *instead get Mazara* me: ...

It depends. On one hand, it would be doing yankees a favor. One good thing we've learned is the lux tax is real and effective, and with the cole deal the yankees will have to dance with it in the coming years. So in theory that leaves players the sox can go for in FA. In theory, in practice they just can't seem to do it. So then there's him. Severely flawed but the potential to be so productive. I don't know though, I actually have more reservations on a long term deal with him than basically anyone else. He really could become difficult to shed if he starts to physically deteriorate as maybe was the case last year.

The college reliever thing was different and hoo boy was it not effective.

Disappointed to wake up to this. On one side, there are long tails to this move, he could net out to be a significant bat offensively, though his defense may always limit that effect to around 3 WAR. And last offseason it was basically decided that the white sox would still significantly rely on luck, anyway, so if our luck pays out this is another iron in the fire. But all things considered, I thought we were doing this rebuild to make a team better than the best teams in baseball. And it's just really hard at this point to see the white sox with ambitions outside of competing for a division title. That's most disappointing to me,, I thought they would build a large amount of budget to add a significant FA piece. But I don't see a single guy they signed that we couldn't have believed they couldn't have gotten in previous iterations of the sox. It sucks, but it doesn't suck just for Mazara. It really does seem like he has an approach problem, and we just saw two great examples of updating an approach (or leaning into one) to maximize results for great success in uber-talented guys in moncada/TA. I keep mentioning Soler, but Soler! His exit velocity was also average. He also had muted production. Then he found a way to match his strength with an approach and absolutely crushes the ball on the regular and it started at age 25. And also he's terrible defensively so its a great match.

I can confidently say that won’t be executed.

still what do they care they are terrible.

Ugh man it would be great for them to get Nimmo. They could really focus it all on pitching next few years, and he is such a great complement to where they suck offensively with his high OBP. Make it happen. The ole Pitt/NY/CWS christmas three-way action coming back.

Lowrie is just a one year deal for 9 mill, so definitely at that level you can entertain. And not worst idea as a backup infielder though he may barely play.

Anyone else find it bizarre how tied the pirates are to getting a catcher?

I'd trade nomar mazara for him.

Hey good on the soxtalk posters who were in on mets using Nimmo as the piece. I never really bought that they would but here we are.

Eh if they can make it work I'm not sure they'll say "oh no we have jake marisnick"

What are those Castellanos numbers? edit: oh gtfo with career/162 numbers. Castellanos has averaged 20% better than average offense the last 4 years, nobody is going to hamstring him for his terrible first year, and subsequent two years that looked like Nomar Mazara.

Yes. It's unlikely he'd even be on the sox in the back half. This board in particular has this belief that so many contracts are unmovable. Check out what's happening with Price now. If you need to move a bad contract you can. If you need to move a bad contract that is also one of your most valuable players that you need a good return for - then you aren't in great shape. The most immovable contracts right now are mostly position players. Cabrera, pujols.

Man there has been zilch about Betances.

His avg. exit velocity reminded me a lot of tims. Swings a lot, lot of up the middle. Menechino can fix him.

There really are some similarities here:https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jorge-soler-624585?stats=career-r-hitting-mlb Soler started making more good contact and using his strength. Mazara can kill a baseball but appears to make a lot of weak contact. It's a risk in both time and resources, but you can see why someone could think they can make that talent work.