chitownsportsfan

Yea but the Sox thought Semien wasn't a SS. Oakland made a mockery of the Sox' internal scouting and MLB coaching staff over time. He is now a gold glove SS and an MVP candidate. You can say it was "bad luck" or "hindsight is 20/20" but also you can say Oakland's scouting and coaching is >>>>>>>>> Chicago's. And that's been proven out in the W/L record over the last decade.

I thought it was pretty common knowledge the Sox asked for Devers and Benintendi and they eventually "settled" on Moncada, Kopech and Basabe. It's worked out just fine. Devers and Moncada are both incredible talents hard to really pick one. And Kopech will probably turn out quite a bit more valuable than Benintendi.

it's all over twitter when you search Jose Abreu and sort by latest. Veracity of sources is questionable however.

Yikes. People are reporting a 3 year 40+ million dollar deal. FML.

I hope MLB brings the hammer down HARD. Talking about something like wiping out their entire 2020 draft.

I'm pretty much of that exact mind. My 20 million was too low. 25 is about right.

Let me ask this: given that FG projected a younger, better 1B/DH for 4 years 56 million why the fuck would anybody project a much older, worse 1B/DH for anything more than 2 years 10 million AAV? They could be wrong but they are much smarter than I am.

There's a non zero chance this is his last contract above league min. If he tears an oblique in July...

If it had an opt out after year 2, sure. If not he probably should just take the qualifying offer.

He should take anything that guarantees him more than 18 million.

I think he's as likely to be on league min in 22 as making 8.6 million. And there will be a new CBA to worry about. Hopefully somebody in Jose's camp realizes this. 35 million guaranteed at his age and production level is a NO BRAINER. Which is why I hope Hahn wasn't dumb enough to offer it.

where's the "READ THE EFFING THREAD"

edit: 5pm eastern

If he's really "mulling that over" I'm not sure who's dumber Hahn or Jose.

He's going to foolishly decline and the Sox will sign him 2/20 with a vesting option of some sort for 2021. Nobody really wants a STEAMER projected 1.5 WAR DH now well into his 30s.

As @caulfield12 just pointed out Boras' comments are meaningless. I'll believe the Sox will sign a A list FA when it happens.

That would be pretty smart. Nick as 1B and using a DH/C platoon makes a lot of sense.

My apologies as I guess that is the new reality for these DH types. The new reality for these guys might be closer to $6 million per WAR as FA than 12. I see Fangraphs projects him at 4 years 56 million. That is such an incredible market "correction", but after the last two off-seasons I can see it. Good summary on him. All that said: I don't want him even at an AAV of 12. Rather go big with stars, not average starters at corner spots or DH. Just read FA's take, and yea, sucks to be a DH type. Kiley’s Take Castellanos is very young for a free agent bat, so he may get a longer-term deal than his track record would suggest. Still, he’s posted a -28 DRS and -17.6 UZR in two full seasons as a corner outfielder, and if teams think that is his true talent level in the field, they may not be comfortable with whatever his glove will be in 2023. Player Notes You won’t see teams paying Castellanos big money for his .321/.356/.646 line with the Cubs, but his late-season resurgence in Chicago after a bland half-year in Detroit helped to re-establish his offensive value. The difference between a 120-plus wRC+ and a 110 wRC+ for a player with glove as weak as Castellanos’ is the difference between a DH-only role and being someone whose bat may be just enough to compensate for his poor defense if put in the right situation. Baseball doesn’t have much appetite for non-star, corner outfielders or first basemen these days, but Castellanos’ case is helped by his signing not coming with the loss of a draft pick. – DS

Yea the thing is his bat really "doesn't play" for a guy without a position. Career wRC+ of 111. Career fWAR 10.2 in basically 6 full seasons. He's a more consistent, healthier Avi. What is that even worth? Certainly not 200 million at an AAV of 20. I would offer 5 years 90 see what he thinks.

That's fair. I think the Sox will be average pay roll wise, which won't cut it if all their youngsters pan out as they hope. They will need to wade into the top 1/3.

The Sox have some of worst fan activation relative to market size in all of NA sports. You're not suddenly going to have top 10 local ratings, top 10 attendence and so forth signing a couple big name FAs. Only sustained winning will bring those casual eye balls back. Advertisers know that. I mean, what evidence do you have that the Sox will bump payroll into top 12ish range? Other than induction from the last time it was, a decade ago.

What evidence do you have for this?

I'm glad the option is biting a team in the ass here and making people realize what a poison pill they are for teams courting FAs. Options are always friendly towards whoever has them. Sure, sometimes a player will make a bad bet on himself. But with an opt out the team holds all the downside risk of the contract -- not great.

while that's possible, this feels like some friction between the sides. If everything was peachy they'd have come to that conclusion before officially offering the QO. I'd hazard a guess Jose's camp was (or vice versa) is trying to call a bluff.

He's going to accept it and Chicago will be overpaying him by about 50% next year. Oh well. This at least indicates they aren't over valuing him past 2020.