Balta1701

I would happily move Fulmer for basically anything at this point but I can't believe the Dodgers wouldn't get substantially better offers than that. I think we'll be using Fulmer's roster spot elsewhere soon enough, so if you can get anything for him that's gravy.

"Because he has an option left we're willing to send him to the minors for worse players if it also means landing Manny Machado".

Well you can keep the same number of challenges, 2-3, but make PI a reviewable call, under the same rules - it must be clear and obvious or whatever the language was. Technically you could do it for a few other penalties too (Personal fouls, maybe even holding), but if the coach is limited to just a couple challenges then you're not going to pile up the reviews all that much. In fact you might even get fewer as if I were a coach in a close game I would do everything humanly possible to make sure that, if there was a clearly wrong call with 3:00 remaining in the game, I could get it overturned.

Ok, I'd like to do exactly what you say to do. I'm looking at the Astros lineup and stats last year. Let's take one of those positions you mention - Palka and the DH slot. Last year, the Astros primary DH was Evan Gattis, and they also rotated a n umber of people there. Evan Gattis put up 0.4 rWAR, a .736 OPS, and was paid just under $7 million for that. Marwin Gonzalez put up a .733 OPS for them and 2.5 WAR because he got a lot of at bats filling in for the injured Correa. Jake Marisnick put up 1.7 WAR and a .674 OPS because he was their utility OF and defensive replacement. These are guys like Palka and Leury. They're not great players on their own, but they have a couple benefits - they fill a role, they're already there, and they are cheap. Some of these positions we need to upgrade over - I'm about done with Leury for example as I don't think he can stay healthy, but there's a fair question here. Pederson will be paid like $5 million this year and it will take trading some player of decent talent to get him. Yes, he's an upgrade over Jay in CF, but that upgrade isn't free. You're spending more money and giving up a player who the Dodgers want somewhere, and you're doing it for a moderate upgrade over guys that the Sox already have come up with. So is it true the Astros have no one like Palka? I very much disagree, their team put up a .749 OPS out of the DH spot last year and we outhit that thanks to Palka. Is Pederson on paper an upgrade over Palka in the OF? Yes. Is he worth the cost to the White Sox? Well as you said, only if you think this team is going to be 28 wins better than last year and you need Pederson to push it to 30.

I know he's probably not a starter, but worth noting that this setup makes Jose Rondon a roster casualty, and he's at the least a potential IF utility guy.

Why?

Their pitching staff was 6th in MLB in fWAR and 3rd in the league in rWAR. Their starters led the league according to baseball-reference. That's the difference, their pitching staff is where we hope ours will be next year. They were 2 games below .500 last year because they had a strong pitching staff. They were "pure s***" at a number of positions, which means that someone like Joc would be a solid upgrade for them.

Not only does it really not make sense for the white sox but it makes a lot more sense for teams that are 1 or 2 years closer like the Braves, Phillies, A's, hell the Indians could really be a great fit for this guy they need the affordable OF help and should have stuff to trade. If this didn't get announced as complete, someone else should pay more than we would be willing to.

Sigh. The Patriots are going to win this game.

For a second I was going to sarcastically say that we might as well just declare Manny Machado the general manager if the entire roster is going to be people to make him happy, but then I realized that our current general manager is Rick Hahn, so you know what? Let's just make Manny Machado the general manager. Can't be worse.

I don't like the concept of giving up a guy we could control for several years for a guy we'd control for 2...not when we're not in a position to compete in year 1 and additional help could be arriving as soon as year 2.

Bryce Bush was not a "33rd round pick" based on his value going into the draft. Had people actually thought there was a good chance he would sign, he would have been a much higher pick. People didn't think he'd sign so he fell until the point where teams were using draft picks on guys who were very unlikely to sign.

Their legit 1b last year were Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger. While yeah, they also played elsewhere, but Abreu's a huge downgrade from what they got at 1b last year. The Dodgers got a .899 OPS out of their 1b spot last year, 2nd best in baseball (only Arizona got better production from 1b). They might be willing to play Bellinger more often in the OF, but Muncy?

I have difficulty with the concept of an "Excess LHP bullpen arm". If they're any good it's not like you're going to struggle to move them later if you need to.

It would be very much a White Sox move to declare that their team is way better than they are on paper and they only need a handful of minor upgrades to be "Right there at the end" (Rick Hahn, 2015)

That team still isn't competitive without big steps forwards by multiple youngsters who struggled last year...but anyway... The Cubs, with a much better roster, still held Bryant down in 2015. No one regrets it.

So he'd be the other corner OF?

Are we just releasing Moncada?

I believe that only happens if they're $40 million over. Harper alone would get the Nats close to that, but probably not hit it.

The real trick with the Nationals remains 2020. Right now, if they pick up the available options for guys like Eaton, Zimmerman, Gomes, etc - they would have over $200 million committed next year, and with how the tax numbers work out their luxury tax number would be well over $210 without adding anyone. Their tax number this year is already over $200 million, and they were a taxpaying team last year. If they were to sign Harper, they would wind up in the 3 year offender penallties. They'd be absolutely guaranteed of being $20 million over the tax this year and subject to a 42.5% penalty this year as multi-year repeat offenders, and if I'm reading this right next year they could be subject to a 62.5% penalty.

Yes I think the bridges were burned between him in management. I would not be mad about the concept of him coming back if the org could get around that. However... 2 years ago at this time people were saying "we need more hitters" because we had traded for so much pitching. Next year's rotation has potentially Rodon, Kopech, Lopez, Giolito, Dunning, and Cease already, and that's assuming no one else has a good year. At some point, we have to sink or swim with these guys. So...there's pitching available next offseason but I'm not sure the fit is right. We'll see how this year goes.

This is one where I think the simple decision is the right one. Right now, Machado, Anderson, Moncada is a good defensive infield, maybe very good if we see some improvement from Moncada or if Madrigal takes his spot. Right now, Sanchez/Moustakas, Machado, Moncada is a poor defensive infield, maybe could get to average if you see improvement out of people. Anderson is an average player because he's decent at playing SS, Machado is a poor defensive SS and a strong defensive 3b. Machado at SS means you're discarding an average player because you're getting rid of the one thing he's good at (playing SS, now he has to figure out CF of something like that), you're making Machado a worse player because he has a lot of work to do just to get to average, and you've still got an obvious hole at 3b that you coulda just filled with Machado. Machado as the SS just makes no sense to me.

If MM is insisting he must play SS then I continue to believe the right move is to say "good luck finding someone to pay you to play at that position on this free agent market".

"You tryin to say that jesus christ can't hit a curveball?"

I don't know why a team would give up something of value for Anderson when they could just sign Jose Iglesias for probably comparable money.