caulfield12

Gallo has really slipped the last couple of seasons defensively, but he would fit right in. Plus, his Gold Glove is much more recent than Pollock’s fading in the twilight of his career one.

Then again, we really didn’t get back an actual player because Pollock is at -0.3 fWAR right now. No GM was dumb enough to think Pollock could competently man RF with that weak ass arm, but he won a Gold Glove in CF for AZ five seasons ago so what the heck could possibly go wrong there? Probably just went on LaRussa’s vouching for him. We would have been better off with Luis Gonzalez, Nomar Mazara and Trayce Thompson, even. Plus, there’s the additional opportunity cost of that lost $9 million that would have gone to Wainright or Molina, lol. Hardly one to crow about. I’ll take my predictions on the Twins and Guardians over that. I said the Twins would get out to a 7-8 game lead, and I was off by just 1/2 game, and that was before they suffered a rash of injuries and then five final inning losses in less than one week to CLE or it would really all be over but the fat lady singing.

Like one of those Score call in classics where we get a proposed trade package of Foster, Ruiz, Pollock, Engel, Sheets and whichever catcher out of the three you dislike the most for XYZ superstar from another team…

When they actually spend $150-175 million on a FA position player, fans will only then start to believe they’re actually serious about making more than cosmetic changes.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/brandon-lowe/18882/stats?position=2B The Rays would ask for Luis Robert, be rejected, then move on to Vaughn PLUS Burger, believing they could fix Jake defensively and turn him into Max Muncy, Jr. Lowe has a very favorable contract and already has recorded one 4.9 fWAR season. They would laugh at names like Sosa or Ramos. They really need a healthy Lowe or someone who is major league ready and capable of replacing his numbers.

That’s only increasing his media exposure/article mentions. And, since they couldn’t entice the real Ohtani to NYC, why not trade for his Cuban substitute?

Who are you going to buy low with? Pollock won’t get past their scouts. And it’s not like the Yankees have a dying need for Engel…plus the NY media would just focus on his role in the 8-5 triple play debacle. Sheets? Not a high enough degree of confidence in his “rebound”…and they wouldn’t dare play him in the OF like the Sox are doing.

Nobody is safe until we know who is actually making the final decisions. Hahn and TLR both currently have reasons to be more short-sighted in their visions than anything extending beyond the end of the 2023 season. That’s when a final reckoning will come for both if they miss the playoffs two consecutive years. Another first round wipeout might not be enough to protect either of them because season ticket sales will be nosediving short of finally dipping into FA for a $175+ million player.

And Lenyn Sosa plus isn’t going to bring back anything more than yet another reliever…unless that other piece is one of their better lower level pitchers not named Vera OR including Ramos as well.

For all those still clamoring, Joey Gallo is 2 for his last 36. Sounds like he would be a perfect fit. (but he homered yesterday in a shellacking of the Pirates, for optimists.) And, no, the Yankees aren’t going to trade him for AJ Pollock. On the other hand, it would be hard for Menechino to make him any worse. For the entire month of June, he was a sizzling 9/65. Josh Bell should be their #1 choice because the Royals will ask for too much for Benintendi. Jazz Chisholm would require sending the Sox top 5 prospects out. Never gonna happen.

The biggest concern is Hahn senses his job is in potential jeopardy and empties out the remainder of the farm to make a desperation run for it in 2022-23 (see 2016)…not looking at the long term consequences of his moves. It’s going to be one of the most dire situations in JR franchise history if they were to somehow miss BOTH of these next two postseasons with expanded playoff fields. Right now, their best hope for 2023 is that Carlos Correa goes elsewhere. And that’s not saying much, because Jeremy Pena, his replacement, has been even better for the Astros without even factoring in salary. For this season, both NY teams, Houston and the Dodgers seem like locks to be in the World Series. Things will open up again if/when Judge goes somewhere like Seattle.

Probably Narvaez, McCann, Rodon 2021 (obviously not the offseason plan), Graveman and Cueto. That’s the extent of good/solid moves. We need to be producing a lot more players ages 22-26 like the Twins. Seems Arraez has been around forever, but he’s younger than you imagine. See Larnach, Kirilloff, Gordon, Royce Lewis, Celestino, Jeffers, Miranda, etc. We just have Vaughn and Sheets from the last couple of seasons added to the current youth mix. And Zavala contributing now, although he’s been on the 40 man for ages.

Yesterday was the opportunity on four occasions to throw in the towel. So not dead quite yet. 7 1/2 back would have been tough to overcome. Plus the Guardians are really fading. Only one game ahead of the Sox after being one game ahead of the Twins roughly ten days ago.

Josh Bell would be a huge get…but of course the argument will be don’t block Sheets for the far superior player. Drury has made and makes sense for a number of teams. Starting pitching shouldn’t be prioritized over hitting right now…and Castillo will be more expensive in prospect cost than he’s worth. Knowing Hahn, he will probably try to fix Kelenic’s swing instead. Or move him to second base.

Brieske/Cease Skubal/Giolito Hill (second career start)/Cueto Hutchison/Kopech

He should be worth millions more than Seager...especially as there are fewer big names at the top this year and more teams chasing that diminishing supply. With the caveat that he has to avoid a lengthy IL the remainder of this season.

Nm

Odds of White Sox having a seat at the table in the Judge or Trea Turner FA negotiations?

Hitting third and DHing against AZ. Started 4/9, 0 for his last 4 with a walk. .308 BA.

Alvarez Ohtani JD Martinez might disagree... https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=dh&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=6&season=2022&month=0&season1=2022&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2022-01-01&enddate=2022-12-31

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/tigers-gm-77-million-pitcher-eduardo-rodriguez-3-weeks-205815885.html Tigers GM says team hasn't heard from $77 million pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez in 3 weeks...marital issues/on restricted list

Asked for team’s best pitching prospects for Adam Eaton The interesting aspect is both those Sox players went on to be important contributors on World Series-winning teams.

One thing they most assuredly won’t do is throw a boatload of money at Theo Epstein. Need to find the baseball equivalent of Brad Stevens…who understands the game from both a coaching as well as management/front office perspective.

https://soxmachine.com/analysis/failing-to-understand-then-understanding-the-failure-of-the-8-5-triple-play-in-6-frames/

It’s working well for that 27 year Burger King employee who got the insulting thank you appreciation package of movie tickets and a Starbucks cup, etc., after never missing a day of work or being late over all that time. Hahn has to be at close to 20 years if not longer, right? Btw, that particular GFM was at $300,000+ last time I checked…probably mid $300k’s by now.