caulfield12

I don’t think ANYONE in the front office even once dreamed Schwarber or Castellanos. If they had, we wouldn’t have gotten stuck with Pollock/Eloy/Vaughn/Sheets in the outfield. If Schwarber was the plan from the beginning, they never would have exercised the Kimbrel option in the first place.

Realistically explain how the White Sox compete on a $200 million payroll this year or next with Vaughn subtracted and Soto’s $17 million added…not to mention massive arbitration increases the next two years. Everyone’s acting like teams are lining up to take Eloy, Lynn, Pollock, Jimenez, etc., off their hands…not to mention Grandal, Kelly and Leury.

It’s not like Dye and Pods and Contreras and AJ and Hermanson were at peak value in 2004-05, either. Garcia was the only one who could be characterized this way. Risk/reward. Opportunity cost.

Haven’t we all learned from watching Trout and Ohtani? Does Soto even guarantee a playoff team these next three years when you’re already having to replace Giolito and Tim Anderson after 2023 and 2024…assuming you don’t trade Montgomery, he’s your rookie SS that final Soto season, if not earlier. You have the worst prospects after 2024 of any team in baseball…looking at repeating 2016-2019 all over again. And one of the oldest and smallest stadiums in baseball in terms of generating revenue. Besides the fact the primary way this all works is if Abreu doesn’t regress, Lynn suddenly returns to 2019-21 form, Cease and/or Kopech stay healthy, Grandal returns to form, Hendriks/Graveman/Kelly/Lopez stay healthy, Robert and/or Moncada are close to superstars and you can somehow solve the Eloy/Vaughn/Pollock logjam. There’s just way too many variables for Soto (assuming full health) to override all that. And it’s not like Soto is accruing tons of value for his defense or baserunning. It would have been ten times more logical to simply sign Harper when they had the opportunity and there was no prospect cost nor ticking clock of when he was going to leave as well. The White Sox name is only thrown in there to generate fan interest. Bait and switch. Rinse and repeat.

6. Mariners The surging Mariners have some of the best young talent in the majors and could use it to headline a package to acquire Soto if they decided to be aggressive. OF Julio Rodriguez isn’t going anywhere, but one of RHPs George Kirby or Logan Gilbert would likely have to be included in any package for Soto. From there, the Mariners could pull together multiple combinations from a farm system that includes talented young shortstops Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo and a wealth of young righthanders including Matt Brash, Emerson Hancock, Taylor Dollard and Bryce Miller. A package of prospects alone wouldn’t be enough to grab Soto, but in the unlikely event the Mariners decided to include one of their young starters, they could do it. Personally, I don’t see the Mariners parting with Kirby or Gilbert. That said, if you think of all the franchises most desperate to get to the World Series, the Mariners would be right up there in the Top 3 or so. There’s so much hype around Julio Rodriguez and the team in general at the moment, they’re even opening up the RF upper deck for the first time in ages against the Astros this weekend. The Guardians would be up there as well because of their farm system depth. Both the AL Central leaders would fit if you dream big. Perhaps the Twins also believe that Carlos Correa would stick around for another season at least were they to make such a move to add Soto to Buxton/Correa…? With Royce Lewis out with his second major knee injury, and not wanting to shift Polanco back to SS next year, it starts to make more sense. Mets, Padres, Dodgers and Yankees still have to be the favorites should they choose to pursue it.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/which-teams-have-the-prospect-talent-to-acquire-juan-soto/

Brash (and especially Crochet) are too volatile…most still believe Brash ends up as a reliever. “Control and Command: Good command for a pitcher of his size and effort, though over extended outings it could become a concern thanks to violent delivery. Good relief profile. Control: 50 | Command: 50 Overall: Brash has an outside shot at starting at the big league level, though that will be incumbent on the development of his breaking ball and improving his delivery and body can hold up over the duration of long outings. As it stands, he projects to be a plus fastball guy with a good supporting off-speed pitch and a get-me-over breaking ball. OFP: 35 Role: 30 - Up/Down Emergency Depth Risk: High” https://www.prospectslive.com/scoutingreports/matt-brash

Just throw Kelenic in while they’re at it… Marte Kelenic and Brash plus one more piece equivalent to Basabe. Could even make it Taylor Trammell. Not seeing any way they part with Kirby.

"They’re better, in other words, than they have been in a long time. And this is just the beginning. After that dismal 2018 campaign, the Orioles brought in Mike Elias, one of the architects of the Houston Astros’ carefully constructed turnaround from laughingstock to champions as their new general manager. And he brought with him NASA engineer-turned-baseball analytics innovator Sig Mejdal. Say what you will about the 2017 team that took home a now-tainted trophy, but Houston’s ongoing dominance in the AL West is built on more than just sign-stealing. That kind of sustained success is every baseball team’s ultimate goal. And the Orioles have reason to believe they’re right on the precipice." https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ml-bs-biggest-surprise-make-way-for-the-orioles-this-could-be-the-beginning-of-a-long-successful-run-001654430.html

Clase

Xavier Edwards

Craig Grebeck?

Are you sure that’s not from one of the numerous Fast and Furious sequels?

Sure, but what’s the difference between 3 1/2 vs. 2 1/2 years of control for the worst team in baseball? The Nationals need players that are pre-arbitration. Even Vaughn only has one more year. Soto’s already making the highest amount in arbitration. But it’s not like Cease’s arbitration numbers will be chopped liver.

https://theathletic.com/3428196/2022/07/16/juan-soto-trade-packages-teams/ The White Sox really don’t have anyone besides Vaughn and Luis Robert on the mlb roster that would be of interest. Eloy? For a rebuilding team with an escalating salary and limited control? Nope. Even Cease and Kopech don’t fit the timeline. The Sox aren’t going to be any better off trading those two…or even just one of them and a package of minor leaguers, because it’s basically trapping them in the same exact situation they were in from 2011-2016. The only way it possibly makes sense would be if they had an extension agreement already in place. And, as noted, that would never happen with Boras. Freddy Garcia was a notable exception for a previous megatrade/extension due to his connection with the Guillen family. That pre-existing relationship doesn't exist with Juan Soto.

At least you're taller than Nicky Two Strikes Madrigal. Actually I always thought 5'9" to 5'10" was close to the average for a man born in the US.

Maybe a Buddy Bell type job with another organization, but he's getting up there in age.

TLR & JR feelings/“forgiveness” >>> winning a championship or pleasing the fanbase Tells you everything you need to know about the current tenuous state of the franchise.

What was Rauch at the major League level in terms of average velo, around 92-93 touching 94? He had the labrum/shoulder issues instead of TJ if I remember correctly.

Which year?

Mets Dodgers Yankees Padres Angels (for Ohtani) Cubs don’t make much sense in their situation…and Red Sox are in between right now and will likely be losing Bogaerts. Mariners/Rangers/Orioles interesting “all chips in/compete now” choices.

Documentary on White Sox’ near move to Florida in the works Scott Diener, who directed the Derrick Rose documentary, has been researching the story since last summer and has spoken with several key figures. But it still has to be pitched for distribution. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/20/21377560/chicago-white-sox-florida-scott-diener-jerry-reinsdorf-james-thompson-michael-madigan-comiskey-park So, following that same timeline, the threats from JR will come in 2026-27…since it was a 1988 to 1991 window last time, and the White Sox had far and away the simplest stadium design (borrowed from KC, largely) of all the stadium projects proposed at that time. One interesting tidbit. Jerry Reinsdorf and Governor Jim Thompson were best buddies at Northwestern Law School. Of course, Sox GM Rick Hahn has his own NU ties.

See corrections below/above. There’s already a ticking clock on all this… https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2020/05/12/16111/a-savvy-negotiator-creates-leverage-that-time-the-white-sox-pretended-to-move-to-florida-to-get-stadium-money-from-illinois/ “As for St. Petersburg, city officials there kept shopping around for another team to lure to town, eventually helping the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Texas Rangers create leverage to score new-stadium deals at home as well, as memorialized in a FoS magnet. Finally, it looked like the city had hit paydirt when San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie, frustrated at having failed four times to get stadium-subsidy referendums passed in the San Francisco Bay Area, announced he was selling the team to Tampa Bay businessman Vince Naimoli. The rest of the National League owners, however, voted to reject the sale and to tell Lurie to instead sell to local supermarket baron Peter Magowan, which he did, saving the Giants for San Francisco.” So five teams got new stadiums out of the Tampa/St.Pete threat, with the Rangers’ stadium already replaced yet again for Globe Life or whatever it’s called.

Everything I found online says 2029. That’s a little bit more urgent than 2033. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-rosenthal-white-sox-guaranteed-rate-isfa-0828-biz-20160826-column.html Those stadium projects usually require two full years to complete (2028-29)…then you have Chicago winter weather. So they would have to have funding/architectural plans in place by no later than 2026-27. Of course, quite obviously, the Sox would lose quite a bit of leverage if they have one of the worst teams in baseball in 2025-26-27. They also signed a new t.v. deal for just five years, so the odds of a complete rebuild/teardown with both of these issues in mind…slim and none. 13-years (2017-2029) “The stadium's current name was announced on October 31, 2016, after the Chicago-based private residential mortgage company Guaranteed Rate purchased the naming rights in a 13-year deal.”

https://www.si.com/mlb/2011/03/12/11baseballs-tallest-pitchers#gid=ci0255ca70801a2515&pid=dustin-nippert If you look at the majority of guys pitching at 6’9” or taller, they were finesse guys like Rauch, Eric Hillman, Hendrickson, Doug Fister and Chris Young. The majority ended up as relievers. Daniel Cabrera, Ryan “Little Unit” Anderson, Andrew Sisco are three “power” pitcher names that come to mind. Then you have Tyler Glasnow at 6’8” and I think Alex Manoah is 6’7”. Not very many have made it. The White Sox had another 6’8” guy in Adam Russell a decade ago.