caulfield12

Chicago Cubs Sign Carlos Rodon No, this isn't some sort of ham-handed gesture to stick it to White Sox fans. The Cubs need a starting pitcher in the worst way who misses bats. One presumes that Chicago isn't ready to dabble at the top end of the free-agent market, so that rules out Max Scherzer and probably also Robbie Ray. Rodon is a significant injury risk, but in terms of performance, he found himself in 2021. The risk part of the equation is what makes him affordable, or at least more affordable than Scherzer, Ray and Gausman. Rodon is also just 29, so if he is entering a post-injury phase of his career, now could be the perfect time to acquire him. Chicago White Sox Sign Marcus Semien The second-best second baseman in the free-agent market is Cesar Hernandez, which pretty much means that if the White Sox want to upgrade what they had at the keystone last year, they are looking at spending on Semien. OK, there are trades. Maybe the Cubs would be willing to accept a do-over request on the Codi Heuer/Nick Madrigal/Craig Kimbrel/Ryan Tepera trade, though Tepera is a free agent, so I guess that won't work. Maybe the Guardians would part with Jose Ramirez. If that's the case, great, but who do you have to give up? Seems like the increase in payroll from just signing Semien would be worth it rather than further thinning out the Sox farm system. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/32698041/one-bold-offseason-move-every-mlb-team-make

Escobar to the Mets, $20/2 as predicted. The New York Mets are in agreement on a two-year, $20 million contract with free-agent infielder Eduardo Escobar, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to ESPN on Friday. Escobar, 32, is a versatile switch-hitter who can play second and third base but also played 18 games at first after being traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Milwaukee Brewers last season. EDITOR'S PICKS

Why wouldn't the Phillies simply sign Kenley Jansen for cash?

They would laugh at that...look at his fWAR last year. Kelley would have to have been absolutely dominant to be the second piece.

Well, there's nobody in or around baseball that can question our young core...other than some lingering doubts on Kopech and Cease, or Crochet starting. On the position side, no way. Unless we want to go back and quibble over the Madrigal pick.

When’s the last time there was a team with too much outfield defense? The 2014-15 Royals? Seems to have worked out pretty darned well for them running out Gordon, Dyson, Cain, etc. It obviously depends on the asking price…and the Sox paying a “divisional premium” like we similarly saw in the Q and Kimbrel trades with the Cubs. But man would it suck if he (now) finally lives up to his massive potential in the AL, especially with the Astros.

Cue the we need a LH hitting, contact-oriented hitter crowd…seems Baez will get roughly $90-105 million, would the White Sox gamble even more on an offensive rebound compared to the obvious concerns over Conforto’s 2021? Can definitely see Detroit shying away from Correa’s price tag, especially with the Miggy Cabrera contract fresh in mind.

The White Sox, as you asserted heading into the offseason, are the #2 team in baseball. Why can’t we find examples from their fan boards where they are lauding the Sox organization…by attempting to compare themselves to US? Why aren’t the White Sox considered the gold standard, instead of us always chasing them? We keep saying they’re so brilliant for almost acquiring Burnes, or at least targeting him…so why don’t we credit the Brewers for properly valuing their asset and not trading him away? It can’t be that we trade assets away like Tatis, Bassitt, Montas, Narvaez and Semien and nobody could have possibly foreseen their development…when that’s exactly what happened with other organizations. Somebody evaluated and obviously wanted to acquire those specific players.

What are you going to argue if the Dodgers or Rays sign Rodon?

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-black-friday-trade-ideas-2021?partnerId=zh-20211126-508758-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20211126-508758-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=vvP9hZh2PxIZPl3beke2mpPoRPpIGl%2BVnCvw38IgoN2vuEbb1y6msoyK8lT8uaXU&bt_ts=1637932578452 Three trades that would break the internet with Hader and Chapman to Philly, Ketel Marte traded and Buxton to the Astros as well. Also, Glasnow and Kiermaier dealt by budget-conscious Rays…who would then (theoretically) trade for Kimbrel, haha? The trade that would break the internet Phillies get: 3B Matt Chapman, LHP Josh Hader Brewers get: 1B Matt Olson, LHP A.J. Puk A’s get: 1B Keston Hiura, RHP Mick Abel (Phillies’ No. 1 prospect), SS Bryson Stott (Phillies’ No. 2 prospect), OF Ethan Wilson (Phillies’ No. 7 prospect), C Logan O’Hoppe (Phillies’ No. 11 prospect), OF Garrett Mitchell (Brewers’ No. 1 prospect) A Blue Jays blockbuster Blue Jays get: 2B/CF Ketel Marte Guardians get: C Alejandro Kirk D-backs get: IF Cavan Biggio, RHP Gunnar Hoglund (Blue Jays’ No. 4 prospect), RHP Daniel Espino (Guardians’ No. 5 prospect), OF Josh Palacios (Blue Jays’ No. 21 prospect) The Buxton stops here Astros get: OF Byron Buxton Twins get: OF Chas McCormick, RHP Forrest Whitley (Astros’ No. 5 prospect), OF Colin Barber (Astros’ No. 7 prospect) Buxton is one of the most purely talented players in the sport and a true game-changer when healthy. But he’s played just 215 games over the last four seasons, which makes his long-term value difficult to calculate. While the Twins do hope to get back into contention in 2022, it makes sense for them to deal Buxton if they can’t get an extension done. Also, would we be satisfied with that return for Vaughn or Jimenez? Many were stating that giving up either “core piece” was absolutely crazy. A lot would absolutely depend on a Whitley bounceback.

Because the White Sox had “coin flip” decisions on both guys…no guarantee either decision will end up ultimately working in their favor, especially not offering Rodon. Even among the mods, there a number that would have taken the exact opposite approach.

When’s the last time a playoff team with a Top Ten payroll successfully kept a player in-house doing this? The Angels, for example, definitely want Iglesias back on a 3-4 year deal…but no QO accepted. The Dodgers didn’t have the option with K.Jansen since one was previously offered earlier in his career. Both are at least 50/50 bets to return to their prior teams.

Similar defensively to Merrifield. Value from power and versatility, versus speed and versatility…similar athletically, although seems that Whit has definitely peaked as a player. Taylor just coming into his own. Taylor could play SS better for sure, and stronger arm. Similar in OF.

You really think nobody will sign him, looking at the crazy salary numbers for pitchers so far…?

The Phillies have recently acquired 2 catchers in 2 separate trades. They got Donny Sands from the Yankees and Garrett Stubbs from the Astros. This has made a Rafael Marchan or a Logan O’Hoppe moveable for the Phillies. Catcher is a positional need for the White Sox as Yasmani Grandal is now 33 years old and had knee surgery last season. Their backup, Zach Collins, hasn’t shown a capacity to hit in the majors nor has he been able to control opposing baserunners. In parts of 3 seasons, he has a 16% caught stealing rate. The White Sox are also devoid of any catching prospects as MLB.com doesn’t have 1 listed in their top 30. (Likely Carlos Perez is there now.) Rafael Marchan, having some major league experience, would make the most sense. He’s been praised by Phillies’ skipper Joe Girardi and seemed to have several teams interested during the 2021 trade deadline. Pairing Marchan with a SS prospect like Luis Garcia would most likely get a deal done. Both have been regarded as top-10 prospects for the Phillies. Losing Garcia wouldn’t hurt either as Bryson Stott looks to make the leap to the majors in 2022. https://phillysportsnetwork.com/2021/11/22/phillies-craig-kimbrel/

Does that have more value than the comp pick we would have gotten for Rodon? Between the second and third rounds, it would be something less than Kelley or Thompson, essentially.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/white-sox-tony-la-russa-regrets-use-craig-kimbrel-vs-rays https://theathletic.com/realtime/lRE7KwSC1BrX/ See Fegan comments/quote from TLR at the top of this page...these were the Monday Morning QBing comments everyone was irate about.

In theory, he would have had those opportunities where Hendriks couldn't go because of usage...or past match-ups where upcoming hitters were favorable, for example. I can't remember, but how many games did he enter in either the 9th or extra innings with a clean slate and the White Sox leading? I certainly can't recall anything resembling a closer controversy, even after the Field of Dreams game (might have been another blown Hendriks lead in that same stretch of games...

Unless TLR was the one who'd pushed the most for Kimbrel, then reversed himself to do the whole CYA thing in the media at the end of the Astros' series (TLR "Basically, I never really would have wanted him, had I known he would only be used in high leverage and not in the only role he'd ever known previously as a closer, I would have nixed it and said RF should have been prioritized instead.") Knowing that Hahn wouldn't dare to come out and call him out publicly... Of course, TLR had something to do with how he was being utilized...notwithstanding his disastrous early showing, they certainly could have turned to him in late August/September to let him get his feet back under him in a familiar role. Because they had to have known (already) that they would exercise the QO and/or attempt to trade him in the offseason, so why not try to rebuild some of that lost value in SEPT? They certainly were NOT prioritizing tracking down the Astros until the last 7-10 days of the entire season. CONSPIRACY THEORY/TINFOIL HAT TERRITORY

$75 million to add to current payroll for JUST 2022 or IN TOTAL for "new" FA or added contract dollars stretching until 2025/26/27? Because some of the projections here have us adding $300-350, even $400 million in NEW spending (and that's with Kimbrel and even Keuchel subtracted.)

With these kind of demands, we'll be served a Thanksgiving helping of two more guaranteed Leury Garcia years, if not three.

He's 10x more likely to be added by a legit contender than someone looking merely to flip him at the deadline, so we will see what he actually has left with no excuses about pitching in the 8th or tie games.

Mullins is pretty close to untouchable. Reynolds less so, but it would require almost all of our remaining trade chips.

29 on Opening Day, which is the last peak season historically for the majority of MLBers without steroids.

Fatigue coming off abbreviated 2020 and lots of innings/pitches in the first half is the likeliest answer…then the Dodgers were “pretty good” and the Rockies on the road maybe? He actually did pretty well the second half, after looking more closely….the Padres were still a 17 games over .500 team around then. Other than 4 ER against the Dodgers in postseason and one bad start against Pitt (6 ER), it’s not like he fell apart, he just wasn’t as dominant. https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/32667/kevin-gausman Look at home vs. away splits. I would have expected the home games to be his big advantage, but he actually pitched better on the road, compared to his more pitcher-friendly homepark.