caulfield12

They wanted guys who miss bats, so Gray/Archer was clearly a step up from Happ and Shoemaker. Which pairing Cueto belongs with is certainly up for debate.

Hosmer, I mean

Except Lynn is now unsurprisingly hurt and Grandal was last year. Those are fine, albeit quite expensive and not the Braves under the radar moves. That would be more like a McCann or Narvaez acquisition. We shall see soon enough with the veteran relievers, Pollock and Harrison...how much they actually have left in the tank. Finally, David Robertson was fine, but paid like a truly elite closer when he wasn't quite that in reality.

How much would the Dodgers have to pay as a subsidy for Sox fans to countenance that? I bet the number for tolerating Bauer would have ticked up considerably in the last 7-10 days. Might as well add Matt Harvey for more unimpeachable character guys.

The White Sox won't agree to take $30 million and pay Hosmer $30 million when they already have five 1B/DH types on the roster. Myers is a nonstarter with Pollock. But he's left handed at least, lol.

The only player/s they would possibly want would be Vaughn/Sheets for 1B/DH if they can somehow jettison Hosmer. Voit's there as well now. I can just imagine the outcry if it was Vaughn dealt...

LOL. What gives anyone a reason to believe Rick Hahn will execute the right moves for veterans like that when he hasn't succeeded with eight (from your Braves 2021 list) total in over a decade?

Wouldn't be shocked if SD held on to Manaea and gave up on Paddack...who still has value attached due to his years of control and perceived upside with a change of scenery. Fwiw, Gore got rocked and really looked rattled yesterday...not sure he ever reaches his lofty expectations with SD. Lefties are like that. Late bloomers.

Balta was obviously one. We were already comparing with Semien at that point. (Better not get too confident...one of the mods is due for the IL too with the way this last week or so has unfolded.)

Other than the Astros, who they also had a surprising "earlier than expected breakthrough season"...the Cubs and Royals both peaked in Years 1-3 of their contention windows. KC actually had just two, but 98% of Sox fans would trade two World Series in 2022-23 for five to seven consecutive divisions without advancing. If there's such a thing as due...this should be the year if they want to keep the train on the tracks.

The White Sox, who drafted him originally.

Pitcher of the Month? Hard to do that starting from ground zero building his arm load/capacity up in that amount of time.

How do you explain Narvaez and McCann...those would rank in the Top 5-6 of a generation of Hahn finds.

You're still left with 33 fWAR from Bryant, plus meaningful contributions from Schwarber, Happ and Cease. Measured against Vaughn, Madrigal, Crochet, Sheets and Burger. Vaughn has to be close to a super star.

It all depends if you count Rodon as a rebuild draft pick. He was drafted while they were still going with the stars and scrubs approach to team building. That's 33 fWAR that would have to come from Vaughn, Sheets, Burger and Crochet. Obviously that requires Vaughn being a Top 3-5 AL 1B and then some. More like JD Martinez, Manny Ramirez or prime Nelson Cruz.

Most of the national sports headlines are saying mid May return, fwiw.

I simply said Crochet was not on the active roster. That's inarguable, and Balta has already pointed out the uphill battle he faces to get to 10 fWAR if everything goes absolutely perfectly the rest of his Sox career. Last time I checked, Happ was healthy. At any rate, we definitely don't want to compare the Royals and especially the Astros w/ Sox drafts. Kris Bryant's production alone likely eclipses all the contributions from Sox rebuild draft picks.

Taking Abrams over Vaughn would have been ballsy, but it remains a mystery why we haven't gone after athletes who can play CF, middle infield and catcher after all the success with Tim Anderson. Collins was one of the most unathletic catchers in recent memory. Madrigal was always going to have physical limitations. Same with Vaughn and Sheets. It's almost like they are totally reliant on Cubans and Anderson to supply athleticism...now it's Colas and Cespedes. Hopefully Montgomery is the next Corey Seager, but that's a huge ask out of him.

I should have given them credit for Rizzo and Contreras as well. Almora was clearly a bust. Schwarber and Cease became quite valuable for different reasons. In some ways, the jury is still out on Ian Happ. Pierce Johnson has been a serviceable reliever. The White Sox just as easily could have spent $15 million on any FA RFer, still had Madrigal and saved $5.5 million on Harrison. It remains to seen with Pollock, but Friedman knows what he's doing in LA. For all the mentions of Bellinger, he was never a realistic possibility for numerous reasons. With the Rays, he had an uncanny knack for moving players one year early instead of one year too late.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Knapp Andrew Knapp of Phillies/Reds fame as a backup catcher could elect for FA today...fwiw. Would be much better than Zavala.

Rushing players to the major leagues is hardly something to take credit for...the final results of those drafts will take much longer to assess, as high schoolers almost always require 3-5 years of development. Assuming Burger gets traded at some point, there's lost nothing left to show for all those draft picks other Andrew Vaughn.

The Cubs, Royals and Astros started off their rebuilds basically with Lester/Baez and Jose Altuve…not to mention we also had Rodon, Anderson and Abreu. The percentage of core pieces added by the draft is far and away the lowest of the four with the White Sox. Ten members of the roster now are 30+, including a number in their mid-30’s already. We better hope the Indians decide to muddle through the next 2-3 years instead of a firesale…or they’re going to end up as the best team in baseball 4-5 years from now depending on how advanced the young pieces they get back are.

https://www.mlb.com/news/dark-horse-cy-young-candidates-for-2022

Don't count your chickens before they are hatched with Kopech and Lopez.

The major point, just like with the Cubs…drafting and development of pitchers in the June draft. Of course, the Cease trade was a killer for Epstein. Without the Big 3 trades and one fortunate decision of Luis Robert (thanks largely to the Cuban Connection), this franchise rebuild would have been truly mired in mediocrity.