caulfield12

Unfortunately, the White Sox have made a habit out of round pegs and square holes going back to Dayan Viciedo and Josh Fields.

So much for that Ketel Marte trade…for now. “The Diamondbacks and second baseman Ketel Marte have had talks about a contract extension, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. Marte, 28, is technically under contract through the 2024 season thanks to a pair of club options. MLB Network's Jon Heyman notes that one proposal the Diamondbacks would guarantee those options and then tack on three more years. Marte has blossomed into a high-quality player since the Diamondbacks acquired him in a trade prior to the 2017 season. He's hit for a 122 OPS+ in more than 500 games with Arizona. He also made the 2019 All-Star Game and finished top-five in National League Most Valuable Player Award voting.” Cbssports.com

No, no, no….just making a third mistake, first the trade, then the option. Actually we’re on error #4 if you include Harrison because we no longer have Madrigal. Or #5 if you include Cesar. All somehow related to one original move. Granted, Madrigal was already out for the year.

There’s a massive difference between top AL Central team and best-suited to go deep into the postseason. I don’t even think Balta would bet his house on the Twins or Tigers overtaking the Sox in 2022.

Jorge Alfaro

And one is looking at a $225+ million contract…

$175 vs. $120? Better make it $150-160, and we saw how well that worked with Machado. Plus, you’re assuming that Semien would actually want to return to the organization that didn’t 100% believe in him and/or feel his defense would ever be good enough for a full-time starting role. The White Sox … sailed their way into October last year, winning the Central by 13 games, and they’re projected to be the class of the division again in 2022. It’s not hard to see why, anyway; few teams can match the star power of a group with Lucas Giolito, Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn, Luis Robert, Eloy Jiménez, Liam Hendriks, Jose Abreu, Yoán Moncada, Craig Kimbrel, Yasmani Grandal and the best reliever you don’t know, Aaron Bummer. They could have done little else besides bring last year’s team back and they’d still be very good. Of course, that mostly is what they’ve done, aside from welcome but relatively minor moves for Josh Harrison, Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman. The White Sox don’t really have a great answer at second base or right field, and the bottom third of the lineup feels short a bat, particularly one who hits lefty. This is a really very good team, especially on the mound. It just feels like they’re one step away from being a great team. https://www.mlb.com/news/ranking-2022-team-tiers?partnerId=zh-20220327-509597-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20220327-509597-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=lY%2Bc3%2F%2FT4A3LDbTKypSjBztJaFLdYAwOlk8hMOr%2Bfoj3EC6hjKE%2FYThH0o9r2BFm&bt_ts=1648390914404 And yes, Tyler Glasnow is hurt, and Shane Baz is hurt, and Nick Anderson is hurt, and Luis Patiño may be hurt, and Corey Kluber has a recent track record of being hurt. But it’s sort of their whole deal to do an excellent job preventing runs while using 38 different pitchers, at least a dozen of whom you’ve never heard of. Throwing a dart at the board: We'll ask you to remember Colin Poche. Rays’ analysis made me laugh. And this…”avoid the catastrophe that saw late-season starts going to Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez.”

Lux as a younger/cost-controlled player has a ton of value with that payroll. Plus, Trea Turner will be a FA at the end of the season. That’s worth in the multiple tens of millions to them.

All that said, if he really wanted off the White Sox and to close for another team...he might want to pitch that way. And if he has two more outings in a row like his first one, the whispers will grow a bit louder, at least in the media. Bellinger still holds a heckuva lot more upside. And he's quite obviously searching for his swing and tinkering on a daily basis to get right. And the White Sox have never been known for fixing hitters in season...not in the last 15 years at least.

The Dodgers are unlikely to be pushed by the Padres and then Giants like they were last season. Pollock never stays healthy, and they can easily afford to wait 2-3 months on Bellinger to figure things out. From their current point of view, there’s no rush to add Kimbrel when they can just wait the Sox out. Hahn would be wise not to allow the season to start in two weeks with Kimbrel still on the roster. If he goes out on the mound in the next day or so and gets knocked around again at only 93-94 mph, what then?

This all sounds vaguely familiar…

Betts, Pollock, Bellinger Lux as Super Utility guy, Edwin Rios as fifth starter. Beaty and Pillar as minor league depth. They also traded Luke Raley to the Rays. Kimbrel trade still doesn’t make sense unless they really believe in Lux over Pollock or Bellinger. Fwiw, Bellinger’s swing is completely out of synch right now, he’s dipping his shoulder…swing plane is erratic and his head’s moving down about 18 inches from the upright stance to where he ends up dipping into his swing. In theory, they could trade Pollock for Kimbrel, but they would still increase payroll another $15-20 million for Conforto on a one year pillow deal.

They need to throw in Shake Milton.

Well, except for Samardzija/Semien & Bassitt. I can see Manaea, but Montas is a bridge too far. Just not sure why the A’s are bothering to hold onto those two, Laureano, etc. Guess they believe they’ll get even more at the TDL with a full-scale bidding war developing.

Kansas City Royals first round draft pick Brandon Finnegan made his Major League debut on September 6, 2014, the first player to reach the majors from the 2014 draft class, with Carlos Rodon the second. Rodon first appeared for the Chicago White Sox on April 21, 2015. Finnegan became the first player to play in both the College World Series, for TCU, and the MLB World Series, for Kansas City, in the same year. Kyle Schwarber was the first position player to reach the majors from the 2014 draft class doing so June 16, 2015. Madrigal also second, right before Alex Bohm. Notice the trend? On September 9, 2019, the Chicago Cubs promoted Nico Hoerner to the big leagues, making him the first player to reach the MLB in this (2018) draft.[5][6] On July 31, 2020, Nick Madrigal was promoted to the MLB. He started at second base and batted ninth against the Kansas City Royals. He went 0-for-3.[17] Because the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 Minor League Baseball season, the Phillies were allowed to maintain a "pool" of up to 60 players, including prospects like Bohm and Spencer Howard. While the 30 players on the opening day roster would begin the season in Philadelphia, the rest would practice at an alternate training site in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[33]Manager Joe Girardi told reporters early in the season that Bohm would remain at the training site until he was in a position to play "almost every day".[34] Bohm received that opportunity on August 13, when he was called up to fill an injured Adam Haseley's spot in the lineup.

Don't forget Robert.

Only five out of ten with Sox connections…impressive. Goes back to the lack of minor league depth. Look at the “reach” Burdi pick, focus on high OPS collegiate hitter, relievers. Think back to Steele Walker and that previously long list of outfielders. A generation earlier, Royce Ring and Poreda. Rodon and Madrigal must not have been far off, too. Hawkins and Anderson the only long-term development guys.

Well, no longer dealing with Beane might help… He is the executive vice president of baseball operations and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball(MLB); he is also minority owner of Barnsley FC of the EFL Championship in England and AZ Alkmaar[1] of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands.

Shark and Swisher, to name a couple. Durham/Adkins, although that was when they believed compensation picks were disappearing. Adkins’ ERA was stratospheric, that I do remember clearly. Foulke/Koch. Bradford was a one suded trade and featured in Moneyball but Olivo/Reed/Morse for Garcia helped to even that out eventually.

0-4 since the Battle over the $50,000 with the already-wealthy Giolito Family.

Welp, that’s the end of the Brandon Finnegan Experiment.

You pretty much have to trade Vaughn/Crochet/Sheets to get Murphy and whoever you want more between Montas and Manaea. Or you really go crazy and trade Jimenez instead, but the contract makes Vaughn more realistic, as well as his being a West Coast guy.

Yep, Colas and Crochet and perhaps Vera would have to become significant contributors, with Kopech a Top 10ish AL fWAR value to pair with Cease. And God forbid they have a major pitching injury, because that means we’ll be looking more backwards at division competitors gaining on us than at potentially advancing in the playoffs. That’s why putting Buxton and Correa together for one season is admirable. Risky as hell, and 75-80% chance it doesn’t payoff, but it’s 10x the strategy for putting together an outstanding season than relievers and scrubs supplementing a great core.

Might as well trade everything not nailed down for Murphy (as the starting catcher) and Montas/Manaea and compete like hell in 2022-23. Grandal would be getting 60% of his at-bats at DH, 40% at catcher to preserve his health. Because while it would mean the loss of Sheets, Crochet and probably Vaughn…it would be the best way to up payroll in the future, actually getting to the ALCS and maybe even a WS. Otherwise, it’s a losing battling over roster attrition, escalating extension salaries internally and waving goodbye to player after player without being able to replace them cheaply from the barren farm system. Of course, that likely means relying 100% on Jose Abreu in 2023 as well, which is dangerous in and of itself.

Yes, looked at that again and it’s pretty telling Hahn-speak has evolved from multiple championships to having a great shot at the division series. That’s more out of that “let’s target a second place team just to keep the fans’ appetites whetted but expectations not ever too high” PR bag of tricks.