caulfield12

Ever at over $90 million?

Eflin has averaged 1.875 fWAR for the last four seasons...they're not just going to give him away for free. Only one year remaining before FA, projected to get $5.5 million.

Unless you are the Giants or Rays or Rangers (Minor/Gibson/Lynn), if you try to beat the odds with these bargain basement pitching signings, you'll more often than not end up with guys like Jake Arrieta or The Dark Knight giving them one too many chances at the end of their careers. You can capture lightning in a bottle, like the Giants this season, but it's almost impossible to sustain? When's the last time the White Sox actually drafted and developed an impactful starting pitcher? Chris Sale. One year of Cralos Isle of Rodon. Maybe it will be Vera, but the track record over the last decade with guys like Carson Fulmer hasn't been all that great. Crochet just wasted another year. Just look at all those second round draft picks that never amounted to anything, for example. We're still largely relying on the fruits of the Sale, Eaton and Q trades, along with Luis Robert.

So we should give Tepera $10 million to return by this argument...?

Treinen, Graterol and probably Jansen back. Someone will try out Joe Kelly as a closer, so another landing spot for Kimbrel off the board. Wouldn't be shocked to see Iglesias back with LAA.

The injury history and fact that Seager will likely have to move off SS at some point make Correa the better choice. Seager made more sense for the Sox, simply because LH/playoff-proven/would be able to player other positions more willingly than Correa, such as 3B and 2B (which is where he would be with the Sox). Well, let's just say it would be a shocker if Anderson would willingly give up SS for anyone but Correa.

Can really envision the White Sox taking a low risk go at Duffy since already so familiar with Central. Health...who knows? But any pitcher in that $8-12 million range will come with warts. Probably a deal based around a ton of incentives.

Seems the Giants really need to keep him if they want to continue to compete in that division. Plus, much closer to Las Vegas. Story is going to get way too much money from someone missing out on Correa...and not satisfied with Baez's erratic offense.

Not unless Ron and/or Jose Abreu are somehow involved. Or Greg775's palatial Lawrence estate.

That's probably not the ideal way to do it...by further enriching the Ricketts Family. Like changing from Miller Lite to Budweiser.

Well, try losing your coach to USC and half your recruiting class at a critical juncture and facing the same fate as Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas A&M and Colorado by joining the SEC, at least until Saban retires. Two years ago might be the last OU BCS team for a number of years...if not a decade.

Boston, NYY, Houston, LAA, Seattle, SFG, SD, LAD, pretty much the entire NL East, Cardinals, Cubs… What are the odds of beating out all of those clubs for one of the 3-4 position players we’d actually be satisfied with? We had the open lane with Machado and Harper, and then Wheeler. Now that door has pretty much been slammed shut to add a star player externally. And we might end up this year having lost/traded/got nothing in return of value for THREE Top 4 overall draft picks because we weren’t willing to spend money in FA at premium positions and were forced to trade from our last remaining area of strength…our MLB positional player depth chart along with Crochet, yet another 1st rounder. Those three young guys were supposed to be the next wave and keep the payrolls relatively reasonable. Even that’s in danger of disappearing in this crazily distorted (by two teams) market.

You can see a pitcher slipping between the cracks, but a lot of teams have hardly done anything as well and will be chasing after the same 3-5 position players as the White Sox. Plus, it’s going to depress season ticket sales/deposits with the threat of a strike and no interesting new player moves if this drags on and on…had they gotten to the ALCS, it would be a slightly different story at least.

He also went to OU like Hansen, so never underestimate comfort factor, Arlington being so close to Shawnee…just down I-35 a few hours. Not to mention OKC had Rangers connections through the 89ers for years and years, 85% must grow up Rangers’ fans in that area, the rest KC, Houston, Rockies or Cardinals.

You forgot losing Heuer as well, which might require another $7-8ish million on a Tepera/Neris or similar signing. Basically $20-22 million in completely unnecessary additional spending…which could have gone to a Gausman, Conforto, Story, Taylor or whatever high quality player that actually would have moved our WS odds up appreciably. ”But we spent the money!l!” But, as usual, it wasn’t allocated wisely or efficiently. See RF/DH for a decade, as well as Friends & Family Spending.

And it would even somehow manage to discourage season ticket buyers in the process…it’s actually pretty telling that the increases in gas and food/grocery prices in recent months is right in line with the Scherzer increase over highest AAV. Around 15-20%. But who would have thought Fed easy money policy, Cohen overspending and inflation would be the Sox downfall, vis a vis the convenient villain which is JR’s anti-union advocacy?

Thought it was just $1 million. In any case, avoiding that to spend $14.5 million on Segura…who’s a decent enough vet but who’s going to cost an extra $14 million (compared to Madrigal) that could have gone to a really exciting/transformational player for this franchise? Not exactly priceless, as the credit card commercials would have one believe.

Lots of promises about adding players to get them over the top at the trade deadline…when the financial consequences of this week’s signings will set in for some of these teams that become non-contenders.

We haven’t even gotten the bullpen to the point where it’s better than 2021, especially if we have to trade Crochet for a starter.

If they are willing to go up to $70-75 million. And aren’t forced to go six years, that will be the clear end of those negotiations from the Sox side… Actually, all things being equal, he’ll stay with the Dodgers and White Sox would have to overpay by 10-15%. Has been on the West Coast pretty much his entire career.

“As a strong season for Nick Castellanos progressed in Cincinnati, it became increasingly obvious that the slugger would opt out of the remaining two years and $34MM on his contract in favor of a return to the free-agent market. Castellanos, however, is perhaps seeking an even larger payday than most would expect; MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that Castellanos and agent Scott Boras are eyeing a contract of seven or even eight years in length. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted this morning that the Marlins still have interest in Castellanos even after landing Avisail Garcia, though Feinsand suggests Castellanos’ asking price is too rich for Miami’s liking.” Goodbye Castellanos. Pretty much guarantees Conforto gets at least $90-110 million and five years. Better off doubling or tripling Contreras’ coaching salary to get the very best out of Vera and Colas.

How are they acting like a World Series contender? Now we’re supposed to be satisfied to trade our remaining prospect capital from the #30 ranked farm system when we were promised unprecedented financial flexibility? Acquiring Castellanos or Schwarber when we already have six DH’s on the roster? Luis Castillo? Sonny Gray when his best days are now behind him? We already let one of our All-Stars go for zero in return, and a Top 4 draft pick. Now we’re going to trade Vaughn and/or Crochet for Castillo…which will leave Vera as the last legit piece in the farm system, along with Montgomery.

Or the situation the Cubs were in the last 2-3 seasons…basically standing pat but afraid to do a teardown until it was unavoidable. But trying to compete without Darvish made little to no sense, other than for the financial savings. Of course, the White Sox are still years away from the backside of the rebuild…but haven’t yet acted like a top contender does, either. Heck, even Conforto and a veteran starter in the $10-12 million range won’t excite many, especially if they go cheap at second base as well.

Many White Sox fans became skeptical of the team’s commitment to rebuilding and desire to win a championship as an inability to spend money during free agency became apparent. Hahn assured Chicago fans that the money that was supposed to be used for Machado and Harper would be spent one way or another. In 2019 and 2020, the White Sox would spend money on quality free agents, including Yasmani Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, and Liam Hendriks. Although not the best free agents available, Grandal, Keuchel, and Hendriks were the best available players at their position. Another tactic utilized by the White Sox front office has been to substitute a free agent signing with a call-up of one of their top minor league prospects. In 2019, Chicago called up slugger Eloy Jimenez to appease the fans upset about failure to sign Machado or Harper. A year later, the White Sox would call up their number one prospect in centerfielder Luis Robert while calling up outfielder Andrew Vaughn this season to fill the void by not signing a free agent outfielder or designated hitter. The issue with the prospect callup tactic is that the White Sox will not have a top prospect to call up before the start of the 2022 season. The lack of a readied prospect will now force the team to sign a premium free agent during the offseason. Furthermore, for Chicago to compete for a World Series in 2022 and 2023, the team will need proven veteran talent and not players that will need a few years to develop. What potentially works in the White Sox favor if the team were to target either of the three free agents (Matz and Semien gone, only Castellanos remaining) is that they wouldn’t be the most expensive free agents on the market. Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Javier Baez, and Trevor Story are projected to be the most expensive free agents of the 2021 offseason. These free agents could enable the White Sox to work on more affordable but still expensive contracts with either Castellanos or Semien. The White Sox will need to sign free agents to bolster their roster before the 2022 season as none of their prospects will put the team over the top to compete for a World Series. Chicago does not have a premium prospect to fall back on and call up if they do not wish to spend on a free agent. If the White Sox are serious about winning a World Series in the next few seasons, it will be up to Reinsdorf and Hahn to spend the money they have been reluctant to spend on premium free agents the last few off-seasons. https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-white-sox/white-sox-ownership-cant-afford-any-more-half-measures-during-upcoming-offseason/

They’re not going to add another defensively-challenged player for the type of money Castellanos will be asking for…