caulfield12

BMaggs’ subsequent list is appealing to you…? On paper, they’re all okay ideas, but those players on the White Sox will suddenly forget what’s on the back of their baseball cards. Kiermaier, if it was three years ago.

I’d go with Gausman over Ray, if it was head-to-head. Escobar is fine for a placeholder. I think we’re more likely to see a Vaughn trade than giving Conforto or Starling Marte huge numbers. Ketel Marte would be fine. Bryan Reynolds. Not sure the M’s deal Haniger now…would also look at Trammell in a change of scenery deal, but not for Vaughn…more for 4th OF to replace Engel. Depending on how much $$$ the Padres would send along, would look at Wil Myers, who has had some really inconsistent fWAR numbers. Frazier or Grisham are two more possibilities. Need to make the corner outfield spots more athletic, at least one of them if they’re staying with Eloy in LF. Soler, depending on price. That’s the 2000 offense, but not helping the defense by much. I think we are MUCH likelier to end up with a DeSclafini or Alex Wood type than Gausman, however. Scherzer, no way. More than likely, 50% of excitement is pushed back to trade deadline.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/robbie-ray/11486/stats?position=P Ray had only a 2.8 fWAR cumulatively from 2018-2020. Giving him a $150-175 contract is the definition of insanity for a franchise like the White Sox. Even the three years prior to that, he averaged around 3. That’s certainly good, but not the best usage of $25 million per season to buy at the highest possible price on the market.

And I bet minority ownership for minor league baseball teams is less than 2-3%, another potential avenue into the game… https://www.hwsgroup.com/savits-take-over-greenjackets/ This details the deal (a now tiny $1.1 million profit but still significant in the mid-90s) for the team I worked for in 1994-95. Back then, most minor league teams were available for under $10 million, except the top AA/AAA markets. His (owner’s grandfather) was the founder of Scripps/Howard Newspapers (also known for hospitals/cancer clinics, UPI News Syndicate, National Spelling Bee)…for him, it was just a 2-3 times a year plaything, going to the Winter Meetings, hob-nobbing with other elites. His wife I recall pushed him to get rid of the team. He did spring for really nice championship rings for all the front office staff, but nothing like major league teams get. “Scripps family ranks highest in the Tri-State, at No. 34, with a net worth of $7.5 billion. The family's wealth is a result of Edward Willis Scripps founding the E.W. Scripps media empire in 1878.”

Sean Young instead? At the very least, we need some Dan Marino Isotoner gloves mentioned. For some reason, I can't get the image of Don Shula having his hand snatched by Jim Carrey hiding inside of a mailbox out of my head.

Taylor is definitely not an everyday SS....he's much better than 2B and all around the OF, although a team would be better served playing him in LF, then RF...compared to CF. $200 million seems a BIT too high based on Semien's age (if he was 29, maybe?) and relatively recent "bust out" performance-wise, and you've also got his off 2020 abbreviated season where he did a JD Martinez disappearing act. Someone had him at $136 or 138 earlier in the thread....split the difference (with $200) and you get $168, which would likely be the very low starting point of Tim Anderson's contract extension discussions in 2024.

I blame it all on Balta and Umair Haque's Medium.com articles...and living in China for too long, lol.

I can't imagine JR paying a former player they didn't value enough $138, let alone $160-185 million. Escobar for $20 mill at the tail end of his career would be a different feeling...that said, we deliberately passed on him for supposed injury reasons, so what has changed? Just having a full offseason?

13% RottenTomatoes, and that was only 3/5.

Wouldn't we see the same trends in Royals or Astros t.v. ratings and season ticket uptick at the same point in their rebuilds?

It was a kickback scandal...for Jay and Alonso. That wasn't the greatest look, when all they needed to do was guarantee those last two years if they really wanted him. And they were fortunate to get Moncada's 2019 season right after that miss.

The White Sox will never go over their predetermined amount, unless it's for in-house guys or someone like Robert. You avoid bad deals like Alex Gordon, but it also leaves you on the outside looking in more often than not. A seat at the table. And realistically, we're not one of those Top 6-8 franchises that can go after nearly any FA they choose to. We're the Cardinals, Mariners, Braves, Blue Jays, Brewers or Padres...optimistically.

Would prefer they take a shot at him rather than spend $100 million on Conforto, but neither are highly likely to occur. Too much risk.

Ron is on the case. What, now you want to report this to get him banned again...when you've (supposedly/seemingly) been advocating his case for months? Pick a lane. You know he tends to lash out when cornered, yet bringing more attention to the past is going to help him move forward more productively?

Well done. Can't imagine Leury not around. Believe there's going to be someone out there like Alex Wood that will cost maybe $12-13 million but better than wasting any money on a Quintana or Hector Santiago type. No way we get that type of return for Kimbrel without any money going along with him. The Blue Jays saw him with Boston and won't be so quick to pull the trigger, and are likely spending too much money in FA to justify $16 million when Romano was fine.

Marte would be a LOT more highly regarded playing on an East Coast/ESPN team. He's not elite, but the next tier below that. And more affordable compared to these $18-40 million AAV names.

To me, it comes down to their evaluation on Kelley...if he can get it back together again. Is he more Spencer Adams, Alec Hansen and Matthew Thompson? Both Kelley and Thompson were in the mid 40's, although Kelley got $3 million. At first I thought you were talking about including Vaughn instead to get to three former 1st rounders.

That return for Marte's a little short. Feels like they would need a bigger second piece than Montgomery. Yes, he's a first rounder, but not a high one...and he's years and years away, if he eventually makes it. It's one of those "four names!!!" trades that sounds better on paper than it is in reality, that WSCR Cubs fans would always suggest, although usually with five names to get that added/extra OOMPH. Vaughn might not be the right fit, but Crochet hasn't shown enough (as a starter or failed starter) to be the headliner.

Someone has a wicked sense of humor scaring White Sox fans to death...good thing we didn't get a signature on that $100 million extension.

The biggest concern is that Lynn isn't anything resembling that pitcher moving forward for $38 million...we still have Keuchel/Kimbrel on the books, and it's going to be impossible to move on from Abreu, as we've created a logjam at the position of most depth in the entire organization. Then we have Grandal's health, which is going to be pushed to the limit without a capable back-up catcher in sight. And no White Sox fan is going to write on their tombstone....well, we ALMOST THEORETICALLY were able to acquire Burnes, Wheeler, Machado, Tanaka, etc.

"Montas wasn’t directly traded from Chicago to Oakland like Bassitt was, but he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a three-team deal with Cincinnati that netted Chicago third baseman Todd Frazier. Montas would later be traded to Oakland, along with Jharel Cotton, for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick." I guess both teams came out okay because Hill was solid for the Dodgers, but LA would have been better off holding on to the much cheaper Montas. Frazier and company netted us a return that looked okay on paper but clearly didn't turn out that way.

Because the Twins were in the exact same situation with Buxton and Berrios. In the end, the White Sox have enough position player talent to overcome pretty much anything the next couple of seasons, but they have also clearly fallen far short of the Astros/Royals/Cubs models in terms of having early breakthroughs in their competitive windows. Something has to give. Until we at least win a playoff series, we're not any better off than the Twins or Indians...except a much more "profitable" or valuable franchise due to the Chicago market.

Burnes' inning count was significantly lower than Wheeler, who many thought would win based on "overall" performance across a number of statistical categories, but the playoff-bound Brewers must have factored in. Some thought Scherzer, part of that was obviously based on name/reputation, but he had a really solid year, obviously. In the NL MVP, none of the three favorites were in the post-season. Montas being in the Top 10 of the Cy voting being another reminder of how badly that trade went awry, along with Semien's current asking price this off-season and Bassitt's playoff start against the White Sox in 2020.

Sure, and we can make the same arguments about Tatis and Semien, even with the 30th ranked farm system. Others will argue about the resurgences from Sheets and Burger being proof of progress. In the end, the only thing that matters is results. We are in danger of falling into the same trap as the Cubs with all these significant $$$ contracts for veterans on the books at the same time: we have six of these currently on payroll right now, and everyone's speculating about adding at least 1 if not 2 more this off-season. The White Sox MO has always been to take advantage of these situations like we saw with Rodon for $3 million, Lynn on a "cheap" deal for last year via the trade...picking up closers like Jenks and Sergio Santos for practically nothing, then maxing out their value/return. We would be the SF Giants coming into last year, with Gausman far and away the biggest add and then finding good fortune at the back-end with DeSclafini and Alex Wood. Arguably, we're anywhere from the 2nd to the 8th best team in baseball right now, with #5 feeling about right (and we have no idea yet how much the Yankees and Dodgers are going to spend, for example.) We're also sitting on a 2-3 year window currently, with massive decisions on Giolito and TA looming. I don't really trust Hahn to make a youth-for-veteran/s trade, so they're really going to have to pull one out of the hat. Other than Scherzer and maybe Gausman, not seeing many true TOR playoff starting pitchers you can 100% count on for a solid start, other than maybe Giolito (internally). There are so many possible ways the starting rotation could go, both negatively and positively. And counting on those three young A ball pitchers (and Vera) rebouding...or Cespedes and Colas, well, if we had $1 for every Sox prospect who hasn't panned out the last two decades, we'd all be able to eat out at Ruth's Chris for one elegant meal at least.

And what is your magical answer? At least Chitownsox provided his plan.