caulfield12

I’m mean, let’s be realistic here. Not even the Dodgers are showering any FA’s with huge contracts. While we can certainly afford one at that level, we can’t afford one to go bad. Obviously, Betts seems as safe a “bet” as any, but that’s always true at the beginning of most free agent contracts. I guess Balta did a mini-study of some of the bigger pitching deals working out more often than not in recent years, but it’s almost impossible to predict with any degree of certainty which ones will turn out to be albatrosses. For example, Cano signing with the Mariners...that turned into a disaster for that franchise that runs similar budgets to the White Sox. Harper/Realmuto or Machado didn’t guarantee playoff spots for their acquiring teams, either.

We could never convince Betts to sign in the first place without winning around 85 games or more. Then we end up severely overpaying for 30-something Springer or spending $60-75 million for a platoon bat in Joc Pederson. Look no further than the Northside for a team decimated even at the luxury tax level by a series of bad contracts like a Heyward, Darvish and Chatwood. Two of those guys were “premiere” talents that haven’t worked out well.

Is that Pujols reporter/source any relation to Albert? Just curious...

It seems Castellanos/Ozuna are moves that are no longer going to happen with the addition of EE and Mazara...they need this year to wait on their 2020 platoon to develop, to see what they have in their four minor leaguer outfielders and also to wait on the mid-season trade market and of course monitoring the rest of their rehabilitating Top 30 minor leaguers, 9 coming off major injury setbacks. Lots of moving parts, lots of possibilities. Of course, Ozuna could end up signing just a one-year deal and waiting for next offseason, like Grandal did this past year, or Moustakas. Castellanos is more likely to get paid based on his last two years and relatively youth.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/white-sox-win-now-intent-014114973.html Sox Win-Now Intent Becomes Obvious

When's the last time a Top 3 pick was traded within two years of being drafted?

Though he didn't look great in the postseason, he finished the regular season having hit .244/.344/.531 with 34 home runs. One potential red flag: he was underneath the ball far more often in 2019 than usual, resulting in a sky-high launch angle (over 22 degrees) and pop-up rate. Could that be a sign of decaying barrel control? Encarnacion will turn 37 in January, meaning he'll arrive at camp with "Attrition Risk" written on his forehead until he can prove otherwise. For his career, Encarnacion owns an OPS+ of 125 across parts of 15 major league seasons. His 414 career home runs rank 52nd on the all-time list. Last season, White Sox designated hitters combined to bat a meager .205/.286/.356 with 17 home runs in 550 at-bats, so even if Encarnacion endures some decline he should still constitute a hefty upgrade over that 2019 baseline. It's been an active winter for the South Siders, who are primed to get back to postseason for the first time since 2008 when they lost in the ALDS. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/white-sox-strike-up-christmas-day-deal-for-free-agent-edwin-encarnacion-per-reports/

Hunter Pence's name has been coming up a lot recently. Puig looks like he will end up on the Marlins, of all teams.

Michael 1 hour ago The Sox have spent a lot of money on a catcher who is older, a pitcher in Gio who’s career is over, and now a part time first baseman who is pretty much done, I’d say we haven’t done much so far in this off season. Love yahoosports comment sections.

Platoon for Mazara, defensive replacement for Jimenez, PR...essentially, taking Adam Engel's spot on the roster.

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through Target Field Not a creature was stirring, not even a trade yield. (not exactly the best couplet in history here) The cleats were hung by the lockers with care, In hopes that David Price soon would be there. by Matthew Lenz Dec 24 2019 07:05 PM READ MORE > (www.twinsdaily.com)

It's still really TOP-loaded right now. While we're currently at #5, we will quickly be losing Robert, Madrigal and Kopech to eligibility issues for those rankings as they move on to Chicago. We had ten major injuries last year (including Rodon), so the hope is that we can rebound enough to be a mid-teens organization by the end of the season (hoping for progress from Vaughn, Dunning, Stiever, Thompson, Dahlquist and one of the four outfielders still in the system.)

As noted previously, the biggest change is going to be going from negative numbers to hopefully 2+ fWAR for RF. At the minimum, we're talking about a shift of 15 fWAR, if not more. Keuchel has a full spring training to get ready, and all of our hitters will have more protection in the line-up. Mazara can hit 7th/8th instead of 3-5 like he did in Texas, for example. Robert and Madrigal can start off with less pressure than they would have without the additions of Grandal and EE to take some of the focus off their rookie campaigns.

He was the best possible fit under the circumstances, especially due to his ability to work with Grandal as one of the top pitch framers in the sport. We overpaid by a bit, but he's got a ton of playoff/World Series experienced, well-respected veteran, Cy Young, etc. The bottom line is we now have an opportunity to compete and we still have the financial flexibility to add at the deadline, Keuchel and Grandal are the only moves (along with Abreu) affecting the heart of the contention window from 2021-2023.

Daniels got extended for adding 11 fWAR in Lynn and Minor for a fraction of $100 million, haha. (Interestingly, it should be noted that Minor was one of the top trade targets for the Twins last summer.)

What is it recently, the entire Sox F.O. likes every single one of your posts, lol? This leaves a potential platoon partner for Mazara, utility infielder (instead of going with Mendick) and RH reliever as the remaining weak spots on the team. Pretty drastic change from just a couple of weeks ago...almost unFATHOMable. Now some will quibble with the fact that none of our signings are "prime years" acquisitions, but it's the best that can be done under the circumstances after missing out on Wheeler and not wanting to just punt the entire season. Getting Robert locked into an extension would be absolutely huge, the cherry and whipped cream on top of the cake.

Soria just signed so not getting traded...the other thing to consider is the relief market next year in FA is even more barren. Colome’s one of the top three options on most boards, and A.Miller depending on his option getting picked up or not.

https://theathletic.com/1485331/2019/12/24/what-were-dallas-keuchel-and-james-mccann-like-as-battery-mates-at-arkansas/?source=dailyemail McCain and Keuchel were batterymates at Arkansas, so he’s likely not getting traded...certainly not in the first half of the season

Give him a year. Everyone said the exact same things about Madrigal entering 2020 off a subpar draft year performance.

https://www.lonestarball.com/2019/5/13/18617782/nomar-mazara-has-been-better-than-you-think Where is Mazara falling short? Batting average on balls in play. Mazara has a BABIP of .240 this season — well below his career .292 mark, and 151st out of 174 qualifying hitters per Fangraphs. He had a .298 BABIP in 2018, .293 in 2017, and .299 in 2016. Hitting the ball harder, and having a higher line drive rate, generally results in a player having a higher BABIP, not a lower one. A very simplistic view is that Mazara is having bad luck on balls in play. And this is supported by the Statcast data. Mazara’s xBA (expected batting average) this year is .288. His actual batting average is .227. Out of the 334 players with at least 50 plate appearances, there are only 12 with a bigger negative spread. Statcast sees Mazara as having contact that would be expected to generate a .326 BABIP, not the .240 BABIP he actually has. What does all this mean? Well, if Mazara actually had a .361 wOBA this year, he’d have a 120 wRC+. If he had the extra 61 points in batting average Statcast suggests he should have, and all those extra points came from singles, he’d be slashing .288/.348/.483, and we’d all be encouraged about the progress he’s made this season. The counter to that, of course, is that Mazara is slow, he gets shifted against, he’s a pull hitter, and so he’s going to underperform his xwOBA. And that’s reasonable...but should he really be expected to underperform it by that much? Joey Gallo, an even more extreme pull hitter who gets shifted on more than Mazara, is underperforming his xwOBA by 21 points. If Mazara were just underperforming by 21 points, he’s at a .340 wOBA, which would be around a 107 wRC+, which would still be a rate where Mazara is performing at an acceptable level.

https://sports.yahoo.com/hot-stove-tracker-angels-trade-for-orioles-pitcher-dylan-bundy-211008577.html Weird....the header for the link was Dylan Bundy, the top places article was on the White Sox/EE and nobody paid attention to that contradiction in consecutive paragraphs.

T.Walker as a swing guy to pair with Rodon as long as the money’s in the $4-6 million range with mutual option for next year would be interesting. That way, they could also part ways with Rodon if he doesn’t look the same and even more insurance for the young starters. Alex Wood will get more, arguably...whichever one looks like the best value and is suited for pen work or spot starting.

Included in its own thread since he was one of the most frequently discussed options at SoxTalk for RF. Easy to miss over Christmas unless you’re in China for XMas with the day off and wife at work and son at school, haha.

A week after making a big splash by signing Madison Bumgarner, the Arizona Diamondbacks made another power move, adding slugger Kole Calhoun. Per multiple reports, the deal is for two years and $16 million with a third-year club option: Calhoun has spent his entire seven-year major league career with the Los Angeles Angels, but will switch leagues and cross the state border and head to Phoenix where he will join a team that is aggressively looking to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. The 32-year-old hit .232 with 33 home runs in 152 games last season with the Angels. Calhoun played collegiately at Arizona State and will return to familiar confines. By signing Bumgarner and Calhoun, who are both on the south side of 30, the Diamondbacks feel they are ready to push their chips in to contend now — mixing established veterans with a young squad. Maybe they will be the team in 2020 to finally give the Dodgers a run for NL West supremacy. yahoosports.com Passan twitter feed Outfielder Kole Calhoun and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a two-year, $16 million deal, sources tell ESPN. The contract includes a third-year club option for $9 million. @jonmorosi, @Joelsherman1, @nickpiecoro and @Feinsand were among those with details on it

Hudson and Harris are still going to be paid well. Stammen is a good bounceback candidate....really solid but overused in first half, faded down the stretch.