caulfield12

Okay, the main moderators, lol. The fact of the matter is that Tatis Jr. and Paddack were jumped with similar amounts of minor league experience to the majors and did just fine. In fact, Tatis was coming off a wrist injury and really proved himself in DR Winter Ball, where they won the championship for first time in decades. No reason Robert can’t do the exact same thing without losing a year. Robert simply needs to hit better than Brian Anderson 2006...but it’s still going to come down to pitching like it always does.

Half of SoxTalk is worth at least 50% of Jimenez’s $2.6 million. Less than 1% will end up with $20+ million. A world of difference, especially when you account for inflation and future buying/investing power.

Unless they sign Ozuna/Castellanos/Puig, two VERY GOOD free agent starters not named Cole...and at least one if not two veteran relievers. Then you have to think about McCann’s long-term future and add that into the equation. (OTOH, parting with Abreu cuts off another big salary bite.)

They’re not going to release him. They will simply wait until the offseason and quietly non-tender him. The only other option the Sox have is to play Leury at second when Anderson returns.

They already had Merrifield and Mondesi...and he was getting more expensive with limited offensive upside (in their eyes) and positional flexibility. At any rate, we can’t trust any numbers from Charlotte, and that’s not going to be a positive when we actually start to field competitive teams. It means are scouting is going to have to be that much better. Palka was the main success of 2018, and he’s worth approximately one autographed Joe Borchard 2000 Topps rookie card as of today.

If they don’t believe in Collins as a hitter, why would they believe in someone like Mendick, Mercedes or Zavala...? The respectful thing to do would be to trade Yolmer to the first team who will take him for the equivalent of Alex Call. We have been giving lots of at-bats to players of that ill for the last 2 1/2 seasons and still don’t have a player that fits on the next White Sox playoff team other than James McCann, who already had a somewhat established big league pedigree. Escobar or Goins there aren’t the answer...but this team is usually loyal with homegrown players, so that means Abreu and probably Yolmer stick around, like it or not, doesn’t matter.

Except this hasn’t exactly worked out well for the 76ers now, has it? In order to be remembered for eternity, you need sustained success...And to have that sustained success, you’re going to need payrolls in the $160-180 million range, if not higher. We will all believe it when we see it.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cespeyo01.shtml please refer to his stats with the Mets after he left Detroit and compare them...you can’t combine them together and magically make him the overall NL MVP after the trade, that’s now how it works

Collins has a right to be pissed, he was badly misused and then a player from another organization was bumped ahead of him in line. Or they completely misread his preparedness to hit/adjust at the next level. Not much of a reward, at any rate.

It’s like the Prior vs. Mauer argument at the time. They valued Appel as a pitcher more than Bryant as a hitter. Obviously, psychological makeup was overlooked.

Gee, well...he was on the A’s and Mets in 2015, you can’t win it in both leagues for your cumulative year. The point remains, he was the only true MVP candidate. Abreu was on a bad White Sox team, he was never going to be Top 3.

Then just dump him. We already did that with Santana and Alonso...it is what it is. No point in Hahn’s pride getting in the way. If anything, Renteria clings to his “proven” veterans almost as much as Ozzie and Ventura.

Actually, we got the best pure college hitter two consecutive drafts, although Adley Rutschman might disagree for either season. (Of course, Hostetler made the same claim about Collins...and Burger, to a slightly lesser extent.)

In the end, prime Cespedes was still the only one to put up MVP type numbers among the Cubans. Otherwise, you have Abreu’s rookie season and Puig’s first two years. But there’s no great comp for Robert out there if you limit it to just Cubans. Floor, it’s hopefully Mike Cameron/Devon White. Ceiling, just below Trout.

This is like praising the Sox for taking Rodon over Schwarber. The main argument coming from a front office would be Madrigal’s offensive potential vs. the college outfielders and CJ Abrams. Two months ago, Madrigal was still viewed as a bust by half the board, and he continues to have a lot of prominent detractors, or at least those who feel he’s much closer to 2-3 fWAR player than a consistent 4-6.

Arguably, you’ve already done this with Jimenez if you count $$$/projected fWAR. Unless he becomes a JD Martinez level hitter, it’s going to be a fair market value deal at best. Moncada is at 3.5 while Jimenez is just 0.7. Now obviously he won’t ask for 5X as much, but it’s not hard to imagine that peak Moncada would put up double the fWAR of Jimenez without either marked defensive improvements or a position change from Eloy. Cumulative/counting stat argument? Well, Tatis Jr. is at 3.4 fWAR despite missing five weeks of the season with the hammy. But Guerrero Jr. is at -0.2, and he’s going to be the best comp for Eloy going forward due to size and defensive limitations.

He said before the rebuild started...which means 2017-19. If you want to include 2016, go for it, but that actually makes the argument worse by including Collins, Burdi and Hansen.

Zero reason not to basically give away Castillo to whoever will take him...and if they’re going to give all those AB’s to Reed, just bring up Zavala as backup instead.

Castellanos is the best bet simply because he won’t need a megacontract and is already familiar with the division/pitchers. It also has the effect of weakening a rival while strengthening the Sox simultaneously. 27 years old, and the perfect definition of a guy you expect to be between 1.5-3.0 fWAR every season.

Gordon? We really need more injured/rehab players in this organization. At least we would get to hear about JayHey’s leadership, Game 7 WS speech and multiple Gold Gloves (that would be a change, I suppose.) Essentially, he would be this decade’s version of Alex Rios. The biggest problem is the Cubs are unhappy with Almora and Schwarber, not to mention Russell...so they really need Heyward’s stability in the outfield.

We’re bottom five in MLB In runs scored/runs allowed. Maybe even worse than the entire NL, and the Royals last time I checked. Other than KC and the Tigers to bail out the record a bit, we’re a high 60’s win team masquerading as a low to mid 70’s win one. Progress...sure, but that still depends on Jimenez and McCann/Collins, our four best prospects (including Cease/Kopech) in 2020 and the crapshoot that is free agency. I guess because we can see those final four (or 5/6 depending on Dunning and the remaining outfield prospects) pieces coming into play, everyone can at least envision a 2013 Royals or 2015 Cubs’ progression next year. Of course, that requires everyone staying healthy or at least not having any rehab setbacks.

That’s fine...because we keep hearing we were just one pick away from Benintendi, one away from Jo Adell or that Beck kid from NC...but there always seems to be an excuse. Or Buehler vs. Fulmer, Collins would have gone 1-1 if we were drafting, etc. Sure, we can go back and say Aiken/Kolek/Rodon/Schwarber have all been disappointments (or look at Gordon Beckham’s class), the draft’s a crapshoot some years even in the first five picks, but it’s just highly ironic that the scout responsible for honing in on Trout still got fired by the Angels while all we have for comfort are rationalizations and a string of injuries. Now the White Sox are pretty much stuck in a position where it’s almost impossible for them to get another Top Five pick. Which means they have no choice but to get it right in free agency to fix the RF problem, starting rotation and especially the bullpen.

Wouldn’t that be true if you took Kopech, Cease and Vaughn (what the hell, Dunning too) out of nearly every team’s Top Ten list? Maybe the Braves, Rays and Padres would still be in the teens with those losses...

More amazed Herrera didn’t give up a run in the 8th. Also amusing to hear the announcers talking up Ryan Cordell like he’s 1984-85 Eric Davis or something...he has five tools, sure, but he can’t consistently apply any of them enough to be a regular. Still, just the fact a White Sox player actually approached a throw from RF correctly...wasn’t flat footed or drifting or even falling backwards as he caught it, that was refreshing at least. Shades of the early 2000’s gauntlet going to Anaheim, Oakland and Seattle and getting mauled nearly every series.

In some ways, maybe the most impressive play of his short career...extricating himself from a pickoff and getting back safely to first. https://www.mlb.com/video/tatis-jr-s-acrobatic-slide Also, first four hit game...about the only negative is that he still hasn’t had his first walk-off RBI...struck out when he had that opportunity in the bottom of the 9th yesterday.