caulfield12

Viciedo was 19, if I’m recalling correctly...that was the largest bonus at the time (for someone under 21), quickly eclipsed.

You’re right, but Shields doesn't have nearly as long to go on his deal as Hosmer and they do have the prospect depth remaining to go after guys like Lindor, Betts, Thor or deGrom. The ownership group has proven they're willing to spend the money and also encourage the GM to be aggressive with changing the talent mix as well as the manager. Of course, they also have deep-pocked teams like LAD and SFG to contend with...no such barriers in the AL Central. The Dodgers’ t.v. contract pays almost as much per year as the Royals, Twins and Indians receive collectively.

You can get arguments about guys like Acuna and Tatis. Tatis constantly showed off the best infield arm strength in baseball last year at age 20. He also suffers from lapses in concentration and forces things because he’s so gifted he thinks he can make every play. Soto has the loudest hit tool, but not the speed. In a lot of ways, Tatis and Robert are similar in terms of height and speed. Robert is more effortless gliding...like Devon White or Alex Rios. Tatis is always hustling, and takes such huge strides...he would be Trevor Lawrence as a QB. Both those guys have a lot of swing and miss in their game, and outside breaking stuff has been a notorious weak zone for nearly every every Latin American prospect in the history of the game. Luckily, with the current Sox lineup and injection of guys like Grandal, EE, Mazara and Jimenez, there will be zero pressure for him to lead the team from Day One like there was in SD with the left side of that infield.

Guys like Lowe and Kingery were third and second round picks. Lowe received $24 million from the Rays. Madrigal was selected 4th overall, he’s going to get at least $30-40 million. In a lot of ways, I feel more confident about him being a perennial 2-3 fWAR player than the likes of Robert, Kopech and Cease, but we’ll see. We know all about the power and BB rate concerns, but those questions will start to be answered soon enough. A year ago, many were questioning the pick entirely. The importance of someone who does everything correctly from a fundamentals standpoint and is like a manager on the field cannot be easily captured from a statistical perspective.

https://sports.yahoo.com/josh-donaldson-multiple-four-offers-204723474.html Donaldson with four year deals on the table from Nationals, Braves and Twins...geez, that NL East is crazy.

Better to go for Hudson, Cishek, Stammen, etc. Way too expensive, considering you're locked in for 3 years and the first (and best) is likely going to be the least competitive of those three years. McHugh seems like the ideal choice...but not sure if they can get him for under $10 million. Kind of sucks to be spending another $10 million if they wouldn't have missed on their evaluation of Herrera, but it's not that big a deal if we can find a solid reliever over the next three years. The problem is that McHugh isn't the classic, 7th/8th inning high leverage guy in terms of stuff...more like a Sergio Romo. Which might still be okay. If there's ONE thing that we've learned in the last decade, it's that you can never have too much starting pitching.

Damaso Marte and Matt Thornton, briefly...

Well, the reason why is we were similarly excited to bring in LaRoche, Robert, Cabrera...obviously, the young core makes this a different situation, but there's nothing automatic in baseball. Let's hope that "Winning the Offseason" is something that we can also agree upon at the end of the following regular season as well. Surely the Phillies "won" the last couple of offseasons, but still don't have a playoff appearance to show for their efforts, as of yet.

Didn't realize Cabrera was only 34, had a 1.9 fWAR, projected at 1.6. Not sure if he's going to be willing to sign the same contract Yolmer would have received to be a back-up...but we have options there and the positive is we should be able to find the right fit for a player/agent that really want to join the White Sox, rather than us having to "market/upsell" joining the team. That's a sea change for the organization.

Holt or Gennett...? We're just one position (2B) away from having an all Latin-American/African-American starting line-up. And actually, if you put Leury there for OD... Anderson Moncada Abreu Grandal (or EE) EE (or Grandal) Jimenez Mazara Robert L.Garcia (guess the last two are pretty interchangeable) Broke up Grandal, Mazara, Leury and Moncada...that would be against RHP. We could obviously move up Jimenez to 4/5 or move Abreu down depending on how they're hitting. That gives you Top 5-10% MLB speed at 4 positions, as well as the power side of the equation from the sluggers (of course, Moncada, Robert and Anderson can also slug.)

Guess he doesn't eat as many Twinkies...

More insurance for Mazara than as 2b/Madrigal to start the year, but we already have that in the form of Leury. Just depends on numbers and option year. You'd have to think he would be better off on a Bottom Ten team playing everyday...awaiting a midseason deal or going into FA with a solid season behind him.

We’ve quickly moved on to Renteria and Cooper as the main villains holding us back, haha. Hard to criticize first year hitting coaches THAT much. You just know they would just love for Renteria to succeed in light of how the Cubs so unceremoniously dumped him.

Back to Gennett? Did he sign already?

This also highlights the dilemma the Twins have with both Berrios and Buxton, as we’ve previously discussed how long to hold onto Moncada and Giolito in a “worst-case“ scenario. Both have adamantly refused to sign extensions, and have just two years left before free agency, at least according to FG. (Buxton, fwiw, perhaps is the worst-case scenario, 7.6 fWAR...but the White Sox would save $36 million on the back-end of the Robert deal, so they’re protected in both scenarios.)

The good thing is we don't really have to push either Moncada or Robert on the basepaths too much with this type of offensive firepower. We’re not going to be a manufactured run offense, although Anderson and Madrigal can still play that gane at the top or bottom. Just taking the extra base on every occasion, rather than compiling 30-50 steals, hopefully that’s what Renteria preaches to them this spring. Too much wear and tear on the body for the risk.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/mike-cameron/1070/stats?position=OF Here’s to hoping Mike Cameron is the floor. 34+ fWAR his first eight big league seasons. How ‘bout them apples? That guy legit put up some really big numbers but was mostly appreciated by the average MLB fan.

And the White Sox and Angels were actually pretty similar until Moreno bought them and started going all Ilitch on their budget.

I can objectively say they have a better stadium, if for no other reason than the retractable roof...and definitely not for the more overpriced/trendy food. Based on having spent many games at OldComiskey, Kauffman (which was the original model and has a very similar upper deck) and GRF...and a handful in Seattle at Safeco. I guess the best argument for Chicago now is that it's more of a home field advantage with the lower bowl full than a sparsely attended Mariners game in that bigger facility. The problem is that the history of the M's goes back only until, what, 1977? If you chop off 75+ years of White Sox history to make it an equivalent comparison in term of player comps, any list over time becomes much less impressive. Just like if you only considered Griffey's rookie year through around the 2003 season for the Mariners...of course, you can do the same for the White Sox from 1990-2008 and argue they even had the 3rd or 4th or 5th best overall MLB record (behind the Braves, Yankees, Cardinals or Red Sox) over a nearly two decade-long stretch. Of course, the obviously problem for the White Sox is that, other than 2005 and the last 2-3 weeks of 2008, they've been completely overshadowed by the Cubs in the city of Chicago, so we'll always have that stigma of being the second team in the market, like the Mets and A's.

B12 really sucks. Oregon saved the Pac 12 from total embarrassment, but Utah looked terrible. OU also just lost a top QB commitment...the way things are going (Lamb going pro), they'll lose Riley as well. Georgia/Bama (take your pick), with what we know now, clearly should have been the 4th team included in the CFP. 3 of top five teams in one conference. The rich continue to get richer.

However, if you put it in terms of playoff appearances over number of opportunities...since the inception of the franchise...we're dead last. Sure, we can look the records from the 1950's to 1967 season and retroactively count those high 80's and 90+ win teams as "playoff-like" teams, but it still doesn't change the overall narrative. And there's arguably more baseball fans who still fondly remember Griffey, Jr., A-Rod, Big Unit, Edgar Martinez, Ichiro and those late 90's/early 2000's teams...due to the sheer number of HofF players, compared to the White Sox with "stars" like Buehrle, Konerko, Ordonez, C-Lee, Dye and AJ (the Big Hurt being the one exception in terms of star power). And they have a nicer stadium, as well. All that said, the Mariners are in a terrible position right now.

You'll always have the passionate defense of Giolito. Wish you could do that for Kopech/Cease/Rodon/Lopez!

Sure, but more often that not, we’ve misjudged or not developed the talent we had in our organization before moving them elsewhere. It’s one thing KW was really good at in the mid to late 2000’s. Players like Quentin, Floyd, Danks, Ramirez, deAza, Eaton, Santos and Quintana that were undervalued by other organizations. Abreu would be the last one, as that was more a transaction pushed by KW and Paddy. The crazy thing is we might end up as #1-5 on Latin America talent as well because of Tatis, Ramirez, Abreu and Robert...but we’ve been terrible overall in that area and still don’t have even a solid operation in the Dominican after a decade. Every plus comes with a “well/and/but/asterisk.”

Last line should read “abomination“...sounds like previous arguments about Crede and Uribe being ultra-clutch.

Wonder what happens to DePodesta now...back to baseball? Guess not! Step One: Hire a general manager who will vibe with chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who has earned responsibility from within the organization and is reportedly running the head coaching search. My vote is for Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry, who is bright and highly regarded and is believed to be in the running for the position. If Berry doesn’t work out, the key here is to hire someone smart that DePodesta can be tied to at the hip. yahoo.com/sports