caulfield12

Renteria will go with McCann over Collins as long as he’s on the roster. Heck, he still went with Castillo over Collins frequently in the second half last year....until the very end of the season.

That’s because of 2013 and 2014. Realistically, he’s not capable of being a 650 at-bat player anymore due to his splits. He has been worth 1.8 and then 1.2 fWAR the last two years...projected for 1.9 by Steamer. Mazara’s projected to produce roughly the same numbers at $5-6 million and won’t impact the clubhouse in any way but positively. If it was the 2013-14 version of Puig, and he hadn’t worn out his welcome in LA and Cincy and probably with Francona, he’d be getting a $250 million contract instead of just $25 million. He’s the baseball equivalent of Josh Gordon.

Why would the Indians entertain such a scenario for Clevinger? They’re going to want Madrigal and Vaughn. How is Vaughn even blocked? Abreu is going to have to give way...and there’s zero guarantee that Encarnacion will be around for more than one season. In reality, Swanson still has time to establish himself. The Braves are going to be patient with him, just like the Sox were with Tim Anderson. He’s still going to be only 26 at the start of the season, and has been worth 1.7 per season averaging only 130 games played the last two years. A 2.1 SS isn’t great, but nobody’s giving up on him quite yet, either. You’re not drafted 1-1 without a reason. Let’s see what he can when fully healthy for an entire season.

Puig has been a 1.5-2.0 fWAR player for many years now. I haven’t seen anyone other than Villar or Cesar Hernandez getting contracts up in that range, If Moncada or Robert sign extensions due to the continued presence of Abreu...how many more millions is that worth? If Abreu, Grandal and Encarnacion have positive mentoring relationships with the young hitters like Mazara, Robert, Jimenez and Moncada, how much is that worth? If Puig tears up the chemistry of another clubhouse, especially impressionable 1st and 2nd year players, how much long-term damage can that incur?

How many pitchers in the last five years have responded well to missing 2-3 months of the season? How many many big improvements in the following year?

Not exactly. DBacks were too desperate to acquire Shelby Miller...and the Braves now look like they’re set up to be contenders for the next five years. That’s not uncommon when you trade talent like that For veterans, it usually comes back to bite you. A cautionary tale if ever there was one.

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.