caulfield12

Sounds pretty darned familiar... ”As usual we trade for garbage! This FO is abysmal. Deshields is another stiff in a long line of stiffs in our outfield! The minor league pitcher has career minor league potential. Move this clown show! One clown show-the Browns- is enough.” ..... As a huge Tribe fan since 1953, it makes me sick to see such a fine pitcher and fine person traded for such apparent little value? Why on earth do we need another center fielder (average at best) when Oscar Mercado is such a fine young talent? Perplexing and makes me want to give up on this ownership! ..... “Fill up yer Xmas stockings with 2020 Tribe season tickets!” “They just traded Kluber for nothing.” “What? Never mind.”

Or LaRoche...

Kluber posted a 5.80 ERA in seven starts during an injury-plagued 2019 season. He did not pitch in the majors after suffering a broken bone in his arm when he was hit by a line drive on May 1 in Miami. He later strained an oblique muscle during an August rehab start. Kluber’s contract includes a $1 million trade kicker and his $18M club option for 2021 will convert to a vesting option that becomes guaranteed if he pitches 160 innings in 2020 and is not on the injured list at the end of the season, according to Rosenthal. $17.5 million risk for 2020. $18.5 million total if he doesn’t get to 160 IP. Daniels will become known as pitching genius if this move works out along with Gibson after Minor and Lynn. Still going hard after Ryu. Basically taking same approach as Mets building as deep a rotation as possible.

Thank god we’re not in the AL West, NL East, etc. Thought the proposed deal for Lindor was Lux, Verdugo and May? Or Seager/May..Seager/Verdugo? https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2019/12/cleveland-indians-trade-corey-kluber-to-texas-rangers-according-to-multiple-reports.html Basically, it’s a salary dump for the Indians. Clase was 30th ranked prospect for Rangers.

They’re not that desperate...$25 million left for two years, they’re not going to trade Marquez even for $75 million of bad deals. Certainly not for Collins and lower tier prospects.

I don’t think they would have signed McCann for 2020 to trade him. They really like his moxie/clubhouse presence and what he brings to the table with a young pitching staff. Collins has always been the likely one to move...signing EE would be the nail in the coffin for both Collins and Sheets, unless they still want to hold onto him for 2021 and beyond.

97.7 average velocity. 29. Three years and $51 million remaining on contract. The closest thing to Wheeler that’s a realistic get. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/nathan-eovaldi/9132/stats?position=P#pitchtype

It doesn’t matter....because Hahn’s not going to take the risk of assuming the contract without Benintendi. Taking just a subsidy of $30-45 million and Price going completely south is just too risky. It would be one thing if we knew what we were going to get out of Kopech, Cease, Rodon and Dunning...but we just don’t know yet. The Red Sox will only cut it down to 3/$60. We’re better off signing Ryu or Keuchel at those numbers. The other reason is the fact that this might be his best remaining season...and we’re still on the short end of playoff contention unless everything goes right with the Sox and wrong with the Twins and Indians simultaneously. You can’t take on what would still be one of the five biggest contracts in team history because you feel backed into a corner after Wheeler falling through. You make the Red Sox start the season with Price, Eovaldi and Sale or you get them to send another $15-30 million (bringing the cost to the White Sox into the $30-45 million range) and you use that money for EE and Wade Miley and send Collins to Boston. Only if they’re going to add those two other players should you think about this move. Just Price isn’t enough to move the needle. If the Red Sox won’t give you that kind of discount, move on and force someone else to take that risk. We didn’t completely rebuild to turn around and have everything teetering on a landline contract like that.

And there’s the main reason it’s too much of a risk...in a world of increasing velocities, he’s trending in the exact opposite direction.

It’s kind of the point of the whole rebuild...we had Eaton, Sale, Q and Abreu, but didn’t have enough nearly budget space to supplement the core from outside the organization. Couldn’t produce our own players successfully. If the attitude is that it’s out of their control or unchangeable...then let someone else try who believes in every fiber of their being that they can be relevant again in Chicago, the Midwest and entire country should be allowed to try. After all, the Astros had some of the worst t.v. ratings in history amid a collapsing RSN and still pulled out of it. Whatever you say about Hinch and Luhnow, they believed strongly in their vision for the organization. We still don’t even have have that defined organizational purpose. To be loyal to employees? To maybe beat the Twins and Indians and finally get back to the playoffs, I guess. Hahn can talk about championship or contention windows and getting to the postseason in consecutive years, but it often rings hollow these days when he repeats it. It’s more like a politician than someone who believes it. Machado and Wheeler have really knocked him off his game.

Nova doesn’t work only because it proves we’re not really about making the kind of improvements that lead to playoff baseball. It’s another way of telling the fanbase we’re punting on another year and couldn’t come up with anything better, so deal with it. Had he been on another team last year, it would be a lot more palatable. He was fine...in a way....but he also represents $35-40 million of mostly wasted dollars spent last offseason that led to pretty much nothing. I guess we protected Sox fans from a worse record, but it’s not like any pitchers remained in AA and AAA because we had Nova in the rotation.

What are Price’s velocity readings the last 2-3 years? He’s a lot like a Rodon, not nearly as effective sitting in the low 90’s.

I don’t think they are ending on MLB.TV, but the only time it affects me is in Iowa...ironically, the rest of the world has unfettered access.

Not if Benintendi is a 3-4.5 fWAR player instead of 2.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28291941/injured-yoenis-cespedes-agrees-pay-cut-grievance-settlement Cespedes takes big cut to settle grievance, Wacha and Porcello give Mets six starters. New ownership!

Who are we taking about? Vaughn and Collins are the only players who would be blocked...and, right now, Collins is getting 70-75% of the at-bats as a LH DH and part time catcher.

See Twins, Minnesota.

You can add the Beane Family and Ron Washington as well. Of course, for all the shots KW took in Moneyball over Chad Bradford or Foulke, but Cotts turned out to be a key X factor in 2005, when all was actually said and done. Olive was transformed into F.García.

When? Konerko? Baines at the end of his career? Now Abreu? If you go back to the 90’s, we’ve almost always let star talent walk eventually. Obviously, many come back into the fold as team ambassadors, but it’s not like we have broken the bank to extend All-Star, in their prime White Sox players. Think about how many of those 90’s players were cast aside. They did the same with Ordonez, Lee and Durham. Thomas, McDowell and Ventura, etc. Buehrle. Dye. We held onto the 2005-08 core for a long time, sure, but those weren’t ever true superstar players either that would be garnering $200+ million on the FA market. They were all aging veterans.

He did a good job signing McCann, Soria, Fat Albers for half a season. But it’s impossible to make the case there is a demonstrably WORSE GM in MLB today. He doesn’t have the right underdog type of mentality necessary for fronting a mid market team. He always seems more concerned with how he’s perceived than being judged on what he actually accomplishes. There are typically more excuses and rationalizations than actual, concrete results. The Brewers, Twins, A’s, Rays, Indians and Reds are all examples of teams who are embracing they’re limited financial resources and still putting a competitive product on the field. This mentality is why Madrigal, in particular...will quickly become a fan favorite. In the end, we’re not the Knicks or even the Marlins/Mariners/Orioles...but we’re not exactly relevant either, with the Machado and Wheeler situations just reinforcing that.

Not to mention first class travel while flying. Just that idea of Stearns sitting back in economy class with Yelich and two playoff appearances while we obliviously waste money on things that don’t contribute to winning...it’s no wonder we are where we are and they’ve transformed into a franchise to be reckoned with despite being one of the smallest markets in baseball.

Not only this year, but next year’s class as well. And that’s before Betts or Springer are off the table and we have another fruitless offseason of Joc Pederson Talk, Version 3.0

Mike Fiers, lol. At least it would spark a rivalry with the Astros.

Scott Kazmir, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito are all considering comebacks. And we need a lefty. One wonders if Mark Buehrle could have pitched any worse than our parade of 5th starters last year...

Add Encarnacion, then you can argue with those “Pitching Posse“ members (patent pending)...well, you don’t have to face the White Sox offense AND you can beat up on the Tigers and Royals to pad your stats and increase your FA asking prices for next offseason. Chicago Summers! Heck, the Indians’ lineup isn’t going to be that hard to beat without Lindor, right?