caulfield12

Myers isn’t a huge deal, they will trade him for 50 cents on the dollar by the trade deadline next year if he doesn’t rebound. Hosmer and Machado are the keys. That said, they have so much more pitching depth than the White Sox, especially at the minor league level and this year’s rookie class. As the playoffs demonstrate each year, it’s 75% about pitching and defense in the postseason. If you stacked up Tatis, Machado, Hosmer, Mejia, Renfroe, pre-2019 Myers, Urias, Naylor and Taylor Trammell (http://thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=203939 had a ROUGH start to his career with SD after trade)...you’d find a lot of things to like, if the pitching lives up to its billing. A lot will obviously come down to whether Trammell becomes Mike Cameron or Kenny Williams in CF. Margot finally proved he was better suited as a fourth OF this year. CJ Abrams also had a very impressive debut, but of course will ultimately need to prove himself in full season ball.(http://thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=222138)

Signing LUIS Robert was the main change, and that’s a KW Special. All these “refined” college bats like Collins, Burger, Alex Call, Fisher, Gonzalez, Sheets, Walker and Madrigal...and the last player is the only one likely to make an impact on the next White Sox playoff team.

I’m sure the Jose Abreu contract for three years that nobody wants signed will eclipse $16 million, likely a similar number for just one season. That’s still roughly half our “new” wasted spending this year on Alonso, Jay, Herrera, Santana and Nova. We wasted $18 million on Herrera alone, which is probably worse than Olivera because he will block Hahn from spending on the pen while they wait on a “bounce back” year out of him.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2826984-why-the-2019-dodgers-are-paying-over-40-million-to-players-not-on-the-roster The Dodgers are paying Olivera $4.67 million this season.

https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/nl-west/san-diego-padres/

Ian Kinsler?

Paddack and Tatis, Jr., established themselves, similar to Giolito and Moncada. The Padres still have a ton of minor league capital to utilize in making trades to go for another frontline pitcher to pair with Paddack, Gore (everyone in baseball would gladly take him as their top pitching prospect) and Richards. The White Sox have money, sure, but a limited number of really difference-making players to spend it on outside the Top 10-15 due to the plethora of extensions signed in the last calendar year. The big difference is the Dodgers vs. presence of small/mid-market teams.

JR: Best owner in professional sports, period! Seven titles don’t lie.

Not to mention Turner and Chris Taylor... seems they pull a new guy out of the hat every season.

Because he’s the closest thing to Dustin Pedroia out there. Devers, Bogaerts, Madrigal, Betts and Benintendi...that’s a solid enough core if they jettison JDM’s salary and inject it back into the pitching staff. They can always plug someone like Chavis, Smoak, Adams, etc., into the DH spot.

They need a 2B in the Pedroia mode, and Madrigal is the perfect match there. It would be something like Madrigal, Lopez and Walker. Thats too much capital to run the risk of losing him at the end of the year when they’re probably not competing without a DH, two more solid starting pitchers and some major additions in the pen (thanks for nothing, Herrera.)

Ironic we ended up behind Padres and Angels again...

Why are we trading Vaughn when we haven't been able to come up with a single acceptable 1B/DH other than Abreu in the last five years??? Are we REALLY betting on Collins, Sheets or Adolfo at that spot?

I can't tell you how many arguments I've read in the last 4-5 years here at SoxTalk that that deal wasn't bad at all for the White Sox...that it was a "coup" for Rick Hahn, even (except against the Royals).

The only thing that would have been better would be Gordon Beckham doing that with 2 outs. Alas. Still would be shocked if Verlander doesn't end up with his 21st victory of the season against LAA, down just 1-0.

Cue Balta's Omar Narvaez will end up creating more value for the Mariners (three more years on his contract) than Alex Colome does for the Chicago White Sox argument of the last 9 months. Padres, surprisingly, in Garrett Richard's third comeback start, beating Robbie Ray and the D-Backs in the desert.

Tank loss, supreme!!! Otoh, Colome's second half leaves a lot to be desired, and there's not a plethora of solid closers on the FA market...and JR never likes to overspend on relief pitchers, not after Dotel, Linebrink and Robertson.

Drama/intrigue!!!

As soon as they decided to shut down Tatis and Paddack, the writing was on the wall. They've been playing a couple of their marginal/fringe minor leaguers a lot down the stretch as well. But yeah, for most of the first half, they were anywhere from 6 games over .500 to 3-5 games under, going back and forth like a yo-yo but at least competitive/respectable.

It’s the Sox. No need to even answer that question, or dream about Grandal.

Collins up to .198 now.

Padres ahead of the Sox now. 1/2 game “ahead” of LAA starting GM 2, Cincy 1 1/2 ahead and delayed at Pitt. Angels facing Verlander.

Let’s talk after we see who those other two bats are after Robert/Madrigal...

Relying on Engel as a starter in a competitive season is pretty nutty. Yolmer put up much more impressive fWAR numbers yet proved over and over again an everyday role was too much...at least on a good team. Same with Leury.

Without Grandal, they’re really depending on Collins to pick up for a McCann regression to previous form...not to mention the defensive consequences on a (still) young and enigmatic pitching staff. That said, the Dodgers had their own issues with Grandal, and not sure how much damage Collins can do defensively versus the potential benefits of a changing in philosophy from the pitching coach (which won’t conceivably occur until mid-season 2020 or later.)