caulfield12

Moncada (and Robert, too) are certainly going to be looking at huge paydays in order to sign extensions cutting into their free agency years with all that money in the bank for their families already. This is where Hahn will earn his money (or not). Anderson has turned out to be another solid extension...Jimenez, although he might not appear to be the biggest bargain in the world by fwar/bwar until or unless his defense can be close to average.

Plus they had already inherited Altuve...a future MVP. Springer pick, too？

22nd ranked team at ASB according to averaging of all 30 theathletic.com beat writers.

The weird part is why Hahn still gave in on the trade after pushback from Paddy and Tatis, Jr. The biggest thing with kids at ages 14-17 is projection. They were warned by Tatis’ father that he was still not done growing...maybe they assumed that meant he would lose speed instead of gaining it and have to be moved off of SS to another position. Of course, one could argue that his light power at the time would only increase with more height/bigger frame and adding muscle...which is usually the case when still physically maturing kids hit stateside. He’s now one of the arguably 3-5 fastest base runners in MLB at 6’3 1/2” and got his 13th steal on what amounted to a pitchout to Buster Posey last night. He has now also scored twice from third on short pop ups to 2B...the most recent infielder was so rattled that the throw wasn’t even close. Not to mention scoring all the way from second on an out recorded at 1B and the LUIS Robert highlight of scoring from SECOND on a deep outfield flyout. He also had to at the very least have possessed above average arm strength, because he has made 360 degree throws from SS to first in the last week at 93.7 and 94.0, the two hardest of any SS in MLB this year. In fact, if you want to pick on one of his bad habits, it’s now waiting a beat or two long like Shawon Dunston used to do in order to make the out at first more dramatic/highlight reel-worthy. So you had a still-growing SS who already flashed the three most important qualities of a quality up the middle player...speed, throwing arm and raw fielding ability. To trade that player at age 17 before you discover what you really have, knowing his bloodlines, and knowing one of the most knowledgeable GMs about Latin American talent is already insisting on that specific player...well, it should have sent up alarm bells up and down every level of the organization that they were in the process of being outscouted on their own player and that Paddy’s original scouting assessment on Tatis was being overrun by the immediacy of trying to compete in 2016 with half a roster and a foundering manager.

But you left out the biggest part for Houston, Luhnow and their push for analytics vs. traditional scouting metrics. Secondly, their new manager was Stanford-educated and was also quick about embracing the analytics field after his first managerial failure.

https://sports.yahoo.com/knicks-durant-irving-zion-free-agency-232212617.html At least we’re not Knicks’ fans...the last year been PRETTY tough. They lost out on or traded Porzingis, Zion, Kyrie and Durant...two to a neighboring franchise, the equivalent of Tatis and Machado ending up with the Cubs.

Yeah, Julio or Jose Take Me on a Sea Cruz John I Am Not a Kruk Jim Home Sweet Thome Sammy Say it ain’t Sosa Roberto Remember the Alomar Harold Growing Baines LaMarr Where does it Hoyt Bobby Bad To The Bonilla Octavio Shh Dotel Jermaine Live And Let Dye

Yep, unless you can argue that subtracting Bauer, Kluber and/or Carrasco still gets you to this same place in the standings...especially considering how much time Clevinger was out.

We would be much better off with Holland than Herrera...another scouting failure. He’s actually not as old as you’d think, either. Some Hahn spin on Alonso..."His conversations with young players in terms of focus, in terms of work ethic, in terms of fighting through at-bats, in terms of being ready each and every day has been great," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "I'm sure if you ask around to some of the younger guys if Yonder had an impact on them, they'd be giving you firsthand views on that, but I've got zero complaints in terms of the character and the class with which he carried himself and his work ethic."

If you told the Cubs and Epstein today they could pick two or even three of Walker/Rutherford/Adolfo/Basabe/Gonzalez for Quintana...I sincerely doubt they make that move. And 100% not for 2/4 when you remove Walker from the mix. They simply have to exploit their current window through 2021, and everything else is secondary, even if they end up like the SF Giants.

If Jimenez, Robert and Moncada each hit their respective peaks or ceilings, they COULD still be okay...but pitching and defense normally win championships unless you have a super-team like Boston, NYY or Houston. That also requires Madrigal, McCann and Anderson to be consistent 3+fWAR contributors and staying healthy, obviously. Or believing we’re going to have a 2004-05 run of perfect roster moves on the pitching front.

It also goes to show how fragile or delicate this whole rebuild was...because at the end of 2017, almost everyone in the media or message boards was predicting 2019 they would be at the very least, competitive, and should be able to make their first run at the Indians. All it took was one significant injury to Kopech. And only one of Giolito/Lopez/Dunning making it as a reliable member of the rotation.

Unless you argue that the money spent on Nova, Jay, Santana, Herrera and Alonso (more or less $27.5 million) could have been added into the pot to convince Machado to sign with the Sox. None of those moves created positive value for the Sox...and so just represent money needlessly burned. There are five obviously better ways they could have allocated $25-30 million. And if JR was never going over $250-275 million on Machado or Harper, Hahn completely misread the market...it just took one team to throw a wrench into that plan. Not to mention those two contracts started the avalanche of extensions being signed which cut future free agent classes down by 50% or more in terms of potential targets off the board already. Going back, if they spent that $27.5 million on Latin American pitchers in Robert’s international class, it’s likely this current pitching crisis could have been avoided. The Padres got 4 of their Top 15 prospects (almost all pitching) by doing exactly this...

There’s no way he is traded to the Sox. That’s double jeopardy for Epstein. Two, comparing the values of Nova and Q is a pointless exercise. Pitt needed to cut payroll, and did so moving Harrison, McCutcheon, Cole, etc. Cubs desperately need to solidify their rotation, especially if Hamels or Lester go down. Hendricks is already on the DL.

If the Indians make the playoffs, it’s partially because they ditched Alonso and Encarnacion and brought back Carlos Santana...without the help of the White Sox, M’s and Phillies, they would already to be out of the wild card race. Let’s not forget they are only behind Texas in the wild card race, and this Rangers’ team will likely wilt in July/August. They’ve also survived injuries and Jose Ramirez looking like Yolmer...and they can beat up the White Sox, Royals and Tigers down the stretch.

Pretty much coincides with that run from 2000-2012 or you can extend it all the way out to 1990-2012.

The problem is that Moncada has never been (for whatever reason) projected or billed by Hahn as one of those players you can move around everyday. I can just imagine the prolonged outcry if he had a slew of errors while attempting that (daily position changes) or his offense fell off to 2018 levels. It was posed as the kind of thing he needed a full offseason to prepare for mentally. (It should also be noted that the Sox moved Semien around constantly in the minors, only for him to become the third-ranked defensive SS playing there almost exclusively in 2018.) We’d also start hearing about Beckham and Viciedo all over again. If they wanted a jack of all trades, they could have simply signed Marwin Gonzalez.... Most importantly, Madrigal has more potential value to the White Sox than any other organization...arguably, which is why he won’t/can’t/shouldn’t be traded. And trading the much more valuable Moncada to open up the 3B position for a $200 million Rendon...likewise doesn’t make much sense.

Then we wouldn’t have a second baseman for the future. Moving Moncada back at this point would be nuts...but classic White Sox. And that’s still not enough for anything more than a #3/4 starter.

Suggested Titles of the Book How James McCann, the most criticized under-the-radar acquisition in SoxTalk History, Luis Robert and a perfect storm of injuries saved my job (at least temporarily)...or How I became the first MLB GM to use the phrase “unprecedented financial flexibility” 100 times without getting called out for not actually utilizing it. Or How I became the very first GM with a Michigan/Northwestern/Harvard education never to have a winning team.

I should have simply written our pitching situation just sucks, and Hahn has only made it worse...if that was even possible. No details, analysis or critical thinking even required. I’ll rewrite it. Alonso move was dumb. Nova, Herrera and Santana typical “value hunting” that almost always backfires (exception once, McCann). Our minor league pitching depth for an organization just two years ago that was almost universally ranked #1 or #2 is pathetic.

Didn’t Hahn refer to himself as a “dumbass” or “jackass” already on that front? Even killing the Cubs on the Q deal, seeing a player with the five tools at SS to do everything on a diamond compared to Jimenez’s two tools can be painful. About the only thing Hahn has done to hurt SD is make it even easier for Tatis to ask for $125-150 million to extend his contract through Year 7, since they already lost one year of control putting him on the OD roster.

I’m just as worried about those three key reliever injuries....because Burdi, Burr and Hamilton were supposed to be the core of the next contending pen. And wasn’t Kade McClure yet another in that next group with Tyler Johnson who also went down with an major injury in the last year or so? Right now, we’ve gotten no or more or less negative net value from Hawkins, Rodon (moreso his value or lack thereof currently), Fulmer, Burdi, Burger and Collins if you add them all up together. That’s not the greatest track record, and almost impossible for mid-market teams to overcome.

Well, that’s true anytime you add a platoon DH who’s going to struggle to put up an 800 ops. There’s no real reason without Machado you couldn’t have gone with Palka and Guyer as your platoon or Palka and Davidson and saved that money for international or analytics/evaluation or coaching/instruction. Nova, likewise, is sort of...protecting what, us from having to use Dylan Cease? Not really. With so many injuries and Santana long gone, Covey out, Fulmer close to out of the organization...that money still is pretty much wasted, and that doesn’t even account for the disaster that is Herrera in the pen, and holding onto Nate Jones too long. It’s going to pretty pathetic when the results of Covey/Despaigne/Banuelos/Detwiler are perfectly indistinguishable from Lopez/Santana/Nova.

Let’s refresh a bit on numbers that return to same level of success or better after one TJS, about 80-85%. For multiple, it’s one magnitude lower, in the 60-65% success range.