caulfield12

Yes, but not until you first sign Machado...which might not even happen, or happen before spring training. If you aren’t sure you have Manny, it’s not a wise decision. The fact of the matter is that Joc Pederson could easily get paid just $13 million the next two years for 6 fWAR of production (value of $57 million). We’re not going to get anything close to that from Herrera or Colome. Using your argument, with Bryce Harper only at 11.3 for the last three years (and not 10 alone for 2015), he’s not even a 4 war player, he’s 3.8 x let’s say 9.5 million, he would only be worth $35-36 million per year...but he will never agree to sign for that.

https://sports.yahoo.com/bryce-harper-manny-machado-rhys-213643079.html Now Rhys Hoskins is opining that the Phillies should get at least one of Harpchado...

There was a lot of talk about moving Kipnis to CF...because of obvious weaknesses all around the outfield. He's been so inconsistent offensively, which is a killer for a small market team, (see Gordon, Alex). fWAR (starting in 2011) 0.8, 3.4, 5.1, 0.7, 4.5, 4.7, 0.5, 2.1 (for his four peak seasons, an impressive 4.4 player)

I think you've been listening to the Bumblebee or Ready Player One soundtrack too much. Mall of America in terms of retail is dying...some of the rides/attractions for kids are fine, but it wasn't that impressive.

Lindor and Ramirez, obviously, Moncada over Kipnis. DH could go either way. Abreu at 1B. God knows about the OF, other than Jimenez, for either team. Catcher would also seemingly favor the White Sox, although the Indians are still looking to upgrade 1 Francisco Lindor SS 657 115 33 90 21 0.283 0.351 0.505 0.856 66 101 2 Jason Kipnis 2B 465 61 16 61 8 0.243 0.317 0.413 0.730 48 101 3 Jose Ramirez 3B 580 104 31 93 26 0.295 0.382 0.548 0.930 80 74 4 Carlos Santana DH 563 85 25 83 4 0.245 0.359 0.444 0.803 101 94 5 Jake Bauers 1B 323 47 10 43 9 0.220 0.318 0.384 0.702 46 98 6 Greg Allen OF 322 48 3 25 23 0.258 0.325 0.348 0.673 23 79 7 Tyler Naquin OF 309 42 7 37 3 0.262 0.309 0.392 0.701 19 88 8 Leonys Martin OF 333 47 10 31 12 0.243 0.308 0.393 0.701 29 86 9 Roberto Perez C 288 27 6 38 1 0.181 0.269 0.299 0.568 35 102

I'll give you 2 1/2 years of misery, haha. We were 23-10 in early May, 2016, before that nightmarish Texas debacle. Went 55-74 for the rest of the season. But the point about trying to bring forward the prospects with "quality/veteran" players surrounding them holds true. I especially think that having Machado around will take so much pressure off guys like Moncada and Jimenez. They won't have to worry about being "franchise saviors" and can just be themselves. Finally, we have to deal with the Rodon conundrum as well, since he's an FA after 2021 and we WERE considering a "not 100% compete until 2021" approach after the Kopech injury. Obviously, that thinking has changed pretty dramatically.

Well, he's only played 7 MLB games in RF, total. 410 in CF, 122 in LF.

"He was the ultimate pitcher. You'd sit there and watch him and see him almost invent pitches as he went along. He had a hand that could make baseballs do exactly what he wanted them to do. And you'd go, 'Wait a second, did he just get his cutter to do that, on that count? Did he just throw a batting-practice fastball and get a guy to roll over a ground ball to the second baseman?' "Somehow he was able to manipulate not just the ball, but the strike zone, too. No matter how much you scouted him, he would always find a way to show you something different, with his fastball or his cutter or his changeup. Pitchers will understand what I'm saying: Mike would create his own zone. I swear, I'd watch him sometimes and think he was like a conductor out there, just with earplugs in, impervious to whatever noise was going on around him. The only way I can put it is that he didn't hear the music of the game as much as feel it. He had that kind of feeling for throwing a baseball. "There have been a lot of smart pitchers. And a lot of high-IQ pitchers. But there's a difference between that and being bright. Mike Mussina on a pitcher's mound was just incredibly bright. I'll tell you something else: Big market, small market, it never mattered to him. He just didn't care. Just give him the ball." http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/262082484/mike-mussina-baseball-hall-of-fame-case-mlb

Have you tried applying for the White Sox analytics department internship? Your background is financial-oriented or mathematics/science/research?

If you go through the last year of draft talk, you'll find a pretty even split here on Madrigal's future...Jose Altuve Light vs. David Eckstein Jr. As for the Rowand stuff, I was just joking around. I'm sure someone will argue his limited speed forced him to take chances like diving into walls that "superhuman" defenders like Buxton or Hamilton would have been camped under.

Why, because of Pettite? Or his age? That dude was one of the most cerebral baseball players of all-time, Stanford education, NYT crossword puzzle solver, would be pretty shocked that he put knowingly dangerous substances into his body (he certainly didn't gain bulk or mass).

Overall career numbers, no way. Period of extended dominance (see Johan Santana, but longer)...checks all the boxes that he was one of the best pitchers of his generation.

He even included Hawk's TWTW components like "grittiness" and "dirt bag" in his Rowand Tribute. (Well, he didn't but certainly COULD have, lol.) In all fairness, everything you read about Nick Madrigal, he's actually a very similar player to Aaron...with the difference being he has the most advanced bat to ball skills (not power, of course) of all the collegiate hitters in his draft class. Of course, it's not surprise then that he's not universally adored by the advanced analytics crowd. That would be boring, right?

I think he meant on the FA market, where Jones and CarGo and Valencia are the best RF options left. Not in the sense that we literally have seven Top 15 level prospects who happen to play the same position/s.

I don't disagree. Markakis was the best name out there, and he signed for a pittance due to his age and comfort level. Pederson, Jay and Jimenez make the most sense, at least for now. That could change again at mid-season. You also can't risk trotting Palka out there 140 games if you're serious about contending unless Rusty Kuntz (Alex Gordon's coach) has been tutoring him all off-season long. (I don't ever recall the White Sox coaching magically "coaching up" someone who wasn't suited for the OF in the last 10-15 years, through many attempts.)

We don't REALLY need Castillo, Herrera, Colome, McCann, Nova, Alonso or Jay, either (nearing 30% of the roster)...but we have them now, so the ONLY thing that makes sense is trying to ramp up to competitiveness as quickly as possible with Machado in a limited window AS LONG AS it doesn't hurt your long-term (and you can argue trading Bush for Pederson on both sides) 2021-2024 window. That's already seven TYPICAL "win now/all-in" moves when they're adding Tier B/C veteran players in an attempt to build around the Core 4. The only difference is there's no headliner, like a Frazier or Samardzija or Cabrera/Robertson. Heck, Jeff Keppinger 2013 would fit in quite well with this collection of talent.

Where does Usain Bolt rate, lol? He always gets a slow start out of the blocks because he's so long and rangy...but if you measure him (or, let's say, Avi Garcia), he really gets going after about 20-30 meters. But Avi's athleticism is counterbalanced by bad reads/jumps and routes and the fact so many plays don't require a 30-40 yard flat out sprint, the play's already over (ball over your head, for example) in the first 10-15 yards. And didn't the White Sox have someone like Saladino a year or two ago ranked as the fastest to 1B...when there were clearly guys like Anderson, Engel and Moncada who were flat out faster going from home to 3rd, 1st to home or 3rd, etc.

The White Sox have prioritized defense, though...with the Madrigal pick. They could have taken Bohm and "solved" their generational-long 3B issue, right? (Well, we can argue about Burger, but that's another story.) At any rate, without Machado, then trading for Pederson likely makes no sense. In that situation, you can play guys like Yolmer, Leury, Engel and Palka to your heart's content as we finish with 65-69 wins. If they DO sign Machado eventually...especially with a 3-4 year opt-out, then they suddenly have to do everything to maximize their window with him, within reason, of course. That means Adam Jones or Carlos Gonzalez added to a corner OR trading for someone like Pederson to pair with Jon Jay in the outfield. Another veteran starting pitcher (preferably LHP) to round out the rotation (if it's not Hill). Shocking the world and also signing Kimbrel for 1-2 years (this one, far and away, is the most unlikely).

We didn’t solve this dilemma with Mackowiak and Anderson in 2006...Ozzie attempted to bail out a struggling offense in the second half, to the obvious detriment of outfield defense. Of course, the fWAR differences were not as great for those two as these guys in 2019. Another way of looking at is how much better their pitching stats will be (focus on more K’s?) when they’ve learned to pitch with a fear of allowing fly balls...and then in 2021 they’ll have an above average defender out there to rely upon. Really good pitchers always figure out a way to make adjustments if they actually belong in the big leagues, right? And Adam Engel just doesn’t seem like an everyday starter on a team with 75+ wins. Plus, they can always sub Engel in as a defensive replacement when they are ahead late. Plus, in those 40% of blowout loss situations, his D wasn’t going to matter one iota.

I’m going quickly posit a guess you haven’t even watched the movie she is nominated for...she’s definitely no Amy Schumer. She can do drama quite effectively. She won’t win, but it was a really strong performance. UK actresses that are not headline stars sometimes get overlooked, that has been Collette’s fate much of her career.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/collusion-collision-slow-markets-bryce-harper-manny-machado-threaten-labor-peace/

Well, since we currently have a month-long school holiday for Spring Festival, I’m pretty sure I can manage my own sleep schedule...you’ll be happy, though, to get a break when we travel to Guangzhou and the Philippines, so that’s probably when all these signings go down, Feb 4-17.

We could easily have signed Hamilton, though...

Harper to Braves out...as well as Machado to Rangers, unless they are dumping Odor. 3B more logical destination for Cabrera.