caulfield12

Don't forget giving away precious international slot money for nondescript prospects who will never get out of A ball.

Gennett is fine to replace Yolmer and at least offers some upside...but these last few pages read like 2014~16 mode. We had four core players...traded away young talent and got exactly nowhere with the likes of Robertson and Frazier. It even feels like Shark back then was a bigger move than anyone but Cole Strasburg Wheeler and Bumgarner this time around. And that bullpen still is shaky as long as they can't rely at all on Herrera.

https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article234467697.html Interesting the guy already has a minority interest in the Indians. Also, a new downtown stadium in KC is rightfully not going to happen.

“Kickboxing is the sport of the future.” Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything Bonus quote: Maybe I didn’t really know you. Maybe you were just a mirage. Maybe the world is full of food and sex and spectacle and we’re all just hurling towards an acropolis, in which case it’s not your fault.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/jose-abreu-13653/cash-earnings/ Seems he’s made an extra $6 million or so compared to that original deal. How much of a cut will he accept from his one year deal for $16 million with his current statistical line in 2019? For example, $12.8 million would be a 20% pay cut.

Is the goal of this game to win or lose? Osich and Herrera...who's now a "stopgap" even though he signed a two year contract that covers the time when we were theoretically supposed to be competing in 2020.

It's much more logical to put Anderson in CF over Robert, because Luis is comfortable on both corners and that would seem to reduce the risk of injury (somewhat) as well. Anderson's bat would play much better there than at a corner. Undoubtedly won't happen anyway.

All I know is that Anderson and Tatis are two of the best young shortstops in the game...don’t need DRS to confirm that. And Machado is more than capable of playing SS for extended periods of time. But I could also imagine Moncada/Machado/Madrigal with Eloy/Anderson/Robert or Eloy/Robert/Anderson as a potentially even more dominant lineup...which would be contingent on what kinds of jumps/reads Anderson was getting in the outfield. Since they won’t sign Rendon either, they need to invest at least $150 million into all aspects of the rotation and bullpen and hope whoever they bookend Robert with in CF doesn’t get him seriously injured out there. Imagine Jimenez and Robert meeting at full speed and extended...

Herrera?

He has played SS quite well this year, though, and also has enjoyed it.

Or the Angels back in the day with Figgins, etc. Royals won with Zobrist, too.

While that was true, you don’t draft the most advanced collegiate hitter with the idea he’s not going to be making a pretty quick impact at his natural position. Surely the scouts weren’t going to abandon their positions based on less than a two month stretch in his draft year following a grueling college season interrupted by multiple injuries.

The problem is that you are doing this for DiDi Gregorious...arguably, not someone like Rendon, because that would force a Yoan move to 2B or RF. It’s also not like Madrigal can play short.

Which comes first, breaking the $68 million barrier or signing a top Boras client in free agency?

Then why waste months and months on Machado when they already knew Moncada was moving there? The areas of opportunity are playing Russian Roulette by selecting the right free agent pitchers and also extracting value from Tier B/C positional free agents in RF and DH...not exactly their forte. Besides the fact that their biggest area of depth is minor league corner outfielders...which argues against a long term move there as well.

And all that could have been a negotiating ploy, nobody knows for sure how legitimate it was...just like the Rangers with A-Rod. Most felt we simply were there to get used as a bogeyman to up his final contract numbers even though they were basically negotiating against themselves at that point.

I never said Castellanos and Ozuna couldn’t be signed by the White Sox, just that they probably wouldn’t be worth their free agent contracts based on the seasons they’re currently having...that neither would be the first players signed to contracts of over $68 million with the Sox. Just because we logically took Rodon after Aiken/Kolek and before Schwarber doesn’t mean we now actively seek out Boras clients whenever possible. Heck, Crede was a Boras client who turned out to have possibly hurt himself by not signing a long term extension while it was still possible, instead electing to go year to year in arbitration. If anything, it has put the White Sox in a difficult position of never really getting much surplus benefit from Rodon, then watching him depart to another organization. Dealing with Boras might have accidentally saved money for the team in both situations, but it’s hard to argue that dealing with a guy that takes 95% of his clients into free agency is helpful for a mid market team. We also know that there was very limited contact or follow up with Boras after those original meetings w/ Harper...just the proverbial seat at the table.

So let's hope they don't get conservative and believe Leury Garcia can back up every position. We can all see them letting Sanchez finally go, which would be an even stronger argument for Gennett, in what would be something of a Derek Dietrich-like role with the White Sox.

Right, the odds are low for Castellanos and Ozuna. Puig, Dickerson, Domingo Santana, Gennett all make sense to certain degrees, but it's really going to put a lot of pressure on Robert defensively with some of these names we keep mentioning. Wil Myers is out there for salary relief alone, and has the most upside depending on how much the Padres were willing to eat to get him off the roster (the other problem there is Taylor Trammell has been woeful, so they might choose to hold onto him for 2020.)

Yep, need to have money for Giolito and Moncada extensions...in the bank. When those invariably don't materialize, oh well. Fwiw, I think Giolito is likelier, but he's still going to have that natural desire to pitch closer to California where his family is (minus the one studying acting in Wales) and where the weather's so much better. If all the positive changes is his performance were Don Cooper-alone driven, then you think sticking with the White Sox would make more sense, but that's not really the case where they have such a close relationship like a Buehrle.

Assuming 2020 is another transition year, and they're expecting Abreu and Vaughn to be manning those two spots in 2021...Martinez at that salary is going to be a hard pass, especially as he ages and his numbers start to come down, but he's still (partially) expecting to get paid based on past production.

Yeah, just double-checked that on Ozuna. He dumped Boras for Yadier Molina's agency, MDR. That means it's at least 50/50 the Cardinals figure out a way to keep him in the fold...especially with the their season is heading right now.

Grandal has been a huge disappointment the second half, and is reaching the zenith of his everyday catching days. Ozuna isn't left-handed, isn't ideally suited for RF and is getting more and more expensive, and BORAS. He's also picking his numbers back up to where they're nearing 900 OPS, which means he would be the first player the Sox ever signed for over $65 million because of his relatively young age. Castellanos has been the definition of a 1.5ish RF who is going to be marketed as a 2.5-3 fWAR quasi-superstar because of his run with the Cubs after the trade. I'm just not sure what really good fits there are right now....there's a bunch of guys like Corey Dickerson, Justin Smoak, Moreland, Adams, but those aren't really difference-makers.

They should definitely hold Kopech back in AAA to get the year of control back, and this should be completely disconnected from who we sign in free agency. It's almost impossible to say whether we can compete for the division until we see first what MIN and CLE are willing to do in the offseason. Some of the most logical picks in recent months like Grandal and Ozuna are becoming less likely additions...you can probably say the same thing for paying a Castellanos premium for his play with the Cubs. Unless Hahn has a magic 8 ball and can get the equivalent of a Lance Lynn/Minor pairing, there's just too much volatility in that starting rotation to imagine being a high 80's win team next season. Boston is going to be coming off a year where they missed and Sale might be out for an extended time period, so they'll have to respond. Oakland probably isn't going anywhere...so all obvious signs point to 2021 being the start of the real contention window. As Balta pointed out, there's going to be a lot of money chasing after 1.5-2.5 fWAR second tier talent, and the rate of return on investments in that area (especially veterans in their 30's already) isn't that great. The obvious flaw with this youngster or prospect heavy rotation plan is if they don't sign at least two pretty good FA's and then we go on to suffer more significant injuries in the starting rotation. Losing Kopech alone kicked us back one season at least. Another injury without quality depth to replace the gap essentially forces them to be all-in for 2021, and I'm not sure how many can trust Hahn in that situation, either, where he's actually fighting to save his job with FA signings.

Nope, they started pitch framing and infield shifts...as well as keeping pitch counts down by keeping the ball in play on the infield with heavy two-seam fastballs.