caulfield12

Which is why they're looking at him now at 1B and logically DH...

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/224168/ Oscar Colas had an 800+ ops at Charlotte in 2023...Montgomery 100 points lower and the majority of the evaluation world doesn't believe he can handle MLB SS to boot. Then you're going to stick him in terrible western conditions?

"The Padres are in agreement with Nick Pivetta on a four-year, $55MM free agent deal that includes multiple opt-out chances, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s an extremely backloaded contract that pays Pivetta a $3MM signing bonus and a $1MM salary for the upcoming season, Passan adds. That’ll be followed by successive salaries of $19MM, $14MM, and $18MM. Pivetta can opt out after the second and third seasons. The deal is pending a physical." mlbtraderumors.com Really creative contract to make the payroll numbers work for 2025...could obviously backfire, but Premier knew he needed one more solid pitcher in the rotation if he wasn't going to trade Cease or King before OD. Essentially 4/$55 million...

Wow. WestEddy check? He had Machado to the Marlins lol. Definitely going to try to go for it through the trade deadline then... Still need at least one more hitter to replace Solano/Peralta. Connor Joe/Heyward combo might still out produce Profar this year. Cease King Pivetta Darvish Waldron/Vasquez/Kolek/Hoenig rotation.

Shocking. Is Fegan there? Our new free over the air attenae network staff? Juxtaposed against hundreds of media (including Japan) for the Dodgers at the same facility. Must be a strange feeling...the best franchise together with one of the worst.

There's the rub, Taylor won a WS with Washington in 2019. Tauchman was with the Yankees and Cubs. Slater, SFG when they won more games than the Dodgers. Rojas has a ton of experience. How valuable is that clubhouse "leadership" from the veterans, versus the 'old "Let the Kids Play" bromide? But you can say the exact same thing for all the veterans who came to camp with the Sox last year, Pillar/Grossman/Chavez included.

White Sox baseball and entertainment value? WHAT? I think the last time that was a consideration was the Field of Dreams game in August, 2021. Or the Leury GS game in the post-season.

Apparently the additional wins provided by Tauchman/Slater platoon will surely be worth it... Otherwise, why sign them in the first place, unless you DON'T HAVE ANY confidence in DeLoach, Colas, Fletcher, Sheets, Julks, etc.?

This was all I could find, could have sworn we had a fringe-ish (Top 20-40 system) outfield prospect added to the 40 man in the last 12 months, then removed. March 16, 2024 3B Wilfred Veras roster status changed by Chicago White Sox. March 16, 2024 3B Wilfred Veras assigned to Chicago White Sox.

As Balta's been saying, that's not even proof. Veterans might be working on just a single pitch...like a secondary offering they're trying to incorporate. Most of those guys aren't going to be amped to full velocity until the back end of spring training. You're going to be facing a number of AA/AAA pitchers, in all likelihood. Remember guys like Ryan Sweeney or Wilson Betemit having huge springs??? It meant absolutely nothing in the overall scheme of things...once the regular season started and you shift from AZ to cold weather/outside baseball, with all the advantage to the pitchers until at least mid-May in Chicago.

The odds of that happening are about 1 in a million...unless the Padres sent Salas and deVrieze along with him, which they're obviously not going to do unless Preller is no longer the GM and a "cost cutter" like Getz is brought in to conduct a fire sale. For now, there's no pressing need to trade Manny Machado. The Padres definitely want Machado to go into the HoF in a Padres cap, not Orioles. And it's not like they have a huge number of Hall of Fame players in the history of that organization.

There's zero legit outfielders down to Braden, unless you count someone like Veras, who was already unceremoniously dumped from the 40 man. DeLoach? He's a 4th outfielder at best. Colas? Well, that's a long and winding story. Fletcher? Already addressed. Julks and Sheets were the other two names last year that we will hardly remember ten years from now, especially Julks. All that said, there's a possibility Vargas and/or Baldwin can fit in LF with Benintendi at DH, but that would hardly help sell Andrew in a possible salary dump + money coming along with him from the Sox trade.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/marlins-to-sign-cal-quantrill.html Cal Quantrill signs with the Marlins...$3.5 million + 500K possible in additional incentives. Marlins getting closer and closer to White Sox payroll number, and will pass them whenever Benintendi's/Robert's traded. White Sox in the $74.3 million range, Marlins have passed $70 million now, just a bit over.

If he's REALLY good, JR will never extend him and he will end up getting traded eventually because JR will never give out a $150-200 million extension, let alone $100 million...I'm not sure what's more depressing? Since it's easier simply to expect failure with Sox prospects and then not be overly disappointed. There used to be a time that extra year of control was critical to the White Sox, but that went out the window with Burger/Vaughn/Madrigal and then Crochet's situation was quite unique, obviously. If we shoot for Gavin Lux career-wise, at least he can get a decent trade return in Year 4/5 I guess...

That's Grifol...

It's hardly going to sell any more tickets...this is not Kris Bryant's debut we're talking about. 15-25% odds he is an All Star caliber player...that extra year of control would be massive, since the White Sox wouldn't even likely compete for the division until his three arbitration years in 2028-2030...with Braden's debut in 2027.

Pirates are not the team you deal with here...it needs to be one of those Big 12 large market teams that can both absorb bigger contracts and also simultaneously afford to sacrifice promising position prospects. Like the Dodgers. Or Mets.

I don't think I've ever seen a college bb team with two 1-2/1-3 draft picks not be at least a Sweet 16 tourney team b4.

At Charlotte...

Or cash considerations...

In addition to the Pirates, Taylor, a right-handed-hitting center fielder, has played for the Washington Nationals, with whom he earned a World Series ring in 2019...and he now only has to play for Cleveland and Detroit to have played for every single team in the AL Central.

Bruce is always a day late and a dollar short...

One of the reasons cited was the strong farm system...and likely knowing that Crochet was out the door for 2 more Top 60-75 MiLB guys. That hasn't changed. The pressure to win at least 50ish games...still have THE worst record but not history-challenging. But then also the focus on development simultaneously, well they completely missed the mark on everything but Garrett and Erick last year. Venable has the job guaranteed for two years at the very least...and more than likely three. Whereas Texas could miss the playoffs in 2025 with deGrom and he might be out of a job in one year or less.

Baty seems to be w/o a home. Acuna needs more seasoning in the minors.

Very few of the prospects are going to outplay the likes of Taylor Tauchman or Rojas Amaya defensively. The problem is protecting the pitching staff on defense (the same idea leading to "all the vets" philosophy last year)...but the trade off is having an even worse offense than 2024. That won't help the young pitchers' confidence either...or a constantly imploding bullpen.