almagest

It would have to be

I have a notebook full of "AlmaGetz" with hearts around each one

Kelenic stinks. I doubt the Sox are guaranteeing him anything, and if they are they're stupid. Don't mind taking the shot to see if they can "fix" him to be a positive contributor but I expect he'll either be in AAA or released to go play overseas by the start of the season.

Yeah I agree. They probably put out the “we’ll pay some $” to see what offers came in but weren’t going to trade him unless they got what they wanted.

It’s clearly not, though. They’re apparently fine keeping him if that’s all they’re going to get.

Based on the article I posted earlier a comp pick wasn’t on the table. Three pitchers were mentioned as possibilities - Petty and two guys coming off of TJS

I don't think any player was ever directly confirmed by Whittenmeyer (which i guess isn't surprising). Petty was listed as an example of what was on the table. Nothing about a comp pick in the Whittenmeyer article either. He brought up Julian Aguiar and Brandon Williamson, both of whom are recovering from TJ surgery. Williamson is also 27 so not super interested in him. Aguiar is 23 so maybe? His minors stats are just ok. If all three were offered maybe? Very much doubt that was the case though. Just don't think there's enough value there to replace Robert for even 1/2 the year unless they have a strong hunch they can fix Petty. As he is, he's a bad AAA pitcher. I just don't get the rush to trade Robert for scraps. I'm 100% fine having him play CF. Not like he's blocking anyone.

It has zero veracity

And if teams view him this way (which it seems they do), then there's no shot they're getting anything good for him right now either, even if they eat money. So you trade him and pay $10 million of his salary and probably get nothing useful - if the best case rumors are true, where the Sox get a reclamation pitcher in the minors and a comp pick worth about $1 mil is that enough for you? It's not for me, as neither the comp pick nor a reclamation project are very likely to amount to anything. You then have a hole in CF and if it was so easy to find 1.5 to 2 WAR there in free agency or in other trades, then teams wouldn't even be talking about Robert.

I'm not a fan of trading players just to trade them, so I don't blame Getz for holding out for something useful for Robert. No reason to trade him for nothing, especially if they're eating half his salary. Not sure what the Reds were offering, but it clearly wasn't enough. See if you can get anything at the deadline if he's playing well, or just let him finish the year here and move on, or if you have nothing in CF still buy him out and give him a cheap prove it deal or pick up that last option if he's good.

If Murakami ends up with 2.1 fWAR and a 118 wRC+ I’d be pretty happy. That’s around an .800 OPS which compared to Vaughn looks like Big Frank is over there again.

I hope one of two things happens: Roch plays out of his mind again and is a no doubt #1 pick Someone else plays even MORE out of his mind and becomes the no doubt #1 pick

They shouldn't need to. But who knows with how this franchise is being run right now.

I know he has a lot of concerns about swing and miss, but I still can't believe the White Sox signed the two time NPB MVP who hit 56 homers in a season during a deadball era to play first base and bat left handed.

I think the K rate improvement is great, but it's just one piece. SSK25 added context on his control issues keeping his xERA about the same and control was the reason I said bullpen for Burke. Strikeouts + elite extension + high walks + an xERA of 5 = probably a reliever. Does he have a chance to keep that K rate, lower the walk rate, and become a solid starter? Probably. I sure hope you're right. Right now it doesn't look like it's going to happen though.