Y2Jimmy0

Bruce didn't say this. They brought up the Jeff Passan rumor about Jason Heyward, Willson Contreras etc for Arenado. Then Bruce said his sources have told him Cards/Rockies have talked and discussed Liberatore, Hudson, Martinez and O'Neil. Then he said Cubs are considering using Bryant as their everyday CF if he's on the team. There was nothing about having Arenado and Bryant on the same roster.

I think Stiever is a starter, personally. This year will be huge for him.

I doubt it on Ozuna. I can't see them forfeiting the 49th pick for a short term deal. Ozuna got bad advice.

Here ya go: http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/2019/12/futuresox-podcast-ben-badler-of-baseball-america/

I gotcha. You might be onto something in regards to their entire program being behind other teams. Ben Badler basically confirmed some of that on our podcast last month.

You're right that we won't really know how good the class is/was for a long time. I just have a fundamental problem with the way they do business or did business in this case.

That's not the point of this though. In recent years, they've signed lots of players like Jose Rodriguez, Benyamin Bailey etc. There are players to sign. Instead, they traded the ability to spend that money in order to get contract buyouts paid for. It's disgusting. I'm not going to list all the players they "could have" signed. That's ridiculous.

I disagree with you. You can choose to do whatever you want but I've written extensively about this year's class. I don't know more than they do but don't tell me I don't have an educated opinion on this whole thing.

Paddy has an entire department of international scouts under him. It's not just him.

They can't just throw money around like that anymore. It's a hard capped system. This is what the White Sox wanted. The draft is hard capped and the Sox have spent the most that they can the past few years. Not doing the same in the international market is stupid. It's not logical at all that they'd be shifting resources to the big league team. Their cap internationally is like $5.5 million unless they trade for more money. It doesn't make sense that it would have anything to do with big league spending at that small fraction of the overall pie.

For our sake, I'm hoping they had deals worked out with Cuban defectors who weren't allowed to come over once Trump vetoed that process. That's the only positive thing that could have happened in this regard. The way they handled the 2019 international class really makes no sense

There are plenty of good players. And even if not, you should be taking flyers on talent. The Sox had $5.5 million to spend. There is literally zero excuse to not spend all $5.5 million. The White Sox, Rick Hahn specifically said that those trades were made because the money was going to go unspent. That's the problem though. The fact that they didn't have agreements with players already is a huge problem.

They are definitely risk averse in the 16-year-old marketplace. They prefer quantity over quality. This methodology paid off with a guy like Fernando Tatis. Micker Adolfo's $1.6 million bonus is still the biggest for a 16-year-old. Half the league guarantees guys $2 million plus every period. The 2019 signing period where the Sox landed Yolbert was their first time playing under the new system. And they failed to spend about $1.5 million of the $5.5 million they were allotted. It's an absolutely absurd usage of resources that makes no sense. There's either a reluctance to pay a "premium" in this marketplace or Marco Paddy can't scout and close the deal. I don't believe the latter is true.

Yeah this is a good point. Giving $1.5 million to Franklin Reyes who may never play baseball again probably didn't help. It's just such a pittance in the grand scheme of things taht it shouldn't matter though.

Paddy obviously has an eye for talent. They just don't spend on 16-year-olds and it's super frustrating. Micker Adolfo is still the biggest bonus.

I don't know much. He seems like a much higher ceiling guy than Yolbert is though.

If he waits until July to sign, I'd think the White Sox have a realistic shot here. They've been risk averse in the 16-year-old marketplace but signing 18-22 year old Cubans is kind of what they do. They don't have any reported commitments/agreements with top guys in the 2020 class yet either. Colas played on his youth teams with Yolbert Sanchez and Luis Robert in Cuba. It makes lots of sense.

Montas would be calculated for the Red Sox since they were the team that signed him.

It includes: 2010: Chris Sale, Addison Reed, Tyler SAladino, Jacob Petricka 2011: Marcus Semien, Kevan Smith, Chris Bassit, Chris Devenski 2012: Brandon Brennan, Micah Johnson 2013: Tim Anderson, Adam Engel 2014: Carlos Rodon, Jace Fry, Aaron Bummer 2015: Carson Fulmer, Seby Zavala, Danny Mendick 2016: Zack Collins, Ian Hamilton. It counts Jose Abreu, Fernando Tatis Jr and Yolmer Sanchez as well. They'll get credit for: Luis Robert, Zack Burdi, Jimmy Lambert, Bernardo Flores, Matt Foster, Gavin Sheets, Luis Gonzalez, Tyler Johnson, Wil Kincanon, NIck Madrigal, Steele Walker, Konnor Pilkington, Jonathan Stiever, Andrew Vaughn and anyone else who makes the majors as well.

The White Sox won’t forfeit the 49th pick on a short term commitment. Ozuna might be in some trouble.

They want to limit his innings as well. It serves two masters. Service time and inning manipulation is easier to do in AAA

The MLB offices are closed for the holidays. I don't think they re-open until January 6th. I don't think anything can officially be announced until then.

I mean there is though. It gets them 8 years of control instead of 7 and allows him to start the 2020 season in the majors

I have no idea. He should be a priority but it's not as urgent in my opinion.

Thanks for that. I'll say this: locking him in is definitely part of their plan. I have no idea what Robert or his representation wants to do though.