Y2Jimmy0

Just my opinion but I've heard nothing about them being linked to him.

There is good stuff in here. The Benyamin Bailey write-up is really promising. Cristian Mena is a 16-year-old RHP from Dominican Republic as well. Athletic, projectable frame, easy delivery, and feel for 3 pitches. 91 MPH FB with a power breaking ball already. High spin rate curveballs.

Strasburg is going to get like 7 years and $225 million minimum IMO.

Talking about pivoting to Rendon, Strasburg or Cole is a giant waste of time. The White Sox aren't involved on those players. There's really no reason to even ponder it.

I hope they add Kevin PIllar to platoon with him.

If someone claims him, they’ll have to deal with the arbitration themselves.

It’s definitely possible that the actual transaction hasn’t taken place. If that makes sense .

It’s a great question. I assumed a move was imminent. Apparently that’s not the case. They’re obviously trying to slide Burr through waivers and off the 40 man for whatever reason. He won’t pitch until late 2020. The timing is definitely curious

We had the Burr news on Monday morning at FutureSox. You just can’t always report everything you hear. I’m pretty sure Lombardo got it once Burr wiped the Sox affiliation on his social media.

Of course the post wasn't me. I never typed that.

I never lied about anything. Also, I've never claimed to be an insider. I blog about my favorite baseball team. That's pretty much it. This is funny though.

Collins could absolutely be traded. If he's not though,I think he's the DH vs RHP.

I think Collins will be as currently constructed. Having the extra RHH doesn't really make sense. Vs LHP they can go: McCann at C, Grandal at DH and Abreu at 1B. Vs RHP: Collins at DH with Grandal at C and Abreu at 1B.

Did I say that Wheeler would sign with the Sox by Thanksgiving?

Yes.

Zack Wheeler put up 4.7 fWAR in 2019 and 4.2 fWAR in 2018. Dallas Keuchel hasn't done that since 2015.

I have a feeling that Zaleski will become the Minor League Pitching Coordinator.

Omar Vizquel was definitely more concerned with advancing in the profession than doing anything on the Player Development side for the Sox. He now gets the chance to that elsewhere.

Alex Speier of the Boston Globe released a book recently on the Red Sox called Homegrown. Detailing the end of Theo through the DD era. Lots of info on Moncada/Kopech in there and an entire chapter dedicated to the Sale trade. Hahn was asking for Benintendi ++ at the deadline. The week of the meetings, Hahn called and said they'd probably be trading Sale. He asked for Moncada. Then he called back the next day I believe the day for the meetings and asked for Kopech. They were in discussions with other teams too. Hahn pushed for Devers as 3rd piece. Dombrowski wouldn't do it because he knew nobody could offer Moncada/Kopech as headliners. When Hahn called back the night before the trade and asked for Basabe/Diaz, DD agreed basically instantly.

I wrote about Zack Wheeler today if anyone is interested: https://southsidehitpen.com/2019/11/12/picks-to-click-free-agent-starters/

I think we'll look back at the drafts as positive personally. Go back and look at the drafts from 2000-2010. The Tatis trade was horrible but that's what happens when your superiors choose to "go for it" when not prioritizing scouting and development and building a farm system. You end up trading guys like Tatis prematurely because the infrastructure created cannot handle a "go for it" mentality. I think it was his idea to get Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso. He really wanted Manny Machado and he thought that was his only option considering his owner wouldn't be the highest bidder in the end.

I am of the belief that Hahn/KW added Jay and Alonso because they knew their owner wouldn't be the highest bidder. They knew that the player wanted $300 million. They couldn't go there. And yes, Kenny is very involved. He's the Executive VP of the organization. Hahn has lots of autonomy and handles the day to day responsibilities of the club. If trades are made and free agents are signed though, you better believe Kenny is on board.

It was absolutely not his call to accelerate it. You honestly believe that it was Rick Hahn's idea to add during that 2014 off-season instead of continuing on a "rebuilding" path after the Abreu signing?

Rick Hahn hasn't maximized the available resources that have been afforded to him. This is a triumvirate though and it's tough to pin any singular move on Rick Hahn specifically. They don't spend in the international market but that's because the owner is risk averse in regards to forking over $$ to 16-years olds. The club's pro scouting operation is horrendous and they've wasted money in recent years, albeit in years they were attempting to lose on purpose, on players that didn't recoup much value. Last off-season is the perfect example. The Manny Machado miss is not Rick Hahn's fault. Hahn would have just paid Machado 10/310 but that's wasn't his call. On the other hand, he can absolutely be blamed for the Kelvin Herrera signing for example. The Sox are run like a mob family. Hahn handles the day to day and takes the arrows generally while KW still makes many of the decisions and Reinsdorf provides the budget but is never heard from. I think we'd all prefer a different front office but the owner is by far the biggest issue.

Which part of last off-season?