Chicago White Sox

Still no word on Pereira? Given he didn’t play Sunday and with a day off for Charlotte on Monday, I assumed either he was getting the call up or he had some sort of setback. Let’s pray for the former obviously.

We have to resign Murakami at all costs. Given our lack of long-term payroll commitments, I could see Jerry finally agreeing to a large contact, especially when you consider the value Muni brings in from the Japanese market. The only real concern I have is that ridiculous Vlad Guerrero contract being used as a comp. No way Jerry ever approaches anything like that and hopefully that’s not what Murakami is expecting.

Which is why I’d go the rental route.

Hagen through about 90 innings last year and 91 the year before. I’m guessing 130 to 140 is probably the target for him this year. The Sox have stated they were purposely ramping him up slowly at AAA so he could finish out the season with the big league club. 140 innings means he could make 18 five inning starts, which is how many he’d get if called up now and not skipped. That may sound like a big jump, but the Sox pushed Crochet to 146 in year 1 as a starter with his us and his previous career high was only 65.

Regarding Mason Adams, no idea what his value is right now, but if he gets back to Charlotte and performs well he’ll be worth something. Major league ready arm fully covered from TJS with three options available whenever he’s added of the 40 man will attract some teams. The Sox could obviously decide it’s better to keep him as depth (which I totally fine with). Just saying he’s a possible chip. For Schutlz, his targeted innings was 110 coming into the season. Not sure if that’s changed due to the knee injury, but theoretically he could throw another 71 innings which is the equivalent of 14 five inning starts. As for Smith, the Sox purposely ramped him up slowly so he could make it to the end of the season with the big league club. He is unlikely to give you more than five innings, but there is a chance (no guarantee) they are productive ones. As for depth, you still would have Sandlin and at some point McDougal, Shane Smith, and hopefully Thorpe are back. All four of those guys are wild cards, which is why we should probably add a rental #3 type if we are serious about competing this year. I maintain we should commit to developing Schultz and eventually Hagen (or McDougal) at the major league level this year. It will require some creativity in bullpen design from Getz, but it’s critical that we don’t lose sight of the long-term vision even if we do some buying this year.

Prospects I could see moved at the deadline: Bergolla, SS/2B Shelton, 2B/3B Mogollon, 2B Lodise, SS Smith, CA LaCombe, RHP Davis, LHP George, RHP Adams, RHP I think some combo of these guys could get you some short-term pitching help at the deadline. My guess is to land a controllable mid-rotation starter would require dipping into the McDougal, Carlson, & Fauske tier, which I’d really like to avoid if at all possible.

The Sox have a massive roster squeeze coming, which makes even 40 man roster spots precious. Right now, we have seven players on the 60 day IL. Of those guys, Teel and hopefully three pitchers (Thorpe, Bush, & Berroa) are back before the end of the season. Additionally, Braden Montgomery & Hagen Smith likely require spots at some point. That’s six guys who will eventually need to go to open up roster spots. There is definitely some fat on the 40 man that can be DFA’d with minimal pain, but adding more guys you don’t want to eventually lose control of only adds more complexity to the problem.

Very few top 100 prospects have been dealt the last couple of trade deadlines, so unless we’re going after someone akin to Skubal, I don’t think any of those guys would be in scope. Candidly, I’d also prefer hanging onto Carlson a bit longer and let him build up some value. I think we’d be selling low on him. I still think we could add some pitching by trading prospects below the guys you referenced. That being said, we’d some some guys to rebound a bit and a few others to get healthy.

I think he’s ready enough for a shot. His K rate has been insane over his past three starts and the BB rate is now somewhat reasonable. He isn’t going to give you a lot of innings anytime soon, but there is a good chance the ones he does give you are more productive than what we’re getting from Sandlin.

They do?

At this point, I think it’s fair to conclude this is a legit playoff positional group when healthy. If Braden comes up at some point, I’m not sure there are a lot of places to upgrade the lineup. Baring any surprises on the injury front, I think you can hold steady with this group of position players. The pitching staff is what needs to be upgraded and I’m candidly a bit torn on this. Right now, we are two SPs and three RPs short IMO. Schultz should be back at some point and will address one of those two SP spots. He may not be great this year, but we must commit to developing him and treat him like a back of the rotation starter in the interim. That will eventually knock one of Sandlin or Fedde out of the rotation, but who is the other guy is the big predicament. The short term answer may need to be Hagen Smith. It may be risky, but I think now is the time to see what you have in him. Over his last three starts, he has averaged 4.1 innings with 25 K’s (17 per 9), 6 BB’s (4 per 9), 9 hits, & 3 ERs (2.07 ERA). Yes, the control isn’t perfect and he hasn’t been all that efficient from a pitch count perspective, but he’s striking out guys like crazy and not giving a lot of hits/runs. He’s also on Sandlin’s schedule and can immediately swap spots. I think giving him a trial run with Bove right now makes a ton of sense given the teams we face over the coming weeks. Again, it’s risky, but there isn’t really a great alternative at the moment. To me, a Martin, Burke, Kay, Smith, & Schultz/Fedde rotation is about the best you can do for the month of June. The pitching injuries we have faced have been devastating and I don’t see many other potential SP reinforcements until July at the earliest. Maybe with more AAA seasoning Sandlin becomes an option again? McDougal & Smith could be back in AAA by then, but hard to say how soon either can be a major league option given non-health issues. Mason Adams is a bit of a wild card as he’s ramping up in High A, but his update is fairly limited. Not sure we can factor in Thorpe or Bush into even the 2H mix given their set-backs. There is a non-zero chance someone internally steps up and can knock the weakest link out of the rotation, but it is certainly a big risk. As such, one outside SP addition seems needed if we’re being honest with ourselves. The big challenge here is not spending too much prospect currency at the deadline on SP help that can be added in the offseason for just cash. I agree with Getz that we shouldn’t lose sight of the mission of sustainable success, but also impossible to ignore this positional group. We definitely should not go trade Bonemer for Skubal, but I also don’t like the idea giving up several top 10 prospects for a controllable SP. We got to find the right balance that doesn’t deplete the farm system, but provides enough impact to make the upgrade over internal options worth it. It’s a delicate balance that Getz must manage carefully if he wants to play both short-term & long-term games at the same time. Last but not least is the bullpen, but the bullpen will definitely need to be augmented if we’re serious about winning. Taylor, Dominguez, Newcomb, Hudson, & Davis is a good starting point, but we could afford three upgrades over the current unit. I think we can reasonably expect one to come internally, but I think two outside additions will eventually be needed. I don’t think we need high cost options there though, just solid middle relievers who should come at a more reasonable price.

A two game rehab stint seems super short, but what do I know

That’s a bit concerning given what recently went down with Hays.

I guess I can go hang out with my wife and kids now

The bullpen is five deep is the problem. That never works well, but it is a disaster when your starters aren’t going deep like this series.

Ugly swing there

He’s getting there

Same here

That is absolutely terrible luck

Romo seems like he’s do for abomb

Grichuk has been an insanely good pickup. Kudos to Getz for not resting on his laurels and getting the LHP killer.

Fan just took one off the head…hope he’s ok

We could really use a Colson bomb here

Ok pal…lol