Chicago White Sox

Saying the Sox could theoretically make the playoffs with enough spending and development of their young players <> mean they will make the playoffs. You are moving he goalposts.

I gave you three examples in the last two years and none of them included the level of free agent spending I’m suggesting.

Add a whale, address the low hanging fruit with veteran free agents, and then hope our young guys develop & make an impact. Teams with young talent take massive leaps all the time. While the odds of competing for the division next year are low, it’s far from the impossibility you’re making it out to be.

I think Madrigal is very different than any high draft pick we’ve made in quite some time. Regardless, both Rodon & Fulmer reached the majors in their first full season. Burdi would have too had he not gotten injured.

Dipoto is a terrible GM, perhaps the worst in baseball. That trade sucks a fat you know what. Like how is Crawford all you in return when you take on Santana?

There’s a pretty good track record of polished college bats reaching the majors during their first full season. If Madrigal’s hit tool / bat control is as good as we think it is, I fully expect him to be ready by opening day 2020.

I think the Sox are operating in that next tier with guys like Happ, Eovaldi, etc.

I think it will be the Yankees or Nationals.

Of course they are. But other than the Phillies for both guys & the Yankees for Machado, I don’t see any other teams to be scared of. And I don’t believe for a second the Phillies will sign both guys.

Any analysis of Narvaez that doesn’t include defense is flawed. As of today, he’s one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball. Maybe that changes to some extent over time, but I’m not really convinced it will. I also don’t buy into the power surge he showed last year. To me, now was the time to sell and I’m assuming the Sox shopped him around a bit and felt Colome was the best offer. I really don’t see this move coming back to bite us.

They probably will, but I still think we have a good chance of landing the other one. This reminds of the Abreu market when the stars aligned and most of the big spenders had little to no interest. Outside of the Yankees with Machado, I don’t see any serious threats. And I’m not convinced the Yankees are prepared to offer a record setting contract for Machado just yet.

WTF?!

Rule 5 Madeiros?

I don’t think Nick Williams was preventing them from adding Harper though. All this does is ensure they add an OF.

How does that change/improve their ability to land Harper or Machado?

Wow, I think it’s smart the Mariners took on Santana’s contract, but they better be compensated accordingly. Crawford is a nice centerpiece (even with his hype down a bit), but there better be more coming their way. Absorbing Santana’s $40M is nothing to sneeze at, especially after working hard to get out of Cano’s deal.

Is Santana confirmed to be in the trade?

Sorry, I meant over the course of the offseason. And just to be clear, I’m speculating what I think the Sox will do, not what I would do necessarily. There are definitely some interesting arms hitting the market next year, but I get the feeling they want to add a quality vet to stabilize the rotation and take some pressure off the kids right now. To your point, I think it also helps the whale pursuit by signaling we plan to be active. As for Yoan, I dislike the idea of moving him to 3B but Rick has mentioned the possibility twice this offseason already. IMO, they’re simply waiting on Machado before officially making a move. And if that happens, I think at least one of the veteran 2B free agents (Murphy, Dozier, Schoop) can be had on a cheap one year deal and serve as a bridge to Madrigal.

That’s correct.

He’s a free agent with no restrictions, but if a guy with less than five years of service time gets non-tendered the signing team could potentially have multiple years of control even if the player only signs a one year deal.

Trying to be objective here, but I think we’re going to be incredibly active over the next two weeks. I really think at a minimum we’ll add two starters, one more reliever, a corner OF, a backup catcher, and either a 3B or a 2B. I feel that the path forward with the pitching additions is pretty clear. Add one impactful starter to a multi-year deal to serve as the anchor to a young staff. Add another starter (preferably with some upside) to a one year deal. Add one more veteran RH reliever. I lean towards this also being a bounce-back type / short-term type option. On the positional side the priority is clearly to land a whale. I do think no matter what, RF & 3B will be addressed this offseason. As much as this pains me, I’m pretty confident Yoan will be moving to 3B unless we add Machado (in which he stays at 2B). Doing so also allows us to go out and add one of the many 2B free agents to a one-year deal. Harper is obviously the primary target for the OF, but McCutchen & Brantley both seem like options if a two year deal can get it done. I don’t think there’s any chance we sign Grandal and go with a more affordable option at backup catcher. Maldonado seems like a guy who could make sense if we can get him on a one year deal. The biggest question mark for me is clearly CF. Pollack is the only free agent that is starting caliber and going five years with him just seems crazy to me with our OF depth. Having said that, I can’t imagine entering the 2019 season with Engel being handed the job, but I really don’t know what the alternative would be if they’re committed to Yoan in the infield.

I don’t like this plan at all...needs more whale.

Then that’s an epically bad decision. If he was even 80% healthy he should have been on the field.

Are we sure Mitch is healthy?

Lol...least surprising response ever. I can’t believe there is an actual human being who thinks Daniel Palka will outproduce Nelson Cruz next year.