Chicago White Sox

Extending Avi would be the definition of insanity. We’ve seen him have hot stretches before and then quickly revert back to zero plate discipline Avi. When you have a half dozen top 100 caliber OF prospects, you don’t resign a guy with obvious flaws to a multi year extension.

No offense dude, but you are fucking delusional. You are the only person in the world who thinks the two guys are remotely comparable. Even Lucas would say he sucks relative to Lopez. That isn’t to say that Reynaldo has been lights out, but rather Giolito has been the worst pitcher I can remember in recent history. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume you are somehow related given how bias you are with him.

Exactly.

But what is in 2017?

Yup.

What was Lopez’s spin rate on his fastball last year out of curiosity? I have never seen any commentary of him having a straight fastball like Giolito and earlier this year his fastball was amongst the highest rated in baseball. I think you are overreacting to a sample size bias.

He was also throwing 90 to 92 MPH until a few starts ago. No doubt his breaking stuff is key to his success, but sitting closer to 95 MPH with the fastball will most definitely help.

The increase in velocity is a huge development. It gives me the tiniest bit of hope that Lucas can actually work through this shit.

Lopez’s fastball >>>>>>>> Giolito’s

No Rutherford tonight, but thank god backup catcher Daniel Gonzalez is getting some playing time in RF. As soon as Robert went down, my first thought was maybe just maybe Blake would play almost everyday but clearly I got to greedy there.

He’s probably a better listen, but not a huge Haugh fan either. They really should have used it as an opportunity to get some fresh blood in there.

Seemed like a real nice guy, but definitely was one of the more boring personalities in Chicago. Who is replacing him?

Hahn specifically said he wouldn’t evaluate Ricky on W&L’s (rightfully so) but how the team comes to play on a daily basis. IMO, Ricky has clearly failed in that regard. Most of the team appears to be pressing and playing sloppy, fundamentally poor baseball. That is beyond unacceptable and when combined with his Robin Ventura like in-game strategy skills, I honestly believe a change needs to be made. Having said all that, I’m very skeptical he doesn’t get at least one more year. If Moncada doesn’t rebound in the second half of the season, I could see Steverson being 2019’s sacrificial lamb.

Davidson, Moncada, & Anderson aren’t the problem. Those three have all been good to respectable in terms of drawing walks. It’s the fact the rest of the roster (with Delmonico out) is well below average.

Curbelo has been pretty solid so far.

It’s interesting that we don’t sign many arms. Seems like almost all our high profile LatAm sighing are of the positional variety.

Rodon for Mejia, who says no? (Mostly kidding)

No doubt he’s pressing and the missed calls haven’t helped. Honestly, I think it’s probably a combination of all the factors I mentioned that are causing his problems. It’s never easy for someone like him who has been mostly successful their whole career to overcome failure at the major league level. Ultimately you have to believe in the underlying talent to right the ship.

Sure, we should explore options like this once enough of the core is in place. But now is definitely not the time IMO and we shouldn’t be using the first big wave of prospects (Jimenez, Kopech) under any circumstance. The starting pitchers at AA & the positional guys at High A (plus Basabe) should probably be the trade chips when the time comes.

If we traded Michael Kopech straight up for Syndergaard I’d stop being a White Sox fan immediately. There is no logic whatsoever in that type of move.

He’s borderline down. The lack of power is concerning to me, but I like the plate discipline he’s shown and remain hopeful that he’ll be able to tap into his 70 grade raw power with time.

Looking at the 27 eligible players in my top 30, I’ve got 19 guys I feel improved their value, four who have maintained their value, & four who have lost some value. Overall that’s beyond fantastic progress for the system. 01) Jimenez, OF - UP 02) Kopech, RHP - FLAT 03) Robert, CF - UP 04) Madrigal, SS/2B - NA 05) Cease, RHP - UP 06) Hansen, RHP - FLAT 07) Dunning, RHP - UP 08) Collins, C - UP 09) Basabe, CF - UP 10) Adolfo, OF - UP 11) Rutherford, OF - UP 12) Burdi, RHP - FLAT 13) Burger, 3B - DOWN 14) Gonzalez, OF - UP 15) Zavala, C - UP 16) Stephens, RHP - UP 17) Walker, OF - NA 18) Hamilton, RHP - UP 19) Curbelo, SS/3B - UP 20) Sheets, 1B - DOWN 21) Johnson, RHP - UP 22) Adams, RHP - DOWN 23) Cordell, OF - DOWN 24) Sosa, SS - UP 25) Vieira, RHP - FLAT 26) Lambert, RHP - UP 27) McClure, RHP - UP 28) Flores, LHP - UP 29) Rivera, SS - UP 30) Pilkington, LHP - NA

I thought you & JR were buddies? Are you harboring resentment now because he wouldn’t let you interview for the GM job?

So instead of waiting & seeing what we have in Moncada because that would actually take some time, let’s trade him for an asset that doesn’t really fit our forecasted competitive window. Makes all the sense in the world if you ask me.

Retool <> rebuild and the fact Reinsdorf is behind this is incredibly important & should not be understated.