Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (Dunt @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 09:32 AM) I think he is only on the MLB Pipeline top 100, he was off everything else from what I remember I think BP is pretty high on him, although not sure if he cracked their top 100.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 09:00 AM) For all of them, I'd just say look at Kopech. Last winter I would have been right here saying he's a late 2019 guy because he had so much work to go building up his arm. He then had a dominant, healthy year that has him in AAA and knocking on door of majors really at any moment. If any of them have a healthy and good year it will vault them. The difference between Kopech and Cease is Kopech didn’t miss significant time for pitching related injuries. Kopech got suspended for PEDs and broke his hand punching a teammate. Never once were there questions about his actual durability and ability to take on innings other than the fact he had never done it. Cease has had multiple injuries in his short professional career that have limited his workload. And that’s despite the Cubs handling him with baby gloves and never really ever pushing him. I hope everything clicks for Cease next year and he can take a Kopech line step but even if he does he’s a year behind where Michael was this time last year. I honestly think Cease has a good two years of development ahead of him and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Blake Rutherford slashes .310/.370/.470/.840 for the Dash this year.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 07:27 AM) For some reason I was thinking Dunning would start in AA and Stephens in AAA. Oh well, trust the Sox know what they're doing with their pitchers I’m assuming those moves will happen fairly quickly. As I mentioned in another thread, Dunning made 22 high A starts last year. Overall he was good enough to probably jump to AA. Stephens was pretty good across 16 AA starts last year and turns 26 this September. The clock is somewhat ticking on him. I fully expect within four to six weeks two of Stephens/Guerrero/Adams moving up and making room for Hansen & Dunning. Seems like the Sox may be trying to give those three guys a little bit of time with Collins & Zavala.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 08:27 AM) I've never been less stoked for baseball than I am this year, and that makes me very, very sad. Wow, you were more stoked last year? This year’s team could actually be pretty fun. The position player side is filled with interesting players across the board. Just following Moncada will be worth watching most games IMO. Seeing how Anderson rebounds after a rough sophomore season will be exiciting. If those two can take a big step forward this year that could accelerate the rebuild a bit. Then you got a stud in Abreu and a maybe stud in Avi (another guy who will be fun to follow). You got Castillo coming off a pretty nice and having a good catcher would be pretty sweet. I’m actually super excited to see what we have in Nicky & Yolmer. Even Engel will be somewhat interesting to follow given his elite CF defense and if the bat fails as expected we’ve got a very interesting prospect in Cordell. Honestly, DH is the only spot I’m really bummed about, but at some point Eloy will be up and it won’t really matter because the weakest hitter (likely Davidson) will move to the bench or get cut. The pitching side is more worrisome but at least we open the season with three young talents in the rotation. I’m super pumped to see if Giolito is going to take that next step this year. Despite Lopez’s rough spring, I still have faith in his stuff and feel he’ll eventually prosper by working with Coop on a daily basis. And while I have zero faith Carson Fulmer will ever make it as a starter, I’ll take him over Derek Holland, Mike Pelfrey, Dylan Covey, & David Holmberg who combined for 66 starts last year. Plus I fully expect Rodon & Kopech to be in our second half rotation, which is when things should get really excited. The bullpen is what it is but there are a few guys who will be fun to follow in Jones, Soria, Bummer, & even Santiago. Overall, I am pretty pumped for this season. Hopefully Shields doesn’t s*** on that optimism today.

I’m not sure how anyone thinks Cease could be closer to the major than Dunning. Cease has never thrown 100 innings in a season and has never pitched above low A. He also has huge control problems that need to be ironed out and those will only get more problematic as he faces more advanced pitching. Meanwhile, Dunning made 22 starts in high A and put up 144 innings in his first ful season as a starter. He’ll be up in AA very soon assuming he pitches well to start 2018. And his pitching profile of a groundball pitcher with strong command should allow him to move fast. I really don’t think it’s even close. Cease is a 2020 callup if all goes well and I’m cool with that. Absolutely no reason to rush the kid.

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Mar 29, 2018 -> 01:12 AM) On the latest White Sox Talk podcast, they said Dunning is going to start in AA. I don’t know, I’d probably trust Getz over Chuck but that’s just me

Abreu:Under Davidson:Under Moncada:Over Garcia:Over* Anderson:Over Castillo:Over I’m assuming we’re looking at player totals and not necessarily their totals with just the Sox. If not, I’d change my vote for Avi to the under as I doubt he’s still on this roster come August.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 28, 2018 -> 03:55 PM) 77-85 record I’m also going with a 77-85 prediction. I don’t think this is a 77 win team talent wise, but playing 38 games against the Tigers & Royals will help. I also think the additions of Kopech & Jimenez will spur a nice run in the second half of the season.

Right or wrong, I don’t see Nicky batting cleanup against Duffy. I think we see something like this: 1. Moncada, 2B 2. A. Garcia, RF 3. Abreu, 1B 4. Davidson, DH 5. Castillo, C 6. Delmonico, LF 7. Anderson, SS 8. Sanchez, 3B 9. Engel, CF

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Mar 28, 2018 -> 02:33 PM) Where the hell is Hawkins? DH as Birmingham most likely.

Surprise: Nicky Delmonico. I believe he will hit fairy well this year and will flash enough defensively to turn himself into a long-term OF option for us. Dissapointment: Adam Engel. I know some want to believe he might have righted the ship offensively, but I remain skeptical and believe he simply ends up a 4th OF type. Darkhorse: Nate Jones. I think he stays healthy and reestablishes himself as an elite reliever.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Mar 28, 2018 -> 12:57 PM) He will be in WS most likely I’m guessing we see something like for WS: Dunning Cease Flores Martinez Solorzano My guess is Lambert grabs a spot when Dunning moves up.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 28, 2018 -> 11:16 AM) Cordell in April Kopech in May Jimenez in July 100% agree with this.

Didn’t want to include my comments in the recap section, but I’m surprised by a few things. First, I would have thought two of Stephens/Adams/Guerrero would have been bumped to AAA. Really not sure who is going to be in that Knights rotation now. We know Kopech but after that we’re talking about guys like Danish, Covey, & Volstad. Just don’t see why we’re being so conservative with these guys, although I think one of them (probably Stephens) moves up as soon as Hansen is back. Second, I was really hoping to see Curbelo finally hit full season ball this year. That could still happen at some point, but man do I wish it was to begin 2018. Last year he quite good for GF in a SSS and we heard things like “best player on the field”, so I was optimistic they’d actually challenge him despite coming off an injury. Still only 20 years but I’d hate for him not to reach full season ball until he turns 21 even if that is still age appropriate. Also, I think this means Laz Rivera will be the starting SS for Kannapolis. On a less surprising note, the Dash OF shaked out exactly as I expected given the Robert & Adolfo injuries. Will be interesting to see who gets moved up to once Robert is back. Also, I think this pretty much cements where the rest of the key OF prospects are starting. Looks like AA will be Fisher, Polo, Jimenez. Gonzalez starts in low A alongside Dedelow. Not sure who else rounds out that OF but there are quite a few guys coming off productive seasons in rookie ball. I’m personally hoping Destino grabs that last spot.

So apparently there was a conference call yesterday with Chris Getz and FutureSox tweeted out some of the news: AAA: Kopech will obviously be in this rotation. No other big prospects in this rotation to start the season (see AA comments). AA: Stephens, Adams, Guerrero, Puckett, & Clarkin will start the season in the rotation. Hansen will join the staff once he finishes his throwing program (timing TBD). Jimenez, Collins, & Zavala will be there on the positional side. A+: Dunning will start 2018 in this rotation. The OF to start the season will be Rutherford, Basabe, Call, & Booker. Robert will start start his season here when healthy and be the primary CF. Extended: Curbelo will start 2018 here to get regular at-bats.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 1, 2018 -> 10:11 AM) I feel very comfortable with the pitching at the top. The Sox are guaranteed one of Hankins/Liberatore/McClanaan/Rolison at this point Would you take all those guys over Gorman?

DirtySox- Who are your top 4 guys at the moment?

IMO, Engel would best be served by playing everyday in Charlotte. I just find it almost impossible to believe he’ll magically make the necessary adjustments at the major league level based on struggles at AAA last season. Having said that, I’m convinced the Sox want him to be the major league starter to start 2018.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 06:41 PM) Over $80 million in cap space for Ryan Pace. Let’s hope he does a better job spending it than in years past. No more signing the Markus Wheaton’s of the world please.

QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 09:45 PM) Surprised about nobody mentioning that the Sox twitter was all over Giolito hitting 95 today. Encouraging for his first start. If he can get into the 94-97 range again then the sky is the limit for him. Hitting 95 or averaging 95? He was peaking at 95 last year, but was around 92 MPH on average.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 07:01 PM) How many "star" players have the White Sox EVER brought in during their Reinsdorf history, other than Albert Belle? Adam Dunn qualifies? Todd Frazier? Robertson certainly doesn't. Now they've brought in PLENTY of stars about 3-5 years after their peak career years, when they were already well on the decline. It has never fit with the SouthSide image, in fact, which has always been more of a "blue collar/lunchbucket" ideology, at least until now. (I GUESS they sort of tried with Alex Rodriguez and Tanaka, but it's hard to even argue that Tanaka has become a true star/ace that he was projected to be, and making an offer doesn't exactly establish goodwill unless you start signing more Abreu's and Luis Robert's that produce on the field. They TRIED to trade for Miguel Cabrera.) How many "star" players were on the 2005 Chicago White Sox, or 2014-15 Royals? Buehrle, Crede, Pods, Dye and Konerko were NOT stars. Hosmer, Perez, Moustakas, Cain, Morales....all "solid" players, but no stars in there. I guess Cain, if you go by WAR numbers and not actual hype, because he always flew under the radar. Why do you feel the need to bring up the Royals every time there is a debate? The Royals having no star players when they won the World Series has nothing to do with us signing Mike Moustakas in the second year of our rebuild. You’re really all over the place trying to justify this move.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 05:32 PM) The Twins aren't relying on high draft picks, other than Buxton and Mauer in his final year...to contend. And, for every Hansen, there are 20 Spencer Adams or Chris Becks. I have no idea how any of this supports giving up a high draft pick to a guy to a two year deal as we enter the second year of rebuild. Who cares about the ducking Twins? Also, doesn’t matter what the pick eventually becomes. The day we draft a player we have an asset we can either develop or trade to improve the team. The whole concept of giving Moustakas an opt-out is simply idiotic given where we’re at right now.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Feb 28, 2018 -> 04:32 PM) I mean, this about sums it up. I don't see the downside. My main points are the above and also it doesn't even block us from signing Machado or Arenado or Donaldson if we'd like. You could just shift Moose to a 1B/3B/DH utility role and still play 140 games. My other main point was also discussed in a post earlier - our 3B history is UGLY UGLY UGLY. We just don't do well there. We have no real prospects on the horizon and our best option in Burger is now another year off. I'd say best case scenario for Burger now stands at mid-2020. If you sign Moose for 4 years with an opt out after years 2 and 3 I think you do well. I'd go something like Year 1 - $10mm Year 2 - $14mm Opt out Year 3 - $15mm Opt out Year 4 - $12mm 4 years, $51mm. Throw in a few incentives for MVP voting, silver slugger, HR's etc and let him work his way towards like $5-9mm more throughout the deal. If he performs I have no problem of 4 years and $60mm You backload the deal a bit more so that it's a tougher decision to opt-out. If you front load it increases his chances that he walks after 2 years. Also getting him for only 2 years would be less than ideal. Getting him for two years at the expense of a high second round draft pick is quite frankly stupid.

If you can get Moose for something crazy like 4/$48M or 5/$60M then sure I’d consider it. However, I seriously doubt Boras would agree to such a contract without an opt-out, which is 100% a deal-breaker for me. Therefore, stay the course / keep the draft pick, give Sanchez the 3B ABs in 2018 to see what he can be, pursue the mega 3B free agents the next two offseasons, and find short-term solutions on the cheap if needed.