Chicago White Sox

So to answer the question, here’s how I see the 2019 rotation shaking out over time: Opening Day: Rodon Lopez Giolito Cheap Veteran Covey Mid to Late April: Rodon Lopez Giolito Kopech Stephens - Covey & cheap veteran moved to bullpen (or possibly released). July / August Rodon Kopech Lopez Giolito / Cease Stephens / Dunning - Cease & Dunning replace any weak points in the rotation (excluding Rodon & Kopech)

Are you talking about next year? Because if so, Stephens & Adams both need to be added to the 40 man roster this offseason for Rule 5 protection. They will definitely be available for the opening day 25 without adding to the overall roster crunch (which still won’t be a huge issue this offseason). The real issue is what kind of message does it send to promote Stephens or Adams over Kopech. It’s one thing to hold down Michael and say “rotation is full”, it’s another thing to promote lessor prospects who have accomplished far less in AAA. For that reason alone, Covey might be able to hold onto a rotation spot heading next year. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see us a sign cheap veteran (ala MiGo) to serve a temporary placeholder.

There will be plenty of talent here by 2020 to hopefully be competitive with the right trades & free agent additions. The front office is NOT going to burn years of control of Moncada, Jimenez, Anderson, Rodon, Kopech, Giolito, Lopez, etc. while they wait for the guys in High A to hit the majors. There will be some sort of balance.

Isn’t Madrigal a HBP machine too? If so, that’s another thing that will prop up his OBP.

They’re totally going to call them up in September, which is the absolute nightmare scenario.

Just give Abreu a chance to end this.

Holy shit, this is getting interesting as fuck right now.

Engel should probably retire after this game! Talk about ending it on a high note!

And there are some people shouting for him to be our next manager!

Yup, because 23 year olds certainly can’t get better...

Remember, we need to get them prepared for their future platoon roles in the majors.

What the fuck just happened there.

The answer is we don’t really know, but I’m not sure Steverson accomplished anything that warrants giving him the benefit of the doubt. And when it comes to seeing zero progress from the former #1 overall prospect in baseball, I don’t think we have much of a choice but try something new.

Evaluating our pitching staff based on ERA is completely ignoring the bandbox in which we play in.

Why not just a middle reliever to start?

Time for the Covey starting experiment to end it seems.

We certainly shouldn’t trade him just to trade him, but you have to listen and be willing to pull the trigger if someone is willing to make a Quintana type offer. Paying him $200M is an incredibly risky proposition for someone with his track record of health. I’m all for offering him an extension this offseason that buys out a year or two of free agency, but that’s simply not likely with Boras as his agent. So the reality quickly becomes losing him for nothing right when our competitive window is opening or trade him for a haul now. The best course of action is to probably wait and see what happens with the whale free agents and react accordingly. If we can somehow land Machado, then that speeds up the rebuild timeline enough to keep Rodon. If not, test the waters and see anyone is willing to pay a haul for Carlos. If we trade Rodon this offseason, we can always use the prospect capital acquired to land a controllable starter in a year or two when the rest of the pieces are in place.

Realistically? Probably not. If someone offers a Quintana package we should probably take it. The problem is there aren’t a ton of contenders with systems deep enough to acquire someone like Rodon. The Padres could make some hella interesting offers. The Yankees & Braves could probably pull it off too. Who else after that makes sense? The A’s would have the chips, but would they be willing to commit multiple cost-controlled assets into three years of Rodon? The other problem is the Mets have a couple arms that will likely be on the market and both have better track records of being TOR starters.

There will be some real talent there. And you didn’t mention any of the pitchers. We added a ton of interesting arms in this last draft.

Do not call them up at this point. Would be an absolute waste. And I say this as someone who wanted them both up in July.

Gonzalez is a fucking stud. He’s earned a promotion to AA, but probably not worth it at this point.

Guerrero with a fantastic start.

You don’t see a utility infielder rip the ball like that too often ?

Great article Y2Jimmy!

Thanks!!