Chicago White Sox

Fangraphs had Iriarte 67th overall on their preseason list. I seen several other lower profile publications (Just Baseball for example) have Iriarte in their top 100 as well. Zavala was not on Fangraphs’ top 100 list or any others I’m aware of, but I don’t think Dylan Beavers has made any of these lists and he’s a really solid OF prospect.

You keep saying this because of Pipeline, but other publications like Fangraphs had both Iriarte & Thorpe as Top 100 prospects. And Zavala was a consensus top 10 system prospect for the Padres. That is probably a little less than what most of us were hoping for, but I’m not sure I’d say it’s radically different from what we said he was worth. And I think if we held onto Cease until the deadline, we would have probably gotten closer to what we had originally framed up.

His wRC+ of 127 would be the second highest amongst qualified CFers. You may not like his BA or OBP, but the dude can slug and is a very productive hitter. And when healthy (and giving his all), he’s an excellent CF defensively. Not sure how that isn’t a superstar, but I didn’t expect him to be a guy you’d pay up for anyways.

Sure, but all it takes is one GM who is willing to take on some risk for what might be the best SP in baseball over the next handful of seasons. That won’t be Elias most likely, but there will be a GM out there who is more determined to win championships who will want Crochet. As much as you want him to come on a discount, that’s not how the SP market works this time of year.

What would you need from the O’s to move Crochet?

So based on 45 votes so far, we have the following board predictions: Highly Likely to Be Moved: Fedde (96%) DeJong (92%) Pham (88%) Strong Chance to be Moved: Kopech (71%) Crochet (67%) Brebbia (62%) Moderate Chance to be Moved: Banks (51%) Wilson (42%) Robert (36%) Flexen (29%) Soroka (20%) Based on this voting, the Over/Under on players traded would be right around 6.5, which is actually less than what we traded last year. I would 100% hammer the Over if I could place real money on this and gun to head I would stick with original prediction of 10 players being moved.

Crochet and Fedde will both be free agents by 2027. You can’t build around them with Reinsdorf as owner even if we wanted to.

First off, not sure where this #85 prospect ranking came from, but Thorpe was much higher rated than that on most sites. IMO, he was a legit 55 FV pitching prospect as the time of the trade and a solid centerpiece but obviously much more of a high floor guy than ceiling. The other two guys were a 50 FV pitching prospect (who was cracking some top 100 lists) and a highly interesting 45+ FV positional prospect, both guys with some helium. The reliever will eventually be flipped for additional prospect currency. I was very supportive of the trade at the time, but was also able to acknowledge then and now we were likely selling low on Cease as he was coming off a disappointing season. Crochet is being sold at a high point and in a market where is there no one else even remotely like him. He’s the one SP available who could greatly increase a team’s odds of winning a World Series this year. Yes, there is risk he runs out of steam at some point, but teams will either need to come up with a plan to keep him strong for October or try to acquire much lesser options. The Sox aren’t going to give a massive discount on him in this market. Regardless, I don’t see the rationale in comparing Crochet to Cease. Crochet has been the best pitcher in baseball this season and if you watch him pitch you’d realize how special he truly is. The price for him alone is going to be much higher than Cease’s. And then you causally include Robert in the deal like he won’t be the best positional player available at the deadline with 3 1/3 years of control on a very reasonable deal. His value is enormous and the price will reflect that. No doubt you have the talent to the acquire both of them, but it’s very clear you guys won’t like the price for one for one of them let alone both of them. Like I said, your proposal is much closer to the price I’d need to just give up Crochet. Now if you wanted someone like Kopech thrown in, we’d be much more in the ballpark, but I’m still not in love with Stowers and would prefer Beavers over Barfield.

That is way too light. That’s closer to the price of one of those guys vs. two.

So what are your thoughts on Crochet and a potential trade with the Orioles? With Burnes all but gone after the season and a need for an impact SP for the playoffs this season, Crochet seems to be the perfect addition for you guys. However, the challenge becomes the price and Elias seems to want to win trades more than he wants to win championships. IMO, a Crochet trade requires a centerpiece of Holiday (least likely), Basallo, or Mayo (most likely). If I were Elias, I’d easily offer up something like Mayo, Beavers, & McDermott, but I’m guessing the bulk of your board would pass on that deal.

It’s only a thing because Harold is saying it’s a real possibility. I personally don’t think there is any chance it happens because the idea is absolute insanity, but can’t completely rule out it if Harold is actively championing for it.

How is what not constantly remembered?

And so is Ramos

I guess I’m still hoping that part of our past failures were because of Rick Hahn being incompetent in many areas and not being able to figure out how to solve or at least convince Jerry to invest in them. Getz may or may not be more of the same, but using Robert to dump Benintendi’s contract so we can go out and sign someone like Anthony Santander would immediately provide an answer to that question.

I’d 100% boycott the team until Jerry dies if this were to happen. It’s literally the single dumbest thing we could possibly do if we ever want to be serious about winning a championship again.

It would be an absolute abomination and prove that Getz is just another Reinsdorf patsy.

Way too early too say at this point. Ortiz looks great so far, but we got to see a larger sample. He’s walking at an elite level and well above his career norms, so some regression is likely coming with the bat at least. If he’s really a 4.5 win player, then we both whiffed badly on him.

Yes, just mocking Harold for thinking dumping Benintendi’s “god awful” $55M contract is more important than getting high-end prospects for Robert.

Correct. At least with Robert, it sounds like mediocre prospects is all it will take if someone is willing to absorb Benintnendi’s contract.

Baldwin already 2-2 on the night. Colson 1-2 so far while Dominic Fletcher is back and has hit a bomb.

Wolkow with 2 BB’s & 0 K’s through three PA’s. OPS currently sitting at .874 as a 18 year old in A Ball.

Lucas Gordon in desperate need of a promotion. Five innings of two run ball so far brings his full season ERA up to 1.89. 5 K’s & 0 BB’s, but gave up a two run blast. I get there is a logjam, but I can’t imagine he’s in Kannapolis much longer.

Gowens excellent so far in his Barons debut. 5 K’s, 0 BB’s, 1 H, & 0 R’s through four innings.

Sean Burke was super strong through three before being pulled in the fourth. The stuff appears to be fully back as he hit 97 on the gun while I was watching and struck out six in 3.1 innings (getting K’s on his 4 seamer, curve, & slider).

Weird that Cease’s career ERA of 3.88 is nearly identical to his career FIP of 3.78…?