Chicago White Sox

Fully agree. I wouldn’t have rolled the dice once more time over this return.

Because the team that just traded for Robert was probably waiting on other, more preferable OF options first. I’m also assuming the Sox couldn’t find a deal with a smaller market club that warranted eating half the contract. Timing does suck though, but most of the SP’s we could afford are still left. Let’s see if they even go that route vs. just more dumpster diving.

I was just kidding…Caulfield banned regardless!

I don’t agree that he has no raw power.

It’s a fucking embarrassment. I still think they add a bit more, but with Robert gone being close to dead last is inevitable. Hopefully Jerry’s loser kids use that money on the Bulls one day and sneak into the luxury tax (not happening obviously).

I 100% think he rebounds with the bat, at least to slightly above league average levels. Can’t comment on his health. Feels like his big problem is his body is too muscular and tight and without an offseason to train differently, I’m not sure what a new club could do there.

Don’t let Jerry know about this thing called inflation or it’s even more embarrassing.

This is entirely untrue. The Sox went overslot on their 2nd and 4th round picks by a combined $1.1M and had to go multiple spots under slot and were limited how big of a bonus the could pay in rounds 11 & later (mostly capped at $150k). As such, they only had six total picks with a bonus above Pauley’s and the 5th & 6th round picks within range of Pauley’s payout were generally considered better prospects. None of that means they didn’t like Pauley at the time of the draft.

This is way too simplistic of an assessment. First & foremost, the infrastructure of the org was complete garbage. Look at the initial wave of trades Getz made and how bad they were. Most of them were small stakes but failed. He did make the Cease trade and that one looks very uninspiring at the moment. Holding off on trading a guy who just had an insane year to allow yourself more time to make improvements in pro scouting & R&D and hopefully improve the likelihood of a good return isn’t necessarily a crazy proposition. We also have no idea what other teams were offering back then. This idea you can just force a trade is absurd, the market has to be there and that’s not always the case when trading a premium asset whose value is tied heavily to team control. No doubt he should have traded him using hindsight, but that’s a really bad way to evaluate a decision making process.

I was one of those people and unless the money is redeployed, then I’m willing to admit I was wrong. But by doing so, Caulfield comes back and with a vengeance.

Fully agree. I think Baldwin is a lock for one of the spots, but otherwise it should be an open competition. I still like Periera the best out of the post hype guys and he deserves as good of a chance (if not better) than Kelenic & Acuna for a regular role.

Lottery tickets…yes. Bad ones? Fully disagree. Acuna has truly elite speed and has much more bad speed / raw power than his size would indicate. There is a chance he could play a double plus CF defense and we already know his ability to handle SS & 2B (which provides a UT player floor). The bat is a massive question mark and I can’t deny his production has been bad over the past two years. That being said, he has some tools and will be an interesting project for Fuller. As for this Pauley kid, he was an over-slot signing who basically got 6th round money who offers some interesting raw stuff even if he remains a work in progress command wise. Again, this isn’t a good trade by any means, but I wouldn’t call these bad lottery tickets. Still disappointed that they would accept this return rather than roll the dice on a bounce-back. Our outfield right now is hands down the worst in baseball and I don’t get much joy from dumping guys with serious ceiling on a reasonable one year deal to save Jerry money, but @fathom was apparently right.

So you think nothing is better than this? Is that what we’re really going with here?

Yup, would rather have kept him and rolled the dice than make this trade. That being said, this trade is still better than buying out his 2026 option and getting nothing in return.

This trade isn’t good, but getting any sort of prospects was worth picking up the option for.

For Lee, he’s out of options and you’re losing him for nothing if you don’t carry three catchers. It’s a pretty cut and dry situation depending on their plan for the bench. For Sosa, it’s a question around playing time. If you can play him in LF some, that would really help out a ton as DH at-bats are going to be hard to come by. But you certainly don’t move him unless he can net you something of real value.

You are completely ignoring walks and OBP, which is another big edge for Chase over Sosa. I also think the Madrigal comp is a very poor one. Nick was tiny while Meidroth is fairly average height (neither offer much power). Meidroth is also one of the most selective hitters in baseball and Nick was one of the most aggressive.

If his market value right now is 1/$10M, then there is zero chance of trading him for anything of value. I just can’t accept in one of the worst CF markets I have ever seen, a guy like Robert would have the same market value as Aroldis García and would only get $5M more than Lane Thomas.

Everyone’s favorite corner OF Michael Conforto got $17M from the Dodgers a year ago despite coming off a 1.3 fWAR season and lacking the upside of Luis.

I can’t fathom him getting less than Ardolis Garcia. $8M to $10M is basically like 1 to 1.5 WAR money. I think his $20M salary is probably closer to reality.

Like three days ago

Why would the NFL model not work for the MLB?

What would Robert get on the open market exactly?

I took the 2024 revenue figures from Forbes for all teams but the Dodgers and backed out ~$100M for non-local revenue sources. That got me to about $300M on average. Unfortunately, I don’t have audited financials for each team, so this is about the best I could do. All that being said, I’m not sure what point your are arguing with. Could some of these clubs spend more money? Of course they could, cheap owners is a problem and they need to be addressed. But it doesn’t change the fact the Dodgers would still be able to outspend them by 2x to 2.5x and still not go into the red. You can try to argue this any way you want, but my point will continue to hold true.

I think their concern is more with his health. As a league average hitter with his defense and base-running value, he’s easily worth his $20M salary if he give you 140 starts in CF.