Chicago White Sox

Your system falls off massively after the top 4. Not suggesting it’s bad, but there is a massive gap between Kjerstad and whoever #5 is.

While better balance would be nice, ultimately they just need to score more runs. I don’t think they will discriminate on potential upgrades.

I bet they give away some of them hitting them can help them win now.

How is he the same pitcher as last year? K rate up, BB rate down substantially, and his xERA is 60 points better. He is not back in 2022 form, but he’s clearly better than he was last year. I’d give his ERA a chance to normalize before making these comments.

Sure, if using ERA and ignoring all other factors (defense, luck, sequencing) that aren’t fully normalized yet. Based on xERA, Cease would be your #2. And no rational person would start Saurez over Cease…I’m stating to think you have never seen Dylan Cease actually pitch.

lol…a solid #4. He’d literally be your #2 starter right now.

I just realized this thread is going to hit 400 pages…forgot how much this got boosted up with all the back & forth the O’s fans

I think he retired…would still do that swap though

Is there a bad contract we could swap him for? I’d prefer cheering on a different, equally bad player if at all possible because even the best case with Andrew is probably just bad vs. epically bad.

Basallo & Mayo are elite prospects.

He was a legit awesome reliever in 2021. No idea how he can be this bad after previous success in the role.

We have won 26 games this year and our Pythagorean expectation would be 27. We are in fact a really bad team who has performed bad. I think this idea is a fun exercise, but 2026 is a much more realistic target to shoot for .500. You are talking about a 34 game improvement or more in one season if the goal is 2025, which is simply not realistic. 17/year is doable if Getz hits HRs on Robert, Crochet, & Fedde trades.

Mariners Top 100 Prospects (BA): 13) Colt Emerson, SS 29) Lazaro Montes, OF 41) Cole Young, SS 61) Jonny Farmelo, OF 72) Harry Ford, C 79) Tyler Locklear, 1B 80) Logan Evans, RHP 95) Felnin Celesten, SS

Probably not serious, but Julio Rodriguez getting an MRI on his quad. Even so, I think it reinforces the need for the Mariners to add an impact bat like Robert before the deadline. The good news for us is they currently have eight top 100 prospects in Baseball America’s list, seven of which are positional guys. On paper, there is no better match between two clubs. The Phillies might still be the favorites IMO given their GM, but the Mariners are a very close second.

I don’t think he lacks power. I think his approach is overly selective to the point he’s missing out on pitches he could actually hit and hit hard. An adjustment in his approach is needed at some point, but he’s the youngest guy in full season ball with that high of a walk rate. I have much more confidence in his offensive profile as he at least knows when not to make bad swing decisions vs. someone like Wilfred Veras who lacks plate discipline.

You don’t think he gets traded? Just because of the innings limit concern?

Also, Zavala is walking at an 18% clip as an 19 year in High A ball. He legit has a .449 OBP since June 1st (120 PA’s). The whole package isn’t quite there just yet, but it’s easier to become a more aggressive hitter than it is to become a more selective one. Once he learns a more balance approach, he will shoot up these rankings lists.

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.