Chicago White Sox

What did he say?

Apparently Cousin signed a two year major league deal, so perhaps there was some clause that required him to be added ahead of a second season.

There must be a requirement of him being added to the 40 man roster by a certain date or else this makes no sense. Unfortunately with Fegan no longer part of the Athletic we may never know why.

Everything right now suggests the Brewers aren’t desperate to move him at all and their owner wants to compete next year.

The LA Times is suggesting if the Dodgers miss out on Yamamoto they would likely add more pitching via trade than overpay for Snell or Montgomery

We all know they won’t resign him, but that’s the case whether we expect to be good or bad the next couple years. If the Pirates were to trade for him, they too wouldn’t sign him beyond 2025. Trading Cease is 100% about acquiring talent that better fits a window where can reasonably hope to be competitive by. Unfortunately that’s not the next two years, which means cashing in on Cease now. Money doesn’t really have anything to do with the decision IMO.

We wouldn’t be trading Cease for money reasons though, so not sure what you’re getting at here.

That is a quote from an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, so their beat writer definitely feels like a trade is going down soon and likely for a controllable starter.

Oh s%*#…dude actually broke a trade recently?

s%*# I thought this was Marty34 at first Need some time to process a Pirates landing spot, even if the source is obviously questionable

Sounds good to me! Yamamoto just needs to stop being a diva and pick which teams he wants to take $300M from. I think a Christmas Eve trade is far more likely for Cease than a Christmas one though.

I don’t buy this. The posting window closes on the 4th, would be wild to wait until the very to finalize a deal. Hopefully it’s all over this week but if not, I expect resolution by New Year’s.

Fair enough…I get shoulder injuries in particular are more risky. I’d still take the gamble though as I think a year of fully recovered Woodruff (if all goes well) would be super valuable.

What are the odds of a successful surgery?

I mean, you’re even more risk adverse than Balta & Parkman, so not overly surprising you feel this way. But you got to take some risks when you’re in our position and I’d rather in a potential TOR starter who can help us in 2025 than pay for mediocrity that gets us an extra win or two in 2024.

Probably closer to $7M increase based on where we are today, which I think is very doable. As for Woodruff, I don’t think anyone is giving him a four year deal coming off shoulder surgery unless the guarantee is minuscule.

Oh really…which guys do you like?

The Yankees actually signing Yamamoto would be much more impactful in that regard than the threat of trading for Cease. Also, potentially helps with the Red Sox as well.

Which Yankees prospects do you like? I just don’t like the fit with them.

I don’t see how they’d be better than the Yankees?

I want the Yankees to sign him to a 10/$330M deal so the Orioles panic a bit and so come 2026 the Yankees have $60M/year locked up in two oft-injured pitchers.

James said on our front office is mixed on him and didn’t anticipate us being the one to sign him. That being said, seeing what pitching is going for in this market (both SP & RP), I personally feel like $8M/year is a decent gamble for an arm that hopefully provides a solid reliever floor with setup man and/or starter ceiling.

IMO, Mayo is the centerpiece we should be targeting from the Orioles. I’d love a savage as we definitely need LH bats, but Mayo has legit 70 grade power potential and draws a ton of walks (~15% BB rate as a 22 year in AA & AAA). Offensively his ceiling is much higher than Kjerstad’s and especially Cowser’s. And for a 6’ 5” kid, he’s a much better athlete than you’d expect and is an average runner. The Orioles have mostly used him at 3B in the minors, but I have read many scouting reports that believe he could be a decent RF with an elite arm (70 grade by most sources). Honestly, I don’t think comparing him to Burger is a good comp outside of raw power. Mayo is exciting AF and would be a potential game changer for this offense. As for Ortiz, he’s going to be 26 next year and he needs to be on the Opening Day roster if you get him. And given he’d probably be the best defensive IF on the team, he should probably be at SS over a placeholder like DeJong. But if they believe in Montgomery at SS still (and I think it’s too early to rule it out), then I’d be ok with Ortiz at 2B. But the kid definitely needs bats ASAP.

I’d 100% be for that. And I’d love to find a post hype OF prospect that could be in the RF mix, but honestly ran out of time and couldn’t come up with any obvious names.

Even if we get Joey Ortiz in a Cease trade?