Chicago White Sox

He gained a couple MPH last year so more is definitely possible.

If a lot of the young pitching works out and Jerry spends on multiple big pieces it is possible. But I’m talking about scenario in which we add say Alonso + Torres to the lineup plus a quality veteran for the rotation. I 100% think we could afford that in 2025, but Jerry is allergic to long-term money which means going after C tier free agents like Benintendi instead.

Why does the bat have to be elite to be a good RF?

Sounds like we’ve been “dangling” Kopech per Nightengale’s latest article:

I think Fletcher was added to the Dbacks’ 40 man last year.

How is Horn burning his last option? Wasn’t he added to the 40 man roster this offseason?

First & foremost, we should pretend we are attempting to win games next year until they actually don’t matter, so I don’t really support the “110 loss team” being a fair excuse for us not sending him to Charlotte to open the season. As such, it is very challenging to carry a dedicated opener on your roster as it limits the amount of true bullpen guys you have available on a daily basis. And that’s problematic when you have a very questionable rotation. Second, are there things he needs to work on to be more successful as a starter vs. a reliever beyond just building up his innings? If so, why not let him do so in a less stressful environment where results don’t matter?

I don’t think that’s true.

I’m actually going to be more pissed if they don’t send Crochet down to the minors to start the season. I worry this move opens up a spot for Garrett to do a couple innings ever five day thing with the Sox, which would be super stupid.

Yup, I fully acknowledge that my expectations on this were probably too high to some degree, but this is a very different environment now and true blue chip prospects are rarely traded anymore. Getting one would have been nice, but it would have likely resulted in much weaker back-end pieces. Getting a prospect who is a tier below blue chip plus two other high variance, high potential fringe top 100 types is at least within the realm of reasonable. Doesn’t mean anyone has to love or even like the specific players we got in return, but to act like it’s some sort of fleecing on Preller’s behalf seems crazy to me.

Yeah, definitely feels like the end of the road for him with us. Either he recovers his form as a reliever and is traded at deadline or is non-tendered during the offseason.

And yet we paid the buyout either way, so we could have comped that for the acquiring team and actually got something for him. He wasn’t in demand at all it seems like to me.

And yet he was an elite reliever in 2021. Perhaps he can no longer replicate that level of stuff, but he’s at least shown success before a reliever.

Well of course, but Hahn was so incompetent that any young player with real talent was immediately funneled to the majors to fill a need.

To be fair, you have to pay a premium to get any free agent worth a damn to consider playing for a 100 loss team with Pedro as the helm. Not defending any of these specific moves either…unfortunately just a part of the reality.

While I’d certainly prefer giving Kopech one last chance as a starter, he has enormous value as a closer if he can replicate his 2021 season.

We couldn’t deal him last year though

This has to be leverage with Lorenzen. Why bring back a douche who you were unable to trade last year despite pitching well? My guess is Lorenzen is signed in the next 24 hours.

Thorpe never pitched for the Padres so very weird to say they developed him.

They gave up three of their top 10 prospects in what is considered one of the best farm systems in baseball? I mean, Thorpe isn’t viewed all that differently than Lasko and may be even ranked higher by several publications. I don’t have a problem at all if people feel this is underwhelming, but under no circumstance is getting a guy ranked in the 60’s plus two fringe top 100 talents a “poo poo platter”. Saying you would have shot higher for Salas shows an expectation that was never set in reality.

What scouting work are you referring to?

I can’t see him going down when this season is a complete lost cause and he’s letting Getz go out and sign cheap veterans to plug holes when there are even cheaper minor league options available if money were an issue. I’d expect a payroll somewhere in the $130M to $150M range next year since I believe Jerry wants to win as quickly as possible and ideally by 2026 at the latest.

Yeah, Jerry isn’t going spend LaRussa money right off the bat, but zero reason this team can’t push to ~$150M pretty quickly. I believe we’re around $120M or so this year with dead money & deferrals. I don’t see it going lower than that at a minimum, which would result in substantial payroll space next offseason. The hope in my mind is with a young cheap rotation built around Nastrini, Thorpe, Eder, Cannon, Iriarte and possibly Crochet we can spend some pretty large dollars on the offense. There are some interesting free agents that I think would be within the reach of Jerry’s wallet. It would require unprecedented commitments from him, but nothing overly crazy that seems impossible.

Have you actually looked at his Statcast figures? Or will you simply continue with lazy takes in your endless quest to save face by crapping on this trade.

Yup, a bet a lot of teams would love to nut up for that slutter come July