Chicago White Sox

Probably a big nothing but would theoretically would be good for a Cease trade market:

A 2 WAR floor OF with six years of control would command much more than Mena and I say this as a fan of Christian. People are over-inflating the certainty of Fletcher’s bat and likely the quality of his CF defense. From what I have read, he can probably be adequate in CF but would not be above average. His defense is based on reads & jumps and that will only take you so far in CF.

Nope, your theory is correct. I actually noticed that before posting and found it mildly humorous.

To be fair, he literally said he didn’t like his team at the beginning of the offseason.

Write-up on Horn from BA where he ranked the Cubs’ 28th prospect:

Any suggestions on where to look?

You keep making these “everyone is an All-Star once traded” comments but no one has said anything of the such. Liking Mena as a prospect does not mean that he will be a star or even a productive major leaguer. There is a wide range of outcomes with prospects and some of us felt there was some untapped potential with Mena given his youth & athleticism. And people here liking Mena more than Fletcher (especially given the state of the team) doesn’t mean we hate Dominic. I just worry that Fletcher will end up being a 4th OF and that doesn’t really move the needle for a rebuilding club. I am no expert here and hope I am wrong, which is obviously very much possible. Regarding Fletcher specifically, he has hit at every level, but his production in Reno wasn’t great when you compare it to how other DBacks OFs performed there and they did so at younger ages and/or during their first stops there. As for his major league performance, the batted ball data suggests he got super lucky and he was trending the wrong way when he got demoted. Pointing that out doesn’t mean I think he will suck, but he’s still got to prove himself over a longer period of time to say he will become an average production RF for the foreseeable future. Finally, regarding this trade, I don’t think you will find a single poster who thinks Thompson is a quality prospect and will lose sleep over this trade despite your allegations. It’s just unusual for a rebuilding team to trade a young, athletic pitcher that doesn’t require 40 man roster protection for a 26 year old reliever. That doesn’t mean it will be a bad trade as the likelihood of Thompson turning into something useful is low and Horn has some upside that the org must be optimistic they can tap into. Just weird that we’re proactively making trades that are aging our talent base when it seems we are a few years from competing.

We have an average production RF for the next 4 to 6 years? That’s quite the bold take for a kid with like 100 major league plate appearances.

Yes, Horn has better stuff and K’s more guys which is great. But both guys have garbage BB rates, which is the point I was arguing against.

Sure, but it highlights just how far we have to go. There may not be a single player on the roster right now who is part of our next playoff team. And the vast majority of veterans Getz has added this offseason are unlikely to bear much fruit at the trade deadline. To me, it’s fairly unusual roster for a team kicking off a rebuild.

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to tell the average age of all the projected 26 man rosters? Feel like we must be up there.

Horn literally walked five per nine last year

Very weird trade in all honesty. I’m sure Bannister doesn’t have much faith in Thompson, but trading for a 26 year old reliever that must be placed on the 40 man roster is just an odd thing to seek in return given where the team currently stands. At least Horn is lefty and has pretty good stuff. Hopefully it works out like Bannister is envisioning and we have a quality trade chip come July.

?

It’s wild how more insane these posts are actually getting day by day.

Bat .260? What’s his OBP and ISO? Defense in RF will be better no doubt, but if he doesn’t draw enough bases and slug some then it’s a move that doesn’t really move the needle this year (which really doesn’t matter) and one that could cost us a young arm who could help us wins finally do matter.

I would just say that Eaton was a far better prospect who actually dominated Reno and did so at a younger age. I’m not suggesting that people here are expecting Fletcher to be Spanky Jr., but I do think people are overlooking some of his flaws because of how well a similarly small statured RF prospect worked out for us.

Why?

Mena was a super popular prospect here, so not sure where you’re coming up with this theory.

I’m missing the last couple seasons, but you can see a very clear correlation between PY attendance and CY payroll. Jerry will support larger payrolls if he has revenue to bank on, but obviously won’t spend big to greatly enhance a currently bad product and definitely won’t risk massive dollars on star free agents. And to make sure I’m being clear here, Jerry sucks a fat one as owner and I’m not trying to make excuses for him. I just think there is reasons to believe elevated revenue would lead to increased spending.

Jerry isn’t going to be the owner for very long at the 78 if at all, so this is a hypothetical that doesn’t really matter. Regardless, he has proven he will spend money if the attendance is there…he just won’t spend money in hopes of driving attendance (which is obviously dumb).

Just go with Arias, Hampton, Lalane, & Rice. Timeline wise, it probably pushes out legit competitiveness another year, but that probably happens anyways if you assume Robert is dealt next off-season for prospects. Regardless, it’s hard to see a better package than that without holding Cease into the season and it’s very possible that Arias & Lalane’s stock has skyrocketed five months from now.

What is this from?

Good deal for Cubs, but Bellinger will almost certainly opt-out after the coming season.

That does not suggest he’s looking for them to cover the full $4B