Chicago White Sox

So we have a deal?!

Norby ain’t that dude. Povich is a good not great pitching prospect and we have a lot of those. Ortiz will be 26 years old next year. Those are players that can be beat.

I hear Kjerstad is great in the clubhouse and grew up a Royals fan, so maybe he checks enough boxes despite being a bat-oriented prospect?

One thing I think being overlooked here is that the Orioles have other guys that could play in the OF. Personally, I’d try Mayo in RF before settling with him as a 1B. He can essentially replace Santander after the 2024 season. I’d also move Horvath to the OF and have him potentially be the fallback option there come 2026. That leaves Cowser for LF and Bradfield for CF once Hayes & Mullins are gone. Fabian profiles as a solid 4th OF potentially. They also have a few other younger OF prospects behind those guys in the event someone were to bust, but honestly I’d feel petty good about that group resulting in a strong OF unit. That theoretical OF arrangement allows them to use two potential savages in Kjerstad & Beavers in a Cease trade, which addresses two major areas of need for us. Obviously we would need another good piece, but I like that potential construct better focusing on their good not great pitching or infield prospects.

I used the trade simulator and came up with a Cease deal that the tool says is fair for both us and the Orioles. I’ll fax this over to Elias & Getz and hopefully we can put an end to this stalemate. Always great to find a deal that equally benefits both sides!

You must be thinking of someone else because he had a 3.80 FIP in AA and a 4.94 FIP in AAA. He put up great K rates but offset by pretty terrible BB rates. I guess I’m struggling here as Cease was ridiculed by a portion of your board because of his high walk rate while this same set of posters (not you or Frobby obviously) has more or less said they’d pass on Cease altogether if they had to include a pitching prospect with the exact same same issues.

This is from the prospect guru over at Orioles Hangout:

Pass on Norby. Just not a profile that makes sense for us.

But how does Nick Madrigal represent quality? He’s like a 15% to 20% below major league average bat.

@Sports Guy / @Frobby - Can you guys explain Povich to me? OH basically considers him an untouchable but his results in the upper minors have been pretty bad with incredibly high BB rates. Your guy Tony only has him as a 45 FV prospect as well and outside of your top 10 (BA also has him outside the top 10). I guess I don’t get why this dude would hold up a Cease trade outside of you guys needing general pitching depth. What am I missing here?

I’ll be shocked if Colas is the opening day RF.

As is, I think Romy is almost forced onto the roster as utility guy and backup CF, which is obviously not ideal.

Harold has hinted at Whit, which I would absolutely hate.

What happened here?

Figured this deserved its own thread. Right now, the White Sox have four guys listed as “Outfielders” on their 40 man roster. Two of those four are the starting CF & LF. The other two are Oscar Colas and Gavin Sheets. Chris Getz has already come out and said that Oscar needs more time in AAA. That theoretically leaves Gavin Sheets as the de facto RF, which would completely go against Getz’s focus on defense we’ve seen this off-season. I would be absolutely shocked if Sheets was the primary RF to open the season. Given the lack of other options, it seems all but a certainty we will be going outside the org to solve RF. And beyond that, we probably need to add a legit 4th OF to avoid having to use some combo of Sheets and/or Romy in that capacity. AAA is mostly barren of usable OF talent, so I wouldn’t expect much immediate help from the minors either. Curious to hear how people would go about solving the OF situation both short and long-term. Obviously it’s possible for a Cease trade to help address RF, but with the rumored focus on pitching that may not be in the cards. And free agency isn’t exactly brimming with tons of quality options. I’ll share my own thoughts, but wanted to get some discussion going.

Which is why I’m very low on Norby and don’t buy our front office being interested in him. Personally, I like a lot of your second tier prospects much better than him. What’s the plan for DL Hall next year?

Technically he can pretend to play 2B correct? Or have you already moved him off the position?

@Timmy U - Random question for you, but what are your thoughts on Jacob Gonzalez? I know generally speaking he’s been viewed as a disappointment since being selected, but what is the main driver of that? Is it his unorthodox swing not flashing much power potential post draft? The below average speed and 2B/3B risk were always there from what I can tell. Given that Jacob’s plate discipline appears to be plus, it seems he should have a pretty high floor unless the power is non existent or there’s a massive hole in his swing I’m not aware of. The reason I ask is because of a potential Cease trade with the Orioles could obviously involve a middle infielder like Ortiz or Norby. If we feel like Gonzalez is a high floor guy, does it even make sense having the second piece of a trade be someone like Ortiz? I get we’re talking about a prospect with a plus glove in Ortiz and he’d allow us a lot more flexibility with our infield alignment, but I do hate that he turns 26 next year and worry he just ends up being an all glove SS who you are immediately looking to replace.

When you say Madrigal, please tell me you don’t mean Nick?

They lost their All Star closer who is probably a big reason they outperformed their run expectancy last year.

If you think that is cringey, don’t revisit the Machado thread…lol

There is a massive difference being the 70th ranked prospect from Jan’22 vs. the 70th prospect in Jul’23. Lee has seen his prospect status erode to the point he was traded for Kendall Graveman. Right now, Lee looks like a massive long-shot to even be a big league backup whereas Quero projects to be a potential starter. There is much more logic to suffer Quero’s growing pains than there is for Lee. And to be clear, I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t give Lee a shot, just saying the logic is much more justifiable in this case.

Quero was ranked 70th on Baseball America’s mid-season top 100 list. And there is a major difference. You power through a rookie catcher if you feel he has a starter ceiling. You may not feel that way when it comes to a guy who is likely a backup at best given an incredibly questionable bat. It’s two totally different situations.

Are you suggesting Lee & Quero are similar prospects?

Total waste of that arm…might as well trade him to us so he can fully live up to his potential.