Chicago White Sox

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.

That is way too light. That’s closer to the price of one of those guys vs. two.

So what are your thoughts on Crochet and a potential trade with the Orioles? With Burnes all but gone after the season and a need for an impact SP for the playoffs this season, Crochet seems to be the perfect addition for you guys. However, the challenge becomes the price and Elias seems to want to win trades more than he wants to win championships. IMO, a Crochet trade requires a centerpiece of Holiday (least likely), Basallo, or Mayo (most likely). If I were Elias, I’d easily offer up something like Mayo, Beavers, & McDermott, but I’m guessing the bulk of your board would pass on that deal.

It’s only a thing because Harold is saying it’s a real possibility. I personally don’t think there is any chance it happens because the idea is absolute insanity, but can’t completely rule out it if Harold is actively championing for it.

How is what not constantly remembered?

And so is Ramos

I guess I’m still hoping that part of our past failures were because of Rick Hahn being incompetent in many areas and not being able to figure out how to solve or at least convince Jerry to invest in them. Getz may or may not be more of the same, but using Robert to dump Benintendi’s contract so we can go out and sign someone like Anthony Santander would immediately provide an answer to that question.

I’d 100% boycott the team until Jerry dies if this were to happen. It’s literally the single dumbest thing we could possibly do if we ever want to be serious about winning a championship again.