Chicago White Sox

I just went back and reread that thread. Holy s%*# but I used to be an optimist before last off-season broke me. One of the worst five month stretches in GM history IMO. Just so many mind-boggling moves and even worse when you view the off-season in totality. $40M+ spent on a bunch of role players instead adding a single impact talent. Rick Hahn is epically bad at this GM’ing thing.

???????

Perhaps they are worried about his back and/or his ability to be passable at 2B moving forward with the shift changes. Or maybe they view this as a way to get a potential plus 3B, a #3 caliber starter, and a solid regular 2B for a guy whose value has peaked. Perhaps I’m totally wrong here and this doesn’t move the needle for the Rays, but my point is Hahn has some chips to work with. And if the teams that can solve his needs aren’t interested in his prospects or players, then he needs to think outside of the box on how to get this done. Can’t keep going into every season with the same couple holes in the OF & 2B.

What if that package could get you Brandon Lowe?

Honestly, hadn’t been on Soxtalk most of the day and saw this thread getting too close to the 2nd page for comfort.

I really wonder what the f*** Hahn’s plan is right now. I know people blame Jerry and rightfully so, but Rick has shown time & time again that he lacks any real creativity and that’s what is needed right now assuming we’re capped out. This farm is still bottom 10, but it’s made significant progress over the past 12 months. IMO, Montgomery & Colas need to be off-limits, but there are other pieces in our system that should be able to get you a LH hitting 2B or OF. Ramos is a legit 50 FV prospect right now IMO with some serious helium and I’m guessing multiple organizations would have him as a top 100 guy. He can be a centerpiece for the right player. And we finally have enough interesting secondary pieces to round out a trade. Vera & Mena are both probably 45+ FV guys right now who have a shot to skyrocket up prospect lists next year if they can prove successful at AA. And then you have Popeye & Sosa as versatile, near major league ready infield prospects who passed the AA test and have a legit chance at being major league regulars. Ultimately, my point is there is ammo there to make a trade without having to move Montgomery. Some team would be excited about a Ramos, Vera/Mena, & Popeye/Sosa package even if it won’t get you Bryan Reynolds. And if money is the problem, then the market is affording you a chance to move Liam for more prospect currency or a major league ready piece while freeing up payroll space. There is legit zero excuse for not improving the team. The levers are there to get better, even if it takes a one step back to take two steps forward type move to enable it. But unfortunately for us, Hahn lacks the creativity and vision to pull off a complicated series of moves that results in a stronger overall roster next year without completely gutting the farm. As such, he’ll continue to play the middle and go the easy route instead of trying something bold that could help us win a Championship in 2023.

Bump

Which is the exact reason we should trade Hendriks. We aren’t a closer away from winning the World Series and should take advantage of this market.

It’s very clear that the A’s have a vastly different valuation on Ruiz than how the prospect sites view him currently. Sounds like he made significant strides with his plate discipline last year and when combined with athleticism/ speed makes him a very interesting prospect. Still seems very light for a young catcher with tons of control like Contreras, even if you think he has to move to DH eventually.

True, but Hahn should have known better. Diekman alone wasn’t making us a playoff team last year and he made the move anyways despite the fact it would eat away at the little money we’d have to play with.

Glad Hahn felt compelled to do nothing but acquire Diekman at the deadline left year. Definitely $4M well spent…FML.

And some people think this is good for baseball. What a fucking joke.

Yup, may the baseball gods take mercy on our souls

If true, it’s embarrassing AF and we should be selling off everything because we can’t compete in the modern MLB environment with how the roster is currently constructed

So is it safe to say that Herb was wrong on this?

I do think that stat may be skewed a bit given that most players above 270 pounds were probably just fat guys (see Cecil Fielder) and not freak athletes.

He had 83 percentile range last year.

Exactly. The Dodgers aren’t the wild spenders some here think they are. Yes, they sport massive payrolls and will go hog wild for the right player (see Betts), but Friedman values financial flexibility and would rather go big on a short-term deal than a long-term deal. Personally, I think some of these concepts the Dodgers would be all over. They know how to develop talent and would quickly refill the cupboard. And I agree that Cartaya is probably the one prospect they have that is untouchable. With their other top prospects, they actually have some redundancy where it doesn’t really hurt them all that much to love them. My main beef with a Dodgers trade is how the centerpiece would actually fit this team. Vargas & Busch both have great bats, but neither can really play a position that helps us. I feel like if you’re trading Anderson, you need to get a legit two-way player that can anchor the trade.

I’m with you…I’m still unclear what makes him such a bad teammate.

I mean, if we’re actually trying to win, why not make some sort of bold trade? I 100% believe this team will be massively better next year with a new manager and hopefully better health, but it’s still the same roster that hasn’t made it past the first round of the playoffs and just lost its best hitter. This plan just reeks of the typical half-assed approach we’ve come to known from this franchise.

That’s all you think we’ll do? And what kind of left fielder are you expecting?

Not defending Hahn because he sucks, but part of the foolish money spending is a result of not being able to make significant long-term commitments. And that falls entirely on Jerry for being a risk adverse POS.

The Sox should be taking advantage of this market and strongly consider selling Anderson, but I think there is zero chance it actually happens. Even if he’s a monster in the clubhouse (which I’m not quite sold on yet), I can’t see the front office losing both faces of the franchise in the same off-season. That would be the ultimate PR nightmare and goes against their desire to actually compete next year.