Chicago White Sox

Who are likely sellers who will actually have high-end SPs available at the trade deadline? Most of the true garbage teams in our company don’t have a SP that is the quality of Cease. I’d say the Tigers with Skubal fit the billing the most and possibly the Marlins with Luzardo. And I don’t see a hopeful contender like the Mets with two aces who could underperform and then undermind the market. I candidly hate waiting until then due to general pitching risk, but I think the market conditions will be even more favorable than they are now and how they were last year. Which is why I’m shocked more teams aren’t willing to pony up for Cease now, because the price will almost certainly go up with even the slightest of improvements from Dylan.

We also gave up Lopez who was a pretty desirable reliever. I will continue to look at the trade as Quero for Giolito and Bush for Lopez. Doesn’t change your main point, but I think it’s worth clarifying.

I think the odds of Grifol being here next year are super low. I’ve speculated on this before, but I think Getz didn’t want to pursue a new manager yet because he knew the team would be garbage (with a ton of bad vets) and he had other areas to prioritize. Sucks we have to endure him for another year, but it is kind of fitting as I view 2024 as a sort of bottoming-out type season for us. Also, gun to head right now, I kind of feel like Grady Sizemore will be our next manager.

Regarding the Burnes package, Joey Ortiz is probably a ~2 win SS and Hall will likely be a quality LH setup man. While not sexy, it’s a lot of cheap production and they save quite a bit of money and maintain the draft pick they would have gotten for Burnes had he left in free agency. Doesn’t seem that unbalanced to me.

I must admit I’m enjoying the taste of Josh Nelson’s tears…dude is literally shook by the lack of parking.

Any way to see these other renderings if we missed the WGN 6pm news?

These renderings are the same ones that leaked previously (but with more) and still look absolutely incredible to me. Going from the Rate to this stadium would be the greatest comeback story in Chicago history.

I feel like they will find a way to get it done, but yup, I’d probably have to move to Alaska if they fucked this up

No doubt, but I think there are reasons to be excited Speas. This is from FG’s latest top prospect list for us that has Speas as 40+ FV prospect and 11th overall in the system:

Didn’t see it reported elsewhere, but Lane Ramsay was DFAed as a result of this trade. I will say the 40 man roster is much better balanced than it was entering the season: SP: 9 RP: 13 CA: 3 IF: 7 OF: 5 1B/DH: 3 Regarding the 40 man roster, we’re starting to run out of obvious fat to cut. On the position player side, Sheets seems like the only guy with a real risk of being DFAed. Right now, his ability to backup Vaughn at 1B is the only thing keeping him on the roster as DeLoach could serve as a LH bat off the bench while also providing much better OF defense. My guess is Sheets makes the Opening Day roster but is given an incredibly short leash. That means if/when Pillar is added it will have to come on the pitching side. Speaking of that, I’m guessing Martin & Foster both begin the year on the 60 day DL, which would open up two 40 man spots. Pillar will eventually get one of those spots and the other will likely go to a RP of some sorts. I fully expect Leasure to force his way onto the Opening Day roster, so that would likely eat up the other spot. And given how few bullpen spots are locked down, I think at least one, if not two NRI guys could make it. To make room, I feel like Peralta would be the most obvious candidate, but Banks & even Lambert (no options) could be in the mix. I do think Speas will safe given his ceiling. Where things will get really interesting is when the young guys start pushing their way onto the 26/40 man roster. Who gets cut once Montgomery is ready for his shot? Who makes room for Nastrini? Obviously there will be a lot of trades come July, but I could easily see these force the issue before then and see a lot more activity than usual in May or June. The team will likely suck but at least there will be a lot of roster action.

And that’s not the entire haul. Leasure looks like he could be a legit setup man. Bush may not have a ton of ceiling, but could be a very solid BOR starter. Lee is at least a decent 3rd string catcher with the upside for more (which is fine for Graveman). Even Carela is a semi interesting arm. It’s almost like someone else was GM at the time, because Hahn never sold mediocre to good (not great) players and got these type of returns.

I don’t think Speas is going anywhere. Super interesting arm with considerable upside that kind of snuck his way on the 40 man roster. Check out Fangraphs’ updated top prospect list for us as they go into more detail on him.

Amazing news!!

So what do people think the Opening Day bullpen looks like now? With Santos gone and Crochet theoretically in Charlotte, it’s going to be hard to keep guys like Berroa, Leasure, & Speas off the roster. I know there have been several NRI guys added, but curious how people see things shaking out assuming we don’t anytime important to the mix.

Statcast has a stat that shows he had one of the worst OAA beyond him last year, so what you are saying is factually true. Beyond a better defense, fixing the shape of his slider is most paramount to getting closer to 2022 form. I’m very hopeful that Bannister & Katz with an off-season of work can get Cease to right any mechanical flaws that resulted in its regression. Dylan has proven he will put the effort in to be the best he can be. Just got to pray the baseball gods don’t punish us with some random injury luck.

If I’m reading Fangraphs right, we were tied for dead last with a 59 wRC+ out of the 7 to 9 spots last year (that is so hilariously bad…lol). Honestly, it’s hard to imagine a combo of DeJong, Lopez, & Maldonado could do worse. My guess is we get around a 70 wRC+ or a little higher out of those spots this year, which is still terrible (still bottom four overall) but a slight improvement with hopefully much better defense.

Obviously not a good thing for the White Sox, but glad the Royals were able to do this. I’m all for starts sticking with their original clubs long-term and not just immediately signing with the Yankees, Dodgers, etc. upon hitting free agency.

Oh I’m 100% supportive of that. Getting that year back would be huge and would allow us to manage his innings very conservatively without concern how it would impact an actual major league game.

Rosenthal reported it’s likely that Crochet is the closer?

Is there something new out there on this? Otherwise, I feel like they are going to stick with trying to develop Crochet as a starter. But no idea who ends up with first crack at the closer role.

Also, will share the Ramos write-up because I absolutely love the kid and Law has gotten me even more hyped:

Yeah, the even money he sticks at SS comment was nice to see. I know Ramos can theoretically play 2B, but it seems like his natural home is far & away 3B and him and Montgomery could be a fantastic left side of the infield if Colson can stick at SS. And while this will be unpopular, I still think Gonzalez has a shot at being a really solid 2B if he can fix his swing. His defensive skills should play well at 2B and his advanced plate discipline gives him some floor offensively even if the hit & power tools don’t live up to pre-draft expectations. But if he doesn’t pan out, 2B is just a much easier spot to fill than SS & 3B IMO.

If you want to feel any worse about the Jacob Gonzalez pick, don’t look at Law’s rankings: 14: Teel - 54th overall 15: Gonzalez - Unranked 16: Eldridge - 85th overall 17: Bradfield - 64th overall 18: Wilken - 71st overall 19: Taylor - 56th overall 20: Nimmala - 59th overall 24: Waldrep - 80th overall 27: Miller - 89th overall

He’s definitely the lowest on Montgomery out of all the major outlets, but good to see Quero, Ramos, & Nastrini where they are.

I hope he does!