Chicago White Sox

I didn’t think we could squeeze Benintendi, seems incredibly unlikely that we can fit him and Conforto into the payroll.

I know you asked for the opposite, but this a pretty decent article on him. https://www.soxon35th.com/who-is-new-white-sox-catcher-carlos-perez/

KW specifically said they offered more potentially and that’s actually true. They offered a $8/$250M base deal with options & incentives that could have brought it to a 10/$350M. While they were stupid to think Machado wouldn’t just take the higher guarantee, let’s not pretend they lied about they offered.

It was a defensive play I’m thinking about, but can’t quite recall the specific moment. Just remember him holding the ball and letting a guy score.

I got to be honest, I really hate the idea of Leury as our 4th OF.

Didn’t he make a really dumb play that cost us? All I can remember is that and a bunch of HRs.

I don’t think the people will allow…would take a big trade to win back enough respect to let it slip to page 2

Definitely nothing wrong with this, but I hope we have a better 4th OF in mind to start the season with.

So who is the last guy on the bench if you’re going with Hamilton, Leury, & Zavala?

The problem is a 4th OF is expected to be much more than a late inning PR or defensive replacement, especially on this team with an injury prone CF and a rookie RF.

Not really, but he’s gotten so bad offensively that it’s negating any value he provides with the glove or on the bases.

Billy has a 46 wRC+ since leaving the Reds. If we had 27 or 28 man rosters and could use him purely for defense and base-running he’d prove valuable, but entering the season with him as our 4th OF is absolute insanity to me. He seems like a great dude and had some nice moments for us in 2021, but he be should nothing more than AAA depth.

I really hope note…dude can’t hit at all anymore.

Good news here!

Full-time DH. And honestly, he hit well enough there last year (138 wRC+) to make the move permanent.

I don’t view that as enough upgrade over Sosa to warrant the cost.

This is a very fair and honest take. Benintendi is not a perfect fit for us, but at the same time he does add much needed lineup balance and fills a massive hole with 2+ win production. In terms of free agency, the only player available at the moment I think would have been a better singing was Conforto and he comes with more risk plus you have the Boras factor that could drag things out. I’m not doing cartwheels in the streets over this and I definitely wish our LF was more of a power bat, but this move makes us better and we still have our prospect currency to make another move to enhance the offense.

No and I think the front office soured on Madrigal pretty quickly once he entered the organization and Hostetler lost influence. As such, I doubt they would ever bring him back. Sounds like he’s a weird clubhouse guy too.

I get what you’re saying, but the dude put up a 74 wRC+ in 1,700 PA’s over the previous four seasons prior to 2022. He should not be a regular on a championship pursuing team and I don’t see him taking a part time role nor do I think that would be a good use of resources for us.

Might be time for Chuck Garfein to retire. On their emergency podcast to discuss Benintendi, he brought Andrus as a 2B option and Eric Hosmer as a guy to think about bringing in for veteran leadership.

It’s going to be interesting to see what we do next. I hope Hahn isn’t done yet and that we don’t have to move salary to make Benintendi fit. I’d love to see us add a LH hitting 2B and possibly a catcher to mix. Be nice to go into the season without any major holes for once, even if depth is still lacking in certain areas.

Yup, just make that happen if Abel is an option.

Yes, I’d want a solid pitching prospect that can provide some SP depth. That being said, Crochet will be back at some point and we can always “argument” the bullpen in season to use a Rick Hahn word. I think that bullpen can be good enough though, especially if Reyes can bounce back.

That Hendriks trade saves about $10M. Adding Duvall is probably pushing it, but he’d be a perfect 4th OF for us so I threw him in there.

I’m Ramos’ biggest fan on this board but I’d deal him in a heartbeat for Lowe. That’s the type of move (if it works) that greatly changes the potential of the team.