Chicago White Sox

Leury & Gravemen signed three year deals.

When the Sox made the Kimbrel trade, I assumed that meant they had the resources to replace Madrigal & Heuer in the offseason while still making big improvements to the rest of the roster. Obviously the payroll has gone up a ton, but Hahn has definitely been far less aggressive with his moves so far. Still time to correct that, but it’s hard to remain optimistic when we’ve spent close to $30M to more or less maintain the status quo and have not yet seen one “fuck it, we’re going for it” type move.

What has this guy gotten right in the past? Dude only has a 100 followers, which is less than notoriously fake insiders.

I’m not saying Sheets is more important than Vaughn. Andrew is going to be a star eventually. But Tony is going to give Sheets, Leury, & Engel a decent amount of playing time and Vaughn is going to get squeezed at times. Personally, I’d rather get consistent at-bats for a month in AAA then be used sparingly at the major league level. Just feels like it could speed up his development. And if you want try insane ideas like having him play 2B, well better in Charlotte than in Chicago. Plus the extra year of control would he nice to gain back.

Can’t wait to see his price. I’m guessing 1/$3.5M.

Not looking to defend Hahn, because he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but how influence does Tony have on roster decisions? Like the Kelly move was already sort of attributed to him and we know he’s in love with Leury. Just wondering if Reinsdorf has made things worse by empowering Tony.

In a perfect world, Conforto is brought in to solve RF. Sheets gets first crack at the DH job, with Eloy sliding in against LHP and Engel filling in LF. And then Vaughn starts the year in AAA and is first man up as a need arises. That way Andrew gets consistent at-bats (while we get a year of control back) and you have two options at DH in the event one of the two youngsters struggle. I just don’t get how many years in a row Hahn can reasonably go without addressing RF. At some point it should be considered a fireable offense. And I’ve said it before, but the biggest single risk to missing the playoffs is a lack of starting pitching depth. One of Giolito, Lynn, & Cease is going to miss an extended period of time at some point next season and we should build a rotation that can overcome that. Right now, we’d be royally fucked with even a single injury to one of those three. I don’t care how much money Keuchel makes, he needs to he relegated to bullpen status to start the year and can fill once that injury happens. Given how bad his pure stuff is, Dallas has lost the benefit after last season.

Exactly, all this Sheets/Vaughn RF combo ignores the the fact that right now both of them are needed in the starting lineup. I get wanting to give young players a chance, but going into opening day with a 7-8-9 of Vaughn-Sheets-Harrison along with 2/5 of our rotation built around Keuchel & Kopech is incredibly risky. I pray Hahn isn’t this incompetent and that more moves are being negotiated as we speak.

I’m sorry, who is Northbrook Bob and what is his track record?

Your argument might as well be close my eyes and ignore reality. Vaughn & Sheets were epically bad in RF last year. Could they get better? Possibly, but they will never be good out there. And to be clear, you expect them to provide a wRC+ over 133? Because that’s what Conforto put up from 2017 to 2020 when healthy.

No way.

Definitely has been down the stretch IMO, just not worth prioritizing a guy like Harrison when major holes exist.

For the 9th place hitter I would have wanted Eduardo Escobar. And guess what Merk, we could have afforded him if we didn’t sign Leury & Harrison and instead used Romy as our utility guy. But glad we have all these below average hitters that are versatile that Tony will need to overplay in order to keep them game ready.

I think there is value to big clubhouse guys that oftentimes goes under-appreciated by most fans, but it seems like the Sox always overvalue leadership/character/fit.

White Sox press release had the details

This is going to be a weird season, at least early on, where multiple long guys are needed.

Exactly, if my options are keep Kimbrel or dump him and doing nothing with the savings, then I’m 100% keeping as he can still be useful just significantly overpaid for a setup role.

We have Eloy Jimenez as our primary LF. If he needs a day off, Andrew Vaughn should play in his absence. If Eloy gets hurt, then Vaughn should be the primary LF with Engel getting the spot starts. If Vaughn also gets hurt, then Engel should be the primary LF and Gavin Sheets or Leury should get the spot starts. If Eloy, Vaughn and one of Sheets or Leury get hurt, then maybe, just maybe Harrison should get some playing time out in LF. Just take three guys above him getting injured. It’s readily apparent that Leury & Harrison are going to get way too much playing time.

Tony does think Leury being a “switch hitter” makes him a good hitter against RHP. You think Hahn would have done everything in his power to prevent Tony from having pieces that will play into his bad habits but alas that isn’t the case.

I think Harrison is definitely the plan at 2B, at least up until the trade deadline. If they can find an upgrade at that time, then Harrison moves to a reserve infielder role. Would just be a very expensive bench, but dude is probably moveable if need be as long as he doesn’t fall off a cliff. Also, regarding “settling” for Harrison, his addition only makes sense if the plan is for a large expenditure in RF. Until we lose out on Conforto and to a lesser extent Schwarber, Castellanos, & Bryant then I think those guys are still in the cards.

I proposed something similar for Gray, but I think the problem is the stress Moose’s deal puts on our 2023 CBT situation.

It’s mind boggling. They don’t even formulate a good 2B platoon and we have other guys who better cover the OF. Hell, at the moment, if Moncada went down for an extended period I’d rather give the playing time to Burger. I get versatility is valuable, but not when you have holes in your everyday lineup and rotation.

I’d hope Burger + Thompson/Dalquist + lesser piece is enough for one year of Manaea. And I’d love to get Allen included as a throw-in.

At least gives us a solid controllable backup catcher.

That package seems like significantly more than the one the Twins gave up for two years of Sonny Gray.