Chicago White Sox

All good brother. Trust me, I don’t think that plan is in the realm of realism, but it’s fun to dream big. I still think one relatively major free agent signing will happen.

Alright, if the Sox want to get aggressive per Nightengale’s tweet, they need to make major splashes in RF, 2B, & SP: IMO, the dream scenario would be the following: RF: Michael Conforto = 4/$76M SP: Max Scherzer = 3/$120M 2B: Ketel Marte for Garrett Crochet, Colson Montgomery, Jose Rodriguez, & Jared Kelley (works per MLBTradeValues ?) You’d be clearing $200M in payroll, but damn would that team be insane. What do you guys think? What RF, 2B, & SP combo would you go for?

Frazier wasn’t as good as advertised (too many IFBs), but I’m not losing sleep over that trade. It made sense at the time and he still gave us ~3 wins a season.

Montas was in the Todd Frazier trade and not the Shark deal.

Hahn is not going to come out and say “his arm is shot and we’re moving in a different direction.” The reality is the didn’t like what they expected to get out of him in 2022 for $18.4M.

What in the world are you ranting about? The Sox traded Dane fucking Dunning for an AL Cy Young finalist. They offered an NL Cy Young finalist the largest contract in free agency. They aggressively pursued and were supposedly close to acquiring the NL Cy Young winner for Nick Madrigal, Codi Heuer, and a couple minor leaguers. I get some of those moves were theoretical, but they’re proof they’re targeting the right players. And what are all these veteran contracts you are so worried about? Kimbrel will be moved this offseason. Abreu & Keuchel are free agents after the year. Grandal only has two years left. Lynn just came in 3rd place in the AL Cy Young race and only has two guaranteed years left. I guess Hendriks still has three years left, but not really worried about this at the moment. You’re literally creating an issue that doesn’t actually exist. And no idea what the A Ball pitchers have to do with anything? If they all fail, it may limit our window, but right now no one should care about anything behind 2024. Let’s focus on winning a god damn World Series over the next three years and worry about extending the window later.

I’ve never said that he’s damaged, just saying the Sox are the closest to his medicals and passed on extending a QO. They didn’t do this because they are cheap…clearly they were worried about something. Doesn’t mean they weren’t wrong, but it’s too early to say that.

Gray seems like a guy who could pop by leaving Coors / joining a new organization, but I agree his stuff has been erratic and I admittedly don’t have a great grasp on his past injuries and how much those have played a role. But he’s definitely the value guy I think has the best chance to provide a Lynn/Rangers type impact in this class.

He is and usually pops in now or then with a rumor that doesn’t pan out.

One other interesting take, but the Sox have acquired or tried to acquire three of the six Cy Young finalists this year. Max Scherzer would theoretically make a fourth. At a bare minimum, I think that pursuing Wheeler & Burnes before their full fledged breakouts proves our pro scouting department is vastly improved from the dark days.

Just dreaming about my top trade deadline target that never came to fruition

Again, this all assumes he passes a physical. Thor was nervous enough that he shortened his negotiating window to just a handful of weeks to ensure he had the QO as a fall-back.

So here’s the remaining starting pitchers on MLBTR’s top 50 free agents list: 05) Kevin Gausman: 6/$138M | $23M AAV 07) Robbie Ray: 5/$130M | $26M AAV 09) Max Scherzer: 3/$120M | $40M AAV 11) Marcus Stroman: 5/$110M | $22M AAV 14) Eduardo Rodriguez: 5/$77M | $15.4M AAV 18) Carlos Rodon: 1/$25M 19) Jon Gray: 4/$56M | $14M AAV 22) Anthony DeSclafani: 3/$42M | $14M AAV 23) Justin Verlander: 2/$50M | $25M AAV 26) Alex Wood: 3/$30M | $30M AAV 27) Steven Matz: 3/$27M | $9M AAV 33) Clayton Kershaw: 1/$20M 34) Yusei Kikuchi: 2/$20M 37) Noah Syndergaard: 1/$21M 39) Alex Cobb: 2/$16M | $8M AAV 40) Zack Greinke: 1/$15M 46) Corey Kluber: 1/$12M 48) Danny Duffy: 1/$10M 50) Andrew Heaney: 1/$8.5M Lots of mid / back of the rotation guys still left, but after Scherzer you pretty much have to go the trade route if you want a TOR starter. At least the SP market is moving quickly.

I’m not sure what you‘re even arguing at this point. That pitchers can get hurt?

Thanks CWS. Thats exactly what I'm saying lest there be any confusion. I thought it was an insane prediction at the time, but you were 100% on the money with your prediction for him. Too bad that rumored Madrigal, Heuer+ deal fell through.

I’m all for questionable rumors, but Stillman has been proven to be a fraud.

Do you mind sharing the medicals with the rest of us?

What in the hell is comparable about Rodon’s health record vs. Dallas or Lance’s?

Great post. There is definitely a method to their madness and they didn’t pass on offering Rodon the QO because they didn’t want to spend $18.4M on a 5 win pitcher. Health and/or regression obviously played a huge role in their decision.

Oh, I thought you were saying you knew who Portillo’s was. I get he’s alluding to Max in his Tweet.

Which is why we should wait and see what they do this offseason or what kind of contract Rodon gets before we declare them idiots. If they have higher hopes than Carlos for that last rotation spot, then it probably wasn’t worth offering him the QO if there was any level of risk he would accept. Also, who is to say Carlos wouldn’t have pulled a Thor by trying to get a quick deal and then using the QO as a fallback if he couldn’t pass a physical? We just don’t have enough info right now to say it was a stupid decision or not.

Who?

Belt & Iglesias seem like the only two who might take it. Honestly, would be awesome if Iglesias takes it and removes the top reliever off the market.

One year deal is interesting given the QO and the fact he’s barely pitched over the last two years. Would have expected a two year deal to make it worthwhile for the Angels.

Honestly, if we could extend Lucas for something similar we should definitely explore it. I get the years carry a lot of risk, but that’s a pretty reasonable AAV.