Chicago White Sox

I doubt it. I think he gets moved to a team that thinks he might be able to hit RHP if he abandons catching altogether or he ends up as our #3 catcher down in AAA. He simply didn’t show enough potential defensively to be anything more than that.

We need a #2 catcher, but I’d argue it’s much lower priority that RF, 2B, the rotation, and pitching. Should be able to get a defensive catcher on the cheap late in the offseason, so zero reason to commit a lot of resources to it now IMO.

Depth, trade bait, or minor league fodder.

Fully agree and Hahn has alluded to as much.

Totally fair

If we picked up Kimbrel’s contract only to turn around and trade for him a bad contract then Hahn has failed epically.

Not sure we can afford a backup C for $4M, so no impact to us here.

If they move to a universal DH, we should be able to get some lottery ticket for him.

?

I think it’s possible if you trade Kimbrel. But then you probably need another reliever or two to fill in the gaps. Regardless, I’d rather go cheap at 2B and pursue a starting pitcher with a bit more upside than Wood.

Shit would be amazing.

What aren’t you sold on for Conforto?

Oh so am I, but $16M/year for Rodriguez isn’t a bad deal in isolation for them. Just a poor fit when the best team in the division crushes LHP.

Isn’t it $16M a year?

If we could get Conforto locked up before December 1st that would be amazing. Even if that’s all we did before a potential lockout, we’d basically have months to plan out our next steps to optimize the roster with Michael in the fold. But we’d starting from a position of strength with the lineup and have tons of different paths we could down.

?…controllable starting pitching means Vaughn is as good as gone. If it’s OAK, then we should be able to get a guy without including Andrew as Bassitt & Manaea both only have one year of control left. Montas is another option with two years of control, so would be a bit more costly. I’m open to trading Vaughn for the right piece, but I’d prefer doing so for a positional guy who fills a different need (Reynolds, Lux, etc.). Trading a talent of his caliber for an arm that could breakdown at any point seems very risky to me.

You didn’t answer my question. Why is it included in a thread about QO’s?

Here you go: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2022-top-50-free-agents/

FWIW, MLBTR predicted 5/$70M ($14M AAV) and FG crowdsourcing picked 4/$72M ($18M AAV). So AAV is right in the middle of both with MLBTR hitting the year total.

Why is Kimbrel’s option being listed here? Are you really that angry at the front office that you need to throw shade at any and all opportunity? Like this is a great idea for a thread, but I guess it’s too much to ask you to keep your emotional subtext out of it.

Are you saying the Sox have met with Boras on Conforto and are exploring multi-year deals with Rodon?

This hypothetical would include a Cesar Hernandez type at 2B (think $4M to $5M), but with Romy as the backup infielder.

A few bullpen arms, but little bench help other than maybe a backup catcher.

The reason people don’t take your opinion seriously is because you ignore the fact that Andrew Vaughn was a consensus top 20 prospect across all majors publications (so not just a Steve Stone take) and act like a 23 year old who basically skipped all of the minors is somehow a finished product. Also, home runs aren’t the end-all-be-all. Vaughn is going to be a high BA, high OBP, plus power hitter. Maybe he only hits around 30 each year, but that will likely come with a fuckton of doubles. He could be our best hitter within the next two years or so if he reaches his offensive potential.