Chicago White Sox

It’s officially prospect ranking season and with nothing else to discuss baseball wise at the moment, I thought it’d be a fun exercise to outline our own rankings. Feel free to do more or less, but 20 is usually a good number before you start getting into fringier territory. Here is my list: Colton Montgomery, SS* Oscar Colas, OF* Wes Kath, 3B* Norge Vera, RHP Jake Burger, 3B Jose Rodriguez, 2B/SS Bryan Ramos, 3B/2B Andrew Dalquist, RHP Matthew Thompson, RHP Yoelqui Cespedes, OF Sean Burke, RHP Jared Kelley, RHP Romy Gonzalez, SS/OF Jonathan Stiever, RHP Jimmy Lambert, RHP Yogurt Sanchez, 2B Tanner McDougal, RHP Jason Bilous, RHP Lenyn Sosa, SS Misael Gonzalez, OF Just missed: Micker Adolfo, Luis Mieses, Christian Mena, Wilber Sanchez, & Brooks Gosswein.

What wasn’t sexual assault? Just because something can’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court doesn’t mean it didn’t happened.

They traded for Lynn with Keuchel coming off a sub 2.00 ERA season.

I fully agree we need to add a starter, but that will likely have to come via trade. If so, zero reason we can’t afford both plus a 2B. My guess is we trade for someone from the A’s, Reds, or Marlins and those guys have reasonable salaries.

One thing I think worth pointing out is that we’re in the “all-in” phase right now and our roster is worse than the one we ended with last year. The bullpen as it sits right now is stronger with the addition of Graveman and Kimbrel not possibly being worse, but we’ve lost 24 elite starts from Rodon and currently have a black hole at 2B. Point is, there is no way in hell Hahn doesn’t make some major moves once the lockout is over. As such, Conforto is far from a pipe dream. In fact, I truly believe he’s our #1 priority this offseason. I can’t stress this enough, but dude is elite against RHP when healthy, which is evident by his 143 wRC+ vs. righties from 2017 to 2020 (10th overall in MLB). And while not a great defender, he’s more or less an average RF defensively when healthy based on both scouting reports & advanced metrics. If you look at our positional group, the biggest need we have is adding a legit LH power bat who can play RF or 2B. Given what’s available at 2B in free agency, Conforto is without the best free agent target for us, especially when his contract demands should fit right in JR’s wheels house. I’ll keep shouting it, but Conforto is the biggest no-brainer target for us since Grandal & Wheeler. And I’d be shocked if we don’t make an incredibly aggressive offer to him as soon as the CBA is in place. Maybe we get Wheeler’d, but in my heart of hearts I think Michael Conforto is the starting RF on the southside next year. The fact that Levine is connecting us is irrelevant as the strategic rationale & fit is simply too strong to ignore. And the fact James has also heard us rumblings about our interest should make everyone optimistic. Get it the fuck done Hahn!!

Conforto was dealing with an injury last year.

Come on poppy, this is just terrible.

Why isn’t Jerry springing $80M on anyone? Like what does that even mean? He basically signed Grandal for that much and offered Wheeler north of $100M. Regardless, trading Vaughn for Marte and then going with a Sheets/Leury/Engel combo in RF doesn’t make sense at all to me. If you’re making that trade, then you better be going all in and that RF combo would be a major liability on day 1.

Fully agree.

Definitely possible, but I think that would be super risky with how bad Keuchel looked last year and with Kopech on an innings limit. I also think smart clubs find a way to roll with six starters. Obviously paying Keuchel $18M isn’t ideal for that type of role, but neither is relying on a guy who posted a 5.23 while averaging a sub 90 MPH fastball.

Yup, terrible game with a pretty brutal penalty that had serious implications. At the least the halftime show lived up to expectations.

Pretty much outside of Rodon on a cheap deal.

Yup. And let’s be honest, I think most people would be happy if Cespedes ended up being a solid 4th OF. As for Colas, the kid has never even played stateside. I really like Oscar’s potential, but if you’re worried about blocking him while contending for a World Series title then you probably shouldn’t be a major league GM. And finally, how many years do we need to go before Hahn realizes a left-handed power bat is a must for this offense? This team consistently gets beat up against tough RHP and that’s going to be a recurring obstacle come October. Conforto is fucking elite against RHP while not killing you defensively in RF. Given his expected price, this is the most logical free agent target since Grandal & Wheeler. Honestly, if Hahn can land Conforto, a solid 2B, and a quality SP prior to Opening Day then I’m moving back to Chicago cause this team is winning the World Series next year. Get this the fuck done Hahn!

Conforto has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball against RHP over the past half decade, so not sure we’re talking about the same player. Also, it sounds like you are scarred for life because of Adam Dunn failing which is unfortunate.

Which is why Engel is so valuable to us as 4th OF and why I was so mad they signed Eaton to be their RF last year.

I think people need to remember that the White Sox have barely begun their offseason with the only two moves being Graveman and Leury. They still need to add a left-handed power bat, a 2B, and some sort of SP at a very minimum. They will also almost certainly trade Kimbrel for something, potentially to address one of those three needs. Once a CBA happens they will be as busy as any team in baseball and I would expect multiple trades to happen because the free agent market is limited in certain areas where we need help. And regarding the financial situation, Hahn didn’t trade a cost controlled asset in Madrigal if it was going to hamstring him the following offseason. There is definitely room to spend and they will likely push the payroll to the lowest luxury tax threshold. And it’s almost certainly going to end up higher than the owners’ current proposal, so I agree we should be able to sign Conforto and address our other needs. I do think we’re going to see more trades than most people here will like, but now is the time push some chips in.

Look, it may be light, but Bassitt only has one year of control and teams are starting to show an unwillingness to part with top prospects for one year rentals. I also think that Burger probably has more value than what the big prospect publications believe. Finally, the A’s typically think outside the box a bit when it comes to trades as evident by the trade they acquired Bassitt in the first place. Regardless, I’d be willing to pay more if need be, but I still don’t think Bassitt is going to command a crazy haul.

The rest of the offseason should be pretty simple IMO: Sign Conforto to a 4/$80M deal Trade Kimbrel to the Phillies for Marchan & Alvarado Trade Burke, Burger, Sosa, & Adolfo to the A’s for Bassitt & Kemp Trade Mercedes to the Marlins for a lottery ticket Sign Ryan Tepera to a 2/$10M deal Roster would be under the luxury tax and would look like this: Lineup: 1) Robert, CF | 2) Moncada, 3B# | 3) Abreu, 1B |4) Jimenez, LF | 5) Conforto, RF* | 6) Anderson, SS | 7) Grandal, C# | 8) Vaughn, DH | 9) Kemp, 2B* Bench: IF) Mendick | OF) Engel | UT) Garcia# | BC) Marchan# Rotation: 1) Lynn | 2) Giolito | 3) Cease | 4) Bassitt | 5) Kopech Bullpen: CL) Hendriks | SU) Bummer* | SU) Graveman | MR) Crochet* | MR) Tepera | MR) Alvarado* | LR) Lopez | LR) Keuchel* That roster is absolutely stacked and we’d actually have some depth in AAA with guys like Sheets, Collins, Gonzalez, Yogurt, The Basabe, Stiever, Lambert, Bilous, McClure, Burr, Foster, Severino, etc. Kemp is the biggest wild card there, but 2B upgrades should be easily attainable at the deadline. And I’m sure people will dislike the Phillies & A’s trades I’m proposing, but I think they allow us to build the most complete roster without disrupting the future too much.

Engel has proven he can’t be relied on to stay healthy over the course of a full season. He’s an excellent 4th OF and late game defensive replacement for Eloy and should not be used for anything more than that baring injury.

Those Sox teams had Scott Podsednik in LF his first three seasons and Dye’s defense was epically bad and value destroying. He’s a great comp for what we might expect defensively from a Vaughn/Sheets combo but a horrible justification for why they make sense for RF.

What makes it a “lazy” move exactly?

I mean, you trade Kimbrel for salary relief. And the thresholds will almost certainly go up once a CBA is agreed to.

Defensive wise and he’s right. I think with Robert you can easily hide one shitty defender in the corners, but flanking with him with Eloy & Vaughn/Sheets is a disaster waiting to happen. No need to get cute here, just get Conforto. Dude is a perfect fit.

Sox also need a left-handed bat. Conforto is a perfect fit for us.

Oh fuck yes