Chicago White Sox

Shit, he’s been a top 10 Phillies prospect for three straight years. Honestly, I think if we can get him and are prepared to spend $190M+ then I’d be all about that trade even if Segura isn’t a perfect fit IMO.

What’s the story on Marchan? I know next to nothing about him.

I can’t see the Phillies ever doing that, but if Hahn pulled that off he should be crowned executive of the year immediately.

So let’s pretend this is legit, are you thinking Segura, Marchan, & maybe Moniak or a low end reliever? I’d rather take a flyer on Mickey as my AAA outfield depth than Rutherford, but prefer any live arm with options.

For some background, this guy is apparently a Padres insider (no idea if a good one or not, but he is followed by NSC…lol). Those tweets started by him saying the Padres looked into Kimbrel but aren’t as aggressive as other teams. Then it morphed into this:

Take this with a massive grain of salt:

Since 2017 Schwarber has been worth -11 DRS in LF (4,000 innings) while Conforto has been worth +1 in LF (1,100 innings). Conforto has also been worth +2 in RF during that same time period (2,600 innings). That includes Michael’s down, injury ridden 2021 that brought his cumulative DRS in RF down 4. Unless I’m missing something, he’s been negative pretty much every year except the one where guys tested his arm and he racked up a ton of assists. Regardless, it’s not comparable who the better defender and go look at OAA if you don’t believe as that will tell as even more convincing story.

I’m asking you to provide the numbers you are actually referencing.

Ray - You know I’m a huge fan and you have every right to be skeptical of us even landing a $200M+ free agent with Jerry around. I just think guys in the $60M to gulp $150M range are possibilities. Conforto in particular should be a realistic get. That being said, the Sox rocking a $190M+ payroll isn’t that far fetched and they can quickly fill that up with several signings we wouldn’t all be satisfied with. Whether they spend it on actual impact talent remains to be seen, but I truly believe the money is there to make a pair of sizable signings. Personally, I’m hoping for Conforto & Gausman. That would send a major “fuck you” to the rest of the AL for the first time in like forever.

Well over $200M. I was able to add Scherzer & Conforto and stay at $199.9M in my hypothetical scenario but that required trading Kimbrel with basically no cash coming, dumping Keuchel’s contract with $7M in dead money, and little to nothing else other than one decently paid reliever. Scherzer just eats so much payroll if you assume anything realistic for him.

Gausman & Conforto combo.

Good god man you’ve become unbearable since they hired La Russa. There is a massive difference between rocking a fairly large payroll and them signing guys like Correa, Seager, etc. They could get to $190M with a bunch of B tier signings. None of this is far-fetched.

Show me where they have Conforto’s LF / RF defense being worse than Schwarber.

lol…this isn’t remotely true.

When did I ever say I would trade him for Bassitt? I literally said that would be a massive overpay and said I wouldn’t even love trading him for Castillo or Gray. In fact I’m pretty sure I said I’d be nervous trading him for any short-term pitcher. Most of my proposals have been using him as the centerpiece for Ketel Marte or Bryan Reynolds. The only pitcher I’ve proposed potentially trading him for was Gallen, who is both controllable and has a TOR ceiling.

Vaughn for Lux made you cringe?

Would you do Vaughn+ for Gallen? That’s the type arm I’d be looking for if I were to move Vaughn.

I’m ok trading Vaughn for a younger arm who could potentially breakout with us, but we need a dude that can eat regular season innings. You don’t trade Vaughn a player that can’t help prior to October.

I think we could get Bassitt without him for sure. The other guys not so much.

Your plan is to trade Vaughn for a guy coming off TJS in hopes he will be a weapon in the playoffs and bank on getting enough innings from Kopech, Keuchel, & Lopez in the #4 & #5 spots (without Dallas pitching enough for his option to vest) to actually get there? Doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

Why trade Vaughn for arm that will be at best limited in its ability help us this year?

Vaughn would be a massive overpay for one year of Bassitt. Honestly, not sure I’d be overly excited to give up Vaughn+ for two years of Gray or Castillo.

I’d be 100% cool with that if that means Vaughn is trading for a legit TOR starter. Just not sure who fits that bill.

Exactly. He’s a perfectly fine ball player and brings some attributes, but that 50% ground-ball rate and limited power aren’t what we need at this point in time from the 9 hole.

Taylor is a better player who could be used primarily at 2B. And Escobar put up more fWAR than Segura did last year, so I’d say they’re particularly close at a minimum.