Chicago White Sox

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.

But significantly less defensive utility. Conforto just makes too much sense for us IMO.

Unpopular take, but I think Eloy has a higher defensive ceiling than Vaughn, but a much lower floor and is a risk to himself if he doesn’t radically change how he handles plays around the outfield walls and sidelines.

Lol…we are clearing doing the exact same thing at the same exact time this morning.

Jesse Rogers on the White Sox Talk Podcast said he thinks the Sox are “closer to pushing all in” than they have been in the past decade. Pointed out adding a big left-handed bat is a huge priority with Schwarber & Conforto guys he’s heard they are exploring. Also said they will certainly address 2B (exploring many options), SP (hasn’t heard them connected to the top free agents), and RP (threw out bringing back Tepera as a possibility). Didn’t rule out Semien at 2B, but feels it’s unlikely given him being RH (acknowledged he does hit RHP) and what should be a substantial price point. He pointed to Escobar being the more logical solution via free agency if adding a big LH bat elsewhere. Chuck then threw out the Kimbrel for Segura hypothetical and Rogers didn’t completely rule it out, but didn’t feel like it was something the Sox would aggressively pursue.

Fully agree, but Sox leaked out their “interest” in Semien and not Conforto. Just pointing out that’s likely misdirection and I would assume Conforto is the priority.

I think they are aiming higher than Matz for rotation help.

Exactly. The Mets aren’t some small market team and they weren’t the incumbent. They did not deserve a right to match and shouldn’t have banked on one if they really wanted Matz.

Fake Twitter insiders really pushing this Kimbrel for Segura narrative pretty hard. I really don’t see that happening unless they’ve added a left-handed RF already. If the Sox trade Kimbrel as their next move, I’d assume it’s for prospects and role players (lesser reliever, backup catcher, etc) and not a guy like Segura who will limit their flexibility going forward.