Chicago White Sox

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.

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.

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