Chicago White Sox

Did you watch him with the Cubs? What did the eye test say then?

Josh Nelson playing insider sure is fun. Anyways, I’m not against Chris Taylor by any means, but I’d definitely prefer Conforto.

The bad two years you were referring to were 35 total innings, of which the final 15 innings he was actually really good. He also didn’t have a pre-season in 2019 and dealt with COVID insanity in 2020. The dude literally had a xwOBA in the 100th percentile over the first four months of this year and was perhaps the most valued commodity at the trade deadline. His addition didn’t work out for us but that doesn’t mean you overreact and dump him for nothing. Again, Hahn will know if a market exists before he has to pick up the option.

Yeah, I wouldn’t complain about Marte, although I’d prefer Conforto given he’s several years younger and less likely to suddenly fall off a cliff IMO.

These guys aren’t robots. You can view these things as excuses, but wearing down from a massive innings increase or dealing with a sick child are legit reasons why a guy’s performance could fall off. And guess what, Hahn can talk to opposing GMs and determine if there is a market for Kimbrel at 1/$16M. They aren’t picking up that option unless they are confident they can get something back for him.

Yeah, it’s been two straight years of dumpster diving in RF and all the prospects who had a chance to grab that spot flopped. Also, it’s time to accept an OF with both Eloy and Vaughn (or Sheets) in the corners isn’t going to work defensively. Time to invest in a legit RF and preferably one who hits from the left side. Conforto should be the target and won’t break the bank like he could have if coming off a strong season.

Unfortunately that’s the hot new claim amongst Grandal haters. He apparently calls a ton of 0-2 fastballs because he’s aware he can’t catch the breaking stuff.

We literally just gave up Madrigal & Heuer for 1 1/3 years of Kimbrel. This idea that classic closers are somehow much less valuable than they were two years ago simply isn’t true.

Man, had the Sox signed Wheeler the same offseason they got Grandal I would have been the happiest person in the world. So damn close to the perfect offseason for White Sox standards.

Andrew Miller in 2019 got a 2/$25M deal as 34 year old free agent coming off a -0.4 fWAR / 5.19 FIP season. I’m assuming a 33 year old Kimbrel coming off a 2.2 fWAR / 2.43 FIP season would get quite a bit more. You continue to ignore he was the best reliever in baseball before we acquired him and there are many reasons that could explain why he sucked with us (35 inning YoY increase, changing teams mid-season, dealing with a sick child, uncomfortable with new role, etc). Major league GMs aren’t as pessimistic as you and base everything on the last two months.

This is a terrible prediction. Even if they pick up the option, he will not be on the team next year. GMs actually watch baseball games and witnessed a guy who was the best reliever in baseball leading up to the trade deadline. Someone will prefer him than signing one of the few elite guys to a huge multi-year deal. All relievers are risky, ones that only require one year commitments far less.

Why is Kimbrel on a 1/$16M deal stupid? His salary doesn’t work for us, especially when we already have an expensive closer, but there are other big market teams that are probably excited about the possibility of getting him for 50 cents on the dollar.

That’s definitely the nightmare scenario!

For shits & giggles, but if Hahn were to leave does KW take over as the main day-to-day guy in the front office this offseason? If so, do things actually change with him taking on a more hands-on role? KW was incredibly aggressive as a GM, so just kind of fun to think how things might be different if he’s the one manning the phones.

What does “evaluating the team” mean in this context and why does it take so long?

The Sox will be able to trade Kimbrel. We won’t get back what we invested in him, but I could see a controllable reliever with upside as a potential return. I think the Phillies make a ton of sense as a potential trade partner and I’d happily take someone like Seranthony Dominguez as the main piece.

Fully agree

That’s the big question though and would still require dumping a big chunk of Keuchel’s salary.

I will add if there’s a way to somehow retain Rodon & sign Conforto, that would be beyond amazing and I’d totally be ok with dumpster diving at 2B and the final spot or two in the bullpen.

Those are probably five of the biggest questions, although getting some sense of payroll expectations for next year would be the big one. The difference between say a $190M payroll and a $170M would be massive. I still think we’ll be closer to the latter and that realistically means Kimbrel is gone (which we already know) and that we can only afford one larger contract. As such, that means either Rodon returns on a QO or we sign a high end RF / 2B (with Conforto being far more realistic than the premium infielders). I think we ultimately fill the rest of our holes with cheaper internal options and C tier free agents.

Unfortunately for us, former 70 FV prospects don’t get traded for that type of package.

Agree. Plus at some point Jose will retire / be let go, which would open up 1B for Vaughn and an OF spot for Cespedes / Colas. And honestly, zero problem with those guys being depth for a couple of years and having to earn spots. Would be an excellent problem to have.

I can’t of wondered the same thing. Could Hahn be considering an exit? Seems super unlikely, but perhaps losing control to La Russa pushed him towards other opportunities. Just seems odd the end of season presser wouldn’t have been this week.

He’s about as perfect of a fit as we’re going to find for RF and I hope the Sox prioritize him accordingly this offseason. I just pray that KW & Hahn don’t somehow use Cespedes & Colas as reason to go with a stopgap. For years many of us thought one of the Adolfo, Rutherford, Gonzalez, & Basabe group would grab ahold of the RF job and we may be a few months away from all them being out of the organization. Point is we can’t bank on non-blue chip prospects becoming everyday guys, even if you have multiple of them. Go get Conforto and worry about finding space for the prospects later if need be.

He’d be an interesting addition, but if we only have $25M or so to work with, he’d take up the bulk of our money.