Chicago White Sox

First off, when did I say I was only referring to certain deals? I said I wasn’t referring to the trade deadline specifically when I said I think the pro scouting has improved. With a very tight budget the Sox were able to add two All-Stars and bring back a third one this past offseason. Their offseason wasn’t perfect, but it was probably the best one since god knows when. 2006 maybe? Second, I’ve never even said our pro scouting staff is good. Being better than one of the worst pro scouting functions in all of baseball doesn’t mean you’re good. My point was the pro scouting staff has gone through a major shakeup since the Tatis dark days and to stop penalizing the current group for the past group’s misdoings. That being said, you’re using the Kimbrel trade as proof of our pro scouting group failing despite arguably the two best pro scouting departments in baseball (Rays & Dodgers) wanting him. So yeah, unless you made these predictions at the time of acquisition, I’m going to call you out for using hindsight to rip our organization.

Sure, it’s fine to expect some regression, but no one expected a near 5 ERA. Some of the best organizations in baseball were competing for him in the Dodgers & Rays. I don’t hear Balta ripping on them though. There is plenty to rip Rick Hahn for, including the price he paid for Kimbrel, but using his disastrous time with us as a pro scouting failure isn’t one of them IMO.

Taylor getting a QO hurts as I can’t see him not accepting it.

Updated list: Confirmed players being extended a QO: Nick Castellanos, Reds Michael Conforto, Mets Freddie Freeman, Braves Robbie Ray, Blue Jays Corey Seager, Dodgers Marcus Semien, Blue Jays Trevor Story, Rockies Noah Syndergaard, Mets Carlos Correa, Astros Chris Taylor, Dodgers Other players that could receive one: Jon Gray, Rockies Carlos Rodón, White Sox Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox Justin Verlander, Tigers

I wasn’t referring to the deadline deals specifically (adding two All-Stars in the offseason is a nice step up from what we’ve historically gotten), but funny you don’t bring up the Tepera trade at all. Again, apparently you knew a guy with a 0.50 ERA was going to suddenly flop. If only we could replace Hahn with you we probably win the last two World Series.

Whoops, I’m traveling through Indiana right now and didn’t realize I wasn’t on Central time. Looks like we got another hour to go.

What is called asset allocation?

I have a feeling half the board is going to riot in 15 minutes.

30 minutes to the deadline and not a word on Rodon yet…

I kind of read it the same way, but Hahn speaks lawyer so hard to be too certain about anything he says.

Yes, the idea is you can’t turn around and trade a guy who accepts the QO right away. The power shifts to player, at least until mid-season.

Confirmed players being extended a QO: Nick Castellanos, Reds Michael Conforto, Mets Freddie Freeman, Braves Robbie Ray, Blue Jays Corey Seager, Dodgers Marcus Semien, Blue Jays Trevor Story, Rockies Noah Syndergaard, Mets Other players that could receive one: Carlos Correa, Astros (will 100% get one) Jon Gray, Rockies Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Carlos Rodón, White Sox Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox Chris Taylor, Dodgers Justin Verlander, Tigers Less than three hours to go! The longer this drags, the less convinced they will QO Rodon.

If Rodon accepts the QO, the Sox can’t trade Rodon until June unless he agrees to a trade.

Can’t trade Rodon until June if he accepts the QO without his consent.

If they don’t offer Rodon a QO, it’s because they’re rather spend that $18.4M on a better and/or safer pitcher. And the Sox aren’t going to keep “Kimbrall” and there is absolutely no connect between him and Rodon.

They have greatly overhauled their pro scouting department and I think that shows with their most recent moves. At some point you have to move past the Fernando Tatis, which probably reflects a low point for the organization. And yeah, a lot contending teams have young talent and so do the Sox, so not sure what your point is there. The Dodgers traded two of their best prospects to add two veterans at the deadline because that’s what good teams do at the deadline.

100% agree. If we trade him for a bad contract, it’s an incredibly stupid move. I still think we should be able to get an interesting, less proven reliever for him or a couple of C caliber prospects.

Fully agree with you here. I just get frustrated that people simply look at his two months with the Sox and act like he’s the worst reliever of all time. When the guy is going right, Kimbrel is as good as anyone in the game.

Spot on. Other fans will look at his season in aggregate and say “I can get a reliever who put up the 5th most fWAR in all of baseball for a song”. I bet Phillies’ fans would be ecstatic to give up someone like Seranthony Dominguez for one year of Kimbrel at $16M. These fans aren’t going to overreact his 22 inning bad stretch with the Sox.

1) Why is he likely to decline the offer? Gausman & Stroman accepted their QO’s last year. 2) When have the Sox ever had a +$170M payroll? We’re entering unprecedented waters here. Regardless, maybe Scherzer is too ambitious (although the likely short-term nature of a potential contract would be attractive to Jerry), but a different pitcher in the $20M to $25M AAV range. Plenty of guys like that in this class and we did sign off on a 5/$125M offer to Wheeler. 3) This just completely ignores the concept of a budget. And optioning Cease is one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard of. A pitcher’s arm only has so many bullets and you should be using them at the major league level once those pitches are value add. The reality is if Rodon is here, there won’t be another significant starter added. And that’s the truth whether we keep include Keuchel or not.

Why?

How so? I literally just showed he had a 51.2 inning stretch of elite performance across the 2020 & 2021 seasons. That’s 54% of his total innings in that time. Ignore his two month period with us and 70% of his time with the Cubs was elite. People are overreacting to 20 shit innings in 2019 (when he didn’t have a spring training) and one bad inning in 2020. Soxtalk’s narrative on Kimbrel is completely off base.

Honestly, the OF market isn’t that deep and given he’s left-handed, there should be plenty of suitors. He’ll lose a little bit on the AAV side of things due to the draft pick attached to him, but I’d be shocked if he takes the QO.

Is it the obvious right decision if you’d rather have someone like Scherzer in the rotation?

James Fegan, the smartest beat writer in my lifetime, seems to think Kimbrel has some value on a 1/$16M deal. ?