Chicago White Sox

Lol...I did love Portillo’s fully numbered list of pitching priorities, what a source he must have!

Oh fuck yes. If I know one thing about Jerry, he has no problem paying market for a DH!

I don’t know, the White Sox version of Eaton would be fantastic, but the constant injuries and declining defense make him another question mark IMO.

I won’t defend the La Russa hiring, but I disagree on the other items. If the Sox ranked Cease, Kopech, & Crochet over Dunning, then trading a WIP starter in Dane for a durable, ready to go #2 starter in Lynn is defensible. Adding Eaton was highly questionable, but with the addition of Cespedes and also having guys like Gonzalez, Rutherford, & Adolfo in the upper minors, the Sox may have only wanted a one-year stop-gap for RF. As for Cruz, giving Vaughn some minor league development time is probably the right thing to do if you’re argument is sustained success. And we just signed the best closer in baseball for the next four years who I’d argue fits the definition as much as reliever can.

I think we have to accept the fact they don’t want to sign Tanaka or Odorizzi to a multi-year deal, so our SP options are more limited and shouldn’t be overly costly. If Jerry is willing to spend another $20M (putting the payroll just over $140M) we should be able to get Cruz plus a mid tier starter. That would be a very nice offseason, even if the RF upgrade is a bit questionable.

To be honest, if I’m Pace, I take the best available tackle in the 1st and target a developmental QB in the 2nd or 3rd. I’d also be trying to blow things and improve both my chances for a high draft pick in 2022 (in hopes of landing a high-end QB prospect) and my near-term cap situation.

Also, despite being 40, Zips projects him to be the 12th better hitter next year in all of baseball and better than everyone on the Sox. If we want to go toe to toe with the Yankees next year, we could definitely use this type of bat. You can simply never have too much offense, especially when you’re trying to develop young pitchers.

Some people are saying Nelson Cruz would be a waste, but coming into the offseason we had five major holes to fill IMO: SP2: Lance Lynn - quality addition regardless if you like the price SP4: TBD - need a bridge guy who can offer innings and/or upside CL: Liam Hendriks - best possible addition for the spot RF: Adam Eaton - underwhelming addition but LH bat with contact / OBP DH: Nelson Cruz? - best possible addition for the spot I get Vaughn could fill the DH spot for less, which would allow us to add a more impactful #4 starter, but there really aren’t any of those guys after Tanaka and who knows if he’d even take a one year deal. Short of a Burnes trade where you’re potentially adding an elite starter, sign the game-changing bat in Cruz and go with a Richards, Wainwright, or Archer in that #4 spot. Cruz should be significantly better than Vaughn next year and it allows Andrew a year of development, which maybe isn’t needed but can’t hurt. We just need to survive to the trade deadline and between the mid tier guys I mentioned above, Kopech, Stiever, & Lopez we should have enough depth to weather the storm. If a more impactful starter is needed at that time, our prospect cupboard should be fully stocked and we can make another move. Having an elite offense & bullpen will help get us there though.

And hopefully Stearns loves Baseball Prospectus ?

Baseball Prospectus apparently has Madrigal ranked as the #12 overall prospect. The last time they overhyped a White Sox prospect they we’re moved in a major trade ? Also, since I I haven’t seen it posted elsewhere, Vaughn was ranked #14, Crochet #36, & Kopech #37. Nice to see Garrett getting a ranking he deserves.

Good catch on that

Oh gotcha, yeah no way that’s happening. I think we settle in around $140M give take one or two.

I fully agree, I’d take Tanaka on a 1/$15M deal over Cruz, but after him everyone has question marks to some extent. Also, I think we could add Cruz & Richards for roughly $20M and based on my numbers that would push us just above a $140M payroll. That doesn’t seem totally outlandish to me.

I fully agree that we can’t add Cruz and then not add a starter, but I’d wager the addition of Cruz reflects growing optimism about revenues next year more than anything. The Sox will definitely add another starter, the only question is what tier will they pursue.

And right or wrong, they are likely committed to developing Cease & Kopech and may not want a massive salary blocking them. If that’s the case, adding a cheaper mid tier starter like Richards, Wainwright, or even Archer may make more sense so they can support their young pitching by making a great offense and great bullpen into elite ones. You can then reevaluate your need for another starter at the deadline with a full roster mostly in place and your entire prospect war chest intact.

No I don’t, but I’d probably take Cruz + Richards over Paxton + La Stella and you can probably get either pair for around $20M. Cruz is just such a special hitter and one that can carry an offense in the post-season.

Why not both though? Unless you think we can get Tanaka on a 1/$15M, I’m not sure there is a starter that warrants Cruz money on a one year deal. I guess Paxton would fall into that bucket too, but I think the generally uncertainty with him makes a Cruz signing more defensible. Which three DH prospects are you referring to? Vaughn, Collins, & Mercedes? I think Collins is the favorite to win the backup catcher spot even if they bring another catcher on a minor league deal, so he wouldn’t be going to waste. I think giving Vaughn a year of development time is defensible if you’re adding a Cruz caliber DH. And while Mercedes would be fun to see get a shot, the organization doesn’t seem overly eager to. I’m not going to complain about Cruz on a one year deal and in fact I’d be pumped.

He had me at Cruz

Who the fuck is this Leo character?

Bucket - Give us something here! This Cruz stuff have legs in your opinion?

So now that the GOAT insider is reporting this, what do we do think possible terms will be? $14M seems about right to me in this market.

Exactly

I also don’t get how we was wrong about any of the Machado stuff. He legit reported the exact offer.

Would definitely be an old school KW slealth mode special

This is probably true but I’ll hold out hope Jerry will do the right thing if it’s only a few more million