Chicago White Sox

Was one of the best hitters in baseball against LHP for a five year period prior to last year and we just hired one of his previous hitting coaches to oversee our broader hitting. I would assume that they believe they can get him back to form and if not he’s a cheap holder until someone else warrants the spot. I do not like having and Taylor both on the roster though.

Varland was like our best reliever last year post trade deadline.

They’d have to cut someone from the 40 man right? Maybe they can find a slot there, but I can’t see them demoting Gilbert to start the season. The of them appear to be locks IMO.

Sure seems that way…although I expect Drury at 2B or DH instead of Taylor.

Final 26 man roster projection: Lineup: 1B: Vaughn 2B: Sosa SS: Meidroth 3B: Vargas LF: Benintendi* CF: Robert RF: Tauchman* DH: Drury CA: Lee Bench: BC: Thaiss* IF: Baldwin# OF: Slater OF: Taylor Rotation: Burke Martin Perez* Smith Cannon Bullpen: CL: Clevinger SU: Anderson SU: Varland MR: Ellard* MR: Booser* MR: Murfee MR: Gilbert* LR: Wilson

Not sure to be honest with you. But trading some young pitching (outside of the big 3) would make sense, but doubt we have a headliner outside of that group that would meet their needs unfortunately.

I would happily take Mayo off the Orioles’ hands.

I can’t wait until it happens…will change the franchise forever.

First 12 starts for Charlotte: 39.2 IP | 5.67 ERA | 12.3 K/9 | 6.8 BB/9 | 1.80 K/BB Last seven starts for Charlotte: 32.0 IP | 3.66 ERA | 13.8 K/9 | 3.09 BB/9 | 4.45 K/BB Four appearances with White Sox: 19.0 IP | 1.42 ERA | 10.4 K/9 | 3.3 BB/9 | 3.1 K/BB

I think the infield and catcher situations will be fine. On top of the guys who seem likely to make the OD roster, we should also see Montgomery, Ramos, Teel, & Quero at some point. The group might not be overly productive this year, but they should be an interesting follow at minimum. Which AAAA types do you anticipate making the roster?

Those are three of the best seven teams in football last year. The NFC North was easily the best division last year, so competing won’t be easy although I do hope the Lions & Vikings at minimum regress some. The biggest two things that will allow us to compete with them is Caleb taking a big year two leap and Johnson reinventing the offense. With the interior O-Line completely rebuilt and a quality RB all but certain to be added in the draft, I’m not sure what else is needed on the offensive side of the ball. A LT to compete against Braxton Jones would be great and possibly a 2nd TE, but this should be a top 10 offensive unit if all goes right next year. The biggest issue on the defense last year was the D-Line, both from a lack of a consistent pass rush and run stuffing issues after Billings went down. Billings should be back and that will help solve the latter issue. The Jarrett signing gives us a second 3T to pair with Dexter, which will improve the pass rush from the interior. And the Dayo signing should at minimum be an upgrade over Walker at EDGE from a pressure perspective. I’d argue more needs to be done in this area and the good news is the draft is very deep at both DT & EDGE. There should be quality talent available at 39 & 41if we don’t like who’s there at 1.10. But even without a true difference maker, the depth across the D-Line will be much improved and that should help protect Sweat some.

Did you see Burke in the majors last year?

Who else is pitching today?

Who are the second and third tier players you are referring?

Why would Smith make sense but not Burke?

I feel like Shane Smith is going to get the #5 spot.

Yup, this is very reminiscent of the Crochet call last year.

I don’t disagree with you…but spring training untimely is pretty meaningless. If you believe in Meidrtoh, it’s because of a full season of AAA at-bats and not a couple spring training ones.

So fucking true

Meidroth with a BB.

I’m not going to defend’s Poles’ track record because it deserves criticism. But if someone wants to insult this specific offseason, at least provide a roadmap of what they would have done differently. The interior O-Line was a mess and he added the top free agent Center, traded for one of the best OG’s in the game, and traded for another former Pro Bowl OG that has ties to our new HC. Compare that to giving a free agent like Aaron Banks 4/$77M…I’ll take this set of moves all day long. And all fit within Caleb’s rookie contract which is another plus. We can still to the interior O-Line in the draft, but won’t be forced to use a 2nd round pick on one now. The D-Line was also decking depth and needed reinforcements. He went out and signed a former Pro Bowl 3T to pair with Dexter and a young EDGE with the size and versatility that Allen covets. To me, the Jarrett move was a no brainer given the price point and leadership he brings to the table. Dayo is definitely more of a gamble and I could see an argument for doing something bigger at EDGE given our need for more pass rushers. Regardless, they offer the same plusses as above in terms of fitting into Caleb’s rookie contract and allowing us to not reach in the draft in order to fill the need. Outside of that, he’s added a blocking TE and a guy who can compete for the #3 WR role. I haven’t seen the terms of these deals, but the Zaccheaus signing is likely an astute one given the complete lack of depth at WR. He graded out very well last year per PFF and appears to be a good fit for Johnson’s offense given his blocking abilities. Complaining about his addition because of past misses not providing the depth we need is besides the point. Overall, I’d give Pace a 9/10 for offseason work so far. Again, outside of EDGE, I’m not sure there is anything different I would have done.

What would your offseason plan been instead?

Meidroth had a .437 OBP in AAA last year, they are basically assuming his BB rate drops from 18.8% to 13.7% and his batting average drops from .290 to .243 (due to both K rate increase and BABIP decrease). To be honest, those projections don’t seem all that crazy to me.