Chicago White Sox

We’re talking about 32 total games. This idea that Nick is suddenly a poor defender or base-runner is laughable. He made a handful of errors in a small sample size that drastically brought his fWAR down. It’s not crazy to think that some of these miscues were driven by nerves and trying to do too much. I’m not optimistic that power will ever come, but I’m confident that his fielding & base-running will be above average. People really need to stop drawing conclusions about a player based on their first handful of games.

I agree he was a low ceiling pick, just not sure how they would have been surprised be his speed or defense. Regardless, is it safe to say that Reinsdorf has a no HS policy in the 1st round or at least blocked Kelenic for some reason?

Did they not scout the guy? How could they think they were getting a different guy? This isn’t some obscure high-schooler a scout sees play once, they should of had a pretty good idea of what they were getting.

And worst of all the Tigers now have Fetter working with their collection of promising young arms.

That’s immensely disappointing but not surprising at all. The fact La Russa is preventing us from getting a young & upcoming pitching coach really sucks. Fuck Reinsdorf.

Not Steve Cishek is almost certainly a poster here and one who gets information second-hand.

That’s what I like to hear.

Zero, but Not Steve Cishek likes to pretend he does

That would be horrific. Why are we emptying the farm for two guys under control for one and two years respectively?

Tried to trade him or were willing to move him for an impact piece? Huge difference there.

Yup, that’s the big wild card.

Seems to make a ton of sense if you’re unwilling to pony up for Springer.

It was also a total outlier season with the bat for him. He’d be better than Mazara, I’d still rather roll the dice on Pederson if we’re playing in this price range.

I don’t follow. The free agents we signed last offseason combined for like $60M in salary for the 2020 season alone.

There is nothing new in that article.

Why not a Pederson? He probably won’t get more than like 1/$10M if that.

Won’t he just care about the money?

Was Stone suggesting anything with this tweet?

I’m sure they’re actively forming a staff. You got to remember that La Russa has been out of the game for a decade and that many of his former connections are on the older side of things. It will probably take him a bit longer than others to fill his staff, especially if Hahn & KW have some say in certain spots like pitching coach.

He was also the first free agent to sign and signed with a team most expected to be amongst the most aggressive in free agency. I think what we’re seeing is the high end of what players in this tier will be getting this offseason.

You think it’s a lot? Feels about right to me in this market, I’m just more surprised he agreed to the deal so quickly. For reference, MLBtraderumors ranked him as the 37th best free agent and projected him for a 1/$6M deal. Fangraphs had him ranked 46th overall with Craig Edwards actually predicting this actual contract, but their median crowdsourcing predicting 2/$17M. Realistically, the big takeaway here is there will be a ton of C tier starters that should be available on affordable one-year deals this offseason. I think guys like Quintana, Minor, Kluber, Richards, Happ, Wainwright, Archer, & Smyly will all be available in the 1/$5M to 1/$12M range, so tons of flexibility depending on what else you do to improve the roster. If the goal is to add two starters this offseason, we would be able to get a decent second one on the cheap if we just wait things out a bit.

Anyone got any coaching predictions? Here’s my best guesses at the moment, most of which are mostly complete dart throws: Bench Coach: Joe Pettini Pitching Coach: Matt Hobbs Bullpen Coach: Curt Hasler Hitting Coach: Frank Menechino Ast. Hitting Coach: Lenny Harris 1st Base Coach: Joe McEwing 3rd Base Coach: Jose Oquendo

And that’s the problem. Honestly, I pray they will go out and be aggressive with Bauer. He’s a douche no doubt, but he’s about the best we could ever do in free agency when it comes to a starting pitcher and it’s possible this market keeps his price down. If his price ends up being around 5/$150M we should be all over that and keep our young talent.

The only way you trade Vaughn if it’s for a young cost controlled starter with TOR ability and even then I’d hate to move him. He’s the future at 1B and adds much needed cost certainty in the coming years as the payroll continues to rise.

I think only the legit A free agents are going to be willing to hold out for the right deal. I think most of the B & C tier guys will be looking to grab whatever money they can as quickly as possible as we saw with Robbie Ray. This offseason is going to be like musical chairs and at some point the money is going to run out and you don’t want to be the last guy without a deal when it does.