Chicago White Sox

I don’t think we sign Schwarber, but if we’re willing to push back Vaughn’s start date with us to 2022 (assuming everyone is both healthy & producing) I think he’d be highly interested in signing with us. And the cost would probably be like $7M on a one year deal.

I agree and it wouldn’t even break the bank.

If the Sox sign Hendriks, Richards, & Schwarber are they the favorites to be AL champions next year?

You’re reading it wrong, percentages are to the right of the pitch type.

When every pitcher abandons their curve when it’s their best secondary coming up through the minors, it’s pretty easy to blame on Cooper.

Hopefully the first order of business for Katz is letting every arm that abandoned their curveball under Cooper bring it back.

I think Quintana gets a two year deal from someone and it won’t be us.

I still think it means he feels the move or moves would be of some substance or his answer would have simply been no.

I’m not going to panic over how Stiever looked in a pandemic ridden season, but I do agree he needs to show more next year. Extending Giolito needs to be one of our priorities, but my guess is if it happens it’s during spring training. I think a Lynn extension is more likely to happen this winter.

Yeah Richards wouldn’t be much of a splash, but he’d be a perfect #4 starter for us. Just can’t see us doing another big trade now that RF is filled. Plus I really think they want to extend Lynn, so I can’t see us adding another starter to a multi-year commitment. They’ll want to have two openings in the 2022 rotation for Kopech, Cease, Crochet, & Stiever.

Hendriks + Richards would be my guess

Some of these Tweets literally feel like they come minutes after a related SoxTalk post.

Sorry, meant nine figure commitment (i.e. $100M+).

The bunts were also brutal...dude loved the small ball

Nevermind, there it is...lol

Interesting...what happened there?

Rutherford and Sheets. Maybe Steele Walker too, can’t recall if he was on that team.

Maybe not the thread for this, but looking at future payroll commitments I can see why the Sox went cheap in RF and would be reluctant to trade any of their blue chip prospects in more “win now” moves. We’re going to need guys on pre-arb deals to offset the rising costs of our locked up core and my guess is they’re targeting RF to be one of those spots. Based on what we’ve heard / know, I think they will prioritize the following moves over the remainder of the offseason: Hendriks - 3/$39M Giolito extension - 5/$75M (if 5th year team option is exercised) Lynn extension - 2/$40M (covering the 2022 & 2023 seasons) Best available starter at $10M or less willing to take a one year deal (Quintana, Richards, Archer, etc) Left-handed bat on the cheap later the off-season (LaStella, Gonzalez, Miller, etc.) Oscar Colas - remaining international bonus pool With these moves, you’re looking at ~$150M in payroll commitments in 2022 and that’s assuming pre-arb guys in RF, the #5 spot in the rotation, and in the UT role. I think it’s likely they can go higher than that figure in 2022, but it will be hard to add a ton of long-term deals if you want to build in breathing room for escalating salaries. You’re likely looking at another stop-gap in RF if none of Adolfo, Rutherford, or Gonzalez don’t step up or if Colas doesn’t move faster than expected. Any remaining funds would go towards strengthening the bench and bullpen on short-term deals as needed. Circling back to Hendriks, I think adding him on a three year contract makes all the sense in the world if we’re unwilling to commit big dollars to a RF upgrade. Realistically, if you can extend Lynn and believe in Kopech, Cease, & Crochet, there simply won’t be that many holes that would require a sizable investment. Sign Hendriks, move every other guy down a spot, and create a bullpen that can be weapon come October. That’s where I think the front office is heading and I’m fully aligned with that strategy if Jerry won’t pony up for any A tier free agents that will require a ten figure commitment.

Good point...hadn’t thought of that

This desire to blow all our chips the first year of contention window is inanity to me.

I like LaStella, but would argue that Marwin Gonzalez might be a better fit for the roster if we plan on calling up Vaughn after a few weeks.

Madrigal may not have power, but he’ll still be an above league average hitter with his contact ability IMO. I think the real concern is the high likelihood of the corner OFs and Moncada missing extended periods of time. We definitely need a LH bat that could fill into some of those spots if need be.

Due to injury?

If the rotation plan is to extend Giolito & Lynn and hope that two out of Kopech, Cease, Crochet, & Stiever hit, why not splurge on an elite closer? And realistically, we have a great young / cheap relief core for the next handful of years, so I’m not sure value shopping for two lesser relievers is better than just getting the best 9th inning guy possible.

I think it was the fact he prioritized winning over the development of our minor leaguers that cost him his job. He literally platooned left-handed hitters that needed to be exposed to LHP if they ever wanted a chance of improving. Obviously that’s just me guessing though.