Chicago White Sox

Resigning McCann means there will be another hole on the roster that can’t be filled with a quality player. Unless we are going to rock a $180M payroll or McCann will take a backup caliber salary it’s a ooor use of resources.

Alright I feel like I’m having a little bit of Machado deja vu here, but who are the serious contenders for Bauer? AL Central: Outside of us, none of the other teams can probably afford him or would even want to sign him right now. The Twins would theoretically make some sense, but it sounds like their payroll is starting to balloon as is. Doubt they can fit a $35M salary into their budget for 2021. AL East: Maybe the Red Sox? They reset their luxury tax and will need to spend if they want to be competitive anytime soon. I really don’t see the Yankees adding another $200M+ pitching contract, especially for a guy that Cole doesn’t like. And while I expect the Blue Jays to add more pitching, they’re probably looking at a tier below Bauer. AL West: The Angels could be a threat for obvious reasons. None of the other teams seem like real options. NL Central: The Reds can’t afford him and none of the other teams make sense based on needs or financial resources available. NL East: The Mets may have the financial means to add Bauer now that they’re owned by Cohen, which makes them a legit threat. Not sure about the Braves, but he’d make a ton of sense there. From what I can tell, the Phillies won’t be adding a $35M contract this offseason. Not worried about the Nationals or Marlins. NL West: The Dodgers can theoretically afford anyone, but signing Bauer to a massive long-term deal sort of goes against Friedman’s management style. I doubt any of the other teams would be interested in him right now or could afford him. So basically there are four or five teams that seem like they could be serious contenders for Bauer in Boston, Anaheim, the Mets, Atlanta, and possibly the Dodgers. I will never get my hopes up on the Sox signing a starting pitcher to a 6+ year deal, but I am starting to think the market won’t be as robust for Bauer’s services as it normally would be for the top starter on the market. COVID-19 is the ultimate wild card and the Sox really should take advantage of this unique situation if Bauer’s price gets pushed down closer to $200M than the $245M Strasberg got last offseason.

Random article that lists us as one of the top five destinations for Bauer. Obviously this means nothing, but it’s better than arguing against a delusional Mazara fanboy. https://www.radio.com/sports/mlb/gallery/trevor-bauers-top-5-potential-landing-spots-in-free-agency#chicago-white-sox-ckgmga8570061u4pc0d1ngpfm

Meatball status confirmed - I think we can all move on here and refocus our thoughts on Bauer again.

And if they were, who in the word actually thinks a .265 BA with 20 HRs to be that good?

sin city is a blatant troll who for some reason is able to continually troll on a regular basis with no repercussions.

If Quintana is our big rotation upgrade then I think we’re in big trouble next year and I say that even if that means we get Springer. I do like the McHugh idea depending on what else we do, but not sure the front office would sign him after he called them out for service time manipulation. Also, there is zero chance they are moving Grandal in some crazy attempt to bring back McCann. I’m generally curious why you think this, although I’m guessing it’s due to Stone’s comments on Twitter.

They are 100% giving a spot to Dane Dunning next year and I think we should all have pretty high confidence in him being a solid back of the rotation starter at minimum. And at some point, Kopech should force his way into the mix, which means we’ll be developing two young starters next year. Therefore, the key is getting best starting pitcher possible to plug into one of the #1 to #3 spots. If we want to add another back-end guy that’s fine, but there is no way the Sox plan to only develop one young guy next year.

If we add Springer, I think our pitching upgrades are going to leave a lot to be desired. Would you be ok with that?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/mlb-sources-could-land-free-130019190.html This article speculates he gets something similar to Strasburg’s 7/$245M deal ($35M AAV). I think that might be a year too rich given his personality and the current economic environment. But if he was willing to take a 6/$210M deal I would be all over that. It would greatly limit what else we could do, but he’d basically be the finishing piece to the rebuild.

What’s your hope for RF fathom?

Well said!

Nomar Mazara from 2016 to 2019 is a slightly above replacement level player. 20 HRs with poor OBP and below average defense is simply not that valuable for a RF. And I have no idea why you think he’d start for 2/3 of teams based on those completely ordinary numbers. If he was as good as you make him out to be he would have gone for a lot more than Steele Walker.

And yet he posted a 94 wRC+ which means he was a below average hitter. I don’t know what to tell you other than Mazara has never been good.

Probably, but my point is even with 20 HRs he has been a below average hitter in his career so who cares?

Why are you evaluating a guy on one metric and ignoring every other data point? Also, the Rangers’ stadium was a pretty favorable hitters parks which obviously aided those numbers.

I think I want to punch Nick Swisher in the face

Of course his illness was the reason for his dreadful season, but he was never good before then and there is no absolutely reason to give him another look when he’s in his last season of team control. And RF is mostly definite a critical need, even if we ultimately accept a lesser option there in order to prioritize pitching.

If Bauer only gets 5/$150M we should be all over him.

Options are only burned when sent to the minors while on the 40 man, so we haven’t burnt any of Crochet’s options yet and wouldn’t burn one next year under the hypothetical situation. And let me be clear, I’m suggesting that I would or wouldn’t use Crochet as a reliever, just saying I think that’s ultimately what Hahn does based entirely on his comments so far. I do want him as a starter long term, but can see why they may be concerned with ramping up his innings too quickly, but candidly I’m no expert in this area. As for our starting pitching depth, I think Hahn ultimately adds two starters and goes with Dane in the 5th spot. That means Kopech, Cease, & Stiever all start the season at Charlotte (which is I think is the right approach for Dylan who has so much untapped potential but needs to figure out how to throw strikes and get more movement on his fastball). From my perspective, that’s plenty of rotation depth that it would allow you to leverage Crochet in the bullpen for a year. But ultimately I want to do what’s best for Garrett’s development as a starter more than anything. Regarding the guaranteed contracts piece, I was assuming you meant free agents. If you meant depth pieces that don’t require 25 man spots then I’m in full agreement. We can always use a few wild card arms in Charlotte that can help out in the event of injuries.

It will be really interesting to see how this all shakes out as the last one to sign could get squeezed pretty badly or forced to wait until the next period which obviously isn’t ideal of them. Thanks for the information as always.

Any sense of how many teams have slot room for a $1M+ addition at this point? I know no one has technically, but I’d assume most money is more or less accounted for.

If I were GM and had ownership’s backing I’d go all out for Bauer. Unfortunately I really don’t see Jerry agreeing to a contract with a pitcher for much more than we offered Wheeler, which means we probably don’t have a shot. All of Trevor’s tough talk of going year to year is the only thing that thing that made us seem like a possibility and it appears he’s willing to be shot in the nuts with a paintball gun in exchange for a major payday. I think we’ll have to look at other solutions to address our starting pitching needs.

They didn’t their 2nd round pick for him expecting to be the same replacement level guy he had been with the Rangers. They thought they were getting a guy with untapped potential. That didn’t materialize last season, Mazara is now in the last year of team control, and the team is ready to win. The time to take a chance on a project like Nomar was last year or honestly two seasons ago. There really is no logic in bringing him back as things stand.

No way Hahn takes the risk. Two years in a row he got worst in league performance out of RF. He isn’t going to risk a third straight by running with the same guy.