Chicago White Sox

We’ll have to agree to disagree here. The Kopech I watched during his last 10 starts at Charlotte was insanely dominant (2.35 FIP | 5.86 K/BB) and looked like he was going to be a legit ace. And in his brief stint with us he flashed what looked like to me a potentially plus changeup to go with his elite fastball & slider. That’s not a dig against Glasnow, I just think Kopech operating at 100% has a higher ceiling than just about anyone.

Al’s is clearly one of the other two people. And honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them is WSD.

Oh I totally agree. Jimmy is the one dude I 100% trust. That being said, James did verify that some of the info that Portillo’s posted a while ago was in indeed accurate and well before said info became public. That doesn’t mean Portillo’s is still accurate, but he clearly had info at some point whether first hand or second hand.

Vold Emor is basically another Schins as he blatantly got caught stealing Portillo’s info and got called out for it.

Some dude who pretends to be a White Sox insider on Twitter and who possibly created all these fake pizza accounts.

If they did, it’s a bad look that Hahn turned around and had Stone leak that so blatantly.

Portillo’s has at least gotten stuff right and is worth keeping a close eye on because at some point he had access to legit info. These other accounts are just losers trying to capitalize off the attention of a different Twitter user.

That Schins guy is truly pathetic.

Bait for what?

I’d be shocked if they add both Realmuto and Springer and I think they prioritize the former. Honestly, I’d be shocked if we don’t end up with Springer and hopefully within the next ~32 hours.

I definitely think the Reds would be looking for major league pieces. IMO, they only trade Gray if they get a ready to go but somewhat unproven pitcher along with something else that fills a major league need (RP or SS).

Trading for both Lynn + Gallo is going to require a top prospect(s), there is no way around that.

That doesn’t mean the Rays would view him as a “tolerable third piece”. Every major publication views him as a top 30 prospect and most have always penalized him for lost. You keep trying to develop a narrative that simply isn’t true.

You are nuts bro.

Bummer extension and Kelley’s signing bonus.

Supposed to be a 6 to 8 recovery time, which means he likely misses opening but should be ready sometime before the all-star break assuming no setbacks.

No way they add another starter at this point. Right now they are rocking Fried, Anderson, Soroka, Morton, & Smyly, with Wright, Touki, and others already behind them.

To be honest, that seems like an absolute steal for one year of Morton who is arguably the 2nd best starter on the market in terms of projected 2021 impact.

Whoops, don’t dropped the ball on him. I’ll add him to the list as he should be included.

Probably doubtful, but perhaps they think Nick can handle SS? Personally, I think a package built around Cease & Heuer (plus a decent 3rd piece) would be of more interest to them. It would very much be a Rays like trade, moving an asset at peak value for multiple pieces that can help you wi now and one in particular (Cease) that’s a bit undervalued. Obviously depends on how the Reds view Cease, but given their progressive views on pitching, I could then chomping at the bit to get an arm as talented as Cease who they may feel was poorly handled by Don Cooper and a few mechanical tweaks from breaking through.

?

So right now if you believe Portillo’s and other various rumors, the cost controlled pitchers that seem to be available are: German Marquez | RHP | 26 | 3 yrs + TO | $12.4M AAV | ‘21 ZIPS = 4.4 fWAR Blake Snell | LHP | 28 | 2 yrs + TO | $13.0M AAV | ‘21 ZIPS = 3.3 fWAR Sonny Gray | RHP | 31 | 2 yrs + TO | $10.7M AAV | ‘21 ZIPS = 3.0 fWAR Yu Darvish | RHP | 34 | 3 yrs | $19.7M AAV | ‘21 ZIPS = 3.1 fWAR Joe Musgrove | RHP | 28 | 2 yrs | TBD - Arb | ‘21 ZIPS = 2.9 fWAR Lance Lynn | RHP | 33 | 1 yr | $8.0M AAV | ‘21 ZIPS = 3.0 fWAR In terms of potential acquisition cost, that’s exactly how I’d rank them from most to least expensive. Ignoring those ZIPS projections (which I think are incredibly conservative for everyone but German), I do think Marquez is a tier above the others when it comes to cost due to the fact he’s the youngest pitcher on the list, he’s coming off a very strong 2020 season / could be viewed as an ascending talent, and has an extra year of team control. I also would expect a big value gap between Snell & Gray vs. Darvish due to both age (due to regression / injury risk) and the big difference in contracts. If I were our GM, I’d throw some lines in the Marquez, Snell, & Gray waters, but ultimately I’d be focusing my efforts on Darvish or Lynn due to potential cost. I really struggle with a Darvish valuation because it’s so uncertain what kind of pitcher you are getting. If you’re getting the 2020 version, his contract is an absolute steal and he’s easily the best of the six pitchers available. But if you look at that ZIPS projection, it’s very possible most clubs think last year was an outlier based on their own projection systems even if they are a bit more bullish on him than a 3.1 win forecast. I don’t know what his price would be, but I don’t see him netting a true blue chipper like Vaughn or Kopech and that’s what we should be trying to avoid at this stage of the rebuild. The same applies to Lynn, although I think his cost would be even less given teams generally don’t like overpaying for older pitchers on one year deals even if theoretical surplus value shakes out to be about even. Regardless, I’m looking for a quantity of quality package and trying to hold onto my high-end prospects if at all possible.

Per MLBpipeline, Vaughn is the 13th ranked prospect and Kopech is the 18th. Almost every prospect ranked higher than them are with rebuilding teams or likely off limits. Now, just for transparency, Baseball America has them ranked 26th & 29th while Fangraphs has them ranked 17th & 26th respectively. This would add a few more names to the mix of comparable prospects, but I don’t think it changes the story much. 60 FV prospects are scarce to begin with and in this economic environment major league ready ones are going to be really tough to come by. I just don’t see who all these guys are the the Rays would be able to land.

In this market, there is zero excuse for not bringing in a quality reliever in on a short-term deal.