Chicago White Sox

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.

Including Scott Coolbaugh as their hitting coach. Looks like we suddenly have another opening on La Russa’s staff.

While he has his flaws, I think the fact Ray agreed to this deal this fast shows just team friendly this free agent period is going to be.

You thinking Katz is a legit possibility?

Yeah, let’s applaud them for not telling their customers to be upset about a questionable hiring!

Keep em counting!!

Ok if payroll is no constraint, let’s just sign Bauer, Stroman, Hendricks, Springer, LeMahieu, & Cruz. See how easy it was to make us a contender!

Congrats to America and fuck Trump!!

Lol...of course you would love a completely unrealistic & logic lacking proposal since involves getting rid Nick Madrigal and overpaying for one year of Conforto.

You just added ~$65M in payroll cost to one of the best lineups in baseball while trading three cost control assets and a top 100 prospect without addressing any of our pitching issues. Plus Conforto is a free agent after the 2021 season and will be even more expensive. Unless we’re suddenly the Yankees, this is one of the most unrealistic offseason proposals I have seen in some time.

That would be a horrible use of resources IMO. A big part of Grandal’s value is the ability to play frequently. If you don’t like Collins at the backup, go get cheap defensive-minded veteran. That should come fairly cheap in this marketplace.

Why is a good second catcher necessary with Grandal? That logic I don’t really get since he should be able to start a ton of games which makes the backup catcher spot less of a concern than normal.

Even if it means you can’t upgrade RF?