Chicago White Sox

Outside of bullpen additions, I think the plan next offseason will be to add a legit RF in the event Mazara doesn’t make major progress next year and trade for a stud SP if Cease or Kopech doesn’t show clears signs toward TOR development.

I was pushing for Ryu, but in hindsight I do agree. I’m not the biggest Keuchel fan in the world, but we desperately needed a reliable veteran starter that can eat innings and stabilize a young rotation. He does just that with a much different look than our young arms. His elite pitchability gives me hope he can remain productive over the life of the contract. If not, the size of the contract won’t be a huge burden to overcome. The challenge now is building a top of a rotation that can go to war in the playoffs. Giolito has already taken that next step, but this moves puts a ton of pressure on Kopech & Cease to both ascend to #2 / #3 levels. I believe in both guys, but you just never know with young pitching. That being said, a year from now we may have the chips to add a stud starting pitcher via trade that we don’t have at the moment (2020 1st rounder plus ascending value for guys like Dunning, Stiever, Dalquist, & Thompson). Hopefully it doesn’t come to that but we should have options.

Makes too much sense.

Dietrich is an absolute butcher in the OF though. Holt seems like a way better fit than him. Gennett would be interesting obviously if he returned to form.

This is absolutely ridiculous. I’m not even suggesting you don’t have a point, but the way you have framed this is absolutely disingenuous. You’ve ignored that fact that Cole’s contract 2.5x of that Grandal & Keuchel and all the long-term risk that comes with it. And let’s be honest, Grandal’s four year deal did not prevent us from signing Cole. Right or wrong, it’s paying him $36M/season in years 5 through 8 that scared us off from even pursuing him. Also, suggesting Grandal wasn’t a slam dunk signing is one of the most bizarre takes I have ever seen from someone who is incredibly stats oriented. You feel adding one of the best catchers in baseball history is bad because of Zach fucking Collins? With a future core of Moncada, Anderson, Madrigal, Vaughn, Jimenez, & Robert that left three total spots to add to in RF, DH, & C. Passing on Grandal because of Collins and one year of McCann would have been the definition of insanity. He was a perfect addition for an organization in desperate need of OBP, left-handing hitting, & framing.

Yup, I think Merkin has floated similar predictions.

We need depth and a guy who can start at 2B for 4 to 5 weeks. Are you willing to bank on Mendick in the starting lineup for a sizable stretch? If not, we should be adding a guy who can start 2B until Nick is ready and then move to a reserve role.

I actually think Mendick will be on the OD roster, he’ll just get sent down once they promote Madrigal.

Yolmer’s “consistent” bat?

I’m excited about this move, but would definitely take Wheeler at 5/$125M over this deal.

?...reliever, middle infielder, and DH are still possibilities. Give me McHugh / Harris, Holt, & Encarnacion and I’ll be a happy camper.

Even if he sucks come 2022?

Makes no sense. After ripping Fegan for putting Yoan on the HOF ballot and this shit, I think it’s finally time to put Old Yeller down once and for all.

Not really, they can easily skip starts and get him under 160 innings (25 x 6 = 150) if need be.

Lopez or Gonzalez. All depends on how Reynaldo is doing come late May.

Get McHugh for the bullpen and he can be the emergency 7th starter if needed.

Fucking awesome (terms dependent)!!

Lol...that was hilarious. Like I said in a previous post, it was an entertaining film but my god was it stupid.

Also, I hate they used Lando. Outside of one semi-important conversation, he literally just sits in a cockpit and chuckles a few times. What a total waste.

And don’t forget finally a General! Apparently it doesn’t take much to achieve the highest military rank in the Resistance!

The Sox start a series against the Twins on 5/21 and another 5/29. I think they call up Kopech sometime in that range. No idea what they do with Robert. Got to give him at least a week or two down there. Hopefully they can find a way to extend him. Same applies to Madrigal, although they may be less eager to lock him given his less traditional skillset.

Does anyone know how long Kopech has to stay down next year to earn us an extra year of control? I show he’s got 41 days of service time and believe that 172 days count as a year. With the season being 187 days long and starting for us on 3/26, I believe he’d have to be with Charlotte through 5/20. Does that sound right? Also, what’s nice is Charlotte’s season does not start until 4/9 and they only play about 39 games through 5/20. So if you want to assume Kopech gets eight starts down there at 4 innings per (32 innings), he could still make 22 starts for the Sox at 5 innings each (110). Or more likely, by skipping him once a month he could make 18 starts at 6 innings each (108) and be right at a 140 innings limit. IMO, that former scenario should be the plan. Losing out on 32 rusty Kopech innings will not be the end of the world for us world with Gio as a more than competent place holder. It also allows him pitch the rest of the way once called up and without having to tax the bullpen by committing to any overly short starts. Now just go get Ryu or Keuchel so this plan is actually possible.

That’s probably true, I’m off work the rest of the year so days are all the same to me for now.

Agreed. I’m all for a Keuchel signing if it’s three years or less at a reasonable AAV. 3/$55M would fine by me given how much financial flexibility we have and how little we have to spend it on.

It wasn’t a boring movie, but it’s a really dumb movie filled with numerous plot holes and contains some decisions that sort of break the previous movies. It also has a fairy unsatisfying conclusion, but that should have been expected when they didn’t have one creative voice in charge of the whole trilogy. Let me be clear, I don’t hate any of these movies (even the TLJ), but it really is amazing how much better Disney has handled Marvel. As for narrative risks, I’d say the entire prequel trilogy represents one. You could also argue for Rogue One.