Chicago White Sox

Murakami already dropped to +400! And DK won’t let me make bet on this right now!!

I feel very strongly that we shouldn’t sacrifice the development of key young players to better our chances of winning the division. As such, I believe we should continue to throw Schultz out there every five or six days. If so, I don’t know how you can roster two more starters. Let’s just say we go out and trade Carlson, Gabe Davis, & another piece for Reid Detmers. Your 1-2-3 becomes Detmers-Burke-Martin. Yes, we probably need to find a way to rest Martin some as he looks fatigued, but that can be managed by skipping starts and using your swing man for more innings. That leaves Schultz as your #4 and one of Kay, Shane Smith, Sandlin, or Adams as your #5. If you replace Kay, then he becomes the swing man and Fedde & Richards are bumped off the roster. I guess it’s theoretically feasible, but I struggle to think we can acquire a second SP that will be materially better than Kay in this market for a price we like and who is better than other internal options.

I think Roch is a superior overall prospect to Bonemer strictly due to defensive floor even if Caleb has a higher offensive ceiling. I’m a big Fauske fan and he’s really turned a corner over the past month or so, putting up a 127 wRC+ over his last 135 PAs with a 13.4% BB rate, 19.4% K rate, .158 ISO, & 16 SBs (vs. 1 CS). This is the growth you want to see out of a 1st year prep sent straight to full season ball. I’m still on the Hagen Smith bandwagon, but even the biggest optimist must penalize him some for still struggling to provide innings. I’ve said elsewhere I think his floor is a high-end bullpen weapon, which is valuable but not enough to rank him over a HS kid with plus hit & power tools. If he can provide more confidence in his ability to start, he’d probably jump past Thome for me. Gabe Davis is a big kid with big stuff who was brought on a project who has made considerable progress this year. Him stalling out some at AA is to be expected for someone in their first year making from relieving to starting and doesn’t derail my thoughts on the kid. He’s also coming two strong starts and could be turning the corner. I remain a huge fan of this kid. Regarding the pitching we drafted, I’m not sure any of these guys will make High A by the end of the season and certainly not AA. Not sure why you think they’re going to rush them to fill major league bullpen needs that don’t really exist at the moment. And theoretically, they have LaCombe & George in AA if they really need a premium stuff guy to throw into the pen this year. Volchko, Segura, & Scolari will all start off in the ACL. From there, it really comes down to innings limits. I could see some of them going to Low A once the ACL season ends, but these guys will likely be relieving or doing much very short starts. I expect all three of them to be developed as SPs next year in either Kannpolis’ or Winston Salem’s rotation to start the year.

I’m not sure what’s needed outside of a SP and backup catcher. At this point, I think you have to accept that Quero may not be in the catching plans for this year and might need a full offseason to right the ship. The rest of the positional group is complete assuming no injuries. Hell, we’re going to run an immediate 26 man roster crunch if/when Hays & Pereira come back. The bullpen is rounding into form after a rough stretch. Once McDougal comes up, you’ll have him, Taylor, a rejuvenated Hicks, & Dominguez from the right side with Gonzalez, Pallette, & Iriarte as depth. You’ll have Hudson, Newcomb, & Murphy from the left side with Hagen & Schweitzer as depth. If you add a SP via trade, then you have a decision on whether to keep Fedde or Richards as your long man. You’d also have Shane Smith & Sandlin as key depth that could push Kay or possibly Schultz (ideally not though) for a rotation spot down the stretch. Again, cross fingers on health, but Getz shouldn’t have to do a lot.

New top 20 post draft: Roch Cholowsky, SS Caleb Bonemer, IF Billy Carlson, SS Cole Prosek, 2B Jaden Fauske, OF Landon Thome, SS Hagen Smith, LHP Tanner McDougal, RHP David Sandlin, RHP Gabe Davis, RHP Christian Oppor, LHP George Wolkow, OF Joey Volchko, RHP Alex Weingartner, OF Mason Adams, RHP William Bergolla, IF Blake Larson, LHP Ky Bush, LHP Boston Smith, CA Kyle Casteel, RHP

Definitely possible. I was projecting them both at $2.9M, so just gave the tie to the higher pick. But at least some boards have Prosek higher so wouldn’t be all that shocking to see.

At the moment, I think if you reordered this one based on bonus amount our actual draft would look like this: Cholowsky, SS Thome, SS (HS) Prosek, 2B (HS) Volchko, RHP Weingartner, OF (HS) Casteel, RHP (HS) Segura, RHP Scolari, RHP Johnson, LHP Burdette, OF Holcomb, OF

I really like the pitchers they’ve taken given the dollars likely spent.

Write-up on Horn from Overslot:

For us? Half our picks have been pitchers.

I like the Cameron Johnson pick.

White Sox take Vanderbilt OF in the 12th

This is why we need to stick with him. Kid was one of the top LH pitching prospects in the game and just needs to take some lumps in the majors to become a reliable starting pitcher.

Doesn’t feel like a $1.5M signing. Wonder if they take two preps of this kin.

FIFY

Not sure…I’d probably lean yes, but I saw somewhere he was looking for high 2nd round money which would easily be $2M+.

@Y2Jimmy0 - Let me know what looks off with the above

Just for fun, here are slot values and my projected variances for each pick: 01) Cholowsky, SS (11.35M | -$0.85M) 01) Thome, SS ($2.90M | +$0.00M) 02) Prosek, 2B ($2.45M | +$0.45M) 03) Volchko, RHP ($1.09M | +$0.41M) 04) Segura, RHP ($0.75M | -$0.35M) 05) Scolari, RHP ($0.55M | -$0.15M) 06) Weingartner, OF ($0.41M | +$0.98M) 07) Burdette, OF ($0.33M | -$0.18M) 08) Jones, 3B ($0.26M | -$0.25M) 09) Craytor, P ($0.22M | -$0.21M) 10) Bucciero, OF ($0.20M | -$0.19M) That would be $0.34M in net savings so far. Add $1.02M for the 5% overage and you’re at $1.36M of excess pool. With the $150k allotment for any picks after the 10th, we could potentially sign a $1.5M bonus player in the 11th. Feels like something big will be coming within the hour.

60 minute break! 3:40pm EST until we resume

This offense is so fucking insane with Murakami as its anchor

Oh Contreras, nevermind

Jose?

You think they are going to pocket a $1M+?

I can’t disclose that info unfortunately

Leadoff bomb for the Chairman of the Board!