Chicago White Sox

I fully expect RF to be addressed via trade unless they convince themselves Castellanos is their guy. I really think someone like Calhoun is strictly a fallback if all else fails.

God - This is some of the worst trolling I have ever seen in my life.

If something were happen this week, I’m guessing 11am CST will be the magic hour. That’s when the Grandal news came out and I’m guessing Wheeler would be announced at a similar time. Also, it seems like today or tomorrow would have to be the day. Otherwise, I think we’re looking at next week for a resolution good or bad.

Wait, you’re suggesting Engel isn’t ready to hit major league hitting but that Billy Hamilton is? Hamilton is probably the worst hitter in Major League Baseball.

I think Hamels will be too pricey for what we’re trying to accomplish with that second starter spot.

Hell, anytime before the Winter Meetings would be amazing. That would allow Hahn to focus his attention on RF there and not have to worry about saving potential trade chips for SP needs. But yes, this week would make for a great Thanksgiving.

I saw this comment in a recent article on SoxMachine by a user named Denmar. Morosi was on WSCR on Thursday, but I haven’t seen anyone else post this. Did anyone else hear this interview or know where this rumor came from? Also, in regards to the Mets, it definitely seems they’re out based on Martino’s last update and the general consensus that they are financially fucked. That’s huge and greatly improves our chances to land Wheeler IMO. With the Braves seemingly connected to Bumgarner and the Angels likely waiting out the big two, it seems like our biggest competition would be the Twins & Reds. I don’t want to get cocky here, but we should be able to beat them out. Please get this the fuck done Hahn and move on to RF!

We’re not a small market team, but if you assume Forbes is even directional correct we can’t afford a luxury tax level payroll as is.

Our salary ceiling isn’t the luxury tax threshold, so not sure what you’re getting at here.

Lol...I think you’re taking my post far too literal.

Did Madrigal baby dick your girl or something? Your desire to get rid of him at all costs is truly astounding.

All fair points, but you’re also taking a backwards looking approach in terms of valuation. Let’s say teams project Marte to be worth ~5.0 fWAR over the next two years (using Steamer as a proxy here). At $9M per win, his surplus value would be ~$21M. If you view Collins & Stiever as 45+ FV type prospects and Walker as a 45 FV type prospect then combined they are worth ~$20M in value (using FG’s prospect value charts). Seems to be a pretty fair trade depending on their view of those three prospects, which admittedly could swing wildly from organization to organization.

Accounting wise, signing bonuses are normally amortized over the life of the contract, but budget wise it’s really a 2020 expenditure. In terms of potential benefit, either the Sox are getting some sort of tax benefit in 2019 or they’re just rewarding Jose with more up-front cash. As for the deferrals, it seems like those are typically used to inflate a contract’s gross number, while maintaining a certain net cost to the club. My guess is the Sox offered 3/$48M and Jose wanted 3/$50M and this was the way to bridge that gap from an optics standpoint.

FWIW, Mets fans seem to think Wheeler is as good as gone and several legit insiders are saying as much. It does feel like the Sox could be in the driver’s seat here and I really wouldn’t be surprised if this got done (whether with us or not) before the Winter Meetings. Just based on rumors, it seems like his market has developed quickly.

Then go sign Encarnacion for a year and have Vaughn replace him in 2021. This lineup would be insanely good next year: Anderson, SS Moncada, 3B# Abreu, 1B Grandal, C# Jimenez, LF Nimmo, RF* Encarnacion, DH Robert, CF Madrigal, 2B

I’ve said it many times now, but the one guy who makes a ton of sense to me for RF is Brandon Nimmo. Now to get him, what if instead of dealing with the Mets directly, we do a three way trade that gets them the CF they desire. The most obvious partner for this scenario would be the Pirates with Starling Marte. He seems like a guy that is almost certain to be moved this offseason and there are already rumors of the Mets’ interest: Given the Pirates appear to be on the cusp of a rebuild they would likely be willing to take some prospects that aren’t major league ready. Would a package built around Collins, Stiever, & Walker potentially work? I know there’s no top 100 prospect in there (cue Balta stating the package is worthless), but that’s three guys in the 100 to 200 range and the Pirates might be willing to take a more quantity over quality approach if they’ve got a long rebuild ahead of them.

This is almost certainly a fake insider account, but figured it’s worth documenting over the extremely tiny chance dude is the next WetButt. The good news is we’ll know one way or the other by Monday and can put this account on insider perma-ban if wrong.

You’re drawing insane conclusions based off one year of a 10 year deal.

Yup, this thread is way too premature.

My fear with him is two-fold. First, if his defense doesn’t get better, we are likely stuck with him in RF regardless. Second, Castellanos has never been that great against RHP and this is our last shot to address that. I don’t think we automatically need a LH hitter, but we need a guy who can do damage against righties. I’m not certain Nick is that guy.

Oh really!?! What’s his background?

Who is this guy? Really hope he’s an actual somebody because this would be fucking awesome!

So with the addition of Grandal, our long-term lineup is close to completion. Assuming Vaughn is the real deal, that leaves RF as our one long-term hole remaining as you can see below. 1B: Andrew Vaughn (controllable through 2027) 2B: Nick Madrigal (2026) SS: Tim Anderson (2024) 3B: Yoan Moncada# (2023) LF: Eloy Jimenez (2026) CF: Luis Robert (2026) RH: ?? DH: Jose Abreu (2022) CA: Yasmani Grandal# (2023) So what does everyone think we should do with this spot? What can we actually afford when you consider the financial outlook for the rest of the core? Is a legit superstar even a possibility now? What is the ideal skillset / profile you are looking for? Do we still have faith in any of our OF prospects? There are a lot of paths we could go down here, but ultimately this may be the last spot we have to upgrade the lineup over the next three years or so.

I don’t know how to tell you this, but Puig isn’t very good and certainly not worth the headaches.

Let me be on the record saying I’d be very against trading Cease. Not sure how people think we can replace him while also filling the existing holes in the rotation. If you add Betts and then sign a Wheeler caliber pitcher, we’d likely be wiped out financially.