Chicago White Sox

Boston can’t afford Cole.

I’d much rather have Benintendi than Puig / Calhoun because he doesn’t come with the baggage of the former and has far more upside than the latter. I just don’t see why the Red Sox would ever give him up given their payroll constraints. Acquiring Lopez simply creates a hole in the OF and doesn’t really accomplish anything for them.

Anthony Castrovince from MLB.com has Gerrit Cole signing sign the Sox in his bold predictions article: https://www.mlb.com/news/bold-predictions-for-2020-offseason

If you want a “realistic” offseason, MLB.com had article stating the Padres might after both Rendon & Strasburg. While there is no way in hell that’s happening, it does make Reinsdorf look like a total joke when it comes to big name free agents. It also highlights the idea that when impact guys like Rendon do become available, you should be willing to consider any and all options to make them fit.

Why would the Red Sox, who have a serious financial problem, trade their most affordable OF for Lopez?

The White Sox won a World Series under KW in addition to making the playoffs multiple times. Rick Hahn has yet to achieve a 2nd place finish or even a .500 season. Yes, some of that is by design, but honestly hating on KW but giving Rick Hahn props is very mind-boggling to me. Worst case scenario, hate on both of them at least.

Agreed.

Yolmer is the last thing in the world Boston would ever want right now. And he simply has negative trade value at his projected arbitration salary, so he’s not really a trade chip for anything.

That’s a dreadful deal for us IMO.

How can they shed much of Price’s salary?

For a similar price I think you could get Wheeler & Castellanos and they’d probably give you close to 7 WAR.

McCann has historically hit RHP very well (career 117 wRC+). Part of the reason why adding Grandal and then effectively platooning MCann & Collins across multiple positions make sense.

All depends on the price. But if MLBTR is right, you could get the three of them for ~$55M in AAV. I think the Sox could afford that if they were willing to sport a $140M payroll next year (which they should), but that’s far from a guarantee.

Fully agree, but if the big market teams focus their attention on Cole & Strasburg, there’s no reason we can’t be one of the favorites if we’re willing to strike early.

What’s Moose’s WAR if he starts 75% of his games at DH?

5 to 6 for each I agree with, I thought you were suggesting a good 18 teams would be after each one of them. I still think we should easily be able to afford all three guys, whether or not Hahn can actually execute that plan is another story.

There will be 15 to 18 teams competing for each of those guys? Sounds like the most active free agency in baseball history!

Yeah, the order would need some tweaking, but that could be a seriously good lineup.

Sign Grandal, Castellanos, & Wheeler. This lineup would be significantly better than last year: Anderson, SS Moncada, 3B# Abreu, 1B/DH Jimenez, LF Grandal, C/DH/1B# Castallanos, RF Robert, CF Collins, DH* / McCann, C Madrigal, 2B

He has a wRC+ of 126 over the past two years. If you believe that’s the level of hitter he truly is, then he’s a perfectly capable DH. Also, MLBTR rumors brought up that his defense while still not good in 2019 was significantly better than it was in 2018. If there’s room for growth, then maybe that changes the calculus a bit. Honestly, if his price is truly 4/$60M, I’m suddenly far more interested in him, but I’d still pursue Grandal & Wheeler.

If he’s a guy they like, they should most definitely pursue him right now. We can afford multiple impactful additions.

And it was 130+ the six year proceeding 2018. Players do have bad / injury ridden years Balta. He’s clearly not a 150 wRC+ guy like he used to be, but I’d be willing to wager money he beats that 117 figure Steamer is projected. And per StatCast, his xWOBA was basically the same as his WOBA, so he wasn’t the beneficiary of good luck. Anything can happen, but I’ll happily gamble $12M on him being a productive hitter next year.

In what world is a wRC+ of 129 at the DH spot a meh addition? As the third or fourth best piece of an offseason, he’d be a tremendous addition.

100% Encarnacion. I’ll take Edwin’s 129 wRC+ over Moustakas’ 113 despite the positional flexibility Moose provides.

Merkin has floated the name for whatever that’s worth.