Chicago White Sox

No offense dude, but you are nuts if you think that many people have it right now. Coronavirus is some serious shit and way too many people are still taking it too lightly, but at the same time conspiracy theories like this is part of the reason I can’t buy fucking baby wipes or toilet paper.

That’s a bummer.

Thanks Jimmy, my assumption was that the “option to Birmingham” was simply a technicality as he was placed on their roster for minor league Rule 5 purposes at prior season end. There’s a couple guys I’m surprised wouldn’t start at AA next year, but he was far & away the most surprising to me.

Great stuff. A little disappointed with some of the placements at AA and above. Are you guys sure that Flores will be starting in AA again? He has almost 30 minor starts at AA and I can’t see any logical reason to not move start him in Charlotte next year.

I would probably avoid going to chess club for the peace of mind.

I could be wrong, but I think this is all relative to the minor league roster they were assigned to for minor league Rule 5 purposes. I’d expect Flores to head to Charlotte at a bare minimum.

That number is going to plummet after Robert, Kopech, & Madrigal graduate this year. We need some surprise performances at the full season ball level this year and also need to start hitting in the draft. Been way too many misses over the past half decade.

In all honestly, the Sox should have most of the core position & rotation guys already in place and cost controlled. Right now, I’d say RF & closer are our two biggest potential needs going forward. It’s very possible Bummer or one of the young RH relievers could handle the closer role, but if we have the money why not add an elite guy to anchor the pen next offseason and move everyone down a spot? I’d rather ease in guys like Burdi, Heuer, Johnson, & Hamilton and keep Bummer in a setup role if at all possible.

I will say @SouthWallace has done a tremendous job this spring. Has really made it much easier to follow these games.

Lol...thanks bro!

I fear regular season gamethreads based on how the spring training ones are going so far.

I don’t think it was a Devers or Basabe / Diaz. I think the Red Sox straight up rejected Devers ad the third piece and Hahn countered with a “I’d at least need Basabe & Devers” to get a deal done. I really don’t think that Hahn ever thought those alternatives were of equal value.

I honestly hope we move Rodon to the bullpen. I’m not sure it will make him any healthier, but I think he can be dominant as a pure fastball/slider guy coming out in short stretches. To go completely off subject here, but if you make Rodon a reliever and add one elite arm to serve as your closer you could see a bullpen like this next year: CL: Kirby Yates SU: Aaron Bummer* SU: Reynaldo Lopez SU: Carlos Rodon* MR: Zack Burdi MR: Codi Heuer MR: Fry*/Cordero/Hamilton/Johnson LR: Gonzalez*/Lambert/Flores* Holy fuck would that pen be nasty.

I love Dunning, but he doesn’t really have an ace like ceiling. To me, his best case scenario is a really good #3 starter. That being said, if healthy I expect him to be a rotation mainstay for years to come, hopefully as our #4 starter behind Giolito, Kopech, & Cease. I truly believe he will beat out Lopez, Rodon, Lambert, & Stiever for the last spot in the rotation next year. The kid just has that “it” factor.

Yeah, but my point is we overpaid a bit on the arbitration years to get two below market free agent years. Machado got $300M over 10 years and could have gotten substantially more in terms of AAV on a short term deal. Someone might honestly pay a legit star 3B $40M to $45M per season if it was on a two year deal during their prime years. Therefore, the savings we are getting is far more significant than the savings you are suggesting IMO.

You think if Moncada was a free agent in free agency and was willing to accept a two year deal he’d only get $70M? I think that’s at least $10M short if not substantially more.

Where are you coming up with $15M to $20M in savings?

Not sure about potential trade partners, but I’m all for it if we can get a controllable reliever / bench piece or a lower level prospect with some ceiling in return. I love what McCann brings to the table as a backup catcher, but his value is wasted in a 40 game role. Again, if a solid return can be realized, then I’m all for Collins being the primary backup and seeing what we have in him. For those saying we’re doomed if we trade James and Grandal goes down, let me reiterate that McCann is gone after the season anyways. This is a one year luxury at best and I’d rather think long-term here by acquiring an asset with more control while also seeing what we have in a flawed, but highly interesting young player.

Now that Fake Steve Cishek has proven to be legit, I think it’s time we take his James McCann trade rumor seriously: What are your thoughts on a potential trade? Where could he go and what might we get in return? Who gets the backup job if he’s moved?

Based on?

I’d still put my money on Colome. I’m not going to let a few Spring Training appearances change my perspective. Yes, his second half was bad, but that seemed like regression to the mean to me and I fully expect Ricky to give him a pretty long leash this year. If he does struggle, I think Bummer becomes the guy. Burdi is a fun watch right now, but he’ll need to prove himself in AAA first and will likely be eased into low leverage situations once he hits the majors. He’s much more a threat for the 2021 closer job IMO.

I’m not sure if it was actually reported or listed in here, but Fangraphs has an excellent payroll tool and it shows the amounts for this extension as follows: 2020: $2M 2021: $7M 2022: $14M 2023: $18M 2024: $24M 2025: $25M* So the total arbitration commitment is ~$40M if you include the small increase he got this year. For some comps, Machado got ~$32M over his three arbitration years while Arenado got ~$34M. Also, Bergman’s extension was worth ~$44M in his first four years, which is ~$3M higher than Moncada’s deal. His two options years were worth $57M vs. Moncada’s $49M or ~$8M less. Obviously there is some inflation built into this deal, which is also reflected in the Bregman contract. That being said (and despite Balta’s ridiculous injury theory), we are paying him star 3B money for his three arbitration years. The real value is those two free agent years we’re buying. In all honestly, those are probably worth somewhere in the $80M to $100M range and we’re getting them for a reasonable $49M. Yes, we need Moncada to be a star, but if he is this deal should provide quite a bit of surplus value right when our core guys are starting to get expensive. Just an amazing deal all things considered. https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/white-sox

Thanks for sharing that patc!

Why would Moncada & Robert need buckets of money after their initial signing bonuses? They don’t and still signed extensions anyways. That is all the proof one should need to understand Jose’s impact here.

I’m not a doctor, but my guess is it’s hard to do a ton of cardio while rehabbing from two Achilles ruptures. He did say he was doing quite a bit of swimming though.