Chicago White Sox

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.

So potentially burn another year of Moncada & Giolito control?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the Sox throwing some big offer in front of Cole or Strasburg in December. But Boras is gonna Boras and he’ll simply shop that offer around and play the slow game until someone does something drastic. I’d rather not miss out on Wheeler while we hope we’re the lucky winners for the elite guys. It sucks that MLB free agency is broken, but we can’t put all our eggs in the Boras basket and risk throwing away a year. And that really sucks for us, because I think Cole is the ideal free agent for us, more so than Machado or Harper even.

Great post. This is what I’ve been trying to articulate for a while now. We have an opportunity to take a massive leap forward with a good offseason, even if we don’t add any of the top three guys. The key is being aggressive right out of the gate. While I’d love to add Cole or Strasburg, I don’t think we can afford waiting around until February and risk coming out empty-handed (which is the likely outcome). We need to go hard after guys like Wheeler & Grandal from the get-go and try to close out deals during or just shortly after the Winter Meetings. I don’t care what anyone says, there is zero reason we can’t land both those guys and Hahn needs to finally deliver. If he does, I think we’ll actually competitive baseball in 2020.

I appreciate you confirming. Maybe it will finally put the debate to rest now.

There is zero chance Puig gets anything close to that figure. MLBTR is predicting he gets 1/$8M and while I think that’s light, I honestly don’t see him getting more than 2/$24M max. Dude is just not very good and has a cancerous attitude on top.

No offense taken, would rather have a deal get done than risk it falling apart as a result of it getting out early. Speaking of which, do you think that’s what happened with the rumored Joc deal? I know a lot of posters on this site with quality connections felt that deal was close to completion and maybe even you hinted at that as well. Just curious to get your thoughts on that, because while believable to me, many here seem to think it’s far-fetched a deal could fall apart of a leak.

And I disagree with 90% of what Balta says, so now it’s all making sense ?

What Kiley McDaniel is hearing means jack shit and yet you took it as gospel. That’s all you needed to jump off yet another cliff. At what point will you realize that you are selectively looking for things that reinforce your negativity?

Lol...I was going to say, when were the Sox interested in these guys in trade talks? Hill pretty much joined the Dodgers when we were rebuilding. This Kinander kid really seems full of shit to me. Anyways, you hearing anything Dave? I’ll take the smallest scrap of a rumor to wash the Parkman out of my mouth.

100% agree.

OMG...you are absolutely insane. Like only you could take a vague statement from Kiley McDaniel and draw some such ridiculous conclusions. Take your own advice and please stay away from the Sox for a while. I think it’s best for everyone.

If that were the price, we should sign him and Wheeler.

We are a second tier team, but what you are missing is Parkman said we are a bottom tier team...one of the least desirable in all of baseball. And candidly speaking, that’s just fucking stupid.

Who are all these teams Jack? Red Sox are looking to cut payroll. Yankees and Astros are already against the cap. The Cubs don’t seem eager to spend. The Indians seem to be pretty strapped. The Rays, A’s, & Pirates are never going to be big spenders. The Rockies are looking to cut payroll. The Tigers, Royals, Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays, & Marlins, are all rebuilding. That’s half the league right there with some limitations or no interest in spending. Who is it you are scared of Jack? The Dodgers? The are probably the scariest “big spender” and have added as many seven figure contracts under Friedman as the White Sox have. Other than them and the Nationals, it’s mostly teams like us but they have far less flexibility than we do. We may ultimately fail in free agency, but it will because we make scared offers and not because there are too many teams in the mix.

Awesome post...the basketball comparison is fucking ridiculous.

Then maybe stop coming here and speaking in absolutes you fucking Sith.

There are certainly a handful of teams that are more desirable all else being equal (Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers), but after them the Sox more or less the same as most other clubs. They are definitely not one of the lease desirable teams to play for like Jack Parkman suggested.

OMG...please just stop!

This is one of the dumbest posts I have ever seen in my life.