Chicago White Sox

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.

Are you actually saying he’s not a plus baserunner? FG has him at 70 grade speed, so unless you think has terrible instincts he should probably be considered a plus runner.

He had a ~.380 OBP last year across three levels.

Big three being Robert, Vaughn, & Madrigal?

Madrigal is probably one of the safest two WAR floor guys as there can be. I know you hate him, but the odds of what you are stating above are slim to none.

I agree that it becomes much less of a realistic option. At least before if you thought his defense might be improving you had DH as a fall-back spot. Now that’s not really an option until year 4 of any deal. The other critical factor here is that RF is our last spot to fill in the lineup for the foreseeable future. If further balance is needed, whether that be an actual LH hitter or a RH who can hit RHP, that’s our last spot to do so. And Castellanos hasn’t been that great against RHP in his career and so even offensively he may not be the best fit.

I seriously doubt Wheeler gets six years.

I think they’re aiming higher than Calhoun. I know he had a solid 2019, but the fall-off potential with him is massive. Peralta would be a better stop-gap option if that’s the path they go down, but I honestly think they’ll be looking for someone controllable.