Quin

Man, looking at this and the Marlins, I'll always be grateful for Hahn nailing the Big 3 trades.

Nah, I appreciate it.

Shout-out to @Dominikk85 for pointing out a different way to look at it (that's probably more accurate) and is still positive.

Basically, I didn't want to account for regression or progression. It was just with Madrigal and Robert I had no numbers to go off of. Also, I brain farted on McCann's positional change effecting his WAR that drastically. But he also won't be a DH all the time, just needed to slot him in.

Using fWAR, here's the 2019 lineup vs. the 2020 lineup. 2019 C - James McCann, 2.3 1B - Jose Abreu, 1.9 2B - Yolmer Sanchez, 1.0 SS - Tim Anderson, 3.5 3B - Yoan Moncada, 5.7 LF - Eloy Jimenez, 1.9 CF - Adam Engel, 0.8 RF - Ryan Cordell, -.2 DH - Yonder Alonso, -1.3= 2020, using 2019 numbers and Steamer projects for rookies C - Yasmani Grandal, 5.2 (+2.9) 1B - Jose Abreu, 1.9 2B - Nick Madrigal, 1.7 (+.7) SS - Tim Anderson, 3.5 3B - Yoan Moncada, 5.7 LF - Eloy Jimenez, 1.9 CF - Luis Robert, 2.3 (+1.5) RF - Nomar Mazara, 0.5 (.7) DH - James McCann, 2.3 (+3.6) That lineup is 9.4 fWAR better. Now, Grandal, Anderson, Abreu, McCann, Jimenez and Moncada could all regress. But conceivably, Moncada, Anderson, Mazara and Jimenez could improve drastically. This is also assuming Madrigal and Robert have ok rookie seasons, when they'll both be capable of much more, especially Robert. The lineup upgrades alone are nearly enough to get this team to .500. That's not quite playoffs, but it's something to be positive about when we still have a couple months of offseason left.

Money

It was a point I think Andrew Friedman made, so sadly I can't take credit.

Well damn. Both sides are too blame. The Sox affiliates have done a good job of keeping their stadiums up to date, but there are some falling apart. Meanwhile, MLB pays players scraps and for the price of a couple decent MLB players, they could pay minor Leaguers minimum wage, which MLB doesn't want to do. Cole Hamels' 18M, 1 year deal could pay 1,200 players a federal minimum wage over the course of a year. Assuming two rookie, two A, AA, and AAA, that's 150 players in a system (not counting DSL for obvious reasons). Cole Hamels' deal could pay for 8 minor league systems, but MLB lobbies Congress to pass a law allowing them to pay under minimum wage. How about they all just agree to invest more? /Rant over

This is a refreshing positive take. Maybe Menechino does whatever he did with Marcella Ozuna and suddenly the Sox get two years to decide to extend a Mazara who realized his potential, or maybe one of the minor league outfielders breaks out. To spare people looking up the numbers, Nomar's second half splits were .287/.320/.859. I'd certainly take that with his power. Now he gets The Cell and LOOGYs are gone. This is the most positive take possible and doesn't address that you'd like more walks out of the guy, but hey, it's nice to look on the bright side occasionally.

Y'all wildin'.

That and The Irwins got the the biggest, yet most demented laughs from me.

Figured I'd get us some lighter discussion. A Redditor made logos for inverted team names. Team names

He also misspelled fianceé

Dear lord Jack, you didn't even want to fucking sign Rendon.

So many hot takes would be voided.

Despite having Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado, the Padres still have to catch the White Sox.

Avi.

YES

But, let's say he even gets to 2 WAR. THAT'S A 6 WAR UPGRADE. Boom.

Anderson should be batting 1st or 2nd, where he had his best splits last season.

...if we make Mazara the player in the SoxTalk banner, will it reverse curse him and unlock his potential?

If you think this is bad, Greg still endures shit for Tim Anderson at catcher. But basically, Billy Hamilton is everything you advocate against. So, we roll with it.

To be fair, he'd probably hit more than Billy Hamilton.

To keep positive thoughts in mind: Projected 2020 lineup (ignore the order, I'm not putting too much thought into it) SS - Tim Anderson CF - Luis Robert 3B - Yoan Moncada 1B - Jose Abreu LF - Eloy Jimenez C - Yasmani Grandal DH - James McCann RF - Nomar Mazara 2B - Nick Madrigal vs. 2019 (same order, cause whatever) SS - Tim Anderson CF - Engel/Cordell/Tilson 3B - Yoan Moncada 1B - Jose Abreu LF - Eloy Jimenez C - James McCann DH - Yonder Alonso RF - Ryan Cordell/Daniel Palka 2B - Yolmer Sanchez