Eminor3rd

For the fifteenth year in a row, the Sox don't have enough SP depth. I don't expect it to be addressed directly, but I'm hoping for at least one veteran minor league signing as camp gets closer.

Join me on the dark side and start streaming NPB lol. It’s all new, no previous loyalties, you get to let your fandom develop organically, and then there’s tons of history to mine. They’re twenty years behind MLB in terms of strategy, so you get to see lots of burning and slashing like people keep saying they want over here again. The talent range is twice as wide as MLB, so the superstars are extremely exciting. The worst players, though, still find a way to be useful by focusing on one thing like defense or contact at the plate. There are less than ten significant free agents every year and they all sign by thanksgiving. High end prospects see top team action often the very next season (draft occurs after the regular season). The only thing is you have to watch all the games on recorded delay and you can’t understand a god damn word anyone is saying.

I don't know if this was mentioned elsewhere, but it looks like we just lost Mark Payton to the NPB (Seibu Lions).

Jake Marisnick or something.

Yeah I’m not sure what the Jays are doing. First dumping OF for any value they could find, then moving into acquiring similar level OF with real prospects.

That's a brutal writeup on C Perez

FWIW, I don’t see Fujinami as a significant contributor. Throws hard but has absolutely no clue where it’s going. Breaking stuff is okay but he has even less control over it somehow. Thrived for a good stretch this year by adding a cutter. He’s one of the most famous NPB busts of all-time. He was actually drafted in the same year as Ohtani and teams were split on which was the better talent. He’s had a lot of people try very hard to get him on track, including Yu Darvish one offseason, but doesn’t seem to be able to apply his instruction to results with any consistency. It’s possible that some MLB org evaluates him and thinks they have the key to unlock his potential, which at one point was considered vast, but that’s a long shot. As is, he’s a generic reliever in MLB.

I think there’s a good chance he ends up in Asia. The NPB, at least, hasn’t seemed to care about bringing guys in with controversy — Roberto Osuna just got his second contract.

You’re right on McCann, I was really more commenting on the realization that the Sox may be trying to force the DH role open for Grandal, and fearing the Sox wouldn’t upgrade enough around the diamond to make up for that.

I would be a lot less confident in this season with Grandal as the primary DH instead of of Eloy. Losing Hendriks too — all to upgrade from Romy to Escobar and Seby to McCann. Even assuming there’s prospect value coming back, I think there’s a lot more to lose than to gain for the Sox in that scenario.

I don’t disagree with you at all, just trying to make a somewhat objective take about his effect on the team/community for those who believe that he has been exonerated or whatever.

I’m on record for believing the Sox need this type of player, so I’m for it. Victor Reyes does not count. Billy Hamilton really shouldn’t either.

We have not forgotten this. We spend 80% of our board space bitching about it. But there’s 20% remaining for discussion of what actually can happen on the field/in the lineup at this point. No one is letting them off the hook for building a bad roster, but we are understandably happy that they decided to reallocate Abreu’s salary instead of using it as an opportunity to cut payroll, which was reported to be the plan by several legitimate sources.

All personal opinions aside, I think it would be nice to go at least one year without a controversial hire/acquisition with the potential to divide the clubhouse and fanbase.

I have the answer for you, but I don’t think you’re gonna like it.

They’ve got to be done with substantial signings. I’m sure they’re monitoring the trade market. But depth pieces in Feb is probably what’s left for the White Sox and free agency.

Fair, but he’s got a reputation for being a hell of game caller, popular with pitchers, cannon arm, etc. And I wonder how much Grandal can/should catch, and I feel like Seby is gonna turn back into a pumpkin.

I don’t blame the team for missing on Wheeler; I absolutely blame them for missing on Machado.

Austin Hedges at 1/$5m would been a hell of an upgrade for this team for very little.

One hundred seventy-seven dollars over seven years. @balllysports lmao. Dude is a legend

Better depth than victor reyes

I like this deal, it’s aggressive, and the Sox should be aggressive right now. I’m not gonna s%*# on them. I will, however, say this: 1. If this comes on the heel of dumping a different useful player to make the money work, then it’s a wash. 2. It would be nice if, for once, the Sox started spending their “big money” at the top of the market instead of the middle. I say this not because guys like Benintendi aren’t good or that they don’t need someone like him, but because from a resource allocation standpoint, you get a lot more value for your money at the top. One of the hallmarks of this current spending window is the the Sox love to pay market rate on a per WAR basis — the average-ish players tend to fall right in the $9M/WAR range, while your $30M+ Bryce Harpers are way ahead of that, sometimes $4-7M/WAR or something. When it comes to setting a spending strategy, this is a really easily modeling problem, and it seems like most teams have solved it, but our team hasn’t thought to look into it. Again, good on them for putting the money in to patch the hole. I remain unconvinced they know how to patch holes, generally, but I’m happy that they showed today that they’re still trying.

Wow. I am shocked. I always figured they’d go past the $180m number, but I figured it would be for an $8-10m short term vet.

I hope you’re right.

Kole Calhoun feels about right.