ChiSox59

Buxton and Larnach need everyday spots. Celestino is more of a 4th OF. Twins love Garlick against LHP, which he mashes. Kirilloff will factor into the OF mix some as well, but he’s going to play a good bit of 1B with Aarrez shifting to DH. Also have Gordon who currently profiles more of an IF, but Twins like him as a super utility guy to play everywhere. He played more OF than IF last year. Their IF is likely to line up Miranda, FA, Polanco, Aarrez/Kirilloff from left to right. Lewis will also come back at some point to crowd things a bit, but this group as a whole has a lot of injury concerns. They definitely have space to keep Kepler around depending on what they do in FA. I do expect the Twins to sign one of the big SS, likely Swanson or Boaegarts if they can’t get correa what he wants.

Listen, Max Kepler isn’t a great player. But he’s averaged over 2 fWAR the last two seasons having averaged 118 games played. He’s a good defender in RF and can play CF. He bats left handed. He’d be the best Sox RF since early career Adam Eaton. This whole rumor is likely BS. The Twins aren’t going to trade Kepler to the Sox, and if they did, there would definitely be a premium attached (as there should). That all said, the Sox could do much worse than Max Kepler with 2 years of control including a team option. He isn’t “not good”; he’s an above average player that has a solid floor and could see some benefit from the shift rules.

I mean, that's kind of their job. If the GMs and their supporting staff around the league don't know what the Sox, and all the other clubs need, they're pretty awful at their job.

In other words, the sky is blue.

I think he was. I am hopeful it was just internal expectation management.

Not sure I agree at all. I think Gallo is every bit as likely to take a pillow deal as those 2. He was awful last season.

Yeah, I was wrong. 11 homers but he’s been pretty poor overall.

I didn’t look it up but I also feel like Kepler has raked at Sox Park.

I’d prefer Gallo to Eloy and or Sheets playing the OF everyday and the other DHing. He’s far from a perfect player but the NY effect is real and if Nimmo, Conforto or even Benintendi are out of the budget, you have to get creative. The Twins aren’t just going to hand Kepler to the Sox so yeah….I’d probably prefer Gallo at like 1/$8M to handing the Twins Ramos or Veras.

Lol I don’t really have a “love affair” with Gallo. Id much prefer Nimmo or even Conforto or Bellinger on short term deals. But when you got a fast foot budget, you can’t expect surf and turf.

Kepler would be solid. He’s a really good defender and a better stick than he showed last year. But why not just sign a comparable FA like Gallo instead and not give up an asset to the Twins.

6 years Robert >>>>>>>>>>>>> 1 year Ohtani.

There is no possible scenario that trading Luis Robert at his lowest value to date makes a single sliver of sense. Add on to that the Sox have 33% of an OF at the moment, and yah…makes even less sense.

He's just going to pencil a 35 year in that spot for his analysis, because #Soxareold #mustmakeeverythinglookasbadashumanlypossible.

Lol Smeltzer and Bundy aren’t even in the Twins organization any longer. Try again.

Yes, because they are the players who currently slot into those spots? Last I checked there is a 5 man rotation and 9 players in a starting lineup. The Sox aren’t old. Your analysis is wrong and tired.

In fact, I just did the math to prove how stupid this theory of yours is: Sox starting line up average age: 26.7 Twins starting line up average age: 27.40 Sox rotation average age: 28.66 Twins rotation average age: 29.94 Sox lineup + Rotation average age: 27.44 Twins lineup + rotation average age: 28.31 PLEASE STOP SAYING THE SOX ARE OLD.

Who on the Sox of note is old besides Yaz and Lynn? The Sox core is still pretty young. You love pointing out this Sox are old bit, but its pretty misleading when the older players are all role players, several of from 22 won't even be on the 23 roster. Liam is a bit older as well I guess, but he's still plenty productive. Literally every other player of note is under 30, most in the 24-28 range. The Sox core is every bit as young as the Twins core.

I wouldn’t be surprised either and am fine with that plan if you can get something useful for Seby. But just cutting him after his 2022 would be questionable.

I don't really see the need a catcher. Seby was a 2 fWAR player last year in 61 games. He has no options. He's a perfectly fine guy to split time with Grandal, and he's probably more likely to improve under Grifol's tutelage than Yaz. Plus Sox have Perez who is very much a serviceable 3rd string catcher. Now if you could trade Seby for something useful, that's a different story. I am not 100% sold that 2022 production is sustainable, but....you can't just cut him for a backup catcher, imo.

The Twins were worse than the Sox last year and are losing Correa. They are in much worse shape than the Sox as far as 2023 is concerned as we sit today. Of course, they have more $ to spend than we do. Whether you're a believer in the Guardians or not, that team isn't anything special or anything to be overly concerned about, and we know they won't be adding much via FA. I think Sox as we currently sit are still the best team in this division, perhaps by a good distance if the key players stay healthy / get some bouncebacks. I think adding Nimmo + a decent SP (Clevinger works; Heaney maybe) puts the Sox around the same payroll as last year, and makes them considerably better than they sit today. Of course, Nimmo feels like much more of pipedream now than it did a couple months ago with the bidding now apparently in the 6/$140M range, which we all know Sox aren't going to do.

Probably by trading Hendriks for a shitty return.

Fair, but Leury might be the other option. At least Burger can rake LHP. Having Burger and Sheets in AAA is pretty nice luxury.

I think I might prefer to keep Burger as Moncada injury insurance than acquire 1 year of Wong at market value.

If the budget is $200M, go ahead. If it’s $180M, don’t waste the $10M. Go get a LH RF and a decent SP.