ChiSox59

I just don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze. I am not even sure if Manaea would be in this playoff rotation. If Kopech is still pitching in October (fingers crossed) and Cease takes another slight step forward (I think he will), Manaea is our 5 starter in October. I’d certainly take him, but the price has to be right. Winning a bidding war for a guy that maybe makes us win the division by 10-12 games instead of 8-10 games isn’t worth ravaging our already very thin farm. Sheets straight up is probably the most id give, but I’d certain prefer to keep Sheets. Still prefer something like Kelly/Dalquist/Thompson + Adolfo + backend top 20 type.

Yes, we're on the same page. In no event do I think AV should be anything less than a regular. I just hope he gets a good amount of time in LF and Eloy at DH.

Goes from a D to C for me. Still a shitty offseason and still didn't solve a lot of team weaknesses, but Sox are better now than they were a couple days ago and RF is no longer a black hole.

Lineup (goofy with lefty on mound and no TA): Pollock RF, Grandal C, Robert CF, Abreu 1B, Eloy LF, Moncada 3B, Vaughn DH, Leury SS, Harrison 2B Bench: Ciuffo, Engel, Mendick, Romy Rotation: Giolito, Lynn, Cease, Manaea, Kopech/Kuechel Pen: Hendriks, Bummer, Graveman, Lopez, Velasquez, Crick, Ruiz, Sousa, Burr, Kuechel/Kopech IL: Kelly, Crochet Suspended: TA (Romy goes down when TA activated) Moves before Opening Day: Sheets + Micker + one of Dalquist/Thompson for Manaea Crochet and Yermin to 60 day IL; Crick, Sousa and Ciuffo added to 40 man

Man Collins has to be questioning a lot of things right now. All his own doing, but woof. I suspect Ciuffo is our backup and Seby gets DFA'd next few days.

That's not really what he said at all Jack.

I do like the possiblities this presents with AV in LF, Pollock in RF and Eloy at DH though. Sox won't do it on a regular basis, but they should.

Sheets just lost his DH job this morning. Sox can't possibly be dumb enough to turn AV into a weakside platoon player at this stage. If anyone is going to AAA between Sheets/AV, it'll be Sheets imo.

oooof

I really disagree here. I think Pollock only is back in 23 if he's terrible this season or hurt most of the season. 1/$8.5M is 170% of $5M. He'll definitely bet on himself beating 1/$5m even if he is just decent this year. Now if he starts picking up the PA raises, I think that player option becomes more realistic around $13M ($8M net).

Agreed. While Sox OF depth has improved drastically this week, they're still an injury away from both Sheets and AV having everyday roles. Absolutely nothing wrong with Sheets being Plan B instead of Plan A for DH. I am not a huge Manaea guy myself. I'd love to dropkick Keuchel out of the rotation and make it such that we don't have to overuse Kopech in the first half of the season, but I just don't think Manaea really moves the needle much in October and I don't think winning this division is going to be a problem. That's my only issue with using the Sheets bullet on Manaea. Would certainly prefer using the HS pitchers + Adolfo + some other backend top 20 prospect. But doubt that gets the job done.

Certainly will be a cohort of Sox talk that will lose their mind if Sheets is involved. I'd love to keep Sheets around myself, but recognize Sox probably don't have the bullets to get it done without him. Would still try to pry him loose without Sheets, but just seems like an A's guy to me.

Dont stop now, Ricky!

Full contract details here if anyone is curious: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/aj-pollock-10693/

Its a $5M deal really. If he takes the player option it means he was either seriously hurt all season or literally awful. All he has to do is beat a 1/$5M deal to come out ahead. We should all assume this is a 1 year stay.

Well fuck. That sucks

I hate Joc Pederson so I’d prefer Pollock for a $1M savings. Turns out Sox picking up that option wasnt so bad. I’d still have preferred they acquired a RF that rakes against RHP, but Pollock historically has been decent against RHP and plays a solid OF. Like I said, it’s a meh move for me but this team is better than they were an hour ago. And Kimbrel was used to plug a big time hole on this roster, so that’s a positive.

I just said it’s a meh trade for me. I don’t love it at all I think Pollock is just an OK fit. But I didn’t spend all offseason making 25 posts a day saying Kimbrel was not tradable without eating major $. You were wrong yet again.

Where's Balta? lol

Was the $3M bonus already paid? So its $18M luxury tax hit, but out of pocket for Sox is $15M? So a $1M savings.

Have to imagine this means Sheets is in AAA or traded. You can't have Vaughn getting 200 at bats this year. Sheets will still get plenty of MLB opps in 22.

Well, there is certainly some crow being consumed across Soxtalk land. Its kind of a whatever trade for me. Sox are better than they were 20 minutes ago, but we just acquired more of the same - right handed hitting OF than will struggle to stay healthy. I'd certainly take him over Kimbrel. With the $5M buyout on his 2023 player option (which you have to assume he'll turn down for a $5M net payout), this is close to a cash neutral deal. MLB ref has Pollock's 22 salary at $13M, not $10M but it must be wrong as multiple sources are saying its $10M in 22 and $5M buyout on a $10M player option for 23.

If you want to assume the worst and he's headed to TJS, I just don't think its possible really. He's out all of 22 and half of 23. He'll come back as reliever mid-season 23. So then in 24 you have a guy who only has 2 years of control and has never pitched more than 55 innings in a season. There is not enough time for the Sox to make him a starter under that scenario. Now, I think cart is a bit ahead of horse on the TJS talk. Doesn't look good, but I'll wait for the release.

Let's maybe wait to hear the news before we amputate Crochet's left arm. This board isn't exactly known for nailing injury severity in the immediate aftermath. Doesn't look or sound great, but this isn't the first time Crochet has provided a scare. Hopefully this is more like a playoff 2020 situation where he's on the shelf for a few weeks to a couple months instead of TJS.

Woof. Hopefully not as bad as the Soxtalk web doctors think.