ChiSox59

Gonna be a part of me sad to see the Micker era end without ever starting. I do think he can be a Franmil Reyes type and run into 30 or so homers a year somewhere while racking up the Ks. Butttt he quite simply has absolutely no spot on this club moving forward, and certainly not on the 26 man in 22.

Ahh my bad. First I'd seen it.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/12/white-sox-sign-yacksel-rios-to-minor-league-deal.html Has a decent amount of MLB experience.

Crazy its been half a decade already.

Some other thoughts: Wasn't really focusing on Kershaw at all previously, but found myself with a lot of $ to spend after the big time $ saving moves trading Keuchel and Kimbrel. Note that while LaStella only makes $5.5M in 22; it jumps to 10.5M in 23. So net dolalrs are close to even, and we throw in Burger to offset. Could go trade route for SP instead of Kershaw (Sonny Gray perhaps), which again would create $10M. Another trade target in the Kimbrel trade to Philly could be Marchan instead of Moniak. Dollars stay same, but solves backup C issue. Moniak seems like a change of scenery guy and wouldn't be horrible AAA insurance. But Marchan works there too. Found myself with $15M to spend even after Kershaw, so went with luxuries in Archer and Tepera. That pen would be filthy. Kershaw probably ends up costing more than $22.5M AAV though, so could bump that to 2/$55M and remove Archer or Tepera. I'd hate spending that much $ on late career Kershaw, but may be what it takes. Final thoughts: trading Kimbrel and Keuchel creates a ton of options. I fully expect Kimbrel to be moved in a trade like the ones discussed. Keuchel could be tougher sell. Though I do think this LaStella framework makes a lot of sense for both sides.

Sign Michael Conforto 4/$72M ($18M AAV) Trade Keuchel (-$18M) + Burger (-$650k) to San Fran for Tommy LaStella ($5.5M) Trade Kimbrel (-$16M) to Phillies to Seranthony Dominguez ($800k) and Mickey Moniak ($650k) Sign Clayton Kershaw 2/$45M ($22.5M AAV) Resign Ryan Tepera 2/$17M ($8.5M) Chris Archer 1/$8M with plenty of incentives. NET NET is $30M spent. Lineup: Anderson SS, Moncada 3B, Abreu 1B, Eloy DH, Grandal C, Robert CF, Conforto RF, Vaughn LF, LaStella 2B Rotation: Giolito, Lynn, Kershaw, Cease, Kopech, Archer (Kopech works some from pen as well to control innings) Bullpen: Hendriks, Bummer, Graveman, Tepera, Crochet, Dominguez, Lopez BN: Engel, Leury, Sheets, Collins/Zavala BEST ROSTER IN BASEBALL.

Good.

That two month span he was our best hitter. All while play (admirably) a position he hadn't played since grade school. Kid is legit AF. I will be sooooooo pissed if we trade him.

Probably Philly. Maybe Mets. Maybe he stays on the Sox. But the Cubs aren't undoing last July's trade. Its not even worth talking about.

PASS! Sox need a serious roster overhaul via trade before Schwarber makes a lick of sense.

Yepppp

The Cubs aren't giving us Madrigal back for Kimbrel. Not even worth discussing. Not to mention, Sox may not even want him. Plenty of decent options via trade that shouldn't cost much.

They didn't sell high on Madrigal though. That's the problem.

I don't see why the Sox would do that. Create 2 holes, and maybe sorta kinda solve one in 2B with a 40 YO Cano, but take on money in the process. I think Cano would make some sense with Conforto in hand purely as a salary dump from the Mets. Basically, Mets eat $30 of the $40M they owe him and Sox take a $5M AAV gamble on 40 and 41 year old Cano. Anything more than that doesn't make much sense for the Sox, IMO.

I think this is already etched is stone. The trade was, in fact, really, really stupid.

A Kuechel for Cano trade is kind of interesting if you assume Conforto is in hand . But he's still due $40M from the Mets the next 2 seasons. Not really sure how you can make the finances make sense for both sides. Not sure essentially flipping Keuchel for Cano with Mets eating the difference ($22M or so) really makes sense for either side. Its interesting enough to talk about tho purely in a time wasting fashion and we sit here the next couple months with no activity. LaStella is a much more interesting name in terms of chances of actually happen and the economics.

McNeal would be great, especially cause he can play some OF too. But I think that's a pipedream. He'd be very expensive and Mets are trying to win. For me, 2B predicates quite a bit on what we do in RF. If we were to sign Conforto, we can go any number of directions at 2B and be fine. LaStella is still a super interesting name for me. Giants could probably still use more SP and Keuchel would play well in that park. Those two are close to an eveb swap $ wise, but LaStella has 2 years ($5.25M in 22; $11.5M in 23) versus Keuchel's 1 year at $18M (with $1.5M buyout on $20M team option that becomes vesting upon 160 IP in 22). Sox probably have to throw something interesting in here as well - perhaps Burger would interest them. They are getting old and thin and IF corners. I love the LaStella fit. That also creates about $12M in room for 22, combined with moving Kimbrel, Sox would create about $30M to spend on Conforto and SP by going this route. Lineup: Anderson SS, Moncada 3B, Abreu 1B, Eloy DH, Grandal C, Robert CF, Conforto RF, Vaughn LF, LaStella 2B Rotation: Giolito, Lynn, Kopech, Cease and FA SP But the FA SP options getting pretty thin, so perhaps we go trade route with Gray/Castillo/Mahle/Manea/Bassit for the last SP using Sheets as the headliner with a combination of our HS pitching prospects and/or MLB ready guys that don't have much of a role in Chicago moving forward.

I am already bored with this shit.

Neither. NSC is a Troll. PNoles is insufferable. Blocked him on social media years ago because I hated seeing his garbage on my feed daily.

Yes sir. Best FA fit since Yaz. Hope we can make it happen. Makes finishing the roster so so so much easier. And he’s a good ball player.

So basically this probably all needs to be ironed out by March 1ish in order to not postpone opening day / shorten season, yeah?

Hey, at least he's consistent.

Yes, I did. And I also think Leury is worth $5.5M AAV on this club as it fits into the overall picture. A year too long probably, but such is life in free agency. The Sox do operate within a strict budget that has certainly expanded as they've gotten better, and I am not going to nitpick a $5.5M AAV for a guy that has a clear role on this club. This signing is a complete non-issue. I'd much rather have Leury on the roster than not considering the depth behind him is Mendick and a guy we know next to nothing about in Romy (tho, I do like him - but I like him much more as AAA depth). Your ability to jump back and forth on stances and argue them tooth and nail is truly amazing stuff. Kudos.

ReyLo and Engel. All three were tendered yesterday.

The Sox came into the offseason around $160M commited to 2021 including arb eligible guys. They've spent $13.5M so far. So they should be just below $175M as we stand today. Subtract Kimbrel, and we should have $25-35M more to spend. If Kimbrel is flipped for Segura, signing Conforto would just about tap the Sox out IMO unless they're able to move another bigger salary like Keuchel.