ChiSox59

You guys, and many others, are so mean to chisoxfanmike. He seems like a decent kid. He definitely has a bit on Twitter and isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but the hate he gets directed towards him isn’t really fair. At least from my vantage point. Let him be.

I mean I’m not going to be mad if the Sox protect Burger, but what team is their right mind is going to claim him? The risk seems VERY minimal.

Agreed. Save the impact prospect/ young mlb capital. Sign FA and if you need to make a trade, use guys that don’t project to have major roles in the coming years. Go to battle in 21 and see what happens. Can reasses next offseason. This team is good enough to win the central with a few shrewd signings and without moving any of our major prospects.

When the "supposed insider" on this board decided to disparage him every chance he gets.

No one has said Madrigal wont be ready for OD. Just that he may miss a couple weeks of ST.

That's not even what I meant. I mean he has an obvious place within the construction of the roster. Which he does. So let me ask you this, since I am sure you'd be tickled to see the Sox trade him. Who do they sign to play 2B?

I’m skeptical too. It’s hard not to be. But that’s what makes trading a guy like Madrigal so tough. He’s every bit as good as any FA short of Lamaheiu and to a lease extent Semien and he’s cheap as dirt for awhile. For a team with a budget, why just punt that $10-12M a year in savings on 2B to take on a very good SP, but an injury prone one, making 8-90% what he’d get on the open market this offseason. Not to mention Cease / Dunning too. The math doesn’t make sense. It’s the same reason some (most?) think the math doesn’t work in Bauer. It’s the same issue. Now if we’re playing with limited regard for a budget, trade Madrigal+ for Yu and sign Semien to play 2B along with at worst at Joc type and another SP and a closer, then OK. But I just don’t see it. Love or hate Madrigal, he has a very clear role on this team and we’re not exactly in the position to be giving away young cheap controllable and potentially impact SP. The proposed move doesn’t make sense.

Well, until we're proven otherwise, I think we need to operate under the assumption that $140M or so is going to be the top of budget. Therefore trading cheap cost controlled assets for expensive vets on market rate deals is much less attractive than just filling holes via FA. For the cost of Darvish + FA 2B youre likely damn near the AAV that Bauer would cost. Obviously that discounts future years, but your still paying Darvish in 2022 and still need pay a 2B. Its the same analysis we went through on Machado vs. the collection of shit we brought in instead that cost the same amount.

It's going to be interesting to see what Bauer signs for. Mentioned this in another thread earlier today, but the only way he gets close to $40M AAV is if he takes a short term deal. Cole is better and just signed for $32M AAV a year ago pre-pandemic. I'd happily pay Bauer $32M AAV over 4 years as opposed to trading two of Madrigal/Cease/Dunning to get Darvish on basically a slightly below market deal. Plus, now they have to go spend at least $10M to fill 2B via FA, and now a future rotation fixture is also gone. The cost for next year is basically the same once you add in the 2B FA. I am all for trading pieces that don't really fit our future puzzle, or moving some premier guys for a super elite player (such as Yelich, just as an example). But I am not really looking to fill a hole with an expensive injury prone vet and create a hole that was filled by a cost controlled future fixture that will cost less than $1M for the next few seasons. Doesn't compute to me unless the Sox are going to all of a sudden be one of the big spenders in baseball, and if that is the case, just go sign Bauer.

WHY TRADE OUR GOOD YOUNG FUTURE CORE PLAYERS WHEN WE CAN EASILY SIGN THE PLAYERS THAT WE NEED? IT STILL MAKES NO SENSE TO ME.

Losing Kopech in 2020 sucked and was a kick in the balls. But taking the long view, he did the Sox a favor. Since he hasn't pithced for 2+ seasons, they can't just throw him in the fire and expect him to pitch a full MLB season, so they can super easily play the control game and get the year back they lost by the TJS. Certainly could have used Kopech this past season, but I'll happily take him for a full 162 in 2026 as opposed to 10 starts in 2020.

Sounds like we are mostly in agreement. I just don't think he'd be a poor clubhouse fit with the Sox, but understand where you're coming from. Who exactly do you see taking issue with him strutting around the mound or talking shit? Literally no one comes to mind for me.

I like his mouth and demeanor, personally. Dude is a fuckin' bulldog and I love it. I could see him rubbing some guys the wrong way, but I really don't think that would be the case with the Sox clubhouse. But every team wants this guy in their rotation. Sox are VERY unlikely to pay what it'll take to get him, IMO. Could see them offering him what they offered Wheeler, but that will come up well shy.

How does Bauer not fit in the clubhouse? Seems to me his swagger would fit in just fine. Not saying the sox get him, but I'd probably prefer the Sox offer 4/$130M to Bauer and sign a stop gap in RF than sign Springer to 5/$115M. Obviously I'd take either, but I think the money is better spent on an absolute stud in the rotation. Sox offense will still be really good without Springer. Can't say the same about the rotation without another TOR SP.

Bauer isn't getting $40M+ AAV on a multiyear deal. I promise you.

$42.5M AAV for Bauer over 4 years? Ya, no. I could maybe see the bidding get into that AAV range if he actually does what he said he was going to do and take 1 year deals. But no way he's getting that over 4 years.

Yeah, its just getting a bit old. I mean you do you, its a free message board. But you're directly impacting the enjoyment of this board for people at this point.

Well, realistically, Eloy should be at DH at least some of the time, and likely full time by 2023. Which should work out OK with Abreu's deal running through 22. But flipping Vaughn for Tucker (which won't happen) would solve RF, open DH for Eloy and let us sign someone like Brantley or Rosario for LF.

I think its maybe time to let it go man.

Yeah, obviously. I just don't think the Sox, more specifically JR, are just going to punt everything they've built and cry poor at this point. But maybe. Would be awfully disappointing. I also just don't think TLR would be interested in coming back if his buddy didn't tell him he's going to be after legit difference makers in FA.

What was the point of this rebuild if you're not willing to spend when its time to win? Obviously last offseason was a HUGE step in the right direction, but we still have two massive holes (RF and TOR SP), need some backend bullpen help and still have a relatively cost controlled core for a couple more seasons. Things have changed economically with the current state of the country, but I have a really hard time believing JR is going to be cheap this offseason. I also have a really hard time believing TLR would be interested in the team if they weren't going to at least supplement the existing team with good fits in those spots. Sox may very well miss out on Bauer and Springer, but other than those two, no one else that makes sense is going to break the bank. There are plenty of ways to improve this team via FA without those two, though obviously my plan 1A and 1B include one or the other.

I think its pretty clear, at least on the pitching side, that these bargain basement AAVs aren't going to happen like some projected.

I probably would. Means we can sign someone like Brantley for LF and move Eloy to DH most of the time where he belongs. Much better fit for our team in the near time, and slugging 1B/DH can almost always be found on the FA market. Not sure why the Astros make that deal though.

Yeah, I mean Odorizzi would be fine back up option on a 1 year prove it deal, but he's not a great fit for Sox Park. He's likely to sign elsewhere, IMO. I know the Twins want to retain him and have a bid on the table.

Just to live in la la land for a couple mins.... Trade Vaughn, Cease, Stiever, Collins, Adolfo and Matthew Thompson for Yelich and Burnes. Sign Michael Brantley to play LF. Move Eloy to DH where he belongs. That is one amazing lineup. Anderson SS, Yelich RF, Abreu 1B, Eloy DH, Moncada, 3B, Robert CF, Brantley LF, Grandal C, Madrigal 2B LOL. You could pick that lineup out of a hat each day its so good. So much balance, power and OBP. WOW Never happening, but yeah. Fun to think about. Sox would still need to add 2 FA SP, so JR would need to approve like a $175M payroll.