ChiSox59

I could get very behind that.

Really happy for Eloy. He's going to be a really good stick for a long time. Just need two more years out of him in LF - he can improve.

No, he's still due 3/$54.75. He signed a 4 year $73M deal.

I mean that's a different angle than I was going, but yeah, I suppose that too. But reall, what do you think Grandal gets if he were a FA this offseason? I'd maybe take the under on 3/$55M he has left, but its not going to be THAT much lower. Maybe 3/$45M. I really don't think his contract is as bad as you make it out to be. He doesn't have any surplus value, but his contract isn't' an anchor.

Trading a consensus top 2-3 catcher in the game r signed to a fair contract for 3 more years and just to replace him with a FA that is meaningfully worse at baseball and a meaningfully worse fit for the roster is not a decision any GM is going to make. Not to mention the simple fact that the Sox are SOOOOOOOOOO righty heavy as is. So lets remove 50% of the guys who can hit left handed in the everyday lineup, and replace them with yet another right handed hitter who is much worse offensively. Theres also that whole OBP thing, which is fairly important, and Grandal one of the few guys on the team that takes walks consistently. McCann doesn't do that. It makes zero sense. Grandal is good. Grandal is better than McCann, and always has been. Grandal is signed for three years. McCann is a free agent. The obsession with this whole situation on this board is dumbfounding. I will admit Grandal was disappointing with the glove in 2020. But he wasn't awful, and he's still above average defensively. Maybe the FA market craters enough that the Sox are the high bid on McCann and he returns as backup. But I highly doubt that scenario is going to play out, and I will literally eat a shoe live on twitter if the Sox trade Grandal. There is no chance it is happening.

Trading Grandal still makes zero sense peeps.

June? Far far far more likely we see him in late April once they get the extra year.

Blocking Vaughn when he is MLB-ready isn't a particularly great move. More good players is better than less good players. We have gapping hole in RF. Let's fix that before worrying about adding more DH/1B types. If Vaughn isn't good fesnively at 1B, good thing we have the defending AL MLB signed for two more years and he plays 1B.

Vaughn, barring trade, injury or extension, will be up in late April. Thats a damn near 100% lock. He's not going to open the year on the roster, though.

Just because Ozuna was much better than what the Sox ended up with in 2020, it doesn't change the fact that he wasn't a good fit for the roster in 2020, and still isn't a good fit moving forward. Would I have taken him on the 1 year deal he eventually signed? Absolutely. But he still isn't a good long term fit.

Lamahieu makes a ton of sense if Sox make a big trade splash and move Madrigal. I certainly am not campaigning to trade Madrigal as I think he is a wonderful fit for this roster, but it certainly would be alot easier to stomach if he's moved in package for a TOR starter or very good RF and we turn around and sign Lamahieu. Seems very unlikely, though.

Yeah, that was definitely a head scratcher.

Same. A little surprised. The defensive talent is undeniable and he gets to some balls 98% of MLB CF won't touch. But he was poor around the wall and missed some very catchable (for him) balls in big spots. I have no doubt he'll win many of these, and he is an ELITE defender. Just a little surprised he won this year.

Why is Woodruff attainable though? I mean, I am sure they'd trade him if he get blown away, but Brewers aren't really the team to move good pitchers with cheap control.

To be fair, I think its mainly one guy who continually brings it up.

Wat

Mmmk.

I don't think there is any way Hahn is trading Cease for 1 year of anybody.

I completely agree. Leury/Engel as a worst case scenario isn't a disaster assuming we add Bauer/Stroman/TOR trade and another vet back end guy like Odorizzi/Quintana. That said, at worst, I'd like to upgrade on Leury as the strong side of that platoon and use him as a true super UTIL guy.

I probably would too assuming Hahn can find a good LHH RF fit via trade. I guess Joc would be fine, but he doesn't excite me.

I thought the Springer deal seemed a bit rich as well, but it’s not awful pre pandemic. Id obviously love Springer. Would be amazing. Our lineup just gets soooo right handed with him. His splits are mostly even - not even him I’m worried about, but I do think some additional lineup balance would be welcome. Tough righties would reallY neutralize the lineup. Another reason why the bozos calling for Grandal to get traded are in fact...bozos.

MLBTR released their top 50 FA predictions today. Had Sox signing these three: George Springer: 5/$125M James Paxton 1/$10M Alex Colome 1/$6M

No thanks.

Yeah, Reylo has had his chances. He’s not starting over Cease. My guess is Reylo is the long man to start the year and could make some spot starts, but not over Cease.

I think the chances that Cease is NOT making starts for the Sox next April is 0% barring trade or injury. I hated the idea of trading Cease at the deadline this year. But I would definitely move him for a good fitting RF if JR would do Bauer/Stroman and Quintana (or similar). I don’t see Bauer as only likely though. Point is, Sox aren’t giving up on Cease yet. Just like they didn’t give up on Giolito.