ChiSox59

No one as in no teams? A good number of posters here wanted to hand Bumgarner a blank check. "Just do what you have to do to get him."

How do you figure? 83 starts were made by Nova, Detwiler, Covey, Banuelos, Santana, Despaigne, Fulmer and Santiago. Cease was just dipping his toe into MLB and overall wasn't very good. Zero starts from Kopech. Only 7 from Rodon. Even if you project basically the same thing out of Lopez, and even Giolito to take a step back, its tough not to improve. Even signing two of Alex Wood, Gio Gonzalez, Tijuan Walker, Wade Miley and Collin McHugh would be a huge improvement over hte cast of characters that made over half of starts for the Sox last season.

Because he wanted to play in Arizona because his horses are there (seriously). He would have had to have been paid over $100M from one the CA teams to get a comparable take home pay from what he got from AZ.

Continue to complain about the Sox outbidding the rest of baseball and the guy choosing a different team of out preference. It's going to get you super far!

Honestly, I am happy for him.

Some people do, "its not my money". But then they'll b**** down the road when Wheeler turns into a garbage contract. "How could Hahn be so stupid! Such a dumb overpay!" Can never please those types of fans.

Collins is very likely out of the equation by then, but I guess I'd rather see him develop into an asset in the meantime as opposed to sitting on the bench most of the season. I'd honestly rather Collins play in AAA than play 1x per week as Grandal's backup and the only other catcher on the roster. I also think we'll be able to get more out of Grandal if we don't catch him 6x a week. He's worn down a lot late in seasons, I think keeping McCann and getting Grandal regular work at DH/1B is best for all parties. For me, its 3 options with Collins for 2020: 1) Primary DH against RHP and 3rd catcher. 2) AAA. 3) Traded. Trading McCann and Collins being the strict backup catcher would my last choice. We'll figure out 2021 later.

I guess. I am just not in love with taking what you can get for McCann just to create space for EE and relegate Collins to strictly backup duties. I guess we'll see how things shake out, but its definitely an option.

The primary reason is he's going to be on an innings limit in 2020, and if he starts the year in the majors unimpeded, he'll be shut down by August 1. No thanks. The extra year of service is just an added benefit to handling this the correct way.

These are wildly different circumstances. Bryant also wasn't returning from a major arm reconstruction surgery. Such a silly comp. Plus, Brant hit like 15 homers in ST that year and was clearly one of the best players on the Cubs. If Kopech mows down all his competition in ST, this will be closer to a comp, but then you're also still discounting the whole arm reconstruction thing. So yah...not anywhere near the same thing.

But but but I threw 14 innings in the major leagues and then blew out my elbow! How in the world could they not put me on the major league roster after I haven't thrown a competitive pitch in 18 months! I don't understand! Grievance!!

Because McCann hits lefties well, therefore he'll likely against LHP most of the time. Then you only have DH and 1B for Grandal, Abreu and EE. Who all mash lefties.

I think Leury will be the primary CF over Engel to start the year. I’m pretty sure they’ll add someone to play 2B and then shift to bench. Several names that make varying degrees of sense. i hear ya on the DH concern, but EE isn’t going to sign somewhere that he’s going to regularly end up on the bench against LHP, which he rakes.

Too bad EE can't play RF! I just really don't see the fit based on who is on the roster curretnly. Having to sit one of EE, Abreu or Grandal everytime McCann or Collins is in the lineup is silly, especially against LHP.

Keep banging your head on the wall if you'd like. Kopech will be in AAA, and that is where he should be. Its really not even a question.

My bad!

Seems I convinced someone! Pretty sure I was trying to get you on this train a week or two ago - now you're convincing others. May have posters wrong, but pretty sure!

In regards to the bolded guys, seems like a lot of adding for the sake of adding. Give me Ryu/Keuchel and Wood/Walker/Gio then a guy like Gennett or Dietrich for 2B and then bench and call it a day. I guess EE makes some sense if McCann is traded, but doubt Sox want to rely on Collins on primary backup.

I like the McHugh idea, perhaps as the third guy. We could easily park him in the pen. Keuchel + Wood/Walker + McHugh is about as good as we can hope for at this juncture. With Wood and Walkers injury history, would be nice to have a vet swing man like McHugh.

Correct to the edit. Obviously Keuchel is not signing a 1 year deal.

Rich Hill is in fact injured and just had a TJS alternative surgery. He’s not an option.

I hate bringing up Cubs trades because they’re mentioned wayyyyyyyyy too often here. But Quintana still makes a ton of sense. Just have to wonder if Cubs would expect more from Sox than from anyone else considering circumstances.

Madbum would not be good at GRF. Fine not doing this. But ya, it’s getting thin. Doubt Ryu is in the cards with the teams that still need SP. Keuchel and a 1 year deal is probably what we get.

Darvish was better and more healthy than Ryu before he became a FA. Darvish amassed 19.3 fWAR is 6 seasons before he was a FA vs Ryu 15.1 fWAR in 7 seasons. The market has definitely changed a bit since Darvish got his deal, but Darvish IMO, and certainly with respect to fWAR, was a meaningfully better bet at the point in which they became FAs.

Same amount as Wheeler though. I too would rather bet on Wheeler moving forward, but he's gone, and we likely would have had to 2x the outlay for what Ryu will get. So you're definitely paying for the better bet. I don't know if the Sox will sign one of Ryu or Keuchel. I honestly can't say I blame them too much if it will require 4 year commitments, because I think the chances those guys are anything more than average #5 SPs - if they're even pitching - by the back end of those contracts is pretty much 0%. But as you said earlier Jack, as of right now, Sox pretty much need all of Gio, Cease, and Kopech to admirably fill the 1-3 spots in the rotation moving forward.