ChiSox59

And give up a solid SP and bullpen arm, both with considerable upside, and both cheap and controllable. Gross.

Correct on RF. And I’m not sure it would cost much. Peralta is an impending FA and potential non tender candidate.

Non-tender Yolmer Trade Luis Gonzalez + Codi Heuer for David Peralta (1 year $8.5M) Sign Wheeler - 5 year / $95M Sign Yasmani Grandal 4 years / $72M Alex Wood - 1 year / $8M Sign Josh Lindblom - 2 years / $7.5M Sign Derek Dietrich - 1 year / $3.5M 2020 payroll: ~$130-135M Late April 26-man roster / lineup: CF Robert, 3B Moncada, 1B/DH Abreu, LF Eloy, C/DH Grandal, SS Anderson, Peralta RF, McCann C/DH, 2B Madrigal BN: Collins, Leury, Engel and Dietrich Rotation: Gio, Wheeler, Cease, Wood, Lopez (Kopech / Rodon to come) Pen: Colome, Bummer, Fry, Marshall, Cordero, Hamilton, Lindblom, Burdi Dietrich and Leury fill in at 2B and CF first few weeks. Plenty of money comes off before 2021 to take a run at a real RF to polish the roster.

Chris Martin off the board. 2 year $14 million back to Braves. Always felt he was a cheaper pen option that made some sense.

No. And as Sleepy said, its been accepted.

I’m with ya. Simply just gotta open the pocketbook and “augment” the roster with a few elite talents FA over the next 15 months and they could really build something. Hard to argue with the “ill believe it when I see it crowd” though, frankly.

Rutherford is going to be added tomorrow. That should be a no brainer. And Medeiros is already on 40 man, he isn’t R5 eligible. If they take him off, he’s most likely gone. They may very well do just that at some point this offseason - as I said, a coin flip. But no reason to until you need the spots. You could be right about Mercedes - maybe someone gives him a shot. But players like him have to hit so much to have any value because he brings nothing else to the table. 40 man spots are valuable, but 26 man spots for an entire season with no flexibility is quite a commitment to a player like Mercedes. There is just simply no way he is anything more than an emergency defender at the mlb level. At least with Nieto he could be a reliable defensive catcher 3-4x per month. It’s not like I am going to be mad if they protect him, I just think the risk is low.

I agree there is zero reason for them to trade him for scraps, and I know what he brings to the table - I have been one of the biggest proponents of acquiring him. Honestly, I think a Lopez for Nimmo isn't outrageous. 4 years of control vs 3. Inconsistency versus injury concerns. Both have good pedigrees. I honestly don't even know if I love it for the Sox as its selling low on Lopez, but seems close to fair. Lopez is not scraps, and is considerably more valuable than you're giving him credit for. I also don't think you'd need to give up a top 30 prospect in the game to acquire Nimmo. Madrigal/Vaughn + Lopez + Dunning could get you pretty much anything you want outside of a group of elite players, and Nimmo ain't in that group.

So wait, you actually believe the Sox would need to give up Lopez, Dunning and Madrigal or Vaughn to acquire Brandon Nimmo? Holy hot take!!!

Except none of those teams need DHs. Maybe Toronto would pending some of their moves this offseason, but EE's options are going to be VERY limited. There are only 2 or 3 clubs that make any inkling of sense. Which is why he will likely be very cheap.

+100. Pretty sure all 29 clubs would have interest in Lopez if Sox were looking to trade him. He's been a top 15 pitcher in the AL both of the last two seasons per fWAR. Sox fans wildly undervalue him because he's been wildly inconsistent, and that for sure limits his value. But he's still a rock solid back of the rotation pitcher, with upper middle rotation upside, under control for 4 seasons - that has value.

The Sox are not going to sign 2 pitchers to multi year deals. So unless Keuchel takes a 1 year deal, that’s not happening. Wheeler + Wood or Smyly makes more sense.

We literally have no hitters like Dickerson. And he cannot play CF. And we have a CF for the next 7 seasons. Where do you come up with this shit?

Grandal did not receive a QO. He got one is 2018, and cannot get it again.

I could see a warm bodies offseason of something like Calhoun, Encarncaion, Wacha and Wood. The team's payroll would still be over $90M in that scenario. To be clear, I am not in the slightest bit advocating for anything resembling that offseason - it would be truly disgusting - but there is no way the Sox aren't spending $40M+ in new AAV on FA/trades this winter.

There is a 0% chance that the Sox payroll is under $90M. I would bet every dollar I have on that.

I think the first scenario you describe is the middle ground. Completely underwhelmed would be an offseason like last where the biggest signing is a 2 year $18M deal and few trades for shitty vets on expiring 1 year deals. There isn't much "middle ground" between the two scenarios you describe, unless you're talking something like Cole + Rendon + Wheeer + Castellanos, which obviously is complete fantasyland and never going to happen, because no team in MLB could pull that offseason off.

Mariners won't be accepting any "take a flier" offers on Haniger. The guy is a year removed from being one of the most valuable OF in the game. Still controlled for there more seasons. A fluke injury last year isn't going to crater his value to nothing - the return to acquire Haniger would be painful.

So you think the Sox are going to have a payroll under $90M?

The best question is why an informed Sox fan would want Robert and Madrigal to be on the OD roster? At this point, that would be insane! We’re talking about less than 20 games most likely folks.

They’re going to have to spend some real money on someone. Wheeler and/or Grandal are the ones that make the most sense.

I doubt we see games with Madrigal and Robert after the initial couple weeks. They'll both be up for good by late April, barring injury.

LOL.

And then watch whoever we traded Mookie for develop into a well above average player making a pittance for 3 seasons, just so we could win 83 games in 2020! #totallyworthit #wheredoisignup #sofuckingstupid

I literally just called him a platoon option against LHP.