ChiSox59

Gotcha. So basically nothing to do with fit, but everything to do with your lack of faith in the Sox spending the money necessary to bring in two top 10 FA in one offseason.

Roster expansion definitely changes the calculus, but its awfully tough to carry a DH only bat on your MLB roster for the entire season. But yah, he's on the 40 man now, so its a moot point.

Why don't you think the Sox should be after Grandal - arguably the best overall fit for a bat currently available on the FA market?

1. No 2. No 3. Yes 4. Yes 5. No 6. Yes 7. Yes 8, No 9. No 10. Who gives a fuck?

I am pretty sure if the Sox had NOT put him on the 40 man today, but traded him between now and R5 draft, the acquiring team could add him to the 40 man roster (and therefore protect him from the R5 draft). I am admittedly not 100% sure on that though. I think more likely the Sox look at him as a platoon DH option should FA options not come to fruition, and wanted to protect him just in case. Hard to say tho - I felt the chances of Mercedes actually getting selected in R5 were pretty small.

I would think so. I think the trimming will be from the Palka, Zavala, Vieira, Medeiros, Fulmer and Covey group as opposed to anyone just added.

Alec Hansen definitely most notable omission. Other guys that have a shot a playing the big leagues, though certainly not impact talents, would be Forbes, Kubat, Puckett and Thompson. Only guy I could see maybe taken in R5 draft out of this group is Thompson.

December 2nd. Sox probably figure it will be easier to slip guys currently on the 40 man through we they need to make space as opposed to right now when a bunch of teams have several openings. And obviously if you don't put a guy like Foster on now, he is eligible for R5 draft. Can always remove him later.

Same, definitely surprised me. Makes little sense why you'd add him to 40 man now, but chose not to call him up in September.

Future Sox reporting that Yermin Mercedes is expected to be in the names added to the 40 man today.

MLBTR will list the players each team adds to the 40 man as they occur today.

Yah - he really is a great fit. Left handed. 1 year affordable deal. Above average defense. Won't require a major prospect to acquire. Leaves options open to acquire big time RF for 2021. Sign me TF up.

Yah, I hear ya. I wouldn't be against another signing to replace Engel on the 26 man, but was trying to be realistic. With the roster I presented, I would assume Leury and Dietrich would platoon if Peralta were to hit the DL.

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.