ChiSox59

Add Amiyama to that, and id be sold. Really need an option so that Castellanos/Abreu can both DH regularly in that scenario. Drop Grandal tho, and I pretty much hate it.

Right, I mean if he’s in addition to Grandal and Wheeler and Sox can sign a glove first OF that isn’t a black hole on offense, signed me up for Castellanos all day long. I just don’t see that as it even remotely close to a realistic situation. This all also assumes that Jose Abreu is around.

Is Abreu in there too? Man, the defense on that team would be awful. I'd give that offseason a C+. I'd rather see that than basically nothing, but that is nowhere near the route I think is best.

I don't see how anyone could realistically think Abreu is going anywhere. He is 99.9% taking the QO, and if he is so confident in his FA stock that he rejects it, he'd only be doing the Sox a giant favor and himself a giant disservice, because he'd end up back on the Sox on like a 1/$10M deal later in the offseason.

Well, he'd be a FA.

Castellanos gets a big meh from me. If he gets cheap enough (2/$30M or 3/$45 type deal), he starts to make a little sense. But he's not a RF, and a career 112 wRC+ DH is pretty underwhelming, especially if you're paying him a lot. And then he hits with the wrong hand. Sox need good hitters, and Castellanos I guess fits the bill. I would need to reserve judgement to see how the rest of the roster shakes out if the Sox signed him. On paper, I think he's a pretty poor fit.

You can't expect them to fill all the holes with long term core players. I don't really WANT EE, but he's a decent fall back option if the Sox can't get Grandal to sign the dotted line, or if Abreu leaves.

Yah, I think its a natural fit if they miss out on Grandal. Or, in a less likely scenario, Abreu rejects QO and signs elsewhere. EE is going to be cheap. He has legitimately no suitors. On a 1 year deal with a team option (similar to deal Nelson Cruz got from Twins last offseason), seems like a decent backup plan.

Palka will be off the 40 man before the new year.

While it is not going to happen (but theoretically possible), I think he's basically saying Abreu takes the QO, then the Sox and Abreu rip up the one year deal later in the offseason and he signs a 2 year $30M extension.

I don’t want the worst defensive OF in the game, and Castellanos is pretty underwhelming as a DH if the plan is to move him there. If the rest of the moves are home runs or he gets really cheap, I’d be ok with Castellanos. But he’s just a really poor fit IMO.

I personally think Ryu is a great fit. Ya, he’s an injury risk. That’s why he isn’t going to get a monster deal. He’s reallY fucking good when he pitches, and with Kopech and Rodon arriving at some point, and perhaps Dunning as well, it’s not the end of the world if he misses some starts later in the year. I would prefer Wheeler or the aces, but Ryu is a very nice fit. Dickerson does very little for me. But I’d prefer him to fitting a square peg in a round hole with long term commitments to Castellanos/Puig/Ozuna. As I’ve said, I do expect RF to be solved via trade anyway.

Would you be mad about Grandal (4/70) Abreu (1/17.8), Ryu (3/50), Smyly (1/7), and Dickerson (1/10)?

Feel free to take a hiatus until then. The quality of the board would improve drastically.

LOL. They legitimately rebuild to avoid doing this very thing. You're just ignoring what is clearly in front of your eyes because it fits your narrative, and you love being negative.

Obviously not. I just think the White Sox have a plan and know what they're doing . They get basically zero credit here. I've said what I think they should do like 1,000 times in the past few months. Priority #1: Sign Grandal Priority #1A: Sign one of the best best 5 SP FA. Cole and Strasburg are pipedreams. After them, its one of Wheeler, Bumgarner or Ryu. Wheeler would be my first choice after the clear aces that are pipedreams. Priority #2: Figure out RF. I'd prefer to trade for a RF as I think the free agent options are all poor fits for this roster. I've mentioned Nimmo, Pederson, Dahl, Tapia, Mazara, Startling Marte, Gregory Polonco, Brian Anderson and David Peralta as guys who making varying degree of sense. Priority #3: Retain Abreu via a 2 year deal at $15M AAV MAX, or on the QO. I think its safe to assume this will be checked off the list in less than 10 days. Priority #4: Sign a backend SP to eat some innings while Kopech builds up his endurance in AAA and Rodon rehabs. Someone who can transition to bullpen later in season would be ideal. I think who makes the most sense is somewhat contingent upon who is signed as Priority #1A. Someone like Wood, Tehran, Rich Hill, Smyly, Gibson, etc make some sense here. Priority #5: If you fail to do Priority #1, sign a DH bat for a season. We really need lefties, but Encarncion has legitimately no suitors, and may make some sense on a cheap 1 year deal if Grandal signs elsewhere. Priority #6: Get a decent veteran reliever. Nothing too sexy is necessary. Stammen, Hudson, Martin, Harris (Astros) are a few names. I would say if they cannot accomplish about half of that (doesn't necessarily need to be the exact player mentioned, but fill the holes as noted), the offseason would be failure. I don't want to spend money just to spend money. Ideally we fill a rotation spot and C/DH/1B with longer term options in Wheeler and Grandal. I am pretty confident the Sox to-do list looks very similar to this. They have plenty of payroll flexibility to work with. I think it will be a productive offseason. Does that summarize it enough, or would you like more detail?

Signing a 4 or 5 SP and an average RF/DH gets the Sox payroll to like $75-90M depending on your definition of 4/5 SP and "average RF/DH". This is still unrealistic.

What was the tweet again?

What a shocking take!

THE WHITE SOX ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE A $65M PAYROLL. I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS SO COMPLICATED FOR SOME TO UNDERSTAND.

I guess it depends on what your definition of "elite" is. If Grandal and Wheeler fit that description, yah. If its Rendon and Cole, prepare to be disapointed. Grandal and Wheeler are both awesome fits for this franchise, and while both may beat the largest contract handed out by the Sox, they aren't going to be franchise crippling deals. The Sox already have a really good young, cheap and controllable core. They just need to fill in the gaps with productive players. They have more than enough money to do that over the next 2 offseasons.

And what exactly does that prove? Most objective Sox fans realized that MM and BH would be great. but that it was at least at year early.

I did not say that the Sox would bump payroll into the "top 12ish range". I said they could bump payroll to $120Mish and still be below average. I don't expect the Sox to go into "top 12ish range" next season, but I do expect them to be in the $120M range. FWIW, the Giants were 12th in 2019 at $138M. I definitely see the Sox in the $150M range by 2022. I don't have "evidence". But the Sox didn't just rebuild for nothing. You only have to go back to 2015 for the last time they were in the top half of the league in spending, 2013 top 8, 2012 top 5. I get why everyone is pessimistic, but at least be objective.

That the Sox aren't going to suddenly operate as one of the lowest payrolls in the league moving forward? Or that the Negative Nancys conveniently ignore future financial obligations in every negative nancy post?

The Sox may have whiffed, but they're not in a meaningfully worse position for doing so. One could argue they're in a better position with a budding superstar in Moncada at 3B and not owing Manny Macho $270M over the next 9 seasons. And they still have the $250M they offered to Machado to spend. The Sox are not suddenly going to operate as one of the lowest payrolls in the league moving forward. The negative nancys continually disregard that. They could sign Wheeler, Grandal, Abreu and Encarnacion and still be below average.