ChiSox59

Maybe by 2022...definitely isn’t happening this offseason. $135M....maybe.

I get that. But if Abreu takes the QO, he could be the guy that walks after 2020 and Carp can DH. Plus Carpenter can play 3B and 2B, so its not like his only position is 1B. Those positions are obviously taken too, but point is, he has quite a bit more flexibility. Again, not in love with the fit, just an idea that I was thinking about.

Mainly just spitballing here, but if Abreu takes the QO as most expect, I wonder if Matt Carpenter might be an option for 1B, moving Abreu to DH where he belongs. Carpenter is owned $39M over the next two years, so not cheap, and that would obviously complicate any deal. But the Sox may be be able to get something appealing with him as I am sure Cards would love to dump the salary. Would be a defensive upgrade at 1B over Abreu. Bats left handed. Elite OBP skills (career .372 OBP). Just one season removed from 5.0 fWAR season. Was terrible last season (for him), but still put him .334 OBP (better than Abreu's .330). Not campaigning for the move, and he is likely too expensive to make it work, but I haven't seen his name mentioned here at all, and he could potentially be a fit.

Problem is, the FA market doesn't really provide any RF options that are good fits either.

Vaughn - sure. Not really sure how the Sox can trade Madrigal at this point. He is a perfect fit for their needs, is MLB ready, is dirt cheap for 3 seasons, and there is a gaping hole at his position. It makes no sense to trade him.

It all really depends how the rest of the roster shakes out on if Mazara makes any sense or not. Sox could do worse than Mazara on a 1 year ~$4.5M deal if the price to acquire him was minimal. If he sucks, you non-tender him after 2020. There is still a lot of upside there, and its not like you're taking on a big commitment. I prefer him to say - Kole Calhoun. But Mazara definitely isn't in my top 5 choices for RF acquisitions. Its a shame he isn't a better defender.

No.

I think the Sox will go over $130M. Maybe not in 2020, but they will go over. Its not like the organization has never eclipsed $130M in the past.

Then we just need a 2B for the next 7 seasons. This doesn't really solve anything, just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

While a somewhat interesting thought, this would destroy the Sox financial flexibility. Its also a video game trade that doesn't seem possible in actuality.

I mean, ya I’ll be disappointed. But life goes on.

I don’t get an I agree from you very often! Special day!

But why? It’s not realistic. Sox have zero legitimate options in RF and DH to play everyday. They have to add at least those two. But would I be happy with say - Cole then say Nova, Encarnacion and Dickerson all one 1 year deals? Ya, sure. It’d be bizarre, but I could get behind it I guess.

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.