ChiSox59

I can basically guarantee you that if Collins is on the major league roster, there will be 3 catchers on it. They are not going to relegate Collins to pure backup catcher duties at this point. If Collins is on the team, he is going to play, and that is going to be a time-share at C, 1B and DH. I am not ready to completely write-off Collins as a "bad hitter" at this stage, but definitely understand your concern there. However, the scenario I describe is an ENORMOUS upgrade over what we ran out at DH/C/1B in 2018, so not sure why that suddenly doesn't work in your mind. I too would prefer the Sox sign JDM to DH, Grandal to catch, resign Abreu to play 1B, find a suitable RF and some SP. But I also live in reality and realize the Sox are unlikely to exceed $125M payroll. The Grandal/Abreu/McCann/Collins tandem sharing C, DH and 1B duties makes a ton of sense. You may not like it, but Grandal has a career OBP of .348 and OPS + of 115. Obviously that profiles better at catcher than DH, but he isn't going to be able to catch 150 games, so you work his bat in elsewhere. It makes sense to me, and to a lot other people who pay a lot of attention - including non-White Sox associated people like Mike Petriello who says Grandal is an amazing fit for the White Sox. The Sox need to find a way to get more lineup balance, while also improving team defense. The available free agents are very right handed, and the better bats are poor defenders. You don't sign a guy just because he is lefty and switch hitter, but that is something that needs to be considered and oftentimes ignored here. Moncada can't be the only legitimate bat in the lineup that hits lefthanded. I know. You and I are on the same page.

He'd be getting the "majority" of his starts at catcher. He'd start ~90-100 games at catcher.

This really isn't that complicated. Not exact numbers here, but something like this could definitely work. Abreu: 1B (100 games), DH (50 games) Grandal: C (90 games), 1B (30 games), DH (30 games) McCann: C (50 games), DH (30 games) Collins: C (20 games), DH (40 games), 1B (20 games) Basically Abreu is your 1B and occasional DH. Grandal catches against RHP, DHs or 1B against LHP. McCann catches Gio and gets a few DH starts against LHP. Sprike Collins in at catcher, CH and 1B against righties. Obviously other guys can DH occasionally too.

Yah, I could see three years. I've said it before, but if Ozuna's market dips into the 3 years $45-$50M range, the Sox should definitely kick the tires. He's not a good fit, but you can DH him some, DH Eloy some, etc., but you're still going to need to find a LH corner OF that is at worst an average defender. There is value there. 7 years and $150+M or whatever is laughable though, and he'd be lucky to get half that. I think he goes for 4/$75-80M type deal in the end.

Assuming Abreu is resigned, he most certainly does.

McCann was the 9th best catcher in all of baseball last year per fWAR. Not exactly sure who people think we're going to upgrade with besides Grandal, and even if you sign Grandal, you still need another catcher. The whole discussion is silly. McCann is going nowhere for 2020.

Because he isn't very good at catching, and they'll want to play him at 1B and DH as well. Tough to regularly use your only backup catcher elsewhere in the field. Even if the Sox miss out on Grandal, I am pretty much certain they'll be carrying 2 catchers in addition to Collins.

In the sense that all FAs are a luxury. Grandal is far and away the best free agent position player fit for the White Sox. People need to stop looking at Grandal as if he's replacing McCann. Grandal will DH and play 1B in addition to catching, allowing Collins to be more than strictly a b/u catcher, and also allowing McCann to not get overexposed. Grandal is the perfect fit, and likely won't even require $20M AAV.

He is not a viable everyday catcher, and the Sox aren't going to use him as a backup either. Hence, we need three catchers.

Not sure how you define that post as "love". He's a passable stopgap. Setting aside trade options for a second because those are difficult to handicap, please list to me a few better free agent options in RF. Please consider factors such as defense, lineup balance and contract. I'll wait.

Ok, you're welcome to your opinion, and I would agree wholeheartedly that 2nd half 2019 McCann is likely the McCann we see in 2020. But he's still worth $4.9M projected arb price, and there is no chance he is non-tendered. I also am strongly for signing Grandal, which would relegate McCann to Gio's personal catcher, and get some starts other against LHP. He still definitely has a role on this club.

I am not a big champion of Gardner, but he's one of the better stop gap options. How can you say Gardner makes no sense, and then in the next sentence suggest a trade for Reddick who by all measures is an inferior player to Gardner. Only positive to Reddick is he is a couple years younger, but for 1 season that doesn't matter much. I don't think anyone here is interested in giving Gardner a 3 year $30M deal, but if you can get him for 1 year $8-10M and all trade options in RF are too expensive or don't work out for whatever reason, there are definitely worse options in RF for a year. Reddick 2019 stats: .275/.319/.409; OPS .728; 89 OPS+ Gardner: .251/.325/.503; OPS .829; 117 OPS+

Grandal basically solves C/DH/1B assuming Abreu is retained. Between Abreu, Grandal, McCann and Collins, those three positions are covered. FA is really solvable via FA unless its a 1 year stop gap. So not a ton of capital needs to be deployed there. Pretty obvious they'll try to find a trade partner there. I would agree that SP should be 1A, but Grandal should be 1B.

You lost me at the bolded. McCann isn't a FA, is coming of a 2.3 fWAR season and could be had for less than $5 million via arb. There is a zero percent chance the Sox non-tender McCann.

Again, not good. Palka: -1.3 Alonso: -1.3 AJ Reed: -0.5 Skole: -0.5 Delmonico: -0.5 Collins: -0.3 Again, those are cumulative fWAR stats, and they appeared at more than just DH, but its not pretty.

Not exact because they appeared more than just in RF and 5th starter, but my calculations were -3.1 fWAR for RF and -2.1 fWAR for 5th starter. In way you spice it, it’s awful. Replacing with 2 WAR players is at least a 9 fWAR swing.

I think it was pretty obvious that he was insinuating that. Adding in Wheeler, Grandal, Nimmo (my trade target of choice), Wood/Hill and a solid reliever and you have the makings of a team that COULD be in contention. Big offseason for sure, but nothing earth shattering in terms of dollars spent.

It is not completely insane to think that Kopech, Robert, Madrigal along with a year of development from our young core players could be the difference between and a 70 and 80 win team. Poppy is definitely on the overly optimistic side, but if you’re replacing our turnstile in RF and 5th SP with Robert and Kopech, that is an enormous upgrade alone. Madrigal over Yolmer should be a slight upgrade at worst, and a significant one if Madrigal thrives right away. Plus we dealt with all the injuries with season to our core players in Eloy, Tim and Yoan. If the Sox can stay healthier in 2020, they could have the makings of a .500 ball club with no FA additions besides resigning Abreu. Also I would guess that Dunning does appear in the big leagues at some point in 2020, and it’s not very fair to completely write off Hamilton. His 2019 was completely cursed with a car accident and getting hit in the face with an errant foul liner. Very little had to do with structural damage or pain from pitching. I would guess he’s definitely in the Sox short term plans. It all just comes down to how they decide to fill out the roster and deploy the dollars. Thankfully, we are finally starting to get close to the beginning of the answers. Should be a fun offseason - fingers crossed the Sox do the right thing!

It is truly amazing to me that there are people that think bringing Avi Garcia back would actually be a solution.

I would add Corey Dickerson to the FA list and Gregory Polonco, Nomar Mazara and Ramiel Tapia to the RF list.

Lol. Coming from the guy that spends a good chunk of his free time on a forum negatively rambling on and and on and on about about mostly nothing. Comical. Its always amazed me the amount of time you spend doing something that clearly causes you so much angst. Its unfortunate, because you definitely have baseball knowledge to share, but instead chose to consistently bring down the quality of this board with your rambling non-sense and pure negativity. Its a shame.

The big news we've all been waiting for.... Minaya and Despaigne elected free agency.

I don't see Cole, Strasburg or Rendon happening either. But there is a solid group of FA after those three before you get the dumpster diving you're pushing for. Plus, Ozuna and JDM are not getting 9 figure deals. The Sox need to sign one of Grandal or JD Martinez. A big bat has to happen. They need to sign a SP just below the tier of Cole/Strasburg - whether that is Wheeler, or Bumgarner, or Ryu, they all work. After that, I am OK filling in the gaps with guys like Hamels, Miley, Alex Gordon/Kole Calhoun/Dickerson/Gardner, etc., but they need to add two of the ten or so FA, or this is never going to work.

I don't think that team you just described is "super fun to think about". I think it is an 80 win team at best. The Sox need to supplement this team with at least 2-3 well above average players. Hamels, Miley, Avi and Gordon do not that fit that bill. That offseason would get a giant D from me.

In a long line of terrible Caulfield posts.