Jose Abreu

Tampa? They've been looking for left-handed power (despite dangling Meadows) and made a surprisingly good offer to Freeman

The Thome comment made me curious, so I checked. Since 2006 (minimum 250 PAs), the 3 best offensive seasons (wRC+) by a White Sox non-Thome left-handed hitter are held by... Omar Narvaez, Adam Eaton, and AJ Pierzynski

Yup, although I still don't think that mattered for the Sox. Atlanta won the World Series, and they, too, were under .500 against winning teams in the regular season. Obviously the Sox still had many areas to improve upon, and didn't improve any of them over the offseason, but I hesitate to point to their regular season performance against good teams as an important indicator given Atlanta's run

If anything, I see Andrew Vaughn starting in RF as more akin to a 6'4 Javonte Green starting at power forward for most of the 2022 Bulls' season. Both good players that serve a purpose, but just aren't capable of fulfilling the role they're being placed in

If he goes down, maybe they try Abreu out there tomorrow

The option years were 2/18, so I guess one way to look at it is a 3/58 extension on top of guaranteeing those years. But man, that's still cheap for his production

Problem is, you sign one of those guys and next thing you know, Tony has named him the everyday RF

It's wishful thinking — I believe he is the only White Sox player remaining (Engel and Lopez settled) as arbitration eligible. We've seen a couple extensions across the league this week. I don't think and never did think we're signing Conforto, so maybe, just maybe, they're working on something with Giolito to make this offseason at least somewhat redeemable

Lucas Giolito and the White Sox agree to a contract extension

Love to see most/all of the regulars in, but hate 5 righties in a row and the best OBP guy hitting directly in front of Leury and Harrison

I agree about front offices and agents negotiating through the media, I just struggle to see how Levine apparently mentioning (on a random afternoon show that none of us actually heard on our own, I should add) that the Sox aren't looking for a RF upgrade is an example of it. Even if you're correct that it's not about the specific example, but the Sox wanting to have a united front on not needing an upgrade, you'd think that Boras would know their interest level or lack thereof by now.

I don't get it. Scott Boras is eagerly tuning into 670 The Score and punching air when he hears Levine say the Sox aren't looking to upgrade in RF?

I'll be pleasantly surprised if he gets <400 (474 last year)

That's my hunch. And maybe it's just the initial shock of the move, but a Montas-Gray-Ryan top 3 is probably good enough to get a lineup with Correa, Buxton, Polanco, Urshela, Sanchez, Kiriloff, and Kepler into the (expanded) playoffs

I'm not a Royce Lewis fan but I'm sure he could headline a package for a decent starter

I don't see why the Dodgers would do this but I'd love it

Didn't hear it myself, but someone in a Twitter chat I'm in mentioned (before the tweet was posted) that they heard on ESPN radio that the Sox have 3 offers for Kimbrel. Then a quick search showed that this guy heard it too

I guess it depends on the SP. And I believe that Joc is going to have a bounce back year while Sheets is unlikely to maintain his 2021 performance, but I understand the opposite argument

He was my ideal 2B fit before the Harrison signing. Can't wait to see him get traded to another contender for a lottery ticket or cash

If it means we get a real SP upgrade, trading Sheets and then signing Joc would be a good move

Yup. He's basically left field only right now, and part of the reason Tampa is trading him is because he's more of a DH.

I think you're joking but even on offense, Seby was much worse than Collins last year. The 3 homer game is all anyone remembers though. I think they'll trade for a backup catcher in the coming weeks

Agreed. I also think people have trouble separating process from results and don't understand how unlucky Vaughn was last year, especially late in the year. To put up league-average results (with underlying metrics to suggest that they should've been slightly better) after skipping AA and AAA and playing new positions all year is incredible. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Vaughn has an all-star caliber year at the plate.

Yes — and it worked. You'd think, if anything, his performance would make them even more comfortable jumping the market to get their targets

Sure, let's talk about him. Agreed, but I'm hoping that for the sake of R/L balance they at least talk to Abreu about going TA-Robert-Grandal-Abreu to start