TheFutureIsNear

If Kopech needs more than 4-5 starts in the minors something probably went wrong. He’s already 12+ months removed from the surgery. Unless there’s something we don’t know I see no reason to baby Kopech along. Let him knock off some rust with a few short starts in AAA and let him loose.

In my opinion if Wheeler and Grandal are signed the window opens in 2021...22/23 is where we will start getting into extensions for our younger guys not named Eloy or TA

Wonder if front loading a contract for Wheeler makes sense and would appeal to him? Something like 4/85 with $50M guaranteed in the 1st 2 years. With our payroll situation I’d much rather overpay for Wheeler in the short term than be on the hook for 2 years at the end of the deal he may/probably won’t be worth

Why on earth would you want to DH McCann?? Collins is obviously an unknown, but McCann is known...as a bad hitter. McCann has plenty of value to the Sox as a backup catcher, no need to overthink it as anything more

wait, do you really think Grandal and Wheeler make the Sox World Series contenders?

Good signing...but now the FO is committed, can’t stop here or it’s a waste of $. Go get 1 of Cole, Stras, Ryu, Wheeler or Bum sooner rather than later.

Trade: Carson Fulmer for Travis Shaw. LH hitter that can play 3B, 2B, and 1B with some pop. Has had prior success but struggled in 2019. Brewers seem to be done with him so a flyer on Fulmer could be a fair swap. Sign: Zack Wheeler- Everyone’s obvious top signing that is realistic for the Sox. 5/105 Nick Castellanos- I know a lot of people have issues with his D in RF, but he’s still young and made drastic improvements from year 1 to year 2 at a new position. If he can simply be league average defensively his bat will play more than enough to justify the contract. 4/66 Brad Bach and Arodys Vizcaino- 2 bounce back relief candidates to take a chance on to stabilize the pen. 1/5 for both. Josh Lindblom- Potential great value to eat innings as a 5th starter or could be a useful pen arm. The model for success for coming back from overseas is there. 2/7.5 C- McCann 1B- Abreu 2B- Madrigal 3B- Moncada SS- TA LF- Eloy CF- Robert RF- Castellanos DH- Collins Bench- Shaw, Luery, Mendick, ?(maybe another C or a better RH DH platoon) Gio Wheeler Cease Lopez Lindblom/Kopech Frye Bach Marshall Cordero Vizciano Bummer Colome About $128M for payroll

Hopefully this is out with the old and in with the new...this organization needs to get less “old school” and more into the modern era. Have a feeling there probably isn’t much modern about Omar.

I guess the part I’m lost at is why can’t Grandal and Collins both be in the lineup? If you’re spending $15+M on Grandal to fill the catcher spot we still have big holes at RF and DH. Even the “cheap” stop gap options are going to cost around $10M...and in my opinion we aren’t winning the WS (or anything close) in 2020 so I’d much rather see Collins get AB’s than sign someone like Encarnacion to play 1 year and never be seen again. If we can get something like a .770 OPS (.350/.420) out of Collins in his 1st full year at his dirt cheap rookie salary I’d consider it a win and be happy. The bench bat that can DH against LH to complete the platoon shouldn’t be hard to find at all.

I don’t see how 1 could have this opinion and then also pencil in Cease to start the year in the rotation. I don’t know your personal stance on Cease, just a general statement. Makes no sense that we gave so much leeway to Gio, Yoan, and now Cease, but Collins gets less than a 1/4 season? I’d say let’s see what we have over a solid 300 AB’s before any decisions are made either way

I guess it depends how much you care, but LH vs RH would be a fairly big deal in our lineup.

I don’t get why “only a LH power hitting high OBP guy” isn’t valuable to you. We play in the AL with a DH and the vast majority of pitchers are right handlers. He can get 450-500 AB’s no problem and a bench guy that hits just lefties well isn’t hard to find

I think anything less than .230/.350/.420 and be won’t last very long in the lineup...unless he proves to be viable catcher defensively. But if he’s primarily a DH and occasional C/1B he’s going to have to slug a good bit over .400. And as long as he’s not completely overmatched his OBP floor is probably .350 at worst honestly, I think patience and a lot of walks is just in his dna as a hitter.

DH him against righties and see what he is. Give him at least 300 PA’s to start the year before any decisions are made. If he can get 500 PA’s and maintain a .360+ OBP and hit 20 hrs he will be valuable to the Sox. Fill SP and RF with multi year pieces to build on and fill DH with Collins and a cheap RH platoon.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXqTgcx6Th1fJ8HmqYfeXZXX6HLIDAlOInFyW0Sflz8/edit?usp=sharing + Josh Lindblom for 2/7M (not an option on the spreadsheet) bringing the payroll to 114 This is my "sign Wheeler, but then go full White Sox everywhere else". C- McCann/d'Arnaud- 60/40 split 1B- Abreu 2B- Madrigal SS- TA 3B- Moncada LF- Eloy CF- Robert RF- Markakis/Luery LH/RH split DH- Collins vs RH and Dozier or d'Arnaud vs LH Mendick on the bench Gio Wheeler Cease Lopez Lindblom Kopech Burr/Hamilton/Ruiz Frye Marshall Cordero Rondon Bummer Colome

Greinke‘s contract with the Astros is 2/53M right now...why would that be a negative value? No way Greinke is getting traded for nothing.

For the record Calhoun was credited for 0 DRS last year...Castellanos was -9. Is that negligible? No. But does it make up for the potential 30 point difference in WRC+ between the 2? I don’t think so. Obviously you can’t just ignore the $ difference between the 2 either, but there’s also the point of not having a stop gap and doing this whole process over again next year.

Is he really THAT bad? Can he not improve as a 28 year old new to the OF? It’s not like he’s a horrible athlete that can’t move. He improved drastically from year 1 to year 2 in RF. I see no reason he can’t improve again to be league average. We play in the AL, a small hitters park, and in era that is becoming an increasingly 3 out come game. If scouts feel like Castellanos can become a league average defender he’d be a very good fit imo.

Castellanos- 4/66M Wheeler- 5/110M Hector Rondon- 2/12M Trade with Rockies: Steiver, Rutherford and Sheets for Daniel Murphy and Jon Gray CF- Robert 3B- Moncada RF- Castellanos 1B- Abreu LF- Eloy DH- Murphy SS- TA C- McCann 2B- Madrigal Gio Wheeler Cease Gray Lopez/Kopech

It’s pretty hard to look at many teams and see excess quality pitching... Chris Archer Price/Eovaldi Marco Gonzales Braves have like 8 young arms

“Bunt? Again? They must be on to us, no one can be this stupid”

I don’t subscribe to the athletic so can’t read the whole article...what is the “electronic” part involved before the banging sound? Is someone watching the tv broadcast and able to relay the signal that quickly?

I’d be very interested to see what a Murphy and Gray package would cost us. Rockies are said to be trying to shed payroll and I’m sure Murphy fits that bill and can be had for fairly cheap. Not sure what kind of value Gray adds with 2 years of control tho.

Collins steiver Micker Basabe Rutherford Walker Dunning Sheets Fulmer handful of low level guys that will have some interest Obviously nothing with a ton of value, but some sort of package of 2-3 could get most of that list in my opinion. A guy like Benintendi would obviously require us to take on bad contracts tho.

This is purely speculation on my part. I do not know if all/any of these players are actually available, the list was compiled by looking at teams that have a log jam/surplus at positions we could use. Also not claiming the Sox have the necessary pieces that make sense to make trade for any player. And obviously these players are all of varying degrees of interest. Yankees- Frazier, Bird, Tauchman Red Sox- Benintendi Astros- Reddick A’s- Canha, Olson Mariners- Santana, Haniger Rangers- Calhoun, Mazara Braves- Markakis (cheap club option) Mets- Cano (mets add a lot of $ + young talent), Dom Smith, Nimmo Phillies- Bruce, Franco, Haseley Cubs- Schwarber, Heyward, Happ Reds- Winker Brewers- Travis Shaw, Ben Gamel Pirates- Marte Cardinals- Jose Martinez, Wong Rockies- Daniel Murphy Dodgers- Pederson, Edwin Rios Padres- Franchy Cordero Post any players I forgot and/or trade proposals. We could use some new conversations aside from over analyzing the same 10 or so free agents.