BaconOnAStick

Rodon, Giolito, Lopez, a free agent and Shields.

They get to .500 by having a slightly below average club to start the year that gets progressively better as new arrivals come from the farm before ending the session in a good note. Signing Moustakas would not be a move simply for 2018, he'll still be around in 2019. Itd actually be shrewd to be a little extra active in 2018 free agency if everyone holds back to save up for the next year's feeding frenzy.

Javier Baez spent barely a year between high A and the majors. Bryant would've only spent one season transiting that gap had the Cubs not wanted to keep his clock frozen another year. Russell only played 61 games at AA and AAA for the Cubs. So yeah they like to leave guys low and then move them up through the system very quickly. I'm guessing Jimenez would've gotten that treatment had they not traded him.

Its not rushing. Kopech could easily be 100% ready this time next year (in fact, that's his exact trajectory) and Jimenez was considered by the Cubs MLB ready. They just didnt have a spot for him. Jimenez at the very least is forcing a AA callup (you could argue the Sox are wasting time and hurting his development leaving him in W-S much longer), and from there it's only one step to AAA. See what Boston did with Devers? It's not out of the ordinary to rocket a guy up to the majors who is playing well enough to justify such a quick ascension.

I have never said they should call up Rutherford, Robert or Burger next year.

I think they can and should try to complete and on a game-by-game basis. I think they should not lose on purpose the way they are losing now. I think .500 next year would be a success. Whether they will do any of things is up to the front office. To say with complete certainty they will pick 1.1 next year is equally presumptuous as saying they will win the ALC. As for the one defending Rick Hahn's honesty, this team has not been forthright regarding injuries. They don't have to be, it's not a knock, but they don't have a problem lying.

The Cubs thought Jimenez was MLB ready this spring. I trust their judgment. Kopech is on a perfect timetable to be a 2018 midseason callup.

Ah yes the ever honest White Sox front office.

Yes if they do literally nothing to improve this team in the off-season they will be bad again. But do you know Rick Hahn to do nothing in the off-season? Do you really think the Sox will just sit on the sidelines? I don't know, and neither do you. When you look at whether they should choose to at least put an MLB quality team on the field the answer to me is clear. They can make this team decent without spending $200m on free agents or trading any of their prospects. It really wouldn't be too difficult. They built a pretty good pen out of a pair of cheap trades and some minor league free agents, why can't they do that again? Don't tell that they won't be any good, tell me why they shouldn't. How does it hurt to win a few games in 2018?

That is a choice they can make this offseason. There is more than enough available in free agency (at reasonable prices) and on the farm, assuming they are aggressive calling up Jimenez and Kopech, to field a team that can be competitive on a game-by-game basis. Probably not playoffs, but forward momentum towards 2019 (a season they absolutely must not spend wallowing in the basement).

If Bryce Harper was in the 2019 draft you'd know it already.

The So have like 10 top 100 prospects, 3 of which are top 10 caliber, and a top 3 pick in 2018 all but sewn up. There is no way the Astros compiled that kind of talent after one draft. But hey, if you want to run with the Astros comparison...do you think it's worth punting an entire season of baseball to get ourselves a Mark Appel?

There's a lot more to baseball than just adding/subtracting WAR numbers. This year's team has clearly quit, they are fine with being walked all over. WAR is not going to capture the aura of dread that surrounds the current squad. It's ok to have one season like this, but losing is a plague. I dont think it's a good idea to have an MVP talent like Moncada waste his service time on a team that won't be trying to contend this decade.

They need to be literally worthless for the Sox to be as bad next year as they are this year. Look at the production they are replacing, you expect the difference between Yoan Moncada and Tyler Saladino to be negligible? If you do that's fine, but that also means you think this whole rebuild is screwed. If Giolito and Lopez are as bad as Pelfrey I'm going to be alarmed. If Rodon and Anderson continue to be terrible I'll be ready to write them off completely. I think there is a board-wide desire to see the team be bad but the players be good. Thats certainly possible, but I think it's far more likely that players playing well will lead to wins. Or conversely, players playing poorly lead to losses. And it almost certainly not work out so conveniently that everyone you want to look good next year will look good, and everyone you don't care about will be so terrible that they drag the team down. "Good" is a binary scale, and taking into account the expectations for next I would say .500 would cross the "good" threshold. I would much rather Moncada, Giolito, Lopez, Kopech etc. carry this team to respectability than us accrue more bonus pool or high draft picks. In fact, if they don't and this team continues to be embarrassing, I'll start having doubts about whether the Sox have done the right thing.

How can you say this so assuredly? The Twins are no better now than the Sox will be next year and they are 1 game below .500. The Brewers began the year a cruel joke of a roster and here they are, it's almost August, battling for first with the "juggernaut" Cubs. If you are this pessimistic about Moncada and the arms then I don't see how you could support the trades made over the last 8 months. You are basically saying they gave away Chris Sale and Adam Eaton for nothing.

When people say they will be worse next year I wonder if they understand what that means for the players everyone is counting on for the future. For them to actually get worse would require that Moncada, Gioltio and Lopez (not to mention midseason arrivals like Kopech and Jimenez and the tier below guys like Polo, Cordell, Delmonico etc) are basically all 0.0 WAR players. That's not good. That puts the rebuild in serious peril if nobody they call up is worth anything.

There is absolutely no reason to give up on 2018. If they do I lose a lot of faith in the future. But knowing what I know about Hahn, Kenny and Jerry I think they feel the way I do. The farm is loaded, they have talented players set to be arriving at a consistent pace and tons of money to spend. They can seize a weak division in 2018 if they get a couple breaks, but the goal should be .500 baseball.

Yankees need to spend more on pitching and really need to start thinking now about the Harper sweepstakes. They could go after Moustakas, but I would doubt it. Boston will not complicate their 3b situation needlessly. They'll go into next season with Devers as the starter and a utility acquisition as insurance.

If you've got your division wrapped up for the most part and just need a guy to eat innings so your top arms are fresh for the playoffs then Holland is OK. I think we'll be surprised with what they get in return.

I have a feeling they are looking at making a free agent splash this offseason. KC is not going to let Hosmer walk, but that could open Moustakas up to be swiped. 4 years/$80m seems reasonable for both sides, if not a little bit of a bargain for the Sox. Free agency isn't what it used to be, though. dh Davidson/Delmonico/Gillaspie (or Abreu and one of these guys plays the field) c Narvaez/Smith (perhaps a FA) 1b Abreu 2b Moncada ss Anderson 3b Moustakas lf Delmonico/Cordell/Polo cf Engel/Leury (possible FA) rf Avi Gotta like that infield, especially if Anderson figures it out. Sox don't have much at 3b really, if Burger mashes his way to the majors the DH spot can be used to get him AB's.

A .500 season would be really encouraging. Much better than another trainwreck year.

Yup. The Cubs traded a guy who is clearly on track to be the #1 overall prospect on baseball for a rotation lefty controlled through their window. When you're trying to win you sell out, never hold back for a future that may never come.

He's looked mostly terrible, but the moments he hasn't have been transcendent. That double last night was nuked, the speed getting to third, he went Operation Meetinghouse on an Arrieta breaking ball... So hey, it could be worse. He could be hitting .100 with a 30% K-rate and not showing flashes. At least with the ability he's displaying at times you can envision a rough first 100-150 PA's or so being just the prologue in a very successful career. Still was hoping he'd come up and just destroy. I just want to enjoy a player like that.

Moncada just looks bad.

Jimenez is literally the best pure hitter playing minor league baseball right now.