Bob Sacamano

Yankees could also grab the Braves prospects.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 12:51 PM) Scott Merkin‏Verified account @scottmerkin 14m14 minutes ago White Sox EVP Ken Williams on pursuit of Ohtani: "Our guys put together a great initial presentation. I was a little surprised we weren’t afforded the opportunity to sit down with him..." It would definitely be easier to swallow if the other Chicago team wasn't afforded an opportunity either.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 12:06 PM) So are we all going to call him Beef ? I'm in.

QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 12:02 PM) Yeah, 5 of the first ~40 picks is going to be crazy and give them a huge bonus pool. I feel like a good strategy for a quicker rebuild with that many picks would be to go heavy on college players at the top and use the huge bonus pool to pick up any high upside high school guys that fall to the later rounds. If Seth Beer isn't drafted first round, they can definitely take a chance on him with those picks.

They're about to talk about the details of the Cubs pitch on The Score.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 11:17 AM) Why offer a reliever a 2 year deal at this point though? The Castillo signing makes sense because we need to bridge the gap until Collins/Zavala are ready to contribute. I see several one year deal and/or minor league contracts to players similar to Swarzak who could bounce back. Why not? You can look to move said reliever at the deadline and instead of being a rental, they would have an extra year of control.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 11:01 AM) Royals and Tigers going to hell right when the Sox have a window opening in the near future is one of my favorite parts of the rebuild. Yep.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 10:53 AM) The White Sox may be able to benefit from the Ohtani situation and maybe also because of the plethora of international guys out on the market. The finalists for Ohtani have been announced: Cubs, Padres, Dodhers, Giants, Rangers, Mariners, Angels. Cubs, Padres, Dodgers and Giants are all limited to a bonus of $300K. The kid is said to not care about $$ and that's kind of evident with 4 of the remaining teams on his list currently unable to spend more than $300K. Texas has $3.53 million in space. They can still acquire an additional $1.5 million roughly though for a total of around $5 million to offer. Seattle has traded for International space and has a total of $1.57 million. They can acquire between $2-$2.5 million more in space though for a total of $3.5-$4 million. The Angels currently have $1.315 million. They can trade for roughly $2 million more in international space and spend between $3-$3.5 million after doing so. The White Sox still have about $1.1 million in international space. They could theoretically help a team like the Angels get him if more money is a contributing factor. Sox should be pedaling that right now.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 10:45 AM) I have the feeling that the front office would love to unload both Avi and Abreu during this offseason if possible. As a rebuilding club we really should be looking to deal assets not under long term control and be building our contender. Expensive extensions do not fit into what we are trying to do, and if Avi has a bad start to 2018 we lose whatever value we could have gotten for him. Abreu/Avi should have interest on the trade market since they are a much shorter commitment and lower cost than free agency. It comes down to admitting that 2019 is likely best seen as another rebuilding season, vs. a legitimate chance of contention. Next week should be fun.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/roya...or-rebuild.html On the positive side for them, they have I think 4 picks after the first round. Who can they realistically trade that has value though? Duffy? Perez? I would think they're rebuilding situation is a lot better than the Tigers.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 10:26 AM) I think waiting for another half season is totally fair and open minded since even I have to admit one season isn't enough to justify an extension. I didn't think so with Tim Anderson and even if I have believed in Avi for years that doesn't trump common sense. Yeah. And who knows, if he hits like last season and he isn't interested in an extension, maybe a team out there will buy into his success and be willing to give you what you want for him.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 10:11 AM) Any potential extension would have to be for at least 2 free agent years, plus a likely option year at this point to make sense for Avi. I'm just not sure I want to commit to him for that long just yet. The 2018/2019 free agent class is so loaded with talent, even if we miss out of the "top" free agents, the second and third tier still have a bunch of quality players. We would have to weigh the cost of Avi against free agents and our own farm. http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...e-agent-bonanza I'm honestly all for selling him now if a team believes that he is the player he was in 2017 going forward and buying him at that price. We shall see if that is realistic though.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:54 AM) Here's an article from SSS about BABIP and if Avi really was lucky as some suggest . here is the conclusion but read the whole article to fully understand the data. https://www.southsidesox.com/2017/10/11/164...ir-side-in-2017 "It’s widely believed that Garcia’s .392 BABIP has fueled his stellar season. That’s true to a degree, but xwOBA doesn’t see him falling off all that hard. The .353 figure above still suggests he’s a very good hitter even without the fortuitous bounces. With his vastly improved defense in right field, Garcia looks the part of a well above-average player even when his luck comes back to earth." It also says that ground balls go for hits 24% of the time while fly balls are 21% . Now this info was from 2014 so there is the caveat that with many more HR's during 2017 that fly balls produce a higher percentage now. Also that xwOBA doesn't take the players speed into consideration . Avi had many infield hits and his speed and hustle down the first base line no doubt was a factor so speed isn't really luck it's just part of a players skill set. Now Avi no doubt caught a few infielders off guard with his improved speed and some of those hits were just a fielder taking his sweet time and Avi made them pay for it so those kind of hits most likely won't happen again. But overall when you take speed and xwOBA into consideration Avi was not as significantly lucky as many suggest. This is something that would worry me about a long-term deal. He's a big guy who has always run hard. At some point, he won't be quick anymore. I still need to see about another half a season before I want to extend him.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:54 AM) Right, this is the Bryant situation right? Assuming Ohtani is a top of the rotation fixture it probably is more likely he's escalated to that number (Whatever it grows to by then). But still, a freaking bargain. If everyone's right, a team will be getting a top of rotation starter for the signing bonus of like a compensatory pick in the amateur draft. We gave Gavin Sheets 2 million. I don't think a team has to give him more. I think the Cubs just did it since they screwed him out of coming up sooner and losing a year of free agency.

QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:47 AM) I misunderstood the rule. I thought if he started the season in the majors at the end of his second year he would qualify, but he would have to have more than two years to qualify. He would get arb after year 3. My bad. You're good. It gets complicated since there are a couple dates.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:44 AM) Essentially, though years two and three could be a bit more depending on performance. On rare occasions players reach around a million by year three. Yeah and they may give a generous bump like the Cubs did with Bryant.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:39 AM) Thanks, I had heard arb in year 3 but I wasn't sure how that was "counted" I'm like like 99% sure you are right.

QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:36 AM) I think he would end up getting super 2 designation so he would probably get arb in year 3, but otherwise this is correct. You're talking about if he we were to stay down and get the 7th year of control. It would still be year 4. If a team kept him down until like early June (obviously they won't), it would be 5th year. So depending on when he would get called up, it would be 3 or 4 years of arb (at the 6+ years of control).

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:16 AM) So what will his deal look like, once he signs? Sounds like we're talking a 4 year deal for 8-10 million for the teams that do have money to spend? It's just a signing bonus. He then goes through the 6 years of control, first 3 years are near league minimum and last 3 years are arbitration.

Hopefully Stanton picks the Giants this week and then the Cardinals turn their attention towards Abreu. All just in time for the Winter Meetings next week.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 09:09 AM) 300K? How are the Cubs even a candidate? What can the Mariners or Giants offer? Mariners and Giants= West Coast. Mariners: more at bats and can offer like a couple million I think. Not really sure what the Giants can offer money wise or anything else NL teams can offer unless they're willing to let him field too.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 4, 2017 -> 08:52 AM) Do clubs have any financial (other than their own) restrictions on what they can offer him? Does his money could out of the international pool? Is that how the Cubs are able to compete? Wouldn't the White Sox be limited to begin with? Cubs are limited to $300k too.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 3, 2017 -> 04:58 PM) Finished Stranger Things 2 lat night. Meh I thought the ending wasn't that great as the first season but the season overall I loved.

It would be hard for him to get regular at-bats in the NL and succeed. Say he makes 30 starts: that's about 2-3 at bats a game. He can pinch hit once in every other game and when the NL team is the away team in an AL park, he can DH. That come out to what, 150ish at bats? If he goes to the Cubs, maybe he will split LF with Schwarber and play there 2 games between starts. Game 1: pitches. Game 2: rest day. Games 3 and 4 he plays OF until like the 7th/8th inning (enough to get 2-3 at bats). Game 5: rests. Repeat.

If he's going to consider the Cubs he might as well consider the Yankees.