Sleepy Harold

He didn't have any pick tied to him since he was traded mid-season. Harper got a QO so he had pick compensation tied to him.

I was hoping Capra would get the boot too, but I suppose this is better than staying the course with the same people again.

The main difference between Jay and Choo is that one can hit & one can't hit for shit.

His defensive #s don't look great, but with who we've been running out there the last few years, not sure how much worse he'd be out there than a Palka or Jon Jay. He'd probably be a cheap acquisition for a year and fill an OBP need.

I think Choo could be a very attainable (and cheap to acquire), albeit unsexy pickup that could help the team out a lot. He can play RF, bats LH, good OBP guy, only signed for 1 more season. Theoretically buys the OFers on the farm another year to develop/someone step up.

"Bunting: only acceptable on Opening Day"

I wouldn't be opposed to buying low on Haniger, but he is a RH batter FWIW. I like the Wheeler/Wood combo as well

That was under the old rules. Here's the breakdown for how it works now. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mlb.com/amp/news/mlb-qualifying-offer-rules-explained-c259650658.html

Could always try to make a deal like SD did with Garrett Richards. I know there have been a couple others that are similar (signing an injured player to a multi year pact and essentially punting on ur 1), but the names aren't coming through to me. Evoaldi a few years ago maybe?

It seemed to be people panicking over a whole lot of nothing.

Here's some interesting stats from Mike Petriello on McCann's season. I'd still very much love for the Sox to try and sign Grandal this off-season and push James into a more suitable back up role (and Collins around to learn from the both of them), which would really solidify the C position for the Sox.

It's now officially tank SZN.

I know, that would just be malarkey.

I'd chose the better player. But if Jose was given 1 yr & an option AND JD was signed to a multi yr pact, I think that could work for me...which makes it totally implausible in White Sox reality.

If you didn't win the WS with the lowest payroll and best farm, did you really win it?

A more effective strategy is to sign the good players first, that will increase the demand and help sell tix in the future. You could justify an increase then.

I think any of us would trade a place in payroll purgatory for a bit for 4 titles in 15 years, 2 of which came in the last 6 years.

JD is better though...

74 just to match Eloy.

I was under the impression that they were referring to trading away a veteran when the young guy is ready, but maybe I misinterpreted that.

100% if they're able to add a few of the backend top 30 guys, I wouldn't be upset with that at all. It just sucks that we've made it halfway through the list and we've got nothing but crickets.

I don't disagree with anything that you've put out here. I'm just hoping that they take some "risks" with these types of players. I'm just trying to stay semi-optimistic so I don't completely go crazy over their unwillingness to stray from their usual, dumb path.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2020-international-mlb-prospects-preview-more-top-players-to-watch/ That original link from Aug 21 has 10 players on it, none of which are linked to the Sox. A new one was released today (the above link), that has 6 different players on it, none of which are linked to the Sox as well. The optimist in me says that not all of the top guys have had their "links" announced yet, so there's still hope for some of next guys that make these articles. The pessimist in me says why the hell aren't the Sox tied to any of these guys, knowing that the team would be out of the penalty (for the 2nd year) and had ample time to prepare for this. I'd say it's a bit too early to proclaim that they're for sure going to trade the INTL space away, but as we all know, old habits are hard to break with this team.