Con te Giolito

Prospects do crazy things to people's minds.

That is wrong. I explained why that is wrong in a post I made earlier that you seem to be ignoring.

At this point the Sox should be pitting teams offers against each other, not against the idea of the Sox holding onto Quintana.

Tanaka could easily find himself on the market even if the Yankees are doing well. They were in contention last year when they sold Miller and Chapman and those two deals were universally lauded. I expect a few copycats as more and more teams that may be on the fringe of wild card contention make honest appraisals about themselves and their world series chances. Even if the Cubs are doing well they may think what they can get for Arrieta could extend their window and roll into the playoffs with Lester-Hendricks leading their rotation. The AL west is a meatgrinder Darvish could definitely be put up for sale. If the Giants are getting pasted by the Dodgers they will definitely put Cueto on the block. Btw, these guys are going to exercise their opt outs unless they are injured or put up 5+ ERA's and everyone knows it. What if Sonny Gray puts rebounds on a last place Oakland team? Or Tampa lowers their asking price for Archer to something more realistic? Contrast that to now, right now Quintana is the only option. He's all there is available unless you want to pay even more for a worse pitcher in Archer. I cant remember the last time the market was as barren for starters as it was this year, it was basically the White Sox firesale and Rich Hill out there to start with. This argument that the current market for pitchers will last more than a couple months is completely ludicrous. Even if you are president of the Trade Q at the Deadline Fanclub you must concede this point.

Well if he cant get the walks under control then he'll go the bullpen where I figure he'll find a lot of success. To me, just judging by his profile, that seems like the most likely option. His realistic floor as a high octane middle reliever is still valuable. My read on the board consensus with Glasnow is he's fine as a second piece in a Meadows deal but would have to be packaged with Newman and Keller if Meadows were not included. I agree with that.

You dont have to be Professor Baseball to have major concerns about a pitcher who in five years of pro instruction has barely gained any control of his pitches.

What about Frazier? I know there's only one more year on his contract but that Atlanta lineup, despite having Freeman, still feels a little light on power unless Swason cranks 20+ HR. Combine that with what seems like a glaring weakness at 3rd could there be mutual interest in packaging Frazier? Good clubhouse guy, solid defender, masher of baseballs...makes sense if you ask me.

Well that depends what else is coming. Albies is a fringy top 10 overall prospect and if Atlanta sends him with Riley (T100 probably) + Newcomb I'm feeling awfully good about it.

Yea I agree. The national prospect people either havent caught up on Acuna or have caught up on Acuna and just haven't communicated it yet. Acuna + Albies is in the neighborhood of Meadows + Bell value-wise right now. I was brainstorming earlier and came up with Acuna, Riley, Pache and Foltynewicz/Wentz/Toussaint (really impossible to know which of the top 8 or 9 Atlanta pitchers the Sox really like). How does that sound to you, the Braves fan?

No, is it available online? Sure sounds like Coop's opinion on working with prospects is changing.

Sox are going to be just throwing away AB's in the corner OF on total bums woh are longshots to even prove they are capable of being reserves. Right now Trayce Thompson is a capable fourth OF with potential to be an average starter...he'd be a much better candidate to give 600 PA's to this year than Willy Garcia or Rymer Liriano. Also, Trayce is under control for five more years. Montas still throws triple digits and would be a fine candidate to get some bullpen innings. I doubt the A's would trade Montas for Frazier straight up right now.

http://m.twins.mlb.com/news/article/213152...eek-free-agent/ Twins got sick of the Dodgers lowballing them so now they are keeping Dozier and looking to sign Jose Bautista. I think it could actaully work for them if they become willing to move some of their farm for a pitcher. People sleep on how good Bautista is and the effect he has on a clubhouse.

I would take that Frazier trade back in a heartbeat.

No way.

If Meadows isn't on the table the Sox are getting nothing from the Pirates that they can not easily find somewhere else, also without having to deal with the Bucs cheapass owner or fraidy-cat GM. The Yankees, Astros or Braves can beat a Glasnow or Keller headlined deal just by getting out of bed. If Newman were somehow the headliner you'd have 75% of the league on the phone. And then the once you get past the top 5 the Pirates system just becomes completely uninteresting. They are probably gong to trade Meadows before they trade Bell because Bell is their starting 1b. I understand not wanting to trade thier starting 1b if they're trying to compete now (which is an attitude the Q move would signal), especially when that position has been as much as a problem as it has for the Pirates. As far as I'm concerned he's out, not because he's ~~untouchable~~ but just because it doesn't make sense. Sox dont need him, Pirates do. The Sox could work something out with Luhnow tomorrow that I think most of us would find acceptable, and contrary to what the media has been saying New York can too. I like what Atlanta can put together the more I think about it, but that deal wouldn't go over as well. The Rockies hypothetical even has appeal too. The only two ways the Pirates join that club is if they deal Cutch for something the Sox would want, which doesn't seem possible because Cutch likely wont fetch a top 100 tier prospect, or they include Meadows. The fact that they are still involved indicates, to me at least, that Meadows is at least being discussed. If he wasn't the Pirates would be out.

The Braves system is better than most people give it credit for. For some reason Robles gets hyped to the moon but Acuna does not, even if Acuna and Robles are both 5 tool monsters who have put up comparable numbers. Riley would instantly compete with Collins for second best position player in the White Sox system. They are overflowing with OF prospects that would immediately jump ahead of Basabe as the best OF prospect also (and I'm not knocking Basabe). If the Sox were to acquire minor league pitching at this point it would preferably be left handed, and the Braves have a TON of talented lefties. They lack a catcher, but so does just about everyone else. Collins, despite the defensive uncertainty, is a better catching prospect than all but a handful of MLB teams have on their farms.

Just look into those names a little bit and you'll begin to see what I'm talking about. Acuna in particular is deserving of a lot more praise than he gets. Yea this kind of fan-like behavior and infatuation with prospects that kills someone's credibility. If Moncada can be part of a package deal for Sale then Austin Meadows can be dealt one-for-one for Quintana. Not saying the Pirates are going to deal Meadows, or even should deal Meadows, but if the Sox come at them with that offer they will take it and run.

Ronald Acuna, Sean Newcomb, Austin Riley and Cristian Pache. The pitcher can be messed around with too, Foltynewicz, Toussaint or Wentz could be subbed in for Newcomb and I wouldn't raise much of a fuss. I'd include Frazier to facilitate that deal, possibly trying to add a Victor Diaz-like flier on in the process. That's a lot for Atlanta to give up but they keep Allard, they keep Albies and they keep Maitan. Meanwhie the Sox invest in three guys that all could realistically be amongst the top 25 overall prospects next year. No sure bets, but more talent than anything the Pirates could offer.

Its probably less about Meadows than it is about what more Hahn is demanding. That "three elite prospects" news from New York is what hangs over everything right now.

They're actually not as bad as you think.

Braves have interesting stuff. Albies is closer to Meadows and Torres than you'd think but they really wouldn't need to include him. There are 9, maybe 10, top 100 prospects in their system and the players they have past that are not slouches. They probably wont provide the instant gratification that New York, Pittsburgh or Houston will (though make no mistake, Atlanta can), but if a quantity of explosive talent is what you're after that's the system to pillage.

Sanchez sucks, Lawrie is fine but almost assured of injury and Saladino could easily be playing 3rd if Frazier gets dealt. You want whackadoodle Everth Cabrera manning 2b after a night on the town punching cops and pounding amphetamines? Again I dont really want Johnson just because I've been there before. So give me Everth and hope he can limit his felonious behavior.

The Sox do not have a definitively better option than Micah Johnson at 2b or CF until July when Moncada is called up. That said I just dont think its worth the effort to bring him back into the fold, leave the past in the past.

Atlanta is a curious bird in that they could just be on the periphery seeing if they can get a bargain or they could legitimately be willing to put together something serious and are just feeling out the situation with other teams. They defintely have the bullets.

Well the risk with him is he sucks so bad that nobody will even eat the contract and the Sox are stuck paying $24m to him for the next two years. May not sound like a ton of money in the context of baseball contracts, but it could help them make room in the budget for other things. Plus you dont have to watch Robertson blow 7 run leads to Kansas City (of all teams).