8 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

You don't need any of them to be "can't miss" right now, you need 1 of them to be an average player. Out of those 4 guys, maybe we've got a 50% shot of covering RF for us, and if we cover RF with an average player who is cheap for 3-4 years, that's a big win.

Out of the 4 names I mentioned, 3 of those are cost controlled for at least next 3- 4 years, and even Polanco is a reasonable contract himself. I also think to shoot for 50% of a top 5-10 prospect being an average player (meaning average starter) is too high. If we line up all the other pieces and are ready to compete next year, I don’t want us not willing to deal a Rutherford or Gonzalez of the world and settling for Gordon be the reason we came up short.

Edited September 3, 20196 yr by thxfrthmmrs

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

I’m the opposite, I want a big gun outside of the organization to provide some power.

Agreed.  Enough of the buy low crap.  Go get a dude who's a difference maker for the middle of the order.  

Just now, Harold's Leg Lift said:

Agreed.  Enough of the buy low crap.  Go get a dude who's a difference maker for the middle of the order.  

Yep, isn’t the point of having cheap, controllable players is that you have room in the budget for upgrades?  I get that people get attached to our prospects, but I don’t see any true difference makers outside of Yoan and Robert.  I believe we’re two strong outside hitters away from having a quality lineup.

How would you guys feel about trading for Heyward to play in RF next year? I don't think he'd cost that much prospect-wise since he's still owed a ton of money. Isn't he still an elite RFer?

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

Yep, isn’t the point of having cheap, controllable players is that you have room in the budget for upgrades?  I get that people get attached to our prospects, but I don’t see any true difference makers outside of Yoan and Robert.  I believe we’re two strong outside hitters away from having a quality lineup.

This rebuild has been so damn conservative.  It's time to make a bold move. Target your guy and go get him.  

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

Why is that?  Given what we’ve seen, couldn’t that have just been the anomaly?

It's certainly possible, but when you're talking about a 26 y/o SS who has been playing baseball for only ~10 years, I will almost always take the more optimistic angle with respect to development, especially on defense since he has the physical tools to replicate his 2018 performance  

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

Yep, isn’t the point of having cheap, controllable players is that you have room in the budget for upgrades?  I get that people get attached to our prospects, but I don’t see any true difference makers outside of Yoan and Robert.  I believe we’re two strong outside hitters away from having a quality lineup.

Does Castellanos as a RF qualify as a quality hitter to you? Because I think he's gonna be one of our big additions. 

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

Yep, isn’t the point of having cheap, controllable players is that you have room in the budget for upgrades?  I get that people get attached to our prospects, but I don’t see any true difference makers outside of Yoan and Robert.  I believe we’re two strong outside hitters away from having a quality lineup.

I don’t think anyone is opposed to signing a middle of the bat, and upgrading RF, but they aren’t likely the same player. You have to sign one, along with signing pitching, then filling other holes through the trade market.

2 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

Does Castellanos as a RF qualify as a quality hitter to you? Because I think he's gonna be one of our big additions. 

Castellanos is a 1B/DH at this point in his career. He's a butcher in the OF. 

46 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

Which site says that? 

Baseball reference and Espn have him as a -.02 DWAR

25 minutes ago, chetkincaid said:

How would you guys feel about trading for Heyward to play in RF next year? I don't think he'd cost that much prospect-wise since he's still owed a ton of money. Isn't he still an elite RFer?

No, he’s just not a quality hitter 

Castellanos doesn't get on base enough for me to make up for his defense.  This team desperately needs guys that will take walks.

25 minutes ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

This rebuild has been so damn conservative.  It's time to make a bold move. Target your guy and go get him.  

I have a feeling Mazara is their guy.

3 minutes ago, fathom said:

I have a feeling Mazara is their guy.

Avi 2.0.

2 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

Baseball reference and Espn have him as a -.02 DWAR

Thanks. That makes more sense because from what I remember, those are sites that weight errors more than they weight range relative to Fangraphs. I tend to agree with Fangraphs on that one, and their assessment of Yoan as the #3 defensive 3B in baseball is so different than the one you're mentioning that it really highlights the difference in formulas

3 minutes ago, fathom said:

I have a feeling Mazara is their guy.

MLBTR mentioned him as a non-tender candidate a few weeks ago. 

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

I have a feeling Mazara is their guy.

Which is totally fine (assuming acquistion cost isn't too high), so long as you get a lefty masher for 1B/DH to pair with Abreu.  Unfortunately, there really aren't a ton of options outside of Grandal - who also obviously helps at catcher as well.  

2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

MLBTR mentioned him as a non-tender candidate a few weeks ago. 

There is no way.   They know some dumb org like the Sox would trade for him.

5 minutes ago, BackDoorBreach said:

There is no way.   They know some dumb org like the Sox would trade for him.

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of the Sox being the org to finally tap into his "raw power".  If it even exists.  Just like the Sox couldn't do much with Avi other then the year he rocked that .375 BABIP.

Mazara is the type of guy that goes to Houston and suddenly hits 270/330/520.  He'd be the same shit 740 OPS hitter in Chicago.

15 minutes ago, fathom said:

I have a feeling Mazara is their guy.

Oye I sure as hell hope they aim higher than that.  

Just now, chitownsportsfan said:

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of the Sox being the org to finally tap into his "raw power".  If it even exists.  Just like the Sox couldn't do much with Avi other then the year he rocked that .375 BABIP.

Mazara is the type of guy that goes to Houston and suddenly hits 270/330/520.  He'd be the same shit 740 OPS hitter in Chicago.

Of course not .  But he is a good trade chip which is why there is no way he gets non tendered.  Someone will take a chance on him.

2 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of the Sox being the org to finally tap into his "raw power".  If it even exists.  Just like the Sox couldn't do much with Avi other then the year he rocked that .375 BABIP.

Mazara is the type of guy that goes to Houston and suddenly hits 270/330/520.  He'd be the same shit 740 OPS hitter in Chicago.

They will revert him back to his minor league swing!

2 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

But back to the original topic, I wouldn't mind trying to buy low on guys like Nimmo, Haniger, Piscotty, Polanco, in that order. I think as long as the price is not crazy (non-top 5 prospects, plus Collins) I'll bite.

If we don't want Avi, why not give Leury a shot at playing on a team with a chance to win something? He's not a bad player. We don't need 8 phenoms playing every day in the lineup.

1 hour ago, fathom said:

Yep, isn’t the point of having cheap, controllable players is that you have room in the budget for upgrades?  I get that people get attached to our prospects, but I don’t see any true difference makers outside of Yoan and Robert.  I believe we’re two strong outside hitters away from having a quality lineup.

I know the White Sox won't do this, but I'd use that money on a starting pitcher.

Anyway, what strong outside hitter do you think actually exists as a difference maker? Ozuna is the best available corner OF, but he certainly hasn't been a difference-maker the last 2 years. None of the guys who people have talked about trading for or signing to fill the corner OF spot are anything close to difference makers. There's no 5 win corner OF on the free agent market this offseason, so what kind of difference maker are you thinking of? Are you planning to move Vaughn as a key piece for this? 

17 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I know the White Sox won't do this, but I'd use that money on a starting pitcher.

Anyway, what strong outside hitter do you think actually exists as a difference maker? Ozuna is the best available corner OF, but he certainly hasn't been a difference-maker the last 2 years. None of the guys who people have talked about trading for or signing to fill the corner OF spot are anything close to difference makers. There's no 5 win corner OF on the free agent market this offseason, so what kind of difference maker are you thinking of? Are you planning to move Vaughn as a key piece for this? 

Cease and more for Gallo

30 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I know the White Sox won't do this, but I'd use that money on a starting pitcher.

Anyway, what strong outside hitter do you think actually exists as a difference maker? Ozuna is the best available corner OF, but he certainly hasn't been a difference-maker the last 2 years. None of the guys who people have talked about trading for or signing to fill the corner OF spot are anything close to difference makers. There's no 5 win corner OF on the free agent market this offseason, so what kind of difference maker are you thinking of? Are you planning to move Vaughn as a key piece for this? 

It wouldn’t matter if that player was available, because the Sox sadly wouldn’t be in play for that player’s services.  

They’d make, at best, some cursory attempt to attain his services, in line with the embarrassing one they made for Harper last season, and then we’d watch said player sign elsewhere.  Then we wouldn’t have said 5 win player and instead, they’d acquire some lesser talent available for purchase off of the scrap heap.  Same old formula as before.  

Such is the MO of the current owner and his front office.  But they’re more than welcome to prove us wrong.  

Edited September 3, 20196 yr by Thad Bosley