Offseason Part 2 - Lets the Rumors & Action Begin

[ChiSox59]

1 minute ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

agree with your 2nd and third point and but your way off on Conforto's contract.  

I think best case on Conforto is the Yaz deal. 4/$73M. 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

3 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

I think best case on Conforto is the Yaz deal. 4/$73M. 

That seems like worst case for him. I'd be stunned if many teams aren't in at 4/80.  Then a few agree to go to 5 years, the winner ups it to 22 mil a year.  I'd love to be way off though

Edited March 12, 2022 by Squirmin' for Yermin

[Flash]

9 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

One name that hasn’t been discussed for 2B is Gleyber Torres.  He’s coming off a couple rough years and the Yankees have a bit of a 2B squeeze at the moment.  No idea if they’d move him or what they’d be looking for, but he’d a great buy low guy for us.

Let's see if NYY pursues a SS (Correa, Story?). They have a couple of studs in lower minors but no one ready to replace Torres unless they sign a FA.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

Just now, Flash said:

Let's see if NYY pursues a SS (Correa, Story?). They have a couple of studs in lower minors but no one ready to replace Torres unless they sign a FA.

Big Volpe fan

[ChiSox59]

1 minute ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

That seems like worst case for him. I'd be stunned if many teams aren't in at 4/80.  Then a few agree to go to 5 years, the winner ups it to 22 mil a year.  I'd love to be way off though

I meant best case for the Sox - ie lowest deal I could see realistically happening.

I am definitely one of the more vocal Conforto posters here and have been calling for him for a long time. But I wouldn’t do 5/$110M. Woof. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by ChiSox59

[SoCalChiSox]

15 minutes ago, Flash said:

Of course we don't know what we don't know but I'm really puzzled on why we didn't QO Rodon. Its not like our farm system couldn't use the comp pick. I'm also puzzled as to why we didn't lock up Tepera before the lockout. Now he'll be significantly more expensive. That said, maybe Boros 'owes us one'.  Maybe Comforto at 3yr/$54M? 

There's no way it will be that cheap. And Boras will prolly insist on a 1 year player opt out unless he gets a really good deal. 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

 

Everyone was so nice today i figured id stir the pot a bit. This is certainly a hot take. 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[Chicago White Sox]

4 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

 

Everyone was so nice today i figured id stir the pot a bit. This is certainly a hot take. 

Yeah I saw this…what a stupid fucking take.

[Vote4Pedro]

19 minutes ago, Flash said:

Of course we don't know what we don't know but I'm really puzzled on why we didn't QO Rodon. Its not like our farm system couldn't use the comp pick. I'm also puzzled as to why we didn't lock up Tepera before the lockout. Now he'll be significantly more expensive. That said, maybe Boros 'owes us one'.  Maybe Comforto at 3yr/$54M? 

I would like to think Boras owes us one but if management thinks that they are crazy. Boras isn’t going to hold one clients money making ability over their head because we didn’t offer the QO to Rodon. That’d be a terrible business decision for him. I feel it’s far more likely that Rodon signed w us this past offseason with a stipulation on not using the QO this off-season and the Sox just upheld their end of the agreement. 

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

5 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

 

Everyone was so nice today i figured id stir the pot a bit. This is certainly a hot take. 

If you think Adam Engel is better than Michael Conforto, you may be an idiot

[Flash]

My priority order is:

1) SP (mid-TOR)

2) LHH w/pop (either 2nd base or RF)

3) Backup Catcher

Would be disappointed if we don't end up w/at least one of...Comforto, Sonny Gray (or Castillo), Means, K. Marte, Caratini or McCaan, McNeil or possibly Darvish (if Padres shed payroll). I'd be fine going into the season with either the combo platter in RF OR Leury at 2nd but not both (would need a LHH hitting slugger if either/or). I think a realistic aspiration is Means (probably cost Vaughn but I'd do it), Comforto (would settle for Joc) and Caratini (although Met blogs suggest McCaan could be available). I think K. Marte, although a perfect fit, will be too expensive.  

[SoxBlanco]

29 minutes ago, Flash said:

Of course we don't know what we don't know but I'm really puzzled on why we didn't QO Rodon.

I think the Sox know more about his health and/or work ethic than any other team, and Hahn just wanted to move on. Even if there was only a 5% chance of Rodon taking the QO, he didn’t want to take that risk. I think Hahn has a plan for the starting rotation, and on the off chance Rodon takes the QO, that plan gets blown up. 

[Sarava]

37 minutes ago, gogosox1959 said:

MLB.com power rankings: 1, Dodgers; 2, SOX; 3. Tampa Bay; 4. NYY; 5. Mets, 6. Toronto; 7. Atlanta; 8. Houston; 9. San Fran; 10. San Diego

They must not read SoxTalk

The great thing is, the Sox can easily vault themselves to the team to beat on paper with a few very doable moves here and there. Will they do it is the question?

[Tnetennba]

13 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Yeah I saw this…what a stupid fucking take.

Hahahaha even considering the source, yikes.

[Sarava]

22 minutes ago, SoCalChiSox said:

There's no way it will be that cheap. And Boras will prolly insist on a 1 year player opt out unless he gets a really good deal. 

And that's sometimes the problem with Boras client signings. He gets teams to agree to these crazy opt outs. So if the player earns his contract, they opt and leave after 1 year. If the contract blows up in the team's face, then they are stuck with the player and the bad contract for many years. Early opt outs are often lose-lose situations for the teams.

I'm ok with the Sox signing Conforto, but I hope they don't paint themselves in to a corner with an opt out that Boras will probably push for.

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

2 minutes ago, Sarava said:

And that's sometimes the problem with Boras client signings. He gets teams to agree to these crazy opt outs. So if the player earns his contract, they opt and leave after 1 year. If the contract blows up in the team's face, then they are stuck with the player and the bad contract for many years. Early opt outs are often lose-lose situations for the teams.

I'm ok with the Sox signing Conforto, but I hope they don't paint themselves in to a corner with an opt out that Boras will probably push for.

I'd be fine with an opt out after 3 years if that got him.  5/100, opt out after 3.

[Sarava]

Just now, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

I'd be fine with an opt out after 3 years if that got him.  5/100, opt out after 3.

Oh yeah that's fine.

But look at the Rodon deal, at least as far as we know. It's 2 years and 44 mil, with a reported opt out after 1. So if Carlos stays relatively healthy and performs similar to 2021 - he opts out for a big deal elsewhere. If he spends 3/4 of the year on the DL and is what the Sox feared - then he conveniently doesn't opt out and the Giants are stuck paying him for the 2nd season, for him to likely spend most of an additional season on the DL. Why is the risk only being taken by the teams and not then players? It's weird how he gets teams to agree to this crap.

[Tnetennba]

 

[gogosox1959]

2023+ schedule:

within division 4 teams x14 games = 56 (down from 19-76)

AL East/West = 10 teams x 6 games = 60

Cubs = 4 games

14 other NJ teams  = 14 teams x 3 games = 42 (alternate years for each home series)

total = 162

I love this plan

[caulfield12]

16 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

 

It is a little bit misleading to go with OPS+ and not fWAR or bWAR…how would that change the rankings?

 

1. Soto

2. Betts

3. Harper

4. Acuna, Jr.

5. Judge 

6. Yelich

7. Bellinger

8. Merrifield

9. Castellanos

10. Kepler

11. Conforto

12. T.Hernandez

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=rf&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=

fWAR 2019 20 21 combined for RF

 

Kyle Tucker is 6.8 the last three seasons, of course 4.8 just for 2021…but just about a 3 average per season if you treat his career as the equivalent of roughly 2 years since its predominantly a counting stat

Edited March 12, 2022 by caulfield12

[flavum]

14 minutes ago, gogosox1959 said:

2023+ schedule:

within division 4 teams x14 games = 56 (down from 19-76)

AL East/West = 10 teams x 6 games = 60

Cubs = 4 games

14 other NJ teams  = 14 teams x 3 games = 42 (alternate years for each home series)

total = 162

I love this plan

I like that they’re doing this because it may make the sport more national than regional. But I’m surprised they’re going to do this considering travel costs, more west coast games for central and East teams, and there’s an outside chance a very mediocre division could have a losing record win a division. More than likely they’ll do this for a few years while they settle on the TB/Oak stadium issues and two team expansion, and then MLB will have a big realignment where the Sox and Cubs play at least 13 games a season.

Edited March 12, 2022 by flavum

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

12 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

It is a little bit misleading to go with OPS+ and not fWAR or bWAR…how would that change the rankings?

 

1. Soto

2. Betts

3. Harper

4. Acuna, Jr.

5. Judge 

6. Yelich

7. Bellinger

8. Merrifield

9. Castellanos

10. Kepler

11. Conforto

12. T.Hernandez

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=rf&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=

fWAR 2019 20 21 combined for RF

No matter which list you use, these both clearly show that Conforto could be a difference maker for us and a select few have no idea the type of player he is.

[Vote4Pedro]

 

Old friend alert

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

@Y2Jimmy0 mentioned that maybe the Cardinals would have some interest in Kimbrel.  What do people think we could get from them?

[caulfield12]

3 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

No matter which list you use, these both clearly show that Conforto could be a difference maker for us and a select few have no idea the type of player he is.

Sure, but there’s a massive difference between the #5 RFer in the game and something much closer to middle tier.

There’s certainly no guarantee we get the former version…in fact, the rule of Sox FA moves is almost always go with the opposite of what is expected.

Grandal, despite his strange stat lines, is one of the first other than Abreu to come close to earning his money on the position player side of things.  McCann, as well.