Just now, Saufley said:

Do we really believe there is any hope for signing Conforto? Seems the FO is content with Vaughn/Sheets/Garcia/Engel manning RF this year.

 

Engel having labrum surgery is flying under the radar given how important he's looking for this team right now.

2 minutes ago, Saufley said:

Do we really believe there is any hope for signing Conforto? Seems the FO is content with Vaughn/Sheets/Garcia/Engel manning RF this year.

 

I did, but it’s completely gone.  I feel delusional thinking otherwise right now.

27 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

In the meantime, all their options are evaporating by the hour while they sweat it out.

Maybe they have been told by JR what they could spend and they've already blown through it. 

Given how the Sox have approached this winter, they don't deserve to make the playoffs. They will though. 

13 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

I think it's far, far more likely their issue at the trade deadline is not having prospects anyone wants (like last year, which is why they had to trade from the big league roster) rather than Reinsdorf not signing off on spending a few extra million bucks.

 

We always discover amazingly/confoundingly inefficient ways to spend "a few extra million bucks" anyway.

Just now, caulfield12 said:

We always discover amazingly/confoundingly inefficient ways to spend "a few extra million bucks" anyway.

Money will be there when Hahn wants to drastically overpay for another reliever.

37 minutes ago, fathom said:

You’re assuming they care about options, and aren’t just being honest when they say the team is mostly set.

Fucking gross…Rick Hahn should be fired tomorrow if this is reflective of a championship window offseason.

38 minutes ago, fathom said:

Who’s to say they aren’t already over the budget and need to unload Kimbrel to get back to what they set their payroll at?

When has Jerry ever allowed Hahn to go over budget with the caveat he needs to move a player later?  That would be completely unprecedented territory and make the decision to pick up Kimbrel’s option in the first place even more nonsensical.

3 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fucking gross…Rick Hahn should be fired tomorrow if this is reflective of a championship window offseason.

Yeah, I've felt this way for a few years now.

I definitely felt this way after the last TDL.

Thanks for agreeing with me. 

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fucking gross…Rick Hahn should be fired tomorrow if this is reflective of a championship window offseason.

QO to Rodon, get pick back at least

Buy out Kimbrel

Conforto to RF

Rest of the money goes to a starter and one reliever...along with a veteran defense-first backup catcher.

No way you have Harrison and Leury both rostered.

 

Any SoxTalk poster could have come up with that simplistic plan.

4 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fucking gross…Rick Hahn should be fired tomorrow if this is reflective of a championship window offseason.

If they signed Conforto instead of Graveman/Kelly we'd all be bitching about the bullpen. 

20 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

Engel having labrum surgery is flying under the radar given how important he's looking for this team right now.

I've really grown to like Engel but to count on him is foolhearty....he's injured every season.

Leury is good for a couple of trips to the DL a year as well.

Billy Hamilton.....come on down....you're the next contestant on the White Sox revolving OF.

26 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

I don't think Jerry would have signed off any spending after the lockout ended if they were already over budget. The fact they spent 17M on new players (Kelly, Harrison, Velasquez) I think is a sign they aren't afraid of getting stuck with Kimbrel if that's what it comes down to.

Fully agree…we may be capped out at the moment, but I find it impossible to believe Jerry told Hahn to temporarily go over budget while he looks to move Kimbrel.  What happens if he gets injured?  Do we have to trade one of our good players then?  Would never happen in a million years.  If anything, Hahn will dump Kimbrel and claim the savings will be used for mid-season additions.  You know, why address known weaknesses in the offseason when you can a premium to address those same needs at the deadline.

49 minutes ago, fathom said:

You’re assuming they care about options, and aren’t just being honest when they say the team is mostly set.

It's Soxtalk that has this idea the Sox want Conforto; honestly, they've never leaked any interest. Machado was frustrating because they were talking about being all-in with him. With Conforto they've been trying to tell you the exact opposite but everyone refuses to listen.

4 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

If they signed Conforto instead of Graveman/Kelly we'd all be bitching about the bullpen. 

Go on roster resource and start comparing the Sox pen (with Kimbrel but no Graveman or Kelly) to teams like the Jays, Rays, Astros, Dodgers, Yankees, etc. All of the teams the Sox are directly competing with to win the World Series. Their pen was already deep enough as is, assuming that money would be directed towards filling more difficult positions to find quality players at like RF or 2B.

I'm also not sure how much safer/more productive you can expect Graveman or Kelly to be than relievers who sign on 1 year deals for cheaper AAV's anyways. Graveman has thrown 56 good innings in his life, and that came with him outpitching his ERA, xERA, FIP etc by ~1.5 runs. Kelly had a huge strikeout rage surge last year, but if that regresses at all he goes back to being an ordinary reliever pretty quickly.

13 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fucking gross…Rick Hahn should be fired tomorrow if this is reflective of a championship window offseason.

Just wondering if anyone from the FO ever gets on here and reads these posts? They should!

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

If they signed Conforto instead of Graveman/Kelly we'd all be bitching about the bullpen. 

So let’s see, Henrdiks, Bummer, Crochet, Lopez, Foster, Ruiz, and Burr? You’re totally right, they needed at least one more righty if they did this right - almost everyone had Tepera on their offseason wishlists and that was reasonable.

Tepera got $7 million a year for 2 years, the White Sox gave Graveman $8 million a year for 3 years. That was more than Tepera got, but everyone understood the need for that. You can check the early offseason threads for that - they may or may not have scouted correctly, Graveman was somewhat lucky last year, but they absolutely needed the arm.

You could also justify a guy like Velasquez. Long reliever option with some upside? Sure. The role would have vanished if they had kept Rodon, because then Keuchel would start in the pen, but if they passed on both Kimbrel and Rodon I get that.

Replace Velasquez, Kimbrel, and Kelly with Conforto and everyone is way happier. They will have spent extra on utility guys, but with their failure to develop backups it makes sense. A certain amount of bullpen depth makes sense. Kelly and Kimbrel as guys 7-8 - WTF?

5 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fully agree…we may be capped out at the moment, but I find it impossible to believe Jerry told Hahn to temporarily go over budget while he looks to move Kimbrel.  What happens if he gets injured?  Do we have to trade one of our good players then?  Would never happen in a million years.  If anything, Hahn will dump Kimbrel and claim the savings will be used for mid-season additions.  You know, why address known weaknesses in the offseason when you can a premium to address those same needs at the deadline.

Even if the argument is absorbing salary or relying on a massive jump from the farm system to do something at the TDL, it's not easier to pull off than making a move now. 

And you are more than likely mortgaging your future contention window.

2 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's Soxtalk that has this idea the Sox want Conforto; honestly, they've never leaked any interest. Machado was frustrating because they were talking about being all-in with him. With Conforto they've been trying to tell you the exact opposite but everyone refuses to listen.

Bruce Levine ran with it. And like it or not, Bruce sometimes knows that stuff. He had the exact offer to Machado on Jan ‘19.

3 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's Soxtalk that has this idea the Sox want Conforto; honestly, they've never leaked any interest. Machado was frustrating because they were talking about being all-in with him. With Conforto they've been trying to tell you the exact opposite but everyone refuses to listen.

Apparently everyone but the White Sox front office watched Vaughn and especially Sheets in RF.

18 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

QO to Rodon, get pick back at least

Buy out Kimbrel

Conforto to RF

Rest of the money goes to a starter and one reliever...along with a veteran defense-first backup catcher.

No way you have Harrison and Leury both rostered.

 

Any SoxTalk poster could have come up with that simplistic plan.

Agreed. I would have been overjoyed if this was the offseason, and I preferred Suzuki over Conforto.

Any of us could have seen the difficulty in trying market/move Kimbrel, given his shittiness here, his age, his obese option, and the labor unrest.

None of what you or I or many other Soxtalk posters would have been all that different from RH's masterpiece of an offseason, from a financial standpoint.  But it definitely would have strengthened the roster more than what they've done. So, it isn't cheapness, its stupidity.

Edited March 19, 20224 yr by Two-Gun Pete

I do find it interesting Sheets hasn’t gotten any time in RF in either game so far.  If I had to guess, he’s going to be the primary DH.

19 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

If they signed Conforto instead of Graveman/Kelly we'd all be bitching about the bullpen. 

There's no reason why a team like this couldn't have all 3

 

12 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

It's Soxtalk that has this idea the Sox want Conforto; honestly, they've never leaked any interest. Machado was frustrating because they were talking about being all-in with him. With Conforto they've been trying to tell you the exact opposite but everyone refuses to listen.

When Hahn met the media prior to the season and was asked if there's 1 specific player he wanted, he grinned and said "yes." In your opinion, who was he referring to?

2 minutes ago, soxfan49 said:

There's no reason why a team like this couldn't have all 3

 

When Hahn met the media prior to the season and was asked if there's 1 specific player he wanted, he grinned and said "yes." In your opinion, who was he referring to?

A’s to try and trade for a pitcher 

10 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

If they signed Conforto instead of Graveman/Kelly we'd all be bitching about the bullpen. 

How about you don’t pick up Kimbrel’s option and don’t sign Leury to a ridiculous three year extension?  Instead use Romy in the UT role.  That’s $20.7M in savings right there if you assume a league minimum guy replaces Craig.  And instead of giving Gravemen $8M for three years, go trade Jake Burger for a cost controlled reliever from a rebuilding team.  There are ways to improve the bullpen and bench without spending $30M in free agency.

And yes, I’m aware that Conforto isn’t just a 2022 investment.  However, Gravemen & Leury’s salaries alone would cover $13.5M of Conforto’s 2023 & 2024 salary.  Replacing Harrison after the 2022 season with a pr-arb guy saves another ~$5M.  And Hendriks has a $0M CBT payroll figure come 2024 given the structure of his deal.  Point is we can get pretty close right there and can always move guys as needed to free up the rest.