Didn’t see a thread about this but felt it was worthy of its own for discussion purposes.

He's an interesting prospect. He's only 5'8 but has elite extension with a low arm angle, which makes his mid to high 90s fastball play faster. He was a reliever a year ago, so if starting doesn't work out, you could use him as a high leverage reliever.

I like they're interested, but I'm not really sure how I'd feel about it. He gives me some durability concerns and potential reliever risk, and I'm not sure how that plays if both him and Taylor are in the rotation for next year. Nice to see them attached to a big(ger) name FA.

Daddy like

IMO you add him AND another starter like King or Peralta. Then if after seeing the league and results, if his stuff could play better as elite closer type, you resolve all your needs and get to evaluate the massive amount of what ifs (hagen, shultz, sandlin, etc). Grant is only gonna be able to provide around 140 innings at best, so 2 starters HAS to happen.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by EloyJenkins

Although 5'8 isn't ideal for a pitcher, you can still get some run out of him. Marcus Stroman was 5'7 and had a very solid career as a starter. Multiple 170+ innings pitched.

9 minutes ago, EloyJenkins said:

IMO you add him AND another starter like King or Peralta. Then if after seeing the league and results, if his stuff could play better as elite closer type, you resolve all your needs and get to evaluate the massive amount of what ifs (hagen, shultz, sandlin, etc). Grant is only gonna be able to provide around 140 innings at best, so 2 starters HAS to happen.

Fully agree on needing to add one of King or Peralta. We need someone who can push everyone down a peg. From there, adding a second arm a tier down would be nice, even if they come with some warts. To me, Taira and May both fit in this category. If you want to win next year, go with something like this:

Rotation:

1. <King>

2. Burke

3. Taylor

4. <Taira>

5. Martin/Castillo

Bullpen:

• CL: Hicks

• SU: H. Smith*

• SU: <Trade>

• MR: Hudson*

• MR: Brazoban

• MR: Kay*

• LR: Schultz*

• LR: Castillo/Martin

AAA:

1. Sandlin

2. Thorpe

3. McDougal

4. S. Smith

5. Vasil

35 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fully agree on needing to add one of King or Peralta. We need someone who can push everyone down a peg. From there, adding a second arm a tier down would be nice, even if they come with some warts. To me, Taira and May both fit in this category. If you want to win next year, go with something like this:

Rotation:

1. <King>

2. Burke

3. Taylor

4. <Taira>

5. Martin/Castillo

Bullpen:

• CL: Hicks

• SU: H. Smith*

• SU: <Trade>

• MR: Hudson*

• MR: Brazoban

• MR: Kay*

• LR: Schultz*

• LR: Castillo/Martin

AAA:

1. Sandlin

2. Thorpe

3. McDougal

4. S. Smith

5. Vasil

Go get one of the non-QO Closers like Iglesias too

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Fully agree on needing to add one of King or Peralta. We need someone who can push everyone down a peg. From there, adding a second arm a tier down would be nice, even if they come with some warts. To me, Taira and May both fit in this category. If you want to win next year, go with something like this:

Rotation:

1. <King>

2. Burke

3. Taylor

4. <Taira>

5. Martin/Castillo

Bullpen:

• CL: Hicks

• SU: H. Smith*

• SU: <Trade>

• MR: Hudson*

• MR: Brazoban

• MR: Kay*

• LR: Schultz*

• LR: Castillo/Martin

AAA:

1. Sandlin

2. Thorpe

3. McDougal

4. S. Smith

5. Vasil

I don’t think they’ll be putting Vasil in AAA other than to get ramped up for MLB.