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With all due respect, I really hope Suzuki is a massive bust. One, because I hate the Cubs. Two, so I never have to read about him again on this site. Lots of angst for a guy the Sox were never, ever linked to.

#1 is terrible. If you're scared, get a dog.

Lol, no. Vaughn has a ceiling. Madrigal has a Booster seat.

Phil Rogers is astoundingly bad at assessing baseball. Yeesh.

Sox blew the 3rd most games in baseball. The quality of a bullpen is driven by results. Sox had some powerful arms but they weren't great as a unit from a sequencing standpoint.

Kimbrel's first ST appearance for the Dodgers began: double, homer, homer, single

This sucks buts it’s hard to make the argument that it’s anyone’s fault, in particular. Until we make some serious advances in injury prevention, this shit just happens a lot to pitchers, especially with elite stuff, around this age.

For the record, with the Pollock move, Harrison isn't a starter anymore. This pushes Leury down to 2B as his most regular position, which is fine. While he isn't a the greatest second basemen, he is fine as your 9th best hitter.

Only because certain posters are trying to change the subject after a move that improved the Sox roster immensely and made this offseason a lot better. We won’t be talking the Suzuki distraction for much longer.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil Rogers calls a home run a touch down.

You just made a wonderful argument that Manaea is a huge upgrade over Keuchel, and what you do with Keuchel is let him do mop up duty. There's a special term for teams whose 5th best pitcher is as good as Sean Manaea: World Series Contenders

So the Sox converted the #4 pick overall in the draft four years ago into a half season of Madrigal, a disastrous half season by Kimbrel, and now one, maybe two seasons of an oft-injured 34 year-old decent-at-best outfielder. We lost all of those games in 2017 to get the #4 pick, only for it to turn into this return. That’s not good.

It’s so frustrating we gave away 6 years of Madrigal for that garbage.

Pilkington being anywhere near a viable piece and given up for a guy whose cheap option the team didn't even pick up is so white sox.

Kimbrell today with Dodgers: .1IP; 4H; 4R; 1K; 2HR

I'll add to that . Notice any lefty missing that's still on the team ?

He'll probably go back to being good again, but I am so glad he isn't the Sox problem anymore

Caufield we get that you're still carrying water for hosmer.

He’s useful if he’s not over exposed. I think the fear from last year is TLR will find a way to get Leury in the lineup most days, often at the expense of better players.

When ny beat writers hypothesize who will take their trash it’s always hilarious.

For a guy who had high scouting marks in speed, defense, and make-up, what we actually saw in those departments was severely disappointing. His bat lived up to the hype and then some when he finally started hitting for a little power before he got hurt. He wasn't a 60 grade speed guy like the scouting reports said. More like a 50 or 55. His fielding was just average and he'd panic in certain fielding situations. Same with his base running decisions. For a guy who was supposed to have high baseball IQ, he did a lot of stupid shit on the bases. One of them cost him most of 2020.

I’m moving to Nashville like Chicago White Sox did if the Sox give up Vaughn for Manaea.

If our plan out of the draft was to only pitch him 50-60 innings his first year, then he shouldn't have been picked.

Trade is final, no take backs!

Clearly the problem was that he wasn't pitching in the 9th inning

I know spring training is a joke, but Kimbrel fucking blows. I think the Dodgers will regret taking him.

We've already won the trade!

Eloy... Luis Robert... TA has been on the IL 3 years in a row. But Madrigal was the guy people couldn't get stand for getting injured, lol. I don't get it.

Next to that in the dictionary is a picture of James McCann

As much as TLR loves Leury, I’ll take the bet that Harrison starts more games at 2nd than Leury. Leury might play more games overall in the season much to fans chagrin.

Well said. I too remember reading the scouting reports on him and being very excited, and then severely disappointed by what we saw regularly in game. The BA & OBP were really nice when he was available to play, and I'd welcome that profile with open arms on this current squad. But the obsession with him over the bat while ignoring the rest is puzzling.

Holy fuck.......

I'm just glad he's not our problem anymore. The team "misusing" him probably helped hide some of the very real issues he had with us. The lower velocity and poor control were definitely mechanics related and not a complete product of him not closing games. Maybe the Dodgers know how to fix him like the Cubs did, because whatever we did didn't work.

Harrison is basically an older Madrigal-lite. Both rarely strike out and both don't hit the ball hard. Harrison is probably an upgrade on Nick defensively.

Yup. It sure sounds like money was going to be factor in Rays discussions. From the Athletic piece. https://theathletic.com/3224442/2022/04/01/craig-kimbrel-departs-amid-eventful-day-at-white-sox-camp/

Of course you can have all of those opinions. However you also need to look at a few other variables. 1. They are only 20 million they were only 40 million or so from the luxury tax. Most people didn't think their salary thus high let alone go higher. 2. They had a good lineup already but their bullpen was Hendricks, bummer, Crochet and kimbrel (who we all knew was going to be traded for pitching or an RF). That is a weak bullpen. Weaker than the lineup. 3. The starting staff has 3 good dependable pieces giolito, Lynn, Cease. Kopech is talented but they know he is on a limitation. Keuchal, well. However quality starting pitching us very expensive to acquire and hiw can that fir under the tax 4. Giolito is going to need a new contract soon. If they spend all the way to the cap where us this money coming from or are they planning on letting him go now. So giving this secanario. Spending to near the salary tax to add to a lineup that is already good is risky considering the limitations. They decided to add to a weakness, the bullpen and trade kimbrel for a decent but flawed upgrade in RF. You could go otherwise but adding to a strength when there are other weaknesses would have been an expensive luxury.

It sure wouldn't shock me, thought it sounds like money was a bigger factor for Tampa. Again now for the official record, 2 of the most universally recognized as genius organizations in MLB, made significant offers for Craig Kimbrel, one of them even closing the deal.

Basically right handed Keuchel at this point.

Lol…I love you use the “better and smarter FOs” point to support a Suzuki signing, but ignore it completely when it came to a Kimbrel acquisition.

GTFO

I think we have also confirmed a certain Soxtalk poster's real life ID.

Sounds like Vaughn++ for Manaea is a possibility: ??????????????????????????????

The money will be spent could mean I'm taking the family to Europe for a month and buying a villa in Tuscany.

I don't think it's irrational exuberance. For one, some people, like me, didn't want to move Hendriks to any other role. Plus I thought that the Kiimbrel move was to dump his salary , get very little in return then try to fix RF. Hahn did it in one fell swoop. They traded a guy without a position to do his best for a similarly aged player who fits better as a RF than Kimbrel does as a set up guy. If it the ideal fit ? No, but it's a fit that brings a professional hitter who is still pretty good and increases OF depth and team depth especially in light of the Vaughn injury for the early part of the season. It also reduces Leury ,Vaughn and Sheet's OF roles. So while Pollock may not have the arm for RF he is still probably a better defensive OF than what was going to be trotted out there.

Why couldn't he be a full time starter in your scenario in the majors? He would be a full time starter by year 4. His limit was 50-60 with never being a full time starter college and only 13 innings in the COVID year with an injury. If your point is that you only wanted to see him in the majors as a starter and wanted gim to work as a reliever and part time starter in the majors that's fine. He would be in the majors in 2 more years or so. But he would would have followed the exact same innings and plan either way. So what is of more benefit to the White Sox and his development? Following that plan while helping the White Sox win now or having him as a fulltime starter in 2024 and no help now?

yup

The Sox and Dodgers kind of backed themselves into their own corner. The Dodgers couldn't afford a closer until they unloaded Pollock's salary and the Sox couldn't afford an OF until they unloaded Kimbrel's.