WestEddy

I'm not sure why what basically amounts to a sticker price offends you, so. It seems to make you angry that the White Sox won't start negotiations by saying they'll take a package headlined by a slightly younger Nicky Lopez and a bunch of garbage. You seem to believe that fans of other teams don't have the right to be positive about possible trades. I really don't know what your point is beyond, maybe, a new year's resolution to spend all of 2024 on a White Sox board not making sense.

Or some teams tried to jump the line before Snell and Monty come off the board. Or Yanks trying to head fake a couple other teams to move on to plan B. It's weird how it's only NY reporters saying that. Maybe that's also tied into Yankee fans screaming on Twitter about Spencer Jones moving in a potential Cease deal. Probably a lot of info being thrown at NY sports media.

And it's probably the more experienced front offices trying to distract Getz through the media. Other teams did that to Kenny Williams when he first started as GM. Accusing him of not being forthright about injuries, and not following through on trades when KW foolishly acquired Edwin Jackson to spin on to the Nationals in trade. Getz has probably been in on most of the moves we've made in the last 3-1/2 years. When Cease eventually gets moved, nobody will care about the original ask.

Oh. A local writer had it as Lowder, Petty, and 2 guys not in the top 100. So, yeah. That was most probably a counter that no one would accept so Getz and his people could regroup and reassess. They announced they would not continue talks until the major free agents came off the market. I mean, when people talk about Getz's ask, it's like they expect the league to ban him for a year for asking a high price.

Looking at the rumored ask of the Reds...it's really not that crazy. Maybe the 3rd & 4th pieces could be a bit ambitious, but Lowder and Petty feel about right.

More stuff found around the web - Fansided Cardinals guy throws names against the wall https://redbirdrants.com/posts/mlb-insider-white-sox-weighing-dylan-cease-trades-cardinals-possibly-in-the-mix-01hkc239d57x As a reminder, the rumored ask from Cincinnati was Lowder (MLB #41), Petty (MLB Reds #6), Jorge (MLB Reds #9) and Stafura (MLB Reds #11). Saggese is MLB's #9 prospect in the Cards' system.

More rumor glop: https://www.nj.com/yankees/2024/01/yankees-in-danger-of-losing-jordan-montgomery-other-top-rotation-upgrades-source-predicts.html

This particular Tweet doesn't really mean anything beyond a reference. But there seem to be a bunch of Yankee fans screaming about including Spencer Jones in a package for Dylan Cease. Has there been some reported rumor or strategic leak about this?

The Sox were roundly lauded for picking him 4th. He's been one of the more productive 1st rounders from that 1st round. Nico Hoerner has put up the highest bWAR (11.6).

I loved the original FutureSox, and am looking forward to James' version. I already subscribe and will up my membership. This is truly a worthy investment for any Sox fan wanting to know who's around the bend in our system.

He's also a contributor at FutureSox.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to make fun of Baltimore. My wife's family is from the Eastern Shore, and the governor, in 1991, referred to it with that quip. It's pretty famous there, I'm told. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/02/11/Irate-residents-deliver-outhouses-to-governor/1448666248400/

I refer, of course, to Governor Shaefer's quip about the Eastern Shore, when he called it a shithouse. I've driven over the Bay Bridge many times. Beautiful. I'm regularly attacked by large ravens. I believe all y'all call them "mosquitoes".

Yeah, @Frobby is cool. I was probably a little salty 3 weeks ago when all this started. @Sports Guy seems to just be here for the argument practice, at this point. Any of you guys hail from "the shithouse side of Maryland"?

Wow. 4 pages of Baltimore fans arguing that their #90 ranked prospect is better than our #30 ranked prospect. Intangibles? I can just imagine them on some Brewers board, s%*#-talking Burnes and expressing they'd much rather trade for Cease. LOL.

That's not true. I think Getz purposefully asked for a pie in the sky package from the Reds to stop talks. Sure, if a team gave the White Sox their entire minor league system that had 3 top 10s in the game in it, sure Getz would have made that deal. But you're not making some constructive point to say something won't happen because it hasn't happened yet, when the seller purposefully kept that something from even getting underway. Getz probably solicited offers, gave ridiculous counters, then regrouped to figure out how they would proceed when they got to the part that seems to be starting. The bidding. It's a market. And Cease will be traded for market value. Either now, or July. That's great that you don't want your team to trade certain guys for Cease. It's not accurate to say because he's not worth that. If those guys or better are traded for Cease, then he will, indeed, be worth that.

You're obstinately ignoring what's actually being said in the press. Getz asked high, then said they would wait until the major free agents came off the board. Of course nobody's met that price, yet (that we have a pretty good idea what the pie in the sky price was from the Reds' leak). Now that the market is down to pretty much Snell and Monty, talks are heating up again, and we're starting to get rumors again. That's not really an answer to the good doctor's question of how you seem to know what teams are offering and how high they'll go. You keep accusing people of misrepresenting what you've said, but you've said so much in the last week, I couldn't really tell you what you actually are saying. You're arguing with everybody on everything, even stuff I seem to remember you previously conceding.

The doctor's just made a house call!! And it's TERMINAL!!

I can understand Baltimore kicking the tires on the next lower tier of pitchers if Cease gets too rich for them. Nothing says "taking it to the next level" like hoping Shane Bieber can get to the all-star break in one piece. And if the top 5 prospects are off the board, maybe Corbin Burnes could record a happy birthday message in exchange for Joey Ortiz.

Can we all agree that Houston isn't going to trade Framber Valdez to the Orioles for prospects so that they can potentially face him in the ALCS? I wouldn't say Cease is a unicorn, but he is one of the most attractive of a rare opportunity. That's the whole point, then, isn't it? While some are drooling over Baltimore's prospects, it doesn't have to be their prospects that get a deal done. At this point, I don't even care, I just want it to end.

But then there's that flaw in human logic where we start arguing with points that we fundamentally agree with, just because of somebody's conceited tone, or whatnot, and we have to make them wrong.

I agree with Sports Guy on the greater metaphor. Home buying generally doesn't go more than a couple volleys. And the emotions involved with an insulting low-ball might just eliminate that person from further consideration. Because that guy has exposed that he might be an a-hole over every single detail, and the selling family just doesn't want to have 3 months of war. Add to that, to avoid breaking the law, the Realtor is going to have to be careful on how much they coach buyers on their negotiations. I don't know how a situation like the Cease trade market works, in essence. I also agree with Sports Guy that at some point, they're talking to a couple of teams about their prospect packages, and the teams who have no way of matching are just out and not wasting time.

I've been in Real Estate, and if you know you're getting multiple offers, you inform everybody that there will be multiple offers, and you hand them back, and tell them to come back with their best, most serious offer, then you pick the best situation. Dude who thinks he's going to low-ball, then spend 3 weeks back and forth may get serious. I can't imagine that Getz has fallen in love with one prospect on one team, and will keep going back to try to get them to up their offer.

I'm not sure who's arguing what, any more. Yes, Cease had a 2023 that was down from 2022. I think we agree that the talent is there to get back to 2022 Cease. I don't think you're wrong. I don't know the WAR models as well as you do, but you sure sound like you know what you're talking about, and I don't have the wherewithal to disprove you. But I think the disconnect comes in intrinsic value vs. market. Yes, if a team decides they don't have enough pitching, Cease is the answer, and decides to do whatever it takes to make that happen, then that's his market value. Dylan Cease has not had as tight a floor and ceiling as [insert agreed-upon ace, here]. But I get the distinct idea that everybody here will argue that the White Sox had horrible culture, their leadership was for s%*#, pitch-coaching, catching, conditioning, stats support was all spotty, at best. So take Cease out of the chaos and drop him in LA or on the Braves, or a team who can nurture their pitching, and I think we agree he can tighten up. Nobody's going to get a discount because they have to buy him an iPad, and their pitching coach has to fly to his hometown a few times in January.

Nobody? Balta has explained at least a few times, and I've read each one. Makes sense. It has been explained back that other GMs have leaked that they don't consider whatever issue Cease had in 2023 to be uncorrectable. Balta has even said that if Cease has another 2023, that pitching coach should be fired, leading me to believe that he thinks Cease certainly has the talent to produce another 2022 type season. I think a few of you are stuck on being contrarian, which is fine, but it doesn't really go anywhere when the attitude is "I said a thing, and therefore, must never move off of that thing." I think Cease will be traded for a package most of us like, and there will be a bunch of face-saving comments, like "of course Baltimore wasn't paying that", or "well, yeah, the Yankees were desperate".