WestEddy

I forgot Rodon. 6. I appreciate your argument. Yes, they did try stocking up on arms, and Fulmer was drafted as a "close to ready" college arm. After Fulmer, Crochet and Vera were the first pitching prospects they brought into the system who came with any fanfare. Everybody else were just arms or projects. Arms they didn't have the apparatus to develop. Davis Martin is promising, both as a prospect, and as a newfound ability to develop lottery tickets from the 15th round.

They went into the last rebuild with exactly 5 rotation arms. They traded one, put one in the bullpen, and Kopech went squirrelly. I feel like they have to plan on 10-12 strong, top-level pitching prospects to have a reasonable, home-grown rotation for the next assault.

I'd see a Kopech for India as a change of scenery trade. Cease shouldn't be used to move Moncada's money, or to take back a flame-out. The whole point of trading Cease is to capitalize on his value and rebuild.

Bowden's an idiot.

No, even if you hate your own team, you still say it. Gives you cover when you leave.

Also, AAA bullpen fodder... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/white-sox-sign-justin-anderson-to-minor-league-deal.html

I keep thinking Salvy is cooked. He hit 48 HRs 2 years ago, and easily has 20 HR power. At $20 million per for the next 2 years, he could be virtually "free" in trade. Eloy's a better hitter and cheaper, but yeah, if dropping Perez in the lineup gets everybody on the same page, it's not quite the albatross everybody's making it out to be.

I'm guessing they're trying to line up another transaction that takes somebody off the 40-man, then they'll announce everything at once.

The fact that nobody's talking about any White Sox makes me comfortable with our 40-man decisions.

Fangraphs has Suarez as 3rd best defensive qualifying 3B this last season. Seby seems to be a commodity, defensively apt catcher. Go figure. Suarez at 3B and Moncada at 2B might offer more offense than whatever it is they're conjuring up for 2024. Yeah, there's about 6 guys who could be dropped from the 40 man and still be with the Sox in a week. I think the crunch was on the 26-man roster in September, and not the 40-man. DFA-ing Grandal would have been a bold first move for Getz.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/dbacks-trade-seby-zavala-mariners-catcher.html So, basically, we could have held onto Seby, and traded him and Jonathan Stiever to the Mariners for Eugenio Suarez? Suarez is only being paid about $11 million.

Lenyn Sosa was the opposite of being rushed.

A major problem with their recent drafts is they were drafting too low in each round.

Sosa, Remillard and Romy will see how to act with dignity after being DFAed.

Looking at the 2016 game by game defensive lineups, Saladino actually edged Jimmy Rollins out of the starting role. Once that was happening, Tim Anderson replaced Rollins.

Sign all the veteran utility infielders, and when the league runs out, everybody else has to deal with us!! I love it!!

Fansided article proposing 3 different returns from the Dodgers for Cease. Again, I'm just jonesing for names. https://dawindycity.com/2023/11/20/3-trade-packages-dodgers-white-sox-dylan-cease/

I think one big problem the KW/Hahn rebuilds had was they relied on one of each position. Traded for 5 starting pitching prospects, a LF and a 2B, drafted (in the 1st round) a 1B, 2B, C, 3B, signed a CF out of Cuba, and that was it. If you look at the Dodgers' top 30, they have multiple SS's coming through the system, multiple catchers, etc. I'd have no problem with the White Sox prioritizing the stock piling of catchers, SS's and CF's. All the eggs aren't in the one basket of a 1st rounder correcting the hitch in his swing, or whatnot.

Fangraphs has him as about 14th best in the league in defense, ranking between Carlos Correa and Gunnar Henderson.

oops. thanks

I guess reconstructing the 2023 White Sox bullpen is one way to illustrate the concept of "you can switch entire teams, and they'll still beat you".

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/braves-sign-reynaldo-lopez.html

Does anybody know what "let it eat this year for the team" means? Did he mean "let it out"?

But I think other teams have plans, where the White Sox really never looked like they did. Other teams' front offices have their own conceit about their strength and conditioning, and would probably plan to get 300-400 PA's from Eloy, filling in with a deeper bench and minor league system. The Sox' rebuild seemed to rely on one guy for each position, and hope some 15th rounder steps up to fill in the bench and bullpen. A deep system seems to have 2-3 ranking catchers, shortstops or centerfielders.