SoxBlanco

This is a dumb tweet. Of course he COULD be of interest. He probably IS of interest. It doesn't mean we would give up Walker, and it doesn't even mean Texas wants him. If the tweet said, "Rangers asking for Steele Walker as part of a return for Mazara", then we'd have something to talk about.

Sounds great to me. I was merely predicting a return...not hoping for one.

How about Basabe and Flores for Mazara?

I don’t like this move, but if it happens, I’ll try to reserve judgment until I see how the entire offseason unfolds. If it means we spend big on pitching, I’ll be fine with it.

So if the over/under was 120 innings, and you had to pick a side, you’d take the under? I would easily take the over.

How many innings do you think Ryu pitches next year, if you had to guess?

I know...hence the winky face. I was just giving you a hard time, in a joking way.

Exactly. I really want Ryu. The problem is that if Boras wants to drag this out, what do we do? Do we go after MadBum or explore a trade? If we wait on Ryu and strike out, then we are shit out of luck. I just want to overpay him right now and lock him up.

Good point. He's definitely #1 on my realistic wish list right now.

I actually want Ryu as well, so I'm agreeing with you that he's the next best option. But Ryu is probably more likely to get injured. It is true that they've missed the same amount of time due to injury, but based on their injury histories, I would say Ryu is more likely to miss time over the next couple of years. That being said, I wouldn't worry about that at all. He was fairly healthy last year, and we have reserves coming back from injury to fill in for him if he does go down.

We've also won a World Series in the last 24 years, so it's not ALL bad. ?

Ok, now you need to call the guy and have your wife act as the translator. Make sure to record and post the audio. It could go down in SoxTalk history.

Right now, the rotation consists of Giolito, Cease, and Lopez. We need two starting pitchers even if they are extremely high on Lopez.

You have to call it. This could be hilarious.

Doesn’t that go against Hahn’s comments about not wanting to compromise the extended window just to get a quick bump?

I think you’re reading into it too much. He’s just saying that they aren’t going to make a move just for the sake of making a move at the winter meetings. If the move makes sense, they will make it, just like they would have if it were last week or next week.

You can’t throw Engel in there as well. That’s too much.

Is this Hector's way of saying we should be on the lookout for some sort of Frank Castillo update on Ozuna?

No, just speculation from people around here after raBBit said we could trade for a coveted starting pitcher. I don't think the Rays are trading Snell.

I think Kinander has the same sources as @raBBit And I don't mean that as a knock. This just seems very similar to what raBBit was tweeting this morning.

Haha, I actually typed out almost exactly that same response and then thought, "I don't feel like getting involved in this discussion" and deleted it.

If we include Cease in a package for a SP, then all of a sudden Keuchel on a multiyear deal as our second best starting pitcher acquisition isn't so bad.

Does anybody believe we haven't even been in contact with Ozuna about a deal?

And last year, "Whale" was batting cleanup for us.