GreenSox

The one in which Robert graduates, which will probably be in September. And yes, he'll hang on for the winter 2020 rankings, so that means the official drop will likely come in the 2020 mid-season rankings.

but they could have signed a full load of 300K players, which is what the bulk of what they were signing before the penalty anyway. But they didn't.

Or you can be in the top half and have a loaded major league roster like the Braves, Yankees, Dodgers, Rays, Astros, Twins, etc. The Rays are particularly annoying. They won 68 in 2016 and had the #19 Farm in January 2017. They'll make the playoffs this year and have a top 10 farm (maybe top 5). The Sox won't make the playoffs and have a bottom half farm.

I think the Sox are in for a pretty serious fall in the farm ratings; they haven't kept up with the drafting, international signings, etc. That said, I do get the feeling that prospects 11-30 are much more interesting than they have been in a while, so they may bounce back up or at least stabilize in the 15-20 rank, which I think is the best they can do in normal times with the current farm and FO investment and infrastructure.

If you through the cost and effort of adding 2 SPs, a reliever and a RF, then you have to do option 1. I think you have numbers pegged pretty well....adding 2 good SPs, a reliever and a RF probably turns this into an 86 win team (presuming natural progression of other players, Cease sticks in the rotation, etc.), so you'll likely need those 2 extra wins. Too close in any case.

Like who though? I mean I wish the Sox had grabbed players off the scrap heap like the Dodgers did with Muncy and Turner, or the Padres with Hand. But guys like Palka, Tilson, Gillaspie - they were pretty high picks and well-regarded at one point.

If he could get his OPS up to .740 or so he could be helpful. As it is, he's certainly no worse than and far more interesting than Jon Jay.

It was a poorly conceived risk to take; a lot of risk for not a lot of upside. I don't see a problem with sticking Reed at 1B for a few weeks.

The difference is that the Astros are top notch in drafting and developing prospects. So if they make a bad trade, new prospects to replenish the till are right around the corner. the White Sox are not good at it, so mistakes magnify. Hahn's two biggest mistakes were in trades he shouldn't have made anyway because he was getting very little in return

Nice claim

Magic man is better than either magician or little magician.

Omar wasn't scraps. Also, December value for closers is far less than July value for closers: higher necessity in July plus more certainty in a position that is chronically inconsistent. Also, Colome is having a career year. Some teams have been known to overpay for career years (ahem). Maybe the Sox get lucky.

You may be right about that. You just don't see those guys too often anymore, and Batting Average is so out of vogue these days, that one forgets that they exist (or used to anyway). Of course no need to trade him anyway unless some crazy offer comes out of the woodwork.

Leury should be on the market to see what he can bring. He's all batting average, which coupled with little power and rarely walking and fairly high K totals, seems unsustainable at this level.

Sign McHugh and Bumgarner in the offseason. Trade a couple of OF Prospects for an upper level pitching prospect or 2. What they don't need to do is trade for pitchers with 1 or 2 years left on their contract....those are asset-depleting moves.

Both sides of the trade were completely misguided and not well thought out. Two-gun Pete basically explained the lingering issue in his colorful way: the people who made that historically bad trade (and that wasn't their only blunder) are still running the operation. Generic's endowment effect is interesting. I think that explains why some people (such as me) don't like trading prospects in general. And this FO doesn't have a dependable history with veterans. The FO really needs to be alert to signs of decline before trading for them. On the other hand, some age very well, and an astute FO is pretty good at discerning that.

Hahn's playing the long-game here, getting family on board early for when Fernando Jr. hits free agency.

The 2nd to best prospect they've had this century was an international signing, as was the best prospect of the 1990s. But just like a young player for young player trade (Quentin, Eaton), if it works, stop doing it.

I think Leury's a free agent in 2021, so it's one more year after this. No doubt losing Colome creates a major void. But they have a major void as it is, as in the entire back half of the pen (perhaps even 2/3 of the pen) and 3 or 4 spots in the rotation. Yea they could give Abreu a QO, but he's worth about 1/2 that and that would be the same FA approach they've been taking - overpay 2nd and 3rd tier guys because they have to spend the money on somebody. I'm not convinced of his great leadership and there's a new generation that can fill the void anyway. When you boil it down, the Sox long term core is really Anderson, Moncada, Eloy and Giolito. That's 4, the same as it was in 2014-2016 with Sale, Q, Eaton and I guess you can throw Avi in there. And there is a big void in pitching; you can get by with below replacement in an OF position or 2B, but not in the rotation.

Well they have a major void in starting pitching. They have an expiring Abreu and a peak value Colome and interesting utility player in Leury, also at peak value. Maybe nothing will come of it, but they need to work the market seriously.

If they are making long term moves, then they are trading for prospects or younger players. What effect would injured prospects have. They know they need pitching regardless. Hahn cannot sit on his hands through another July deadline market.

They can fill the OF. The Sox need starting pitching...badly.

In the 90s I think the Sox had the best record in MLB; that may have extended well into the naughts.

He can hit. He strikes out some, but not an obscene amount, and he walks pretty well. He was dominating Birmingham when everyone else was floundering. I mentioned him in one these threads in early April and the response I received (I think from one of the Future Sox guys)) was that he's bad defensively...I don't know if that's improved. But let him play some DH. If he can hit AA he can probably hit AAA; so just as soon call him up at some point.

McCann, yes. Colome is excellent but they traded 4 years of so far a 1.4 WAR catcher for 2 years of Colome's .3 WAR (and I concede that Colome is a lot better and certainly more valuable to this team than his WAR suggests). But then there are Nova, Alonso, Santana, 2 of whom have already been DFAd and a third who would have been had the Sox any kind of staff.. Over the years it's probably 4 bad for 1 good (2016 alone had probably 9 bad for 0 good). And a lot of these moves just are just no effort like the Nova and Shields trades...some team peddles a washed up veteran for a seemingly reasonable not too high price and Hahn bites.