Balta1701

Apparently his 2019 surgery was for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and I'm not expert enough to offer more details than this. https://theathletic.com/3377581/2022/06/23/dodgers-nick-nastrini/

At the start of the year, the Marlins were 18th with #13, #61, and #67. the Twins were 19th with #31, #45, and #88. After those two teams, you get to teams with 1-2 prospects on the list. Late teens/early 20s seems like an appropriate estimate.

I guess anything is possible but you haven't heard anyone around Houston talking about him being moved away from Catcher. The Astros GM thought he would spend some time there and allow Dusty to move people to the DH spot or pinch hit for Maldonado, when the year started, but Dusty wasn't about to do anything that creative.

My guess is on paper it's him and Zavala to start the year. Both are righties, so no obvious platoon, but Zavala is more experienced. This does keep them from having to spend at catcher next offseason, and that position is a mess in free agency. Whether it makes them better or not next year I don't know.

I'd expect him to be in the big leagues this year depending on the injury, and will probably be expected to break camp with the Sox next year.

Lee has legitimate talent, but he hasn't had a particularly good year. Pre 2022, he was ranked #70 on the baseball America list, but did not appear this year. He was up to start the year as a 3rd catcher but basically was fully passed by Yainer Diaz both offensively and defensively in the big leagues and barely played over a full month+. The Astros weren't going to go with 2 young catchers next year and it's clear that Diaz has earned the shot. He had 25 HRs in 450 plate appearances last year, but only 5 this year in 300 plate appearances.

Probably balances out the money and if we're being totally honest - the White Sox actually need a backup CF to give Robert a few days off the rest of the way. If that's all he does, that's useful.

I think there's a very good chance of this. They have double figures numbers of guys on the 60 day IL right now, those guys will all have to be added back to the 40 man roster in the offseason (with the exception of Hudson or any other FAs). They have a bunch of guys whose contracts will clear out (Kershaw, Heyward, Hernandez). I count something like a dozen guys who are arb eligible on their team.

Ironically - the White Sox really need someone like Thompson, just because they've had no backup CF pretty much all year and Luis Robert might well just crumble to dust at his current usage rate.

I wonder if they might have kicked in any money.

Dodgers 9th prospect on the MLB.com list. That's a pretty tolerable return for these 2.

Oh. My. God.

The idea that the GM has no influence in who they attempt to sign remains silly. They clearly tried! They thought they could get them both on the cheap, they leaked their offer to Machado to the point it got featured by the official MLB twitter feed, they bought into the friends and family plan, they met with Harper at the Winter Meetings and made a presentation to him, they failed to put any offer on the table for Harper at the end, they talked at Soxfest about signing "Multiple middle of the order hitters". Jerry Reinsdorf didn't do any of these things!

That’s part of the story. Underperforming asset, fanbase that starved to death. Ending of a true sweetheart deal for the stadium, no desire from the state to repeat that mistake. Sold to owners, maybe with an out of town connection or two.

Talk to me in about 8 years when they ask the state for a new ballpark.

What are the odds that Hahn’s plan to compete next year involves trading one or more of them?

If we are being honest about the timeline, the only one of those who should be up before late 2025 is Monty.

But Konerko is sort of the point. He’s the kind of guy you can steal when you’re rebuilding! They traded Cameron for him, and the Reds got his last pre-arbitration season before he got more expensive. He was a guy acquired from a “rebuilding” type trade, regardless of whether he spent time in the White Sox’s minors right now. Hes comparable to trading Burger for someone in another team’s minor leagues who won’t be up for a year or two, which you’ll note I’ve advocated for doing.

I don't know that the total tax number would matter much to them as compared to the multi-year penalties. As a big IF - IF they wanted to try to keep Shohei, they would have to go over the tax line to do it. Going over the tax line this year would take their penalty from 20% to 30% next year, and from 30% to 50% in 2025. That's like another what, $15 or $20 million in total cost compared to staying below the tax line this year?

I'll grant you wouldn't get away with that now, with how the league has changed. Probably would be a good idea to have extra pitching depth!

2005 was built in absolutely huge part out of a strong system. Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede, Paul Konerko were core parts of that roster. Other parts like Garcia were acquired by trades out of guys from that once-strong system. Those guys were not only developed by the White Sox, but having them all pre free-agency was what gave the White Sox the resources to do things like sign Dye and Pierzynski. No matter how many times people say it was a fluke, that team was quite strong for a number of years - frankly, if anything, they were held back by coaching in several of those years. It is also worth noting that player evaluations have absolutely improved since 2005, and this has made it harder to get away with stealing a Pierzynski.

Worked great with Benintendi and Clevinger and Andrus this year. More of this!

What's wrong with it...is how well it is working right now. What's wrong with it is 2023.

Are they on board with this season? Happy with how things have gone in both 2022 and 2023? Ready for more of the same next year? If another tank job is insane, what is this?

It’s been over a decade since I was really able to get excited about the White Sox (coincidentally starting at the same time as someone took a new job in their front office). I loved watching Sale starts for a while, but seeing how they let him and Quintana down with disastrous decisions around them really grated on me. These days, I’m well past the point of getting any joy out of single performances on a 70 win team. I want to see actual well played baseball by a competitive team, for several years on end. I want them well coached, talented, and well prepared. I want to see them fight for a number 1 seed, not for a top 5 pick. I have pared back my subscriptions a ton, I had the TV package in 21, the radio package last year, and nothing this year. Cheering for Sammy Sosa to hit a home run on those mid 90s Cubs teams doesn’t excite me, and same thing with Robert right now. I’m tired of the sloppiness, the laziness, the stupidity, and the losing. Oh and having a pitcher I still think should have been suspended is an extra ugh.