Balta1701

But out of recent years it’s literally the best comp we have because most struggling teams don’t put themselves in the same weak situation as the White Sox by holding guys to this point. They avoid this, because they know the value of a player drops a ton when they have only 2 months of control remaining.

The batters up in the 10th were Robert (walked), Eloy, Grandal, and Burger. I can’t imagine that any of these guys regularly practice bunting, asking them to do so is just taking the bat out of their hands.

He also got a 2 year contract because he’s 34 years old this year and even Hahn doesn’t give 5 year deals to 34 year old pitchers. Giolito will not be 34 this offseason. Quintana wound up starting game 1 of the playoffs for the Cardinals. However, if you think you have an example of a pitcher moved with 2 months of control for a much higher price, I’d be happy to know who it was.

The comp I keep using from last year is Quintana to the Cardinals as the years of control, performance, and money aren’t that different. The Pirates got back 2 players. One was a minor leaguer ranked between 10 and 20 in the Cardinals system, I believe he hasn’t made the big leagues yet. The other was Oviedo, a pitcher who was a top 10 prospect in the Cardinals system a couple years ago, but who had spent some time in their bullpen - the Pirates moved him back to starting this year. If that’s what pitchers go for this year, then 2 guys who will wind up in the top 10, maybe top 6-7 in the White Sox’s system is probably the expected return.

My hypothesis is that he has the lowest launch angle in baseball after having his last set of coaches constantly telling him he needed to hit the ball on the ground.

The QO is a thing still. Because of various rules, the White Sox would only receive a compensatory pick after the second round. Anything they get in a trade would be more valuable than that. Furthermore, these are still the White Sox. If they perceive any risk of the player accepting the QO and receiving $20 million, with only a late 2nd round pick reward, they may still pull a Rodon and decline it.

Hey 14 below, nice, I think that’s back to the season bottom.

So it took Bummer to get the scoring started huh

Ironically Luis Robert is having his worst season against sliders according to the Fangraphs tables. But, he’s swinging about 10% less, so presumably that means he’s pushing pitchers not to throw him as many.

I highlight this because I think Burger is a guy who could be tradeable right now. For example, the Brewers are bottom 5 in MLB in production from both DH and 3b, they’re one game out of the wild card, this is a spot where he could be a solid fit. There are other teams like the Yankees that could need help there also. Normally I wouldn’t be wanting to trade a guy with this amount of control, but I think Burger isn’t likely to be that useful when the White Sox are next competitive.

Jake Burger is 27, and given his body type and injury history, if he can be that player - does he fit the White Sox very well? If they’re bad for the next 2 seasons, are we confident he can still be productive at age 30?

I can’t think of a match who could afford him either, but if they are a 4th place team for the next couple years, we will probably be talking about that more seriously in 24 and 25.

Somewhere in there it becomes feasible to discuss Luis Robert.

I would note that the backup options in the case that either Sosa or Colas weren’t ready…were terrible. Eloy and Sheets in RF were things we insisted should never happen again. Elvis Andrus as the everyday 2b? No backup CF on the roster? These were just bad plans. If you’re going to rely on aggressively promoted rookies, you better have several good backup plans.

Tony LaRussa literally said “you’re going to love Joe Kelly”.

Alternatively, you also need to give guys who are coming up enough time to get through their struggles, as well as the tools to get better. For many players, that can be a year or even a couple years of coaching. If you're bringing up several guys from AA ball and needing them to be impact players right away in order to compete, the odds are not in your favor.

I picked those guys because I thought that was exactly what they did with them, write them off and then decide that its no big loss if they trade them. Semien? Just a utility guy, no big future. Bassitt? Only has a fastball, probably a bullpen guy. Narvaez - bad defensively, will clearly never learn.

Fanbase? Hell, the GM and coaching staff do it too.

A new GM will get to choose their own manager eventually. If I took the job right now, there's a good chance I'll keep Grifol around at least for next year because I'll want to get started on fixing other things before I worry about a search for a new manager.

Robert is so valuable that it's hard to see the White Sox getting anyone to offer a fair return for him. 4.5 years of control for an all star is just nuts. Personally, I think the only real solution to getting out of the hole the White Sox are in is to tear it down at least to the Cease level, because their system is so weak that they cannot replace the pieces (G) that they are losing to FA. The only way they're going to make a dent in the next 2 years is to make use of assets like Cease to fill holes. But, I doubt the White Sox will do anything other than play for 2nd place in a weak central division. Hell, I'll be surprised if they actually move anyone, since doing so is the right decision.

He's been an "elite" bullpen arm with the rays in part because of a .172 BABIP and a 84% LOB rate. These numbers are unlikely to continue. However, his K-rate with the Rays shot back up to where it was in 2022. His walk rate dropped back to where it was in 2021, and his fastball has picked up 0.8 mph since he left the White Sox, so some fraction of this is sustainable as him being a good and useful reliever.

I’d still guess you can get someone to take on a couple million on Lynn’s contract. An experienced pitcher at the back of your rotation is almost always better down the stretch than calling up your eighth starter, and there are definitely teams at that point right now.

The biggest risk now is that the Twins lose a couple in a row, the White Sox stay in 4th place, but they get to like 3 games back and Hahn gives another “yes we are right where we need to be” comment and adds pieces rather than subtracting. So please, tell everyone this is happening.

The only way Clevinger is gone is if he’s cut.