Balta1701

"Cohen opens his checkbook"

Hell, if his option becomes guaranteed with a trade that would actually cut his luxury tax amount.

This was my worry when they finished the Benintendi deal, that telling Bruce Levine they didn't have to move money was exactly what they'd do if they desperately needed to move money.

Just think of the advantages this gives the White Sox over a team they are clearly competing with in the standings...(checks notes)...the Royals.

And yet, the same site that says he was a 54 wRC+ catcher also says he was a 0.4 fWAR catcher, which over the course of a full year would put him on pace to be just about an average catcher if he played a full year. And on top of that, they replaced him with Yasmani Grandal, who was coming back with a totally playable 58 wRC+ on the season to that point and who had not been given nearly enough time to try to rehab a major back problem. I mean, how can you not take that massive offensive upgrade?

There was "no indication he was toast" except for the medical imaging showing displaced disks in his back and the doctors who recommended surgery as a consequence.

There is a whole “what should we do about catcher” thread already.

Just to point this out…if Grandal’s back was in such bad shape last year that it dramatically limited his performance… Grandal went on the IL midseason. They called up Zavala to replace him. Although some of it was luck, Zavala was surprisingly good and had improved on blocking the plate, his biggest issue from the previous year. But, Zavala was out of options, so they couldn’t release him. They had another catcher, Reese McGuire, who wasn’t special with the bat but was quality on defense. He also had no options remaining. When Grandal came off the IL, they had no choice but to move one of them, and so Reese was traded to Boston for Diekman. Had Grandal been moved to the 60 day IL and told to come back after fully rehabbing his back, the Sox wouldn’t be stuck with Diekman’s money, and they’d have an extra rotation catcher who had a strong second half already. If Grandal’s back wasn’t healthy enough to start this year, which seems possible, they wouldn’t have to panic. Just another case where rushing a guy back from injury cascaded through the whole roster.

There was a point in May of last year where Keuchel, Martin, and Velasquez were all getting starts, and that was after Cueto was called up. Are those guys ready to give you 3 or 4 quality starts in late April if a couple guys get sick or have various muscle pulls? If they’re not, then this is absolutely a concern as having 2 guys hurt at once on a pitching staff is pretty much expected. Again the White Sox may be in such a bad spot that they just have to tolerate this and whine about how no one could have expected it when it happens, but it’s not unfair to point it out now.

He’s worth a shot as a swingman or 6th/7th starter, but when you stack him as the 6th man up against the depth the Guardians have or against the 6th and later guys for the Yankees and Astros, on paper it’s a major difference. If you pretended the White Sox had a lot still to spend you would totally want more depth there, but for the White Sox it’s probably the best they can do.

The Guardians ZiPS projections article is out today. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-zips-projections-cleveland-guardians/

that's...not particularly impressive?

What is this based on, internal scouting reports?

I don't know what their budget limit is, but right now I've got them about $5 million below where they were for last season, if I'm counting buyouts the same way they are. Last year, they wound up about $14 million below the tax line. There is some funkiness with how it's calculated for a few people, but there is some risk that they could be near the line if they added >$20 million.

We're not sure, but worth noting that the White Sox originally said that Avisail Garcia could be their long term CF when they acquired him and that lasted a couple of days, so probably should be skeptical about putting him there at first.

The Mets would take on about $3 million this year. The White Sox would be taking on about $7 million for next year (club option on Escobar).

Hell, do they have anyone we can confidently say can play decent enough CF defense for a couple weeks?

You're right that the White Sox will struggle if their handful of guys don't stay perfectly healthy, but aside from Last Year's Guardians, everyone has severe injuries that they have to deal with. If the White Sox can't overcome injuries, this isn't a statement that the White Sox are unlucky! This is a statement that the White Sox's core is too darn weak, that the team isn't that well put together, and that people are convincing themselves that "no team could survive this many injuries" as a way to cover for that.

The Braves in 2021 lost Ronald Acuna Jr for the season and the guy they were hoping could come back to be their top starter, Soroka, had his ankle blow out again and never threw a pitch. Other guys like Fried and Anderson also spent time on the IL, and Marcel Ozuna had some other non-injury personal issues. Here’s a straightforward article on how the Braves had to overcome those injuries for an improbable title: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/2021-world-series-braves-overcome-big-injuries-slow-start-to-win-improbable-championship/amp/ If the White Sox lose Robert in July for the season, Benintendi gets suspended most of the year, and let’s say Lynn never throws a pitch next year, we will hear exactly the same thing about how no one could ever overcome the stuff the White Sox lost to still contend.

It was already 24-15 before you posted this

But that’s clearly misleading. The 2021 Astros did get 3000 plate appearances from their top 6 OPS guys. That did not include former all star Alex Bregman, who had a .777 OPS and only 400 plate appearances because he struggled with injuries. It also doesn’t include Michael Brantley, who was 34 at the time and only played 120 games. Those Astros created a deep enough roster that when guys like Bregman had injury issues, other people could pick up the slack. The 2022 Yankees definitely did not get 3000 plate appearances from their top 5 guys. Neither did the 2021 Yankees, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about there.

That is not even the main reason why he won’t sign with the Indians.

I will bet you any amount of money that he will not sign with the Indians.

Just from a baseball perspective, you don’t want to hand a new coach this task to deal with when you’re already counting on him to fix about a dozen other issues.