bighurt574

Cesar had been playing real well for CLE in the month before the trade and has carried that over (.887 OPS in July vs. .873 with the Sox in August). Really got a steal there, with another year of control, and allowed us to part with Madrigal.

Heuer is no loss. Relievers are volatile, he’ll probably have another good year or two at some point, but there are plenty of guys like that.

And worst case, if there keep being 2B available at the deadline like Cesar, Escobar, Schoop at minimal cost, you’re really not losing much even if we have to scramble a bit in two years.

Well, we have Cesar Hernandez for next year at $6M now. Pretty replaceable short term. Beyond that we’ll see I guess.

.898 OPS in July.

I don't see Pilkington on any top 30 lists (fangraphs, pipeline). I don't see the worry either.

Jeff Passan on Twitter: "The Chicago White Sox are finalizing a deal to acquire second baseman Cesar Hernandez from Cleveland, sources tell ESPN. White Sox have long been in the market for a second baseman. And now they get one in the 31-year-old Hernandez, who is hitting .231/.307/.431 with 18 homers." / Twitter

If you buy that teams know their own guys better than anyone else, perhaps OAK has really soured on the guy and doesn't think his struggles are a fluke.

#5 per mlb pipeline, #10 per Fangraphs, in an obviously deep system.

I doubt DET really cares about that for a pure rental.

Schoop would be fine too.

Rodon is going to be a fascinating negotiation/deal with basically one good year under his belt.

I would have settled for Castellanos in RF.

We've still managed to scratch out a lot of runs but losing some of your best HR hitters for various stretches sure takes a toll. A lot of the replacements are getting some timely hits but they're not bashing the ball out of the park a ton.

For a guy who is supposed to be a future cornerstone, you have to let Vaughn keep getting AB's against righties. Platooning him isn't a long-term solution. If he's still struggling as we near the playoffs, then you do something for the short term.

did we bring in Buehrle for the occasion?

That was Ayo against Michigan State, and he was back in a week with a mask.

If Carlos can look half that good all year we're in great shape. And so is he, he's pitching for a lot of money, potentially.

Not sure he really needs it. If he's pitching decently it's a no brainer to pick up.

Yep. And someone could easily figure out the "present value" of those deferred payments. Using a quick calculator I found online using a 6% interest rate, it appears to be around $11M. So it's basically a $4M decision on whether the exercise the option.

So they're basically certain to pick up the 4th year option as long as his arm doesn't fall off. The only cost is whatever the time value of the money works out to be by paying up front instead of deferring it. I'm sure someone could run those numbers. Maybe $3-4M?

Attendance is weak in April anyway. Start on time and hopefully there's a critical mass of folks vaccinated by the summer.

I’d almost be tempted to reverse the order there.

While a trade seems unlikely, being “a game apart” in the division standings this year doesn’t mean much. With the expanded playoffs, both teams are pretty close to locks to make the playoffs anyway. Next year might be another story.

With so many guys testing positive it's nuts if the rest aren't isolated for a week or two.