JUSTgottaBELIEVE

you really like to mislead without telling the whole story don’t you? Since Hahn assumed the GM role prior to the 2013 season, the team’s opening day payroll has ranked #20 on average. That’s largely inflated by his first year at the helm as you mentioned #8 back in 2013.

Abreu is the best free agent signing in White Sox history and Kenny was the GM for the franchise’s first title in 88 years. Does that mean they also get a pass? Look, I’m not saying they’ve done a great job but they are also working with a deck stacked against them (payroll constraints) and even the best of the best (Theo right?) make some truly awful FA signings. The difference is terrible signings like Chatwood and Darvish can be swept under the rug and absorbed in a top 8 MLB payroll whereas that doesn’t happen when you are running a payroll in the bottom third of the league.

I wonder what a similar evaluation would look like with the Cubs since Theo took over? Lester certainly helps, much like Abreu did here, but Heyward, Chatwood, Darvish would all bring down the production rates significantly. Moral of the story? Hahn hasn’t been good with free agent signings overall but his bad signings are greatly magnified because he is consistently working with low payrolls.

I’ve found it’s the only way to live a happy life, for me at least!

Isn’t $9.5M/WAR pretty much exactly in line with or just a bit worse than league averages? That’s interesting.

Not sure where to start with this one. Moncada has looked great overall, not just good. Gio had one great start, one awful start. Rodon has been very good overall despite a bad outing vs the Rays. Colome and Herrera have a combined 2.45 ERA across 11 innings. Agree that TA has been awesome and Lopez has been terrible. That doesn’t seem like a terrible start to the season to me from an individual player performance perspective.

Yea, I disagree. 2.5 years isn’t exactly what I would consider a proven track record in the way you are framing it to be. If Rodon maintains an ERA in the low 3’s with strong peripherals while proving he’s healthy, he’ll be worth what Shark was worth in 2014, at least. Again, extra year of control, 3 years younger, and higher ceiling.

Tucker and Alvarez please ?

Wouldn’t the fact that he worked out of the bullpen for half his MLB career prior to the trade kind of work against the superior track record as a starter argument?

Shark at the time of the trade had accumulated 8.4 fWAR. Rodon is at 6.8 currently. He’s under team control for an extra year and 3 years younger than Shark was at the time of trade. No doubt in my mind that if Rodon produces a healthy and highly productive first half to this season that his trade value will be equal to Shark’s was at that time at a minimum.

He’s definitely had injury issues but if he stays healthy the first half of this season and performs well, there will definitely be interested suitors. I’d say his track record is as good or better than someone like Jeff S when the Cubs traded him and Jason H in July 2014 for a haul.

For a number of reasons, I don’t see an extension as a realistic option with Rodon. IMO they should trade him if he has a strong first half to this season to maximize the return while he is still healthy and under team control for another 2+ seasons.

How do you figure half the rebuild pieces are on the MLB roster? I’d say 1/4 and of those I only consider TA, Moncada, Eloy, and Lopez as vital elements (Kopech too once he returns from injury and Gio is a wild card). The second wave won’t arrive until later this season or next season. The third wave of prospects in 2021 and beyond. 2021 is the year in which their contention window needs to start. I don’t see it opening any sooner and I’ve said this since last summer before the Kopech injury and last offseason. With this in mind, Rodon should absolutely be on the trading block this summer if he starts out strong and they can get a haul for him - two top 100 prospects and another low level org guy.

This is exactly what we are seeing no? TA and Moncada have taken huge steps forward. Eloy is getting his first taste in MLB and holding his own. We should see promotions for Collins and Cease come July/August. Veterans like Rodon, Colome, and Herrera are shaping up to be nice trade pieces in July. Like I said, the only guy that has truly disappointed me to this juncture is Lopez. The rest of the roster is a combination of aging vets, AAAA players, and wild card former prospects (I’ll put Gio in this category). Sounds a lot like the 2013/2014 Cubs to me.

This is basically the 2013/2014 Cubs. Wins don’t matter this year and they likely won’t matter until 2021 because I am assuming next year will be another 85-90 loss season. And that’s ok as long as we see progress from Moncada, TA, Eloy, and eventually Collins and Cease when they are called up this summer as well as the kids on the farm. I’m also hopeful Rodon, Herrerra, and Colome turn in a solid first half of the season so we can trade them in July to further reinforce the farm. Those are the things I’m looking forward to in addition to the June draft. I just don’t see why wins/losses matter this year especially when everyone knew this team was nowhere near contending particularly after missing out on the two superstars in free agency last winter.

You forgot the Royals

If Giolito becomes a solid #5 that’d be a bonus. He was always considered a huge wild card. So yeah, Lopez is the only guy that I’m upset about in terms of their start to the season. Moncada and TA look awesome. Eloy is holding his own. Rodon has been very good. The only tradable assets in the pen come July, Colome and Herrerra, have been great. The farm system has gotten off to a good start. I’d take this start over an 8-3 start with all the vets tearing up while Moncada, TA, Rodon, and Eloy looking awful. Wins don’t matter this season, they never did. In fact, less wins is better for next year’s draft position.

Yes, seriously. The guys sucking it up, with the exception of Lopez, have little to no future relevance to this team in another year or two.

Yes, the pitching has been awful but I’m encouraged by this start overall. The only guy that has any future relevance to this team that I’m down on is Lopez. Moncada and TA are tearing it up, Eloy is holding his own, and Rodon has been very good overall despite his last start.

Man, Bryce Harper would have fit quite well into the only position with a question mark next to it...

308 wRC+ with a .143 BABIP. That’s hard to do.

3.38 ERA, 1.49 FIP, 3.24 xFIP thru 3 starts. I’d take that line over 30 starts for sure.

Yes, lock him up, lock him up. Let’s lock up Yoan and Kopech next. How awesome it would be to have the entire core controlled thru 2025 minimum. And no, I’m not ready to extend Gio and Lopez yet but Rodon would be intriguing despite the injury potential.

Lol! Yep, had one two many drinks at the park. Awesome game! I should have said mini-Abreu/Eloy.

But imagine this lineup with Moncada, Harper, Abreu, and Abreu. That would have been loads of fun. Oh well, gotta add JDM this winter and hopefully Robert, Madrigal, and Collins to the mix sometime next year if not sooner in Collins’ case.