almagest

This team is better than last year (due to Lynn) but they still finished 3rd in the division. I'm not confident they'll make a postseason run with a normal postseason because Eaton doesn't make the team better. The idea is to supplant your existing talent with solid players to put you over the top. Eaton doesn't do that, so you're heavily reliant on every player on offense being better than they were last year (except Abreu, Anderson, Grandal and Jimenez, who I'm lumping together as "consistently good"). Eaton is probably going to be bad, so if any of the other 4 struggle or if most of them just don't improve you're putting a lot of pressure on the rest of the lineup. You don't make deep postseason runs with 2+ holes in your lineup unless you get absurdly hot.

Man the more I think about this the more I can't stand it, not even factoring Eaton being an asshole. You give NO slack to anyone on the team - if Madrigal isn't good or Moncada slumps again or Robert continues his slump for an extended period or Abreu regresses or Vaughn struggles when he comes up - this team likely doesn't make the postseason. Unless something changes we're likely punting another year of contention.

It seems the Sox definitely aren't spending much this offseason. I'm assuming a decent reliever or two (assume Colome comes back) and maybe they'll bring up Vaughn halfway through the year and rotate the DH before that. Maybe Yermin gets a shot though I doubt it. All told this is pretty typical White Sox free agency. Eaton sure as hell isn't going to put up 6 WAR again. He'll probably slot around 0-1 and they'll move on from him in 2022. At that point it's Adolfo or Colas, because the free agent list isn't great from what I see - Michael Conforto, Tommy Pham, Starling Marte, Corey Dickerson, Nick Castellanos (opt-out), Charlie Blackmon (player option), Andrew McCutchen (club option). This team is going to be carried on the backs of their home grown players. They won't be getting much long-term star-level help unless they luck into someone. I don't see this trend resulting in a perennial contender over the next 5 years. It's disappointing for sure.

If both Kopech and Cease fail this rebuild is screwed no matter what. They'd need to build an entire rotation from free agency or wait until any second wave comes up, at which point the existing core is expensive and/or leaving.

If they're not extending Lynn for another year or two I'm not a fan, and I don't even know if I'm a fan then, as Lynn probably drops off quite a bit over the next 3 years, if he even plays that long. I guess this buys you a year to see how Kopech, Lopez, Cease, Steiver develop, but odds are they'll just need to replace Lynn next year.

Lost an eye. Hope he learned his lesson.

I really hope a one-eyed cat breaks the Liam Hendriks signing

I thought I saw some concerning trends in his advanced numbers but I checked Fangraphs again and contact %, swing %, exit velocity, etc were all within career norms. He probably has another year or two left but given the Sox luck with signing over-30 left handed DHs in the low-mid market price range I'll still take the under.

Him and Robert probably swap assuming Robert gets back to being great.

This is the Sox MO, though. Waste money on low/mid tier acquisitions that seldom pan out. I think Brantley is prime for regression and I'd bet he posts below a 100 wRC+ next year.

Schwarber as DH/LF makes sense on a 1 year deal. On the position player side, I'd be content with: Anderson SS Moncada 3B Grandal C/1B/DH Abreu 1B/DH Jimenez LF/DH Robert CF Pederson or JBJ + Engel RF/CF/LF Madrigal 2B

I'm thinking this leak came from Springer's agent. We know the Sox made an offer, and I bet it's for 4/80 or something similar with maybe an option year taking it to <= 99 mil. This is code for "If you offer 9 figures you sign George Springer".

I can't do podcasts or audiobooks while working. I want to be able to focus on them.

Anyone listen to Kasper on ESPN 1000 this morning? Curious how that went. Doesn't look like it's on their site.

No one's telling you you can't be surprised. I will tell you to not take this so personally, though.

The amount of work these guys put in is insane, and they're highly specialized high skill athletes backed by a very strong union. It's no surprise they make so much.

Same. He's about the only buy low candidate I would get excited for.

The Walmart employee isn't as sincere.

Just stop following him and paying attention to him

Given how botched the TLR PR has been I'm not entirely sure that's the case

Wonder if he'd be a backup and reunite with LaRussa. Probably not a great fit for us, though.

That's my big worry.

100%. Not a fan of hiring TLR at all, but if it signifies opening the pocketbook for some combo of Bauer, Springer, Quintana/Wainwright then I'm fine with it. I'm not in for trades, either. We lack depth and trading away prospects really means we're in about a 3-4 year window. Let's aim for consistent competitiveness.

If this means some combo of Stroman, Bauer, Springer and some of the bullpen arms available then - fine. If this is "we're ready to win a series and Tony is the finishing touch" then... woof.

Looks like they fixed the image - just checked my email and it has the right signature: