Chicago White Sox

I will say that if Jerry was serious about winning a World Series before he leaves this world, he’d go out and sign Aaron Judge. I agree that would be the move to instantly make us World Series threats. It would also rejuvenate the fan-base and create a new generation of lifelong Sox fans. I can’t stress how game-changing such a move would be. And zero reason we couldn’t afford him. The Disney money would cover the bulk of his salary this year and we have plenty of payroll coming off the books starting 2024. Any competent organization could make this work, but it would require taking on some risk and that ain’t happening. Safe & steady is how Uncle Jerry prefers to play it, so we’ll be stocking up on reclamation projects and trading from both the major league roster & farm to fill our needs. I dream of the day George Lucas and his wife buy the Sox and we finally act the like the big market behemoth we always should have been.

They made an ok offer to Machado if they were the only team in the mix. They basically pretended to be interested in Harper and just handed him over to the Phillies despite his star power and desire to play in Chicago.

A $180M payroll would have ranked 10th last year…

I don’t understand what you don’t get here. Jerry refuses to make the long-term commitments it takes to sign true impact talent. Whether he sports a large payroll or not is meaningless when he’s so god damn risk adverse. So even if the $180M payroll estimate is wrong, we won’t be signing someone like Aaron Judge to a record setting contract. Jerry had his chance to prove us all wrong when Machado & Harper were free agents and the typical big threats weren’t in the game. Instead, he lost out to the Padres & Phillies because he was afraid of having some bad payroll nine years in the future when he might not even be alive. That should tell you everything you need to know about Jerry. As for non-stopping bitching, I just posted my off-season plan that assumes a $185M and no star additions. And guess, I projected a 93 win season from that team. Just because we have one of the worst owners in sports and a GM who has yet to prove himself competent in nine years on the job doesn’t mean there isn’t talent on this roster. I want to believe in this group of players, but it’s very hard when you watch the GM make so many baffling moves and the owner insert his out-of-touch, lifeless BFF as manager. We were promised parades and instead have watched this organization quickly botch this window. So yeah, I think it’s pretty fair for Sox fans to be a pessimistic mood right now.

Notice something about all your examples? Maybe it’s not an arbitrary number when your most recent example of a “big contract” is Jerry absorbing Thome’s $45.5M salary in 2006 coming off a bad season. Also, people aren’t being negative about the payroll for no reason. Instead of insulting the entire board, maybe understand the basis of our concerns, which is James Fegan citing from a source ~$180M payroll and Hahn explicitly stating money will be tight. Could it all be bullshit? Sure, but everything during Jerry’s tenure as owner suggests it’s not.

Because the Dodgers have other pieces that could help us

f*** my life if this comes to existence

Yup, especially when you know this is a guy they prioritized vs. settled on.

I’d rather go 1/$12M for Clevinger than 3/$40M for Eflin. There will likely be a rotation shakeup next year and I’d rather have money towards a higher ceiling guy than Eflin.

Is NBB suggesting there is another free agent contract in the works?

He said $25M per

No

Any speculation who we might be willing to move? Understand if you don’t want to name names.

I would absolutely hate that.

Whether my trade proposal comes to fruition or not, I think Bryan Ramos is the main prospect if we acquire a controllable OF or 2B. As such, I think there is a good chance he’s no longer in the organization by the time the Winter Meetings end.

See my full plan below...this was just what I think can get done next week. I think we need to free up some money before signing another OF.

No, I'd have us adding an everyday LF as well, but I don't think that will happen until we clear some payroll first (with the Hendriks trade needing to happen first). My plan right now assumes a total cash payroll of ~$185M including buy-outs / dead money ($7.7M). Under that assumption, I'd be looking at adding Brantley (who I went with) or Gallo to play LF with Outman more as a AAA depth piece / insurance plan. If the buy-outs / dead money can be excluded, then I'd target Conforto for LF instead (who I expect to be in the $14M-16M range) and look at adding another cheap reliever. The other move I have is trading Jake Burger for additional depth, in this case to the MIL for Robert Gasser. Not the sexiest of off-season plans and I'd rather anchor off someone more impactful like Nimmo, but I don't see that happening based on what's been signaled. Ultimately, I like the SP depth considerably more under this plan with Pepiot & Gasser added on top of Martin & Burke. I think the OF defense is significantly better even with an aging Brantley in LF (he was slightly positive last year in terms of DRS). I think Duvall is a perfect 4th OF as he's actually strong defender at all three spots and can hit LHP well. Again, I'd rather have an impact player, but trying to balance my approach with what I assuming are the financial realities. Still hoping for Conforto for LF somehow. I have this as a 93 win team assuming normalized health and I don't think any of the these projections are all that ridiculous. I think the reality is our core guys should be much better next year and moving Vaughn & Eloy to 1B & DH respectively helps in many ways. The bullpen is the biggest risk, but at some point Crochet should be back, Pepiot has the arm to move to a higher leverage role, and you can always trade for reinforcements.

He’s a throw-in with Pepiot as the centerpiece ? But my plan would be to add a placeholder LF in either Brantley or Gallo or preferably Conforto if Jerry is feeling extra jolly this holiday season. That way Outman is more of a depth piece than being relied on immediately.

Dumb question, but what is the average age of a pitcher’s 2nd TJS? Is it possible that it simply typically coexists with an aging pitcher who was already losing effectiveness?

We have the 3rd highest wRC+ from the catcher spot over the last five years and that’s including Grandal’s horrible 2022 season. From 2018 to 2021 we actually rank #1 overall.

Here are my predictions: Free Agents: OF Adam Duvall = 1/$6M Trades: 3B Bryan Ramos, UT Romy Gonzalez, & RHP Matthew Thompson to TB for 2B Brandon Lowe CL Liam Hendriks & OF Luis Mieses to LAD for RHP Ryan Pepiot & OF James Outman Rule 5 Draft: No one selected in major league phase Draft Lottery: The White Sox snag the final spot and will get to draft 6th overall

Meetings start this Sunday and go through Wednesday. Typically, most trade activity happens Monday & Tuesday, but a couple of specific dates worth mentioning: Draft Lottery => Tuesday @ 7:30pm (MLB Network) Rule 5 Draft => Wednesday (time / viewing options unclear) Figured we should have a dedicated thread for predictions and miscellaneous rumors that aren’t standalone worthy. I’ll post my own predictions shortly.

Not that it matters, but I literally predicted he’d get a 1/$12M deal in my off-season. But again, who cares? We’re all a bunch of hardcore baseball fans with differing opinions, sometimes right and sometimes wrong. No one needs to go on bragging about how big their internet penis is by citing all the times they’ve been right. You’re a great poster, just stay true to yourself even if people don’t always agree with you. The place wouldn’t be fun if we all thought the same thing.

You think James Outman is a top 45 caliber prospect?