Chicago White Sox

We’re going to sprinkle Leury “Savage” Garcia in everywhere against RHP and that should be sufficient.

This core isn’t under control for five or six more years, so why does planning that way make any sense?

Ether

Year 4 doesn’t matter with Gioltio, Lynn, Anderson, Grandal, & Abreu all possibly gone.

Oh fuck no

This is a very fair synopsis but I still believe Conforto is destined for this team.

Fathom may be a bit pessimistic, but dude usually gives the best / most fair takes when it comes to the White Sox.

I like Meadows’ bat if healthy, but am concerned about his defense in RF. Plus the Rays would likely work the shit out of Hahn in a trade unfortunately.

For nearly a decade you’ve begged for a left-handed power bat and now one is there for the taking at a position of need and you’re not interested? I’m at a loss of words.

Free Agency Fun Facts! The Sox have signed three of the seven largest reliever contracts over the past two off-seasons (~43%), including two of only three deals that go beyond two years Only 20 free agents have signed deals for three years or longer in length this off-season, with 17 of those for starting pitchers or everyday positional guys Of the three 3+ year length contracts that are for relievers or bench players, the Sox have signed two of them

Just got a MLB notice that says 5/$85M…is that true?

That definitely hurts, but I think that can partially be blamed on the pandemic. At least they went for youth / ceiling with those picks. 2021 is going to be huge for those guys and for the system in general though.

Yes, I believe he didn’t spend enough time in AAA last year to cost us an option.

I totally agree, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Need to focus on 2022 to 2024 and not head into this year with major holes.

It’s amazing how much the failures of our minor league system are costing us right now. From 2015 to 2018 we had five first round picks. Two of them were eventually DFAed, one of them is a backup catcher who can’t catch and only has one option left, and another was a guy who contributing but was traded for 1 to 2 years of a reliever making ~$16M. At this point, our only hope of extracting future value is from a 3B/1B type coming off two Achilles injuries and who turns 26 next month. That’s all we have to show from our 1st round picks from four drafts. And non of these guys were high variance HS picks, but rather safe college picks. Let’s go another level though. The Sox had six total 2nd & 3rd round picks across these drafts. Out of these six players, only one remains in the organization in Gavin Sheets. Of the five others, one was traded for two months of Caesar Hernández, one was traded for one year of Nomar Mazara, one was traded for one year of Yondor Alonso, and the other two retired or were claimed off waiver. Again, all six of these college picks, most of them of the safe variety. I could go a level further and point out all the relievers we drafted in the middle rounds, all the relievers we acquired by selling international bonus slots, and the fact that we invested $2.5M in Yogurt Sanchez instead of signing teenagers who are a currency rebuilding teams actually want. Good thing we have all those relief prospects and near ready utility man in Yogurt so we can prioritize other needs in free agency…whoops.

Must be nice to have a minor league system: https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/1504067385048940544?s=20&t=O2Tnfgdp2EZyk91HgSNwFQ

That’s fine and dandy, but will they experience the health & defensive improvements that we will organically?

Edit

I love the Blue Jays aren’t content with what they have and continue to make bold moves, whereas there are Sox fans who say we should be happy with the core we have. The Jays are going to pass us soon if we don’t make a major move.

Bold prediction, but I think Manaea or Montas is on the White Sox by the end of the day. With Chapman being moved, that now allows the A’s to focus on trading these guys.

I mean, I think it’s clear they’re targeting better players. They were after both Wheeler & Burnes before they took massive leaps. They acquired Lynn & Hendriks last offseason who were both All-Stars. Hahn may continue to overpay for guys, but at least we’re pursuing better talent than in years past.

Those guys aren’t playing for their next contract though, so it’s easy to sleepwalk when their zombie manager doesn’t interested in pushing hard for HFA.

I really don’t see pro scouting being the reason their deadline was a failure. I know you felt Kimbrel was a ticking time bomb for whatever reason, but the two best organizations in baseball felt otherwise. And while it was clear Hernandez’s power numbers were unsustainable, there was zero reason to think he wouldn’t just revert back to the same old guy he had been for the last few years. The real concern is trading from your major league roster if that’s going to end up being disruptive to your offseason plans. If the Kimbrel move ends up costing us the ability to address RF (which remains to be seen), then Hahn has failed epically at his job and deserves to be held accountable.