Chicago White Sox

26 man roster and you can stash two long relievers in there, even if one is significantly overpaid.

You guys have significantly more faith in Tony than I do. All it takes is one injury in the rotation and easing Kopech in will be near impossible, especially with less off days and more double headers. I’d rather not gamble my post season chances on that.

Because Kopech is going to cap out at 140 innings or so. Who do you expect to start game #4 in a playoff series?

I’m hoping, but we can’t bank on Kopech being able to be a starter come October, so by default it’s Keuchel at the moment.

I know this is hard to comprehend, but we can have two #3 caliber starters in the same rotation. And FWIW, I think Cease is more like a low end #2 starter who still has plenty of room for growth. He just slots as our #3 starter because we have two guys who are better.

But Keuchel makes $18M in the last year of his deal, so we’re not allowed to do anything but use him as our #4 starter next year despite rapidly declining stuff and horrible results last season. Let’s hope Hahn doesn’t accept mediocrity simply because he has a bad contract on his hands.

Who said Cease isn’t a #3? Are you assuming this because I want a 4th starter who actually is good?

I’m very confident the Sox acquire a SP, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Our two biggest needs are a left-handed power bat and a legit #3 starter. You don’t fuck with two question marks in your rotation when you’re trying to win a Championship.

I can’t believe people are actually ok with this guy as our #4 starter next year:

Why not? He didn’t even make our playoff roster. And do you really want his option for 2023 vesting?

Exactly. I think two years of a good SP is about all that is attainable. Sonny Gray or Frankie Montas are possibilities, but we’re probably looking at a four for one, quantity over quality type trade.

Conforto is actually a league average defender. An outfield with him, Robert, and Vaughn or Eloy in LF would be fine defensively and leagues better than those other options IMO.

Keuchel can go to the bullpen to start the year. He was absolutely terrible and his numbers are starting to catch up to his stuff. Relying on him would be a major risk. What 2B are you interested in that’s going a lot of money or trade pieces?

You want to go to war with Dallas Keuchel as your #4 starter come October? And that’s assuming everyone is healthy at that point.

You think Sheets is worth a good SP with three years of control?

I love the versatility, but given all our needs I think Conforto provides the best value. He’s the better defender in RF and is the better hitter against RHP. And while this will sound ridiculous, we just gave Leury $5M/year for his versatility and I’d rather get the best possible fit for a position of need. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be super happy if we ended up with Bryant, but I’d take Conforto over him if it were up to me.

We don’t have a ton assets that are going to move the needle in a trade though. Going to be very difficult to add a SP without giving up Sheets. Maybe Burger is close enough in value to bridge the gap.

I really liked what I saw out of Sheets last year and he put up pretty decent numbers in AAA & AA before that. The challenge is he has no business playing in the OF, which limits him to 1B & DH. If he can maintain what he did last year then he‘s got quite a bit of value, but it doesn’t take much regression with the bat to lose all trade value. I’d rather not move him, but if they add Conforto I won’t be upset if he’s used to add a legit SP.

Love this Mack trade. The Bears need to go all in on the offense this offseason to ensure Fields has the pieces to be successful. If that means the worst defense in football this year until a spending spree next offseason so be it.

You got it. The only thing I manipulated was Castellanos’ defensive numbers because he was epically bad in 2017 and fairly consistent from 2019 to 2021. Surprisingly he grades out better than Bryant in RF if you only include those three years. And fully agree Conforto should be the primary target, even before you consider he will likely get the lowest contract of the three.

Sheets for Bassitt huh? Seems inevitable IMO. The good news is that means Conforto must be coming soon as well.

He’s one of the three guys yes.

Added a Player C as well. All three are free agent options for RF.

Conforto is one of them.