Chicago White Sox

Come on man…they needed one decent right-handed setup man because Kimbrel is as good as gone plus they’re losing both Tepera & Kopech from the bullpen as well. Also, this will not stop them from addressing all their other needs (2B, RF, SP, etc), so no reason to be overreactionary here.

Why did Shilling need to be resigned? I know he’s Rule 5 eligible (or was supposed to be before this), just kind of confused on what happened. This is different than the Tyler Johnson situation as he was on the 40 man roster.

I think 2B is more likely to be addressed once the lockout ends unfortunately.

Kimbrel was 100% gone before this move, this simply cements the fact he will be traded.

Honestly, we need to add multiple RH relievers so I absolutely love this move. Seems like a very fair price and not radically different than the 2/$12M I was willing to pay Tepera. His ground-ball heavy approach should also work well at the Rate.

Where is the love homies?

Again, no one is saying trade him just for the sake of lineup balance. But if you can get a similar or better player at a different position and it improves the lineup balance then it should be explored. I love Andrew Vaughn and think he’s going to be a stud hitter, but this idea that he is untradable is laughable to me. And to be clear, I wouldn’t move him for anything less than a star player.

You don’t think the top pitchers have LH/RH splits?

The problem with this logic is how much of that .800+ against RHPs comes against the high-end ones that you face in the playoffs? The reality is lineup balance does matter and it gets exposed against tougher competition.

Yeah, maybe not. In reality it was just one year of free agency.

Wander Franco extension also nearing completion. Man we got lucky with Robert.

Why is 5 years of Andrew Vaughn plus other prospects for three years of Ketel Marte at $30M a “meatball” take?

I think there are two separate thoughts there that have been intertwined. I wouldn’t worry about us selling Vaughn for something like that. Would have to be for a star of some sorts.

Straight up? No, but I think we could potentially get there with a couple more pieces.

Pure speculation, it just feels like there has been absolutely nothing on the Sox as of late and we all know the Sox work best in the shadows.

Completely baseIess speculation, but I feel like something pops for us today.

You wouldn’t trade Vaughn and other pieces for Ketel Marte?

I don’t think anyone wants to trade Eloy or Vaughn for the sake of trading them. It’s only under the premise the Sox want to maximize their chance of winning a championship the next few years and assume there will be some sort of budgetary constraints. At this point it’s beating the dead horse, but we are way too right-handed. Up until this point it made sense to amass as much talent as possible, but now we’re in the stage where we need to optimize the roster to give us the best chance in the postseason. There are a lot ways to get more balance in the lineup. From a free agency standpoint, we could just go sign Michael Conforto which would allow us to stick with a combo of Eloy & Vaughn at DH & LF. That makes Sheets expandable, but I don’t seem him being able to deliver much in return if you need to trade for a SP or 2B. Regardless, if we can address those spots and not require a major trade to do so, then this is the ideal solution. Another free agent route is the Harold proposal, which is to sign Schwarber to be your primary DH and then trade Vaughn is a package for a stud RF. As numerous posters here have pointed out, the DH market is one Jerry is typically willing to play big in and this may be a more realistic path forward if the Conforto market gets out of control. Again, teams with impact RFs to trade are more likely going to rebuilding like the Pirates and will almost certainly prefer Vaughn who is far cheaper and can be sent down and recoup an extra year of control. On the trade front, you could also acquire a left-handed or switch hitting 2B. Ketel Marte would be a tremendous piece for us and is under a very reasonable contract the next three years, which makes it easier to allocate funds elsewhere. Again, a team like the DBacks will likely prefer Vaughn to Eloy for the reasons stated above. Another theoretical concept I’ve brought up is doing a unproven prospect for prospect trade, with Gavin Lux being my main proposal. This assumes some risk with an unproven player, but allows to maintain a pre-arb player at a greater area of need. To me, the only way I think trading Eloy could theoretically work if you’re trading him to a contender for pitching. Like I’m sure the Marlins would have a ton of interest in him, but who here is willing to move five years of Eloy for three years of Pablo Lopez? Who else has excess controllable pitching that has a need at LF or DH? I’d wager most contenders are looking to add starting pitching and not subtract right now. TLDR - If moving one of the two is required to optimize the roster, it’s much more likely and logical to move Vaughn. If not, obviously keep both and let them build up their value.

Isn’t Caulfield your last name?

Vaugh’s value may be low relative to a proven major leaguer, but I bet most teams still view him the same as when he was a consensus top 20 prospect. And while I think his value will skyrocket within the next 12 months, I do think you’d get better bang for you buck right now by dealing Vaughn. For example, the Pirates are going to prefer the cheaper asset in Vaughn if you were to discuss a Reynolds trade, same for the Diamondbacks for a Marte trade. And Eloy’s offensive ceiling is just insane. We saw a glimpse of it in 2020 when he had some of the best quality of contact in baseball. Give another four months to recover and a full spring training to prepare and he could be our best hitter next year. Ideally we find a way to keep both, but gun to head I’m definitely moving Vaughn over Eloy.

I think Marcus would prioritize winning over playing SS. Also, I could playing for a west coast team also being a key tiebreaker.

It’s only relevant because it shows Reinsdorf doesn’t have a precedent against it. We know he doesn’t like super long deals in general (see Machado capping out at eight years) and in particular for pitchers. But I think on shorter term deals he’s willing to go really high on an AAV basis. Just depends if he would do that for an aging pitcher, which obviously remains to be seen.

They wouldn’t. I was just curious what kind of moves Pal has heard we might make.