Chicago White Sox

James - Great stuff as usual! Where do you see the payroll ultimately landing? Around $180M or so? I know the article is about us landing one impact free agent, but does that change if we can move Kimbrel? What if we can dump Keuchel on someone while eating $8M or less? Just wondering if there could be room for two sizable additions or if I’m getting way too greedy as usual.

Scherzer at $30M/year would be the biggest no brainer of all time, just worried he’s gets much closer to $40M a year. Regardless, I like the way Tony is thinking here! After him, give me Conforto over Semien. I love Marcus, but I’d rather invest big dollars in RF and a guy who has a longer tracker record of hitting RHP.

Remember, only his value with the White Sox counts right?

Alright, if you were a GM and in desperate need of a closer, who would you rather have? Player A: 70.0 IP | 13.2 K/9 | 2.83 FIP | 97th % xwOBA | 2.0 fWAR | 2.62 High Lev FIP Player B: 59.2 IP | 15.1 K/9 | 2.43 FIP | 98th % xwOBA | 2.2 fWAR | 0.74 High Lev FIP

I’d rather spend $10M on Eduardo Escobar than trade Kimbrel for Segura. Both are very similar players, but Escobar provides much more power while Segura offer superior on-base abilities. Ultimately if I’m looking to add a 9th place hitter to this lineup, I’d rather have the guy who can run into 25 bombs than a guy who gets on base more frequently, especially if it saves me $4M in the process. And Rick specifically mentioned power as something they would need to continue adding.

Clint Frazier DFAed?! No idea why they didn’t trade him after the 2020 season.

?…will be interesting to see what this is for.

I mean, he’s semi-passable starting pitching depth that we don’t have a lot of. But I guess if they’re optimistic Stiever & Lambert can return to form you can make the argument he’d be 10th on the depth chart so not a huge deal.

I really think Conforto is our #1 target this offseason.

The Twins are year away from getting a 2nd round pick for losing Buxton and you want to give them two cheap cornerstones they can build around? I have no idea what comparison you are trying to draw to Hernandez & Kimbrel. Also, you think two cheap, high potential pieces off our major league roster is comparable to what the Dodgers gave up for Betts?

He’ll also make $31M or so less than Max next year.

My god either you’ve lost your mind or have added the Twins to your list of favorites alongside the Royals & Twins. Not one single Sox fan will ever say “how come we didn’t trade Andrew Vaughn, Garrett Crochet, and two minor leagues to a divisional rival for one year of Bryan Buxton” even if the dude becomes Mike Trout. Like where do you come up with this stuff?

Craig Kimbrel on the Phillies’ wishlist per Heyman. Definitely think it’s going to happen.

So they did not protect McClure? Color me surprised there.

What in the fuck bro

Hey raBBit, when / what did the Sox offer Harper? Not challenging you, just curious what actually went down there.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with what he said, but it just reinforces why I rarely read his articles anymore since they’re all spin city and trying to say how awesome everything already is. It’s obviously part of his job but his takes always rile me up regardless. But agree, Conforto, Escobar, and trade for a SP would be a very nice offseason and set us up well for 2022.

Check that optimism. Merlin on the “Sox in the Basement” said we don’t necessarily need the big free agents, mentioned how successful the Braves were at the deadline with lesser guys, how our team should be much healthier this season, and that some of the younger guys should be better with another year of experience. That being said, it does seem like he thinks we pursue one impact free agent in free agency (he named Semien & Conforto as hypotheticals) and then address other needs by trade or with less free agents. Reading between the lines, I think Semien is a smokescreen and that Conforto is the priority. After that, could see Escobar at 2B and a trade for a SP on a short-term deal, so basically my option B.

Are you even trying to win? Seems like you’re more interested in being Jerry’s accountant than his GM.

@Balta1701 - I’m still waiting on your plan. This isn’t me trying to be a dick either, we just generally have different viewpoints on the Sox and I’d be curious to see how you’d go about things this offseason.

You seem to shoot down ideas left and right and never provide any of your own. If you had a $180M to $185M payroll to work with, what exactly would you do?

I’ll keep saying it, but our top two needs are a LH power bat and a TOR starter. The reality is our minor league system is pretty barren on the pitching side of things. After Lopez, you’ve got four arms in the upper minors who could potentially fill a rotation spot in the next two years in Stiever, Lambert, McClure, & Bilous. With Keuchel 100% an exit after the 2022 season (if not sooner), at least one spot will open up. As such, we’re going to need another starter and if we want to survive the onslaught of high-end offenses in the AL, this starter should be of the top of the rotation variety. I think Scherzer is highly unlikely because he basically costs the same as two impact players on an AAV basis, but hell if we have that much money to spend give me Conforto and one of Ray or Gausman over double dipping with Conforto & Semien.

Exactly, I’m not suggesting he has access to our offseason plans, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some general sense if the budget is going to be high, medium, or low. Let’s be honest, his crew and Merkin are both extensions of the PR arm and despite Jack’s theory leading on the customer is not a good business strategy. If he’s optimistic we’ll spend a lot this offseason, perhaps we should all be.

All good…I’m just glad we can agree now he’s not getting $200M. Also, I never realized how average Semien’s StatCast numbers were last year. He put up an xwOBA in the 53rd percentile and even 2019 was only in the 77th percentile. He usually beats out his xwOBA by 0.007 to 0.020 points, but last year he exceeded it by 0.037. He is normally a pull heavy hitter, but was even more so last year with almost all his HRs being hit to LF. Throw in a flukey K rate in 2019 and his average hitting prior to said season and there are definitely some red flags there. Don’t get me wrong, he’d be great to have, but I’d still prefer Conforto all things considered.