Chicago White Sox

Why is Brian Goodwin the baseline here? Soler’s defense offsets a massive chunk of the value he provides offensively. And if we’re looking to rock the weakest defensive outfield then just go with Vaughn in RF. None of this makes any sense.

Why does it matter how he compares to our other defensively challenged OFs? Soler is absolutely terrible with the glove is the point and acquiring him to put Vaughn on the bench would have been nonsensical at the time. It’s absolutely comical that people all overreacting to a dozen or so playoff games and ignoring the larger body of performance during the regular season. Nothing about Soler made a like of sense for us on July 31st.

We offered Joc more than the Cubs in the offseason and he turned it down. He then went on to put up 0.1 fWAR prior to being acquired by the Braves? You really think he was a guy we should have acquired to start over Vaughn, who posted a 134 wRC+ in July. Rosario had put up 0.3 fWAR at the trade deadline and isn’t really a RF. Soler had put up -1.1 fWAR at the trade deadline and is a absolutely horrific defensive outfielder. Neither guy was the answer to what we were looking for at the deadline no matter how hot they got during the postseason. Maybe you could of made a case for Duvall as a depth piece simply because he can actually play some defense, but he’s a low BA / OBP right handed bat with poor plate discipline who would have been more of what we already have and not a profile that typically does well in the post-season. It’s very clear that you’re using hindsight to suggest we should have made all these moves, when in reality a mix of Vaughn, Sheets, & Engel was probably more attractive than all of those options with the possible exception of Duvall. If the Sox were going to add a RF at the deadline, it should have been an impactful one like Marte or Bryant and not the scrap heap guys the Braves picked up since they needed to replace their entire outfield.

The victim was a 23 year old girl and it appears she was trapped in her seat and burned alive as a result. Absolutely horrific way to go out. Raiders have now released Ruggs, which pretty much confirms this case is cut & dry.

The last thing we needed was a butcher in RF. Soler wasn’t the answer to our RF problem at the deadline.

Yeah, that would be interesting.

Maybe I’m missing something, but that chart is pretty poor evidence of needing to shift more. Like I bet the r2 is like 0.20 or less. Not suggesting there isn’t some correlation there, but no idea what Pnoles is trying to accomplish with that chart.

You demand but fail to operate under the reality of an operating budget.

Feels like Colorado would have to overpay to land an impact free agent, so gotta like our chances if they’re one of the more interested parties.

I’d take Conforto over Semien, but would take Seager over Conforto. That being said, is just feels like Seager’s total ask will exceed Jerry’s comfort zone

I mean, out of all free agent options, the closest to filling that description is Conforto. He should be the #1 target.

I think there is a great chance Kimbrel ends up being traded to the Phillies. Dombrowski is obviously very familiar with him and they desperately need some back-end arms. I could see the Sox getting an arm like Seranthony Dominguez back and perhaps a lower end pitching prospect.

Starting pitching is needed regardless. Either they bring back Rodon or sign a free agent starter. I think they end up doing that plus add one impact bat.

I’m not suggesting we go into the year with either guy, but just saying there are two guys who should be ready in the next two years with potential everyday ceilings. As such, I’d prioritize signing someone like Conforto for RF and go the stopgap route for 2B. And look, if Jerry is feeling extra jolly this year and wants to add an impact 2B as well, neither guy would be stop me from adding said player. The question was strictly a hypothetical around constrained resources and what long-term choice you would make as a result.

Romy Gonzalez is a highly athletic 25 year old who just put a 136 wRC+ / .856 OPS in AA, the latter of which led the AA South League I believe. He’s a bit of a wild card no doubt, but gives me some Adam Engel vibes as a late bloomer but unlike Adam he can play SS & 2B. Jose Rodriguez is a 20 year with average or above tools across the board. Kid hit his way to AA after starting the year in Low A. He hit 14 HRs, swiped 20 bases, and overall displayed an excellent hit tool for someone his age. He’s got everyday potential and could be ready as soon as OD 2023 if he can build off his momentum this year. We also have Lenyn Sosa and Yogurt Sanchez, both of whom have some ability. Neither profiles as an everyday guy, but either could end up as role players for us. Unless you’re willing to seriously sacrifice your outfield defense, I’m not sure we can survive with Eloy in LF and Vaughn or Sheets in RF. Engel is a nice little player, but we need to treat him like a 4th OF who is likely going to miss part of the season each year. And I’ll keep saying it, but Cespedes has a ton to prove before we pass on a guy like Conforto.

Which part? Cesar at 2B?

Fully agree he should be target #1 for the offense.

For me, I think the answer is hands-down RF. First & foremost, 2B is generally easier to fill in free agency than corner OF spots. Second, I think Jose Rodriguez has a much better chance of securing the long-term 2B spot in the next couple of years than any of our internal options for RF. Furthermore, when I look at free agency, it just feels like Conforto is a perfect fit for what this team needs. I have always loved Semien and would be ecstatic if we got him, but I’ll take the lefty bat with against an incredible track record against RHP all day everyday.

Alright guys, so as I’ve been reading through offseason proposals here and on SoxMachine, one thing that’s obviously clear is that is will be challenging to make sizable investments in both RF & 2B. As such, if we only have the budget to make one sizable addition to the offense, which position would you prefer making a large, multi-year commitment to?

What is your expectation of the likely budget?

Fully agree. Which makes getting some balance out of RF absolutely critical. As you said, getting cheap 2B production should be fairly easy to come by, but it may not address the broader lineup concerns we have at the moment.

I struggle with both grades. La Russa failed to get the job done in October, but you can’t blame that on just him. That being said, some of the decisions he made in Houston were brutal and cost us significantly. He also made quite of a few mind-boggling decisions during the regular season, although he did get a little better with time. I also felt like we coasted a bit in the 2nd half and blew a great chance for HFA. To me, I’d give him a B- for the year and that exceeded my pre-season expectations. Hahn is also another one hard to grade. He acquired two All-Stars plus was able to retrain a third at a reasonable cost, but also entered the season having barely done anything to improve the offense and generally with little depth across the board. He also went for it with the Kimbrel trade at the deadline (which obviously flopped in hindsight), but failed to once again address the offense. I’d give him a B+ given the payroll constraints he had to work with, but clearly another bat would have been helpful down the stretch.

Let me be very clear here. If the Sox aren’t prepared to take the payroll to $175M or so, then trading Madrigal was very foolish. I happen to believe our front office isn’t completely incompetent and actually have a multi-year outlook and realize the pressure losing a cost controlled player in Madrigal has on the broader budget. Therefore, I’m going to operate under the assumption they feel they can replace him this offseason without disrupting the rest of their plans. Also, and I say this as a big Madrigal fan, but 2B simply aren’t that valuable in today’s game. Heading into last offseason, Kolton Wong was a free agent and was projected to give you similar production to Nick the next two seasons. He got a whopping $18M over two years. Even if you assume a 5 win projection for him, that puts the cost of a projected win at only $3.6M. Cesar Hernandez, another guy who consistently provides 2 win production, only got $5M for one year. Overall, the cost of a win for a pure 2B was in the $2.5M to $3.6M range, which is far less than the $8M to $9M most experts use for broader valuation purposes. Point is, the market does not value 2B the same way it does other positions at the moment. So when you factor in positional market factors, Nick’s poor track record of durability, and well below expectations baseball instincts, defense, and base-running (to be clear, I’m not suggesting he’s bad in these areas, but not 70 grade like Fangraphs had indicated prior to joining the Sox), I’m not sure he was the asset some people make him out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have him at 2B because I think he adds some great balance to the lineup (despite being RH) and he’s also cheap as fuck for a couple more years, but he’s definitely replaceable if the resources are there. No doubt it sucks losing him for what we ultimately got from Kimbrel, but I seriously doubt he was going to be a centerpiece in a deal for a cost controlled star. There is a reason the Sox cashed in when they did and I think it’s very clear the organization soured on him a bit despite good offensive results.

I mean, aren’t most deadline trades “buy high” trades?