Chicago White Sox

One thing to add, but if the Sox are planning to spend like crazy then it’s all but certain Jerry is looking to sell the team in the next couple of years and is looking to quickly build up the value of the franchise. This is the exact playbook the Tribune executed when they finally decided to sell the Cubs. And with rumors of some smaller ownership changes, maybe we really are seeing an end of the Reinsdorf dynasty.

If he buys each member of the Analytics department a second monitor then I’m all in!

Scherzer, Semien, & Conforto confirmed!

Fully agree, just challenging to add a lot of quality SP depth given limited roster spots and financial resources. Plus good starters aren’t going to take a reliever role and hope they eventually get a shot in the rotation. Hahn will need to be creative, because I agree that Kopech likely caps out a 150 innings and Rodon has never been a beacon of health (again assuming he is back). Lopez, Stiever, Lambert, and possibly McClure are our best in-house options, but couldn’t hurt to add some sort of vet to the Knights’ rotation.

I was talking to a buddy last night, but it’s amazing how painfully obvious it is that Nagy needs to go and yet the Bears are unlikely to do anything until the offseason. What good does it do keeping Nagy around for another 10 games? He has proven to be incompetent as an NFL head coach and play-caller and is hindering the development of the most critical member of the organization in Justin Fields. I know getting rid of Nagy right now doesn’t fix the O-Line problems and the lack of weapons, but anything is better than accepting pure incompetence at the head coach spot. Oh well, at least I have the Titans to cheer for while the Bears front office continues to ignore an obvious problem at hand.

Two slots? Giolito, Lynn, Cease, & Kopech at minimum are getting four of the spots. I think they QO Rodon and he accepts, which would then be a full rotation. So I’d say they have one spot in the rotation to address if Rodon doesn’t accept and they plan to move on from Keuchel. No doubt some depth would be nice, but most organizations don’t have great #6 starters. Will probably be Lopez primarily with hopes that Stiever & Lambert can finally stay healthy and eat up some starts as well. That can probably work in a weak AL Central, although I’d try for a couple minor league deals to add some arms in AAA as well.

The pressure is different going to a team with a 10+ game lead in a division without a legit threat?

He signed a team friendly extension with them, doubt he’s the guy they’d want to move. But if they’d be done, we’d be crazy not to do that trade and I think Vaughn is going to be an absolute stud in the next year or two.

Holy shit that’s bad. Like someone is going to do some time for such negligence.

I can’t see it. I’m probably one of the more optimistic posters here when it comes to Cespedes, but no way he’s shown enough to pass on a long-term solution to RF. IMO, the hope is for him eventually replacing Engel as a 4th OF and if he develops into something more than that then great. But after wasting two playoff seasons with Mazara & Eaton as our starting RFs, no way Hahn goes scrap heat there again. Plus it’s painfully obvious we need better balance in the lineup and RF is one of only two options we have to solve that problem.

Don’t forget Caulfield’s gold standard the Padres who didn’t even make the playoffs!

First off, you’re changing the argument again. You said Hahn couldn’t sign a premier free agent who plays a position and you were wrong. Now you’re going on other tangents, none of which are related to Kimbrel’s option and how it would freeze our offseason. Second, the bold applies to like 95% of free agent signings, so no idea what your point is there.

Fully agree, although I’m pretty sure they made sizable changes into be pro scouting department completely unrelated / before Hostetler.

Is your argument that we have never signed a high profile free agent under Hahn or that Grandal has been a B grade addition? You’re moving the goalposts like crazy here.

I just find it humorous that anyone thinks we’ll pick up Kimbrel’s option and completely freeze the roster. If there’s any chance that Craig is unmovable, then Hahn will simply pass on the option. I also love that people ignore than Kimbrel was 7th in fWAR amongst all relievers despite hit shitty tenure with us. If his bad two months were April & May instead of August & September, nobody would be questioning that teams would be interested in him on a 1/$16M deal.

Yes, you can copy and paste this quote. The Sox aren’t going to pick up Kimbrel’s option and hold him into the regular season. It simply won’t happen. And they would never let it put their entire offseason on hold. Stop trying to be Jack Parkman. As for your comment about Hahn not succeeding in any position player market, that’s 100% not true as we signed Grandal. Hahn also made the largest bid to Wheeler, so there is a sweet spot where Hahn can land impact free agents. It just won’t ever be the truly elite guys that require massive multi year commitments, but that’s due to Jerry more than anything. Zero reason we can’t sign Conforto to a 4/$60M type contract unless Reinsdorf has capped our payroll below $170M next year.

My god man…stop being a Balta echo chamber. The Sox aren’t picking up Kimbrel’s option and carrying him into the season.

Grandal is better against LHP than RHP and should be in the lineup every day. He’s that important to our offense.

If we sign Taylor, he’s going to be an everyday guy. He may rotate around a ton, but he wouldn’t be a depth piece per se.

Didn’t Kike get 2/$14M? Taylor has a stronger record that him regardless. Honestly, I could see someone going to 3/$40M or so.

Did you watch him with the Cubs? What did the eye test say then?

Josh Nelson playing insider sure is fun. Anyways, I’m not against Chris Taylor by any means, but I’d definitely prefer Conforto.

The bad two years you were referring to were 35 total innings, of which the final 15 innings he was actually really good. He also didn’t have a pre-season in 2019 and dealt with COVID insanity in 2020. The dude literally had a xwOBA in the 100th percentile over the first four months of this year and was perhaps the most valued commodity at the trade deadline. His addition didn’t work out for us but that doesn’t mean you overreact and dump him for nothing. Again, Hahn will know if a market exists before he has to pick up the option.

Yeah, I wouldn’t complain about Marte, although I’d prefer Conforto given he’s several years younger and less likely to suddenly fall off a cliff IMO.

These guys aren’t robots. You can view these things as excuses, but wearing down from a massive innings increase or dealing with a sick child are legit reasons why a guy’s performance could fall off. And guess what, Hahn can talk to opposing GMs and determine if there is a market for Kimbrel at 1/$16M. They aren’t picking up that option unless they are confident they can get something back for him.