Chicago White Sox

Just saw this tweet from your AAA correspondent. Is it possible Tyler Johnson got a cortisone shot for his hip?

The third trade depends on how the Angels view Ruiz (who I’m low on). My guess is if the Angels sell, they’ll want arms that can help them next year. I know Lambert hasn’t done great in his short stints with us, but he’s got pretty good stuff (one of the highest K rates in AAA East) and still has starter potential IMO. If they like Ruiz, who does have a big fastball and is controllable for cheap for multiple years (albeit without options) then they might be willing to bite. The Marte trade is probably the biggest reach. That being said, there has been talk that Pilkington’s velocity is back to his early college days and he’s pitched fairly well for Birmingham while mostly being age-appropriate. If so, I think he’s got more value than most people realize given he’s left-handed and not too far from the majors. Then you have a 21 year old middle infielder in Sosa, who has been on fire with the bat since June 1st (124 wRC+). He’s a bit of an under-the-radar type, but I’m guessing he’s a guy other teams ask about frequently. I was a big fan of Eduardo Escobar when he was in our system and Sosa gives me similar vibes. As for Carranza, he’s been horrible this year but he’s basically just returning from TJS so stats are somewhat meaningless at this time. He was an overslot signing a few years back and at the very least is an interesting lottery ticket. Again, I’m probably optimistic here, but I do think Pilkington & Sosa are both guys who are probably undervalued significantly by mainstream publications but not necessarily by scouts.

Interesting and that would make a ton of sense.

He’s saying the price on our side was a reliever, but that White Sox reliever had to get a cortisone shot. I can’t recall a single reliever who fits that bill.

My assumption is that Burke is slot, Gosswein will be below slot but not neatly as cheap as the seniors we selected in rounds 6 to 10, and that the Sox didn’t take advantage of the full 5% overage.

Nightengale on the 670 right now. Said the Sox had basically had a trade agreed upon for Escobar three weeks for a reliever, but both sides backed out because of Escobar’s injury and the reliever having to get a cortisone shot. If true, any idea who that reliever would have been?

Collins is questionable behind the plate, but marginal hitter he is not. Dude has a 124 wRC+ against RHP as a catcher. Yeah, he can’t hit lefties but smarter teams would simply use him in a platoon role. Also, the fact that some pitchers actually like throwing to him despite his clear defensive deficiencies (like worst in baseball framing) means he’s not 100% bad back there. He’s just never going to be an everyday guy behind the dish and his flaws get exposed as the primary guy there.

If that were the price, I think the trade would already be done.

So Montgomery, Kath, & McDougal will come in at ~$1M over slot. That leaves ~$2M in slot for the rest of the draft. The Burke & Gosswein picks are worth ~$1.1 in a slot and picks 6-10 are worth ~$0.9M. We should save ~$0.8M on that latter group of picks, which means the remaining ~$0.2M and spend over $125k in rounds 10 to 20 will come at Gosswein’s expense. Now it makes sense why we didn’t draft a lot of preps on day three.

Add him to the list! About $500k over slot.

I’ll be honest, the division is such garbage at this point that the day-to-day stuff doesn’t really matter all that much. We just need to keep our healthy players safe, get back our injured guys before the end of September, and fill our remaining holes before the deadline. I can care less if the Astros beat us up if the core guys are playing well (like Cease did last night) and if we’ll have Eloy, Robert, Grandal, a 2B, a reliever or two, and possibly a RF upgrade come October. Just keep pummeling the garbage team and lock in that playoff spot.

Looks like you were right.

Where are you seeing this? If the Braves DFAed him he’s a no-brainer.

Alright, with less than two weeks to go to the trade deadline, it’s time for a predictions thread. Pick who you think we’ll end up acquiring and if you’re feeling bold take a guess at the cost. Here are my official predictions: Eduardo Escobar & Joakim Soria for Micker Adolfo, Jason Bilous, Luis Mieses, & Reynaldo Lopez Starling Marte for Konner Pilkington, Lenyn Sosa, & Isaiah Carranza Raisel Iglesias for Jimmy Lambert & Jose Ruiz

I think this is smart as Zavala isn’t close to a major league hitter. Obviously you don’t overpay if you’re confident Grandal will be back, but can’t hurt to have a better backup option on the cheap.

His peripherals were never good and now we’re seeing the recession come. If Bummer can’t figure his shit out soon, then we definitely need two relievers.

I would have expected a big bonus, but awesome if true

Now this is a trade I could get behind! ?

Not only is that tool blatantly broken in certain areas, the player & prospect values are significantly outdated. Trading five our top 10 prospects for 1.3 years of Frazier is absolutely bonkers.

That would be a horrific trade...where did that proposal come from?

That would be amazing.

Both seem like no-brainers to me. The Story stuff seems like a plant to drive down the price on Escobar.

I think Fangraphs’ view of the system is very outdated and I don’t think he’d be anywhere close to our top 5 even before the draft IMO.

We’re only two weeks away from the deadline, so it’s very possible we start seeing some action soon. And I don’t anticipate the D-Backs holding a guy like Escobar to the deadline if they can get a reasonable return, especially when he’s been dealing with an injury.