Chicago White Sox

I will add I also think the Sox add a starting pitcher pretty quickly assuming they land Hendriks. Seems pretty clear to me at this point that they can’t really move forward in that area until they know how much they have to work with after adding a closer.

Oh shit, I thought you asked to get hyped up ?

? ?

It’s in the bag IMO. I’m fully expecting a deal right around 4/$50M announced in the next week if not sooner.

Reinsdorf gave Robertson a 4/$46M deal six years ago, so I don’t think 4/$50M is going to be a problem for Jerry if we can fit his salary into our COVID impacted 2020 budget.

Sounds good to me! I know some don’t like spending big on relievers, but we literally just gave the corpse of Kelvin Herrera 2/$18M two years ago. I know four years is risky, but I just don’t think a $12.5M AAV is that much money for a guy who has been as good as Hendriks these last two seasons. This is a gamble worth taking IMO given how few holes we have left and Jerry’s general unwillingness to spend what it takes for legit stars.

Exactly, just makes too much sense all things considered.

Ossoff just under a 1,000 behind!

That also makes me feel good!

That makes me feel better!

I’m feeling good about our chances of landing him. If anyone is going to push Jerry to go a little beyond his comfort zone it’s La Russa and Tony has made it clear he wants that legit closer.

Sounds like 20k early votes in Dekalb which should give Ossoff a good 16k and greatly cut the gap, but damn this still seems very close.

Still not 100% convinced Ossoff pulls this off.

What am I missing with this?

130k vs 170k is troubling if true, especially for Ossoff

Agreed

I’m not sure I buy the Dodgers were this crazy threat for Hendriks, but Treinen signing is a good sign that the reliever market may start moving.

Man please pull this out Democrats. I don’t care what you’re politics are, but these Republicans that are trying undermine democracy need to lose all power.

I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, but he’s got elite bat to ball skills and that showed in the majors last year. Even with BABIP regression I expect him to be an above league average hitter and I expect the defense & base-running to play closer to expectations. If so, that provides a pretty nice floor despite a lack of ceiling. And this isn’t just my view, projections are also optimistic on him as Steamer & Zips have him at 2.6 & 2.2 fWAR respectively. Obviously we need to see him do it over the course of a full season, but there is reason to believe he can be an above-average 2B as soon as next year and that’s valuable.

100% agree that he’s the most expendable of the core guys because he lacks the ceiling those guys possess. I would totally be willing to move him in a trade if I can capture value and replace him with someone like Wong, but let’s not ignore the fact that Madrigal will be direct cheap for the foreseeable (not a guy who will make big bucks in arbitration) and won’t be at the decline phase of his career like Wong or Hernandez are likely approaching. So yes he’s replaceable to some extent, but it comes at a financial cost and with a higher risk player. All that being said, if he can be a main piece in a trade for a controllable starting pitcher I’m all for it.

I disagree with this notion that he’d be easy to upgrade over. Unless you overreact to a couple of blunders in a ridiculously small sample size, he’s probably going to be a 2.5 to 3.0 win 2B very soon and that’s with zero power whatsoever. I agree that finding a ~2 win 2B to replace him may not be that challenging, but you’re still likely looking at a downgrade. The real issue with Nick is he has shown zero reason to believe the power will eventually come, which means his ceiling is greatly limited to a good not great player.

Add a left-handed bat to the mix and the lineup is as good as any in the AL. Add Hendriks and you have one of the best bullpens on paper. Plus we already have three starters who finished in the top 10 for AL Cy Young along with two young arms that were previously top 30 prospects. Add another good starter (say Musgrove) and suddenly this team is in the discussion for best in the AL. The Blue Jays could get there too eventually, but I think we are clearly farther ahead of them at this time.

Do you really want to go up against the Yankees, Rays, & eventually Red Sox?

No offense, but evaluating pitchers in this day & age by their career numbers is stupid. Hendriks was bad as a starter, but was somewhat useful as a reliever all the way back since his Toronto days in 2015. Since then, he’s refined his arsenal by dropping his sinker & change-up and ramping up his 4 seamer usage. That 4-seamer has become one of the best in baseball due to an increase in velocity, spin rate, & carry. He’s a completely different pitcher now than he was just three years and what he did beforehand really doesn’t matter, especially his early starter days.

We are a title contender right now and only have a couple of holes left to fill. If Jerry is unwilling to spend big on a Bauer or Springer, the next best move is building the strongest bullpen possible. I get the risk that comes with reliever contracts, but Hendriks is a potential game-changer come October and is worth rolling the dice on IMO.