Chicago White Sox

Right, at least pick the right moment if you’re going use the female gender to convey weakness of our most talented & important player.

Lol...I think Soxtalk has reached a new low thanks to this goober.

The Jays’ positional guys really padded their stats this series.

Epic meltdown.

Is Ruiz eligible? I must of missed him then, as I would definitely protect him. And yes, I think Avilan & Cedeno are traded & Gomez leaves as a free agent. As for the removables, I’m not suggesting we should get rid of them, but between the nine of them we should be able to open enough spots for additions while protecting all our key prospects.

Makes me question what Steverson is actually doing with these guys. Timmy was actually being selective for a while and has mostly given that up over the last month or so. Like show him some tape/stats and say “hey look how selective you were being here and how it paid off”. It’s just so weird to see a guy take a massive leap forward in their biggest area and then completely abandon the change upon success.

Exactly. If we can get a quality return for Rodon between now and this coming offseason (again a big if), that opens up a spot for us to sign a veteran starter to fill a spot. The rotation would then be veteran, Kopech, Lopez, Giolito, & Stephens or Covey. I’d give Lopez & Giolito half a season to show what they got and have Cease & Dunning waiting in the wings to fill in as needed. After the 2019 season we can then use the prospect depth we created from a Rodon to add the rotation if necessary. I really feel like that’s the best path forward rotation wise.

I don’t think it changes the equation though. I truly believe we’d be better off cashing in on Rodon’s value (if it’s there) and use those prospects to acquire a TOR when our window is opening. I just hate the idea of finally putting together a competitive team only to lose Rodon after a year or two.

They really can’t. Holding him down any longer is clearly about team control at this point.

So I figured it might be worth going through the exercise of looking at our 40 man roster prior to the next Rule 5 draft and mapping out the necessary protections. As shown below, I get to a 39 man roster (leaving one spot open) and still have nine spots or so that could be opened up if we were to find upgrades. I really don’t think the 40 man is going to be a problem this year. 2019 is when things get complicated IMO. Removed Skole Garneau LaMarre Shields Avilan Cedeno Gomez Santiago Clarkin Pitchers (19) Rodon Lopez Giolito Covey Fry Vieira Danish (removable) Minaya (removable) Jones Fulmer Bummer Kopech Stephens Adams Frare Cease Medeiros Burr Hamilton Positional (20) Moncada Anderson Sanchez Abreu A. Garcia L. Garcia Delmonico (removable) Engel (removable) Palka (removable) Davidson (removable) Castillo Narvaez Smith (removable) Jimenez Cordell Tilson (removable) Rondon (removable) Basabe Adolfo Zavala Unprotected Clarkin Guerrero Mendick Forbes

This year for Burr, next year for Hamilton IIRC.

We already signed five or so guys in this period. Realistically we can’t spend our entire allotment. Also, we have less minor league teams than most organizations. While I think that’s incredibly stupid, we probably don’t have room for a dozen or so signings in one class.

Cordell triple & Eloy sac fly in the 1st.

There’s no guarantee Rodon will remain healthy and we’ll still have this problem when Rodon leaves in free agency after the 2021 season.

I wonder if adding Frare & Medeiros means the Sox are more open to moving Fry if the right package came along. That’s probably a bit of a hot take, but adding another lefty when we still haven’t moved Avilan & Cedeno and have Bummer waiting in AAA is interesting nonetheless.

lol...WTF does DFAing accomplish exactly? There is literally no harm in seeing if he can work as a reliever.

Yes, he’s out of options.

This seems like a pretty extreme post for a AAA outfielder that was generally a good kid & teammate.

We’re not trying to compete next year though. Give five young guys a chance and hope you hit on three of them.

I would advise against it

I 100% agree with this.

At least one of them will be traded.

I really don’t understand what your complaint is here. The Sox are adjusting their draft philosophy to better align with their development capabilities. They have struggled in the past turning athletes into ballplayers. Now they’re drafting with guys with plus hit tools & on-base skills. They’re giving up some upside in the process, but until Getz can right the development ship, this is a pretty sound approach.

What is it that you don’t understand? It seems pretty clear what they’ve been trying to do in recent years whether I agree with it or not.

Great post.