Chicago White Sox

It’s 100% the solution. Gives you potentially a very complete lineup with your only major hole at at 1B/DH, which is the one spot we can afford to go after top end guys (such as Alonso next year). 1B: Free Agent 2B: Montgomery* SS: Ortiz 3B: Ramos LF: Benintnedi* CF: Robert RF: Kjerstad* DH: Vaughn CA: Quero#

I believe it’s like half a grade above average, but wouldn’t be special in RF and wouldn’t compensate for the fact his range would likely be limited. I think the hot corner is his best spot unfortunately.

I’m only moving Montgomery off SS if you can get a plus glove SS like Ortiz as the second piece in a Cease trade. Otherwise, I think you need to keep him at SS until he outgrows the position because it would force Ramos to non-ideal defensive position.

From what I have read, Ramos could play at 2B but would be a below average defender whereas at 3B he’s probably an average fielder or slightly better. I think if you add Busch you accept he’s a bat only player and put him at 1B and tell Vaughn he’s your DH for the 2024 season and better start to fucking hit.

Cartaya’s star has faded and that would be a terrible deal for us.

What’s a realistic package from the Dodgers that would do it for you?

I could easily see them waiting it out if they don’t like the cost to add a SP via trade right now, although I hope for our sake they are in the mix.

So as we all know, leaks nine times out of 10 are purposeful and intended to create misdirection. In the case of Cease rumors, he has now been “linked” to two NL teams in the Braves & Dodgers. If we assume this is misdirection, then the question is who leaking these rumors and how do they benefit? When the Dodgers rumor was first leaked by Bob, it was impossible to say if it was the White Sox trying to scare a different team into thinking a Cease deal with LA could have some momentum behind it or if the Dodgers were trying to gain leverage in a different trade (Burnes, Glasnow, etc.) or with a free agent SP. However, with the addition of the Braves and “other teams” in the mix, it seems to imply this coming from the White Sox’s camp. If that is indeed true, why pick the Braves as a potential suitor? Obviously the Dodgers are a good boogeyman in general because they have a SP need (even if they plan to address partially via FA) and they have a high-end system that lines up well for a trade with us in a variety of ways. However, I really struggle to understand who the Braves would scare. Is there even a NL East team that would be a viable candidate for Cease? Or is this just about making the second tier NL teams across the divisions fear the rich getting richer and the path to a World Series even more difficult? Outside of the Orioles and maybe the Red Sox, I don’t see a lot of serious contenders for Cease in the AL. To me, the NL West and NL Central are the most likely landing spots as you have the most teams in need of a TOR starter. However, I kind of feel like this set of leaks points to the former. If you’re the Dbacks, the stakes have been raised and you can’t settle for sneaking into the playoffs and hoping to get hot again. If you’re the Padres, you’ve made your commitments to winning a World Series even if a payroll cut is coming. And if you’re the Giants or in this case Farnhan, it’s time to show some real progress in a tough division or the heat will suddenly come towards you. Don’t get me wrong, my dream would be a trade with the Orioles for a pair of high-end positional prospects, but I’m starting to think the NL West is where a trade Cease ultimately lands. Just feels like you have four teams with a clear need and the trade assets to potentially get a deal done. That creates leverage for us and I think these rumors might be a sign of that.

I think they simply want prospects to have to force their way on the roster by having cheap veterans as placeholders. I also think they’re trying to address the clubhouse culture with high makeup guys. DeJong obviously sucks but at this price it doesn’t really matter.

Lol…so very true.

Wow…Hahn would have given him 1/$5M or 2/$8M easy

This hasn’t made its way to Orioles social media then. Orioles fans view the Gray deal as massive and out of reach for them. Regardless, there aren’t a ton of TOR starters to begin with and I doubt they can outbid the big market teams even if they were serious about pursuing those guys.

The Orioles? Their fans aren’t expecting any sort of material addition via free agency and certainly not a Nola caliber signing. Angelos has shown in his tenure that he is unwilling to spend big.

I don’t see how this really moves the need for us long-term. Unless a really good prospect.

I believe he ranked 5th amongst qualified SP in Stuff+ last year

While I don’t disagree with your main point, there are quite a few “interesting” arms in the system beyond those three. Honestly, I don’t feel very good about the bats after Colson, Ramos, Quero, and maybe Gonzalez. I think it’s far more likely we luck into a couple SPs that exceed our expectations than it is for a positional guy to come out of nowhere and be impactful. And I can’t even imagine how devastating it would be to acquire a big SP prospect for Cease only for them to get injured and need a major surgery right away. I’d rather keep attacking pitching via the draft where we can throw volume at it and have a stable positional core to build around.

Looks like I was wrong on the $100M…lol

Can’t wait to see the terms of this one. Gray is coming off a great year, but a HR/flyball rate that doesn’t seem to be sustainable and will be 34 years old this upcoming season. MLBTR projected he’d get 4/$90M here, but my guess is he clears $100M one way or the other and that would further reinforce that SP will be super costly this off-season.

Not 100% final, but expected per Heyman

The problem is all the baseball writers & insiders are suggesting India would be a major piece for a SP. That is what people are commenting on here.

Article from MLBTR that discusses potential trade partners as well as possible returns. IMO, it’s very clear we’re not going to get much for Eloy. I think a semi post hype prospect that hasn’t been completely ruled a bust and a lottery ticket is about the best we could do. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/11/looking-for-a-match-in-an-eloy-jimenez-trade.html

With competitive balance and compensation picks, yes technically.

I actually think it would be the final straw to take a lengthy break from the team.

From Jim Bowden…lol:

You still think something might happen soon?