Eminor3rd

Btw I misread this initially, I see you weren't suggesting they could get Cruz AND Tanaka.

If they can find a way to get Cruz and a decent starter, then I can get behind it. But, if that starter ends up being a Gio-Gonzalez-lottery-ticket type, I still think that if you could add Tanaka to this roster for the same money, I'd do it every time even if Cruz is an overall more productive player. But, who knows, maybe you can't add Tanaka at 1/15.

Lance Lynn was a pitching UPGRADE, not a pitching ADDITION, because they used Dunning to get him. Pitching upgrades are always welcome, but above all else, the Sox needed more ADDITIONS. The Sox are going to enter the season with three reliable starters (Giolito, Keuchel, Lynn), two question marks (Cease, Stiever), a prospect who, even if things go well won't be able to handle a full-season's load (Kopech), and a hail mary (Lopez). The Dodgers go into every season with like 7 reliable starters before they have to turn to prospects, because like 50% of pitchers hit the DL every year and a handful are going to disappoint anyway. Going into the year needing literally everything to go right with your pitching staff has always been a terrible plan.

I don't think you're gonna be able to get Cruz + Richards. Not to put too much emphasis on the food accounts, but their claim that the Sox have ~$8mm left to spend passes the smell test for me. If they ask JR to stretch for a DH and leave nothing left for SP -- again, Cruz may be able to carry an offense in the postseason, but this offense doesn't need carried. Meanwhile, you're one injury and a disappointing development year from a bullpen game in Game 3 of a playoff series.

Yes, this is exactly my point.

If both is really on the table, then sure. But I can't imagine there's even a dime leftover if we dump $14mm somewhere else.

Vaughn, Collins, Yermin. You can make an argument that Yermin's development doesn't matter, but the point is that there are a plethora of solid internal options that actually need ABs, and there's already an offensive star at nearly every position on the diamond. And when you're a cheapskate team with limited budget and real holes to fill, you don't throw big money at a position where you already have a plethora of solid internal options.

Look you're not gonna find me defending JR in nearly anything, but if he gives the FO the $14m to spend, and they don't spend it on what they actually need, then you can't blame JR..

I'm not saying your guess is wrong, but if the Sox sign 40-year old Cruz for $14m to block three prospects on what was already the second-highest scoring offense in the AL instead of signing a mid-rotation starter, I'm gonna have absolutely nothing left to defend this FO.

A good point.

Right or wrong, that has nothing to do with whether or not it would have been a "great get" for the White Sox.

Yeah this would have been a great get for the White Sox, and at the right price. Hopefully they've got something else up their sleeves.

Whatever the White Sox would have had to give up to beat the SD package would have been a mistake. Plenty of other options still available for just money, and not all that much of it.

I know man and I'm actually pumped about it because I'm a huge Rakuten fan and I just can't believe he would end up anywhere other than Rakuten and good LORD do they need him right now. Tanaka/Norimoto/Kishi/Wakui/Shiomi/Takinaka with Ishibashi/Yuge on the outside-looking-in is all of a sudden a LEGIT rotation, especially considering that Hayakawa could be ready sooner or later and could jump in when Shiomi gets hurt or Wakui/Takinaka turn back into pumpkins. But my point is that what the Sox need is a reliable veteran #3 on a market-rate 1 year deal, whether that's Tanaka or not.

Tanaka or similar @ 1/$15mm or similar is PRECISELY what this team needs. In the current era/meta, good teams simply do not ever find success when they have exactly 5 SPs that need to work out all year. The fact that our back-end is promising but raw prospects is perfect. There will be plenty of opportunities for them to pitch their way into a spot, but they won't be REQUIRED to do so for the team to succeed. They should be deployed as depth with upside, the BEST kind of depth.

My thing is, based on everything I've read, Vaughn is ready to "take his lumps" to make the transition, and I think the best time to have an important player go through that is when the offense is already amazing and doesn't need to put pressure on him to produce. Also, with Yermin/Collins are almost aging out of being prospects without ever being given a shot -- they are the perfect dup to sink or swim as the 30-60 day service time bridge they need to find for Vaughn anyway. And then again with such an obvious need to spend the money on in SP, idk, it just seems really obvious that splurging on a veteran rental DH is almost literally the last thing the roster needs.

No I'm with you. Not because I don't think Cruz is better than EE (he is), and not because I don't think he'd make the team better (he would), but because goddammit they need pitching so bad so bad so bad and we all know the money is about to dry up, meaning if they are still gonna get SP, they're going to burn even more of the future in a trade whilst also burning the future in not getting Vaughn/Yermin/Collins ABs that they absolutely need. #sustainablesuccess #multiplechampionships

For sure. Jasson Dominguez, Deivi Garcia, etc.

I would consider $3mm and "~$4mm" to be pretty much the same thing in this context. EDIT: Like, I assume RH can ask JR for an extra million bucks if he needs it somewhere.

Well the Yankees are up against the luxury tax wall and have decreed they will be under it this year, so it's safe to say they were on SOME kind of budget for this rotation spot. If they had been bid up to $13-15mm I'd be surprised if they'd have gone there with Tanaka still out there and motivated to stay. Unless they just like Kluber a lot more at this point, which is possible. But I'm guessing Tanaka is asking for 2/$30mm or something and this was a cheaper alternative.

In other news, this basically guarantees that Tanaka isn't coming back. Would be a fantastic pickup for either the White Sox or the Golden Eagles, so I'm all for it.

So obviously, we don't know the Sox interest in him after the showcase or the ultimate budget, but this is where the extra ~$4m overpay on Adam Eaton very well might have hurt.

Every available dollar should go into SP from this point on. Collins/Yermin get a shot to win the job out of ST and subsequently establish themselves. If they don't then either Vaughn earns his chance by midseason, or you rent someone at the deadline.

It’s the first time the FO has successfully found a creative way to win a hotly contested free agent despite JR miserly ways. They should definitely be commended, and I hope it a a sign of good things to come, because we need it to be.

This should essentially be seen as 4/54 but if he’s so bad aftert third year that the Sox want to cut him and eat the contract, they get to defer the money to make it hurt less.