ChiSox59

Right. I agree - I really only want the secondary type pieces if we go for a big splash as well. Cruz and Brantley would have been the best 2 bats on the Sox last year. It definitely moves the needle some in terms of putting a better product on the field next season if they have similar years. I don't think Cruz and Brantley (just as an example) bring the Sox anywhere near contention unless pretty much everyone else improves, but they're not blocking anyone of significance, and are actual above average major league players.

I don't think anyone thinks the Sox are close to competing. I think people loathe the idea of watching AAAA players like Nicky Delmonico and Adam Engel and utility/gadgety/part-time players like Carlos Sanchez, Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka get everyday, or near everyday, at bats again. Very unlikely any of those guys are starters on the next Sox playoff team, and they've all been given ample opportunities at this level, and its been pretty ugly.

Brantley certainly doesn't get me super excited, and he definitely doesn't move the needle on the future, but I don't know that I would say he isn't a fit. I think he fits as a short term complementary piece if the Sox are able to get Machado/Harper, or as a stopgap type if the Sox do smaller moves. I probably wouldn't want to go more than 2 years on Brantley, but if they could get his for like 2 years between $15-17M AAV, I think its a fine fit. He's definitely better than Avi, and we're still going to have gaping hole in one of the two corner spots. Besides Eloy, the Sox OF prospects are at least 2 years away, so Brantley isn't really blocking anyone.

Because they are cheap AF.

Right, I am fine with Brantley as a stopgap option as we wait for the wave of OF prospects to be ready. But at some point the Sox will need to make splash and sign a star. If they don't, they're never going to be a real WS contender.

Which certainly doesn't move the needle much for the future, and puts basically all of our eggs in the sign Arenado or Rendon basket.

Certainly prefer him to Avi.

That would be an entirely awful idea by the Indians, and they're far less likely to sign Harper than the Sox.

Now that Smith is gone, I'd just hold onto Castillo. Narvaez is a fine part-time, maybe even majority share of a platoon guy, but I'd prefer to have another playable option along with him due to fairly terrible D. I was all for shipping Castillo out before we lost Smith, but now I think the Sox are content to roll with Castillo/Narvaez platoon for 2019.

Hmmmm.

My take: I don't really want Corbin, I think he's a high injury risk and I think 2018 may have been a career year. That said, he is at worst a very good mid rotation pitcher. If you can get him on 5/$90 type deal, its probably worth it. But I think it'll get quite a bit higher than that with the Yankees definitely being interested. I just don't love spending top dollar on SP unless its super elite. These guys only impact at most 20% of the games each season. While we do need pitching, and you can never have enough, I somewhat question the timing of adding an expensive long term rotation piece. You add Corbin and suddenly the 2020 rotation gets pretty crowded with Rodon, Corbin, Lopez, Giolito, Kopech, Cease and Dunning. I personally just prefer the Sox go after more of the stopgap (2 year deal types) or 1 year bounceback candidates, or try to get Kikuchi, who actually has the potential to give you some surplus value. It remains to be seen how much the Sox are going to be willing to inflate their payroll, but locking up over $100M into a mid rotation-type starter on a playoff team (even if he is the best SP available this offseason), doesn't seem terribly prudent unless the Sox are willing to spend with the big boys the next half decade.

I guess you can never have too much pitching, but I really like the Sox young bullpen options. Unless the Sox are going all out, I'd rather give those guys 2019 to get seasoned than pay dollar for relief pitching in free agency. Between Jones, Hamilton, Fry, Frare, Covey, Burr, Bummer, Burdi, Stephens, Banuelos, Fulmer, Minaya, Ruiz, Viera and Medeiros, the Sox have plenty of major league league ready bullpen options in house.

I agree. Outside of Kikuchi, who I think would be a great fit, I'd prefer they look for short term bounceback pitching candidates as opposed to paying top dollar for the best pithcing on the market, which still isn't that great.

This x1,000,000.

You still wait the 15 frickin' days.

Yep.

I'd be surprised if the Sox traded meaningful prospects this offseason unless it was a prospect for prospect type deal.

No. I think that Kopech probably would have gotten hurt in AAA anyway, gotten TJS, and spent all next season on the milb DL and not accrued away close to 20% of his control. Or maybe he doesn't get hurt at all. Or maybe he doesn't get hurt until next season and it ends up worse. No one really knows. But the one thing we do know is how it did play out, and with benefit of hinsight, it literally couldn't have worked out much worse for the Sox.

Double the best offer? Lol, c'mon. This talk is lunacy.

Kopech was pretty terrible for the first part of last season in AAA. They could have kept him down. But whatever...spilled milk, moving on.

Lol, what stocks should I buy? Who will be the president in 2030? How many wins will the Sox have next season?

What Whitesox27 said. He doesn't accrue valuable MLB service time if he blew out his elbow in AAA and spent all of 2019 on the minor league DL. I agree sending Kopech back to AAA to start next season would have been tough. But he only needs to spend like 2 weeks down there. Teams game service time all the time. They could have sent him down for two weeks after a bad start in July if they wanted. They could have it made it work. But, yes, what is over is over and it is what it is at this point.

I was one of the more outspoken people here pushing to keep Kopech in the minors last season for multiple reasons. He may have gotten hurt anyway, but at least we wouldn't have wasted close to 20% of his service time on the DL. Its a huge deal, and calling up Kopech last season to pitch meaningless baseball (albeit he was probably ready) really backfired,

I like Kikuchi and then a guy like Tyson Ross or Ervin Santana.

Meh. Definitely think he's going to get quite a bit more than $30M AAV, if there are no opt outs.