ChiSox59

Yah, I think Pito was a silent leader. This team needs a vocal leader on the position player side. I feel like Liam might have been that guy, even though its probably more difficult for a reliever to be the team leader. But alas....

Last season is pretty clear evidence to the contrary. That's the best he hit since he tore his shoulder from the bone....ya know...playing defense.

I think its more that he is a 26 year old kid that isn't interested in being relegated to DH duty for the rest of his career quite yet. Just because he wants to play OF and the coaching staff is at least leaving that door open for it (closing the door would be kind of stupid, if its they only played him out there in emergencies), does NOT mean they actually intend for him to anything but the primary DH.

Who cares what Eloy thinks? No one should at this point. He has lost that privilege. I am glad he's not being lazy though. Its a good thing that that he wants to play the OF and is still training at it, not bad.

If Elvis could be had for like 1/$3-4M to play 2B, considering the current state of the roster and external options, what would you guys think about that? I was never for it, but as the options dwindle, it feels better than handing the job to Romy if Evlis could actually be had for $3-4M.

Nah, Crochet is going to be needed in the pen. If they wanted to make him a SP, they should have done it in 2021 in the minors. With the TJS, ship has sailed.

I do agree that this fanbase gets a bit carried away with former players, and Cubs players. I think most fanbases do similar things - fans generally gravitate to what they are most familiar with. As for Madrigal, he is not a guy I would be targeting. There are definitely better options - someone like Joey Wendle would be great. But Wendle is probably not available with Jazz moving to CF. Madrigal is definitely available. I do think Madrigal is an improvement on the current options....at the moment. If the sox acquired him for like....Andrew Dalquist, I'd be fine with it. Romy is almost certainly just a guy. We all know what Leury is. I think 2B is Sosa's eventually, but he's probably not ready yet and could use more time in the minors.

At this point, I’d take him. Would need to be cheap tho.

I don’t really see the benefit of Grifol telling Eloy his days in the OF over. Hahn and Grifol have both said that he’s going to be the primary DH. I suspect that he will. But Eloy is going to play some OF and we all know he wants to as well. So I view this as nothing more than offseason coachspeak. Not surprised to see people want to gnash their teeth over it tho. While I do not agree that what will amount to around 15 games should have no impact on the Colas OD decision, I do agree that if he has a great ST you gotta give him the job. But I do think we would have seen Colas up when Robert was essentially playing 1 handed last season if the Sox planned on using Colas right away in 23. Not calling him up then but starting him on OD roster in 23 is just awful decision making.

Best of luck to Chas

Well, he's a SP and under contract and will be making starts for the Minnesota Twins in 2023. Which was the topic of conversation.

Suppose its possible put Maeda in the pen. Twins beats talking about maybe a 6 man rotation since they're pretty much all injury prone.

You’re forgetting Maeda.

Chaz Jizzholm is available as stopgap!? THat's amazing news. Marlins must view Azzaez as Jizzholm's replacement.

Yeah, the Twins do have a pretty solid collection of mid rotation arms. This presumably pushes Ober to the pen. But they're going to need the depth, almost all of them get hurt alot.

Hopefully instead of being MIA, hopefully he's talking to MIA.

3B, most likely. I absolutely salivate at the idea of them trying to play Miranda at 3B. That's like Sox playing Burger at 3B everyday defensively.

I think Twins did pretty well here. 3 years of Arraez for 2 of Lopez + a pretty solid 50 FV prospect in Salas. If Lopez stays healthy, I think Twins did well here. Arraez has no position.

How's the BP top 101 look for the Sox?

If you want to assume $180M is a hard cap moving forward, sure. Payroll just last season was ~$195M. Sox almost certainly will add some $ either before OD, and if not, during the 2023 season. I don't think assuming a $195-200M payroll in 2024 is outrageous assuming things go decently in 2023. I said myself that if this coming season is another disaster you pretty much have to sell off the good assets after 23, then its all moot anyway. I just don't think terming the payroll situation looking forward as "...an absolute mess. Worse than this year" is terribly accurate. But its all just conjecture and projections at this point.

On the flip side, didn't the betting odds for the divisions drop last week after the Correa signing and the Sox were still considered the favorite in the Central? I am on my work computer so cannot link, but I think I'd give Vegas sportsbooks a bit more weight than 6,750 random MLBTR readers.

Including Lynn, the 2024 payroll is about $164M. The good news is that the only positions that would need to be filled are 2 SP, maybe a C to pair with Seby/Perez depending how they progress in 23, and perhaps a low end reliever. The entire position player base sans Grandal, who is clearly a negative asset at this point, returns in 24. Sox obviously aren't going to be in on the top of the market SP, but if you sign a pretty good one to replace Gio for say $15-20M AAV, a stopgap #5 for ~$10M and decent reliever for $5M, they're basically right back to where they were in 22-23 payroll wise and have a full roster. They don't need to replace a bunch of guys. Obviously its essentially running the same squad back yet again, but I don't really see some doomsday scenario. Perhaps a better showing in 2023 will convince JR to open the purse strings a bit more than he did coming off the brutal 22. After 2024, 4/5 most expensive deals in Moncada, Lynn, Hendriks and TA are all gone, and the payroll opens up fairly significantly thereafter. Sox will certainly be in similar situation after next season to this offseason, but it also just underscores that their hands have been and will continue to be tied contractually without their owner approving significant payroll increases, which I don't think we can expect without a deep playoff run in 23. If 23 is another underperforming disaster, I think we can pretty much bank on all the controllable talent beyond 23 getting moved, which could provide a chance for a mini rebuild as it would include some pretty desirable assets on shorter term deals (2 or less) in Cease, Kopech, TA, Eloy, Graveman/Hendriks/Bummer, you could perhaps even look at moving Robert (though I'd continue to hold there). Rick Hahn & Co definitely don't deserve the ability to undertake that process again, however.

Paging Rick Hahn.

Well, Chapman is a piece of s%*# human so….

So Charlotte's current rotation is likely: Davis Martin, Jonathan Stiever, Sean Burke, Jason Bilous?, Nate Fisher?, John Parke?....definitely could use at least 2 milb deal guys to slot in after Martin. current pen: Gregory Santos, Tanner Banks, Matt Foster, Nick Padilla, Benneet Sousa, Kenyan Middleton, Declan Cronin, Mike Morin Pen seems slightly ahead of the rotation, I'd say. I do wonder if the Charlotte's park makes it tough for the Sox to find intriguing arms on MILB deals since its such a bandbox. Pitchers would rather work their way back into the league in a less hitter friendly environment, perhaps?