Jose Abreu

Rendon's main goal seems to be high AAV. We just offered $25 million AAV to Zack Wheeler and $31.25 million AAV to Machado in February. I obviously don't expect us to sign or even pursue Rendon, which I'll underline since any post on the matter tends to get a bunch of replies restating that, but I see him as a more realistic pivot than Cole or Strasburg. If you really want to spend the money, get creative with Rendon and offer him 5/180. As unlikely as it seems, I never expected Reinsdorf to be convinced to offer Zack Wheeler of all people $25 million per year.

Well it is pretty normal to win the vast majority of games in which you're leading after 8, but that's not what I'm arguing and I'm not sure what you're getting at. For everything that suggests the 2019 Sox were lucky, there's another thing that suggests they were unlucky I could definitely see that argument.

Works both ways. For example, I think most of our relievers (save for Bummer) have better years. Same goes for Lopez. I also think Anderson improves on defense.

He probably heard it from Mr. Cishek

The additions of Robert, Grandal, Kopech, Madrigal, and Cease (full season) make us an ~80 win team as constructed, IMO. Getting one of Ryu/Keuchel, Castellanos/Pederson, and hopefully one more significant piece pushes us towards the higher 80s.

James McCann

Yes, that’s all it is

Wouldn't the "28th worst defense" be the 3rd best defense?

I miss the days when "putting your email in your Soxtalk username" was a thing

It says the account was created in August of 2016. Clearly, Cishek made the account, forgot about it, then got this Wheeler scoop today and decided to share it with the world.

And his RF defense is even worse. I'd literally rather have Leury play RF full-time when you take the contracts into consideration

He didn't circle back, the Sox FO learned the news with the rest of us. When Moncada was moved to 3B, that Padres deal hadn't even been offered yet

Not a huge Gonzales fan but he isn't a high walk rate pitcher, in fact he's one of the best pitchers at avoiding walks. That said, I'm sure the Mariners are asking for something we'd be unable to pay. Wheeler + Hamels would be great.

Kyle Seager ended up passing Moncada after this tweet, but Yoan still finished 4th and this definitely would factor into a potential extension. Once he figured out the early throwing errors, he was automatic over there. Completely agree, and I would also be more than willing to do that if I'm the Sox. The nagging injuries may be a concern, but he's our first young superstar position player since Maggs and it's probably worth the risk.

You guys realize this is a fake tweet and Porcello didn't actually sign for 2/30, right?

For some reason I remembered him getting the TJS in April rather than June, which would make a 2020 return much more likely. My bad

I get that he's recovering from TJS, but Burr was decent in a limited sample in MLB this year and killed it in the minors. I don't get why Dylan Covey wasn't the cut-off guy, honestly. Does he really need a 4th chance to *not* be one of the worst per-inning pitchers in the league?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/jason-kipnis-has-harsh-assessment-of-white-sox-after-losing-series-to-them/ar-AACiaGT

Robert is eligible to be called up without losing a year of service time about a week before then (due to the early start to the season). If he's healthy, I don't think he'll be there when you're there

fixed

I really don't think we see robo umps at any point during Grandal's contract. I like them and I want to see them, but they probably don't come any earlier than 2025.

If this is true and signings actually happen by the end of the calendar year (roughly), that would be fantastic.

I've barely been active here for a couple months because I'm trying to avoid a repeat of last offseason. But I'm sort of with you, all the buzz this week is bringing me back. Not expecting Cole/Stras/Rendon types, but cautiously optimistic that the money will be spent.