TheFutureIsNear

Not saying I agree with it, but I think people are kidding themselves thinking the 4th OF’er hasn’t already been signed. It’s going to most likely be Marisnick like it or not. Clearly Marisnick, Hamilton and Reyes were signed to battle it out for the 4th OF’er spot…maybe Haseley gets a shot too.

Hopes of Duvall are gone https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/red-sox-to-sign-adam-duvall.html

IF this rumor were to be true (big if)…does that mean they know something contrary to Grandal’s back improving that we’ve been seeing? Because Seby is out of options correct? Can’t see any possibility of carrying 3 catchers

It is a minor league deal according to mlbtraderumors https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/white-sox-sign-hanser-alberto-infielder.html Could be worse as a bench piece, will be interesting to see how the overlap of him and Luery work.

Yes, if a legit 4th OFer is brought in it would work. But if it goes the way it’s looking and it’s Marisnick/Reyes/Hamilton I don’t think it would. At least in my opinion. All too soft of hitters. I know our options aren’t plentiful or great, but I’d still want a better pinch hitter on the bench. In a scenario where we need a pinch hitter I wouldn’t feel good about any of those guys needing to drive the ball.

The problem with giving Odor, or any other 2B option left, a major league deal is that it seems almost impossible to have 3 of Luery, Odor(or whoever) and 1 of Sosa/Romy on the roster at once. Unfortunately we are stuck with Luery’s bad contract as a backup IF so giving Odor a major league deal almost promises him the starting job. Can’t have a bench of Luery, Romy, Marisnick, and Sebby. No idea what his market is, but if Odor could be had on a NRI deal I’d be all for it.

Yeah I’d love to see how those #’s make sense. Can’t be factoring in all revenue streams. There’s 0% chance teams like the Yankees, Phillies and Dodgers aren’t making $ somehow. I don’t care how rich these owners are, there’s no way they are willingly losing 10’s of millions every year. Then again, maybe it’s just a business strategy to report losses for tax purposes? I’m not smart enough/too broke to fully understand how that works tho

Boy that’s not a lot at all. I don’t think Soto is great or a closer on a legit WS contender, but figured he’d bring back 1 legit prospect.

I’m not 100% against Andrus in general. But I am 100% against giving him a 2 year deal that all but guarantees him the starting 2B job without competition. I actually think the biggest knock against signing Andrus doesn’t even have to do with him…it’s Leury. In a perfect world Andrus would be a good bench piece that gets a crack at the starting 2B job in spring training. Unfortunately Luery and his bad contract already occupy the backup INF spots and I don’t see a world where you can keep Andrus and Luery without 1 starting pretty much everyday. Personally I just don’t see Andrus as a good enough everyday player to take away the ability for Sosa/Romy to compete for the job. Especially when we are talking $6M vs league minimum

2 years 12 mil for Andrus is an awful deal no matter where he plays. He had a hot month or so but his larger sample size going back to 2018 is right on par with Leury. No idea why people are so terrified that we can’t get .240 BA with a .700 OPS production out of Romy/Sosa. Continuously blocking young players with mediocre (at best) production isn’t the direction this team should be going.

They have to be put on the 40 man roster 1st correct? Don’t get me wrong, we still have some fat to trim imo, but with the 40 man roster currently at 39 how many of Reyes, Hamilton, and Marisnick are going to stick after Spring training? My guess is at most 2 with Marisnick and Hamilton probably battling for 1 spot.

I’m getting the feeling that the odds of us signing a legit 4th OF’er are dwindling. Throw a bunch of warm bodies at the problem and see if anything sticks seems to be the plan.

Again, aside from guys like Nimmo, Turner and Carlos…who would you have signed and or traded for? And isn’t saying that I “accept the White Sox way” just another way of saying that I accept reality? What do you think I/you can do about it? Do you go outside and b**** about the cold every single day, or have you accepted it and try to make the best of it? Personally I’m the latter, I’m not going to go into every thread bitching about how bad ownership is. We all know it.

I agree with most/all of this. We can all b**** and moan about more than a handful of things Hahn and the front office have done/not don’t in the past 2-3 years. But right now? Short of saying the Sox should have signed Nimmo, Turner or Carlos I struggle to point to many/any moves made that make me think “the Sox really missed out.” Especially in RF, again, short of signing Nimmo I’m not sure there was a move to be made that justifies blocking Colas. Even 2B, would Segura have been nice? Sure, but is the difference between Segura and seeing what we have in Romy/Sosa going to make or break this year? I highly doubt it. Not sure what other legit 2B we could get either. And not sure what was expected out of a 5th starter, but Clevinger was a perfectly logical fit with upside. Now there are definitely still moves to be made to round out this roster (viable 4th OF’er and SP depth at least) and if they aren’t made I totally understand and will participate in the bitching.

Does Jerry even know the luxury tax exists? Can’t imagine that’s a thought that has ever crossed his mind. Hopefully backloading the deal was the front office trying to squeeze 1 last addition into the budget.

With those who are in more in tune to the payroll…does the only $8M (11 with bonus) in ‘23 affect how things were projected? If what I’ve read is correct we were like $3-5M away from keeping the payroll the same as last year. Does this put us at more like $5-10M to spend(In theory)? I’m assuming people were factoring his payroll hit at $16M in those projections?

OF- already agreed that we need a quality 4th OF’er. Kiermaier is the only realistic viable option that signed. Duvall is the best option but Pillar or JBJ aren’t horrible options. Raimel Tapia still kinda intrigues me , but not sure if his D would cut it in CF. 2B- Seguar was the only viable realistic option that has signed. Would he have been nice? Sure, but is our season going to come down to the difference between Segura vs Sosa/Romy? I’ll take my chances on that. SP- This is a discussion I’ve had with a couple different people already…but what legit MLB starters you’d feel comfortable with are signing as the 6th starter for the Sox? The answer is none. Our SP depth is going to have to come from minor league signings. This is a lot more of a poor development problem than it is lack of moves right now. C- Yeah I can’t argue that Grandal is a huge risk. That 1 unfortunately kinda is what it is because of Grandal’s contract. And I’ll pose the question again- other than Kiermaier and Segura what realistic deals that have been signed are you lamenting the Sox for not doing?

I’m not arguing at all that there is a strong need for a 4th of’er that can play CF…but who are the guys that signed already you think we missed out on? Nimmo, Bellinger, and Kiermaier were the only 3 options I see and out of those the only real argument is Kiermaier in terms of being realistic. And personally I’m not too torn up about missing out on him for $9mil. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I have a ton of faith in Hahn, but I can’t blame him YET for the roster not being complete.

Should we sign insurance options/utility players as insurance? Yes absolutely. But what’s the point of having a minor league system and developing players if you aren’t going to actually play them? Colas is 24, a stud top 100 prospect by all accounts, and has proven himself in the upper minors. There’s no logical reason why the Sox should have signed an OF’er to a multi year deal to block him. Obviously Sosa isn’t the type of prospect Colas is, but he clearly has the tool set to be at least an average MLB starting 2B and also proved himself in the upper minors. 2B is also arguably the easiest position to get acceptable production from, especially since Sosa should grade out just fine with the glove. Like it or not the Sox are never going to compete with teams like the Mets, Dodgers, or Yankees in terms of payroll and acquiring players. We should be striving to be more like the Braves or Rays…which heavily involves getting production from home grown young players. Obviously having their front office instead of Hahn and crew would also really help…

So the 900+ PA’s before and after the pandemic don’t mean anything? And also the mediocre #’s at Miami that caused him to be an 18th round pick? Just trying to be honest here…every organization has a AAAA utility infielder, ours isn’t anything special.

Does anybody really think Romy has any chance of being a good regular? Just don’t see any standout skills and the only real sustained success he had in the minors was 344 AB’s as a 24 in AA. Obviously our options are limited, but I think you have to let Sosa absolutely fail before Romy sees any kind of regular AB’s.

When did I say the 2nd prospect would be a top 100 guy? I specifically said the 2nd prospect would be outside of their top 10 prospects. Someone like Knack, Nastrini or Grove. Fringe B level prospects with back end of the rotation upside…which sadly the Sox desperately need because outside of Martin we have no one in the minors that can come up and pitch if needed. Not to mention that Bard and Soto don’t even belong in the same conversation as Hendriks. No team with WS aspirations is trading for them and thinking they’re set at closer.

I’d say you are way off on Liam’s value. 1 25 year top 50 prospect that hasn’t seen the majors yet isn’t crazy at all. But we can agree to disagree… And I don’t see how anyone could make any kind of argument that Liam is anything worse than the 4th best closer in baseball. Who are these teams you think could swoop in with a better offer if the Dodgers are indeed looking for a closer?

Anybody else a little surprised that there hasn’t been any traction at all on another Dodgers trade for a Sox closer? Dodgers definitely need a closer and also have a surplus to trade from. For 3B/2B/LF they have Muncy, Taylor, Outman, Vargas, and Busch to choose from(with a few others not far away in the minors). Busch is 25 now and if they don’t project him to start at 1 of those spots could be a trade candidate…and fits very nicely for the Sox. Not sure exactly how the value pans out with Busch being a top 50 prospect, but would have to imagine we could get at least another young SP outside of their top 10 along with Busch.

Isn’t it public knowledge that he had to have a pace maker put in? Not pretending to be a doctor, but I have a really hard time believing Tony would have been cleared to fly on a weekly basis and endure the stress of being a MLB manager. Obviously we’ll probably never know the real answer, but I think it’s well within reason to believe that Tony’s (sort of) departure was purely medical and we just got lucky.