steveno89

If I am the Sox I do not mess around. Grandal would be a rock solid addition and lock down the catching position for the next three years. McCann simply is not the long term answer as a starer, do not let his hot first half fool you.

Have the Sox actually made any statement about where they want to end up payroll wise for 2020? Where they are willing to go payroll wise for 2021 onward? The average MLB payroll is $138 million, and if we aren't willing to be at $140 million in 2021 then this whole rebuild was a sham. We do need to save $20-25 million for next year's free agent market I would imagine.

What assets do the Sox have that we can truly afford to trade? Robert is untouchable, Dunning's value is down due to the injury, Stiever? Vaughn? Madrigal is expected to contribute by June at the latest I would imagine? Not saying we cannot figure out ways to be creative, but we really are not set up to swing a major trade at the moment.

Agreed. That contract is not going anywhere.

We shall see if the recent trend of clubs being particularly stingy about years. Fewer and fewer guys are getting multi year agreements.

Not at all. There's reason to believe JD might not opt out. The White Sox make a ton of sense as a landing spot, but we need to be prepared for other options.

Spotrac predicts 4/$93.77 million as Wheeler's "market value". A team might budge and give him more years in the $20-25 million AAV range, but I do not see the bidding getting to the $150-160 range. Patrick Corbin's deal of 6/$140 million I would assume to be his high water mark given some injury history in the past.

Numerous arguments have been made to suggest that McCann's hot first half was largely a fluke and you cannot expect him to come close to repeating those numbers again. If you are content with the 2017 Tigers version of McCann as your starting catcher while trying to shift towards contention in 2020 then go ahead. I want and expect better.

Much appreciated^ I hope Hahn and Co. are smart enough to not pay Abreu anywhere close to retail. The old mindset would be ink him for three years, $45 million and be happy. The new, more analytical, MLB would not offer an aging slugger beyond a season or two at a reasonable rate. Would another club really offer him much more? Vaughn is in the pipeline now, and it is not crazy to think he could be MLB ready by 2021 given his advanced offensive profile. We have to remember not to totally blow our wad this offseason and leave little flexibility for next offseason when we truly expect to be in the contention mix. Extending our core should also be explored.

I'm absolutely in the do not overpay Abreu camp. Love him as a player, but I do not think he will get a substantial contract offer on the open market.

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12859&position=C McCann's career stats https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=11368&position=C Grandal career stats It is not even a comparison how much better Grandal has been. McCann has not proven enough to be a long term option as more than a backup. Detroit non-tendered him for a reason.

I'm advocating we sign Grandal to a multi year deal and still keep McCann for 2020 as a backup.

They only have surplus value if McCann repeats his 2019 numbers, which my argument is that he will not. With no other viable catching option in the system, Grandal makes too much sense to pass up on a multi year deal. If McCann flops what is the plan? McCann has not yet proven starting caliber ability to me. Outside of first half 2019, what has he really done?

The Astros lineup is flat out loaded at every other position, as are the Nationals. Closing our eyes and crossing our fingers that McCann continues to overachieve is wishful thinking. He's a solid backup, but we can and should be all over Grandal.

Grandal is a better defensive catcher than McCann by a considerable amount. 2019 his BABIP for the season was .359 vs. a career .311. His approach is not a whole lot different than his 2017 Tigers stats in terms of BB%, but his L% increased to 28.8% in 2019. Regress his BABIP to his career average and you're talking about a 0.5 WAR backup catcher, not a starter on a team looking to go anywhere. For reference Grandal played in 153 games and put up 5.2 WAR per fangraphs...huge difference.

Kole Calhoun would not be an awful stopgap option for 1-2 years. Could do worse and he plays solid defense.

I do not hate McCann, let me start right off with that. Outside of the first half of 2019, at no point in his career has he even been an average player. We have every reason to question whether he can be anything more than a backup for us moving forward. His first half was propped up by a crazy .408 BABIP, something that he is unlikely to ever repeat. I get catcher wear and tear, but I believe there is far greater chance he reverts to being a .5 - 1 WAR at best player in 2020 than comes anywhere near repeating 2019. I like him as a backup, but am pounding the table for Grandal in free agency. I am sick of the club settling for mediocrity. Look at the rosters of the Nationals and Astros and tell me we are anywhere close to competing with teams like that in a series?

If healthy that is a 75-80 win team, no better Collins absolutely cannot be relied upon as starting DH, nor can we rely on Leury in RF or McCann to start at catcher. Unknown how Kopech will be back from TJS, and I doubt we keep Nova for nearly $10 million.

McCann's second half splits were pretty brutal. It would be foolish to think he's anything more than a backup for a competitive team moving forward. If I could only make two free agent signing this offseason they would be a SP and Grandal all day

You can't non-tender McCann as you do not have any other viable catching option in house.

I think it's easier to solve our DH/RF woes via trade or potentially free agency than to find out who will lock down the catcher position for the next few years. Rolling into 2020 onward with only McCann would be a mistake if his 2019 was a fluke. SP is absolutely a priority. Sadly we will not likely be in on Cole, but any of the other top arms could potentially be in play. Strasburg is interesting if he opts out? Still working on my Socmachine offseason plan, but it will have a few wrinkles in it

Grandal should absolutely be priority 1A or 1B this offseason. No QO attached, he would be a rock solid starter for the next four seasons for us.

Will be an interesting offseason. Sox fans should temper expectations I feel though. Martinez may not opt out, the top pitching might be cost prohibitive (as much as it stings to say that), and the FA bats are fairly slim.

I doubt we deal Vaughn or Madrigal, but you never know

Sox are in an interesting position with regards to trades in that they do have a few potentially expendable high ends prospects should they choose to go down that road. Robert is not going anywhere, but Madrigal/Vaughn/Dunning/Stiever could be dealt in the right deal. The best pitching is likely to be snapped up quickly in free agency, so they better have a sound plan if they want to fish at the top of the market.