Dominikk85

Matz was terrible the last years.

I'm not sure that is a good idea. Imo the best thing for him is to become the best most powerful hitter he can be and then hope to get traded. Sheets was hurt tremendously by losing last milb season to covid and now he is almost 25 and the time is ticking. Had sheets hit .280 with 25 bombs in AAA last year he could probably be a starting 1b in a rebuilding team after a trade. But losing 2020 he now is an almost 25 yo 1b/DH type who hasn't played in a year and also hasn't played above AA. That he wasn't invited to the complex didn't help either but sox simply had too many 1b/DH types stacked there already (Collins, yermin, vaughn, even burger) so there was no room for him. Sheets really needs a huge season with 25-30 homers to bring himself back to the radar. But I'm not sure it makes sense to try becoming a below average LF, I think the smarter thing would have been to just try to develope as much power as possible and then get traded. Obviously if the weight loss doesn't hurt his power that is fine but if he hits 17 homers or less this year he is a non prospect. But overall the situation just sucks for him, he did everything right and finally developed some power in 2019 and then everything fell apart with covid.

I think it is not a bad deal. Grandal was cheaper but he also was 1.5 years older when he signed which of course is priced in. Both are really excellent catcher. Realmuto's profile is maybe a little sexier to fans because it is more BA and less walks but overall they are pretty comparable.

While I also think that schilling should get in as there are plenty of racists in the hall I wouldn't just call that political views, schilling is very right wing and has expressed especially intolerant views of trans people and called people who object gay slurs as "snowflakes". For many that has crossed some red lines.

I would put schilling in. Yeah he is an ass and his views of society are stupid and stuck in the 18th century but really there are tons of racists, wife beaters and general assholes in the HOF and schilling did neither commit a legal crime like murdering someone nor did he cheat on the field or gamble on baseball.

The Jays have a Monster offense but I wonder why they didn't upgrade SP more.

I think there could be big upside to have a well over 100 wins season. Obviously for this a lot has to Go right. The SP is not super deep and they can't really afford either of giolito and lynn go down. However the upside is really big. The lineup was one of the best in the AL last year and it could get even better with upgrades at DH (vaughn at some point) and RF. The pen also has the potential to be really good and the rotation is lacking depth but if everyone is healthy the top3 are quite good and if kopech can contribute 110 good innings and one of cease or lopez steps up this really could be a good rotation. I think this team does have the potential to have a season like the 2016 cubs. Obviously there is downside too (especially in the rotation if there is injury) and I would take 92 wins and the division but if everything clicks this could be a monster team.

I don't see AAA starting before MLB. They just assume mlb starts on time here and if mlb gets delayed AAA gets delayed accordingly.

Actually the trend is college rather than HS. In 1999 15 HS kids were drafted in the top 30 and 15 college kids. 2019 it was 10 HS and 20 college. Even more extreme is this in the first half of the first. 2019 5 out of the top15 were HS kids, 1999 10 of the top15 were HS kids. This of course fluctuates a little year to year but overall the trend is clearly going college in the top half of the first round and then going HS in the comp and second round.

I think the pirates this time want to go full tank. The last round they went for more mlb ready pieces like musgrove and moran to do kind of a quick retooling but it didn't work and now they go for younger, higher variance, higher upside guys because they Don't have a core to build around anymore and they can't afford to sign stars. Sheets and adolfo could contribute soon but they are older and don't have the upside the pirates really need now. Pirates are going through a long rebuild.

Voit was really good the last 3 years (186 ops+ in 18, 123 in 19 and 156 in 20). Abreu was better in 20 but only a solid but not spectacular 117-118 the years before. Voit is also 4 years younger so it is reasonable to believe he is a bit better in true talent at this point especially when weighing a shortened season less. Abreu is very good but I think when you consider the last 3 years and the projection for next season you can justify having voit ahead.

I think the main movements of the list are graduations and the draft except for the guys who got mlb time. You can't really consider reports from alternate site because teams varied a lot in their openness for the public and also it is not clear how much performance at the alternate site at all. I think the only way you should consider alternate site reports as in conjunction with next year, i.e if a player got positive reviews and he shows that in milb this season you might be inclined to believe the changes more quickly. This especially applies to Kelley. He got very good reviews from the alternate site but he needs to show that he can do it in games. But if he does it you might move him up quicker than you would if he had not shown it. So if Kelley is good next year in A ball he could be a top100 rather quickly.

Thanks. Many of them will graduate soon but Kelley and maybe also some other young guys could make the list by the end of the year if they perform in the minors.

Does anyone have the subscription to see were the sox players have landed? https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2021-top-100-prospects/

I can see the brewers trying to compete and then do a mini sell off at the deadline like the yankees did when they traded miller and chapman for torres, frazier and some others. I don't see them going in full rebuild, especially with yelichs contract going like 7 more years but I can see them trading hader and someone else for a couple close to ready mlb prospects

I think the sox don't really need to make a big trade at the moment. They can sign an older number 5 starter in February on the cheap who is still looking for a contract, it doesn't make sense to ship out top prospects now. That is really a big advantage of the lynn deal, the sox are now in a position to wait.

Springer would have been nice to have but he wasn't really a need for the sox and the price was just too high. The sox can use that money better elsewhere (arb raises, extensions, other signings).

I agree. The Internet isn't a legal vacuum. People believe they can harass, threaten or sexually harass people just because it is the internet but you wouldn't just whip your dick out on a street and you also wouldn't tell a person to kill himself face to face. So why do people think in the internet this is covered by "freedom of speech"? I know it is relatively common today among young people who meet on tinder to send dick picks and vag picks but it is something else to send them later in a process of starting a casual sex relationship when it is clear that both sides are interested in such a relationship than sending them unsolicited after a few messages or sometimes even as a first message.

I'm fine with just a 4th starter now, a lefty bat would be a decent bonus.

Yeah totally. Sox fans are obsessed with the padres due to the tatis trade but the chance that the white sox and padres face off in the WS is probably more like 10%. Playoffs are a crap shoot and it could just as well be the dodgers, Mets or braves making the WS plus the sox need to make it there too. Sox fans should be way more worried about winning their division and then making it to the WS then about some NL team that they might or might not face.

When was the last time they didn't use the whole amount of bonus money ?

The DH is a bargaining chip, mlb doesn't want to give them the DH for free but they want the union to give something to get the DH.

I think long term kopech can still be a front line starter but the first year pitching in actual games after TJ command is often a bit rough creating HR and walk issues and thus less performance. I think thus he might be more of a 5th to 6th starter in 2021 and then maybe take a step forward in 22. It could also be better than that but that should be seen as a bonus and not expected as the first year after TJ is often not easy.

At some Point cruz will come down but people already said that in 2017, 2018,2019 and 2020, I think at a 1 yr deal it would be worth a gamble. That being said I would prefer a left handed bat who can also play another position. The sox have vaughn coming up and eloy needing some days at DH, thus I think they could use a bit of flexibility.

You can certainly criticise reinsdorf for what he did in the last 10 years but so far the sox have been the most active team in the majors so and only the padres and Mets only came anywhere near them in activity. Obviously it is easier from a lower starting point and the sox should be active but no reason to complain about this off season.