Dominikk85

Mazara very well could bounce back (towards becoming a slightly above average hitter against RHP, not becoming a star) but not sure if the Sox want to pay 5 mil to find out.

The Sox should be able to sign a position player and keep Vaughn even with corona.

just let Vaughn hit and get an outfielder. Vaughn is a 1b/DH and that is fine, put him at DH and use the money you save for him compared to what EE cost into RF.

Fact is both are elite while Sox have negative war players at 5th starter and right field next year. Which upgrade makes more sense? Upgrading a RF or 5th starter projected for minus 0.5 war or a catcher who is projected for 2.5 to 3 war?

Realmuto is a bit better than grandal but grandal is a top4 catcher too. Why would you try to marginally upgrade catcher when you have black holes in RF, 4th starter and 5th starter? (depending on how kopech comes back next year). The Sox need a RF, a starter and a top reliever (either colome or a replacement), marginal upgrades of good positions would be inefficient

I wonder how good colome is though. His ERA and save record were great but he just had a 9% k-bb rate and while his fip was still solid at. 3.69 his xfip was over 5 (not believing a 0% hr /fb rate). To be fair colome has a history of doing that especially surpressing Homers (career 14% k-bb but 0.76 HR/9 with 3.99 xfip, 3.54 fip and sub 3 Era) but still last year was a bit extreme.

Lemahieu yes, while he is 32 he absolutely raked the last two years and probably can get 4/70 or so. Gausman I think that price would be fair.

Vaughn is definitely a bit short for a 1b and not the prototypical 1b prospect, not just because of height but because typically 1b prospects in the top50 overall have 70-80 raw while vaughn is more 55-60 raw that plays up due to his hit tool but really I don't care how he produces at the plate and really stretching and scooping is only a minor part of 1b Defense (there was a FG article that really about 75-80% of a 1b defense is not how he receives and scoops throws but how he fields balls hit to him as most of the Receiving is just routine plays.

Closer is also a spot where they sox could lose games if they don't upgrade.

Do the Sox sign or trade for a new closer? Colome certainly had some luck and that was not sustainable but that near perfect Era and saves record will be hard to replace next year whether you bring him back or someone else.

In the end the Padres had no chance even if they won game 2. The dodgers are the best team in baseball and the Padres missed their two best starters. Can't beat such a good team like that. Padres have a good outlook the next 4-5 years with that good farm system and young guys already there but the dodgers will remain hard to beat. Essentially the dodgers are now what the Yankees were around late 90s to mid 00s.

Everyone can play first, if Vaughn gets 20 games a year at first until Jose is gone that is enough practice. Vaughn is the DH next year and occasionally will spell Jose at first.

Left montas on way too long

I think you simply need to keep Eloy the OF because you have Vaughn and Jose. Just get a strong defensive RF and tell Eloy to let Robert and that guy do their job and only go for balls that are clearly to him so he doesn't hurt himself and others. That is imo why Vaughn to RF is stupid. Vaughn in a corner maybe would work if you had Robert and Heyward in the other corners but not with Eloy out there. And if you get another good OF why would you put an even slower guy than Eloy in the OF to DH Eloy? Vaughn can play 5 games a year in the OF but that's it.

Dunning definitely had been better and I think he will be a solid 5 starter long term but cease has definitely more upside. Don't forget that giolito also had terrible command and not that great of a K rate either but when he made that mechanics change his k-bb rate did come around. Cease has that upside too albeit of course he very well could also never make it and become a reliever. But his upside is higher than dunning.

I don't know, many of the successful rebuilding teams of the last few years did trade a ton. The rays and As do tons of trades. The cubs, red Sox and Yankees too. You just need to trade the right guys.

Eloy takes bad routes but his speed is not bad. He is not a burner but his sprint speed is actually above average. Vaughn is somewhere between well below average and really slow (we will see next season when statcast is out but definitely slower than Eloy)

Listened to fg podcast today and Meg Rowley from fg hates bauer:). They also don't like Arod talking up small ball despite not having bunted a single time his last 10 Career years. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/effectively-wild-episode-1598-call-it-like-you-see-it/

I'm OK with Vaughn as he was hitting so well that his ceiling is basically Paul goldschmidt. Bigger problem is the other fringe athletes they drafted in burger and Collins. It seems like the front office loves to stretch good bats into tougher positions, hence the Collins and burger drafts and the attempts to play Vaughn out of position (and getting EE instead of just DHing Eloy). If it works it strengthens the offense but it is a fine line until you totally blow up your defense. The Phillies failed with that big time a couple years ago when they tried Hoskins in the outfield and the team was like minus 100 runs defensively.

Yeah Cashman (like dombrowski too) really has a good feel for trading the right guys. He moves a lot of prospects but not many of them become really good.

I liked the trade. Rutherford was like 20 at the time and a year removed from being a first round pick plus some ranked him even in the top100. He also did not bad before the trade, hitting really well in 2016 in rookie ball and OK in A ball before the trade (281, 113 wrc+). There were some warts too of course, he was an older Hs kid at 19 and had a swing that needed adjustments for power output but if you get a 20 yo HS draftee who has hit in his first year and is supposed to have raw power potential for a pair of relievers and an aging third baseman I think you need to do it. It seems like it didn't work out but he very well could have become a. 280 hitter with 25 Homers (still would not totally rule that out) if the Sox manage to improve his swing a little.

I should have said white western communities probably not just white American. I think in African American communities it is also quite common to support even your larger family (like aunts, cousins...) if you make a furtune while white people who get rich only tend to give their core family (kids, parents, brothers and sisters) something. Not sure if that is true though but I read some articles about NBA players supporting their families and even the neighborhoods they come from. I have a work colleague from Cameroon and he said that he knows a soccer player from where he is from and he is essentially expected to support his whole former village he grew up in

I'm fine with a 100 wrc+, 1.5-2 war guy in RF. Could Engel be that guy? He had a really good season but it was a small sample and he was protected (only playing in favorable spots). There was a contact and power increase but the k/bb rate is still bad and the hard hit rate while improved is still below average at 33% (I think average is around 35%). Fangraphs projections still have him at a terrible 70-75wrc+. I still think the Mazara Engel platoon was a great idea by hahn which just hasn't worked. I think the Sox should try the same again, get a lefty who can hit righties at a 110 clip and play Engel against lefties. That is not the ideal solution of course, we all would like to see a superstar but it is financially feasible.

Hahn definitely is in communication with the medical staff about that. Hahn is not an idiot, I'm sure they have already done medical testing. Fans would like to know but at this moment it only matters what they do internally. Fans always prefer getting TJ out of the way but imo you should try to avoid TJ if you can. Tanaka also was supposed to need TJ 4-5 years ago and he had some good years. Also maybe it really was only a mild strain or it could be worse but that is on the medical staff to assess.

Definitely a very interesting article but I wonder if Callis has seen them or if he just got info from the white sox. The article sounded more like an advertisement and everyone "looked great".