thxfrthmmrs Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I've posted a few times that we cannot address all of our needs by just throwing big money at free agents. Aside from trading from the farm, one potential avenue is to find reclamation projects, bounce back candidates in FA for cheap and they could potentially play a big role for us. For the sake of this exercise, let's keep consider anyone less than $5M AAV as a under the radar signing. (Scooter Gennett seems like a popular choice, but I still see him getting a 2 year contract north of $15M). With that said, who is our James McCann of the 2019 off season? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wegner Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Ok, I'll bite. My guess is Tanner Roark as a back of the rotation option. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 (edited) I would say Alex Wood if our analytical team was up to par. His spin rate numbers (in a small sample size) with his curve and change were down considerably compared to years past. Edited October 1, 2019 by SoxAce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFutureIsNear Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 (edited) He’s been talked about a little bit, but Howie Kendrick wouldn’t be a bad name to look at for a relatively cheap short term deal. Can play 2B until Madrigal is up and then can shift to a utility role playing 2B/1B/LF. Wade Miley could also be a sneaky very solid signing to stabilize the rotation that won’t break the bank. Edit: just now reading the part about under $5M, that’s tough. Miley will for sure get more. Kendrick will probably be close, but might go a little over Edited October 1, 2019 by TheFutureIsNear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschmaranz Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 James Shields. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thxfrthmmrs Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 1 hour ago, SoxAce said: I would say Alex Wood if our analytical team was up to par. His spin rate numbers (in a small sample size) with his curve and change were down considerably compared to years past. Which site are you looking at? Statcast shows his change spin rate as high as ever and curve spin is slightly down. More than anything if our training staff is confident they could help him stay on the field, I wouldn’t mind a heavily incentive driven deal. 36 minutes ago, bschmaranz said: James Shields. Any James Shields deal isn’t flying under the radar with Sox fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thxfrthmmrs Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 40 minutes ago, TheFutureIsNear said: He’s been talked about a little bit, but Howie Kendrick wouldn’t be a bad name to look at for a relatively cheap short term deal. Can play 2B until Madrigal is up and then can shift to a utility role playing 2B/1B/LF. Wade Miley could also be a sneaky very solid signing to stabilize the rotation that won’t break the bank. Edit: just now reading the part about under $5M, that’s tough. Miley will for sure get more. Kendrick will probably be close, but might go a little over I think there will be some competition for Kendrick this off-season. I like Matt Joyce as the OF version of Kendrick. He could play the 4th/5th OF and part time DH role. Lefty bat who gets on base at a high clip, he’d make a nice platoon bat off the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrle>Wood Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Kendrick seems like he would come here and die 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 I’ve been on the Alex Wood train for awhile. He’s left handed and coming off a bad year so the Sox could possibly get him on an inventive heavy 1 or 2 year deal. He could start the season in the rotation and then shift to the bullpen once Kopech and Rodon are ready, or maybe even stay in the rotation if he pitches well enough. He had a solid 2018 before getting hurt this year. He makes a lot of sense for this team as the second SP addition behind a guy like Wheeler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaDoc Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 35 minutes ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said: I’ve been on the Alex Wood train for awhile. He’s left handed and coming off a bad year so the Sox could possibly get him on an inventive heavy 1 or 2 year deal. He could start the season in the rotation and then shift to the bullpen once Kopech and Rodon are ready, or maybe even stay in the rotation if he pitches well enough. He had a solid 2018 before getting hurt this year. He makes a lot of sense for this team as the second SP addition behind a guy like Wheeler. Is he over his back issues? From what I see he missed a month or two, came back in August for six starts and was shut down with a ERA over 6 in August. How much you gamble? If we had a healthy rotation, I see the gamble but I think you need guys you can count on out of the gates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaDoc Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 I will toss out for a injured guy, on incentive deal, depending on medicals Lonnie Chisenhall. For a one year wonder vet, who supposedly made changes this year, Cameron Maybin. Both left handed outfielders who I could see the gamble if we strike out on a few better options for RF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 The $5M or under part is the tricky part. We can literally look at 200 fringe/injured guys or AAAA types and pick 10 of them and still might not get the value. It's the hardest thing to do and the Sox got extremely lucky they found value in McCann and Marshall. Look at all the crap they tried and never panned out. You could probably find 15 guys over the last 3 years they took fliers on and missed. We never did find our Max Muncy. Palka was the closest we got and he got nowhere close to the positional versatility and OBP of Muncy. Another guy is how the Astro's fleeced the Dodgers for Yordan Alvarez or how a guy like Arestides Aquino was kept by the Reds. If I had to choose I'd still scour the young guys who can provide even wild unimaginable upside like somehow Marcus Semien improved his D and hitting to get 8 WAR. It's also one of the reasons the Sox shouldn't be trading their draft picks yet and putting more money in the international free agency and not trading that money away. I'm not really that confident that we have the personnel in player development/scouting or even the tools to identify the next Muncy , Semien , Alvarez or Aquino since some of that is just looking in the right place at the right time or just keeping a very long list of players to keep an eye on and pouncing on them if they become available even for a short period of time like Aquino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschmaranz Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 3 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said: Any James Shields deal isn’t flying under the radar with Sox fans. I guess my sarcasm is though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 (edited) We're going to sign Moose for 10 million a year over 2-3 years. He'll be DH, maybe get a few starts at 2B to rest Madrigal, a few starts at first to rest Abreu and a few starts in right. Edited October 1, 2019 by greg775 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 4 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said: Which site are you looking at? Statcast shows his change spin rate as high as ever and curve spin is slightly down. More than anything if our training staff is confident they could help him stay on the field, I wouldn’t mind a heavily incentive driven deal. Any James Shields deal isn’t flying under the radar with Sox fans. Savant/statcast. His curve is actually the high number not his change and his change is slightly down (they have them both flip flopped from '18-'19 so that's probably where the confusion is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 18 minutes ago, greg775 said: We're going to sign Moose for 10 million a year over 2-3 years. He'll be DH, maybe get a few starts at 2B to rest Madrigal, a few starts at first to rest Abreu and a few starts in right. Um Greg. Moose has never played RF in his whole MLB career. Try DH, 3rd, 2nd and 1st. And if we do sign him he'll have to basically split time at 1st and DH with Abreu and then get around to filling in for Moncada and Madrigal. Moose would be a full time player with the Sox otherwise he wouldn't sign with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said: The $5M or under part is the tricky part. We can literally look at 200 fringe/injured guys or AAAA types and pick 10 of them and still might not get the value. It's the hardest thing to do and the Sox got extremely lucky they found value in McCann and Marshall. Look at all the crap they tried and never panned out. You could probably find 15 guys over the last 3 years they took fliers on and missed. We never did find our Max Muncy. Palka was the closest we got and he got nowhere close to the positional versatility and OBP of Muncy. Another guy is how the Astro's fleeced the Dodgers for Yordan Alvarez or how a guy like Arestides Aquino was kept by the Reds. If I had to choose I'd still scour the young guys who can provide even wild unimaginable upside like somehow Marcus Semien improved his D and hitting to get 8 WAR. It's also one of the reasons the Sox shouldn't be trading their draft picks yet and putting more money in the international free agency and not trading that money away. I'm not really that confident that we have the personnel in player development/scouting or even the tools to identify the next Muncy , Semien , Alvarez or Aquino since some of that is just looking in the right place at the right time or just keeping a very long list of players to keep an eye on and pouncing on them if they become available even for a short period of time like Aquino. Not to mention Turner and Chris Taylor... seems they pull a new guy out of the hat every season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaDoc Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Yeah Moose isn't taking a paycut and becoming a part time player. I think he stays in Milwaukee and they add a year or two to his deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFutureIsNear Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 If we want a cheap, LH utility guy with power from the Brewers I think Travis Shaw makes a ton of sense provided the trade price is very cheap...which I imagine it will be. He had 2 years of arb left and was at 4.5M this year, can’t see it going up much considering he was in the minors. Also can’t see the Brewers holding onto him. Not sure what happened to him this year, but 2017 and 2018 he had 30+ hrs with an .820+ OPS. Cant speak to the level of his D, but has played 2B, 3B and 1B recently. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Abreu Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Brett Anderson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold's Leg Lift Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 This is a very underwhelming free agent class. Last year there were some interesting non-tenders so I'm hoping the same will happen this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox59 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 Derek Dietrich would be a nice fit if he gets non-tendered. Possible, but probably unlikely. Kyle Gibson turned into a gas can last 2 months of the season. He could a decent choice a a cheap 1 year option for the back of the rotation to fill in for Kopech/Rodon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thxfrthmmrs Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 2 hours ago, TheFutureIsNear said: If we want a cheap, LH utility guy with power from the Brewers I think Travis Shaw makes a ton of sense provided the trade price is very cheap...which I imagine it will be. He had 2 years of arb left and was at 4.5M this year, can’t see it going up much considering he was in the minors. Also can’t see the Brewers holding onto him. Not sure what happened to him this year, but 2017 and 2018 he had 30+ hrs with an .820+ OPS. Cant speak to the level of his D, but has played 2B, 3B and 1B recently. I like the Shaw idea. Meets our needs and even if he doesn't fully rebound, he'd be a nice LH bat off the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Lucy's Avocado Farm Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 I really hope that the Sox FO doesn't pull that "veteran giving it one last year, so lets see whats left in the tank" bullshit ever again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Sacamano Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 40 minutes ago, Charlie Haeger's Knuckles said: I really hope that the Sox FO doesn't pull that "veteran giving it one last year, so lets see whats left in the tank" bullshit ever again In a starting role? I hope not. But as a bench piece, sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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