2022 Offseason Plan Thread

[South Side Hit Men]

Where are we at with all of this @Chicago White Sox ?

So far my FA "bracket" has been busted, as two of the three free agents I wanted the Sox to acquire, Robbie Ray and Yan Gomes, are off the board, both with reasonable deals, and the Sox signed the third (Leury Garcia).

Perhaps we can have a new thread with what would one do post lockout with $30M budget like we did last year.

My FA picks for $30M did well overall last offseason with two on point picks (Schwarber (3.1 fWAR), Zunino (4.5 fWAR)), Pederson who did well in the Postseason (0.6 fWAR + 3 HRs & a WS) and one mediocre pick in Colome (0.1 fWAR).

[Chicago White Sox]

7 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Where are we at with all of this @Chicago White Sox ?

So far my FA "bracket" has been busted, as two of the three free agents I wanted the Sox to acquire, Robbie Ray and Yan Gomes, are off the board, both with reasonable deals, and the Sox signed the third (Leury Garcia).

Perhaps we can have a new thread with what would one do post lockout with $30M budget like we did last year.

My FA picks for $30M did well overall last offseason with two on point picks (Schwarber (3.1 fWAR), Zunino (4.5 fWAR)), Pederson who did well in the Postseason (0.6 fWAR + 3 HRs & a WS) and one mediocre pick in Colome (0.1 fWAR).

Honestly, I think it’s a great idea for a thread.  Cue one up and I’d definitely partake.

[hi8is]

White Sox “Wish List” post lockout according to Bleacher Report. Remember this is just their opinion and is not based on any sources:

”Chicago White Sox

1. LHP Carlos Rodon: With respect to Clayton Kershaw, reuniting with Rodon is the best way the White Sox can satisfy their desire for a "front -ine starter," which USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported they are seeking.

2. 2B Donovan Solano: Matching a free agent to Chicago's other desire for a second baseman is trickier, but Solano is a bat-to-ball guy who'd fit well in its lineup.

3. LF Eddie Rosario: This one's more of a reach, but signing the reigning NLCS MVP would allow the Sox to move Eloy Jimenez to DH, where he belongs.”

[hi8is]

BTW: eww to Solano and Rosario

[Squirmin' for Yermin]

32 minutes ago, hi8is said:

White Sox “Wish List” post lockout according to Bleacher Report. Remember this is just their opinion and is not based on any sources:

”Chicago White Sox

1. LHP Carlos Rodon: With respect to Clayton Kershaw, reuniting with Rodon is the best way the White Sox can satisfy their desire for a "front -ine starter," which USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported they are seeking.

2. 2B Donovan Solano: Matching a free agent to Chicago's other desire for a second baseman is trickier, but Solano is a bat-to-ball guy who'd fit well in its lineup.

3. LF Eddie Rosario: This one's more of a reach, but signing the reigning NLCS MVP would allow the Sox to move Eloy Jimenez to DH, where he belongs.”

What a miserable offseason this would be.

[ShoeLessRob]

1 hour ago, hi8is said:

White Sox “Wish List” post lockout according to Bleacher Report. Remember this is just their opinion and is not based on any sources:

”Chicago White Sox

1. LHP Carlos Rodon: With respect to Clayton Kershaw, reuniting with Rodon is the best way the White Sox can satisfy their desire for a "front -ine starter," which USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported they are seeking.

2. 2B Donovan Solano: Matching a free agent to Chicago's other desire for a second baseman is trickier, but Solano is a bat-to-ball guy who'd fit well in its lineup.

3. LF Eddie Rosario: This one's more of a reach, but signing the reigning NLCS MVP would allow the Sox to move Eloy Jimenez to DH, where he belongs.”

This looks terrible and fully what I’m expecting .

[chw42]

53 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

What a miserable offseason this would be.

I just barfed a little.

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

What a miserable offseason this would be.

 

2 hours ago, chw42 said:

I just barfed a little.

You all cray cray. Landing Carlos and filling 2B and a corner OF (though I'd prefer a Pederson who can play RF to Rosario) will put their payroll over $200M. If they are able to move Kimbrel, they would likely get a Kiermaier / Segura contract making the payroll savings a near wash.

The top teams (Dodgers, Yankees, Boston, perhaps the Cubs) were sidelined until they knew what they were facing with a revised (or cancelled) "Luxury Tax". Expect these teams to spend aggressively if they know they aren't losing draft picks or heavy fines with the new CBA.

Do you expect the Sox to increase their payroll by $100M from last year into the $220M-$240M range to land 2-3 guys of the highest projected AAVs left on the board beyond Rodon (Correa, Story, Kershaw, Castellanos, Bryant, Schawaber)?

[maxjusttyped]

4 hours ago, ShoeLessRob said:

This looks terrible and fully what I’m expecting .

The latter two options strike me as realistic, but I'd be surprised if the Sox add a pitcher as good as Rodon.

I'm hoping to be wrong, of course.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, South Side Hit Men said:

 

You all cray cray. Landing Carlos and filling 2B and a corner OF (though I'd prefer a Pederson who can play RF to Rosario) will put their payroll over $200M. If they are able to move Kimbrel, they would likely get a Kiermaier / Segura contract making the payroll savings a near wash.

The top teams (Dodgers, Yankees, Boston, perhaps the Cubs) were sidelined until they knew what they were facing with a revised (or cancelled) "Luxury Tax". Expect these teams to spend aggressively if they know they aren't losing draft picks or heavy fines with the new CBA.

Do you expect the Sox to increase their payroll by $100M from last year into the $220M-$240M range to land 2-3 guys of the highest projected AAVs left on the board beyond Rodon (Correa, Story, Kershaw, Castellanos, Bryant, Schawaber)?

No way in H.E. double hockey sticks LL

[Sarava]

5 hours ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

What a miserable offseason this would be.

At this point bringing Rodon back would somewhat salvage what has so far been a terrible off-season for the White Sox.

[wsd]

I just got on here and saw someone tagged me asking if I have heard anything. I didn't read the thread and have no idea if I even responded to the original question, but... no. I'll ask around on the CBA negotiations next week though 

[Chicago White Sox]

Alright, I'm going to bump this thread in hopes of a CBA being agreed to in the next week.  From my perspective, I think the Sox will have five priorities heading into part two of the offseason: 

1. Add a left-handed power bat, preferably one that can play a solid RF
2. Acquire a #3 type SP via trade, likely on a one-year deal to limit cost
3. Sign or trade for a cheap 2B, possibly one who can platoon with Leury
4. Trade Kimbrel for salary relief and major league depth / role players
5. Sign a decent reliever to fill-in behind Hendriks, Bummer, & Graveman

With those focus areas identified, here's how I could see Hahn addressing them.  As I've stated numerous times, Michael Conforto is a perfect fit for this roster as he's elite against RHP (our biggest weakness on the positional side) and is more or less average in RF (a massive upgrade from Vaugh / Sheets though).  He should without question be the number one priority when a CBA is agreed to and I truly believe he ends up on the South Side.  To round out the lineup, I'd go ahead and sign Brad Miller to a cheap deal to be the strong side of a 2B platoon with Leury.  Miller posted a 123 wRC+ against righties last year and has been solid at 2B from an advanced metrics perspective.  Combine him and Leury and I think you can easily get two wins out of the position for dirt cheap.

From there, the focus turns to the rotation.  The challenge addressing this need is twofold.   First, free agency is running out of quality options.  The only two guys I'd argue are #3 starters or better are Kershaw & Rodon.  Both have serious health concerns and we already passed on the opportunity to lock Carlos in via a QO.  As such, that pretty much forces us to go the trade route unless we're willing to bank on a guy whose stuff continues to regress each year (Keuchel) and a guy who will be on an innings limit (Kopech) to cover 40% of our rotational needs.  The problem here is we have the worst farm system in baseball.  I'd love to go out and acquire Sonny Gray, but we don't have the pieces to get such a deal done unless we absorb a bad contract (say Moustakas) or are willing to give up Vaughn.  That basically leaves guys who are on one year deals with rebuilding clubs.  The A's have a couple of these guys and I really think Bassitt could be had for a package built around Burger & Dalquist.

Finally, the Craig Kimbrel situation has to be addressed.  I supported the trade at the time, but it was an unmitigated disaster in hindsight.  However, the reality is we need to move on (we simply can't afford both him & Hendriks) and recoup whatever value we can, even though it will certainly be less than what we gave up.  I still see the Phillies as the likely landing spot here.  In terms of return, I'd expect us to get a couple of major league role players.  The main piece I could see happening is Rafael Marchan, a 23 year old, defensive oriented switch-hitting catcher who can immediately challenge Collins for the backup spot behind Grandal.  A second piece that seems possible is Jose Alvarado, a 26 year old, left-handed reliever with big stuff but who has struggled with control the past couple years.  He's definitely a project but one worth seeing if a change of scenery with Katz can unlock his 2018 form (2.27 FIP | 2.1 fWAR).  I know many here would be disappointed with that return while others will think it's unrealistic, but it feels about right to me given the Phillies' desperate need for a closer.  Regardless, moving Kimbrel requires us to add a reliever IMO and I think bringing back Tepera makes the most sense.  His age and lack of track record should keep the price reasonable and he showed some serious stones in game 3 against the Astros.

Make these moves and I think we've got as strong of a roster as any team in baseball.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Chicago White Sox

[Chicago White Sox]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/02/mlb-free-agent-sluggers-brad-miller-overlooked.html

Great article on Brad Miller and while not related to the Sox specifically, it’s easy to see how he’d be a great fit for us at 2B on what should be a really cheap deal.  If we were able to land him & Conforto, here’s how our lineups could look against RHP & LHP respectively.  The numbers in parentheses reflect each player’s wRC+ vs. RHP or LHP over the past three seasons.

1. Anderson, SS (118) | Anderson, SS (151)
2. Moncada, 3B# (129) | Robert, CF (184)
3. Abreu, 1B (118) | Abreu, 1B (159)
4. Conforto, RF* (138) | Jimenez, LF (99)
5. Jimenez, LF (124) | Grandal, C# (152)
6. Robert, CF  (117) | Vaughn, DH (155)
7. Grandal, C# (124) | Moncada, 3B# (110)
8. Vaughn, DH (68) | Conforto, RF* (97)
9. Miller, 2B* (127) | Garcia, 2B# (106)

Sprinkle Sheets in at DH against tough righties (143) and Engel in RF against tough lefties (108) and you arguably have the lineup in baseball.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Chicago White Sox

[Y2Jimmy0]

3 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Alright, I'm going to bump this thread in hopes of a CBA being agreed to in the next week.  From my perspective, I think the Sox will have five priorities heading into part two of the offseason: 

1. Add a left-handed power bat, preferably one that can play a solid RF
2. Acquire a #3 type SP via trade, likely on a one-year deal to limit cost
3. Sign or trade for a cheap 2B, possibly one who can platoon with Leury
4. Trade Kimbrel for salary relief and major league depth / role players
5. Sign a decent reliever to fill-in behind Hendriks, Bummer, & Graveman

With those focus areas identified, here's how I could see Hahn addressing them.  As I've stated numerous times, Michael Conforto is a perfect fit for this roster as he's elite against RHP (our biggest weakness on the positional side) and is more or less average in RF (a massive upgrade from Vaugh / Sheets though).  He should without question be the number one priority when a CBA is agreed to and I truly believe he ends up on the South Side.  To round out the lineup, I'd go ahead and sign Brad Miller to a cheap deal to be the strong side of a 2B platoon with Leury.  Miller posted a 123 wRC+ against righties last year and has been solid at 2B from an advanced metrics perspective.  Combine him and Leury and I think you can easily get two wins out of the position for dirt cheap.

From there, the focus turns to the rotation.  The challenge addressing this need is twofold.   First, free agency is running out of quality options.  The only two guys I'd argue are #3 starters or better are Kershaw & Rodon.  Both have serious health concerns and we already passed on the opportunity to lock Carlos in via a QO.  As such, that pretty much forces us to go the trade route unless we're willing to bank on a guy whose stuff continues to regress each year (Keuchel) and a guy who will be on an innings limit (Kopech) to cover 40% of our rotational needs.  The problem here is we have the worst farm system in baseball.  I'd love to go out and acquire Sonny Gray, but we don't have the pieces to get such a deal done unless we absorb a bad contract (say Moustakas) or are willing to give up Vaughn.  That basically leaves guys who are on one year deals with rebuilding clubs.  The A's have a couple of these guys and I really think Bassitt could be had for a package built around Burger & Dalquist.

Finally, the Craig Kimbrel situation has to be addressed.  I supported the trade at the time, but it was an unmitigated disaster in hindsight.  However, the reality is we need to move on (we simply can't afford both him & Hendriks) and recoup whatever value we can, even though it will certainly be less than what we gave up.  I still see the Phillies as the likely landing spot here.  In terms of return, I'd expect us to get a couple of major league role players.  The main piece I could see happening is Rafael Marchan, a 23 year old, defensive oriented switch-hitting catcher who can immediately challenge Collins for the backup spot behind Grandal.  A second piece that seems possible is Jose Alvarado, a 26 year old, left-handed reliever with big stuff but who has struggled with control the past couple years.  He's definitely a project but one worth seeing if a change of scenery with Katz can unlock his 2018 form (2.27 FIP | 2.1 fWAR).  I know many here would be disappointed with that return while others will think it's unrealistic, but it feels about right to me given the Phillies' desperate need for a closer.  Regardless, moving Kimbrel requires us to add a reliever IMO and I think bringing back Tepera makes the most sense.  His age and lack of track record should keep the price reasonable and he showed some serious stones in game 3 against the Astros.

Make these moves and I think we've got as strong of a roster as any team in baseball.

I like this. Here are my tweaks: 

Sign Michael Conforto 

Sign Ryan Tepera 

Trade Craig Kimbrel to Philly for Marchan and Alvarado

Trade Gavin Sheets plus, plus to Oakland for Sean Manaea and Tony Kemp. 

[Chicago White Sox]

7 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I like this. Here are my tweaks: 

Sign Michael Conforto 

Sign Ryan Tepera 

Trade Craig Kimbrel to Philly for Marchan and Alvarado

Trade Gavin Sheets plus, plus to Oakland for Sean Manaea and Tony Kemp. 

Manaea + Kemp would be a good alternative to Bassitt & Miller.  I’m not super excited about giving up Sheets (he looked legit to me), but it could be selling high depending on what our pro scouts think.  Regardless, the A’s definitely seem like a trade partner in the coming weeks.

[Y2Jimmy0]

8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Manaea + Kemp would be a good alternative to Bassitt & Miller.  I’m not super excited about giving up Sheets (he looked legit to me), but it could be selling high depending on what our pro scouts think.  Regardless, the A’s definitely seem like a trade partner in the coming weeks.

When would Sheets ever play on a roster with Conforto in RF though? 

[Chicago White Sox]

4 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

When would Sheets ever play on a roster with Conforto in RF though? 

That’s a fair point.  I guess I’m envisioning a scenario where Abreu is gone after this season and Sheets splits 1B & DH with Vaughn, but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself there.

[Y2Jimmy0]

10 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That’s a fair point.  I guess I’m envisioning a scenario where Abreu is gone after this season and Sheets splits 1B & DH with Vaughn, but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself there.

I have no reason to believe that Abreu will ever be gone. 

[Dick Allen]

8 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

I have no reason to believe that Abreu will ever be gone. 

It happened to Ventura and Buehrle and Thomas. When it was apparent Konerko was sliding fast, they gave him a small 1 year goodbye deal. They. Also wouldn't take Thome back in 2010 for $1 million.

Assuming there is some sort of agreement before winter and there will be games played, the week after the agreement is going to be nuts 

[Two-Gun Pete]

On 2/26/2022 at 9:23 AM, Chicago White Sox said:

From my perspective, I think the Sox will have five priorities heading into part two of the offseason: 

1. Add a left-handed power bat, preferably one that can play a solid RF
2. Acquire a #3 type SP via trade, likely on a one-year deal to limit cost
3. Sign or trade for a cheap 2B, possibly one who can platoon with Leury
4. Trade Kimbrel for salary relief and major league depth / role players
5. Sign a decent reliever to fill-in behind Hendriks, Bummer, & Graveman

Given the cavalcade of shit that's going on in Ukraine, the fucking cheerleading for Putin done by one side of American society, and the joke of the (snicker) "negotiations" between MLB and MLBPA, I think this is a tasty diversion. Here's my take on your list of needs:

1. Given THIS, where the SOX were 6th in wrc+/10th in slg% v. RHP, I agree that this is "a need," but I don't actually think this is the top need. Also, it seems oddly specific to need v RHP power to come ONLY from RF. Why not find v. RHP power at another position? Specifically mentioning RF locks you into one guy in FA, and is a leading question when asking "what do we need." 
2. Given THIS, it shows that the SOX just lost 4.9 fWAR from the starting rotation. Honestly, this is a fucking disaster. This is a big hole blown into the hull of a ship. Losing 4.9 fWAR is a problem, and it doesn't much seem like there are any solutions in-house. To me, this is the biggest need in this team, unless you relish the idea of 30 starts from Keuchel, and wish-and-pray that Kopech can miracle his way into 140+ IP this season. Or wish-and-pray that Lopez has actually figured it out.
3. Agreed that 2B is a desperate need. I don't want to further expend meager trade assets getting one. Just use good, old fashioned American Dollars to find cromulence here, even if its a platoon solution.
4. Trading away Kimbrel, and ALL of the malignancy that is his obese salary, AND getting something in return probably isn't happening, in all honesty. If the roles were reversed, and the White Sox did not have a closer/were shopping for one, NONE of us would be clamoring for Kimbrel, AND all of his salary, AND give away a piece. Unless another team suffers catastrophic injuries in their bullpens, Hahn's probably gonna have to either eat some of Kimbrel's obese salary, and/OR send a piece alongside Kimbrel, and/OR accept getting Jack and Shit in return.
5. Given THIS, I don't think that the SOX can afford to spend much more on the bullpen. WITH Kimbrel's idiotic salary on the payroll, the Sox squander 25.1% of the payroll on the bullpen. Even if Hahn works a miracle, and trades away Kimbrel and ONLY has to eat $6MM of his obese salary, the SOX will squander ~20ish% on a bullpen that was 2nd in fWAR, but 29th in IP. IOW, incredibly ineffective asset allocation.

 

For me, I'm thinking the hierarchy of needs are:

1. Find SP depth that can help paper over the loss of Rodon's 4.9 fWAR, the aging shittiness of Keuchel, and the ill-prepared/un-stretched-out Kopech.
2. Sucker some other team's GM to eat as much of Kimbrel's stupid salary as possible, so that:
3. Cromulent solutions at RF and 2B [think ~100-ish wrc+ and positive DRS] at reasonable prices that won't luxury tax-fuck this org can be found, and then:
4. Find vs-RHP-slugging, regardless of position; it doesn't "HAVE TO" be at RF, thus opening up more and creative possibilities.
5. Find affordable depth for the BP that doesn't further handcuff the team.

 

Now, assuming 162 games played, AND assuming that Robert plays > 68 games, Grandal plays > 93 games, Jimenez plays > 55 games, and Leury plays < 126 games, and there are fewer non-OFers trying to play OF, some of the deficits vs RHP and shitty OF defense can be abridged a bit. But, as we read this right now, there are no in-house AND tested replacement options for Rodon's 4.9 fWAR in the rotation. 

Edited February 27, 2022 by Two-Gun Pete

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, Two-Gun Pete said:

Given the cavalcade of shit that's going on in Ukraine, the fucking cheerleading for Putin done by one side of American society, and the joke of the (snicker) "negotiations" between MLB and MLBPA, I think this is a tasty diversion. Here's my take on your list of needs:

1. Given THIS, where the SOX were 6th in wrc+/10th in slg% v. RHP, I agree that this is "a need," but I don't actually think this is the top need. Also, it seems oddly specific to need v RHP power to come ONLY from RF. Why not find v. RHP power at another position? Specifically mentioning RF locks you into one guy in FA, and is a leading question when asking "what do we need." 
2. Given THIS, it shows that the SOX just lost 4.9 fWAR from the starting rotation. Honestly, this is a fucking disaster. This is a big hole blown into the hull of a ship. Losing 4.9 fWAR is a problem, and it doesn't much seem like there are any solutions in-house. To me, this is the biggest need in this team, unless you relish the idea of 30 starts from Keuchel, and wish-and-pray that Kopech can miracle his way into 140+ IP this season. Or wish-and-pray that Lopez has actually figured it out.
3. Agreed that 2B is a desperate need. I don't want to further expend meager trade assets getting one. Just use good, old fashioned American Dollars to find cromulence here, even if its a platoon solution.
4. Trading away Kimbrel, and ALL of the malignancy that is his obese salary, AND getting something in return probably isn't happening, in all honesty. If the roles were reversed, and the White Sox did not have a closer/were shopping for one, NONE of us would be clamoring for Kimbrel, AND all of his salary, AND give away a piece. Unless another team suffers catastrophic injuries in their bullpens, Hahn's probably gonna have to either eat some of Kimbrel's obese salary, and/OR send a piece alongside Kimbrel, and/OR accept getting Jack and Shit in return.
5. Given THIS, I don't think that the SOX can afford to spend much more on the bullpen. WITH Kimbrel's idiotic salary on the payroll, the Sox squander 25.1% of the payroll on the bullpen. Even if Hahn works a miracle, and trades away Kimbrel and ONLY has to eat $6MM of his obese salary, the SOX will squander ~20ish% on a bullpen that was 2nd in fWAR, but 29th in IP. IOW, incredibly ineffective asset allocation.

 

For me, I'm thinking the hierarchy of needs are:

1. Find SP depth that can help paper over the loss of Rodon's 4.9 fWAR, the aging shittiness of Keuchel, and the ill-prepared/un-stretched-out Kopech.
2. Sucker some other team's GM to eat as much of Kimbrel's stupid salary as possible, so that:
3. Cromulent solutions at RF and 2B [think ~100-ish wrc+ and positive DRS] at reasonable prices that won't luxury tax-fuck this org can be found, and then:
4. Find vs-RHP-slugging, regardless of position; it doesn't "HAVE TO" be at RF, thus opening up more and creative possibilities.
5. Find affordable depth for the BP that doesn't further handcuff the team.

 

Now, assuming 162 games played, AND assuming that Robert plays > 68 games, Grandal plays > 93 games, Jimenez plays > 55 games, and Leury plays < 126 games, and there are fewer non-OFers trying to play OF, some of the deficits vs RHP and shitty OF defense can be abridged a bit. But, as we read this right now, there are no in-house AND tested replacement options for Rodon's 4.9 fWAR in the rotation. 

Couple of things here.  I think adding a left-handed power bat is critical to help us in the post-season not necessarily to get us there.  Come October we will be facing tough RHPs and we’ve seen our guys get exploited by them far too frequently to ignore the need.  In terms of where we add said player, I’m open to anything but the current holes are in RF & 2B.  Just seems unlikely to free up a different spot to add a left-handed bat and I don’t see us investing heavily in 2B when the position can be addressed fairly cheaply.  As such, that leaves RF as the best place to acquire said player.

On the pitching side of things, I love our 1-2-3 from a regular season perspective (Giolito, Lynn, & Cease were all top 20 in fWAR last year), but I do wish one of them could step up and be a true ace come October.  Unfortunately given our poor farm system and an unwillingness to go beyond five years for free agent pitchers, it’s going to be challenging to address that issue right now (and realistically there are no aces left in free agency anyways).  The bigger concern at the moment is the back-end of the rotation.  I was pretty pissed last year with how Kopech was used and it’s going to limit how many innings he can throw this year.  If you have had four studs in front of him and enough depth behind him, I think you’d be fine with him giving us 140 innings as our #5 this year.  The problem is that our #4 starter is Dallas Keuchel who is coming off a terrible year and whose stuff has been declining for multiple seasons.  Is it possible he rebounds?  Sure, but I really don’t want to bank on it.  To be honest, the only way I see us missing the playoffs is if a couple of our big three starters get injured and suddenly we’re relying on Keuchel, Kopech, Lopez, and one of Lambert / Stiever to keep us afloat.  We need another arm we can count on, even if that forces Keuchel to a long-reliever role.  We also need another starter that can be counted on for the playoffs and that can’t be Kopech due to his innings limits.  We aren’t going to be able to replace Rodon, but we definitely need to add a #3 type if we’re serious about winning next year.

[maggliopipe]

20 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

The problem is that our #4 starter is Dallas Keuchel who is coming off a terrible year and whose stuff has been declining for multiple seasons.  Is it possible he rebounds?  Sure, but I really don’t want to bank on it.  

And if he does manage to somewhat rebound and reaches 160IP, then the fucker sticks around for 2024 at $20MM. I sincerely hope he's long man out of the bullpen/spot starter. 

[Two-Gun Pete]

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

1.  I think adding a left-handed power bat is critical to help us in the post-season not necessarily to get us there.  

2. Come October we will be facing tough RHPs and we’ve seen our guys get exploited by them far too frequently to ignore the need.

3.  In terms of where we add said player, I’m open to anything but the current holes are in RF & 2B.  Just seems unlikely to free up a different spot to add a left-handed bat and I don’t see us investing heavily in 2B when the position can be addressed fairly cheaply.  As such, that leaves RF as the best place to acquire said player.

4. The bigger concern at the moment is the back-end of the rotation.  I was pretty pissed last year with how Kopech was used and it’s going to limit how many innings he can throw this year. 

5. We need another arm we can count on, even if that forces Keuchel to a long-reliever role.  We also need another starter that can be counted on for the playoffs and that can’t be Kopech due to his innings limits.  

6. We aren’t going to be able to replace Rodon, but we definitely need to add a #3 type if we’re serious about winning next year.

NOTE: I number your post and my reply, so that I can give you the benefit of a cogent reply, NOT to be a jerk in any way. On my phone your post looks like a wall of text, and this is how I subdivide your post easily.

1. If this is the case, this is what the TDL could be for, assuming they don't moronically squander time, money, and resources buying a fucking closer they don't fucking need.

2. To your point, the v. RHP hole is really a postseason worry. On top of this, new holes will appear between now and then. Lastly, the v RHP is dwarfed by the loss of 4.9 fEAR in the rotation.  So why not handle the v. RHP deficit at the TDL?

3. Agreed, but adding Villar or Miller @ 2B at ~$3-5MM can help close the v. RHP gap a bit. Then, fewer PA by shitty batters like Hamilton/Eaton/the 2021 version of Vaughn can further close the gap. Finally, if the FO doesn't do idiotic things at the TDL, then the finishing touches can be added to the v. RHP needs.

Adding Conforto at $20MM/per reduces your ability to close the 4.9 fWAR hole in the rotation. And locking in your postseason needs NOW pre-assumes that nothing at all will go contrary to plan between now and then.

4. Last offseason, I wanted them to sign another arm to give Kopech and Crochet the time and space to get stretched out. This year, they need to find another arm to give Kopech the time and space to get stretched out. Here's hoping this is job #1.

5. I agree.

6. If you agree that this org is unlikely to surpass the Luxury Tax, adding $20MM to the payroll to get Conforto makes it harder to find a post-season SP who can also close the hole caused by Rodon's departure. IOW, you're relying on luck.

[SoCalChiSox]

10 hours ago, maggliopipe said:

And if he does manage to somewhat rebound and reaches 160IP, then the fucker sticks around for 2024 at $20MM. I sincerely hope he's long man out of the bullpen/spot starter. 

There's no way they will let him get to that number. He will pitch early and Kopech will take his innings later in the year.