Have fun finding a 2026 FA outfielder

[WestEddy]

9 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Why is wanting to sign quality free agents considered negative? Feel like I’m living in bizarro world here.

Because you won't acknowledge any counter arguments, then move on. You're arguing philosophies. The Sox aren't going to jump in and sign Santander, probably for all the arguments registered here, and mostly because that contract would just be too big a hit to a cheap crisis budget. You're not going to change minds. If your feelings are hurt, you should probably say that, take the hits for being a baby, and move on. 

[WestEddy]

11 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

He definitely was.  I must have brought @JUSTgottaBELIEVE to the dark side…

I’m hopeful on some prospects but we are still the Sox and the Sox usually ending up Soxing things up.  And Jerry will never spend the money it takes to win, but perhaps like you said he will be “gone” in 3+ years.

There's a few guys here with new-borns. I'm guessing sleep-deprivation. 

[WestEddy]

2 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

We already saw a similar career arc with Moncada as to what we’ve been seeing with Robert. Guess we will see what 2025 holds.

The Sox have consistently rushed position player prospects to mlb before they’re ready. I don’t need to name all the guys, you know who they are.

When’s the last time the Sox ate $20M to cut bait on a vet?

When’s the last time the Sox successfully moved someone from the infield with no prior OF experience to become a plus outfielder?

Mullins is exactly the type of FA I would expect the Sox to sign to fill an OF void in 2026.

The White Sox ate $11M on Leury's contract when they cut him in ST 2023. I don't see that as a harbinger for how Benny will be dealt with, tho I agree with Chicago White Sox dude that Benny won't be here in 2027. 

As far as the 2026 FA market, there's always non-tenders we won't know about until November, 2026. Austin Hays is a cheaper dude with no strings (QA) attached who could probably be gotten cheap on a one year show-me contract. 

Leury is also the answer to "last time IF moved to OF successfully". FanGraphs didn't hate his defense. 

[46DidIt]

48 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

You brought up Sasaki, not me. 

Welcome to soxtalk

[WhiteSox2023]

30 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

The White Sox ate $11M on Leury's contract when they cut him in ST 2023. I don't see that as a harbinger for how Benny will be dealt with, tho I agree with Chicago White Sox dude that Benny won't be here in 2027. 

As far as the 2026 FA market, there's always non-tenders we won't know about until November, 2026. Austin Hays is a cheaper dude with no strings (QA) attached who could probably be gotten cheap on a one year show-me contract. 

Leury is also the answer to "last time IF moved to OF successfully". FanGraphs didn't hate his defense. 

Dallas Keuchel’s DFA on May 28, 2022, and what was remaining of the final year of his contract and $18 million salary.  The Sox ate roughly $14.1 million that Keuchel was still owed for the remainder of the 2022 season.

Hays and Lorenzen are/were good examples of flippable FA targets that should be within the Sox spending range.  But it sure seems like anything above $3 million is too rich for Jerry’s blood this offseason.

Edited 21 hours ago by WhiteSox2023

[Bob Sacamano]

I'm pretty sure they ate John Danks salary when he had over a year left.

Edit: nvm, he was released in his final year

Edited 21 hours ago by Bob Sacamano

[WhiteSox2023]

4 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

I'm pretty sure they ate John Danks salary when he had over a year left.

Yep, DFA in early May 2016.  The Sox ate a little over $13 million of his remaining $14.25 salary for 2016.

[southsider2k5]

Wait for it...

 

 

[Chicago White Sox]

53 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Chris Getz has been GM for ~17 months. The farm was pretty much barren when he took over. But he still did promote the few prospects they did have that were remotely close to mlb - Baldwin, Ramos, Thorpe, Cannon, Nastrini, Leasure, Berroa, Bush, Eder, Iriarte. You think all of those guys were MLB ready?

And…it sure sounds like they intend to promote 6 of their top 7 prospects in 2025 ready or not. Rumblings of Montgomery opening day SS? Schultz and Smith seeing mlb innings when neither has pitched more than 61 innings in AA. What’s the rush?

Regarding the first group of guys, Ramos was the only one who was clearly not ready. You could argue some of them could have benefited from more time in AAA, but I can’t really say Baldwin was rushed for example.  Guys being bad in the majors does not mean they were rushed necessarily..there is a certain level of development that must occur in the majors.  Thorpe is a great example of that…sending him to AAA wasn’t go to improve his game in the long run.

I also don’t agree with your second part, at least on true being prepared to rush guys “ready or not”.  I actually agree that Montgomery is a big test and if he gets the Opening Day nod that is a bad sign.  But having a tentative roadmap in place for Schultz & Smith doesn’t mean they will automatically stay on it.  If they perform poorly in the minors, that could push their debut time to the following season.

[Chicago White Sox]

2 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Why does it have to be one or the other and not both? The last rebuild clearly failed because the prospects didn’t develop properly for the most part AND they were terrible in their free agent signings. 

You act like I’m advocating trading top prospects for veterans. Signing free agents only costs money for a roster set to open this season at ~$60M. You want to keep the precious 2nd round pick and sign from the next tier of FAs? Fine but what’s the excuse for not signing Kim, Hoffman, and Profar? And, no, I don’t buy that those guys would block top prospects.

Profar is really tough.  If we didn’t have Benintendi, then he’s maybe a guy you’d consider, but even then he’s a terrible defender.  And I think there is too much concern with his bat to make a three year commitment to him as DH.

Hoffman you don’t need to sell me on.  I’d give him something similar to the Clay Holmes contract in a heartbeat.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Because you won't acknowledge any counter arguments, then move on. You're arguing philosophies. The Sox aren't going to jump in and sign Santander, probably for all the arguments registered here, and mostly because that contract would just be too big a hit to a cheap crisis budget. You're not going to change minds. If your feelings are hurt, you should probably say that, take the hits for being a baby, and move on. 

I acknowledged the counter arguments but strongly disagree with them. You’re not changing my mind either.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

34 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Regarding the first group of guys, Ramos was the only one who was clearly not ready. You could argue some of them could have benefited from more time in AAA, but I can’t really say Baldwin was rushed for example.  Guys being bad in the majors does not mean they were rushed necessarily..there is a certain level of development that must occur in the majors.  Thorpe is a great example of that…sending him to AAA wasn’t go to improve his game in the long run.

I also don’t agree with your second part, at least on true being prepared to rush guys “ready or not”.  I actually agree that Montgomery is a big test and if he gets the Opening Day nod that is a bad sign.  But having a tentative roadmap in place for Schultz & Smith doesn’t mean they will automatically stay on it.  If they perform poorly in the minors, that could push their debut time to the following season.

Baldwin had 35 PAs in AAA. That’s good enough for a fringe prospect?

Edited 19 hours ago by JUSTgottaBELIEVE

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

53 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Wait for it...

 

 

Cool, so he’d be part of the Sox contention window with even more team control than guys like Thorpe, Cannon, Montgomery, Teel, etc.

Paulie was productive into his mid 30s. Don’t see why Alonso wouldn’t be.

[Chicago White Sox]

22 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Cool, so he’d be part of the Sox contention window with even more team control than guys like Thorpe, Cannon, Montgomery, Teel, etc.

Paulie was productive into his mid 30s. Don’t see why Alonso wouldn’t be.

[Chicago White Sox]

31 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Baldwin had 35 PAs in AAA. That’s good enough for a fringe prospect?

You can debate he could have used more time, but saying he was rushed after hitting as well as he did in AA doesn’t seem right to me.  Not all prospects need extensive AAA stints IMO.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

You can debate he could have used more time, but saying he was rushed after hitting as well as he did in AA doesn’t seem right to me.  Not all prospects need extensive AAA stints IMO.

But 35 PAs is a cup of coffee and he ended the 2023 season in A+ so it’s not like he already had extensive experience in AA either. Call it whatever you want but that seems rushed to me.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

12 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I expect Alonso to be highly productive over the next 5-6 years. Does that not align with the young Sox mlb players (Thorpe, Cannon, Vargas, Baldwin, etc) as well as 6 of the current top 7 prospects that are likely to be promoted to mlb this year?

[southsider2k5]

21 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Trying to convince people that a nine year deal based on a guy who had 3 decent years in a 9 year contract is a move all right, especially after he was both traded and then released for the last 3 full years, even with the trading team picking up parts of the contract.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

7 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Trying to convince people that a nine year deal based on a guy who had 3 decent years in a 9 year contract is a move all right, especially after he was both traded and then released for the last 3 full years, even with the trading team picking up parts of the contract.

I mean, you’re right. Alonso should be even higher than Fielder’s contract factoring in inflation because Fielder’s contract in today’s dollars would be worth ~$300M.

[Chicago White Sox]

25 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

I expect Alonso to be highly productive over the next 5-6 years. Does that not align with the young Sox mlb players (Thorpe, Cannon, Vargas, Baldwin, etc) as well as 6 of the current top 7 prospects that are likely to be promoted to mlb this year?

Giving a nine year deal to a good not great 30 year old 1B is the definition of inanity.

[Quin]

The Sox have to improve by 40 games to be .500.

The only way they get good free agents is if they break the bank, which we know isn't happening.

[Balta1701]

50 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

I mean, you’re right. Alonso should be even higher than Fielder’s contract factoring in inflation because Fielder’s contract in today’s dollars would be worth ~$300M.

The season before he hit free agency, Prince Fielder put up a .981 OPS. For a 5 year period before hitting FA, he averaged a .951 OPS. 

He turned 28 in the first year of his new contract.

Last year, Pete Alonso put up a .788 OPS. He averaged an .854 OPS during his entire time with the Mets, and it was .804 the last 2 years so he's been trending downwards. 

Pete Alonso just turned 30 in December. 

The performance of these two players has never been anywhere close to each other, one guy seems to be trending downwards, and that guy is already 2 years older at the time of his contract.

[Chicago White Sox]

26 minutes ago, Quin said:

The Sox have to improve by 40 games to be .500.

The only way they get good free agents is if they break the bank, which we know isn't happening.

The fastest way to improve quickly is to identify a bunch of cheap 1.5 to 2.0 win players vs. the replacement level and below guys that we trotted out there last season.  As such, we should try to give as many of our young players with some potential an actual opportunity to become legit regulars.  Unless you’re getting a potential impact player at a steal, there is zero reason block guys right now.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

5 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

The season before he hit free agency, Prince Fielder put up a .981 OPS. For a 5 year period before hitting FA, he averaged a .951 OPS. 

He turned 28 in the first year of his new contract.

Last year, Pete Alonso put up a .788 OPS. He averaged an .854 OPS during his entire time with the Mets, and it was .804 the last 2 years so he's been trending downwards. 

Pete Alonso just turned 30 in December. 

The performance of these two players has never been anywhere close to each other, one guy seems to be trending downwards, and that guy is already 2 years older at the time of his contract.

And that’s why he’s asking for a little over $200M instead of the $300M in today’s dollars that Fielder got.

And are we also going to ignore that one was fat and out of shape while the other isn’t? Those body types tend to age very poorly in any professional sport (look at Cecil). Fielder may have been 2 years younger but he had the body of a guy that was never going to make it past his mid 30s.

[Timmy U]

10 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

@Timmy U - How is Brooks’ arm?  Baseball America called it plus coming out of college, but it didn’t register that well on Statcast this year.

I would call it good, not great. I think you could slap a 50 on it. His strength at every position defensively is baseball smarts. Son of a coach. Always in the right position. Good footwork, so he maximizes his tools. He played mostly 3b in Kanny and his arm was fine over there. At short, it might be a tick light on plays in the whole, but so was Ozzie's. In the outfield, he gets rid of it in a hurry and he hits the cutoff man. He's not Fletcher or Colas or Zavala or Braden Montgomery, but he's fine in any outfield position. I wouldn't make him an everyday CF, but he can play the position. I bet he'd score average or better at 6 or 7 positions defensively.