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OT: Baseball offseason and free agents 2019-2020 edition

no idea what AZ is doing. They're in baseball purgatory.

Also, Tribe should have held on to Kluber until the deadline IMO
It is too early to tell. DeShields is useless, but the pitcher they got is interesting. I think Kluber will do pretty well this year, but not at his previous level. So they net out at 15M less salary, no vesting option, and they have a ton of pitching (though not as good as Kluber's peak level of performance).

As a lifelong tribe fan, I am accustomed to them NOT keeping expensive guys, either because they are being frugal and/or the guy simply won't re-sign. The expensive free agents they have signed previously are either comparable to the guy he replaced (Encarnacion v Santana) or are useless (Bourn/Swisher). They'll never be the type to have a guy like Ryan Howard, M Cabrera or Albert Pujols where they are paying for what they used to be or what they were in the first 1/3 of the contract. Detroit has to pay Cabrera $30M for FOUR more years, plus two vesting options if he finishes top 10 MVP.

No thanks. Just keep winning. I trust the Front Office.
 
It seems there is a good chance that Kluber is broken. His K rate dropped precipitously (albeit from a very high 35% in 2017 to a respectable 26% in 2018 to a middling 22% in 2019.

I just looked at all his peripherals over the last few years. Didn't realize he was in such a free fall. Perhaps they did make the best move they could for him

And yes, I'd agree the Tribe does have one of the better FO's in baseball
 
Looks like the South Siders are closing in on a deal for one year for Gio Gonzalez. This is a nice addition, which is practically no risk for a guy who has posted very similar results to Madison Bumgarner over the past few years. I'll be interested to see if there's an option for a second year involved.

Angels should have been all over Gio. Ryu and Keuchel remain out on the market. If Taijuan Walker is healthy, he'll be a nice risk/reward addition for someone as well. But the options are thinning out. Tigers would probably get a nice haul for Matt Boyd right now if they made him available. The Marlins would probably deal Jose Urena and would consider a deal for Pablo Lopez or, maybe least likely, Caleb Smith. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few trades involving pitchers over the next few weeks.
 
You mean how you rail of Chicago White Sox Attendance but support a team with the lowest B1G attendance in both major sports. Guess if it fits your narrative small attendance is a reason to ridicule.
Well maybe you could post the multiple times I have knocked NU attendance and their 'so called" fans who sell their tickets to the enemy. Attended NU and have supported them since the mid 50's. What is your excuse for supporting a losing team at "taxpayers" ballpark?
 
What is your excuse for supporting a losing team at "taxpayers" ballpark?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/poli...0191014-64es6pfkpjga3mnj4kuaj3fpii-story.html

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/6...p-rnc-sinclair-broadcasting-sun-times-letters

And it goes on like this.

Taxpayer Ballpark >>> giving money to Donald Trump

And, as stated before, why would we Sox fans not be happy that our tax money went to our team's stadium? It's the rest of you that are suckers!
 
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Well maybe you could post the multiple times I have knocked NU attendance and their 'so called" fans who sell their tickets to the enemy. Attended NU and have supported them since the mid 50's. What is your excuse for supporting a losing team at "taxpayers" ballpark?

I like them, born and raised on the south side, I understand and appreciate the game of baseball.
 
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Julio Teheran to the Angels at 1 yr, $9 million. Good deal for both sides.

Keuchel to Sox - 3 years/$55.5 mill. I am bullish on that rotation.

1 - Giolito
2 - Keuchel
3 - Kopech?
4 - Gio
5 - Reynaldo Lopez

Rotation depth - Rodon, Dylan Cease

The division is there for the taking with Lindor likely moving on, but the Sox need some bullpen help to cap off a good off-season.
 
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Keuchel to Sox - 3 years/$55.5 mill. I am bullish on that rotation.

1 - Giolito
2 - Keuchel
3 - Kopech?
4 - Gio
5 - Reynaldo Lopez

Rotation depth - Rodon, Dylan Cease

The division is there for the taking with Lindor likely moving on, but the Sox need some bullpen help to cap off a good off-season.

I really like what the Sox have done this offseason. Keuchel is solid, not spectacular. But the money and years are pretty light and he essentially played half the year last year, so he should be fresh for 2020.
 
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I think Reynaldo will be the odd man out come July or so. Finally starting to have competitive depth. If someone isn't performing, he'll be sent to the pen.

1. Giolito
2. Keuchel (b/c LHP)
3. Cease
4. Rodon
5. Kopech

Lopez/Gonzalez as swing guys

That's a rotation with huge potential. Someone even recommended to me (though I doubt it happens) that the Sox turn Rodon into a Andrew Miller-like filthy reliever. I don't hate that idea at all, though I doubt Rodon/Boras would like it
 
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I think Reynaldo will be the odd man out come July or so. Finally starting to have competitive depth. If someone isn't performing, he'll be sent to the pen.

1. Giolito
2. Keuchel (b/c LHP)
3. Cease
4. Rodon
5. Kopech

Lopez/Gonzalez as swing guys

That's a rotation with huge potential. Someone even recommended to me (though I doubt it happens) that the Sox turn Rodon into a Andrew Miller-like filthy reliever. I don't hate that idea at all, though I doubt Rodon/Boras would like it
I like this rotation for 2021 not so much for 2020 due to recovery projection. Pale Hose need some BP help now. A few veterans to steady the ship. Big weakness right now, but I would expect at least 2-3 additions via FA or trade. Just hope no trades of prospects for middling relievers.
 
I think Reynaldo will be the odd man out come July or so. Finally starting to have competitive depth. If someone isn't performing, he'll be sent to the pen.

1. Giolito
2. Keuchel (b/c LHP)
3. Cease
4. Rodon
5. Kopech

Lopez/Gonzalez as swing guys

That's a rotation with huge potential. Someone even recommended to me (though I doubt it happens) that the Sox turn Rodon into a Andrew Miller-like filthy reliever. I don't hate that idea at all, though I doubt Rodon/Boras would like it

IMHO, the Sox are in trouble if Cease has to be a 3. And I can't see the Sox signing Gonzalez to use him as a swing guy. But, I like the idea with Rodon, especially coming off of surgery. And I wonder if Reynaldo is set for some Giolito style growth on that huge potential. That would be the capper.
 
I like this rotation for 2021 not so much for 2020 due to recovery projection. Pale Hose need some BP help now. A few veterans to steady the ship. Big weakness right now, but I would expect at least 2-3 additions via FA or trade. Just hope no trades of prospects for middling relievers.

I'd take a flyer on Betances. I think he'd take a 1 year deal and wouldn't cost much. Low risk, high reward.
 
So the next big free agent pieces would seem to be Ryu, Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion. Sox and Edwin seem like quite a logical fit, though Tampa Bay could jump in. Angels should pay Ryu whatever he wants at this point; Teheran alone is not nearly enough of an upgrade to make a difference. And Donaldson would seem like a fit in a variety of places - Texas, Washington and back in Atlanta among them.

EDIT: Ryu to Toronto, 4/$80. Cannot believe the Angels aren’t going to upgrade further. Maybe they look at a trade for David Price. But they should have paid Ryu that money. I think I had said it would be around 3/$75 on the market for him a few weeks back, so a lower AAV for one additional year. Interesting move for Toronto, which has gobs of young talent on the way and might be sensing a window with Boston in tax trouble.
 
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Keuchel to Sox and Ryu to Jays... The Sox are looking REALLY good the next few years

@ me cubs fans
Keuchel struggled with the Astros in '18 and wasn't great with the Braves in his half season there this year. Yes, he's a former Cy Young winner, but he's also almost 32 and appears to have lost some speed off his fastball.

He's a good guy, and I hope he finds success with the Sox, but I'd be nervous about that contract.
 
Keuchel struggled with the Astros in '18 and wasn't great with the Braves in his half season there this year. Yes, he's a former Cy Young winner, but he's also almost 32 and appears to have lost some speed off his fastball.

He's a good guy, and I hope he finds success with the Sox, but I'd be nervous about that contract.

The Keuchel concerns are interesting to me because I don't hear anybody expressing those kind of concerns about Ryu, who is a year older than Keuchel and has a fairly substantial injury history. Ryu has an additional year and an additional $25,000,000 on that contract and, at least to me, doesn't offer anywhere near the intangibles for the Sox staff that Keuchel does. I would have liked the Sox to pursue MadBum, but I get why they might have preferred Keuchel at 3 years over MadBum at 5 years despite MadBum being a couple of years younger.

Will be interesting to see. I hope that Keuchel remains a positive contributor pitching in meaningful games over the life of the contract. The Sox history of big pitching adds (Bartolo Colon, Jeff Samardzija, Jake Peavey) has been pretty spotty.
 
Keuchel struggled with the Astros in '18 and wasn't great with the Braves in his half season there this year. Yes, he's a former Cy Young winner, but he's also almost 32 and appears to have lost some speed off his fastball.

He's a good guy, and I hope he finds success with the Sox, but I'd be nervous about that contract.

Keuchel is certainly not your typical long-term pitcher contract kind of guy because he doesn’t strike anyone out. But he never had a fastball to begin with, so as long as the guys behind him can catch the ball, he should age fine. He also only pitched half a season last year after multiple years in a row of heavy use, so that’s a plus for the Sox.

From a contract math perspective, it adds up too. He was worth basically 2 WAR in about 60% of the season last year, and though he’s moving back to the AL, he’s gonna get a bunch of starts against KC, Detroit, and what might yet be a stripped down Cleveland lineup. Extrapolate that WAR out and he comfortably exceeds the 2.2 or so per year he needs to post to support his AAV. And in a relatively short term deal, it won’t really hurt the Sox if he flops. It’s a much more reasonable deal than Wheeler got. I like it.
 
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