I wonder if this will help speed up a potential Contreras trade. Teams are going to have to start making decisions as catchers come off the board. Do the Braves wait on a deal with the Cubs or make a strong push for Castro? Seems like you have to get Castro while he is out there.
thank you weso1!
Maybe the White Sox want to trade James McCann.
Love it!
Carp (11-21-2019)
Emphasis on a starter, fungible catcher and a power hitting corner OFer
I would not draw too many conclusions about Donaldson from Grandal.
Grandal is two years younger and has remarkable positional value.
Donaldson has an injury history and has clearly demonstrated that he's not the player he used to be, though he's still very good. Still, he is obviously in decline.
I do wonder though if we are going to have a pricy free agency this season after so much restraint last season and it kind of being in baseball's interest to not push the values down too much this year.
Having a team like the White Sox looking to make their push back to contention after a long rebuild is certainly going to help the FA market.
It's good to see a team pushing the issue and acting decisively rather than sitting back counting their pennies.
agree. It seems like there are opportunities to make deals if teams step up and offer reasonable deals and players aren't making crazy demands.
Glad for Grandal too, b/c he's been going year to year.
MM might finally be looking at 3 year deal too.
I want an offseason that moves. I'm expecting JD to be gone. I'm curious to see what AA does to counteract that. I'd be ok to play Riley at third base if they get real hitters at both corner OF and one of C/SS. Having 1-2 position players who aren't studs is ok, we just can't be worse than we were last year. If JD is gone then I want 7.5 wins more in the lineup and a power bat. That can be done but it's going to cost money and prospects.
I can stomach a rotation of Soroka, Fried, Folty, Newk and the best of Wright/Wilson/Touki/Anderson/Weigel/Davidson/etc. But if we do that we need to upgrade the line up, not downgrade it.
I saw that. WOW.
Why do the people writing these have no concept of actual deals?
I'm not an athletic subscriber. I have seen them do some articles where writers from two team try to work out a trade. Are those any better?
I do not see us giving up major prospects for a Boras guy. That guy is not resigning. We have to pay market value for two years and that isn't enough for the cubs to deal him.
I'm really hoping the royals are so far away that they consider moving whit. And that there old school front office can be convinced that Wright and Touki and stuff are good players b/c they are tall and throw hard.
Braves exec to investors: ‘We’re set up to win, and we’re going after it’
Link: https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/...Dft6nB4WvnPgP/
Before the Smith deal, I would have done this deal for Grandal. He's averaged 5 fWAR over the past 5 seasons and half of that comes from him averaging about 25 FRAA per year which should age better than his other skills. I think that 12 WAR over the contract is probably his median expected outcome, but I could easily see him putting up somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 if his bat stays above average. Great deal for the White Sox. Our focus has to shift to Castro or a trade piece.
One interesting thing I haven't seen anyone bring up is the fact that this now potentially makes the other White Sox catchers expendable. A guy like Zack Collins would provide us with a young, cheap, controllable lefty catcher who hits righties far better than lefties. The White Sox need young pitching that is close to the majors and outfield help. I could see some potential deals in the works for a guy like that, since they also have James McCann for next year. Its a bit farfetched since Collins is still pre-arb, but if the White Sox are going into win-now mode I think a mutually beneficial deal could be made there.
Until our pitching staff is dealt with I would be hesitant to count on Collins for 80 or so games.
UNCBlue012 (11-21-2019)