Nick

I agree on Elias. Name of the game is being able to replace someone like Porcello when he's due $30M in 3 years. We can't keep all the good players. It's not possible. We've already shot our load with Price. And we will pay big for retaining Betts (I would give him $300M over 10 years first chance I get). You have to pick and choose. If we keep Buchholtz, then we can't sign someone like Chapman. I would still consider trading away Xander before Bradley Jr. SS is a defensive position. You can find .250 hitting slick defenders. Bradley Jr is an elite center fielder that has some pop. We won't be able to keep 2 Boras clients. Count on it. If the goal is to win the world series, Champman would become more valuable than Buchholtz. I'd roll the dice on depleting starters. Hope for the best with Porcello, Price, E Rod, Wright and Pomeranz. Big question mark is can we protect the lead from innings 6-8?

Good catch....he should be in there. I also like Scott more than Abad. My main point is that we don't really need two NEW relievers. I think we can manage with one. Especially now that we are budget conscious.

With no additions, who would be your eight? Kimbrel, Kelly, Smith, Ross, Robby Scott, Abad, Hembree, Elias, Wright/Buch/Pomeranz

I hope NOT. We could have just offered Beltran for 1 year at $20M.

Were we napping when Astros signed Beltran for 1 year deal? $16M sounds reasonable. To Plan B.

We keep talking about the need for two relievers....I only see one. Buch, Wright or Pomeranz will be in the bullpen. Carson Smith will eventually return. Hell we don't really need to add anyone. This team is good enough to compete for Division title. We are f***ed because of Pablo signing.

Xander needs to get out of his funk...his early success hid his finish last year.

You can't have it all.....We did not gain much from Ortiz retiring. His $16M got ate up and then some buy expected increase in arbitration eligible players. It maybe that in the future we live with a guy like Shaw while he's under team control. We gambled on Porcello and it turned out to be a wise investment. Spending $30M on Price, however, means we may need to live without Buchholtz and his $13M or use our farm system to trade for upgrade in the bull pen. Even Betran's contract seems almost illogical at this point. I'm not a big fan of Pablo but I hope he comes back. There's no point in trading guys like Moncada and Swihart. $1M per year keeps them on our roster for 2/3 years. Betts is my favorite but can you spend another $30M on a player? And we haven't even discussed Xander. How many $20M+ players can you have at the same time? I definitely do not want to pay $30M for a shortstop. No way. Cheap lineup.. c Sandy/Vazquez 1B Travis 2B Pedy SS Hernandez 3B Moncada LF Beni CF Bradley RF Betts DH Devers Utility Swihart

I was simply responding to Moon's topic on shedding salaries. Trading Buch has a bigger impact because Sox would have to eat significant part of Pablo's contract. $13 M vs say $5M...... This all points to we have little wiggle room to acquire new free agents without going over the cap. We need more team controlled players to step up. Kopech arrival would help. Hoping for a September call up.

Buchholtz is the best candidate. I serious doubt Sox can recoup $13M on an annual value from Pablo and Hanley. Pablo maybe $5M per year and Hanley $10M per year. We need Hanley. We simply need to do with make shift bullpen and hope that no starter (Price, Porcello, Pomeranz, Wright and E Rod) gets hurt. We don't need to sign anyone. We can trade away some surplus for relievers. IF ITS OUR INTENT TO STAY BELOW THE LUXURY TAX.

This is why someone like Kopech needs to be retained and developed. It really is about managing the 'program', to put it collegiately. In a sense, 'luxury tax' is the best tool for sports organizations to keep the owners in check. It's not a hard cap and owners can go over it but there's a penalty attached. It can also work the other way. Sox FO can use it as a defense to its fan base from claiming the team is cheap and hoarding money. Clearly we are one of big spenders as evidenced by either being close to or going over the cap annually. It also shines light on bad signings. We are currently hamstrunged by some bad investments. That will bite us in the ass as some of our younger players approach free agency.

Nothing gets done until near a deadline. Human nature.

I doubt E-Rod has reached his ceiling. Sale has reached his ceiling, and his decline in velocity, along with his violent delivery, might suggest a future decline in production, if not something more. So, I don't see a production crisscrossing as an impossible scenario, but I wouldn't expect it to occur in 2017. E-Rod has way too much talent, and upside, for me to include him in a trade for Sale along with Bradley Jr and Moncada. Porcello may have trouble duplicating his numbers next year but he is evolving into becoming top 20 type pitcher. I expect Price to have a better season overall. E Rod will continue to get stronger and he has tremendous upside from where I sit. This is NOT the time to trade him. E Rod's 2017 season is when Lester broke out in his career. I think we're undervaluing Pomeranz. Last year was first time he's had any success as a starter. He had not been stretched out in previous seasons. Throw in the factor of being trade into AL East parks, hitters, and pennant race, he had many adjustments to make. I expect him to evolve and have much better season. I fully expect Wright to recover and get back to where he was last year before the All Star Game. Our rotation looks good enough to get us to another Division Championship. Big question is if we can protect the lead with our bullpen. Maybe we should spend some money getting a top tier reliever. Right now I see us wasting 'quality' starts.

Just feels like we're financially trapped in a sense that we don't have much flexibility at this point. Best move is to acquire another cost controlled starting pitcher and then trade away Clay Buchholtz. Or do we roll the dice with trading away Buchholtz in spring training if everyone else is healthy? We can focus on getting a reliever via Buchholtz trade. Kimbrel, Ross, Kelly, Barnes, Abad, Hembree, winter singning/trade, spring trade (8)

Bradley Jr and Swihart and Owens and Johnson for Quintana? Is that enough for Chicago White Sox? Then trade away Buchholtz for a reliever under team control. Basically a $13M salary dump. Quintana, Price, Porcello, E Rod, Pomeranz and Wright.

It will speak volume about what the FO thinks about Moncada if we sign a long term FA at 3B.

He now has 8 lives left.

You don't think he'll take 4/$40M?

Isn't extending Bogey, Betts & JBJ a higher priority?[/b] Yes, but we don't have the money right now....I bet Boras won't take anything less than $20M per year for Brandley Jr, first FA of the three. I don't see any room for that right now. I think we will end up trading at least one out of that group. Bradley Jr seems most logical. Don't get me wrong, I want to keep him but I'm not sure if we have enough money to go around. I suggested in another thread maybe the move should be made after 2017 season, when he is still under team control for three more years. Perhaps he can bring in a #3/#4 type cost controlled starting pitcher. Again that's exactly why I want to keep as many prospects as possible. We need to fill in LF, (assuming Beni is moved to CF), 3B and 1B. Lets assume for minute Hanley eventually ends up as DH. Swihart (I'm okay with him catching also), Travis, Moncada, Devers and Shaw all need to show they belong in MLB. It's very possible that Xander may be out of our reach also. I think we will do everything to keep Betts and that's going to be expensive. He's our #1 priority. Price opting out will ease the money situation. Porcello, Pomeranz, Wright and E Rod have to step it up.

We are pretty much stuck in 'frugal' mode for foreseeable future. Young and Buchholtz come off the payroll after 2017, savings of about $20M. Abad also becomes a FA but I can't imagine big numbers for him. I'm assuming we'll pick up Kimbrel's club option for 2018. We will save $40M after 2019 when Sandoval and Ramirez comes off the books. (Hanley has # of games played in 2017/2018 vesting for 2019, Pablo can be bought out for $5M after 2019). Xander and Porcello become FA after 2019 and Betts and Bradley after 2020. Again, best thing maybe for Price to opt out after 2018, providing $30M in relief. Perhaps by then we can have a rotation of Porcello, Pomeranz, Wright, E Rod and Kopech. (assuming we extend or sign Pomeranz as a FA) Another possiblity is to look to trade Bradley Jr after 2017 (still with 3 years of player control), thereby ridding of his rising salary. We need our farm system to produce some arms for the bullpen. Swihart, Shaw, Moncada, Devers and Travis hopefully will come through. Devers at 3B, say Moncada in LF, Travis at 1B, extend Hanley at DH.

I prefer to think Lester chose free agency rather than he was traded....it's kind of like me resigning knowing I'd get fired if I don't.

We lose Clay B and Young next year, saving close to $20M. Fernado Abad is the only player becoming FA after 2018 assuming we pick up the club option on Kimbrel and Price does not opt out. We need Moncada and Kopech to step in by 2018 to provide some cheap alternatives as our arbitration numbers continue to grow. In reality, Price opting out may not be the worst thing to happen. That's why I'd like to see Sox extend Pomeranz. Buy out two years of FA years. Why not give him a 4 year deal right now (2 arb years plus 2)? I'm at $185M assuming $22M for arbitration players, $12M each for rest of 40 man squad and benefits. Assuming luxury tax is raised to $200M, we only have $15M for FA signings. Trading Clay B would relieve another $13M but I don't see that happening until August assuming Wright, Pomeranz and Rodriquez are all healthy and pitching well.

I agree with you on the length of the contract. Sox must be willing to take some chance with young, live arms in the system though. Was it St Louis that was inserting young arms into the pen before converting them back into starting rotation? I'd like to see Kopech in August/Sept stretch as a reliever. Maybe I'm overvaluing his progress but why not give him a chance. That would also limit the pitch count somewhat. I'm all about giving younger players an opportunity to stick in the majors. Find out early if they have the mental fortitude to play in AL East. Johnson and Owens have been a bust so far. I thought they were in the mix for 2015 season. Different reasons but same results for both.

Would Margot rank ahead of Beni? I seriously doubt it. He was a surplus. You even talk about eventually moving Moncada to the outfield. If your argument is that we could have gotten more for him in a package deal then I can't refute it. I don't know what was out there and what was asked by the Padres. I'm happy with our outfield situation. I rather have Beni, Bradley and Betts than any combination you have with Margot. Triple B's provide run prevention. If I'm a gap hitter, may gap got smaller going up against Sox defense.

I just see it as low risk high reward...2-3 extension may look very appealing on a trade market.