Resurrecting the White Sox

BelgianBomber · 11-09-2017, 11:21 AM

After 4 straight losing seasons, the White Sox decided it was time to break up their core and traded the likes of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton in order to acquire much needed young talent.
The 2017 season, as expected, added another year to their run of losing records. (in our universe the White Sox finished the 2017 season with a 55-107 record)
GM Rick Hahn was shown the door in favor of, well... me.

It will be my task to turn things around and bring winning baseball back to the Southside of Chicago and reclaim the spot as the best baseball club in town.

The Game · 11-09-2017, 08:01 PM

Go, Go White Sox!

BelgianBomber · 11-13-2017, 07:22 AM

My first offseason in charge of the team would turn out to be a rather busy one. It was clear that the team needed a lot of help. With the previous regime already having started the teardown of the team, it would only be obvious that I would follow along this path.

An influx of more young talented players would be our way to go. All veteran players would be made available in order to shed salary and add to our stash of prospects.

2018 should be a season where we give chances to some advanced level younger players and fill out our roster with buy low and bounceback veterans who we could potentially turn into more prospects at the deadline.

What follows is an overview of the most important moves during the offseason:

Staff changes:
signed Frank Wren to be my assistant GM
hired Theo Epstein as our new scouting director
appointed Takao Ise as hitting coach
signed Jim Coffman as new pitching coach
hired Kirk Gibson as manager
came to terms with Stan Conte to be the team trainer
added Alex Cora as bench coach

Transactions:
offered arbitration to Todd Frazier, which he rejected

trades
Traded SS Freddy Galvis and minor league SP Nelson Acosta to the Tigers for SP Buck Farmer and minor league 2B Zach Kirtley
-Galvis wasn’t going to be in our plans and Acosta is a non-prospect which we turn into Farmer who could compete for a rotation job and a prospect our scouts rate higher than Acosta.

Traded SP José Quintana, RP Zach Putnam, RP Dan Jennings and minor league 1B Nick Basto to the Yankees for minor league SS Gleyber Torres, minor league SP Chance Adams, minor league CF Blake Rutherford and 3B Chase Headley
-we trade away our best trade chip here, as Quintana is a solid major league starter on an affordable contract. Jennings and Putnam are solid relievers but won’t be a part of the next winning White Sox team anyway. Basto is a throwin who the Yankees seem to value higher than we do. But I feel we made out pretty good here. Torres is a top-5 prospect and could become a star. Adams has the makings of a mid rotation starter and Rutherford should turn into a starting calibre center fielder. We pick up Headley as the Yankees wanted his contract off the books and it allowed us to get a little more in terms of prospects.

Those are the only 2 trades we ended up making prior to the season, as we didn’t feel we got the right kind of offer or value for our other valuable trade chip, José Abreu.

Waiver claims
claimed OF Aaron Altherr from the Phillies
claimed RP Edgar Santana from the Pirates
claimed C Christian Vazquez from the Red Sox
claimed OF Dalton Pompey from the Blue Jays
claimed OF Alen Hanson from the Pirates
claimed C John Ryan Murphy from the Twins
claimed SP Amir Garrett from the Reds

Rule 5 draft:
selected 3B Miguel Andujar from the Yankees
selected SP Zack Godley from the Diamondbacks
selected OF Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers
selected RP Chris Hatcher from the Dodgers

Free agency
signed SP Andrew Cashner to a 1-year deal worth 1.6 million
signed SP Wily Peralta to a 1-year deal worth 960k
signed SP Drew Smyly to a 3-year contract worth a guaranteed 7.4 million with a 4.6 million option for a 3rd year
signed RP Jake Diekman to a 1-year deal worth 2 million
signed LF Seth Smith to a 1-year deal worth 1.71 million
signed RF Leonys Martin to a 1-year deal worth 1.1 million
signed C Yan Gomes to a minor league deal
signed C Chris Iannetta to a 1-year 4 million contract with an option for a 2nd year at 6 million
signed OF Conrad Gregor to a 1-year 700k deal
signed RP Kevin Siegrist to a 2-year 800k contract

After these transactions that means our 25-man roster looks like this:

C: Chris Iannetta
1B: José Abreu
2B: Yoan Moncada
3B: Miguel Andujar
SS: Tim Anderson
LF: Carlos Asuaje
CF: Tyrone Taylor
RF: Leonys Martin
DH: Seth Smith

C2: Omar Narvaez
INF: Yolmer Sanchez
3B: Chase Headley
3B/1B: Matt Davidson
OF: Aaron Altherr

SP1: Drew Smyly
SP2: Carlos Rodon
SP3: Andrew Cashner
SP4: Wily Peralta
SP5: Buck Farmer

CL: Nate Jones
RP: Chris Hatcher
RP: Edgar Santana
RP: Jake Diekman
RP: James Shields
RP: Kevin Siegrist

That’s a line-up and staff that won’t strike fear into opposing teams. But it’s clear that we are trying to get a look at what we have in certain young players (Asuaje, Moncada, Andujar, Taylor, Santana) and are hoping some of the veterans will have a productive first half and cut be traded at the deadline (Jones, Hatcher, Peralta, Cashner, Smyly, Smith, Martin, Iannetta, Abreu).
Our record is, in my opinion, not very important this upcoming season. It’s more about the future and building towards a sustainable winning culture.

Most important at this point is the state of our farmsystem, which already looks pretty good.
We have 5 players ranked in the top 100, with Gleyber Torres leading the way as the number 2 ranked prospect. Joining him on the list are CF Blake Rutherford (11th), SP Michael Kopech (56th), SP Chance Adams (77th) and OF Luis Alexander Basabe (99th).
Most of these players are already in the upper minors, so help might soon be on the way.

The Game · 11-13-2017, 07:41 AM

i dont know of of those OF

How could you?

Tieran · 11-13-2017, 10:21 AM

What is your trade difficulty?

BelgianBomber · 11-14-2017, 03:17 PM

Trading difficulty is set to hard, with neutral trading preference.

Including Headley into that Yankees trade is what made it possible. Well that and adding prospect Nick Basto from my end.

Tieran · 11-15-2017, 10:35 AM

Are you not using 2012 CBA Changes? You offered Frazier arbitration.

BelgianBomber · 11-21-2017, 07:06 AM

I am using the 2012 CBA rule changes. Frazier was with the team the entire 2017 season. (unlike in real-life, where he was traded to the Yankees)

BelgianBomber · 11-21-2017, 07:07 AM

We have arrived at a key moment during the season, namely the draft. But before we get to that, let’s take a look at what has happened during the season so far.

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise when I have to tell you that we have been sporting a below .500 record from game 1. That is up untill today… as of now we are sporting an even 29-29 record, only half a game back of the division lead.

We were able to get to this point, despite some very poor performances (more on that later) and a rash of injuries. Chris Hatcher, Leonys Martin, Mauricio Cabrera, Edgar Santana, Carlos Rodon, José Abreu, Seth Smith, Tim Anderson, Nate Jones have all been or are still on the DL.

Before we dive into the individual performances, here’s a look at the moves we’ve made so far during the season.

Trades:
Shipped OF Dalton Pompey, minor league catcher M.J. Melendez, C Chris Iannetta, minor league SS Logan Warmoth and minor league 2B Ramon Beltre to the Braves for minor league SP Aaron Blair, minor league SP Kolby Allard, OF Ender Inciarte and RP Mauricio Cabrera.
-The Braves came calling about Melendez, a 5-star prospect. We went back and forth for a while, adding pieces from both ends. Aaron Blair never lived up to his potential, but should give us some depth at AAA. Kolby Allard is a highly touted pitching prospect, who we obviously like a lot. But Braves reps’ seem to value Melendez higher than Allard. Cabrera gives us another young arm for our ‘pen and Inciarte is a guy I have always been high on. He can play all 3 outfield positions and should slide in at the top of the order.
Warmoth and Beltre are 2 players the Braves clearly like, as they had to be part of this deal. Pompey still his 5 star potential, but has yet to be able to put it all together at the highest level. We got him on a waiver claim and feel comfortable making the trade off to Inciarte here, even if Pompey has more potential. Iannetta evens out the money here and would become the Braves primary catcher.

Flipped OF Tyrone Taylor, minor league OF Michael Gigliotti and minor league 1B Corey Zangari to the Mets in exchange for minor league 1B Dominic Smith and minor league OF Wuilmer Becerra.
-We add a couple of more advanced prospects in this deal, as both Smith and Becerra have made their way up to the high minors. In exchange the Mets get the player with the most potential in this deal (4.5 star prospect Michael Gigliotti), an A-ball first baseman and a capable 4th outfielder for them in Taylor.

Waiver claims:
claimed SP Amir Garrett from the Reds
-Garrett will get a look in our rotation

Signings:
picked up 1B Eric Hosmer on a 4 year deal worth a total of 17 million
-Hosmer was still on the market mid April. Apparently he was hurt by the draft pick compensation attached to him. (note: Todd Frazier is still unsigned, so we have not gotten a compensation pick for him) We did decide to reach out to see what kind of deal he was looking for. At age 28 he is still young enough and should have some prime years ahead of him, while being a steady presence on a young team. We do give up our 2nd round pick because of this signing, but a player like Hosmer on this type of deal, that’s a bargain in my book.

11-09-2017, 11:21 AM	#1
BelgianBomber Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 278	Resurrecting the White Sox After 4 straight losing seasons, the White Sox decided it was time to break up their core and traded the likes of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton in order to acquire much needed young talent. The 2017 season, as expected, added another year to their run of losing records. (in our universe the White Sox finished the 2017 season with a 55-107 record) GM Rick Hahn was shown the door in favor of, well... me. It will be my task to turn things around and bring winning baseball back to the Southside of Chicago and reclaim the spot as the best baseball club in town.

11-09-2017, 08:01 PM	#2
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,937	Go, Go White Sox! __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

11-13-2017, 07:22 AM	#3
BelgianBomber Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 278	The offseason My first offseason in charge of the team would turn out to be a rather busy one. It was clear that the team needed a lot of help. With the previous regime already having started the teardown of the team, it would only be obvious that I would follow along this path. An influx of more young talented players would be our way to go. All veteran players would be made available in order to shed salary and add to our stash of prospects. 2018 should be a season where we give chances to some advanced level younger players and fill out our roster with buy low and bounceback veterans who we could potentially turn into more prospects at the deadline. What follows is an overview of the most important moves during the offseason: Staff changes: signed Frank Wren to be my assistant GM hired Theo Epstein as our new scouting director appointed Takao Ise as hitting coach signed Jim Coffman as new pitching coach hired Kirk Gibson as manager came to terms with Stan Conte to be the team trainer added Alex Cora as bench coach Transactions: offered arbitration to Todd Frazier, which he rejected trades Traded SS Freddy Galvis and minor league SP Nelson Acosta to the Tigers for SP Buck Farmer and minor league 2B Zach Kirtley -Galvis wasn’t going to be in our plans and Acosta is a non-prospect which we turn into Farmer who could compete for a rotation job and a prospect our scouts rate higher than Acosta. Traded SP José Quintana, RP Zach Putnam, RP Dan Jennings and minor league 1B Nick Basto to the Yankees for minor league SS Gleyber Torres, minor league SP Chance Adams, minor league CF Blake Rutherford and 3B Chase Headley -we trade away our best trade chip here, as Quintana is a solid major league starter on an affordable contract. Jennings and Putnam are solid relievers but won’t be a part of the next winning White Sox team anyway. Basto is a throwin who the Yankees seem to value higher than we do. But I feel we made out pretty good here. Torres is a top-5 prospect and could become a star. Adams has the makings of a mid rotation starter and Rutherford should turn into a starting calibre center fielder. We pick up Headley as the Yankees wanted his contract off the books and it allowed us to get a little more in terms of prospects. Those are the only 2 trades we ended up making prior to the season, as we didn’t feel we got the right kind of offer or value for our other valuable trade chip, José Abreu. Waiver claims claimed OF Aaron Altherr from the Phillies claimed RP Edgar Santana from the Pirates claimed C Christian Vazquez from the Red Sox claimed OF Dalton Pompey from the Blue Jays claimed OF Alen Hanson from the Pirates claimed C John Ryan Murphy from the Twins claimed SP Amir Garrett from the Reds Rule 5 draft: selected 3B Miguel Andujar from the Yankees selected SP Zack Godley from the Diamondbacks selected OF Tyrone Taylor from the Brewers selected RP Chris Hatcher from the Dodgers Free agency signed SP Andrew Cashner to a 1-year deal worth 1.6 million signed SP Wily Peralta to a 1-year deal worth 960k signed SP Drew Smyly to a 3-year contract worth a guaranteed 7.4 million with a 4.6 million option for a 3rd year signed RP Jake Diekman to a 1-year deal worth 2 million signed LF Seth Smith to a 1-year deal worth 1.71 million signed RF Leonys Martin to a 1-year deal worth 1.1 million signed C Yan Gomes to a minor league deal signed C Chris Iannetta to a 1-year 4 million contract with an option for a 2nd year at 6 million signed OF Conrad Gregor to a 1-year 700k deal signed RP Kevin Siegrist to a 2-year 800k contract After these transactions that means our 25-man roster looks like this: C: Chris Iannetta 1B: José Abreu 2B: Yoan Moncada 3B: Miguel Andujar SS: Tim Anderson LF: Carlos Asuaje CF: Tyrone Taylor RF: Leonys Martin DH: Seth Smith C2: Omar Narvaez INF: Yolmer Sanchez 3B: Chase Headley 3B/1B: Matt Davidson OF: Aaron Altherr SP1: Drew Smyly SP2: Carlos Rodon SP3: Andrew Cashner SP4: Wily Peralta SP5: Buck Farmer CL: Nate Jones RP: Chris Hatcher RP: Edgar Santana RP: Jake Diekman RP: James Shields RP: Kevin Siegrist That’s a line-up and staff that won’t strike fear into opposing teams. But it’s clear that we are trying to get a look at what we have in certain young players (Asuaje, Moncada, Andujar, Taylor, Santana) and are hoping some of the veterans will have a productive first half and cut be traded at the deadline (Jones, Hatcher, Peralta, Cashner, Smyly, Smith, Martin, Iannetta, Abreu). Our record is, in my opinion, not very important this upcoming season. It’s more about the future and building towards a sustainable winning culture. Most important at this point is the state of our farmsystem, which already looks pretty good. We have 5 players ranked in the top 100, with Gleyber Torres leading the way as the number 2 ranked prospect. Joining him on the list are CF Blake Rutherford (11th), SP Michael Kopech (56th), SP Chance Adams (77th) and OF Luis Alexander Basabe (99th). Most of these players are already in the upper minors, so help might soon be on the way.

11-13-2017, 07:41 AM	#4
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,937	i dont know of of those OF How could you? __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

11-13-2017, 10:21 AM	#5
Tieran Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 96	What is your trade difficulty?

11-14-2017, 03:17 PM	#6
BelgianBomber Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 278	Trading difficulty is set to hard, with neutral trading preference. Including Headley into that Yankees trade is what made it possible. Well that and adding prospect Nick Basto from my end.

11-15-2017, 10:35 AM	#7
Tieran Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 96	Are you not using 2012 CBA Changes? You offered Frazier arbitration.

11-21-2017, 07:06 AM	#8
BelgianBomber Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 278	I am using the 2012 CBA rule changes. Frazier was with the team the entire 2017 season. (unlike in real-life, where he was traded to the Yankees)

11-21-2017, 07:07 AM	#9
BelgianBomber Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 278	We have arrived at a key moment during the season, namely the draft. But before we get to that, let’s take a look at what has happened during the season so far. It probably won’t come as much of a surprise when I have to tell you that we have been sporting a below .500 record from game 1. That is up untill today… as of now we are sporting an even 29-29 record, only half a game back of the division lead. We were able to get to this point, despite some very poor performances (more on that later) and a rash of injuries. Chris Hatcher, Leonys Martin, Mauricio Cabrera, Edgar Santana, Carlos Rodon, José Abreu, Seth Smith, Tim Anderson, Nate Jones have all been or are still on the DL. Before we dive into the individual performances, here’s a look at the moves we’ve made so far during the season. Trades: Shipped OF Dalton Pompey, minor league catcher M.J. Melendez, C Chris Iannetta, minor league SS Logan Warmoth and minor league 2B Ramon Beltre to the Braves for minor league SP Aaron Blair, minor league SP Kolby Allard, OF Ender Inciarte and RP Mauricio Cabrera. -The Braves came calling about Melendez, a 5-star prospect. We went back and forth for a while, adding pieces from both ends. Aaron Blair never lived up to his potential, but should give us some depth at AAA. Kolby Allard is a highly touted pitching prospect, who we obviously like a lot. But Braves reps’ seem to value Melendez higher than Allard. Cabrera gives us another young arm for our ‘pen and Inciarte is a guy I have always been high on. He can play all 3 outfield positions and should slide in at the top of the order. Warmoth and Beltre are 2 players the Braves clearly like, as they had to be part of this deal. Pompey still his 5 star potential, but has yet to be able to put it all together at the highest level. We got him on a waiver claim and feel comfortable making the trade off to Inciarte here, even if Pompey has more potential. Iannetta evens out the money here and would become the Braves primary catcher. Flipped OF Tyrone Taylor, minor league OF Michael Gigliotti and minor league 1B Corey Zangari to the Mets in exchange for minor league 1B Dominic Smith and minor league OF Wuilmer Becerra. -We add a couple of more advanced prospects in this deal, as both Smith and Becerra have made their way up to the high minors. In exchange the Mets get the player with the most potential in this deal (4.5 star prospect Michael Gigliotti), an A-ball first baseman and a capable 4th outfielder for them in Taylor. Waiver claims: claimed SP Amir Garrett from the Reds -Garrett will get a look in our rotation Signings: picked up 1B Eric Hosmer on a 4 year deal worth a total of 17 million -Hosmer was still on the market mid April. Apparently he was hurt by the draft pick compensation attached to him. (note: Todd Frazier is still unsigned, so we have not gotten a compensation pick for him) We did decide to reach out to see what kind of deal he was looking for. At age 28 he is still young enough and should have some prime years ahead of him, while being a steady presence on a young team. We do give up our 2nd round pick because of this signing, but a player like Hosmer on this type of deal, that’s a bargain in my book.