While we wait for the non-tender deadline to force the White Sox to make news, let's dive into the mailbag.
Is the addition of Ethan Katz enough to either tender Lopez or steer clear of trading him (or Cease)?
I could see it going either way, especially as long as Katz remains unofficial. Perhaps Katz appealed to the White Sox because he had firm ideas on how to help Dylan Cease or Reynaldo López. I could also see it going the other direction, where the White Sox hired Katz independent of their collective confidence in salvaging either pitcher. If members of the White Sox's analytics department and pitch lab presented info and video, and Katz determined that either or both required a total overhaul, and that might be all the White Sox wanted to know. I don't think the Sox would let either pitcher get in the way of hiring the coach they wanted. They probably just want conviction in what they're doing more than anything. It'd be disappointing if he didn't have a notion for Cease, though, because one would think a guy who throws 99 with an occasionally great breaking ball can make it in the back end of the rotation.
Mark H. asks:
Rightly so there’s been a lot of discussion around the potential impacts of the upcoming MiLB realignment. In 10-15 years will it have played out as being as apocalyptic as some are predicting or will it be viewed as a necessary bump in the road? Or something in between?
There probably had to be some form of realignment, just because populations have shifted plenty over the last 20-30 years, and there probably should be recurring discussions to make sure the highest levels are where people are and where teams want to be. The cold part is giving teams, their ownerships and their communities only a year's notice, and using the pandemic to turn the screws on them.
I don't think there's an apocalypse in store, but it seems to take more off the table than it brings to it. To me, baseball's greatest strength among the other sports is being able to find a well-produced professional game in most corners of the country during terrific weather, whether you're sitting among 56,000 in Dodger Stadium or 560 in Bristol, Virginia. Maybe the Appalachian League doesn't make sense anymore as an affiliated venture with attendance numbers that low, but support across the other leagues was largely up in 2019.
I think if you see any effects, it'll be in concert with other elements -- reducing the draft and professional opportunities, reducing scouting, spreading the collegiate wood-bat leagues too thin. The absence of minor-league baseball in those communities will be more anecdotal, but those anecdotes will be painful.
Mark S. asks:
Will we know which players contracted Covid during the offseason before the start of next season?
As far as the White Sox are concerned, I'm guessing they'll continue to let players report their own news, or not. The bigger question is whether spring training will start on time. Newark Star-Ledger columnist Bob Klapisch said that the start of the season could be delayed four to six weeks, at which point the story would be more about how many players have been vaccinated.
And if that's the case, then it's worth monitoring whether sports leagues will apply pressure to various agencies to cut in line for vaccine distribution, even if most of the people involved would be the lowest priority. As Bradford William Davis of the New York Daily news found, the league didn't follow up on its promise to offer free testing for healthcare workers and first responders in an attempt to offset the resources such frequent testing consumed. I don't trust the league and its teams to just sit back and wait their turn.
Derek asks:
I know Josh is more of the gambler... but what would the odds have to be for you to bet that Tony La Russa will *not* manage a game for the White Sox next year?
I think the situation is unstable enough that a small wager for a coin-flip return would be fine, but in terms of a substantial investment? Probably 10-to-1. If the White Sox really felt compelled to shift away from La Russa, they would have done it by now. Instead, after three weeks of silence, everything points to a strategy of "let's hope the outrage burns out."
There's enough that's volatile about putting a septuagenarian with alcoholic tendencies and a recidivist drunk driver in a visible leadership position that maybe it's only a matter of time until (the unofficial) Miguel Cairo or Joe McEwing ends up taking the reins, but I think it's going to take another publicly awful episode, because the White Sox's threshold for embarrassment is staggering. I'd almost call it impressive, but instead it looks like a product of doing whatever it takes to insulate Jerry Reinsdorf from normal people.
Terrence asks:
Which direction do you think the front office will go this offseason? Sign free agents or go back to old ways and trade young cost controlled talent for short term veteran help?
Either one's fine, within reason. I don't like the idea of trading Andrew Vaughn for a situation that leads the Sox to need every bat they have on hand, because we've seen how poorly one-ply rosters work out for them. Dealing Dane Dunning for a direct upgrade in the rotation is a different matter. I'd hope their financials are sturdy enough to where they could start in free agency, then look for situations where they can take on a salary other teams might balk at, before considering whether to cut into the farm system's bone. For instance...
Asinwreck asks:
Given his salary and the Cubs' situation, how much would the Sox have to give up to trade for a year of Kris Bryant?
I don't think the Cubs are so desperate to trade Bryant for pure salary relief. Rick Hahn could probably say, "Here's Luis González. We good?"
All that followed a knee injury in 2019 and a shoulder issue in 2018, which knocked him down from star-level production that seemed so assured before then. If you're trying to upgrade third base or a corner outfield spot, you can't feel that great about Bryant being a 140-game solution.
If the Cubs wanted to get rid of him for Stiever on down, I wouldn't demand a big chunk of salary, because talent that can be flexed in different positions is the cool thing here. I just think other teams can be the White Sox when it comes to offers involving inessential/redundant talent.
