The White Sox are “taking a close look” at Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The 29-year-old is amidst a stellar campaign that earned him his first career All-Star nod last night.
Chicago surely isn’t alone in taking an interest in Frazier, who has a .326/.393/.468 line (139 wRC+) through 346 plate appearances this season. He broke into the majors in 2016 and immediately settled in as a fairly productive, high-contact bat. Over his first three-plus seasons, Frazier’s ability to put the ball in play resulted in league average offense (.279/.342/.420), despite lacking impact power. He slumped to a .230/.297/.364 mark during last year’s shortened season but has more than rebounded during this season’s first half.
In actuality, Frazier’s true talent level probably hasn’t bounced around as much as those numbers would suggest. Because he specializes in making contact, his production is more dependent than most players on ball-in-play results. Last season, Frazier’s BABIP fell to .246; this year, it’s sitting at a sky-high .361. Over the course of his career, Frazier has a more ordinary .312 BABIP, and it’s fair to presume it’ll settle in around that mark moving forward.
Frazier has made some modest process improvements this season. His contact rate is up nearly four percentage points, to a career-high 88.6%. He’s traded in some grounders for a few extra line drives. But Frazier hasn’t started hitting the ball with dramatically more authority. His hard contact rate is in the 4th percentile leaguewide, while his barrel rate (essentially how often a batter hits the ball hard at an optimal launch angle for power) is in the 3rd percentile, per Statcast. All in all, Frazier likely isn’t all that different than the player he was entering 2021.
That’s not to say he’s not a quality player. As mentioned, Frazier has an established track record of solid work at the plate. He’s a career .282/.345/.422 hitter, six percentage points better than league average by measure of weighted runs created. Advanced defensive metrics have suggested he’s an average or better gloveman at second base, and he’s rated highly as a corner outfielder when asked to man the grass.
In addition to his solid play on the field, Frazier’s an eminently affordable target for contending clubs. He’s making just $4.3MM this season (exactly half of that remains due from now through the end of the year) and is controllable next year via arbitration. He’ll certainly be in line for a nice raise given his production this season, but even a salary in the $8MM – 9MM range in 2022 would be more than reasonable for a player of his caliber.
A year and a half of Frazier’s services would hold a lot more value to a contender than it would for the rebuilding Pirates. Pittsburgh isn’t making the playoffs this season, and they’re not expected to next year either. There’s little reason for the Pirates not to take offers on Frazier (as they did over the offseason) and he looks like a virtual lock to wind up elsewhere before the July 30 trade deadline.
It’s not hard to see the appeal for the White Sox. Second baseman Nick Madrigal is out for the season after undergoing hamstring surgery, and the Sox have been relying on Leury García and Danny Mendick since he went down. Prospect Jake Burger has gotten work at second in the minors and was called up to make his MLB debut today. It’s unclear, though, whether Chicago would feel comfortable turning to Burger, whose more natural position is third base, at the keystone during a pennant race.
The White Sox have also been tied to Eduardo Escobar over the past couple weeks. An Escobar trade remains a possibility (and, as Heyman notes, would surely require a lesser prospect package than the one required to land Frazier), but other teams have jumped into the bidding for the Diamondbacks infielder in recent days.
At most, the Pirates may get a 50 FV prospect out of Frazier. Maybe they convince some team to give up one, but I doubt it. But he’s still worth a 45 FV prospect with a 40 FV, or maybe 3 or so 40-40+ FV guys. (I’m using FanGraphs FV rankings on their prospect lists)
That’s the limitation of dealing with the Sox…weak potential return. I’d rather them get a few higher upside, lower level guys than someone who is almost majors ready given we won’t be competing for a few years anyways.
I dunno, Hahn and Company gave up on Tatis jr and look how he turned out, Pirates could always get a diamond in the rough, but you would have to trust their management to find that guy (I think we can trust the Sox to then give him up)
this is the dumbest comment. every team makes bad deals. there are guys that end up as studs that were considered fringe…but go ahead assume the sox would make this huge mistske because of tatis lol
Tatis was 17 years old, no one knew he was at the time and he being blocked by Anderson when the White Sox traded him to the Padres.
Obviously the Padres thought enough of him toget him in the trade (and there were coaches in the White Sox org high on his talent as well), so how dumb is my comment exactly?
My original comment should have been the ‘Sox gave him up’, not ‘gave up on him’, but my point stands, and yeah every team makes bad trades. The Sox got a guy in Shields at the time who had years left on his contract and was thought that Cooper could fix whatever was wrong with him. In this scenario though, the Sox would have to make a trade for what is likely maybe an average guy and it just is not worth it to mortgage away talent for him at this stage..
In my opinion, the only silver lining that emerged from the infamous James Shields/Fernando Tatis Jr. trade was that it was the final major transaction for GM Rick Hahn before he approached owner Jerry Reinsdorf and Executive VP Kenny Williams and convinced both that the team needn’t a full-on rebuild and to stop with their incessant reloading and retooling methods that had the White Sox “mired in mediocrity” since 2008.
The trade went down on June 4th, 2016 when the White Sox still had visions of a postseason appearance. As the July 31st trade deadline approached it was clear that the team was not going to the playoffs and that is when Hahn first began fielding offers for the likes of Chris Sale, Adam Eaton and Jose Quintana with the first two eventually dealt at that December’s Winter Meetings to “officially” kick off their rebuild that finally saw the team reach the playoffs last year and has them as one of the favorites to represent the AL in the 2021 World Series despite all their injury issues.
It would suck if they traded him before the ASG
It would, and this is just a theory, but if the Pirates and another team were to work out a trade before the ASG break, I wonder if they wouldn’t fully agree on the trade until after the ASG break so he could at least start the game for the Pirates. If the Pirates start giving Frazier a handful of days off within the next week, more so than normal, then it could be food for thought.
@mlb1225 to bad you couldn’t trade your owner, and i feel for you guys because until you get new ownership bb in pit is going to be bleak. which is a shame because pit. sports fans are loyal passionate fans but there also workers that don’t have a lot of “free cash”. if nuttington cared about the team or the fans of pit he would at least try and put a competitive team out there. if ownership could put a good team out there year in and year out that you can have hope in pnc would sell out night in and night out.
Winning baseball fills pnc. Pirates have another season or two of weak teams. Then it will be a decade of winning. Top 5 farm right now. Will be twice as good in 2 years.
@yourdreamgm i hope so fans of pit sports deserve it, and also i meant no disrespect towards the bucs. i just don’t have any respect for your owner and i feel until you get a new owner, doesn’t matter how good your farm is nut will trade them all off to save a penny. which is sad because pit sports fan deserve better than what nut is selling.
Any sports town with a good ball park will do well with a winning team. Too much talent coming up to be bad. I have doubts about nutting. Will he spend 120? 130? 150? If necessary? He had 100 million payrolls before. I could complain like most others that he should have went to 130 or whatever but the teams didn’t have any holes that could be filled with free agents. The big one was 1b. I looked every year and didn’t see answer. Teams were built with home grown and cheap free agents who played well above their pay. The teams had 150 million worth of talent at 80 to 100 payroll. With so much young talent coming a 100 payroll might not be necessary. Pirates look to be on the path of Tampa Cleveland Oakland.
@yourdreamgm i hope your right because you guys deserve more than 2 good years in the last 20. also i’m not saying you need to spend 160mil plus on your team. i just believe if nut would spend a little bit to keep some players and put a real winner on the field the team would pay for itself. my point is if nut didn’t have his head sir far up his a$$ he would see that the pens and steel sell out damn near every game and that’s because they have a product worth buying. stl and pit are very similar cities, we’re both blue collar cities that work hard for our money and what little we have to spend on “fun” we want a good product for our time and money.
@brodie-bruce Usually right. Feel good on this one. My pirates years have all been good. Didn’t become one until 2012 2013 I was a Yankee fan all my life until they signed Ellsberry. I can’t afford my own team and not willing to work my way through the ranks in hopes of being a gm one day so I simply root for teams who are like minded. Next year if the Pirates give Cutch 150 million I am no longer a pirate fan. If they replace BC with cashman I am done. I liked NH and when they hired BC I became a bigger fan. 3 playoff years. 2 years that could have been but numerous unpredictable circumstances occurred. 2018 team surprised. 2019 was weak but interesting start. 2020 2021 best years yet. I love a good rebuild. Hopefully last rebuild for a long time. No fans, limited fans. Great time for a rebuild.
i hope you you’re bucs are good next year, but i wanna see all the teams in the nlc do good because when my birds beat you all it’s even sweeter. all jokes and homerism aside i really do hope the bucs pull it together (imo it won’t happen until a new owner) even thou in a cards fan i respect pit and the fans of that city deserve someone better than nut.
Won’t be next year. See you in 2024.
I think it happened to Jeff Samardzija in 2014, right? Went from the Cubs to the A’s but was in the ASG (not starting of course)
I think it was a similar situation. The trade came out before the ASG, so he was an A before the break (he even played 2 games in an Oakland uni), but they let him represent the Cubs.
For the record, Jeff Samardzija was traded by the Cubs to the A’s on July 5th, 2014. On July 6th it was revealed he had been selected to the NL All-Star team which was voted upon by the players The 2014 All-Star game was played on July 15th at Minnesota’s Target Field. Samardzija was at the game but was deemed ineligible to play by MLB because of the league switch. He was allowed to stand in line with the NL players in the pre-game ceremony, wearing an NL All-Star jersey but not with a Cubs cap. He was given a generic All-Star hat instead and was introduced in an ‘awkward’ fashion as recapped by this article: sbnation.com/mlb/2014/7/15/5903357/jeff-samardzija…
@aaron
Great response, interesting story I didnt know, enjoyed the read
Too much risk for injury to make a deal and have the player play even another game for the current team. I’d love to see him at the ASG as a Pirate but it means far less to me than potentially risking a good deal.
Get it done Rick!
I don’t think CHW has the prospects to get it done. Frazier is worth at least 1 top 100 guy and another guy in a teams top 15
Any team has the prospects to get it done. BC doesn’t care about rankings. He wants talent period. He will take 3 or 4 high upside teenagers and 1 or 2 of them will be on top 100 list in a year or two.
And the white sox have just about none of those, their farm is really weak with all the young, productive MLBers that have been called up in the past year or two. There’s also no chance the White Sox are trading players off their MLB roster to create a new hole to plug. As a Bucs fan this is probably the last team I want to see receiving Frazier in a trade.
What?? I’m a Pirates a fan and I can name 4-5 CWS prospects that would be more than enough for Frazier.
Jared Kelly would be an overpay. Ceapedes’s brother would be an over pay.
So would any 2 of their their young Hispanic players. Like Miker Adolfo, Norge Vera, Byran Ramos, Yolbert Sanchez. All young International signees, with huge upside.
If the Pirates got say Norge Vera and and Jake Burger or Gavin Sheets. That would be great!! Great value. Probably too much. CWS would probably balk at that offer.
A package built around any one of Kelly Cespedes Thompson could fetch just about any player that would be on the block. I am sure either one would get Frazier. If a trade is made just for Frazier alone, Vera stands out as the headliner the pirates would want.
Prospects are just that. There is no overpay if you win the World Series. That is the goal. Not hoarding and betting on if a prospect will develop into a productive MLB Player.
Neither Sheets or Burger going anywhere.
@ jimmyz. You are exactly right in your assessment of trading with the white Sox. Just as their owner expects everything from players to their stadium, cheap. The organization reflects that philosophy when it comes to trades. Unless you get to talk to, Kenny Williams. Then you might end up with the next Fernando Tatis lol.
Exactly right!! I’m fan A Penguins. You can’t fall in love with your prospects in draft licks(although you can’t trade draft picks in MLB). To compete every year the Pens u need to spend, make trades and do everything u can to get to play-offs and past.
Most of the time, on a competing team, prospects don’t have time to get their feet wet either. Winning games are too important for contenting teams. So while that window is open, do everything u can to make your team better at the TD and the off seasons
That seems a little steep. He’s a solid regular off to a hot start. 1.5 years of control for that might get a team’s top 6 or 7 prospect if there’s a bidding war, but given the number of infielders up for trade this season probably more like a 10-12 and maybe a lesser prospect or two.
Edit: in response to csperras comment
Pirates should get around a top 150 prospect in MLB for Frazier and RichRod. Possibly a top 150 prospect and a young 18-20, international signee, pitching prospect.
Sure they do. It’s just a matter of whether they want to part with a more talented young guy for an okay player that’s had a career first half. 2B upgrade isn’t the key to them being a threat in postseason. It is improving the bullpen and health of their young core position players.
Jared Kelly is just out of top 100 and they have multiple young pitchers in top 15. They have players, it’s just a matter of if another team gives more.
They have the players. Cherrington needs to aim for a slight overpay given it’s not often that you trade a versatile all star with control beyond this season.
In the end there is Nutting.
White Sox can have Gleyber let’s make a deal.
Nah we’re good
You can have Blake Rutherford back for Torres straight up.
Nutting needs to sell and get out of the way. He has made millions over the last 20 years. Cheapest Billionaire owner in Major Sports. Let’s get that social media out there to expose his antics.
What a totally idiotic post
Adam Frazier would be my main target to replace injured 2B Nick Madrigal this season.
I’m big on having a traditional contact hitter in the lineup. Frazier would replace Madrigal’s elite contact bat for the remainder of this season and could join him in the batting order next year. I see Frazier as a poor man’s version of the Royals Whit Merrifield, a similarly late blooming solid MLB player with the versatility to play 2B and the OF but with a little less power and base stealing acumen.
Frazier would also provide insurance for Madrigal at 2B next year as well as the 2022 White Sox outfield which has been decimated with injuries throughout 2021. Frazier would also have an opportunity to claim the starting RF job next season if the White Sox pass on Adam Eaton’s 2022 option which looks like a good bet right now. The fact that Frazier hits left-handed is another major plus for a White Sox lineup that currently leans heavily right-handed when all hands are on deck.
Frazier also was a gold glove nominee two years in a row. Should have won last season. K.Wong won two years in a row. Last year it was K.Wong, Frazier and Hoerner. 2018-19 it was K.Wong, Frazier and Albies. Like I said, Wong was both years.
I thought you people say batting average doesn’t matter anymore, so what’s this guy got, other than beating the ball around the park instead of out of the park. You know, he gets on base with hits, not walks. (Just a little sarcasm pointed at my ANALytical friends). So does batting average matter all of a sudden? Depends who we are talking about, right?
Blake Rutherford now that’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile. I was disappointed when he was traded. How’s he doing? I guess not well if White Sox want to trade him.
Trading with the Yankees is an exercise in futility. You’d think teams would wise up and stop giving away their stars for Yankees trash prospects.
If pirate fans weren’t pleased with the Taillon return they will be soon.
I was pretty happy with the Justin Wilson for Cervelli deal.
Those of us who have been paying attention to the guys that came back in the deal are happy.
@jerrybird tbh you need both you need guys with a little thump in there bar but you also need them guys that can hit and get ob especially if there the type of batter that takes 15 pitches to get out. i’m not a huge fan of a lot of adv. metrics but i do think there a great tool and help explain the traditional stats, but just like socket wrench it’s just one of many tools in the box.
Only a fool says batting average doesn’t matter. But to only look at average is foolish. There are many ways to contribute.
But other than batting average frazier has been a near elite defender at 2b and above average in left. He bats left. He hits lhp. Solid base runner. Cheap. Another year of control. Doesn’t strike out a lot. He might not hit hrs but ground balls and fly balls advance runners and score runs. He bats leadoff. Its not a lot but I wouldn’t rule out him finishing with 10 to 14 hrs.
Batting average on it’s own doesnt matter. Imo, it’s best paired well with SLG. When you take those two into account, you’re looking at how many hits a player got and the quality of those hits.
Thanks guys. I was only “yankin’ your chain”. This was an opportunity to take a slap at the current measuring stick. Frazier is a quality player who doesn’t hit many home runs and is highly desirable for many contenders to have on their roster, very rare in today’s game.
Thank you Adam Frazier for being a rock solid hitter.
@jerrybird
Like most things, scarcity increases its value. Hits sustain rallies. And when everyone is looking at OBP (Moneyball),
Doing something different provides a look other teams may not be ready to defend. The problem with the WS is they drag their feet. Their are always rumors of who they are looking at acquiring. Detroit, for instance, went out and got Miggy, and Price, and Scherzer without the dragged out negotiations going public, when they were building and contending. WS like to talk big. They know how to tear down (Sale, Quintana, Eaton, and Semien) but don’t know bupkis when it comes to crossing the finish line and acquiring what they need (Shields).
He has a 140 wRC+…if you’re going to try to be cute, learn about what you’re insulting, otherwise you come off as a moron.
Overlooked by most if not all comments and articles I seen on Fraziers career year. He made a minor but effective change to hitting early spring training and it’s obviously worked. Everyone keeps saying he will regress back to the .276 guy he has always been and that isn’t a sure thing. More likely he will hit around .300 or better for years to come.
Agreed. He made some tweaks that have resulted in more line drives and doubles instead of a few more homers and fly outs. I don’t think anyone is complaining. He’s strong enough to hit 15-20hr but the avg would come down dramatically. 2B that hit 20hr and bat .250 are a dime a dozen. He plays old school and does all the little/dirty things; bunts, hits oppo to move runners, can steal a bag here and there and more. He could easily replace Madrigal this year and be a super utility next year. He came up as a SS and I’ve seen him play 3rd on occasion. He’s much more than a weak hitting, career year, just a .276 hitter. I’d hate to lose him.
Bottom line is, Bucs shouldn’t trade Frazier unless they get a haul. A deal that makes em squeal.
I’ve said before, this is a well rounded Sox team. Personally, I think they’ll be fine with who they have. Not entirely against them picking up Frazier or Escobar but they’ve been getting by just fine with Mendick, Garcia and some of the young guys. It’s not always about what they hit. Sometimes it’s when they hit it.
The team has been getting by because they are beating up on bad teams.
Good teams have already made them look pedestrian. They need more help if they want to make noise in the playoffs.
Unfortunately, I agree. However, I suspect it’s mainly due to the decimated outfield.
There are some definite positives going forward. Their problems offensively the past couple months have been largely Yermin, Eaton, and Vaughn not being able to hit RHP. Vaughn has 4 straight 2 hit games vs RHP. Goodwin looks like more than an adequate replacement for Eaton, although he should sit vs lefties. And the combo of Sheets/Burger should easily exceed what they got from Yermin the past couple months. Plus they should have Eloy back in a month, with Robert to follow. I know they’ve gotten by against bad teams, but they will have a very different team than the one they’ve gotten by with. No Yermin, very little of Eaton, and hopefully a version of Vaughn that hits righties. Plus Eloy and Robert, and Engel… I mean that’s a totally different team. They should be able to put their offensive struggles behind them rather nicely.
I cannot say its solely due to injuries and specifically the OF injuries (though this conditioning staff must be putting in more time at the golf course instead of the training room) . Eloy and Robert had not really shown anything yet IMO other than then they are free swingers a lot of the time, and I’m not sure their stats against good pitching would be any better than what is out there now.. The Sox are something like 13-25 vs over .500 teams, that is not good if the playoffs and World series is the goal..I think the Sox have a few guys buying their hype instead of going out and putting work in. Unfortunately those guy are also the thumpers you have to rely on if you’re the Sox, and Im sick of the Sox PR dept hyping up guys like Giolito and Cease.. Giolito is not an ace, he is a #2 starter at best, Cease has not shown me anything to make me believe that he is more than a #3 starter at best.. I think Kopech is the ace of this club and should be starting next season as the #1, That is if the conditioning staff can figure out how to do their job and stop pitchers from getting hamstring pulls……
In any case I do not see this Sox team doing well in the playoffs this season, due to injuries and also the apparent lack of want when it comes to facing good teams.
Eloy and Robert had not shown anything? I can agree a bit on Robert who had more holes in his swing, as well as your overall sentiment about their lack of success vs good teams, but can’t see why you would think that about Eloy. His career OPS of .850, .900 last year against right handed pitchers. I mean, Eloy may be their best overall hitter, and best vs RHP. I think that’s pretty clear. And Robert is still way better than the conglomerate of crappy replacements they’ve had. There are only 9 hitters in a lineup, when a third or more of them are on the DL, it certainly will change the results. As will their return, hopefully.
I’m not making excuses for their problems vs good teams because they go back to last year as well, even when they had Robert and Eloy. They still had their problems vs RHPs. But year over year this rotation is way, way better, and their biggest weaknesses last year (Mazara and EE) are looking a lot better with some combo of Goodwin and hopefully Engel in right, with Vaughn/Burger/Sheets/Eloy for LF/DH, and some lefty/righty platoons that might make sense. By the playoffs hopefully this team will hopefully be much better, with different players in the lineup than the ones who have sucked so much, so far. Keep the faith, or at least some room for hope and optimism!
Eloy is great, when he is not getting caught in nets, and hurting himself in a meaningless Spring training game (and costing himself a majority of the season) Robert is great too, when not letting popups bounce off of his head…Look when they are on, they are on, the problem is a I rarely saw it when I watched games. Heck they had to convince Robert not to swing for an 8 run homer every time he stepped into the box. I just see a lack of motivation in Robert at times as well. Eloy could be good, but we do not know, I know there were times last season where he looked lost, and I doubt that would have changed this season as the whole team looks clueless to good pitching.. Heck the Sox just lost to Detroit…..DETROIT.. No offense Detroit fans, but your team this year is godawful.. As for my optimism, I have been a White Sox fan for over 30 years and I have seen too much ‘optimism’ and not enough realism, which I think why the Sox have barely sniffed the playoffs in the last 20 years.. If not for the wonderful 05 season, many people would be wondering how Williams is still around in the org.
Frazier is a good player, and would certainly make the Sox better this year. But as a Sox fan, I don’t want them to trade for him. The main reason is that I don’t want him to be their right fielder next year. His career OPS is .767. You know who else has a career OPS of .768? Adam Eaton. Frazier is good offensively for a 2b, but very mediocre for a right fielder. He’s having a career year and not going to hit .330 again. Frazier does not hit for enough power for RF, and his lack of power limits his upside such that it would be dumb to overpay for him. Plus RF is not his natural position. I doubt he would be an excellent fielder in right. So Frazier makes them better this year, but creates problems and limitations for them next year. If they get him and overpay, of course it will be because he makes less than 5M.
The only way it makes sense to trade for him in my opinion is if Madrigal is the centerpiece of the deal. I don’t like the deal at all, but Frazier is arguably slightly better than Madrigal. But it would create a hole at 2b beyond 2022. Not worth it, my opinion. But at least that way Frazier would be their 2b next year, and they wouldn’t be stuck with another mediocre offensive right fielder who can’t hit more than 10 homers. Goodwin has a career OPS of .780, a platoon with Engel would provide much better offense with more power than Frazier most likely. Or hopefully they can sign an outfielder FA that can hit… anybody recall “the money will be spent” narrative? : )
So I hope they either get Escobar on the cheap, or somebody else who does not require much in a trade, or go with Beckham who is now hitting .280 with an OPS of near .880 at AAA, who they could bring up for free. I’m sure Frazier would cost a lot, I would not even want them to give up Burger for him, and in spite of improving the team this year, Frazier is not a good fit for them next year. The biggest need the Sox have right now is probably bullpen. I don’t have any confidence in like half their relievers.
I agree on the need to improve the Sox bullpen first.
I think the Sox at this point are deluding themselves. They are horrible against over .500 teams and it will take more than one starter, one Bullpen arm, and one positional player to fix that. Robert and Eloy both sound like they may be back and that should help, but I would definitely not sell out whats left of the farm system for a 1 year rental where it may really not help at all.
The white Sox just need to get to the playoffs with more guys healthy. Then they have another starting pitcher to throw in the bullpen mix along with Kopech and Bummer back. I’m not worried about the record vs above .500 teams. The real test is In October.
It’s not fair to compare what they do with a team of replacement players to what they do at full strength. But the final two months of the season they should be closer to full strength, and should start beating good teams if they are truly an elite club. I can concede that their bad record against good teams is partly because 1/3 or more of their regulars have been on the shelf almost the whole year. But they had a losing record against good teams last year as well, and lost in the playoffs. So there is some relation of what to expect based on how they do regular season vs playoffs, certainly. They will play some pretty good teams the last 6 weeks of the season, how they do against them should give a pretty good idea how good this team really is and can be expected to do in October when it really counts.
‘The real test is in October’.. That can go up to those other noteworthy quotes like : We’re down now, but its a long season’ and ‘just wait until the playoffs’. Those same people most times then are saying ‘I wonder what to do now that my team is out of the playoffs so early’…. I love the Sox, believe it or don’t, I have just followed the team long enough to not caught up in the giddy optimism when I see how this team loses.. Bad fielding, cannot even come close to making an effort against good pitching they face, pitcher buckling like belts when they face tough situations, a bullpen that implodes constantly, a closer that cannot close out games. All things you DO NOT want in the playoffs which the Sox do a lot of.
Yknow what they say, Excuses are like @#$holes, everyone’s got one and they stink….
Hey, I could be wrong, Robert and Eloy could return, hit like gangbusters, and the Bullpen can magically right itself, and the fielding can tighten up (unlikely with Robert and Eloy in the OF though). Eaton,, Engel and Hamilton could stay healthy (unlikely with the way their conditioning staff works, or rather, doesn’t) and rake the ball. Anderson could start hitting well over 300 again, Mercedes could decide to adapt to what pitchers were doing to him, Giolito could start looking like the ace everyone says he is, Kuechel and Lynn will stay healthy and not have a drop off, Rodon keeps it up and does not have yet another injury, Cease learns how to not pitch himself into jams, and more importantly, find ways to pitch out of them. Bummer will stay healthy.. etc etc.. But I rarely see other teams with all of this coulda shoulda woulda….,
Good analysis jhome. You should contribute to the Athletic. Assuming this isn’t James Fegan’s nom de poste.
The Sox may be trying to get the Dbacks to move more quickly on a deal for Escobar. Right now the Sox could use more power. And having him for 2b and 3b (to rest Moncada) might be better than adding Frazier at a higher cost of prospects. But having Frazier’s OBP, AVG and contact for the rest of this year and next would also be great for the lineup. With Robert and Jimenez due back that lift in power should come from them.
No way Madrigal is included. He’s a fixture for years to come. If Frazier can play LF (spell Eloy Jimenez) and a solid RF along with 2b, then spending assets on Frazier could make sense.
This year has shown the Sox how valuable it is for players to have positional flexibility. I wouldn’t be surprised if Yermin Mercedes was dealt this year. Guys like Gavin Sheets and Jake Burger could pick up the slack that Mercedes was giving them.
Breaking news from Jon! LOL
Some team might bite on Mercedes.
He is available @ Charlotte.
Note to self:
Check back in 25 days.
Same rumors with no substance.
Yes, Hahn says they are working on trade(s), but likely will take a while to finalize.
GM’s are more interested in and, therefore, busy with amateur draft.
At something like 13-25 against over .500 clubs, the Sox have a lot more improvements to be made than one utility player (that they will likely have to over pay for). While I get its a dead horse at this time, with Hahn and that Tatis jr trade, I worry about anyone he or his staff deems as ‘available’ as well. I just think the Sox need to ride it out with what they got now and hope crushing their division and the bad teams gets them into the playoffs. If they get Eloy and Robert back, catch lighting in a bottle and happen to start having a better bullpen, and pounding out wins against the best clubs in the AL then awesome! However, I think the Sox have to focus more on 2022 unfortunately. Get Kopech (and maybe Crochet-if he does not wind up have TJS at some point as all pitchers seem to now) into the Rotation, have everyone healthy, fire their current conditioning staff and get one that actually does their job. Find a RF worth their salt (and not have to rely on guys who are not OF provide supersub performance the whole season), and watch the same bullpen guys have a good season (as all bullpen arms seem to have a good season then bad then good) and make the run then.
really looking at pipelines prospect list Cespedes and Sheets look interesting. they have a few pitchers as well.
the upside with trading with the sox is that they could be available. They already have established MLB players. If they’re going to make a deep play off run wouldn’t be unreasonable. If that’s the case, I could see a Cespedes going to Pitt as the headline of the deal.
They could make up some of that loss in the off season if everyone gets healthy
The Sox would have to be out of their minds to give up Cespedes for ANYONE on the Pirates though.
lol
They definitely needs a fill in 2B, another reliever & some sort of SP.
I really hope white Sox don’t make this move. Right now they need to play this out. Burger and Sheets coming up should be ok all July. Deadline we re-evaluate but panicking and making bad moves has always been our Achilles heal in the past. Let’s not panic.
I’m thinking the Pirates will take Mercedes for Frazier straight up—he’s a beast.
Where is is Mercedes playing on an NL team though?
Frazier not going to get the return we expect IMO. They don’t have to trade him necessarily. I’m not 100 percent sure it happens TBH.
I personally think the CWS should go after Escobar who is probably less expensive. Prospect wise. And they can afford his contract.
Frazier makes more sense to a small market team because of his contract. And I don’t see the CWS having the Pitching Prospects the Pirates are supposedly looking for.
Obviously J.Kelly would be laughed at. Same with Crochet or Kopech. And M.Thompson looks raw. Maybe Norge Vera or Dalquist but besides that, it doenst look to promising. Especially Pitching under 21-22 years old.
I just don’t see what would work for the Pirates rebuild besides the International signee prospects in the CWS system. And would the CWS even be willing to trade a Hispanic player they gave a huge signing bonus too.
What maybe Norge Vera and One of the B.Ramos or B.Bailey kids