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And if not, they might have some nice veterans to trade for prospects in July.
I can imagine the club's thinking..."The Indians, with the departure of Kluber, are done as the divisional dominator for a few years, the Twins leaped from 78 to 101 wins in 2019 so they may be a fluke and 2020 will see them slide back to somewhere between 78 and 101 wins. Both the Tigers and the Royals will be returning the nucleus of bad clubs, so 2020 is our window of opportunity."
Sometimes these seize-the-day efforts pan out...the Marlin championships come to mind, and sometimes they backfire. Seattle and San Diego have tried it several times and never gotten satisfactory results.
I can imagine the club's thinking..."The Indians, with the departure of Kluber, are done as the divisional dominator for a few years, the Twins leaped from 78 to 101 wins in 2019 so they may be a fluke and 2020 will see them slide back to somewhere between 78 and 101 wins. Both the Tigers and the Royals will be returning the nucleus of bad clubs, so 2020 is our window of opportunity."
Sometimes these seize-the-day efforts pan out...the Marlin championships come to mind, and sometimes they backfire. Seattle and San Diego have tried it several times and never gotten satisfactory results.
The Sox's plan has gone back further than just what the Twins and Indians have done recently, though certain internal options going through injury, not panning out or coming along too slowly likely drove some decisions. I don't think they expected the Twins to be this far out front, and I don't think they could've foreseen the Indians trying to offload their best pitcher and position player in the same offseason.
The Sox's plan really began with the Chris Sale and Adam Eaton trades in December 2016. Along with signing Robert out of Cuba during the 2017 season and trading Quintana for Jimenez and Cease in July 2017, 2020 was the initial opening of the window that was visible dating back 2.5-3 years. There's been some hiccups along the way with Rodon, Dunning and Kopech requiring Tommy John surgery. Former first round draft pick Jake Burger tore his achilles twice in the same month and has barely played at any minor league level. Potential internal options in right field either have developed too slowly, injured or never reached much potential (Avi Garcia, Micker Adolfo, Luis Basabe).
-Zack Collins has shown he's likely not the catcher of the future, and McCann was a good surprise last year, so they'll go with a Grandal/McCann duo (arguably the best catching combo in the league).
-2019 1st rd pick Andrew Vaughn is 1-2 years away -> therefore 1 yr w/2nd year option for Encarnacion. Very low risk.
-Kopech/Rodon/Dunning injuries, former 1st rounder Fulmer hasn't amounted to anything, and ReyLo struggles led to the Gio Gonzalez and Keuchel signings. Cease has only been up for 3 months so far. They may have 7 legit starters by September 30th.
-The Sox have rightfully traded away some solid pen arms the last couple years for prospects, a lot of the guys they've taken flyers on have struggled. "Closer of the future" Burdi has been injured multiple times. Cishek adds another nice 7th/8th inning option. For a reliever, the guy's been a model of consistency for a decade. Usually they're more hit or miss.
-Nomar Mazara is marginally worse than Ozuna, Castellanos and Puig, so might as well trade a 2nd rounder for him and see what he can do for a year before trying to get a big RF fish next year (I think they should've gone for Harper last year). That said, you're doing something right if Mazara is your 8 or 9 hitter.
For the first time in years, maybe since 2012, this team at least has some depth and a legit major league player at every position.
If they hired Girardi in the first place like they should have from the start they'd be perfectly fine right now.
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