TCS Morning 5: Will we live to see the White Sox add an outfielder?

In the distant future, the effect of climate change have become an unavoidable amount of daily life, MLB players dread road trips to the seceded Republic of Texas and the bizarre and hard-to-acquire documentation needed to go out to the clubs in Houston after the game, the International Draft was instituted and it sucked.

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Division Previews With Paul Boye -- Central Edition

We have been fortunate enough to have the excellent Paul Boye contribute to the site before, and this will be the first of three pieces where he and I give a rough look at how we see the six divisions shaking out in 2016.  Obviously, there are still some free agents out there that could alter the calculus slightly, but with battery mates already stretching out in Arizona and Florida, we could wait no longer.

 

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Erik Johnson's search for his best self

On paper, Johnson may not be the type of pitcher you give anything but a hesitant head shake to going into a season as crucial as 2016 is for the White Sox. But when you listen to the man behind the poor numbers and the rocky past speak, you feel his determination in his words. 

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PECOTA Projects White Sox for 82 Wins

PECOTA was released this morning and you can look at the Depth Charts over here. Compared to the exuberant projection of 92 wins for Cleveland (tied with the Cubs for second in all of baseball!) and the dour expectation for the defending champion Royals (76 wins- the same as the 2015 White Sox!), 82 wins for Chicago looks sober, rational, and normal.

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The Catbird Speaks 2.16.16 - Who knows how excited to be?

James, Ethan and Matt gather together at another odd juncture in the White Sox inexplicable offseason. Spring Training is arriving, but the Sox are an addition short of being an interesting contender, and an odd mix of good, win-now pieces and black holes if they are not making any more moves. 

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TCS Morning 5: [Another headline about waiting]

There is an actual, living and breathing competitor for signing Dexter Fowler identified now in the Baltimore Orioles, who are actually reportedly interested in Fowler, rather than simply being in need of an outfielder during a time when Fowler is the best available. On that alone, I would bet on the Orioles signing Fowler, or at least not the Sox, who have been staring at him indifferently for all of 2016. Perhaps more disqualifying is that the Sox have yet to make a significant, or even multi-year free agent outlay this offseason and it's February so, maybe they're more devoted to the trade market.

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TCS Morning 7: Possibly, maybe Ian Desmond, probably not

As we enter Year 36 of the 2015-16 MLB offseason, and the White Sox draw ever closer to beginning Spring Training with three--a third of the lineup!--regular members of the potential Opening Day lineup coming off seasons with a .675 OPS or lower, we began to see some testing of whether Sox fans can talk themselves into any potential improvement.

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TCS Morning 5: The White Sox very affordable offseason

The last four guys probably are not particularly rosterable, but including Turner's guaranteed money, that's slightly more than $25 million for six guys likely to break camp with the big club. And since Frazier and Lawrie could just be non-tendered after 2016, that is total sum of the commitments they have made overall this offseason, relative to $13.3 million that cleared off the books.

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TCS Morning 5 - Plausible explanations

The White Sox reportedly tried looking in on acquiring Yasiel Puig at what it can only be hoped is the nadir of his value, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. They were promptly rebuffed and re-routed to Andre Etheir, a potential improvement but a very clunky one, and Carl Crawford, whose all-around skill set is less charming now that he's 34, declining and lacks a useful specialty.

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The Catbird Speaks 2.3.16 - We're still doing this?

Nick & James gathered together (all two of them!) to discuss the frustratingly slow offseason. Topics include:

--The merits of Dexter Fowler

--The downside of Andre Ethier

--The case for simply sticking with Tyler Saladino at this juncture

--Even if Rick Hahn is good, it doesn't make missing out on all the free agent outfielders not bad

--What the White Sox are great at, balanced by their struggles

--Looking forward to losing in the ALCS