Rodon is even due back until June. Then he’ll be off tommy john a year after shoulder surgery. He was never that good to begin with. He’ll be lucky to get 5 wins.

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The longer Wheeler is/has been linked to the Sox, the less likely this is gonna happen. I am calling it now, Nova will be re-signed.

I've never said a good team doesn't have a marginal effect on a starter's record. But I'm not asking Rodon to do anything more than he's already done anyway. If he can make 20 starts and be 8-8 that will be fine.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

what?

so you want the guy who was the #3 draft pick and was projected as an ace pitcher to just be .500 and you are ok with that?

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

For next season, coming off surgery, yeah. How many expensive Cub starters do you think will be better than .500 next season?

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

You are getting as bad as Frank about turning every discussion to the Cubs

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

YOu have to admit that he is still unproven in the big picture. Mostly because he has been very injury prone. You cannot depend on a guy like that to be in your starting rotation IF you want to compete. Neither can you count on Lopez or Cease. The Sox need two guys at the top three of the rotation that have a high probability of starting ever 4-5 days and getting wins.

Good teams go into a season with 7 or 8 guys on their 40 man roster who can win games and the younger pitchers can do ably if the top guys go down. Let Cease, Dunning, Rodon, and Lopez fight it out for the last two starting pitching spots with maybe one of the others moving to the bull-pen or back at 3-A. That is how you build a championship team in my book.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I don't consider Rodon unproven. His health is an obvious concern. If they're both 100% I'd take him over Wheeler any day.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

come on man...you are just getting silly

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think that re-signing Abreu and signing Grandal were very good moves. Adding Grandal does really improve the everyday line-up as well as Roberts making the team and adding to the line-up. They really do not need much in that line-up and with Madrigal and a couple of other guys coming up, their line-up will be one of the best in all of baseball.

Personally, I do not want them to blow all of their free agent money on a top pitcher. I'd rather have them invest their money in 3 or 4 good pitchers, both starters and relievers. Let the young guys fight it out and prove themselves for a roster spot but do not even think depending on 3-4 young guys to count on. The odds of that happening are very long.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I don't think that anyone said that starting pitching isn't important. It certainly is. However, look at Hamel's progression to where he is now and look at some of the guy's lie him in the past that had one or two awesome years and lost their stuff or got hurt. Look at Kershaw. Look at Sale. Baseball is full of these guys. Guys like Verlander or the Big Unit are pretty much freaks of nature and/or very lucky.

Then take a look at lets say Giolitto. He had a very good year last year. What is to say that he cannot rise to being a guy who has a GREAT SEASON. Same thing with Lopez or Cease. You just do not know who takes the huge step to becoming a STAR or goes into the big bucket of failure. Hitters and position players are different. They are greatly more dependable to sink big money into. Arms get hurt and lose velocity much earlier than hitters lose their ability to hit. It is just the way things are.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

In my book, I call any pitcher who has been shown to be injury prone his brief entire career to be unproven. I really like the guys form and stuff. I am not saying he doesn't know how to pitch although I do think that he wastes too many pitches while ahead in the count and shouldn't be so what I would call "fine" in trying to make perfect pitches.

As for Wheeler, I do not want the Sox to go after him, either but I do want two additional good starting pitchers on this team.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

At this point, I can't blame anyone for thinking that.

We need 25 starts and .500 would be fine, but we need him to be the near-ace pitcher he can be at the right time of the season. Of course, we need a right time of the season. If the Sox are 15 under in May or ten back in mid-July and Rodon pitches brilliantly over an eight or nine start span, who cares? (Unless some other team wants to trade for an injury-prone starter who is under contract until 2022.)

If Rodon makes 20 starts and goes 8-8, its the best year of his career. Counting on Rodon for anything other than frustration is stupid at this point.

_________________

Rick Hahn should have a picture of Jason Heyward in his office to remind him of mediocre guys who have career years before getting big money. Then this bad money totally poisons future possible moves having to save face keeping these bums.

Several rumors are out there that the Sox ae being asked about McCann. Teams like the Braves, Reds, Rockies, Brewers, and Astros. It makes sense for the Sox to trade him as he has value and a quite a few teams really need good two way catchers. This may be a chance for the Sox to trade for a good reliever and/or promising outfield prospect. I also think that their move to add Mercedes onto their 40 man roster as well as Rutherford was because both have value right now.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Not sure if McCan is a big enough return to get a RP. Rutherford didn't do so hot in the AFL.

Really? I think you're either underestimating Rodon or overestimating Wheeler.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

Not really. It's roughly something he's done twice already. The biggest issue for him is staying on the field.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

Even if he is fully back and healthy he has done nothing to show he is as good as Wheeler. I am not saying Wheeler is a stud or anything close, but he has been better than Rodon and there really is not argument otherwise

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Slightly better maybe. Lower ERA in a weak league where he faces pitchers.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

Wheeler vs Quintana. Pretty much the same pitcher. Sox might as well just trade for Quintana.

There is no maybe. He has been better.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Rodon has never had the chance to be an ace. He had ace stuff, without question. Whenever he got on a roll, he'd get hurt. I don't see that changing now with both a repaired shoulder and a repaired elbow. His next injury will be his last. I have 0% faith he will ever help win playoff games.

He needs to go the Smoltz route of close out games, but he won't do that.

Maybe. Maybe not. He's a guy that has to be in a full sweat to put the ball where it needs to be put. He's always been a notoriously slow starter. He needed 5 or 6 starts to get his command. He'd get it, make a run, and then get hurt. Maybe at closer being up and throwing 3 times a week would help. But maybe he just gets hurt quicker. Whatever, I'm just putting him on the bottom shelf not expecting anything from him.

Quintana is more durable. Sign Wheeler to a 5 year deal how many starts will he miss?

Rick Morrissey lost his mind.

_________________

That's embarassing.

You could be correct. The point is he obviously has much more ability than Wheeler and he's displayed it for stretches and then he's gotten hurt. Maybe that's just who he is.

In any case, iit's probably not wise to pay $100 million to a guy who at his best isn't going to give you a whole lot more than Rodon will if you can get him to make mosr of his starts.

_________________
The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.