Silly Season

Silly Season So Soon

The MLB general managers’ meetings in Arizona this week begins baseball’s silly season, up to and through the winter meetings next month.  Anyone with a dumb idea and the platform to convey it has the floor.

Here are two I read today: the White Sox should be willing to trade Tim Anderson or Yoan Moncada in a super deal; Moncada should switch back to second base to make room for the free-agent signing of Anthony Rendon.  In one scenario top prospect middle-infielder Nick Madrigal plays a key role while in the other he becomes irrelevant.

Rebuilds suck, and the urge to hurry them along with free-agent signings is understandable.  In this case, it’s also dumb, taking a youth movement and giving it a little—or a lot, depending on the length of the contract—age.  I don’t want to see Rendon at a high-skill position when he’s 36; the only person who could handle the hot corner at the age was Brooks Robinson.  Consider that Robinson had three of his sixteen (!) Gold Gloves starting at the age of 36.  In seven seasons at third base, so far Rendon has yet to record one.  He’ll also turn 30 next season.

Imagine the ripple effects had the Sox had signed Manny Machado; either Anderson would’ve been moved off of shortstop to accommodate him or Moncada kept at second.  Who’s to say Machado’s presence wouldn’t have hurt those two, preventing one or both of them from having the breakout seasons they in fact did?  And now Moncada is supposed to yo-yo back to second?  Nope.  I don’t think so.

Try and sign starter Gerrit Cole because he won’t turn 30 until September (and provided he’s not a jerk, which his post-Game Seven performance suggests otherwise).  Other than that, I’d put the onus on coaches and the front office.  Luis Robert and Madrigal are that good?  Then plug them into the lineup.  Michael Kopech is ready to pick up where he left off before Tommy John surgery?  Then let him have at it, with all the support pitching coach Don Cooper can give.

Either the kids can play, or it was all a lie.  Start signing free agents now, and your repeat the mistakes of 2006-2016.  No thanks.