Baltimore Orioles (19-41 [url=http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-willie-stargell-jersey]Willie Stargell Jersey[/url] , fifth in the AL East) vs. Texas Rangers (30-28, second in the AL West)Arlington, Texas; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Orioles: John Means (5-4, 2.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 45 strikeouts) Rangers: Mike Minor (5-4, 2.74 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 80 strikeouts)Article continues below …BOTTOM LINE: The Baltimore Orioles head to Globe Life Park in Arlington to face the Texas Rangers.The Rangers are 20-10 in home games. The Texas pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 5.06. Mike Minor leads the team with a 2.74 ERA.The Orioles are 11-18 in road games. Baltimore is hitting a collective .240 this season, led by Hanser Alberto with an average of .302. The Orioles won the last meeting 12-11. Dylan Bundy secured his third victory and Pedro Severino went 3-for-5 with three home runs and four RBIs for Baltimore. Drew Smyly registered his fourth loss for Texas.TOP PERFORMERS: Hunter Pence leads the Rangers with 11 home runs and is batting .295. Shin-Soo Choo is 13-for-42 with three doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs over the last 10 games for Texas.Renato Nunez leads the Orioles with 15 home runs and has 35 RBIs. Severino is 11-for-26 with two doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs over the last 10 games for Baltimore.LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 5-5, .255 batting average, 4.83 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runsOrioles: 4-6, .265 batting average, 5.97 ERA, outscored by 12 runsRangers Injuries: Edinson Volquez: 60-day IL (elbow), Yohander Mendez: 60-day IL (elbow), Taylor Hearn: 10-day IL (elbow), Luke Farrell: 60-day IL (jaw), Kyle Dowdy: 10-day IL (elbow) [url=http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-starling-marte-jersey]http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey[/url] , Scott Heineman: 60-day IL (shoulder), Joey Gallo: 10-day IL (oblique), Willie Calhoun: 10-day IL (quad).Orioles Injuries: Nate Karns: 60-day IL (forearm), Alex Cobb: 60-day IL (lumbar strain), Mark Trumbo: 60-day IL (knee). If the wunderkind slugger is even half the player Frank Thomas was, the deal is a big win for the White Sox”WhiteFanposts FanpostsFanshotsSections AnalysisGame RecapsGamethreadsMinorsOffbeatFull ArchiveExclusives South Side Sox Hall of FameCard of the MonthDeep DiveDigitsFlashbackFranchise FactsKnow Your EnemyMost Essential White SoxRace to the BottomSix Pack of StatsSouth Side SnapSouth Side StumperSSS Literary SupplementSuper Stats PackThe Game I’ll Never ForgetTwitterpatingUnder the RadarView From the Other SideWhite Sox on SB Nation HomeStoriesScheduleRosterStatsWhite Sox on Yahoo! HomeDepth ChartTransactionsMasthead MastheadMeet the Players!Links White Sox Web LinksSouth Side Sox standardsCommunity GuidelinesOdds Shop StubHub 鉁旳nalysisEloy Jim茅nezBreaking down the rumored Eloy Jim茅nez extensionNew,82commentsIf the wunderkind slugger is even half the player Frank Thomas was, the deal is a big win for the White SoxCDTShareTweetShareShareBreaking down the rumored Eloy Jim茅nez extensionBig bux: The White Sox are rumored to be entering nine-figure territory with a long-term Eloy Jim茅nez deal.Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY SportsVery late on Wednesday night, H茅ctor G贸mez trickled out a tantalizing tweet:As a reminder, G贸mez is a sportswriter based in the Dominican Republic who broke the Chicago White Sox offer of eight years and $250 million to Manny Machado more accurately and earlier than any of the other “insider” jackals. He also was first with the Robinson Cano and Welington Castillo suspensions, among other stories.In short, he’s a solid source.The story, however, hasn’t seemed to pick up much traction, perhaps because Eloy Jim茅nez himself hasn’t signed off on the deal. But that tiny detail shouldn’t keep us from speculating about the deal, or determining how close Jim茅nez will come to earning such a contract.[Let’s put aside whether this is a “good” idea for the White Sox, or whether it’s merely a make-good to fans after whiffing on Machado, Bryce Harper and the entirety of the 2018 free agent class. That’s a different discussion, which we might surely have in future days.]So, to get the basics out of the way. An eight-year deal would buy out all of Jim茅nez’s arbitration years (under current rules, which may change with a new labor agreement), plus one additional season. It would keep him in Chicago through 2026, the slugger’s age-30 campaign.In 2018 [url=http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-felipe-vazquez-jersey]Felipe Vazquez Jersey[/url] , 1.0 WAR was worth approximately $3.8 million. For the purposes of projecting halfway into the next decade, let’s set WAR value at $4 million. So in order to earn his contract, Jim茅nez would need to amass 25.0 WAR over the course of his first eight seasons in Chicago, or 3.1 WAR per season.I’ve picked two White Sox players from the past to overlay as Jim茅nez comps. On the pinch-me-I’m-dreaming side, Frank Thomas. As the “worst case” (no offense, KenWo), Carlos Lee. Both players brought big bats to the South Side, and not a whole lotta defense or baserunning. Thomas, a Hall-of-Famer, might be aiming awfully high, but don’t we all, deep down, hope against hope that Eloy could be the 21st Century Big Hurt? On the flip side, if all the White Sox get out of Eloy is eight years of El Caballo, well, it’s not a great sign for the rebuild. But still, it gives us a baseline measure.So, plugging Big Hurt’s numbers into Eloy’s contract:Yeah, a massive win for the White Sox. Using Thomas’ performance, Jim茅nez would amass 52.0 WAR in his eight seasons, more than double the minimum expectation of 25.0 WAR. That leads to $208 million in value, and $108 million in surplus value.It should be noted that Thomas won two MVPs in his first eight full seasons, and finished among the top eight in MVP voting in his first seven seasons. Thomas made $33 million in his first eight major league seasons [url=http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-sean-rodriguez-jersey]Sean Rodriguez Jersey[/url] , which would translate roughly to $46.9 million in today’s dollars.Now, for El Caballo:OK, not so good. An overall loss for the White Sox — but still, not a ridiculous one, given they would be signing a player to a $100 million deal without him seeing a single pitch in the major leagues. Eloy-as-Lee comes in at 20.0 WAR, five short of the break-even mark.Lee never finished higher than No. 17 in MVP voting during those first eight years, making two All-Star teams in that span. Lee was paid just about $31 million for his first eight seasons, which translates to about $36 million in today’s dollars.Sure, this is a somewhat silly thought exercise, and one that may not even end up applicable given that no extension has been announced. It’s not even a multi-sourced rumor, yet. However, there’s some measure of guarantee here, given the years covered and amount committed to Eloy. Essentially, Jim茅nez could turn out to be just half the player Frank Thomas was, and still give the White Sox a surplus on this contract.And if Jim茅nez turns out to be more along the lines of Lee, again, it may devastate the rebuild, but won’t really “cost” the White Sox too much. Worst case, Eloy-as-Lee turns out to be just a bit too big a gamble. But really, isn’t it one you have to make, given the position the White Sox have put themselves in after this flailing offseason?
