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The Sox told Vargas to "swing harder" is pretty funny.

I think making up arguments that nobody else is making in order to "win" is called a strawman. We all know that athletes are the ones who put in the work to get better. That notion didn't need to be dispelled. I would imagine everybody here also understands that the White Sox had the at-bats at the big league level to spare for Vargas to finish developing. The Dodgers didn't. He was out of options in 2025. Getz also upgraded the White Sox' capabilities and resources for Vargas to work in. I do believe the Sox instructed Vargas to put on weight, lower his hands and swing harder. You'll need to explain to us why Vargas didn't figure that out and just do it on his own so that he could stick in Los Angeles.

Hahn was always alluding to some sort of "process" that imo likely involved both JR and KW meddling in decisions the GM should be making with input from below, not above. That said, I said it over and over: if Hahn didn't like his working environment he was free to resign at any time. But he liked those JR checks.

I was getting ready to respond to this and disagree, but then reread you said "this spring training." Coming into the year, prior to spring, him being considered a bench bat made a ton of sense. He was worth 1.3 fWAR over a full season as a starter. When I saw his swing speeds were up 3 MPH in spring, I definitely changed my perspective on his possible outcomes though. Don't think some realize how much of an increase that was and how significant it was to expected outcomes. So I agree, if you still thought he had no shot with the spring data coming out, then you were hating on Vargas too much.

Yeah, and again, it wasn't really about 'liking' Getz. I wanted to watch it and figure out how he worked. Understanding that there had to be reasoning behind moves meant that I wanted to put parts of his anatomy in my mouth. Looking up something else, I stumbled upon this list I made at this time: traded Cristian Mena for Dominic Fletcher Traded Matt Thompson for Bailey Horn Added Josimar Cousin to 40-man, released Luis Patiño Signed Tim Hill, released Declan Cronin signed John Brebbia, released Romy Gonzalez signed Clevinger, released Jose Rodriguez activated Grossman, traded Alex Speas activated Rafael Ortega, released Bailey Horn traded Luis Rodriguez for Corey Julks selected Chuckie Robinson, released Duke Ellis Romy Gonzalez is useful for Boston. Luis Rodriguez has hit a bit of a speed bump in high-A for Houston. Every one of these moves was roundly decried as direct evidence that Chris Getz was a horrible GM.

Was Kenny Williams still hanging around in the background in 2019? I always felt Rick Hahn was encumbered by Kenny.

I wouldn’t be completely sure of that just yet. Up til the trade deadline Boston faces Tampa Baltimore Toronto Atlanta and then the Dodgers. They are currently 2 games under .500, they could absolutely get wiped out of contention by the time the deadline hits. of course they could keep streaking but it’s hard to see them maintaining that for the next 2 1/2 months

I wouldn't say I "liked" Getz as much as I just wanted some discussion of what he was doing. Every move had to suck. I believe my take was that the trade seemed a prospect light. I think it was a bit of a shock what the league thought of Fedde and Kopech. But no, it had to be that Getz was stupid and didn't know player values. Vargas was a top 40 prospect. There was value. As late as this spring training, some were still calling him a glorified bench bat. That's insane.

I am not an Acuna truther, just pointed out he had a split of 28 days.

No doubt, but Gonzalez only stays on the 26 man is if Mune is still hurt.

I know you and some others are committed to giving the majority of player growth and improvement credit to men in suits, but most players get better on the back of their own efforts, commitments and dedication. Organizations can nurture that to an extent, but unless you think the Dodgers somehow didn't know how to develop Vargas but the Sox had the magic, I think we can move past this silly idea. The one thing the Sox could afford to give Vargas that the Dodgers couldn't was time. Guys who are close to quitting don't dedicate themselves to the degrees Vargas has. Vargas deserves the credit for his transformation and for his commitment to getting stronger.

Oh I don't. Me and @WestEddy were mostly on the same page about Getz. That's why a certain mod just called us the Getz Twins. He'll verify that.

I wrote many many things about the trade somewhere. You're always raving about sample size and you take one like , not even a post, over my many many posts about Getz and that trade to sum up my views. You're a real piece of work. I hand out "likes" like candy.

Can't blame West Eddy for that, Getz has been on a roll in 2026.

Identifying a will to improve ? Vargas just got quoted as saying he was close to quitting. I think the Sox built him up, showed they believed in him and he responded to that. Everything about the new regime is positive attitude and co-operative working with each other and the players using every new way they have, be it bio-metrics or caring coercion . That is something they do every day with every player. It doesn't stop. I don't see too many Sox players using the torpedo bat. That was a specific suggestion to Colson Montgomery based on something in his point of contact on a normal bat that they could get better results because there was more barrel in that spot on a torpedo bat or something close to that explanation. I don't even see how you can put percentages on it. 1 change can turn a player from a career minor leaguer to a 10 year veteran. No telling how many busts could've been helped with the right kind of development from a whole organization all using the same methods from top to bottom. Just giving a guy the runway sometimes is extremely helpful. I don't know what got Mead going this year. Maybe it would've happened with the Sox but the infield was where they needed the least help so they dealt him when they could after doing what they could. Maybe it was just time adjusting to the level of pitching.

Well that.... or I'm pretty sure the Pirates would have laughed and hung up the phone if the Sox offered Acuna instead of Gonzalez.

I agree, thankfully he has been more productive with the bat lately because he was an automatic out. Unless he is part of a trade at the deadline I think he is here for the rest of the season. It will be interesting in 2027 if Roch gets called up, with Sam, Chase, and Acuna I think Acuna is odd man out.

I mentioned in another thread that I'm pretty skeptical of a model of that ilk, just because of the diversity of body types in sports. When I was younger and going through trainings, the sentiment at that time was that bulking up would hurt flexibility and limit range so heavy lifting and weight gains would hamper you defensively. Obviously I think some of that was wrong with modern training, but I'm still generally skeptical of a guy gaining athleticism by putting on weight. Maintaining seems possible though. I was surprised to read that they thought if he lost weight, he'd lose athleticism too. I think, in general, those statements are too blanketed and there's probably more to it but if you put on lean muscle mass and shed bulk and some fat, typically your flexibility and the likes increases which improves your athleticism. Obviously all that nuance couldn't be detailed out in 1 paragraph of an article though!

You liked a post in this thread that called the GM (Getz) an idiot and over matched. If you want to try and rewrite history though, go for it!

If he's talking Schriffdog ain't, so that's a win in my book.

Advice for Plesac: Shut up once in a while.

He liked Getz too much. Luckily I avoided a suspension for that crime. Although I was more along the lines of give the guy a chance at first because I wasn't sure he was part of the problem just because he worked there. Guilt by association didn't fly with me nor did any perceived job performance since we had no idea as fans how many real contributions to the suckage he made. As he went on I thought he was hiring the right personnel and saw a real effort to improve the foundation and wasn't too concerned about how 2024 went. Rock bottom sometimes has to happen . I don't think he contributed all that much to that wreckage . That was more a product of the previous regime and he had nothing to work with that year and used what little budget he had on the underbelly of the foundation. I haven't reread if I said very much in this thread, probably that the return seemed light like St. Louis should've contributed something to the Sox.

The body transformation is mostly responsible, agree. He worked hard and it paid off. It was interesting seeing the Sox talking about their projected weigh gain for Roch and how it would affect his performance. Not everybody can put on muscle and remain great at a skill based sport, so trying to at least model it a bit is important.