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Ranked 81 out of 87 for what? Full year FIP? No one is arguing his full year figures were good last year…they were clearly compromised by his first 10 starts when he had a K rate of 6.19 per 9 innings. Based on his minor track record and his first cup of coffee in the majors to end 2024, I don’t find those results to be meaningful at all in terms of projecting future performance. I think he’s much closer to the guy who posted a 4.25 FIP over his next 18 starts and that player does not in fact “stink” vs. other major leaguers. And again, you are attributing all his improvement in swinging strike rate to one start when again that is not true. He was at 9.8% prior to July 12th and had an 11.8% over his final 10 starts. Back out one the one start and he was still at 10.8% over the other nine, which is still meaningful improvement. And why is sequencing just “noise” and not something that can be improved through strategic planning?

Sounds like Colome when he was the closer here. I loved following Colome on the gamethreads because people would freak out with his tight rope acts but damnit he got out of most of the jams he got himself into.

lol gotta love that reporting. If it happens, could be this week. Could be after.

I appreciate Fegen's honest approach in these rankings Braden Montgomery's K% rate is on the border of concerning, reaching 28.7% across 34 AA games. The ability and tools are there to profile as a corner regular, but he will have to make more contact than he currently does. While still promising, Schultz and Smith both have concerns to address in 2026. Schultz has dealt with injuries and it is fair to question how well he would hold up under a starter's workload? Also his 2025 was objectively not good for a top 50 prospect entering the season. Smith has the stuff, but walks plagued him in 2025. Finding a reliable third pitch that he can locate will be vital. As he advances to AAA and eventually the majors, command and control will be imperative, as a 6.66 BB/9 walk rate will not cut it.

Ryan Rolison, I didn’t know ye

to get this back on track to the topic of the OP...with these moves they have made the last week...they at least look like they are trying to make a plan to be "competitive". IMO this team will be sneaky good in 2027, and next season is a coin flip based on health, some improvements with the lineup looking mostly settled and some good ole luck (when was the last time they got some of that)? The outlook on the team is SO MUCH better than a year ago, so I guess give Getz some love. I refuse to get overly optimistic with this rebuild though as I thought the last one 5 years back was going to lead to multiple division winners....

Ryan Rolison, we hardly knew ye.

I mean if we get a starting 3B out of the dude, that's a win there. I was thinking more of Smith and Schultz in that.

Sox Machine looks at the deal and his career: https://soxmachine.com/2025/12/white-sox-sign-sean-newcomb-to-one-year-contract

https://soxmachine.com/2025/12/munetaka-murakami-arrived-on-the-south-side-and-the-white-sox-are-still-wrapping-their-heads-around-it

Haha, had two windows open and must have replied in the wrong one.

This is Soxtalk. Is there such a thing?

Always liked Newcomb. Lot of risk with injury, and lack of success in this capacity, but I think he'll have a nice little run here in his thirties as a useful reliever though. A lot of base runners, so he'll be pitching out of jams with some frequency, but like his sinker keeping the ball in the infield as a reliever will help limit damage.

As I already showed, his swinging strike rate did not spike with that time (excluding our one WASN game). Having a spike in k-rate without a spike in swinging strike rate doesn't have a lot of sustainability. I don't want to keep going back and forth on Burke. I've already likely wasted enough words on a guy who isn't worth this much of a review.

I was bummed to see Wolkow so low

From the looks of his velos over those starts, he is throwing much harder at that point. More K's, but also a lot more walks. His HR rate didn't change, meaning he was still getting hit about as hard.

Well, it reinforces that Longenhagen doesn’t see a superstar in the system. I suspect Bonemer might end up being very good. Lotta ceiling for Oppor as well.

He struck out 9 or more batters per 9 innings in nine of 10 starts. He struck out over 11 batters per nine in half of them. This is not one game radically changing the outcome here. Take that game out altogether and he drops from 1st overall to 9th in this period, so still very much elite. You continue to use facts disingenuously and hope people are too lazy to fact check you. I still want to know what caused his K rate to nearly double from his first 10 starts to his 10 starts. If it can’t be improvement or development, then what was it? And how often do random dudes luck into a 12+ K rate per 9 over any random 10 start sample? Show me all the outliers because I didn’t see a single one in the data set I referenced, but sounds like you feel this is commonplace and should be able to easily identify dozens of instances like this.

Love the Bonemer ranking. Credit to @Autumn Dreamin for this link:

Mildly surprised to see no one rated higher than a 50 FV. That kind of reinforces the idea that no one sees a superstar in the system.

Solid little move.

The "elite K rate" thing is smack in the middle of a lot of other noise. It didn't change his HR rate, and it about doubled his walk rate, leading to no actual change in his expected performance. I previously said, I think his peak is a #4 starter, but I do think he has some consistency work to do to get there.

Like this more than giving multiple years to Fairbanx.