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1. The thread title wasn't created by SoxTalk mods, or FutureSox staff. It was poorly written yes, and then fixed by Mods - so they did exactly what they should do. How is that a reason to bash FutureSox? 2. FutureSox rarely "breaks" news outside of little stuff specific to the minors, and only goes beyond that when information is confirmed and very high confidence. The track record is there for all to see. This was not FutureSox, it was someone who (among other things in his life) also is with FutureSox. 3. Mike Rankin has better connections in baseball than about 99% of the people here. So if he's getting information, it may not end up being true (even Rosenthal is wrong sometimes), but if forced to bet, I'm a buyer. He's never been one to just throw stuff out there for funsies. He has a source. Time will tell if it's correct. 4. FutureSox did not report on Wheeler going to the Sox by Thanksgiving. I have no idea where that is coming from. 5. Glass houses, Steve.

The fact that you refer to him as "this Wheeler guy" tells me everything I need to know about your comments.

I will guarantee we either sign one of Ryu, Bumgarner, or Keuchel or we trade for a starter and then sign Castellanos. We will definitely sign at least one back end guy like Wood or Gonzalez too.

I’ve seen a lot of this guy, both streamed and even two games in person. Overall, I’m on the fence as to whether or not he can be an impact addition. I think he’ll hit, but I can’t be confident he’ll hit more than a AAA slugger. Some things that the generic articles aren’t saying: 1. The guy is a really good teammate. Very popular in the clubhouse and legendarily level-headed. 2. He is a forward thinker. Has gone out on a limb and spoken out against destructive old-world baseball practices in Japan, such as the ritual overuse of amateur pitchers, among other things. Though there is a growing momentum to change these things, it’s still in its infancy and for a player to speak out as he has is really sticking his neck out against the administration that employs him, for no obvious material return. Just an interesting character note. 3. The exit velos are elite for NPB and above average for MLB. The power is real. He is, also, a fastball hitter, which is kind of rare for Japan, and contributes to his relatively high K rate. Essentially, he is the closest thing to an “MLB-style” hitter, that grips and rips, that is in NPB right now, other than maybe Hotaka Yamakawa. 4. The defense is not good, but it’s because of lack of range, not at all because of clumsiness. The arm is also probably slightly above average, although to be fair, that’s hard for me to tell. It’s just what I’ve read/heard. He would be a fun add and a good teammate, regardless. Performance could range from Daniel Palka to peak Billy Butler that can fake the OF. I assume it would be a low cost addition, but who knows.

October on soxtalk: "you can't send off your entire farm and ruin the rebuild for a player" December on soxtalk: "take them. Take them all. Who can we get? Marco Gonzalez? Sure anyone. ANYONE"

Wait so you take a 72 win team add Robert, Madrigal, Kopech Keuchel Catellanos Grandal. Then you still have Jimenez with a year of experience under his belt, a superstar in Moncada another year of Giolito. Cease and Lopez getting another year to figure things out and it's all worth only 4 extra wins ? SO you subtract Keuchel add Wheeler and Castellanos and they go from 76 wins to a playoff team ? I don't think you care at this point if you make any sense. You are just angry.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/bobby-jenks-baseball-scar-tissue Great read.

If Future Sox cannot tell us the future why are they called Future Sox?

J. Michael was wrong about everything

I'm really warming up to the idea of the Sox trading for either Sale or Price and getting Benintendi as a reward for taking on one of those big contracts. The Sox would then get a quality left handed starting pitcher as well as a promising young outfielder with several years of team control. It kills two birds with one stone. Sign me up for that.

Not true — he’s performed well against MLB pitching in WBC and the two other exhibitions that have happened since. Now, it is absolutely true that he yet to see GOOD MLB pitching. But he’s held his own against average MLB pitching.

If the Sox were heavy on Machado, why would they not be interested in Rendon, who is arguably much better? I'd offer 7/225 all day to Rendon. There is no player that would help our club more in this free agency, or next more than him, or potentially Betts. Eventually this team has to sack up and start acting like a big boy, the time is now. Overpay if you have to, because Rendon is a safe bet to rake for the next 5 years.

Walk away dude

The fact that they were the highest bidder on Wheeler is encouraging because it at least indicates that they understood how critically important Wheeler was for them in this particular market, given their self-imposed spending limits and the alternatives that are left. Unfortunately, whether it’s their fault or not, they missed on Wheeler, and there’s simply isn’t a comparable alternative available that they’ve decided they can afford. The types of prospects they can afford to part with aren’t good enough to get a guy anywhere close to as good as Wheeler. And the next tier of pitchers on the free agent market are either substantially worse, substantially riskier, or both. At this point, the best Plan B (other than deciding to actually try to be a legitimate MLB franchise and go and get Strasburg) is probably to ride the excruciating train that will be the Ryu bidding, as Boras drags it all the way into March knowing he has to cash in on the elite year of a guy who has somehow gotten to free agency despite being healthy for roughly a quarter of his career. Ryu has the ability to out-produce Wheeler (he just did), but if you want to talk about risk — this is not a guy you want to commit too many years to, especially at the AAV that his 2019 performance is gonna command. Dude has been plagued with myriad issues, including shoulder problems that looked like they were gonna end his career just a few seasons back. Maybe you can get him at... what... 3/65? I don’t know that you can risk much more than that given his health track record. Especially not if you need him to be a horse in the #2 spot. The Dodgers were a great fit carrying nine legit starters and shuffling them around like rookies by exploiting the DL and paying the guys enough to stop their bellyaching about getting shuttled back and forth to AAA, but that’s not what the Sox are gonna be able to do.

My fav pre Wheeler thread

You are every front office’s dream fan

So fucking happy Mitch has strung together some good games. Didn't like that pick he threw (not sure if that was to Miller or if he just overthrew Wims who was cutting under). Still, decision making and speed of getting ball out was quicker...but damn, the use of his legs was huge as well. Let's keep stringing together progress Mitch! If Mitch and the offense can do that...than no matter how much of a bummer this season will be (if they do in fact mist the playoffs and I think they still have only like a 5% chance to make it), the arrow on this franchise will still be exciting. Huge final 3 games of the season for Mitch to build on things. One week at a time!

#PrayForSteve

Oh no does a thread title not align with the discussion ?!?!?

Unless the announcement comes from the White Sox account, I don’t give a crap what any inside on twitter says. It just sets you up for disappointment if things don’t turn out.

This is a very minor signing, but I used to play travel ball with him and I'm glad to see him get another shot.

Because there is a lot of false info floating around. That includes the info that started this thread. That’s my point.

This is amazing. Saw him two weeks ago and he looked good.

Bobby Jenks is a very humble good guy who was surprised how well we received him at Sox Fest and showed his gratitude toward us.

4.6 f WAR. Not 3. Plus he excites the fanbase. Generates more interest. It goes on and on. He was actually perfect for the White Sox situation.

It's one reason I was hoping for Machado or Harper last year. One less position to worry about and a ton of capital for fans and potential acquisitions. If Harper was the Sox RF and not in Philly, maybe it isn't so important for Wheeler to be near his in laws. Rendon and the 2 big pitchers do that this year, but it doesn't look like the Sox are interested. Even though they claim to have the money and think they are a destination.

I would love nothing more than the White Sox twitter account announcing a surprise Rendon signing. God I hope that missing out on Wheeler has lit a fire under the front office.

Doesn't seem like the craziest proposition ever since you have made *looks closely* 1 post here, ever

Moncada is a superstar level player, and he's a better defender at third (possibly) than Rendon. These are still people you are managing; what kind of message does it send to Moncada after all he's done and how hard he's worked that you're going to move him again, despite him being a bonafide MLB star? Ego's come into play in sports; heck, "Mr Selfless" himself Derek Jeter didn't move off of SS for a far superior SS (A-Rod). I wouldn't do anything that could be detrimental to Moncada, because he's every bit as important to this rebuild and teams success as Rendon would be. If Moncada came to you and said, "hey, I'll move to RF for this guy and master the position" then fine, but that isn't something that a lot of guys would do.

What's bothering me is that there doesn't seem to be any middle ground between a home run and a disaster off season. Last year was definitely an unmitigated disaster. But I find any offseason that includes Yaz can't be a bad one, and there's still going to be moves made.

That's what I'm saying. Potentially a 280/330/650 guy at the Cell... 35HR/100 RBI guy.... Could approach 40, but I think that's a stretch. Dude just looked like a bonafide alpha at Wrigley.

Obtaining one of the 10 best players in baseball seems like a good allocation of resources to me. Especially so when it's obvious that the White Sox aren't going to go out and spend to get either Cole or Strasburg. I guess it's equally obvious they won't get Rendon though so meh.

Agreed. The unfortunate part of message boards is generally there is no accountability on dumb posts. People say outlandish our outspoken comments and then they get washed away into an abyss of other comments and takes. People change their minds constantly and never get held accountable. A month ago if there was a poll the majority of the board would have probably said their tipping point was like $110mm on a 5 year deal. Me personally? I would've like a 5/90 day, been okay with 5/100 and been meh on a 5/110 deal. 5/120 though. Pass. But the Sox lose out on signing him and the whole board starts freaking out. Just like Machado. Ask who would take 9/270 of machado now after moncadas year? Hell we were freaking out when Arenado signed. Now you barely hear a peep about people pining for Rendon. If you were one of the people going apesh*t on Machado situation then you should be going all out on Rendon.

Get it done? Yes Backfire on us tremendously and strap us down long term? Yes Thank God he went elsewhere

All I know is I'm super-glad I'm not in Hahn & Co's shoes right now. Even as a fan I have no answers (and we fans have the benefit of making illogical conclusions). We need a SP1/SP2 type, but the options sucks.

On to Plan B... We can roll this out around this time every friggin year. With the buzz of last off-season, as much as I loathed Reinsdorf, I was getting ready to heap tons on praise on him for finally bringing the White Sox back to national prominence. I believed they had plenty of money. Lord knows he doesn't spend any of it. 100-120 million dollar payrolls was not getting it done. I thought a Renaissance was coming. Man I truly got played. It wasn"t happening to me again. Walk the Walk.

Good thing the white sox are in the worst division in the league.

Gross, rather just take chances on guys like Jordan Lyles

Why oh why oh why can't this team, with all of its money and financial flexibility (which Hahn boasts about, btw) be in on Strasburg. Cole I sort of get because of the strong signals that he wants to play in SoCal, but why not Strasburg? That's the guy you want in this rotation for this upcoming competitive window far more than MadBum or any of these other second tier guys. This is the moment to make a statement and show the seriousness of moving out of the rebuild into full-on competitive mode. I would love to see the Sox make that kind of statement with a Strasburg signing, similar to how the statement would have looked had we signed Machado. But to not even seemingly be in that discussion to pursue him, I don't know, it's just a little disappointing.

There are a lot of warts on Ryu and Bum. I'm curious why there aren't more people open to Kuechel? If he can be had on a 3 year deal I think he's a good fit. I know he's not an attractive pitcher in this era of baseball, but he has some attractive qualities as a fit for the Sox. His skillset generally ages well, and he's the exact type of pitcher Cooper has historically worked well with. The Sox have plenty of power arms, but they need someone who can provide them veteran leadership and take the ball. He has proven he can pitch in the AL in a hitters park and compete in a pennant race. If MLB eases up on the juiced ball he even becomes a bit of a bargain.

I expect Hahn to find a suitable 2/3 type pitcher. It shouldn't be Madbum. It shouldn't be Ryu on a 4 year deal. Keuchel isn't a 2/3. That the FA market is out of options isn't our problem. If you know going in you can't go for the top two you need a reasonable plan if your top guy goes elsewhere and the others are flawed. And said reasonable plan cannot include dealing away key pieces or prospects in the rebuild. Figure it out. Get a three way trade done. Eat a bad 2 year deal from a team with good prospects and have them send them to a third team for a good pitcher.

He’s not injured.

From what I understand, the White Sox had a 5 year $125 million offer on the table for awhile. Wheeler wanted to be on the East Coast. He told the Twins that. He didn't tell the Sox that because they needed the Sox bid to get a good offer from the Phillies. The Sox got played again. He was never coming west.

Guys, this thread title needs to be changed. Complete fabrication by someone barely better than a Twitter egg.

Can you please stop?

We also had someone from Future Sox say the Sox would get Wheeler by Thanksgiving. We see how that worked out.

Here is my Ryu hot take - so long you can keep him to 3 years, he will not be a difficult contract to shed so long as you can avoid a "big" injury (year long), which he has not had for several years. And if those happen: - The financial cost can be covered through insurance. The main cost is sox losing time without a productive TOR pitcher (which is substantial! people! We should be competitive this year!). Because sox are never near lux tax, that in theory should not affect spending. - In the case of small injuries, say the sox want to unload him after an injury plagued first year, I still see them being able to easily shed his deal on a team buying upside in an always-starved pitching environment with minimal salary kick-in. Will they get great prospect value back? No. But they can shed cost. So in that the main risk I see with Ryu if you can keep years down is the potential that the sox sign him but don't get the productivity. And with that, the sox really need to hit on a 2nd pitcher that has untapped potential and likelihood of health. They probably should have signed gibson.

totally agree. Years seem to bother reinsdorf most, and rendon offers a player that does not hit FA often, is truly elite, and can provide impact few pitchers outside the top three could. If sox could cobble an elite offense together, I don't think it's the worst thing to be a bit year-by-year in its outlook. Costly, productive vets become available at deadline, upstart pitchers emerge each year for FA.

Sox are such a dogshit franchise lol, I don't even feel ashamed to say it

Colossal failure. If you're not going to get the guy, don't open your mouth. Nobody would care about Wheeler if they weren't so obviously all-in on him. Stop walking around smug with the "We'll show ya" mentality.