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He's our Charlotte Knights correspondent for FutureSox and he works his ass off. Why are you such a fucking tool on here so often?

So good topic for the ASB for those that are okay reading a long ass post but I don't care because it took time so instead of giving you the info upfront, I'll force you to read my journey like a food blog (jk, i'll give you info up front then you'll have to stay out of guilt) Obviously, the white sox have gone through a lot of injuries this year, and it has led to a number of rookies coming up that have performed well. Nick Hostetler was the Scouting Director for the 2016-2019 drafts and responsible for most all of these guys that have come up. As someone that didn't care for Hostetler, the whole last year has caused me to re-evaluate, but the question of "did he do a good job" is always hard with drafting because: 1) we are only 5 years away from his first draft, and 2 from his last draft 2) compared to what? There is so much stuff to follow within the white sox itself that it's hard to follow how they compare to other orgs, and we are usually comparing them to their past selves. So I looked at 2 orgs I felt draft well, and then the rest of the ALC to try and get the first draft of the answer of "did Hostetler draft well". So here is what I didn't like about Hostetler: - Too college heavy, and often unathletic or "maxxed out" college players - Did not like use of 2nd round picks on college players like Steele Walker (still right) and Gavin Sheets (woops) - Too many bullpen pitchers and pitchability over stuff arms I thought the guys had higher floors but ceilings so low they get washed out in A+ or Bham. But then a funny thing happened and a lot of these guys kept coming. So I looked at # of players that made the majors, games played in majors, and WAR. There is a good chance I undercounted other teams as this was incredibly manual. If someone knows a better way to find this stuff let me know. I went into this kinda expecting a triumphant answer of damn Hostetler was way better than I thought. But it ended up being a weird middle. I guess I thought I'd walk away being like "wow my judgments of him were way off", but instead what I admired was this: Hostetler in an interview said the sox knew they needed depth in their minors so he set out to create it. Those were his words, but my interpretation of that was "don't swing for the fences, we need baseball players because the home run hitters are coming via trade". Now, I still take issue with the fact that for most of his time, he said "BPA is what you always have to do" which is weird in baseball and also apparently not what he believed. However, the guy had a plan, and he executed it...that's my takeaway. But I'm still not sure it was the best plan, even as we benefit from it. And my main issue is still 2016. Now 2016 for the sox actually saw a good amount of Major Leaguers: Players - Collins, Burdi, Lambert, Flores, Foster, Hamilton However, the combined WAR of that 2016 group was -0.9. The players from 2017-2019 provided 4 WAR. So 2016 is almost 50% of the players sent to the majors but like negative 20% or something of the WAR. And that's the draft that kills me. While some of this is unfair comparison because all of the other teams on this list have comp picks. It's a huge deal. It's a huge leg up, trust me, I'm not discounting it. However, the players that were most impactful to date are hard to say were due to that. 2016 for the padres netted them Cal Quantrill, Eric Lauer and Lucchessi (2.1 WAR). None probably make you swoon, but they are valuable starting pitchers. 2 of which were selected ahead of the sox, but still, the sox were in similar position to try and add this kidn of talent. The Indians this year? They added Civale in round 3 and Bieber in round 4. The sox drafted Alex Call (netted us Yonder Alonso) and Jameson Fisher (in AA). We had the most capital in 2016, yet walked away with least production, but Collins could be on the up and up. But thennnnn 2017. 2017 is a trash draft. Pretty much nobody did well, though McKay for the Rays (selected 4th overall) may be the best overall WAR leader when its all said and done. There is little to care about after burger was picked except the Royals suddenly have a guy in Pratto who is crushing this year. The sox now have Burger and Sheets in the bigs and potentially being solid long time offensive players. So they found good value then. In 2018 - Heuer and Madrigal were huge contributors. And vaughn on the way. But those were the top 5 pick guys. I still think there was a huge lack of finding a really solid non-bullpen late round pick that even teams like the tigers found (Skubal). Basically he did a good job doing what he wanted to do, I'm not sure it was the best thing to do, but he was still better than most and not as good as the best. Baseball!!!!

In retrospect, they really should have been targeting Harper more.

ESPN gets worse and worse as time goes on. Production is usually much worse than the competition (TNT's Inside the NBA is on another planet compared to ESPN's NBA trash), biggest personalities are typically hot take artists (Skip in the past, Stephen A of course), their sports analysis drops off further every year. Everything about ESPN just sucks honestly. They put Max Kellerman and Stephen A on UFC 264, and they don't know anything about MMA. It's just a joke at this point. Not to mention the recent controversies.

With many of our players, but for some reason especially Yoan, it's a case of what we have vs. what we want. And if someone showed Moncada's stats without revealing it's him, most people would LOVE to have that guy on the team. The Sox have one of the best 3B in the game that gets on base 40% of the time, and fans would love to have...well, one of the best 3B on the game who gets on base 40% of the time. But not Yoan Moncada.

long time lurker, first time poster. Some of these takes are insane. good lord.

If you'd like to head down to Charlotte on a nightly basis and cover the team for us instead for free, have at it man.

On a related note I did a bit of a deep dive into Lindor's stats last night. WTF were the Mets thinking? There are red flags everywhere in his underlying offensive stats. There is no question TA is the better player now and going forward, even with Lindor's defense being near elite at SS.

ESPN is garbage.

Let’s see him do it without sticky stuff

To add to the dogpile I put that guy on ignore 4 pages ago in this thread. That ballgame is ovah!

lol, disc golf. a great excuse to walk around the woods and get stoned.

Kopech at this stage of his career has pitched like 47 innings. Moncada has been a top 4 or 5 player at his position for multiple years now.

No comparison. Kopech at this stage is clearly the better player. Kopech also has a much brighter upside future. Are you sure you watched any Sox games this year?

The horror

The original poster said Moncada was a big disappointment based on the Chris Sale trade. Stay with his point and not get off that Moncada is better than a bench player Garcia. In hindsight I shouldn't have added the Garcia comparison. At this point as a former #1 prospect in MLB, Moncada is clearly not as good as Kopech, which was the secondary part of the trade. That was the whole point he and I are making.

Moncada RISP in 88 ABs .354/.500/.569/1.069, 171 OPS+ Leury RISP in 77 PAs .359/.413/.594/1.007 165 OPS+ The big difference is Yo has 18 walks and 17 Ks because they pitch around him, while Leury 8 walks and 19 Ks because they don't.

I absolutely agree with you that Moncada is a big disappointment. When the Sox traded arguably one of the best pitchers in MLB in Chris Sale, the two key pieces were Moncada and Kopech. Moncada was not only the #1 prospect in the Boston system, but #1 overall of all prospects. It's clear to me now and should be to any Sox fan, that Kopech is the far better player at this point and stronger future. Hahn didn't make that trade to have Moncada producing at his present numbers. As Steve Stone said, Moncada doesn't have the hustle and drive like Jose Abreu. The fact Leury Garcia has the same amount of RBI's as Moncada in less games is ridiculous.

But he doesn't hit for power.

Someone should tell Steve the odds of JR putting him in his will are about zero.

Nice post, I think he did a solid C+ job and went in with a directive and what he imagined the sox would need at the macro level when the window opened; Burger and Sheets coming back from the dead is a huge boost. I see the org trying to cultivate waves for where they think they'll need support in the near term and 2024 as well and its finger prints are all over the 2021 draft; 2 young good looking middle infielders, a high school pitcher and a very athletic hs outfielder, they're building to supplement future trades and 2024 The way i see the farm is as follows: You have wave one crashing against the major league roster: Burger, Sheets, Burdi, Lambert, Stiever and Gonzalez. This wave is providing depth but they'll be lucky if they can get one 3WAR stand out. Wave two, the international signings that are in the system or coming shortly and left handed relievers: Cespedes, Colas (when he signs), Cesar Prieto (when he is cleared and possibly signs with the sox), Yolbert Sanchez, Bailey Horn and Konnor Pilkington Wave three (late 2023/2024): This is where the organization has shifted its focus and rightfully so: 2B - Rodriguez (20 A), SS - Montgomery* (19), 3B - Kath* (18), LF - Bailey (19 ROK), CF - Krogman* (20 A), 3B - Ramos (19 A) and the high school aged core of Kelley, Thompson, Dalquist, Vera and McDougal. Sox are in a position where they should continue to go high school heavy at both the international and domestic levels going forward. The core has openings in the corner outfield positions with Vaughn likely taking over for Abreu after this contract; but there could easily be a situation where Sheets or Burger continue to deliver on their draft pedigrees and they take over for Abreu after this contract.

TLR is going to win manager of the year and it wont even be close

Jose Rodriguez not even getting a mention here is pretty wild to me. I think he's the best prospect in the system. If Montgomery goes to Kanny and hits as well as Rodriguez has this year we'll all be thrilled about it.

I will let someone else add the specifics, but wanted to get a thread going for this...

If I had the power to go back and change one White Sox move, it wouldn't be adding Machado or Harper. It'd be Machado's teammate. That said, either one would be pretty good right now. But as was mentioned, hard to complain. I'm happy with how things have worked out.

ESPN, and to a larger degree most media, sucks so bad because all these blowhards, Stephen A., Skip Bayless, Mad Dog Russo, is what draws all the eyeballs because everyone is constantly looking to be pissed off at someone. So they get all the money, and the talented producers and writers get fired. The Stephen A.- Jeff Passan thing was such transparent kayfabe bullshit I can't believe anyone engages with it regardless of their opinion.

Yeah, I gotta admit, there's zero chance that this team should get anything other than an A. You could justify an A- on a curve by saying that the Giants and Red Sox have scored quite a bit higher, but large division lead and overcome challenges to do so certainly seems to justify an A. Anyone who has access to that article care to say which team got the F? I'm curious if it's Minny.

Idk at the end of the day we ended up with a first place team who looks to be in first place for a good long while. Hard to complain either way.

I still wish they signed Harper.

Carey Schueler, Ron Schueler's daughter, was picked in the 43rd rounder. Brandon Bossard's son was picked in the 31st. Reinsdorf's grandkid was taken in the 40th round.

1. The government forces vaccination on people all the time for a variety of reasons. School attendance, travel, daycare registration are all places that are allowed to require vaccination, and many do. 2. This is still a virus. If some near me gets an abortion, it does not give me an abortion. If you get a tattoo and stand next to me, I don't wind up with a tattoo. If you meet a transgendered person, they do not alter your gender identity. However, what you do with your body does absolutely affect me in the case of a virus. If a person wishes to put themselves at greater risk of contracting and spreading the virus, they are affecting my body and putting me at risk.

I think they are saying we only have a good record because our division is weak. But that is stupid because of the injuries we have. We deserve an A for being able to have the best record in the AL with our injuries. 54-35 is the best you can ask from this offense.

The Sox better not win the WS. Schoenfield would have to change his B+ to a B or B-.

That's weird, a day ago you said you don't want Fox News....so how would you know this? Or are you just spit-balling? Additionally:

Yet you are calling Ron an idiot 4 posts back here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ why don't you just agree to disagree with him

During Moncada's rough 2018, he struck out 33.3% of the time and walked 10.3% of the time. In 2019, which was an amazing year for him, he struck out 27.5% of the time but only walked 7.2% of the time. So far in 2021, he's striking out only 25.1% of the time and walking a robust 16.5% of the time. He's clearly getting better at the plate, despite his power numbers being down. I would hazard to guess that the power dip is temporary and he'll start hitting for power again soon. He's 26 years old and is one of the best 3B in the game. He contributes in the field with a really good glove and contributes at the plate by getting on base A LOT. Do you know how many teams would kill for a player like Yoan?

I don't want to discuss anything with you, you brought the admins up lol

Calling Moncada a disappointment is the wackest shit I've seen On Here, and I've seen some wack shit

Using an anecdotal opinion of some random person in your argument. Parkman is officially morphing into greg circa 2013.

First off welcome. Second off I'm sorry for what your going to see.

Here's another way of looking at it. Gallo is a 6 WAR player. The Rangers are going to expect a return reflecting that. Based on last year + this year, Engel is projecting out to be about a 3 WAR player. The Sox would only get half their value in a trade. Despite Leury's resurgence, I think the better value is upgrading 2B and the bullpen and riding with the OF we have.

I know what you did was labor intensive but not super labor intensive so It's appreciated. I don't know how deeply you looked into the type of player selected besides college vs HS . What I mean is many top organizations have been going SS CF types way more and way earlier years wise and hoping their athleticism translates to other positions and creating more versatile ball players as they grow and mature. Those types are also easier to trade . Did you check that out ? Seems to me that the SS CF type of drafting for the Sox just showed up this year while many top orgs. have been doing it that way for 5 or more years. I feel like the better orgs stay away from drafting slower, 1st base, C types and focus more on middle of the field athletes with quick bats who can grow into power rather than the power being already an obvious tool. I think the whole organization should have changed to go along with the rebuild. Better scouting, change in draft philosophy, use more of your international money , use more analytics, biomechanics, slow mo cameras. Now I can't say when all of these things started but I think most of it became more of a focus at least a year after they started the rebuild . I'm still not sure if they have caught up to other organization yet in that regard. Then there's the whole Robert signing but because of penalties imposed they trade away intl money and continued to do it after the penalties were over. They're also not using the international money on younger types from the DR and like to get older types from Cuba. They also made a pitch to get Ohtani but were not one of the 7 finalists and perhaps that's not because they made a poor pitch but Ohtani may have had some predetermined destinations in mind. But he did ask every team to give him reasons why they should sign him. I also seem to remember the Sox didn't have as much Int'l money at the time like many teams did. Don't get me wrong I am more probing here than making accusations. But I am curious if they are still more of a promote from within organization or did they raid some top scouts or other people for those other important areas that needed upgrading. I know you might not have the answers .

Romy with 12 HRs and an .840 OPS in Birmingham. That's impressive. K rate is a bit high at 28%. Will be 25 in a couple months. I'm hoping he gets a promotion to AAA soon. He'll need a 40 man spot this offseason.

yeah I think this is the year I stop caring about prospect pedigree and go with the guys I think are the best and rodriguez just keeps outperforming his reports.

Wow. It's clear Tony was the absolute best choice for manager. The players love him.

The TA remarks put to rest the worries that Tony LaRussa is too old to relate to today's modern players. Our record is as good as most expected it to be when healthy. With the megascope of those injuries...nothing short of amazing. I still think RH did a great job in amassing the talent but TL has played it like a maestro.

No, but I'm saying that Gallo isn't enough of an upgrade over Engel to be worth giving up someone like Crochet who can help the Sox win this year.

I would sign both and see if there's a trade market for Keuchel.