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The White Sox will sign Oscar Colas and Erick Hernandez. There’s some info on Cesar Prieto in here too. I wrote about it today: http://www.futuresox.com/2021/12/13/2021-2022-chicago-white-sox-international-signing-preview/

One of the classiest guys ever to be associated with the White Sox besides being a very good GM. What an amazing job he did improving the 1971 White Sox by 23 games as the 1970 team lost the most games in Sox history and then almost winning the Division in 1972, if Melton hadn't hurt his back the Sox probably would have won the West. May he rest in peace.

Hemond was the one who brought Dick Allen to Chicago. When he was GM, it was decided to make Wilbur Wood a starting pitcher and Wood had four twenty-game winning seasons in a row. I think if Hemond had more resources, he could have done even more with the Sox. But both John Allyn and Bill Veeck didn't have enough money to build a real winning tradition. He has to go down as one of the best Sox GMs.

? fair man, fair. For context in case any insane person doesn't take the hint: This got asked a lot during the Colas stuff last year when MLB shifted signing dates around. Going to current signees and saying "nah we take it back so we can sign another dude" would basically kill future negotiations because it's a douchey thing to do.

This all just sucks. I had got some great tickets for tomorrow night for my son to celebrate his getting his second shot and he been watching so much bulls. He was literally counting down the days. That said, I obviously didn't want to watch a g-league team play, and my son handled it great, but still a bit shocking to me how out of control this got and so, so annoying.

Traditional -a.) O Holy Night. b.) silent night, jingle Bells Novelty - I wish it was christmas today, SNL Jimmy Fallon and others

My Athletic Director did an internship for the Sox when Hemond was GM. Said that he sat with Hemond virtually every game for at least part of it. Nothing bu great things to say. RIP

I am quite distressed to hear this news. Roland directed the early 70s rebuild and saved the franchise. The A's dynasty kept us out of the headlines.

RIP, a really good guy. He will be missed by many.

I sat next to him at a spring training game against the Yankees back in the 80s. He was really nice and was telling me and my dad about failed trades etc. The Sox won and Roland said at the end it was always nice to beat George even in spring training. Every nice thing thar was said about him is probably true based on 3 hours around him. RIP.

A really all around good dude - RIP.

I hate you.

I know we talk about coaches/players being honest, but someone has to get with him and say "Matt, NO ONE is enjoying the 'aw shucks' routine you think is actually working here." In what world does he think that comes off well?

Great guy and solid baseball man. Always generous with the fans. Rebuilt the early 1970s Sox after the disaster in 1970. Timmy U is right. Baseball could use more people like Roland Hemond. The Sox could use someone with his baseball knowledge now.

Met Roland in Arizona at a D-Backs-Sox game. Wonderful guy.

That's sad. What a classy guy. Baseball needs more like him.

Next 2 games ppd. Finally common sense.

Yes, because we should count on Dad for objective scouting advice.

Same. Although the brand I like seems to get harder to find every year.

Since no one answered this? Minor league international signings including the signing day and scheduled start of a new minor league signing period in January are unaffected. They can continue as planned. Major league international signings such as the posting of the OF Suzuki from Japan are on hold until the lockout ends.

Both sides suck. Owners are billionaires and the MLBPA rejects every core principle of the NBA, NFL, and NHL CBAs. Amazing that people making $50k/yr could "cheer" for anyone in this

Almost equally important was flipping another higher pick, Daz Cameron and pieces, for Verlander. And then how they got their hands on Yordan Alvarez, yet another huge piece of the puzzle.

But here is my problem - you can’t just say “I don’t care about the system as long as the team is winning” because the system remains the lifeblood of the team. How are the Astros still on top? They’re bringing up guys like Tucker, Valdez, Garcia, and Urquidy to contribute as guys like Correa and Springer hit free agency and leave. Those guys who beat us are why they can put together their roster. That’s why they can afford to keep a Verlander or take on the contract of a Greinke. Contrast that with the White Sox - who wanted to add a major piece at the deadline, and forgetting about all the scouting failures for a bit, what did they have to do for that trade? Their system had nothing people wanted again, so they had to package their 2022 second baseman and a 2022 reliever, leaving 2 holes. What is the end result of that? They had to spend $8 million a year on Graveman, and they’re now $14 million from the previous luxury tax line with holes in RF and at 2b, and they could also use starting pitching help. They didn’t have guys to replace what they traded away, and now they’re trying to clear money to be able to put big leaguers into those 3 positions on a budget. Eventually, that format - more holes open, less money to spend - is how you get a roster where Jimmy Rollins, Austin Jackson, Brett Laurie, and Mat Latos are major pieces to start the year, because you have too many positions to fill, no talent coming up from the minors to fill holes cheaply, and not enough to spend. So yes, the draft picks still matter and there international signings still matter. It gets even harder next year, and then after 2023 Giolito and Lynn are both free agents.

And we lost to a team that got Altuve, Urquidy, Garcia, Valdez, and Javier out of the international market.

No, I fully expected you to put this in the worst possible light and ignore the actual superstar we got out of the international market.

So they signed one international player and that means they never have to work at it again, cigars and money are the way now?

Not in 2019. They had 3 years to prepare for that, but even with that, scouting guys to spend all their money on was too much work. But hey, it’s not like the White Sox have one of the worst minor league systems in baseball now, so they did plenty of work and very much deserve their juice boxes.

Huh? The White Sox were out of the penalty box in 2019. They had a big international pool and 2 years in the penalty box they could have used to prepare. They worked so hard that they had a million dollars in international space remaining and traded that to the Rangers so the Rangers could sign a guy they scouted. What does that have to do with their Center Fielder other than making the team around him worse?

Ok here’s my lane. “Casey Mize and Adley Rutchsman didn’t move up through the minors as fast as they should have and that’s entirely their fault and reflects on all number 1 picks because nothing unusual or unexpected happened since they were drafted” is one helluva strange take.

And they realized something was amiss with Aiken and magically turned him into Bregman. I would also say that “no first draft pick has made the big leagues since 2016” is a helluva BS way to point things out given the last year and a half. The 2019 number 1 pick was a catcher (who tend to need extra time), he’s now the #1 prospect in baseball by MLB.com. The 2017 number 1 pick was a top 10 prospect at one point, is only 22 years old, and is down right now from a major injury. 2018 made it this year. And oh yeah…none of them played any baseball in 2020 because of a virus!

Of course that could just be a specific issue with the quality of the White Sox’s drafting, which is something we have heard with this organization for two decades. The Astros tanked and as a consequence drafted Springer, Correa, Tucker, Bregman, McCullers. And a lot of their trade chips. They also signed Valdez, Garcia, Urquidy, and Javier with their international dollars in those years - the money the White Sox couldn’t find anything to use it on so they sent it away to the Rangers. A student who doesn’t work hard might do just fine when they can cheat on the homework using someone else’s top 100 prospect list, but they will flop on the test when they can only rely on themselves.

We’ve found our left handed hitter indeed! Now the only question is if they’ll put him at second or in right.

In case anyone was curious about the White Sox’s supposed interest in Semien, Jeff Passan has the Boras supplied play by play of the teams that were interested in his guys and how things came together. The White Sox never appear in the story even when he is listing the teams that showed a vague interest in Semien at the beginning of November. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/32821654/how-rangers-mets-blue-jays-mariners-combined-wildest-day-mlb-free-agent-history

Is it a bad sign no Sox players are being taken by other teams? ?

Carson Fulmer got picked by LAD lol

this is so beautiful that they are drafting in Slack lol.

It will be ok, he'll probably pass through waivers, or he'll go to Pittsburgh and be their version of Willy Garcia

Any other team is going to have the same issue with him that the Sox have. That is, he is out of options. If he had a lick of value, he’d had been traded last July.

I continue to be surprised that he was not moved at the trade deadline last year. I think he's more than Arizona got back for Escobar, and they have plenty of room to keep him on their 26 man roster to see if he can do anything.

He is out of options.

Crazy to me that he’s still in the organization.

I didn't know they dropped it to 24 back in the 80s, but 25th man is a minimum salary guy and the minimum salary in 1989 was $68k. Shows how ridiculous that was. Next time an ownership will be forced to sell because they did a crappy job managing their baseball finances will be the first. A couple have had to sell because of issues outside MLB business.

The 25 man roster in both leagues was set in 1914. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/baseball_rosters.shtml it became part of the CBA in 1968 (per wiki). The roster was limited to 24 from 86-89 due “escalating player salaries.” It moved back to 25 until the recent increase to 26.

It’s at 26 currently.

We should definitely treat this milb rule 5 draft like a playoff game. Wall to wall coverage.

I agree with this sentiment...it seems like we have been hearing about him forever...waiting on this big-time prospect...and here we are still waiting!

Gonna be a part of me sad to see the Micker era end without ever starting. I do think he can be a Franmil Reyes type and run into 30 or so homers a year somewhere while racking up the Ks. Butttt he quite simply has absolutely no spot on this club moving forward, and certainly not on the 26 man in 22.

It is really not that serious lol