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My offseason plan remains the same. Sell the team.

Really hope he goes to the Brewers. Seeing him on the Cubs or Guardians will suck.

Bump

Not adding in free agency when you are in the middle of a contention window seems like a strong strategy as well

He must’ve really fucking hated playing for the Sox

Wow that’s surprising and good for the White Sox. Probably wanted to run away from the clubhouse mess!

I know yesterday makes this no longer a financial emergency situation, but seriously, Grandal, Zavala, and Perez are your catchers and they should be. This is not a spot to be throwing more money at. Play out Grandal’s contract, get the last dregs of baseball out of his legs, and try to have Zavala and Perez ready as a cheap catching pair the following couple years.

Lux hit .175 in more at bats when he was 22. Getting started can be tough, but Sosa has always hit. If given a chance Sosa and Rodriguez will both be above average players in the majors. As a rule, the Sox are impatient with rookies.

If he’s anything like how he played in 2022 I’d rather trade him and “Change the Team” vs “Change the Game”

Glad we’re maxed out at the end of our contention window and can’t fill our couple major holes with legit talent because Hahn is spending $40M+ on a bullpen and $5.5M on a shitty UT guy. That takes a special kind of bad.

Have felt for a few months this is going to be a very annoying offseason. They got lucky with Pollock leaving, but I see very little chance for Hahn to make this team a lot better given his previous failures.

Losing our best bat seems like a strong strategy, I love it

Andrew as a full time 1st baseman will outhit Abreu the next 2 seasons.

Thanks for everything Pito, we'll see you back to retire your number some day.

Ha I don't trust Soxtalk and I don't have the education necessary but as owner I would upgrade everything behind the scenes related to player development , biometrics, analytics, scouting,allow Marco Paddy to do his job without any restrictions and fire just about everyone else. I'd hire as many people from the Rays and Houston as possible to accomplish all that. I'd emphasize middle of the diamond and LH and switch hitters, defense , starting pitching, speed and power. 1st base and catcher would be last on my list when drafting either internationally or college.

There's also probably zero chance you purchased the winning lotto ticket at Joe's gas station in Altadena, but I'm hoping it was you so you can buy the team and let SoxTalk be you're GM.

Yeah. Especially if Bellinger becomes a free agent you sign him and he can be your reclamation project at that point

Yeah I don’t think I’d want to part with the little talent the Sox have for a bounce back candidate.

I certainly hope not. You can easily find the same level or lack thereof production out of a league minimum guy.

I honestly think he's the least likely to go.

Absolutely. And I'm not convinced Grandal is completely washed. I don't think he will ever be what he was in his prime, but I expect him to be much better than last year if he can stay healthy (yes, I know that's a big "if"). Hell, we're only about 14 months removed from a time when Grandal was completely carrying the offense.

I'd buy low on Tucker Barnhardt. Not as a regular, but he would be a pretty decent back up.

He was a bust but I don't blame him if he despises the organization like most of us do. I don't despise the White Sox franchise, I despise the Reinsdorf organization and can't wait until he sells the Sox, I'm not getting any younger.

Alright, let's go get the Judge.

So what shitty 33 year old bullpen arm do they spend these "savings" on?

For sure possible, but not even sure that convo needed to be had, think that writing was sort of on the wall. The guy has played his entire career on the West Coast. He's also made over $70,000,000 in his career counting the buyout he just got from the Sox. He was in line for 13 mil and took 5 million to get bought out, so even if he signs back with the Dodgers or D'Backs for like 6 million, he's costing himself 2 or 3 million and in the grand scheme, I can understand wanting to play where you want at age 35. BUT...there is a reason he declined an extra 8 million guaranteed dollars, and my guess is it's not just playing time, especially given he received nearly 500 PA's in 2022 and put up a 0.6 WAR..there isn't going to be a ton of OF starting jobs up for grabs for a 35 year old Pollock.

Why is it too late?

I still think it's the stupidest s%*# ever. If it's so well received why aren't they doing it in the postseason?

And this is before their: "Rule 5 Eligible Prospects Curtis Mead, Taj Bradley, Colby White, Xavier Edwards, Greg Jones, Heriberto Hernandez, Osleivis Basabe, Kameron Misner, Brett Wisely, Jose Lopez, and more... Shortly after the 60-day IL players must be activated, the Rays will have to decide which of their rule 5 prospects to protect by November 20th. Any eligible prospect who is not protected by the deadline will be available to all teams in the rule 5 draft at the winter meetings. Curtis Mead and Taj Bradley are the two top tier prospects in this crop and will certainly be added to the roster. After those two come the hard decisions. The team’s infield prospects is the most interesting discussion, as there doesn't appear to be room for all of Xavier Edwards, Greg Jones, and Osleivis Basabe on the roster, especially considering utility players such as Miles Mastrobuoni, Jonathan Aranda, and Vidal Brujan are already on the 40-man. Colby White is another strong possibility to be added, as he had huge success as a reliever in the Rays system but he underwent Tommy John surgery during the 2022 season. If you’re wondering how the Rays may approach this situation, last season’s blueprint can provide some context. In November 2021, the Rays added five prospects to their 40-man roster before the rule 5 deadline (Jonathan Aranda, Calvin Faucher, Rene Pinto, Ford Proctor, Tommy Romero) and traded another (Tobias Myers). The Rays made a few small additional trades in November to clear space for these players as well (Mike Brosseau, Louis Head, Brent Honeywell Jr.)." https://www.draysbay.com/2022/10/20/23413595/rays-40-man-roster-end-of-season-update

Dodgers desperately need late inning guys

One of the more realistic trade pieces they have in my opinion to fix holes may just be Liam Hendriks. Frees up cash and yes you would have to find a closer but potentially have one in Reylo already versus having to replace a SP like Cease

Thank god we didn’t sign Machado because we would have been tapped out in 2028 in addition to 2023. KW always thinking about the big picture saved us though.

#Themoneywasspent

Honestly, I think I’m back at the trade Cease & Anderson for hauls scenarios. I just don’t see how Hahn can address our holes via trade. Montgomery is the only minor leaguer who can headline a deal for a controllable impact player. Even if you could move him, Ramos, etc. for Bryan Reynolds, how the f*** do you address the rotation when you’re tapped financially and prospect wise? I’d rather do a semi rebuild leveraging our couple assets that are worth something substantial than do the traditional half ass “go for it” thing this organization loves to do. Between being cheap and continuously rewarding incompetence, Reinsdorf really is the worst. Can’t wait until we’re finally free of his tyranny.

The funny part is the "professionals" acknowledge that those are issues, yet continue ignoring it. That kind of job security must rock.

How many years can we as fans continue to say we need a RF, a 2B and a SP and the “professionals” keep trying to patch it together with dog s%*#

The fans and the City deserve a 200+ million payroll after wasting two years of our lives with the TLR disaster.

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I'a tell you. They "lost" a bunch of money last year.

The good news is Hahn has proven to be excellent shopping in the bargain bin.

Gotta pocket that 8 mil saved from Pollock….I’m sure they will say there will be money at the trade deadline if needed to improve the team or some s%*# like that

He said it’s more likely they add via trade rather than free agency

The White Sox plan to convert Crochet to a starter from draft day on was always ludicrous! He had very little history, if any, at TN that proved he can become a long term consistent starter. Drafting him where they did for that plan shows what an idiotic FO/scouting they are and why high White Sox draft picks rarely come to fruition. He could be a great closer someday and possibly a really good setup man sooner. He can be very effective in any bullpen role but a starter is hard to see given his track record.

Kiley McDaniel has contract predictions out for the top 50 FAs. Let me know if there's anyone you want numbers for. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/34971864/2022-23-mlb-offseason-free-agent-contract-predictions-rankings Some relevant ones: Benintendi at 3/$42, Abreu at 2/$46, Nimmo at 5/$118 but he notes in text he would not be surprised to see it go 6 years as happened with Story.

That's just a really odd way of putting, almost as if giving it the even worse case scenario without context of other teams having free agents to replace as well. Take a team like the Dodgers who are losing around 20 WAR to FA without any turned down options and non-tenders. Apparently the Dodgers need 20 wins of improvement by this scale? Or the Yankees are in the same boat chasing about 20 WAR in free agents. They need 20 wins of improvment? Well, I am sure there is an alternate rationale to explain everyone else except the Sox away.

Apparently Kevin Kiermaier has an option with the Rays likely to be turned down. He missed a lot of 2022 with an injury and hasn't been the paragon of health in recent years, but clearly he can be a defensive backup in CF as well as the other OF positions. As a part time player, he seems like a perfect fit. https://www.si.com/mlb/rays/news/tom-brew-my-two-cents-tampa-bay-rays-outfielder-kevin-kiermaier-fresh-off-hip-surgery-says-i-will-be-back-but-will-he

Those guys suck.

Bring back Nick Williams.

Christmas comes early