Leaderboard

I don't quite understand how one can have a 30 grade run tool and play shortstop. Though I'm just a filthy casual draft fan.

He has zero chance to play SS and he swings the bat like he's underwater.

With all due respect, I don't think that is how this will play out. I don't think JR is going to sell the team before he dies. Maybe at some point if his health and cognitive skills fail him badly per Alzheimer or Dementia, he might turn it over to his son Michael. Even if JR was still alive and changed his mind to sell, he does not have the luxury to have a sit-down meeting with each billionaire who bids trying to determine their ownership philosophies. Plus once there is an accepted bid, the other 23 of 29 owners have to approve the sale. They are not making decisions to accommodate Jerry. Jerry might have had some influence many years ago, but I don't think he has the respect or support of most owners today...especially after the dumb comments he made about how many of the owners are so dumb and Jerry couldn't believe how they were ever able to buy a team. Plus, based on how much the Sox will be sold for, there won't be any billionaire bidders wanting to buy the Sox to just run it with ignorance and stupidity as Jerry has. Rich owners coming in today will want to win. The cost to buy a baseball team today is so exorbitant, that they will only spend that type of money because they have the money and they want a wining baseball team. Look at the last sale of the New York Mets with Cohen. Regardless whether he is a successful owner yet or not is irrelevant. The fact is, Cohen wants to win at all costs and is willing to spend ridiculous money as opposed to the loser Reinsdorf. With the huge valuations of teams today, that is how the new owner profile will look. The day this Sox team is sold will be a very special and happy day in my life, as well as for tons of other loyal die-hard fans who have been blatantly screwed for too many years.

I remember when a few members (including @Y2Jimmy0) absolutely ripped me for saying this front office wouldn’t build a winner in November of 2021 with their awful track record of MLB scouting. 2 years later and it sounds as though it is coming to an end, many years too late. Can’t wait for a front office that doesn’t blow money on shitty relievers. I get to victory lap, but our “window” was a huge waste of time.

You are out of your mind. Jerry was emotional, happy when the 2005 team caught lightening-in-a-bottle and won it all, but by no means does Jerry run this team to win, he runs it to make money. Full stop. You know better than this, c'mon. Ridiculous. Fire Rick Hahn

My response as a fan is I just gradually care/follow/attend less and less

Rick Hahn would totally draft a RB in the first round if he were a NFL GM.

Because the White Sox problem with trades like that is they can’t replace guys! The Rays traded away Joe Ryan and he became a solid player. Are the Rays starved for starting pitching right now? Their starters have the 4th best WAR and 2nd best ERA in baseball. They can make trades they lose because they can replace guys. The White Sox traded Madrigal. He’s not anything special, but could the white Sox replace him? They’ve spent $20 million on Andrus and Garcia and rushed Sosa and Rodriguez up from AA to try to fill that hole since, and something tells me they’re not at the top of baseball in 2b production. The White Sox traded Dunning and y’all got to brag because Rick Hahn got a good player back. Have they replaced him? The Sox are so starved for affordable starting pitching that Toussaint is pitching today. Had they developed Crochet and Kopech into solid starters and found another one in 2019 or 2020 this wouldn’t matter, but the fact that they can’t develop anyone creates giant holes. They traded Narvaez for Colome. Colome was fine, but they had no catchers so they spent $70 million on Grandal, on top of Colome’s price. This is how it cascades - they can’t develop anyone, so when they trade guys away they have to find free agents to replace them, but they run out of money after just a handful of signings so they wind up hunting from the trash heap.

On the bright side, there should be a lot fewer players that should go off the board before our pick in 2024

30 grade runner at shortstop sure is something

The good news is, there is not one person on SoxTalk in 2023 that will ever rip you again when you say that this FO led by Hahn, won't ever bring a wining playoff team to Chicago.

He's not selling and sadly he no longer cares about winning. I used to give him the benefit of the doubt but now I have to root for death for someone to hopefully put this idiot Rick Hahn out of work. If Hahn were fired tomorrow I'd be ok with JR running the team. Hahn make Gar Foremen look like Jerry West.

Not a lot of fun knowing death is the only way it gets better

Fucking lose you losers…lol

The absolute embarrassment of a roster constructed by the moron Hahn and further embarrassed by the idiotic manager Grifol is truly something to behold this season. It is so difficult to watch this team have no clue as to how to go about having a professional AB. I still cannot figure out why Anderson is not batting lead off with Benintendi out. He is worse #2 hitter then lead off and he currently shouldn't be doing either. The stupidity of this organization really is something to behold.

I'm sure White Sox management will target a player who's injury prone, under performing, and uni-dimensional.

Shirley actually inspires some hope for me. Seems like he’s done a pretty good job of bringing in legit talent in his three years on the job, although it can be challenging at times to fully verify that given a GM who will rush certain high-end prospects (see Crochet) and a still very poor Player Development staff. The big thing for me is Shirley is willing to swing for the fences. Crochet almost immediately flashed his insane potential and it’s interesting to think what could have been if they actually tried developing him into a starter. Montgomery is the best prospect we have drafted in ages and has legit Corey Seager upside. Schultz is super intriguing with his height, stuff, & arm slot. And that’s just the first round picks. Done are the days of taking safe college players in the 2nd round (occasionally over-slot). Shirley has taken two prep players and an injured, but high-ceiling arm in his three drafts. The returns on those first two guys admittedly haven’t been great so far, but with HS kids you can at least dream on them a bit longer than your Steele Walker types. Beyond that, he’s done some really good work in the mid / later rounds as well. I don’t have strong feelings on this year’s draft, but just want to see Shirley continue doing what he’s been doing. Scout the talent, identify & select those with high ceilings, and hope one day the Sox can actually develop raw talent into valuable major league players. At the end of the day, I’d rather have one Colson Montgomery than three Gavin Sheets types.

Counterpoint: Last time the Red Sox blocked the White Sox was Benintendi, so that means we'll sign him in 8 years.

Teel would have went a LONG way towards fixing the gaping whole in the organization at C, and for Boston to yank him right before us, is a gut punch.

I'd much rather they load up on shortstops instead of first baseman.

That said I got extremely excited for Teel

Miss Billy Hamilton. We win this game with Billy at second instead of Sheets.

What if Adam LaRoche un-retired?

We using this thread for picks? Or do I have to post in the main forum thread with the awful normies? ?

“Minor wrist procedure” What could possibly go wrong…

Shirley met the media on Friday. I analyzed his quotes for FutureSox and SoxMachine here: https://soxmachine.com/2023/07/mike-shirley-white-sox-prepared-for-all-possibilities-in-mlb-draft/

My point is Hahn is not the person who should school anybody. The Sox need to hire managers who do not require schooling, as they have nobody qualified to provide said schooling. Ricky developed the players, built a cohesive team that played hard. Wasn't the greatest manager, but the team definitely imploded the past three years under La Russa and Grifol.

With Getz’s minor league system destined to destroy any draftee I would just be happy with anyone who can learn the coaches names.

No one on either of these teams wants to be out there

The effort by the offense is so abysmal

So they are playing short handed again? And didn’t use the 10 day IL with 4 offdays?

So you're saying the White Sox will have one run after 5 or 6 innings.

They are really doing a disservice to Robert by not giving him any rest this season. He has played in all but three games this season and started all but one game since Memorial Day. During his one day of rest he was forced to come in in the 7th during his lone day off after Frazier was exposed with multiple plays trying to cover CF (June 20). Played a 20 inning doubleheader Thursday, hasn't been pulled even late to rest a few innings since before Memorial Day. This evening, he has to jump on a plane after the game, fly commercial to Seattle into the early Monday hours, do the HR bullshit on Monday, play the exhibition game Tuesday, fly commercial from Seattle to Atlanta Wednesday to have a one day ASB Thursday before beginning the second half grind. He's approaching 10 games more of the second most games played across all levels (2019 122 across three levels before Hahn threatened him with no callup unless he signed Hahn's screw you deal), Got screwed out of 63% of his first year pay with Jerry's 102 game 2020 lockout. He is liable to breakdown playing this number of games from here on out. It's truly disgraceful. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=roberlu01&t=b&year=2023 Games Off: 4/9 at Pittsburgh, 5/24 at Cleveland, 5/27 at Detroit! Innings Off since Memorial Day: Six1st-6th June 20, before being inserted because no other CFers on the roster. Extra Innings Played since Memorial Day: Nine across six games.

A dominant Giolito start is all I ask for today.

July 9, 1919 - In a twin bill in Chicago against the Philadelphia Athletics, Urban “Red” Faber won both games. The first one came in relief of starter Dickie Kerr. The scores were 8-7 and 6-2. He threw 11 innings combined allowing 10 hits and four runs. In the second game win he threw a complete game. July 9, 1972 - With the Sox desperately needing a third baseman to replace the injured Bill Melton, G.M. Roland Hemond acquired Ed Spiezio from San Diego for pitcher Don Eddy. Spiezio did a yeoman job holding down the fort the rest of the year as the Sox stalked the A’s and his dramatic extra inning home run against Oakland on August 12 off Rollie Fingers in the Coliseum, put the Sox into first place. It was the latest the Sox had been in first place in a season, since 1967. July 9, 2002 - In the infamous 11 inning tied All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Paul Konerko tied the record for most doubles in the game with two. His teammate Mark Buehrle (P) joined him in the contest. July 9, 2006 - Tadahito Iguchi’s single in the last of the 19th inning gave the White Sox a dramatic 6-5 win over Boston at U.S. Cellular Field in the final game before the All-Star break. Jermaine Dye’s two out, ninth inning home run tied the game at three. Both teams scored two runs in the 11th and the score stayed that way until the 19th. The game took 6:19 to play. It also appeared to take something out of the World Champions, they lost 10 of the next 12 after the break and skidded to a 90-win season.

Anything can happen but the chances of something happening like the Sox rebounding from this disaster are so embarrassingly small it is not worth even considering. I mean it is mathematically possible any or all of these events can happen on Sunday: *An alien spaceship lands on the south lawn of the White House *Scientists reveal they have unlocked the key to cold fusion eliminating any future energy issues *Putin, Trump and Xi all pass away *An earthquake sends California sliding into the Pacific Ocean *An MLB pitcher throws a "perfect-perfect" game...all 27 outs recorded by a strike out Yea, ANYTHING can happen but I wouldn't bet my life on any of the above taking place. Like others have stated this organization is completely dysfunctional in so many areas nothing short of a complete overhaul of the baseball side from ownership on down can change its direction. Exchanged e-mails with a member of the mainstream Chicago media yesterday on Stone's comments, the reply was that they like Steve but it sad he's become nothing but a JR apologist.

Max Clark is also a helluva prospect and if he lets you get a top HS arm with your second pick that may be > Skenes/Crews.

I love that hostetler has now coded college hitter as a negative the way KW did “athlete” for this board. ?

Rick Hahn deserves to lose his job. I said nothing to the contrary. Just pointing out the the Rays do in fact make mistakes, and giving away major league ready Joe Ryan for 200 PA from Nelson Cruz is one of the worst trades in the last few seasons.

They paid millions to La Russa, definitely can afford guys like Hinch or Boche. Hahn (and Jerry) prefers guys with no experience because Hahn would rather manage people he can control. Not interested in hearing challenging viewpoints or having pushback. Had the audacity to claim he was trying to school Ricky Renteria. Rick also has not significantly improved his baseball acumen from the time he mailed his letter to Dallas Green, or since his dad asked Jerry to give his son a job.

Ok I've changed this again. I think they're going HS hitter who falls to them. ? God I can't wait for this damn draft to be over.

A summer Saturday afternoon crowd of 26,000 on Luis Robert bobblehead day worries the crap out of them. Especially with how Cardinals fans travel.

KW would draft a running back in the MLB draft.

Cards fans travel well. They have stars like Arenado and Goldschmidt. A few thousand for sure.

The fact that Hahn is still around is even worse than the Sox performance on the field. The Sox are circling their wagons in response to public pressure. This only indicates that the team is totally dysfunctional. We would like to see action, but nothing happens, and the situation worsens. Firings should have happened after the Oakland series. Firings should happen during the break. Instead, the cloak of denial will go up and nothing will happen.

He would trade up to do it.

Correct. It sucks being “this negative” but even seeing updates on Montgomery, Schultz….who cares? There is ZERO evidence that 1. The Sox FO knows how to develop and create consistent contributors to the ML Team 2. Even if they accomplish No. 1, there is no evidence to tell us the Sox can do it enough to field a competitive team for any length of time. It’s all pointless. We’re stuck in a perpetual cycle of suck. You want to have faith in this organization? Fine, totally your choice. But it’s totally devoid of any evidence, history or facts based on what has taken place on the field the last decade+

Championship window! hah!!

Yes to all of them. Although I’m at a point where I’m basically in favor of any trade. Churn the hell out of this roster please. Bonus points because these trades involve prospects I’ve heard of. Extra bonus points because you’re trading with three orgs that are great at developing players, so maybe they’re far enough along where the Sox can’t screw them up too much.