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This is either JR himself, Brooks Boyer or an NBCSN bot.

This is basically what we are looking at for SP to start the year and their FIP last season.. Cease (3.72 FIP) Fedde (?? Unknown) Soroka (6.56 FIP) Kopech (6.46 FIP) Toussaint (4.95 FIP) Scholtens (5.31 FIP) This is bad, doesn't matter if Paul DeJong and Nicky Lopez are behind them. If/When Cease is traded, the rotation is arguably the worst in baseball. The offense last season was 25th in AVG, 30th in OBP, 26th in SLG, and 29th in OPS. The White Sox had a .238 team average and a .675 team OPS. None of those additions you named even meet those figures. Someone else said this in a post and I don't remember where, but it was a great post and it was something like this. Basically, instead of the Sox losing 9-3 they are going to lose 6-3.

This statement is all I need to know that you're not taking this seriously.

Not difficult to argue that the underspending by a lot of owners is just as big of a problem.

For every organization like the Dodgers who find ways to work around the LT, there are organizations like the White Sox, who do almost everything possible to avoid doing the things needed to be competitive. I'll have a hard time ever feeling bad for organizations like the Sox, Pirates, Twins, etc.

I’m not gonna lie. I actually hate this and think they should fix this in a way that fucks over the dodgers retroactively.

Well, hopefully you get at least one OF prospect back for Cease. And if you can get out from his contract, that's future money that be spent improving the team, clearing space for other prospects that may need to move to a corner spot, etc. He's dead weight for this team's future, so there's no reason to keep him if someone wants him.

I’m not sure any of these are foolproof upgrades. Maybe DeJong/Montgomery is, but that’s only because Anderson was god awful last year. DeJong’s ceiling is legit a 0.5 win player. That isn’t moving the needle and I’m not convinced Colson will be ready until the 2H and will likely experience some growing pains. Grandal was bad last year, but Stassi didn’t even play in 2023 and he was awful in 2022 (in particular, check out his defensive metrics on Statcast). Hopefully that was a one-year aberration and perhaps his ability to handle a pitching staff can offset some erosion in framing, blocking, & throwing but there is a reason he was basically free. And you must not have watched Lee last year if you have any faith that he represents an upgrade over anything. Beyond that, Nicky Lopez is the only positional player we’ve added. Again, he can be a useful little player, but doesn’t move the needle. Meanwhile, we have a massive hole in RF and zero OF depth. It’s hard to imagine that Benintendi, Eloy, Moncada, & Vaughn can be worse than last year. Any real improvement right now on the positional side will need to come from those guys and they are huge wild cards at the moment. However, the part you really ignored is the pitching. How can anyone with a straight face say the pitching is better. Giolito & Clevinger actually pitched well for us last year and both are gone max. Cease is almost certainly going to be traded. Fedde & Soroka are fun little additions, but to expect them to replace the production of aforementioned guys is wild to me. And behind an incredibly questionable rotation, is an equally questionable bullpen. If you put a gun to my head right now and said predict the worst pitching staff in the majors, it’s going to be the White Sox. And it’s probably not even close. Right now, the pitching staff is almost certainly a large downgrade vs. the 2023 version and will get worse once Dylan is traded. Unless the underperforming positional guys really improve this year and stay healthy, 100+ losses seems highly likely.

This is certainly an encouraging development on the INTL front.

I’m sorry, but what does this prove other than the smallest market teams are up against horrible odds of winning a World Series? And calling SF & Boston “mid” market clubs but completing ignoring the wealth of those markets is very disingenuous. Move those seven championships to the top group and the disparity is even more telling. It’s wild that anyone can actually believe baseball isn’t a broken mess. The randomness of the playoffs doesn’t change that fact.

I'm making it about ANY organization who cries poor, it just so happens our organization does it with perfection.

I'm also not crying "Man I can't afford the $50k a year landscaper that my coworker with the $8 million dollar home has." ....and then all the while, stuffing hundreds of thousands of dollars into my own savings.

Not can't. Won't.

I wonder if it’s possible to have an opinion on baseball that isn’t solely based on how it reflects on Reinsdorfs ownership

Shouldn’t we be applauding Ohtani then for taking less money to play somewhere he wanted to go?

Let's be honest. Outside of a Robert, Cease, maybe a few other guys that people are hoping improve (like Vaughn), this roster is a garbage heap. It's a 95+ loss team.

They are risking nothing. That's why you buy a sports franchise. You're guaranteed to bank. It's a legal cartel. As for your 2nd point, there isn't a single part of another team spending money to win that makes me enjoy baseball less -- the Sox, sure? But the sport as a whole, hell no. There's no defending JR.

Every time I see a Bruce "scoop" tweet, it takes me three or four read-throughs to determine if it's the parody account or not.

Great post. Highly relates to the White Sox offseason outlook.

People like to think it's new. But mlb has ways been this way. Where did the Yankees get players like Ruth and Maris. From other teams.

You know, I would agree with this line of thinking if Reinsdorf and the rest of the owners sold tickets for $5, or if they didn't black out every radio telecast out of market. Owners are greedy and they charges us premium prices to consume their product, so I feel like they are obligated to spend on premium talent.

"The Dodgers will be paying a combined $79MM to Ohtani and Betts in 2043 when Betts will be 50 years old and Ohtani 48." Guarantee that is a 'that is for the next ownership group to worry about' decision, 100%

I disagree. If they want me to believe otherwise, show the books. I believe 30 teams could afford this contract,they just choose not to.

Sox are only paying him league minimum. https://apnews.com/article/stassi-braves-angels-trade-3353608a9fff3f7203f9fbf702e06d54

Yes, the guy already making like $50 million a year in sponsorships is a saint for deferring his $700 million contract. How selfless... The lack of CBT hit is total bullshit and terrible for the game.

I’d take him as a third piece.

We should not be trading for pieces with less than five years of control because there really is no hope of winning until 2026 at the earliest. Lux doesn’t change that calculus and would be a poor fit for us from an asset standpoint.

There should be no CBT impact outside of the contract period. They are simply discounting the total dollars of the deal to reflect these deferrals and then are dividing by 10. This really isn’t a 10/$700M deal for the Dodgers, who make out like bandits both from a CBT and cash flow perspective.

In defense of athletes, to those who constantly case on them calling them a**holes who do nothing but get arrested and do bad things, I dont have the numbers of all the active players on NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS and NBA but its easily at least 1500. ANd how many do you actually hear that get arrested etc? 1%? Its like plane crashes, you only hear about them when they happen, you never hear about all the successful landings That being said, I dont discount the bad athletes (kind of like Clevinger) who give the industry a bad name

What a fraud. There is a very strong demand of people who want to kick hm in the nads' though.

Back in the 90s, my brother let his 9-year-old and a friend walk up to the concourse and to the gift shop alone, and we thought he was crazy.

I could desperately use a legit a Cease rumor right about now, but unfortunately it feels like there won’t be traction until at least Yamamoto is off the board.

Oh f*** no!

No I did not, I guess I was looking at his 2022 and that was just about the 0 WAR that Grandal put up in 2023. That makes it look even worse! Thanks!

It hasn't been the amount of money Jerry allocated, but by and large the stupidity of how it was spent. If Jerry would just keep (Hemond/Dombrowski) or hire one smart guy (AA, Theo, others), give them a reasonable budget and stayed out of the way, the Sox could have been a juggernaut "world class" organization over the past four decades and a team we would be proud to support. Himes is the only one who built a sustainable core, but he had to ice out Jerry to do so, and he didn't get a second contract as a result. I actually agree with Jerry on the premise nine figure contracts (especially pitchers) typically do not end well. Sustained multiple championship windows are driven by developing and retaining a solid core. This is true in every sport. All teams have this ability if they have the right strategy and front office / organization. Sure richer teams can spend to make up for some mistakes along the way, but no team can create a core team via Free Agency beyond the NBA. Jerry always prioritizes hiring/retaining cronies over competency in terms of team management. Howard Pizer is excellent as Jerry's finance guy, Jerry is not going to leave managing finances to chance. This is why the Sox (and Bears and Bulls) need a change at the top. Their revenue and spending is good enough to regularly compete, but their C-Suite hires are bottom barrel, and always will be under Jerry and Michael. This is why new ownership is needed, not what Tex laid out.

That's a valid point. We will find out in 2024. He was pretty good his last 40 games.

I think that KW/Hahn's bad decisions, coupled with a miser's approach to advanced coaching and statistical methods - made additional signings look like throwing good money after bad. When Alex Rios and Adam Dunn were stinkin' up the joint, I'm guessing JR balked at adding to that core. If we have a well-built team (which we haven't really had since the 90s), I believe Reinsdorf would at least start adding the $25 million a year players.

Not sure I would be a fan if the Sox opted for a quantity over quality package for Cease He is your best chance to return potential premium pieces outside of dealing Robert

He has a porn star name.

Say the Bears win 2 more games this season, which seems pretty possible. That’s 7 wins with two historic losses mixed into the season. Let’s say one of the wins is against the Packers last week of the season. There are going to be some decent vibes heading into the offseason. Is Poles going to fire the entire coaching staff, trade Fields, draft a rookie QB and then make the other additions via the draft and FA? That seems like a huge offseason that more feels like Madden then the NFL. Not saying it wouldn’t be the right move, just talking about odds

So, you mean none of these guys are going to be a part of the next "Championship Window"? Their loss!

What if we are leading the division by 5 games?

They cleared out the roster at the last trading deadline, let a few more players go (Anderson, Grandall, Bummer, Hendricks, Andrus, Clevinger) and have replaced them with Triple A depth. Maybe it's a bridge in a bad division to 2025, but what does that even mean? Are we really expecting significant talent from the minors to come up? Are they going to spend on free agents? It's hard to build anything sustainable without doing both.

And even with all the ifs. If Fedde or Soroka are dealing at the deadline, you should probably trade them. If DeJong or Lopez are playing well and teams want defenders up the middle, you should trade them. If Yoan, Eloy, or Benintendi are playing well and teams are willing to their contracts? Trade. Stassi? Depends on Quero.

This team as currently constructed will be lucky to score 3+ runs a game. And once Cease is traded, they’ll have one of the worst rotations in all of baseball. Not saying Getz hasn’t cleaned anything up, but let’s not trick ourselves into thinking this team is going to be rolling over their opponents. I really don’t see how this team escapes losing 90+ losses barring some spending on legitimate FA.

Grandal, Bummer, Kelley, Graveman, Lynn, Gio, and Anderson...all gone thank God! Clevenger was OK and Hendriks didn't contribute. DeJong/Mongomery, Lopez/new guy, Stassi/lee, Fedde are all better than who they replaced. So far, I think Getz has done a good job of clearing the dead wood and improving the defense and chemistry until help arrives. New coaches and Bannister are also positives. Some health for Moncada, Eloy, Benintendi, etc. would help a lot. No way will this 2024 squad lose 100...especially when the offseason moves have been completed.

100 is a ton of games to lose unless you are totally trying to do it. So much has to go wrong. I know the pitching staff will be below average, the offense will be below average, but even without Cease, I think they stay in double figures in the L column with improved defense.

the solution is to stop caring about the white sox until they're no longer ?

"Unprecedented deferrals. I like the sound of that."

So i heard no rumors on Yariel Rodriguez and where he might be signing, does anyone feel the White Sox might take a run at him?