Leaderboard

I'm moreso amused that there are folks who ACTUALLY give a bit of thought to this organization having a snowball's chance in hell, of getting a guy like Roki from Japan. How easily some forget the current level of ineptitude, all around.

Who is going to lead off? The Schrif told us Nicky really took to leading off. He wasn't Rickey Henderson, but pretty close.

Bloom is quickly fading off of the Poles rose. If not for the Carolina trade the Bears are no better off today then they when he took the job. The Alpha coach was a conversation yesterday and will continue to pop up that Warren and Poles are not hiring the correct person due to their insecurities and/or fiscal restraint. Ben Johnson is going to want $12M. Virginia and George are not going for that. The next coaching regime will be the same cast of cheap dolting yes men.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/02/20/jerry-reinsdorf-house-speaker-chris-welch-south-loop-white-sox-ballpark-the-78

What crowd ? You're making up a wild scenario and how some Sox fans would react to it. Extending Crochet is just some fans preference. They know it won't happen. The only way it gets ugly around here is if the return is deemed subpar . If the return seems adequate and doesn't involve Benintendi most here will be content. If he's extended by the team he'd traded to almost right away, which is also highly speculative ,we have no idea what that extension would look like, so until we do, how could these imaginary fans lose their minds ? Both you and Balta have a few things in common. You both think Crochet was abused and hates the Sox despite nothing anywhere to support this except your own fertile imaginations. You both also think he could sign a big money deal ($150M+) right now despite having little leverage. No one here will lose their mind if an extension is in that range. Lucky for everyone here you're a reactionary not a visionary. Imaginary trades with an imaginary contract extention with imaginary fans acting in imagnary ways is you've lost you're mind level stuff.

The criteria for Hall of Fame pitchers will evolve along with the game. Time passes, things change. Such is life.

Nooooooo not Nicky!

They absolutely wouldn’t. But it’s nice that Williams was the obvious top choice by almost everyone, because now it cements how bad the Bears are as a franchise.

I don't know how any sane individual can trust anything the Bears do moving forward, until ownership is changed. This seemed like they finally got it right. Poles seemed like a great hire, they finally brought in a true team president that has had success elsewhere, they had the No. 1 overall selection and drafted a QB basically everyone was in agreement on that he was the No. 1 QB in the class. After Mitch, Fields, Caleb, Nagy, Eberflus, Getsy, Waldron, Pace, Poles...I just can't bring myself to believe in them until they're in the playoffs in consecutive years and it truly seems like it can't fail (basically the Chiefs) I remember a while back, Parkman was ridiculed on here about saying "Doesn't matter what QB is drafted by the Bears, he won't be good." And while that was sort of a typical post by Parkman back then...I don't think he was very far off in that assessment. This just isn't a quality franchise that gets the best out of people. We've seen it too many times for it to just be bad luck.

I've heard that Thorpe will be coming in to Spring Training in the best shape of his life.

JR doesn't lift a finger to do something that's not in his own best interest...not even White Sox Charities.

After his performance last season, whatever the cause, please don't rush him up until he actually looks like he can handle a promotion.

Nah if you’re not going to spend on anyone good, play these guys. Montgomery should also be up at SS at some point.

This relationship is in the best shape of its life!

So Nicky is doing the walk of shame. I like it.

Couldn’t that go the other way? The Sox are like the drunk guy that stays at the bar until closing time and picks out its targets with beer goggles on, and usually chooses poorly…

Jerry's not the Boogeyman, it's Related! They made him do it!!

I won't believe he's not returning until he signs a major league deal somewhere else.

Where are you getting this from? There is zero actual evidence to support anything and all publicly available materials contradict that Jerry isn't on board with it.

The Sox are the ugly guy at closing time. We get the drunks and the really hard up.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if JR is sick and preparing his heirs to sell the team as quickly as possible. He's pouring his money into turning the UC are into a real estate sports complex much like Wrigleyville so his heirs can keep the Bulls and sell the Sox and profit on the Blackhawks rebuild Stripping the Sox of any long-term money insures he doesn't devalue a team already worth $2B. At this point he's not taking any significant amount of money and reinvesting it in the Sox . They are literally a lame duck franchise. Anything to do with the 78 property is subterfuge. He's just letting Getz fiddle with amounts of money insignificant enough not to do any damage. Youre getting $85M to hire, fire ,restructure who or what you want to spread out among everyone including the 26 man roster. Go crazy Getzy. The commish can't do anything about it as long as I appear to be trying.

nicky seemed like a nice guy

Some have already done that no matter what.

Between Vargas or Ramos covering 3B, Sosa likely at 2B, you can start Baldwin and have Amaya as a cheap backup.

Really, who gives a hoot?

I agree with a lot of this. Caleb also leads the league in uncatchable balls. He has 3 receivers in the top 10 of uncatchable balls thrown their way as well. He's routinely overthrowing receivers, especially on deep balls because his few INTs at the beginning of the year got him skittish. He has to unleash the dragon like Rex Grossman did. Receivers are also not getting open. I do think some have quit on him or are acting out. Whatever it is, teams are playing man defense the 2nd most against the Bears and it's working because their receivers are not getting open. Caleb also won't throw to Cole. People want to put that 100% on Shane, but Cole's on the field and he is schemed open. He just won't rip the ball to him. Perhaps the biggest issue outside of OLine, has been the responsibility with the lack of accountability to Caleb Williams. Clearly he's feeling pressure. As a HC and OC, you simplify the game for him. Take away audible responsibilities, make him a 2 read and go QB. Design some easy slants over the middle. Limit him to no more than 3 throws over 15 yards per game. People think it's all on Shane for doing a screen on 3rd and 3 to DJ Moore, when it's Caleb audibling into that play. He has to have a coach who holds him accountable and actually coaches him. He has talent and definitely would not trade him straight up for Jayden at this point. But he does have to be coached. Eberflus is not the guy to do that.

Yeah that’s just it. They work. I think the teams that win year in and out have proven that. I don’t like the fact they work - I also preferred the game before they were around so much - but that doesn’t change the reality. So either keep up or get left behind.

Yep. At this point, it doesn’t matter who the Bears choose. They are like the White Sox minor league farm system for position prospects.

I was curious if someone asked him about Caleb being the starter or if that was unprompted. Sounds like it was the latter and oh boy

If they had agreed to an international draft this guy would totally be headed to the White Sox wouldn’t he?

Maybe that is Sox best angle. Dodgers get him in 24 pool and Sox go sign a few dodgers 24 guys with their remaining salary. lol - so sad the state of the franchise.

If the White Sox really wanted to sign Sasaki, going through Iguchi would have been perhaps the ONLY way... When he retired as a pro in 2017, Tadahito Iguchi, the second baseman for the Chicago White Sox’s 2005 World Series champs, said he someday hopes to be back in a Sox uniform. “Yes. That’s my dream,” the second-year Lotte Marines manager said in March. Remembering Ozzie Guillen Iguchi said the biggest skill he takes into managing is communication and cited his former Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen as his biggest influence. “In some sense, he (Guillen) is kind of crazy,” Iguchi said. “But he communicates well and is charismatic.” “Having been with the players here as a teammate when I was still playing and speaking with them on the bench, I think I’d established good communication with them.” How about the motivation side? “He (Guillen) has the ability to motivate people. That’s something I think I lack,” Iguchi said. One of just a handful of Japanese position players to go to the majors, Iguchi said he gained some insight into the differences between Japan’s game and America’s. https://jballallen.com/iguchi-eyes-sweet-home-chicago/

If this was a solidly coached or run organization: -big market that isn’t NY (rough media) or LA (Ohtani country) -he’s still young, so there’s always some risk that he takes a few years to develop. This actually happened for Ohtani, and Yamamoto was good this year but had questionable health. -he had a velocity drop last year that he pitched through. Having some caution with him and not immediately going to a World Series team might be smart for his arm. -supposedly people believe in the pitching coach and pitching coordinator here. If he’s dead set on LAD, none of this matters. If he has some worries about his early career performance or conditioning on his arm, somewhere else would make sense, and a smart move would be to evaluate the coaching staff and organization.

Sweet, 91 mph, here we come!!

The Dodgers used 40 pitchers, this last season. They even ran Yohan Ramirez out there 27 times. Everybody grabs up guys like this. The Sox can probably promise more of a longer look with him.

I will say this much, if this kid is anything like Ohtani, he will make tens of millions of dollars off of the field in the next few years anyway, so his signing bonus, while nice, isn't going to be nearly his primary means of income until his second contract anyway. Getting into a bigger Japanese community for endorsements will probably pay him a ton more than his signing bonus will.

Do you honestly think I said positive things because I want them to like me? I don't know any of the decision makers. I couldn't care less what anyone thinks outside of basically my family. I comment based on what I think and what I feel I know. Why would Roki Sasaki ever choose the White Sox right now if money were similar everywhere? I know that they have signings and they basically have to just go with Paddy's guys at this point anyway. I'm not sure how much they have left in their 2025 pool. It's not really true that the Dodgers would be a discount this year. They have like $2.5 million right now and can likely trade for at least that much more. I doubt there's anyone who can give him $4 million plus in January without reneging on previously agreed upon deals. Teams technically have fresh bonus pools but that's not really how it works.

They need to address the offensive line. They cannot get away with mediocrity at best there. It's not a great OL to start out, and when every starter is hurt, it's Division III.

Crazy that such incompetent owners made so much money owning the Sox.

The bar is so low that these days, not making an obviously stupid hire is a thing to be celebrated.

It’s so sad because even the cubs are mentioned as a team that has made a great organization for Japanese players. That of course was once the white Sox. We really did used to have things we were the best at, now everyone would settle for just being slightly below average at most things

I hope he goes to the Padres.

Aren't you the one pretending that Jerry didn't go downstate to get money for this very stadium project a couple of months ago? You need to take your own advice.

Look at this fantastic view of the lake! Screw the view from Clark & Roosevelt, sign me up for a view of the Metra Electric tracks, that massive empty truck lot, and about twelve lanes of Lake Shore Drive! Let's build on an even smaller plot of land, in a more isolated area, with virtually zero transit access, even further removed from any pre or post game entertainment options! There's also the issue that this land is already spoken for, and that the alderman would likely never sign off on the ballpark village Jerry desperately wants someone else to pay for. Pure. Brilliance.

Which developer would not be self-serving? A community trust or charitable organization running the White Sox...like a Green Bay Packers' public stock situation?

Boy you could just as easily be talking about Jerry at 35th here.

If it was truly the right call, we would have gotten back a halfway decent player. Not what is currently a 26 year old pitching “prospect” with a 5+ minor league career ERA.

Then they better not keep Vaughn or Sheets because neither one of those guys came close to putting up Burger's numbers of homers RBIs or OPS. He finished almost 75 ops points ahead of all the hitters who ended the season with the Sox. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jake-burger/22275/stats?position=3B 1.4 fWAR in 137 games...and wasn't healthy the first 6 weeks playing through an oblique...gives you much closer to a 2 than a 0 when projected over 162. And still much more cost effective than Jimenez or Vaughn. It's one of any reasons the Sox have gone from 12th to 30th in fWAR in the last 2-3 years. If you trade Kopech Fedde Burger for Eder Vargas and two limited tools middle infielders...you tend to get worse.

This is Greg’s fever dream you are gonna have to ask him