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f*** yes.

Thank God the Yankees kept Spencer Jones to pick up the slack.

That Harper deal will forever be the steal of the century. And no star better fit a franchise than Harper to the White Sox. Everything would have probably still flamed out because of KW & Hahn, but at least it would have given us one of the most marketable stars in baseball to help convince little kids to become White Sox fans. Now those same kids on the bubble get Miguel Vargas. No wonder my kid wants nothing to do with baseball and only loves the NBA and really just its stars.

Hot take: Sign a 26-year-old that is on a HoF trajectory. Sox had two cracks at it and whiffed. I doubt the Padres and Phillies care.

I regret that Dick wasn't here with us to share this, but maybe somewhere, somehow, he knows. This was long overdue to a great player. Now the Hall has to respect Dick's wishes as he told Paul Sullivan of the Tribune in one of his last interviews that he wanted the Sox logo on his cap on his plaque.

Which is why you use this season on guys like Lenyn Sosa. He put up a 116 wRC+ against LHP last year…can he repeat that? Who fucking knows, but if he can, he’s suddenly a very valuable bench piece if this s%*# is the going rate.

Benintendi’s contract is Soto’s signing bonus lol

I can't say I'm overwhelmed by any Mets prospect.

JR: "$15M AAV for three more years will cripple our franchise long term." Cohen: "$51M AAV for 15 years is what it takes to win."

C'mon Mets!

So the Sox might end up with a pitcher who might be better than Crochet, since it seems very possible that Thorpe might end up better than Cease? And then also end with a few other of the team's top 10 prospects. I state this again: People keep talking like the Sox lost the Cease trade, and that is not anywhere near a fact, and I think it's going to turn out that they won it. But either way, we'll see; it's not yet determined.

Finally. Much deserved!

I am getting the feeling, despite everyone reporting the White Sox will get a haul again, they are going to end up with another Cease-type package of a team’s #5-10 top prospects.

I’d probably need Arroyo, Collier another piece and their Comp Round A pick to even consider a deal but in this market, that might be the best they can do.

The attitudes were Eloy, Yoan and some veteran pitchers. Hard to understand how the farm director is supposed to change attitudes, especially when they were in the "system" for less than 2 years and 1 year respectively. Their attitudes probably explains why Hahn was able to acquire them in the first place. It reflects on the lack of due-diligence from the right-honorable former GM. I guess Crochet has a bit of an attitude, but it's just because he wanted to start, which he was right about. Getz built a bad 2024 roster, did meh on the Cease trade and was just obliterated in the Fedde/Kopech trade. I'd like to see him improve on those aspects of his game starting now in the winter meetings.

Was her name Jerry?

They should be able to get a couple of picks that would make the 26. It's not like they have a ton of talent or depth

Yeah, whatever happened to that guy anyway? Moron.

I am officially old enough to not want this to happen because at some point I would confuse one for the other while reading a post.

This market is wild. Well see what actually materializes. But whatever signs we have access to indicate a market sentiment where a) mid level pitchers are very expensive and no great top tier pitchers to sign b) there aren’t a lot of great pitchers on the trade market and yet Top position prospects are clearly valued way higher than whatever problems arise this year from having sub par pitching - even for contending teams. Teams would offer two top 15 pitching prospects before a single top 50 hitting prospect. Oh but how about these underperforming former top prospects? Would that interest you? Whatever happens next, the white Sox have to start developing and drafting and signing hitting because there is no trade market for it and no $$ avenue for this team to sign any.

We should have signed them both. Assholes.

Of course they don't. Those deals are bargain deals right now. Both teams turned into contenders as well. Meanwhile the Sox trying to dump benentendis deal to further reduce payroll. MLB is broken because they never instituted a floor. That was far more important than cap limits and luxury tax. It enables trash owners to be trash owners. Anyway, i would try to move Crochet and Robert to the Yankees for Seth and Dominguez

The rumor is Jerry also offered 765, but it was thousand, and not million.

Well, he is still called by his White Sox name, “Dick.” he was Richie Allen with the Phillies. congrats to Dick Allen. Long time coming and much deserved..

I thought the report was that Madrigal was annoying about religion. Not that he had a "bad attitude"

The Sox should not be targeting any pitching. Even lower value hitting prospects are worth more to us that pitching. We will not be able to add enough through organic means, meanwhile pitching is apparently a free buffet to get.

Ugh. Not a Lowder fan. I watched him in AA and he did not dominate. I get that he pitched well in mlb, but look under the hood and it is not promising. SSS and all that. I need guys with ceiling. I could see 2 of Collier, Arroyo, and Stewart, plus Chase Petty. Lowder would be the major piece if you got him and the Sox need bats.

These are funny, and accurate. Though also i think we do the same thing here when the shoe is on the other foot

Yep. Yankees system sucks.

I know... I was being sarcastic and mocking JR. This ownership and FO could f*** up a wet dream....and with not even that much effort.

Bro....we tried.. we even put his name and number on the scoreboard in the stadium. Im sure if it would have helped we could have put some of his scrub buddies on the friends and family plan like we did with Alonso and Jay. Not sure what else that dude could have even wanted... /s

Can’t blame Getz for guys like Moncada & Eloy being lazy after Hahn gave them massive extensions. And the more cancerous players in the clubhouse (Lynn, Kelly, & Grandal apparently) were external additions. Tim Anderson? Dude simply went crazy, which again, not a Getz problem. I’m not sure how you came to this conclusion.

We aren’t winning anytime soon. Baldwin can play SS until Montgomery or whomever we get in a Crochet trade is ready. If Brooks performs well with the bat, then he slides over to 2B. If Sosa is also performing, then we have a really good problem. I’ll worry about that issue when both of those things happen. The Vargas issue is different because he doesn’t really fit anywhere. He has the tools to play at multiple spots (3B, 2B, LF, RF) but he lacks the skill to be good at any of them, at least the moment. And for 1B / DH, he doesn’t have the power you’d want to see out of that spot even if his hit tool returns to form. I am not giving up on him yet, but he’s a really frustrating player to plan around.

Starting to scout other teams’ message boards to get a sense of how their fanbases value Crochet. The Orioles fans at the Hangout are a hard pass on Crochet if it costs even one of Basallo or Mayo. They want and are expecting a SP via free agency due to their new owner. It’s interesting to see how quickly fan expectations change as there is almost a sense of entitlement over there. Regardless, like their fans, Elias cares more about prospect clutching than winning championships and I think we can take them off the list. Over at Sons of Sam Horn, there is certainly a desire amongst some Red Sox fans to add Crochet. At first, there was a large contingent of posters who felt Abreu plus filler could get the job done, but it appears there has been some acceptance that it will cost substantially more. Anthony & Campbell definitely seem like untouchables to me, but there have been a few proposals centered around Mayer and lots of mock trades with Montgomery. Regardless, I think there is a real desire within the org itself to start pushing some chips in. Meanwhile, the general consensus at PhilliesPhans is that Crochet is really good and so is the Phillies rotation, so why pay a steep price for Garrett when there are other areas of need. To their credit, they realize Bohm doesn’t make any sense for us and for the most feel it’s going to take legit high end prospects to get him. Of particular note, they feel that Dombrowski is definitely interested in adding him despite that full rotation. Also, someone proposed a trade lead by Abel and said he couldn’t understand why the Sox wouldn’t take that 🤣🤣

Getz is probably in a rental car driving down to Dallas right now. Wheeling and dealing taking phone calls from the carpool lane while being careful because JR didn't pay for comprehensive insurance.

The Orioles just spent $25M/year on O’Neil & Sanchez. They got a weak-side corner OF platoon guy and a backup catcher. And this is despite a massive need in the rotation. No idea what the f*** Elias is doing, but I do hope a few of those Orioles fans at The Hangout are fuming (just the couple douchy ones). Also, just because I find it amusing, Austin Slater got 10% of the AAV that O’Neil just got and yet from 2020 to 2023 he had a higher wRC+ against LHP (140 vs. 130). Don’t get me wrong, O’Neil is the better player and is coming off an elite season against LHP, but it does highlight why Slater at $1.75M was a very smart scrap heap signing for us.

Jeebus Lice... remember when Harper and Machado could’ve been signed for $330 to $350 million? “Yankees, Mets up Juan Soto bids north of $700 million as his historic free agency nears end“ Juan Soto doesn’t remember or care… Neither does stupid cheap Jerry.

Two points even

When I look at the money being spent on FA, I’m more and more convinced the Sox will never compete again. We’re destined for constant rebuilds. I don’t see the Sox ever building a sustainable winning team. We’d have to have a billionaire owner who thinks of the team as a toy, not a real estate investment. The only hope is they get lucky every so often with a young roster that puts it all together at one time like they did in 2005.

OK. 5-10 ranked SS still not worth $25 million a year for 7 years. You can get your offense from other positions for a lot less cost. I like young players for that middle infield position due to the economics. Hopefully we can get one for crochet.

I saw the thread title and thought "who the hell did Getzy sign this time." Luckily it is a new Soxtalk member and to that I say welcome.... while I wait for the next milb free agent signing with an invite to Spring Training who I have never heard of.

Why don't you look at the comment you responded to where he puts the exact sentence in quotes? And again, I have no idea what "criticizing" the White Sox has to do with poking fun at a new poster. Nobody claimed the White Sox are beyond criticism. I sure hope you find that guy who said that and give him whatfor.

How is it that mocking a commenter turns into "criticizing the team"? SS2k5 clearly made fun of the title dude for no real reason. Criticize the team all you want. Picking on some dude who just made his first post isn't "criticizing the team".

Welcome, Jeff. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Replies like, "And if Jeff Bolker states it in a thread named after himself, it has to be true." illustrate why so many lurkers don't bother to post very often. Good luck to you if you want to fight the good fight. If not, though, this is still the place that often has White Sox news first.

Hello Immaculate Grid answer for Giants Pirates Phillies

Same exact thought here. 🤣

Definitely thought Jeff Bolker was another minor league signing before clicking into the thread.

I think it's incredibly honest and if you gave truth serum to the 2024 White Sox, my guess is a majority of the players would say the same thing. They won 41 games. By July, from a simple human perspective, I think it's a very natural reaction. Of course I would want every player to be giving 100% all the time. I also don't think it's realistic. And while I completely understand baseball is different than most other professional fields, if you're at a job or with a company that has zero direction, poor leadership, poor training and poor infrastructure...when you roll up to your cube each day, are you going "all-in" for that company each day, giving it max effort all 40 hours a week? For most...probably not? I'm not defending Kopech and saying his actions are acceptable, but I'd also be a liar if I said I didn't understand where he was coming from with that quote.