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If you’re talking Montgomery or Ramos or Teel or Quero or even Vargas, sure. But Fletcher is a low ceiling 26/27 year old guy. He is not a future piece. He is a now piece. He hits, play him. He doesn’t, minors.

Forget about Colas. He has been bannished for crimes against Humanity and Chris Getz.

I'm sure the Sox "presentation' was probably laughed at. "We had a seat at the fax machine..." - Chris Getz

Vargas has to be better than what he has shown at the MLB level so far in his career He hits really well in AAA and needs to get over whatever mental block happens to him once he gets to the show

I think Vargas is in for 20 plus homers this year, they should give him a single position and just let him play there everyday

Vargas sure, why not Fletcher should have to earn his playing time. There’s still a small part of me that would rather see Colas honestly. And not like Fletcher has significantly better pedigree than DeLoach either. Hopefully 1 of those 3 can step up and earn playing time in RF and we don’t see too much of Tauchman and Slater

cheers to @WhiteSox2023 for using Soxcess in the other thread. Never seen it before but it hits home for sure. Thought it would be fun to really explore the depths of this word. More than simply a word to all of us. I mean where to begin. So many layers. It means so much. Right away I’m getting some Kingpin vibes like with Munson being a verb, but way worse. Never really having the world in the palm of your hand like Munson, but instead just always messing it up since forever and to confidently keep going on the suck path. Soxcess

I would think he just doesn't want his decision to be distracted by Ohtani and Yamamoto.

But their drafting strategy has changed so much. Kenny Williams was focused on drafting athletes, Rick Hahn is after more complete ball players. This will be a major upgrade.

The monetary differences are minimal because this is bonus money from the international bonus pool, so it has to be based on other things. He's looking for his home for the next six years and has absolutely every team in baseball wanting him. It would be odd if he didn't take his time

I am not too worried about him trading up for an O-lineman. They will be picking 9th at worst, 4th at best. I don't see the need to do it. My fear is he goes pass rusher first (which would be fine), but then uses the Panthers pick on like a corner or something.

Vargas cannot play LF. Full stop. There is an opportunity cost with just giving him 3b. That would mean no chance for Ramos and maybe Sosa. I think Vargas is a dh. Not against trying him at 3b if Ramos and Sosa don’t earn a shot, but I want to play the best man. I would make it an ongoing competition.

I agree, and right or wrong, feel like he'd play more on a "good team" and not clock out twice every other game

Couple of things worth highlighting here. Fletcher will turn 28 before the end of next season. He’s a really short dude who is more or less physically maxed out. Despite not being fast, he does get good reads and he has a plus arm as well. He is a legit quality defensive RF, but the lack of speed hurts in CF and he simply isn’t as good making plays out there. Not sure if that would change with more reps in CF, but the lack of speed will certainly cap his abilities there. My big beef with Fletcher is a lack of bat speed and power. This dude actually had a really high LA sweet spot rate and squared up on balls fairly well, but did little damage because he’s so small and his bat was so slow. If he had more speed and high end contact skills, maybe there could be swing changes to make him more useful, but that’s not really who he is. I think with more experience the chase rate might improve, but an improved walk rate can’t overcome his other limitations. IMO, he has a 4th OF ceiling and that requires him to be able to play a decent CF and make significant strides with the bat. Vargas is far more interesting to me and more worthy of playing time. His best single trait is his elite plate discipline. As bad as he was last year, his chase rate was in the top 10% of major leaguers and had a double digit BB rate. He’s also been regarded a being plus plus hitter in the minors, although that didn’t really show up last year when I watched him or based on his Statcast metrics which reflect a slow bat and poor quality of contact. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at how bad Vargas looked given his minor league reputation as a hitter. I believe Getz mentioned that Miguel lost some strength during the 2H of last year, so hopefully there is some explanation here for why a 65 grade looked so bad beyond just swing & approach related things. And while he doesn’t have great power, he’s got a bigger frame and doesn’t seem completely maxed out yet. No doubt Vargas is a wild card, but I can squint and see the outline of a useful major league hitter. Where he plays I have no idea though. What’s fascinating is he’s actually really fast and has plus arm strength. Unfortunately, he seems to lack in all key skill areas and simply isn’t a good defensive player anywhere at the moment. Could he possibly get to average at a non 1B position? Maybe, but that’s harder to imagine than the bat turning around IMO. However, I’m willing to wait and see how the bat comes along and endure the defense for the time being. To me, the plan should be to stick him at 3B for three months and focus on that spot. If the bat comes alive but he’s struggling at 3B, then try him in LF. I would avoid moving him to 1B or DH unless all other options fail.

Not sure if this is frustrating or a positive, but the Bears could make HUGE additions this offseason if done correctly. They will have 3 picks basically inside the Top 40 of the draft (I think the Bears pick 2nd rounder will be No. 41) but they could grab two OL and an edge rusher, all who should be starters. You can, and should probably back up the brinks truck for Trey Smith in free agency, as the Bears will have the money. You could start next season with something like: LT: Will Campbell LG: Tevan Jenkins (I'd probably bring him back even though I don't want to) C : 2nd Round Selection RG: Trey Smith RT: Darnell Wright You take a DE with the other 2nd rounder, and I may follow it up with another edge in Round 3. That is a totally new line that ideally has 3 anchors in Smith, Wright and Campbell on it that are foundation pieces for the next 3-4 years. You hopefully hit on the DE's because the pass rush has to get signficantly better as well to have any shot on defense consistently. Billings coming back next season will also help against the run

A lot of these guys will end up as obvious fat in short order.

Which is why you add some NRI’s to spring training. Again, at some point the 40 man roster is filled up. Shewmake is the only guy who is a clear cut to me, but he’s just holding that spot for Meidroth or Montgomery. The handful of fringe relievers on the 40 man at least have options and are likely placeholders for other pitchers in the system who will eventually need to be added. As bad as this team will be next year, the 40 man should be mostly filled by the halfway point of the season. The obvious fat is finally starting to dwindle.

Any time you make a list of guys with that little experience and ceiling, stating they all should be ready on Day 1 is a nearly impossible statement to make happen in reality. Injuries and subpar performance will make sure of that.

I forgot about Tauchman. Can he still play CF? What about Slater? I guess Robert's status (traded or injured) will determine how many ABs will be available to Fletcher. I still believe there will be at bats to go around with the DH spot open, and most of the OF having the ability to play all three spots. We also have Deloach and Colas looking for ABs. Would be nice a problem to have if any of these guys were actually good baseball players.

At this point, I see no reason why Fletcher should not get more extended playing time to see if can adequately serve an MLB role. I understand he is limited in physical ability, but he hit in the minors and people in the org. believed he could hit in the majors so we might as well let it play out at this point. There is not much else going.

I don't really have much interest in adding to the group at the major league level at this point. Give Martin, Cannon, Thorpe, Burke, Nastrini, Bush, Adams and Iriarte as many starts as possible. Maybe even sprinkle Carela into that group towards the latter half. Some pretty interesting arms in there, IMO. With hopefully top end arms in Schultz and Smith filling in the top of the rotation by mid 2026, I think we can find 3-4 mid rotations arms from that aforementioned group.

Both of these guys should be playing over pretty much any of these dumpster dives from the winter. Now is the time to figure them out.

The Sox have some pitching, but I don't see that many position players in this so-called rebuild. We have at least two more losing seasons ahead of us. It appears that Getz is trying to bring some good baseball men into the organization, but progress is slow. The team eventually has to invest in the free agent market. In the long run, the cheap plan is not going to work.

Fletcher made a couple of nice plays in Right Field, and he made a couple of horrible plays in Center. Neither one of them showed any promise as a hitter. Vargas was days from a trip to minors when Getz came along and rescued him. Neither one would make any other team in MLB.

No not really , try to read up on it. I think there were 3 separate payments as I recall. If we're both relying on memory we're both making mistakes .

Isn't that the old motto for EF Hutton almost...?

That was $48 million per team for BAM Tech but just a one shot deal.

I think Fletcher can only be useful if he's an every day center fielder. Which I don't think he is. Low range, too short and too slow and I'm never going to forget him "oops"ing that easy out into a three-run home run. His bat is definitely not good enough to play in right field. Why have two non-sluggers in the corners? 80 grade TWTW I guess, can't teach that. Agree about Colas, he at least has the profile of a right fielder. Realistically Fletcher is probably a semi-useful bench player. Mena had a pretty good season but I think this trade is pretty much a wash. I bet Cannon could net an actually useful outfielder.

Nothing has to be anything with this team.

They have already seem to have given up on Fletcher.

Logically they should be playing but like last season if the Sox get off to another record setting losing pace, Getz may try to pick up some more older vets in an effort to not be on the embarrassing end of another year like in 2024. These are the dysfunctional White Sox remember.

I'd suggest looking up the Braves 10K's, it's all public knowledge. You'll need to wait until roughly 3/31/25 to see 2024 numbers. It's common knowledge that the White Sox have $200M+/yr without selling one ticket/parking pass/beer, ect.

All those calls are embarrassing. When you have a 42-win team, cmon, as much as you want to get excited, the team has prevented that. Any attempt at being 'overly' positive is ridiculous. You have to treat each game as its own but the big picture of team suckiness can never be ignored. South Side Stand Up is so bad. The haters and losers thing is counterproductive. And the final two are not worth commenting on they are so bad.

The plan was Jerry was keeping that money for the investors.

Baseball is yet again a reflection of the country.