Leaderboard

It was Tray's inspirational speech on fandom that did it for me.

Pitchers and catchers report in a week. I miss baseball. I miss you guys.

I miss WINNING baseball.

And the reports include that it is two of their top five. Their top 5 is the two pitchers with super high ceilings in Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder who hit the majors last year as the top 2, then Arroyo. Stewart and Collier also come in as IF prospects with some helium. The Sox could use any and all combinations of players there.

Any past Sox rivalries are totally dead to me now. I’m too preoccupied with hating the Sox to care about their rivals.

Tucker is gonna get $400 million plus.

Lol, you still worried about these clowns?

I don't think he's a SS and I don't think he's going to hit. He's a bad athlete with a bad swing and that's a really bad combination. Teams draft athletes because it's easier for athletic bodies to make adjustments than it is for stiff bodies. The changes he has made have not helped him become even close to a productive hitter and he's going to have to make more adjustments as he continues to face better and better pitching that his body likely won't allow him to make.

I think my only estimation of any of it was in the first couple hours when I thought it was Austin Hays instead of Slater. After that there was no estimation left, under or over

He doesn't discuss Colson's struggles last year one bit. He does seem to think more highly of Colson's defense than others have, saying he could field at SS just without a lot of range. His Jacob Gonzalez review is basically "Well I guess maybe he could be a utility guy he did used to look better", which doesn't give you a lot of confidence in the lower half of this list.

SoxMachine interview with Kiley McDaniel about ESPN rankings: Q&A with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel on the state of 2025 White Sox farm system

I have a hard time counting Pallette failing as a starter this quickly as a win, but it's nice he looks at least like a reliever.

I think this list is defensible even if I don’t see it the same way. He is not wish-casting on guys like Wolkow and Bonemer. He’s waiting for them to prove it. Clearly, he sees Jacob Gonzalez as a high-floor lefty hitter who stays at short. The disagreement points to a lot of depth in the system right now. Sox have 20 or so guys who would normally be in their top ten, so it is nothing but good.

Maybe Law is harsh here -- time will tell -- but it's not like it doesn't sound like more of the same thing we've experienced as fans for the last 20 years with this team. The Sox simply cannot develop players. The failure rate is remarkably predictable and the narrative remarkably consistent. The ones that get through are largely able to do it through sheer raw talent, and even still frequently improve when they leave via trade or free agency despite advancing age. They take good prospects from other systems and just consistently waste them; these guys get to the highest levels with all of the same flaws they had all along, and without significant growth in their strengths beyond what can be gained from simple reps. Until this changes, there is no hope for this franchise. Forget about JR and his self-immolating free agency policy, his refusal to do whatever it takes to build a credible player development system is his true curse on the White Sox.

Listed first. Eat it MIA and COL. Winner

I miss mediocre, .500ish with a chance still at the trade deadline with the right move baseball.

I can at least pretend the white Sox would be a professional franchise when an obviously fitting player comes along, just indulge me.

I'm surprised no one has brought up, what seems to me, to be the biggest problem in sports: NIL money and the open transfer rule. This combination is just ruining college sports because really now, at the end of every season, every single is player is a free agent who can dump whatever college he/ she is at and chase after a bigger payday from whatever school's NIL deal. Unless there's a way to solve or slow this, it is going to quickly drain away a huge appeal of college sports.

Also this.

I hope they get Bregman. I feel like that contract will age poorly.

Same. But I also just miss baseball in general.

The Bulls are the ugly girl waiting for closing time at the bar and hoping the better looking girls are all taken so they have a chance.

Did they entice you back yet with Getz’s past two offseasons and a projected $67 million dollar payroll?

I spent the money i was going to use for a suite at a Sox game to get a time share at Disney a couple of years ago. Jerry has to be costing this franchise in the millions.

Several years ago, season ticketholders did get to take batting practice. I get emails almost daily because I used to have tickets. They recently stated I have a credit in my account to try to get me to respond.

There are nearly 7,000 parking spaces conveniently adjacent to Target Field in the ABC/Hawthorne ramps

Right…before the surgery, and based on 2023…Boras would have argued that at 29 he was a $125-150 million player more similar to Adames due to his all-around game and strong leadership/fundamentals. The Rays rarely go big into FA, so thry must have done their due dilgence and calculated all the risks.

Reese McGuire?

The Twins have signed the Master.

I know, right? Shohei isn't really a bargain at this point. He's worth his contract, but I don't know if you can call a $700M contract a "bargain."

The trick for him would be - how much money would it take for him to NOT want an opt out. I'm guessing he would not take a 3/$45 million deal with no opt out, I'm guessing he'd take 2/$29 with an opt out after year 1. If I believed in my abilities, I definitely would take the shorter deal with the opt out. The only reason I wouldn't is if I really believed my body couldn't handle it, at which point haha the stupid white sox signed me for 5 years when my body only lasted 1.5.

Buy my house, please.

You would offer a guy 5/$60M if his best offer is 2/$29M?

Not even sure Venable could sell many tickets if he made these calls personally. Too early...needs to establish more credibility with fans.

If they can't trade Vuc during the best statistical season of his career, then they aren't ever trading him for anything worthwhile.

Haha, I’d look for new employment immediately. Losing commission and getting told to F off on a daily basis would not be a fun or lucrative job.

Might be able to improve the offensive fWAR if they started signing guys off the street...Mark Wahlberg could star in the baseball version of "Invincible".

If Getz was ever stupid enough to be interested in 2 years of Lux in any deals involving Fedde or Crochet, the Sox have no hope. Of course, hilariously, Lux may have been a better return for Fedde than Vargas. That’s how bad it looks like Getz blew that trade.

For this player at present they wouldnt. However, they would have for Santander and Alonso, both of whom you’ve suggested signing this offseason. I could not tell that this post applied to only one player. For this player, Kim, he CLEARLY does not want a 5 year deal at reduced annual salary because he accepted a short term deal with an opt out after year 1. His goal is to prove he’s a solid player this year or this year and next year and test the free agent market again. Even if you made the full contract offer a lot richer, he wants to hit free agency again so you’d just be increasing your payments if he sucks or is hurt. Furthermore, by signing with the Rays, he gives himself a good chance of playing competitive games this year and a good performance in those games or in the playoffs could make him more money - in Chicago you’d have to pay a year 1 premium because the only way he’d play competitive baseball is if he were traded, which is disruptive as well. This fit is terrible from the players perspective, so you better be shelling out a much higher salary in Y1 and your spread out the payment plan shows you didn’t pay attention to the contract he signed.

That is a very well thought out and cogent response. Thank you. But I hate the Twins so I'm going to disagree.

“Probably not” is not a mathematical singularity. Although the physical denseness of a White Sox roster is in essence, an infinitely dense object approaching a physics singularity. But this publication has gone beyond and proven an actual singularity in both senses. This is impressive.

If they are getting two top guys they want, just eat the money and be done with it.

Has to be the Chiefs. The amount of meatballs who truly think the NFL is rigged for the Chiefs is insane.

How in the world do you not have the Lakers? Reinsdorf doesn't even crack the top 10, because few care outside of Chicago.

But you have posters worried about signing quality free agents because it will block all the highly touted prospects from playing time. I don’t see a long term solution for SS right now, which is why signing Kim to a 4-5 year contract was a no brainer. Oh well

Berroa and Larsen for Santos seems okay to me.

Yeah, the location is why they suck. Just an FYI, it’s easier to get to the Rate than any other professional sports facility in Chicago.