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Hey everyone! I's rankings week at FutureSox. The Just Missed List is published today: https://www.futuresox.net/2025/08/11/futuresox-2025-white-sox-midseason-ju/ We also recorded with Jesus Cano of Baseball America last night and he's seen all the guys out in Arizona.

Good summary. Despite my posts in this thread criticizing the current park and supporting the idea of a new Sox stadium at the 78, I actually don't hate the current park, have had many fond memories there, and agree that there are positives about the place. The lower deck is very good and there really isn't a bad seat in the lower level, but IMO there are better lower decks in MLB. The upper deck is the park's albatross made worse by the team's policy of banning 500 level ticket holders from the lower concourse. I've enjoyed going to Grandstand and Connie's. It's great that Cork & Kerry is nearby and that the ChiSox Bar & Grill is attached to the ballpark, but even so, the number of places surrounding the ballpark for fans to go to before and after a game is severely lacking. And unfortunately, that does matter in today's economics for getting enough people to come to games. And by the way, Connie's is actually closer to the 78 than to Rate Field Quite frankly, there just isn't much of anything remarkable at Rate Field. "There's nothing wrong with the stadium" is a pretty crappy motto for a ballpark to be perfectly honest. If all that is needed is for teams to just field a winning team and the ballpark doesn't matter, then why have so many other teams gone to such great lengths to make sure their ballparks have a ton of character and are surrounded by other points of interest? I used to be like many other Sox fans in thinking that our ballpark gets a bad rap because the world is against Sox fans, the Cubs-loving media is brainwashing everyone, critics probably haven't even been to the stadium, everyone else is wrong and we die-hard Sox fans are right, etc., etc. Over time, I've come to realize that just isn't reality. But we'll see, it's not my $1B that would need to be spent for a new ballpark. If the new owners decide that it isn't practical or feasible to build a privately-financed new ballpark at the 78, then I'll continue to support this team and hope for a better product on the field. I just hope they put a lot of money into improving the ballpark and surrounding area if the team is going to stay there for another 3 or 4 decades.

This ump is traaaaaash.

Man. Extend Colson.

How about another Colson bomb?

So we just need to send Mead to the Brewers and he will become a stud?

Smart enough to adjust continually to the changes pitchers make to him. He has a lot of mental lapses which lead to highly recognizable errors in the field (maybe he needs some adderall???), but generally speaking I wouldn't call a guy who has adapted and evolved as much as him baseball stupid.

I do wish Getz felt a little worse about how the guy in the majors who has been in our org since he was 16 (all under Getz) seems the most dumb at baseball.

It's hard to make a convincing counter argument for why he shouldn't. Decline in velocity/overall stuff, major command issues and there's at least the suspiciouon of an underlying health issue. Since they're sending him to the AFL he's probably not hurt, but that just makes the regression even more concerning.

Crazy number of hard hit outs

New lipstick, same pig. New ownership, operating like a big market team, and winning will do far more to wash JR’s stain away than any rebrand would.

Elvis really had them all shook up in the first

The challenge with the Baez comp for me is that Lenyn is a contact-oriented player. He's striking out less than league average, but also walking very little --- meaning he is putting a ton of balls in play. If we were forced to compare him to another Chicago MIF, I'd compare him more to Starlin Castro than Baez. He has a little more pop than Castro, but besides that their K/BB rates are in the same ballpark, but Lenyn elevates the ball with greater frequency and hits the ball harder when he makes contact consistently. Castro's game was built more to collect a few more singles, while Sosa's game is built more to generate more XBH.

Sure, and now someone making six figures doesn't make them rich either. Times have changed. Sports never seem to get hit.

He just has mental lapses. A lot like Alexie. Doesn't mean he's not a hard worker or doesn't care just means he's wired a little poorly mentally for pro baseball. His skills are good enough to carry a brain fart once a week.

Really enjoyed the Cano podcast

No longer the case with their new media rights deal, which the NBA negotiated to their own advantage due to the controlling shares in the W. Look at the value of Golden State, Conn as there are already two competing buyers, LA, NY Liberty and the Fever. They've all gone from tens of millions a decade ago to the top franchises now being worth between $300-400 million. Three more teams being added and another 3-5 more on the horizon.

My ranking would be: 1)The 83s. To me, they were majestic, not tacky. They looked like Star Wars rebel fighter pilots, which is cool to me. Plus, the colors went perfectly with old comiskey. Doesn't mesh with rate field, so throwbacks shouldn't be worn. Plus, the throwbacks are too different from the originals, so it's pointless. 2) The currents. To be more specific, the 96 onwards, which have names on the back, and the numbers are thicker. 90-95 had no names, and skinnier numbers. Plus, the original black tops did not have a white stripe on the sleeve. They looked very springtraining. 3) The 77s. Sure, they were softballish, but I liked them. They were unique, so you gotta give em that. Plus, I loved the hat. Stone looked great in them. I always like bold creativity, most people are too scared to rock the boat. Veeck went for it, so kudos for that. 4) The dick allens. Before my time, but they're ok, I guess. The earliest Sox game footage online, that I know of, is Nolan Ryan's almost no hitter at Comiskey, where the infield is astroturf and we're wearing the redpins. If anyone here knows of any game footage older than that game, please say so. Can't find any myself. 5) The Thigpens. So, so bland. I was furious when they replaced my favs. The whole branding was bland and lame at the time. Sportsvision became the lame sounding Sportschannel. The ad campaign was "Chicago's american pastime", where a sox hat bumped out a cub hat. Talk about desperate. The whole presentation was so public access. Plus, the fact it was so easy to get free tickets back then made it seem a throwaway experience. They were literally the generic aisle of the supermarket. I'll rank the road unis now: 1) The all dark 77s. Love em, they're better than the dark top, white pants version. 2)Current black tops. Looks like we wear em more than the grays. 3) Early 70s road ones. They got creative with the front wording. 4) Current grays. With diamond sock, of course, like an earlier poster said. 5) 83s. They were just a gray version of the home whites, which is fine. Good choice IMO. 6)Thiggies. Guillen played outfield wearing em, so there's that.

I love Frank Thomas. All I was trying to say is our lowly White Sox, an embarrassment to those who pay attention any more, finally have a Caitlin Clark, a Connor Bedard, a Bobby Witt for those who think I love the Royals, a guy like the Cubs player with the 3 names. That's all I was trying to say. I worship MJ and Frank both in a baseball sense of the word. Not guaranteeing anything except you watch Colson rake and try to tell me he doesn't have perfect hitting form.

oops, didn't see this post. really? I thought it was kinda endearing. usually he's just moping. Lu just seems like a socially awkward dude but is getting in on the fun. at least that's how I'm reading into it. I hope he sticks around.

Tampa needed a warm body for depth while navigating injuries in the run up to the deadline when Lowe and HSK both went down a few games apart. Gray had been in their system previously and has options, so they picked him up for cash. He's only up again now because Aranda fractured his wrist the following week, not because the Rays "clearly preferred" him to Mead. Gray is a 29 year old with less than 50 career MLB ABs, Mead is a 24 year old former top 50 prospect. These are not comparable players, and Gray backfilling an IF roster spot after injuries/trades doesn't mean they should have comparable value.

Im now ten episodes in - my words are even stronger - outstanding.

Didn’t Colson fall out of theirs as well? And look at him now

He’s on our top 30

Especially for a guy who struggled for over a year in the minors

Colson has been just a great suprise especially for a Sox drafted hitter

More lady umps!!

I get he's been calling the low ones, but these outside calls are new and very annoying

Gonna be crazy when Colson leads the team in HRs after not getting called up until July

Needs to cut down on his swing with 2 strikes.

I think Martin Perez is throwing a side session to determine if he's ready to start in the bigs, again. With Davis Martin, Shane Smith, Burke and Civale, that makes 5ive.

This ump is fucking awful.

A few already have been. I’ll go with Peyton Pallette and Zach Franklin though.

Bit of bad luck on the comebacker, but Peguero's stuff looks nice.

Kids pajamas look more professional 🤦🏽‍♀️

Arguably four of the Top Ten players are out with extended injuries…Reese at least in terms of name recognition. Clark, Collier (MVP favorite), Stewart, Reese Paige Bueckers has been hurt a lot too…and they’re not guarding her 94 feet with double teams and traps like they do with Clark.

By all accounts Ray Fosse was having a awesome career when Pete Rose ended it -in an all star game-

I don’t know why you shoehorned the Sox in there, they have made no such promises or statements that they are paying for their own stadium. Seems like much to the contrary

You got pwned by greg. He's still got it.

Call it whatever you like, and blame whoever, but the dude does have some serious mental lapses in the field.

Eh. The first time I remember reading this was said about baseball was when Babe Ruth got a salary that was higher than the President of the United States, and the media had a field day with it.

MLB is more and more becoming a sport for the mega metropolises where teams bring in big bucks. Mid-market and small market teams can no longer sustain success and fan support/fan interest will suffer outside of the biggest cities. It looks like the Cardinals are sliding into mediocrity as part of this trend. Same with the Twins - a team that has long put together competitive teams. Now they're deeply in debt and have blown everything up at the trade deadline. Fan support used to be strong in the Twin Cities and it's been sliding in recent years. Milwaukee has been a total outlier and shouldn't be used as "proof" that there isn't a competitive balance issue in the league. Cleveland and Tampa Bay are good at fielding winning teams, but then every couple of years they have to start all over again when most of their good players "graduate" to one of the big market teams. The latest example of this is Shane Bieber.

Philadelphia trading Mead to Tampa Bay for Sanchez is looking good for the Phillies.

I am looking at the big picture eventually the majority cost is going to filter down to the tax payers in some way shape or form. Let's not forgot they are still trying to pay off the Soldier Field renovations. We'll see what happens but given the state of the nation right now and the way things are going the politicians are going to have to make a very strong case somehow to convince an angry public to support giving benefits and millions of dollars to the McCaskey family and Reinsdorf both of whom already were given benefits totaling millions is sweetheart deals and leases. And from what has been published in the Sun-Times and the Tribune the majority of the politicians who have gone on the record, have said they are against giving them anything (not being willing to risk their own political future.) The Bears and Sox may either have to face reality and figure out a way to pay for everything or shut up, keep making their money, putting out garbage teams and remain in their current locations. Time will tell.

Good question about how to rank them. I would find it difficult to actually rank them because each uniform design had its unique faults. The Veeck-era old-fashioned jerseys were the first unis that I remember the Sox having when I was a kid and started following baseball. At the time, it just felt to me that all the other teams in the league had real, professional-looking uniforms and the Sox had these homemade-looking ones that looked like they belonged in some local 16" softball league. It really made them look like a second-rate team. The block letter SOX caps just looked boring while other teams' caps sported some sort of logo. The 1982-86 jerseys were tacky from the get-go, but certainly haven't aged well. I don't think they came off quite as tack in 1982, but they obviously weren't well like since they only lasted 5 years. The interesting thing about these unis is that there was a contest to design the new Sox uniforms and this was one of 5(?) finalists and then I believe it was put up to a vote for the fans. I don't know if anyone has access to what the other options looked like, but I seem to recall they all looked pretty cheesy or tacky. The 1987-90 jerseys were the least weird and tacky of the group. But they were pretty bland, generic, and forgettable (kind of like New Comiskey). It really didn't do much to help with White Sox branding. The cap logo was terrible. It was widely mocked as either being a Campbell Soup logo or an Eddie Einhorn logo.

Chris Sale would like a word

The Sox would benefit so much from a standard floor/ceiling that didn’t compensate by handing free draft picks and other team building gimmies to small market teams I just don’t know how Sox fans could be against it.