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Can you imagine writing this post to any other fan base, and holding up a team that has a .300 win percentage since Getz took over and being like "Sheesh wouldn't you rather have Getz than these schlubs?"

Tell me you haven't watched without saying you haven't watched.

Well, I didn't write "sheesh wouldn't you rather have Getz than these schlubs?" I wrote "would the White Sox be measurably better if they hired any one of these other dudes instead?". You could respond to what I wrote instead of, I dunno, somethin' you made up. caulfield did. It's probably a more interesting discussion. And less rude to me.

see a lot of these, and I think they are supposed to create this feeling of “wow we are so much better than last year!” But it hits different when last year we were one of the worst offenses in the 150 year history of baseball and has 41 wins. We could have rolled the exact same team back and struggled to hit marks that bad. This team is 100% more enjoyable, and I’m happy for our young hitters, but we’ll be clawing to hit 61 wins. 61 wins for any other franchise is horrific, and for us it’s being repackaged as incredible just because of our record setting ineptitude.

should we just have new game thread makers to keep it up? ....even without OP's making proper game threads and a "Sunday" lineup today. -Shane smith best start of his (young) career? -Bullpen settled down finally -Baldwin flashing his power AND speed/defense with a great catch -Korey Lee with a GREAT game both offensively and defensively makes our C' spot even better

It's actually very cool that Luis can go 0-4 and it's not a death knell for the offense. Also stole a rest day for Colson, Tauch, and Teel, and only used two arms to boot. Good stuff.

You could see it coming .He ended 2024 on a hot streak , tore up the Venezuelan Winter League or was it the Dominican ? Then it was perform or you're out and he's kept it up . Me and @chitownsportsfan been his big rooters at least in the gamethreads .

it was an incredible play given the wall and the new screen, of which as a player must be a very hard adjustment but one that should be practiced for pros.

Caught a break on the GR double.

Single ,double, double, double Meidroth, Quero, Sosa , Mead 3-0 I'd love if the Sox took this series . But Sox pitching has a lot outs to get against some lethal Sox killers.

I think it is noteworthy that Colson has already dealt with back issues and he is only 23. It sucks but I wouldn’t mind a day off here and there if it prevents injury

Here was my approach to what would constitute success for this season: 1. Don't set another losses record 2. Accumulate young players playing well enough at the MLB level that they can reasonably be expected to play on future competitive Sox teams (at least if you stipulate that such a team will appear in the next few years) So far, I feel pretty good to be honest with you. Obviously we knocked out #1, as so many posts like the OP can point out. Besides that, there's a cadre of players 25 or younger with 5+ years until free agency who are playing rather competently: Lenyn Sosa Kyle Teel Chase Meidroth Colson Montgomery Miguel Vargas Edgar Quero in no particular order. Brooks Baldwin has shown a few flashes at the plate. Team just acquired Curtis Mead, who certainly has the raw hitting talent to be an impact player. Quite frankly, it's remarkable how basically every position player prospect to taste the majors this year has succeeded (I don't count Baldwin as a prospect in that sense). Plenty of positive developments among minor league hitters as well, with Braden Montgomery now showing well in AA, Caleb Bonemer emerging as a serious prospect in the low minors, Jeral Perez showing some pop, Javier Mogollon looking good, William Bergolla looking like a future (bench) MLBer, even Sammy Zavala making a late season surge back into relevance. Jacob Gonzalez is hardly a success story but I'd say he took a step forward this year and has a reasonable chance to find a minor role on a big league roster down the line. Among the prospect hitters, Bryan Ramos's season is the main one I count as a serious disappointment. Pitching side is a different story on all levels. Shane Smith is a very nice feather in the cap despite the inconsistencies. Davis Martin has had a somewhat up and down year but looks like a useful player. Cannon qualifies as a disappointment but I think he still has a shot to be an innings eater. I'm not a big Burke fan but he's held his own and might make it as a starter with some reason to believe he could successfully convert to relief pitching. Yoendrys Gomez is an interesting late-season bright spot; I still see him as a reliever long term but his little run as a starter has been legit so far. Grant Taylor isn't on track to be a dominant ace-level starter but he looks the part as a shutdown reliever. Jordan Leasure catches a lot of s%*# but he's looking more and more like a solid setup man to me. After that, the MLB bullpen has been pieced together with older guys who have largely spun their wheels. The minor leagues don't offer a ton of inspiration pitching-wise. Some interesting guys for sure, like Oppor down in the low minors. I'm interested in Riley Gowens as well. A couple other of the dudes having great years in AA I'm not very optimistic about as major league prospects. McDougal has a chance I think. We all know the ways in which the big two lefties have disappointed; that said, it wouldn't really shock me if either or both just suddenly click and push their way to the majors next year. But much worse possibilities are also looking plausible. Wikelman Gonzalez looks like crap to me and it seems the Sox gave up on his potential as a starter quickly, but given the iffy looking stuff I can kind of see why. Jairo Iriarte has completely fallen apart in a way that feels unexamined for a guy who seemed to be on track to potentially join the MLB rotation this year if things went right. Nick Nastrini, who some might remember looked like a potential rotation piece a year ago, is out of the organization and appears to have the yips. There are some Peyton Pallette fans out there but I'm not really one of them. But his progression is a mild positive I suppose. All that is to say I don't think the Sox got much clarity on what the medium-term pitching staff looks like. That said, pitching staffs have a tendency to be built as the plane flies so I don't feel as badly about it. There are some signs to me that the Sox may have some ability to make chicken dinner out of chicken s%*# on the pitching side. I'd rather have a bunch of young hitters looking like legit major leaguers while the pitching staff looks sketchy than the other way around.

My point is you are holding other teams to a higher standard than you hold the white sox to. But, of that group, Mattingly and Fenstermaker and Minasian aren't key baseball decisionmakers so they don't count. I don't real Over 2.5 years, aside from being unable to scout waiver wire and vet min free agent talent to avoid the worst record of all time, there are 2 points where you can look at now and say "did Getz set us up for success more than these GMs?" - The 2024 draft, especially the 1st round, where Getz drafted Hagen Smith at 6th overall, who now is struggling mightily with command, instead of multiple top hitters including #1 overall prospect. - Farm System: 18th - Major League Team record - Jeremy Zoll Twins: - 2024 First Round Draft Pick (#21) took Kaelen Culpepper who has a .900 OPS in AA - Has the 4th best farm according to BA - 82-80 record last year Would I take Jeremy Zoll over Getz? Yes. Peter Bendix Marlins - 2024 First Round Draft PIck (#16) PJ Morlando - least impressive of stats, but holding head above water in A ball with a .750 ops - Farm System: 13th - MLB Record Last Year: 62-100 (21 games above white sox) - MLB Record This Year: 61-69 (14 games above white sox) Would I take Peter Bendix over Chris Getz? Yes Craig Breslow Obviously yes. David Stearns First - in David Stearns first rebuild with the Marlins he created a near playoff team with waiver wire pickups and scrubs, they didn't lose 120 games, so just with that resume I'd say yes. Farm System: #9 Record in 2024: Made Playoffs with 89 wins Record in 2025: 69-61 (2nd place) 2024 Draft: Drafted Carson Benge (19th overall), hitting .900 OPS in AA Would I take David Stearns? Yes Brad Meador Farm System: 10th Record in 2024: 77-85 Record in 2025: 68-63 2024 Draft: Drafted Chase Burns, a top pitcher that actually dominated minors and is pitching in majors this year. Would I take Brad Meador? Yes The weird Giants set-up, is one you could argue could struggle. Yet with a worse draft position, took a player they parlayed into Rafael Devers. Their farm system, still better than the sox and surging at lower levels. Getz has done some good things, but tearing things down to the studs and then having some young players in year 2 playing like potential starters is not really out of the ordinary for baseball. Getz has been here for 2.5 years. This draft looks solid. Last looks like it was a huge miss for no reason. The Cease trade was a huge miss. As a result, we have the 18th ranked farm despite the worst record in the AL. 2.5 years in. And if it's because all of these guys that have graduated, you'd still want better on field results than we have, there's a LOT more team to build yet we have the 18th best farm. It's just not good enough yet, and Getz showing an inability to find passable talent to avoid catastrophe last year is a warning even for a 'built up' team.

Hope he hits for the next month, pick up the option, try to trade him. If you can’t, then he’s your CF.

I will never understand the need to lecture people who are upset about the state of this franchise. It's still incredibly bad, and will be for the near future.

Play Baldwin in left everyday this year and next. See what happens.

20, counting the 8th and 9th against Minny on Saturday.

A shutout with only 4K's is pretty efficient. 102 pitches between Smith and GIlbert, if not for the error could have been <100. Yesterday's shutout took 10Ks and 161 pitches in comparison.

While scoring 15! Against the AL Central! First team to shutout KC all season.

impressive win.

Probably. Smith's been pitching a lot better lately since his IL stint. Plus he pitched great early in the season without Lee.

Is it just coincidence that Shane Smith pitches his best game with Korey Lee calling the game from behind the plate?

Taylor isn't part of the future and Baldwin might be. They need to play Baldwin the rest of the way to see who is and if he can be part of this team moving forward.

These games have been so refreshing to watch. I love the offense.

Youngsters looking darned good in this one. Been a very enjoyable homestand so far.

Beni doesnt catch that either

Welcome back Korey!

I thought that but Caulfield doesn't even really count. Imagine his social credit.

2 days in a row the winning OP doesn't make a new thread. Our forum decorum is poor'um.

I actually would love for you to show your work here, because this team probably doesn't even get to 60 wins this year so I am interested to hear the WestEddy plan that has them make a substantial jump next season with what will largely be the same roster. Ill go first. You can make the argument that the offense is completely returning. Benintendi isn't going anywhere, they love Tauchman apparently, and you would assume Robert will get his option picked up and at least start the year here. The rest of Teel/Quero, Vargas/Mead, Sosa/Meidroth, Montgomery, and Baldwin all return. We know they wont be signing a big fish, and there really isn't any room to add a Benintendi tier signing. So lets operate under the assumption that the whole lineup is back and only veteran bench depth gets added. Are you ready to assume every single young guy takes another step forward? Odds say probably not. Benintendi is worth 0. and Tauchman is likely to step back. These guys desperately need Robert to get back to where he was in 2023 to either cash in on his value or build around him. The pitching needs a lot of work. They have an entire rotation of back end pitchers. The bullpen is not good. There are some returning players who are interesting, however, they will all be coming off major injuries and pitching for the first time in a while. Here's my if. If Robert bounces back and is either traded for usable pcs or kept, if every one of Teel/Quero, Vargas, Sosa/Meidroth, Montgomery, Baldwin all take another step forward and Braden Montgomery arrives mid season and is as advertised, if Smith takes a step forward and is more of a front end starter and Martin, Burke, and Thorpe all improve while Schultz and Smith show up mid to late season and pitch like they think they will you can squint and see them winning somewhere in the 70's next season. That's a lot of ifs for an organization not well known for its development.

How can I ever be noticed if you delete my posts ? This coming from the guy who had more posts than anyone ever in the history of Soxtalk . Do you feel under attack from 2 posters ? How many posts of yours have been deleted by me ? There are plenty of poster here who see you as a dictator run amok. You cant make me feel as if I'm alone . You have a small black heart and I pity you.

It goes back way farther than that .The whole history of the franchise is terrible, so yea, if you dont expect things to go south when the owners literally act like they don't ever belong in 1st place then you have your head up your arse. But that doesnt mean I should refuse to enjoy and not express that enjoyment. This is what being a sports fan is. Sure there's always a logical part of your mind that says bad historical franchise + the odds of even the best franchises in any sport of the seasons not ending in disappointment with a heartbreaking loss arent very good . Again thats what being a fan is .. constant disappointment. So if you want to always be sour about it I'd say you enjoy the pain and we all know how misery loves company. Some of us just choose not to be miserable. That does not mean we are delusional nor do we want to stop those who prefer to wallow in their misery from doing their wallowing. Knock yourselves out. You're the ones with moderator powers doing a lot more damage to this board because you get to say anything you want without repercussion. This isnt true for the ones who speak up on behalf of the non miserable other side. Why is it the darkness always wants to crush the light but they turn it around that the light and hope is at fault ?

1. This team sucks. 2. This team is better than last year’s team. 3. This team shows some form of future upside in some areas, whereas last year’s team was 100% hopeless. 4. This team still sucks. I am still enjoying this season based almost solely on #3 above.

im glad Colson has happened because if he hadnt i was considering deleting my soxtalk account and throwing my computer out into the street. now i have something to talk about here

I actually did write a response but didn't hit submit because it needed editing and didn't have the time then lol...or maybe that was the thread about sample sizes. Either way, I wasn't referring to you. You don't put words in posters' mouths. You shut me up certainly. I'm probably not going to reply to this thread for a while after this post, I'd like to post on SoxTalk all day, but we're not all of retired and sometimes the discussion moves on. Or I forget. I'm not looking for a fight or to put anyone down, but for some amount of objectivity. And also just a generally kinder tone. I'm not always the best at that, but dang this place is pretty hostile sometimes. I think it's pretty clear that the team is in a better state now than when we were .500. Ample evidence that this organization is moving out of the stone age via outside hires, biomechanics staff, a new facility in the DR etc. Good post that I can't really look at right now. Tonight.

Getz has been here since 2017, was promoted to assistant GM in 2021, and was only promoted to GM because he was supposed to already be familiar with the entire organization and that would make this go much faster than hiring from outside. That strategy turned into the worst team in MLB history, so there's that. I will never understand how someone who was responsible for player development and then assistant GM didn't deserve to be fired for the disaster that happened here. And if he had all these different views and ideas that the old regime was doing wrong, that speaks volumes to just how dysfunctional this organization is if their own inner workings aren't even aligned.

Im tired of those posts HERE by fans, I can at least understand Garfein because its his job and he can't just tweet out "The Sox still suck, but at least they aren't historically bad anymore". I can't get behind some other fan trying to tell me "They've been playing .400 ball since June" like that's supposed to instill optimism, that flat out sucks. We all understand this is a 100 loss team, and probably will be a 100 loss team again next season without any meaningful additions. The young offensive players have shown very well this year, I would say I expect them all to improve next year as well but we've already seen one core all bottom out together so I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

Can't believe how many times Getz has been compared to Stearns on this board. Also, this is Getz second year while most of those guys are still in their first. In Getz first year he set the record for worst team in MLB history. None of the guys you are critiquing have come close to that level of ineptitude. In fact, everyone on that list is better than this year's White Sox after the great "progress year" from Getz. Pretty funny.

You did this entire bit like a month ago. I responded, as did others, but you never did. You asked for a comparison, it was given...then you checked out.

If you put on your sports media psychoanalysis hat, I could see a case where Robert was relieved post trade deadline. He has had to live in this concept of constant "auditioning" and trying to be somewhere else, and finally he's able to just accept that he's on this team, it's his only career, and he's playing the kind of baseball he wants to play. No more worrying about injuring his soft tissue, he's playing pretty free out there. His hitting was there pre-break, but the running out close plays at first, the defense, it all looks a little different. And a player playing so hard for the team and fans that had such a bad run with that, it really warms my heart a bit. Go Robert. Hope he can see a winner on the southside or get us a bunch of pieces, that'd be fine too.

I genuinely think it's amusing that a bunch of people with the exact same (rare and dying) hobby, posting about a baseball team on an internet forum, are so vitriolic. Some more than others. It's like, chill out, it's not that serious. Definitely doesn't need to be personal. Don't think I need to accept that. It takes years to build a team. The actual record is pretty irrelevant, it's not like it carries over. Frankly, this season I'd rather have a top draft pick than 'barely' missing the playoffs. I've seen enough of that garbage with the Bulls. A rebuilding team is obviously going to be bad, it's a question of 'is the organization itself more effective than it was under the previous GM?' It seems hard to argue against that. At the very least, it's hard to argue that Getz is worse than Hahn/Kenny. Based on what we can see publicly, the Sox are doing the sorts of things that 'modern' organizations do. I'm not going to beat a dead horse, this has been discussed plenty on the forum and you could read my perspective in the 'fire Getz' thread. An additional point would be, look at the below list of GMs who have been hired since Getz. Many of these teams look clearly worse and blowing a contending window. Bendix seems like a good hire, a different forum poster convinced me of that point. Maybe Greenberg. Stearns seems totally overrated. Would the White Sox be measurably better if they hired any one of these other dudes instead? Somebody should make that point, I'd listen to it.

Is this sarcasm? Vargas has yet to prove he is anything but a bench player.

Montgomery is a mega savage. To have two catchers with OPS above .800 (or even around .800) is insane. FG absolutely loves Teel. 1.3 WAR in only like 50 games...positive offense and defense. Vargas is also showing encouraging improvement. His WRC+ is now right at league average even with his big droughts during the season and his xwoba suggests he should probably be a little better than average. If Baldwin can learn to play a competent CF he could be good. Just need Meidroth to consistently hit some doubles to keep the defense honest. If he can get back to being a .360+ OBP, he can still be a 2-2.5 WAR player. Braden being added at some point next year also should be great. I'm excited.

Simply depends on the market. If someone wants to overpay, then trade him. But they don't have anyone in this organization knocking down the door to take over CF. It's just money, they have plenty of it...does very little harm for him to stay around

Good for Bonemer. I have him as the best position player prospect in the system. Probably not the consensus.

I'd prefer he keep up his recent 1 per game and finish with 45

You know you're in decent company when everyone on the list is recognizable with a mononym

I completely support everyone here in being angry that this rebuilding team isn't in first place and vying for top playoff seed. But we're watching a rebuild. I know Reinsdorf said something at a press conference two years ago. I know we just watched a rebuild start about 9 years ago, after a false start 4 years before that. The reality is that this team has mostly released their starters who bottomed out, then traded the ones with any value. Now they're bringing up prospects as they earn their spots. I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to be competing for first place right now, but that's fine if you do. It's nice to have markers to measure how this team is improving. As opposed to regularly decrying the number of losses amassed in the last 3 seasons. If that's what you want to do, please do it. And there are certainly thousands of posts around social media that will help you do that. I'm more interested in watching this team get built. Just as I wouldn't show up at the work site of a future YMCA in my gym clothes, then scream obscenities every day I don't have a finished gym to work out in. I'm not attacking anybody's viewpoint here, so please don't tell me how I'm sub-human, or I'm doing everything I'm (not) accusing everybody else of. I'm not rushing in to defend Chris Getz, or Jerry Reinsdorf. Just explaining the mindset of those of us that watch baseball and find something to root for in any kind of season, championship, middling or rebuild. Keep calm and carry on.

Robert is only expendable if there is someone who can replace his defense and still kind of swing a bat. If the Sox are going to compete before 2030, you don't just jettison a guy because he didn't live up to his superstar potential but is still useful. Not sure there's anyone like that in the system except maybe the 19-year-old Alcala or 18-year-old Christian Gonzalez, but and who knows what they'll actually do when they gets older and move up levels. Jacob Burke, DJ Gladney, Dru Baker are not those guys. Need to have someone like Ceddane Rafaela who I would've liked to see in the Crochet return and was perhaps available. Or Brenton Doyle who almost certainly isn't available but might be after Robert's contract is up. Robert at his worst is still very useful relative to other 'defensive' CFs. Compare to Victor Scott or Jacob Young. If Robert is hitting at his best, he's one of the best players in the game. I mean, I'd rather 'overpay' for Robert than have one of Cedric Mullins, Kyle Isbel, Trent Grisham, Alek Thomas (known Mt. Carmel bully) on a 'fair' contract. I don't think you can expect the first three to continue to hit over the life of a free agent contract. They're also not as good defensively as Luis. Daulton Varsho is about the only guy I can think of that might be a good, and realistic, free agent signing to replace Robert's production. Let's say Robert is healthy next two years and OPSs at like .710 for 2.5 WAR per season...what contract does he deserve? Probably one the Sox can pay and aren't likely to replace with internal candidates or a free agent. They'd have to make a trade (I think the aforementioned Doyle or Rafaela would be great acquisitions if possible). He's a .769 OPS hitter across 2300 PAs+ so he's probably more like that realistically. With his GG defense, there aren't many better options in the MLB. Jung-Hoo Lee will make more money than Robert next season and is pretty much the same age, has similar injury concerns and isn't clearly a more valuable hitter. See what Robert does next year and maybe he's due a reasonable extension. Injuries I think are still the biggest factor though. Still, it would be a shame if the current rookies continue to perform and improve, Braden and the other prospects come up and show out, and suddenly there's a massive hole in CF because Robert is no longer on the team. We've basically past the point of trading for prospects, at some point you have to stop planning for the future and plan for the now. I say it's 2027. Maybe the caveat is you don't think CF/up the middle defense is as important as I do, but still, who is at least a 'good enough' defender to play center field and will be available for the Sox to sign or trade for? Who is an internal option? Braden is a RF, Wolkow could maybe stick there and could be in MLB by 2027, but his bat is far from a sure thing. The rest of the OF prospects aren't going to see MLB any time soon and are also far from sure things. tl;dr: keep Robert unless there's actually a better player available. Maybe it's Varsho who is a unrestricted free agent in 2027. Maybe then you decline Robert's second team option if he really proves to be a sub-.700 OPS hitter. So what if you have to pay him like Benintendi or a little more. Small price to pay for production at an important position. He could also hit .850 OPS and be a 5 WAR player and we'd be kicking ourselves if he wasn't on the team.

Yep, we were historically bad last year so what I’m getting from your take is that it was impossible not to improve but the way the team played in April of this year I thought they were trying for a repeat of the 41 wins of last year.