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20 million is ash tray money. Why would you let an asset expire for free rather than invest a little to make a little down the line? If absolutely nothing else Robert in CF makes this team a helluva lot more watchable in 2026 until he's moved. That's not nothing at this point in the team's progress.

So sad this year is over.

Here's my story: My parents owned a deli. On Saturdays, my Dad would give us money, each, to go to the Metro on Belmont, and buy a toy. My older brother would con us to use our money to buy baseball cards. So we'd open the packs. My older brother and sister would grab up the Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Ernie Banks cards. When I cried hard enough, my brother gave me the Rich Morales and Wilbur Wood cards, telling me that they were also Chicago players. I never looked back.

I wanna give a shoutout to @Kyyle23 for sharing all the "good better best" locker rooms videos each week. Helped make a really fun season and an engaging soxtalk community even better.

Gonsolin on the cheap for the rebound.

And if you had told Johnson that they’d hold the Rams to 17 through four quarters, he probably takes that fucking field goal. But it was a hell of a season. And I don’t think anyone’s beating Seattle.

I became a lifelong White Sox fan because of Wilbur Wood, Bart Johnson, Terry Forster, Goose Gossage, Bill Melton, Carlos May, No Neck Walt Williams, and Ed Herrmann. RIP Wilbur

You need a good head coach, good coaching staff and a franchise QB to keep sustained success in the NFL. It looks like we have them now. I like our odds to sustain continued success.

There certainly feels like there are a lot more guys this year without homes right now. Just the SP market alone you have Valdez, Gallen, Giolito, Littell, Bassitt, Verlander, Scherzer, Paddack, Gonsolin - granted, most of these names aren't 'stars' but they should likely be a part of some team's rotation.

It sucks - Moore made a mistake just as Loveland did on the 2nd pick. Both of those are huge plays of wideout and TE make right read. That said it happens and it is still year 1. There was clearly a miscommunication and Moore still willed himself to play through injured and was otherwise having a pretty darn good game and a good final stretch of the season. The way this year ended set a great launch point but I also think there a ton of coachable moments and growth opportunities to come from the loss on the offensive side of the ball and I hope after they let their bodies rest we see Caleb put in a ton of work on enhancing his footwork and clubs (ie better use of touch vs power) while also continuing to advance his mastery of the offense. Similarly I hope the whole offensive skill positions continue to put their work in - work the juggs - lots of work with Caleb and lots of work on mastery of the various reads. I expect a big jump from Rome, Luther and Loveland and I think Moore and Kmet still have valuable roles if we keep them - but my guess is one might be traded. At same time Jahdae Walker should be putting in the work too and I’m sure they’ll try another late end weapon too but I expect offense isn’t going to get much new investment this offseason and that is okay. Defensively I think we will see massive change and in draft they should be moving around and just targeting best available defensive player…I trust defensive staff to develop these guys and could see a scenario where it starts slow with lots of new faces and than you see real ascension as season goes. But also - thanks for this team for making it a fun season, hopefully one that we look back at 5 and 10 years from now as the start of a special era in Bears football!!!

With caulfield gone, we’re finding ourselves tempted to post like caulfield. Is this Stockholm syndrome? Is this a new psychological condition, first incubated on soxtalk.com? Caulfield syndrome?

Fun season. They had so many chances and a tough way to loose but now leverage that as the next step of the learning process. I expect more growth next year but a lot of work ahead. Caleb and offense have a lot to continue to improve on and defensively the front office and coaching staff are going to be busy. Will be interesting to see what they do at LT too.

I knew you were a longtime fan by your name. That and Augsberger were the beers sold at Comiskey when I was young. Wood and Buehrle are the two pitchers that have their pictures on my Sox shrine wall. Wilbur and Dick Allen are my boyhood heroes.

I've done a 180 on Swift. I don't think they can get a better RB than him for his salary next year. You might as well keep him unless you can get a value RB on day 3. They really should be focusing on the defense in days 1 and 2 of the draft.

You are completely ignoring walks and OBP, which is another big edge for Chase over Sosa. I also think the Madrigal comp is a very poor one. Nick was tiny while Meidroth is fairly average height (neither offer much power). Meidroth is also one of the most selective hitters in baseball and Nick was one of the most aggressive.

PCA wishes he's as clutch as Caleb.

I don't care if this is bait.

I thought that ban-bets were like duels of the old days, when you just shoot into the air. But I guess this one took the Aaron Burr approach.

Loser ass thing to say.

My complete interview with Wilbur from 2005: https://www.southsidesox.com/chicago-white-sox-history/119553/flashback-a-conversation-with-wilbur-wood

I mean, do you think they are going to spend the offseason looking to make the team worse? If there is one thing everyone is on the same page on, it’s right now is the window. The next three seasons before Caleb’s rookie deal is up. Doesn’t mean they can be successful after that, but it’s a lot easier when your QB is still on his rookie deal. You say “there is a feeling the Bears may be in store for a huge letdown next season.” You can feel anyway you want, but the expectation for this team will be to reach the Super Bowl, as it should be. They took a huge step forward this year, and the next step will be expected when the new season starts. Will it result in 11 wins next season and some of the most thrilling games we can remember? No idea, but they need to win multiple playoff games next year, end of story. And lastly, while good fortune certainly seemed to be on their side this season, I don’t know why just straight up growth is being overlooked by so many. Ben Johnson has never been a HC before. Given what we’ve seen from him as a competitor, I don’t expect him to get worse at his job in Year 2. There was also a tremendous learning curve for all involved this last year. The offense looked terrible in the preseason and to start the season. Ben said all along he thought they would be playing their best football in December and January, and he was right. For the first time in a while, there will be continuity from the coaching staff going into next year, and Caleb talked today about working on his accuracy being the biggest focus in the offseason. I know Bears fans aren’t used to any sort of sustained success, but to quote Stacey King…”If you’re scared, go buy a dog”

You looking for pics or what?

January 19, 1909 - Sox owner Charles Comiskey purchased a piece of land on the corner of 35th and Shields from Roxanna Bowen. The site would be used to build the original Comiskey Park on, starting in March 1910. In only four months the steel and concrete stadium would be opened and ready for use. January 19, 1972 - Early Wynn, who helped the White Sox to the 1959 pennant, was elected to the Hall of Fame with 76 per cent of the vote. Wynn made it on his fourth ballot, slowly working his way up the vote count before crossing the 75 per cent threshold. He’d win exactly 300 games in his long career and in 1959 the year the White Sox won the pennant, he captured the Cy Young Award on the basis of 22 wins, an ERA of 3.17 and over 255 innings pitched. He played five years with the club winning 64 games.

I was thinking Lase Meidrosa, but that sounds awfully sultry.

I thought that losing wouldn't hurt after last week, but the fact they had a miracle play to tie it and were 15 yards away from possibly winning it in OT stings a lot. This really felt like a special team with how they came back in games. I think the future is bright for the team, but we might never experience the level of magic this team had again.

A part of a long interview I did with Wilbur in 2005: ML: The White Sox fell on miserable times in the late 60's and 1970. I think they lost more games in that three-year period than at any other time in franchise history. The Sox lost 106 games in 1970 alone, it had to be agony going to the park every day. I don’t know how you guys kept your sanity! WW: “It was awful. I’ll tell you how bad it was. The only games that I ever wanted to come into were games where I could pick up a save. I never wanted to go into games where the score was tied because I knew and everybody on the team knew, that we’d find some way to lose the game. We had no chance. The pitchers knew it and the position players knew it.” ML: Your teammate Joe Horlen told me about his 1971 spring training injury which caused him to miss most of the season. But that’s only half of the story because as a direct result of his injury, Chuck Tanner began considering the option of making you a starting pitcher. I have heard you were against the move but for the sake of the team decided to give it a try. Why the initial opposition? WW: “That was a strange situation because even before the injury I was almost traded. It’s true...the Sox had a deal in place with Washington. I was going to be traded for Darold Knowles. But I was holding out that year, I was fighting for more money and I never signed a contract. So the trade was null and void. It was pretty apparent that Chuck (Tanner) didn’t want me in the bullpen. He wanted hard throwing guys and we had players like Terry Forster and “Goose” Gossage coming up so I became a starter. Roland Hemond said this one time and it’s true, “Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.”

Officially three weeks until pitchers and catchers report. Anybody have any data on how this years FA compares to prior years? Seems every offseason we slide more and more towards extremely late signings. I'm not a "the economics are broken" guy but it can't be healthy for the sport as a whole to have so many late signings. An arbitrary deadline will never happen but this is probably the result of only a half dozen or so of the (usually) same teams swimming in that top FA tier. As the Yankees just did in @WestEddy post these teams have the leverage to wait and not engage in back and forths -- as suitors are limited.

Yes. On Christmas. Never forget.

Sox Machine with a nice recap of Wood's career: https://soxmachine.com/2026/01/wilbur-woods-workload-will-continue-to-astound By the way it's embarrassing that the Sox own website has a very generic story on him written by someone who only gives the basics of his career very little insight. And the Sun-Times is even worse, story written by someone who clearly knows very little about him.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6982047/2026/01/18/wilbur-wood-knuckleball-white-sox-death/?source=athletic_thewindup_newsletter&campaign=16499593&userId=602876

For Lee, he’s out of options and you’re losing him for nothing if you don’t carry three catchers. It’s a pretty cut and dry situation depending on their plan for the bench. For Sosa, it’s a question around playing time. If you can play him in LF some, that would really help out a ton as DH at-bats are going to be hard to come by. But you certainly don’t move him unless he can net you something of real value.

Stone turns 79 halfway through through the season. I’d imagine he’s not in the booth much longer regardless of the ownership situation.

DJ Moore getting called out now by the media for (once again) quitting on a route. And rightfully so. Chase Daniel had a fantastic breakdown of it on his channel. Also Chiefs trying to poach Ben Johnson's RBs coach.

As much as we talk building culture around here, baseball smart and defense should be a premium. Try and get something for Sosa and help our new manager establish a baseline of expectations for playing good baseball.

Thank you for that beautiful story and the pic.. Wilbur and Hoyt Wilhelm threw the knuckle ball and J.C. Martin tried to block them. I have fond memories of both of those pitchers and much simpler days.

They can probably push some of Sweat's money next year into 2027. He'll likely still be here and still be reasonably effective. They can do the same with DJ but I don't know if I want an older WR to be a big cap hit if cut. I'd probably just eat one more year with him and then move on. They could push some of Odeyingbo's cap hit to 2027, but who knows if he recovers from his injury, so he's probably best left alone and cut in 2027. They could push some of JJ's money into 2027 too. Cutting Edmunds saves $15 million, so you'll likely see that. Cutting Swift saves $7.5 million - if they draft an RB this might happen.

Cutting Edmunds saves a lot of money. They can also restructure a decent amount of money to make space. They can leverage the future a little bit to make some space, but I can't see them signing or trading for anyone too significant. They're going to need to improve through the draft.

His dead cap is bigger than his cap hit next year. I don't think he's getting traded. Poles made a huge mistake giving him that extension with 81 million guaranteed before he even played a snap with Caleb. Especially when you consider he was under contract for 2 more years at that time.

If you watch the all 22 of the interception, Ben Johnson drew up a play that created a massive window in the defense. Moore ends up running way too deep of a crossing route and doesn't flatten it like he's supposed to. If he turns his route into more of a dig instead of a deep crosser he would have been wide ass open. At the very worst that's incomplete because Caleb maybe leads him on the throw a bit too much. Everyone maybe should have gotten a little blame on this play. Johnson with maybe too aggressive of a play call (even though it should have worked), Caleb with maybe leads DJ too much on this throw even if he runs the correct route, and DJ for straight up running the wrong route for the situation. But the main issue stems from DJ running the wrong route. You can't be having miscommunications like this in the playoffs in overtime in a gotta have it situation. That's something that Ben Johnson and the FO have to address. Cause this is a personnel and coaching issue.

I always found it odd that JRs ownership basically had nothing to do with Wilbur Wood. To the best of my knowledge he was never even invited back to Soxfest or any doings at the ballpark. If the White Sox ever have a Team Hall of Fame (like other teams have) Wood will be a White Sox Hall of Famer.

Sorry to hear this. Herrmann,Melton,Allen and now Wilbur Wood all passed. They were all heroes to me as a young White Sox fan. May they all rest in peace.

Well...you can't keep relying on luck to bail you out and it finally caught up with them. So be it. They had an impressive season but they aren't close to being a championship contender yet. What do they need to do next to move closer to that goal? Just my opinion: 1A. Williams has to stay healthy and keep progressing. he made some big mistakes tonight but it was his first playoff experience. 1B. The Bears have to beg, borrow, steal, trade draft picks, sign free agents whatever they need to do and bring in some game wreckers on defense. Period. Guys opponents have to specifically game plan for (and fear). The defense played out of their minds tonight but that hasn't been the case for most of the season. Again you can't keep expecting to force 2-3 turnovers a game. 2. I think part of the reason Johnson doesn't go for field goals much is because Santos isn't capable of kicking home 55-60 yarders regularly. He doesn't have the leg for it. Go out and kind a kicker who can. They seem to be all over the place expect in Chicago. It will be an interesting off season.

Couldn’t be less interested in the remaining 4 teams

Hats off to an incredible season that looks like the start of something special

Again, why not use Caleb's running ability when it's 3rd or 4th and goal near the end zone?

Meidroth also plays smart baseball, whereas Madrigal plays ….baseball?

Nvm Stroud is ass today lol

I was 100% wrong on him exceeding the option…no doubt about that. But at the end of the day, that wasn’t the bet my friend nor was it even the spirit of the bet. You thought Fairbanks was going to easily clear $20M because of some ridiculous Spotrac forecast and that did not happen. You also thought the Sox wouldn’t sign someone for more than $17.5M in total contract value and that did happen. Ultimately, we must hold one another accountable for our words & actions. A bet was agreed to and a ban must be issued accordingly now that the dust has settled. I respect your courage to actually put some skin in the game and look forward to future interactions come Opening Day. 圣诞快乐，新年快乐！