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I'm satisfied with the Houser trade. It's not clear that any team was willing to give up anything for him. I don't regard Mead as untalented and I would gladly have him over Peters or Hill in a vacuum. I don't think it's crazy to give up on him considering the handedness and position he plays. The Sox also got more than Mead in the deal. I think the market inefficiency that interests Getz is 26-man roster spots which he expects/expected to have in spades and can use as a place to try out players who are out of options. That said, willingness to walk away from a player who he no longer thinks is worthwhile is probably something to be commended in general even if we would prefer that every acquisition pans out.

What a putrid OF, goodness. There's no way we win more than 70 something games imo. Mead, we all saw it, guy has zero tools. Stupid target last year.

I still don't get the need to release Benintendi. The Sox literally have no OFs of interest close to the majors. If you want to make the argument he isn't an OF and is a DH (fair argument, btw), and that there is no room for him there either, I think the Teel injury quickly showed that wasn't really the case. If we get to a point where Beni is blocking Teel or Quero ABs and is sucking up the joint, the calculus changes. But for now, that is not the case. Beni is not good, but the Sox could do far worse. If they had interesting AAAA guys or fringe prospects to try out there, sure. But they don't. I see no reason to pay him to play elsewhere, and it wouldn't be that surprising to see him deliver a 100-105 wRC+ season. Which for this team, could easily be a top 3-5 bat on the squad. He has had entended mid-season stretches where he has looked very playable; they've just been pre or proceeded by stretches of futility, largely due to playing injured.

So is the implication here that the front office declined better offers for Houser to ultimately choose Mead, Peoples and Davitt 5 mins before the deadline? Keeping Benintendi isn't a front office decision. The owner doesn't like paying players to go away.

Getz really sucks at this. Houser trade was another disaster.

Yep. I think you've got basically that boomer crowd (my father for example), then the 2005 folks (so people already 35+) and almost nothing after that iconic player wise or success that moves the needle. You can say MB and Konerko but again those names are long gone now. Who is our most iconic player in the last 5 years? Probably Garrett, and he gawn. Sale was fun but he never won s%*# here either and will forever be known mostly for his time with the other color Sox. Nothing lasts forever, and JR turning the Sox into what he claims is a money losing enterprise is a prophecy self fulfilled largely.

The league also just said Houser was worth 11 million a year for 2 years. To say the league didnt think he was worth anything is nonsense. I'm so tired of the excuses being made for bad returns.

Let's be honest, who would you put up the $200 for a new jersey of, that is on the White Sox today? Even a guy like Mune is most likely a two years tops guy. If he busts, he's gone. If he booms, he's gone.

You should pass that along to the Big Hurt's lawyers.

I don’t think you’ve ever seen me blame Getz for not releasing Benintendi. We know that’s a Jerry thing. The Mead thing just irks me because Getz continues to act like former top prospects who have seen their stock plummet is some new market inefficiency.

6 OFers on the 25 man, that are actually about 1.75 OFers.

That roster looks pretty sad but what do I know... I've never been head of player development for an MLB ballclub.

To be fair, Merkin is a clown. Guy also asked Venable on Monday if Lee will be sent to the minors. He is legitimately horrible at this job.

We can't see who voted for what and shame them. Booo this man.

How about this; stop trading with the Dodgers and Rays thinking you're going to tap into something with a player that they couldn't. Let's start with an organization like the Rockies and work our way up!

The biggest problem with the OF is I really liked the Austin Hays signing. So he will suck.

Man, whoever decided to not put him on the graphic really fucked up.

Buddy ncorgbl has seen the contract and it is not in there

Maybe we can get Kenny out of retirement to deliver the message?

I'm guessing this will end any chance of Frank appearing on the pre and post game shows again.

Lol come on… They get off on being upset. These are the same people who said it was a fireable offense to trade Luis Rodriguez for Corey Julks.

The above is fair but it's tough to assume that the Sox didn't take the best offer for Houser "just because" though. I don't think they turned down a bunch of good offers and panicked to settle on the TB package with 5 minutes left in the deadline. Benintendi had a 97 wRC+ vs RHP last year.

You won't see me arguing. MLBs blackout rules are antiquated and harmful.

The league avg OPS+ for all DH AB's last year was 110. Benetendi was 6% worse than that. What I said was he was better than league average as a hitter, therefore not some black hole in the lineup. Given that DH really isn't an assigned position on most teams, if you look at guys with >100 AB's at the position last year, he would be about 23 out of 61 players. If you remove Shoehei from the sample, Benetendi is basically league average (2% worse).

Even if he never plays defense, his OPS+ last year was good for 24th of the same 34 OFs. He plugs in at 24th of 31 DHs with his LY OPS+. He's trash.

Easy enough to imagine polishing turds enough to make them glitter but the reality is it doesnt happen often . Find me 5 guys found cheaply who did well in 2025 not counting Smith or Vasil who hadnt used more than a years worth of eligibility yet . Shouldnt be hard right ? Thirty teams out there trying to find those close to the majors nuggets. They cant be involved in major trades Found cheaply. Go.

The problem wasn't that nobody was willing to give up anything it's that he was probably worth like a A ball lotto ticket, which is fine, and Getz tried to trade for some guy that MLB had already really decided was no longer a prospect -- I'd imagine because they thought they had something they could fix with him. Just a real longshot that didn't fit with our timeline at all, it's not like Mead even if he turned into the 99th percentile version of his tools is anything more than an average regular at a position we already have filled given the other options over the same time frame.

If he's a DH, how would giving those AB's to Mead, who they felt was worth a gamble about 2 baseball months ago, not be a better usage of those ABs than giving them to bene.

And thats close to doubling that win total and 6 below .500 is a lot better than 16 below.. By the time the 2nd half rolls around you could have McDougal, Schultz, Smith , Antonacci, Braden all close to getting looks and Tommy John guys like , Thorpe, Berroa, Adams and Bush returning to the organization for better or worse. Sandlin & Davitt may get some looks during the season also if guys like Paez , Hicks or Newcomb struggle.

I like the changes in general but is there a way to make the page numbers display more before entering a thread? Or better way to click to go to last unread post in a thread.

What a pud.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SOIL AND INGRESS!?!>?!?!?!?

Half the regulars weren't even regulars last year. Some are gone Robert/Tauchman/Slater/Palacios. Vaughn ,Amaya, Maton, Jankowski ,Thaiss are gone. Baldwin & Mongomery didnt become regulars until July and helped the 2nd half improvement. Teel wasnt called up until June 6th .Meidroth was called up April 11th and became a regular in May once he recovered from an injury that kept him out the last 10 days of April. Matin Perez and Cannon were in the starting rotation and Perez got hurt early and missed the rest of the season. How about that BP last year ? Opening day saw Fraser Ellard, Bryce Wilson, Cam Booser, Penn Murfee, Eisert and Clevinger. No Grant Taylor until June 10th and no Dominquez. Also no Acuna ,Hays, Murakami. By the time April ended last year the Sox were 7-23. This year's team opening day roster is far better than last years. They shouldnt have over 3 times as many losses as wins this year. They should come close to doubling that win total by the end of April even with Teel and Baldwin MIA.

Here's an interview with the Crain's reporters who broke the news about Ishbia's intention to buy the Amtrak yard. The discussion is in the first 18:40 of this link. I don't think it's paywalled. Sox owner-to-be lines up possible stadium site: Crain’s D...Justin Ishbia is set to buy a massive South Loop rail yard for a potential White Sox stadium site. Crain’s reporters Danny Ecker and Justin Laurence discuss with host Amy Guth.

I thought this was a range at first and I thought damn 90 wins is optimistic then I realized you were giving the actual record. Reading is fundamental.

Baby Boomers start turning 80 this year, Gen Xers (my age group) started turning 60 last year, and even Millennials start turning 45 this year. Let that sink in for a minute - by the time the lease is up at Rate Field, Millennials will be pushing 50. The Sox can't just rely on legacy fans to start filling the ballpark again when they finally find some success on the field. Maybe if they rattled off a bunch of WS titles in quick succession like the Dodgers, but that's a VERY tall order even if Ishbia opens up his wallet (just ask Mets fans). Most younger fans aren't going to devote a lot of time and money to see the Sox if all they get to do is drive to the park, see the game, and drive back home. Relying on "That's all that I've personally wanted for the last 50 years" fans isn't a winning business model going forward.

Not going to lie, that AAA rotation might end up being better than the MLB one.

It is definitely sad. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Or was it I had Jerry's ear? I forget which.

Bullpen has to be better right? My guess is around 70 wins.

75 wins

And yet Merkin kept tweeting about what a great clubhouse presence Lee was / how he'll be missed

Pope Leo Bob ( as opposed to the immortal LuBob) graduated HS in 1973 so 73 seems like a good number . However, Im going beyond the Pope to 76. It's a bit of a stretch but Hawk is yelling it in my noggin !

I am going with my nice prediction of 69-92. That's right, I am even throwing in a rain out as a bonus.

There's a small bunch who revel in the fact that Getz said he was going to improve team defense yet still finished bottom five. Haw Haw Haw!! Now he replaces a guy in Lee who has no future here with a player who offers better defense and offense, and everybody screams about paying another catcher $450k over the league minimum. Lee's age and stats over 47 PAs don't really change who he fundamentally is.

I can get on like 10 pct of the time. Call me the 2024 Sox offense

DARK MODE WITH THIS UPDATE! THANK YOU