WestEddy

Mike's a nice guy, but it's a blog with either "here's something that's been reported", or "here's something the Sox should consider doing" articles. There's no original reporting. And there's about a half dozen platforms that do that. Bleacher Report, Fansided, SportsMockery.

I think a lot of Japanese players have. Once they get a steady diet, their eye speeds up.

They have been making public statements about their interest in getting back into the Asian market, as soon as this off-season.

I think one of the free agent predictions lists by MLBTR or somebody had one writer of four pick the Sox for Okamoto.

What part? The "met up with Fuller" or the "3 most recent seasons" part? Fuller did seem to pull him back from the abyss of a horrible season, and I think the Sox saw an opportunity to get a bounce back guy cheap. Hey, if a team knows they're going to only shop in the bins by the back door, why not grab the guy you know the most about first before everyone gets grabbed up and you're looking through lists for a guy who *might* have a comeback in him?

I've read it surmised between $90M-$100M.

Sure, but since he met up with Fuller, he's been producing right around 20% better than the average major league rate, and that's the 3 most recent full seasons.

That's not a bad comparison, but O'Hearn seems to be more steady over the season, whereas Sheets seems to get "found out", and then has to be protected a bit.

Me too. I think Mason Adams is the only guy on which we disagree, and I'm with James Fox that he's just the kind of guy a team would grab up and stow, if they wanted a #4-#5 rotation guy end of the year. It's more about who is at risk of getting picked, not who would you miss. Every team has a bunch of guys who throw hard but not for strikes, so they wouldn't be grabbing one of ours to tie up a roster spot with all year.

Older SoxMachine article where they ponder the Rule 5 issues: https://soxmachine.com/2025/09/white-sox-40-man-roster-has-room-for-all-necessary-offseason-moves-and-then-some

New MLB.com article on the toughest 40-man decisions for each team: https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/toughest-rule-5-draft-decisions-2025?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Good for them. Probably the least surprising signing this off-season.

You're the one saying that makes me better than you, and I appreciate that. But pretending everything you read is an outright lie is just the other side of the same coin as believing everything. What existed was bad. What is going on now is different. That's better than bad. So yes you have seen better. I guess that's why you think I'm better because I'm different. We'll see if Reinsdorf blows up this rebuild a year before selling to Ishbia. That would be really mean.

I sure hope you find these people who are saying that the last 3 years didn't happen and say all your stuff to them. I've pretty much stopped paying attention to the teams I felt "kicked in the nuts" by. At some point, it's gotta be like the bear tapping you on the shoulder and saying, "...you're not really in this for the hunting, are you?" The front office situation is different. If you don't recognize a different attitude, that's on you. We'll see what happens if Colson Montgomery hits a months long slump, or Jacob Gonzalez can't hack the bigs, but I get the impression they're not going to run a first rounder out there for 5 years who can't even produce at the major league average.

And they're not following the "Royals' model". They picked an assistant who is into the types of tech and stats-based coaching techniques the Sox are delving into, now. The Royals just did have pretty good success bringing a pitching staff along, and Bove was part of that. And really, targeting and over-paying Yankee coaching cast-offs would be as bad as what you suggest the White Sox are still doing with Royals' employees, which they aren't.

It's a good thing they changed up the front office after the first of those 3 seasons when they recognized they were about to bottom out. Again, criticize the hires all you want. This convo was more aimed at the drive-bys that reason that a Royal resume spot ties into a decade old, intentional copying of another organization, where all of the decision makers are gone. Having "heard it all before" or being angry over losing doesn't somehow make pallid, wrong arguments magically factual.

We're working off a 60-102 record. I believe that they've already seen growth and development in the 2nd half that probably adds 5+ wins. (They were on a 70 win pace in the 2nd half.) Were they to get continued development from half their young core, add a couple starters to the mix, shore up the bullpen somewhat, juggle the OF and add a 1B who could hit consistently, I think that puts them in the mid-upper 70's, maybe .500, if everything clicks. So yeah, a league average team.

So then there's probably no point in getting angry at posts that aren't even aimed at you. It was weird when Hahn fell into a Royals' rut, signing a bunch of ex-Royals' players, then targeting ex-Royals' front office types, of which Getz was one. Once Getz was promoted, I didn't think him bringing over a couple of Royals' guys was weird, as they were probably dudes he trusted at the onset of his front office career. Since he's gotten settled, he's picked guys away from the Giants, Rangers, Orioles, Marlins, Angels, Brewers and D-backs. That's without even looking it up. Who are even Royals guys at this point? Gene Watson and Jin Wong? One would have as strong an argument saying Getz' hires suck because too many guys have last names that begin with W. This isn't even being addressed to you, as you've said you've not made this complaint. If you think the Bove and Shomon hires suck, rip away at them. We're all reading Caulfield's tangential Yahoo articles, and my odd internet findings for any baseball talk. But complaining about hiring the first guy away from the Royals in two years, after a lengthy interview marathon - just because he was on the Royals is silly. I mean, if they hired the guy who gave Tyler Skaggs the drugs that killed him, and put him in charge of White Sox pharmaceuticals, then yeah, that would be an incredibly dumb hire. If the White Sox hired Brad Aldrich as video coach after all his BS, yeah, fire away. Tino Martinez would have been a really bad hitting coach hire. I think that, for the goal Getz has stated and repeated, they have the right people in place. The fixes that C. Monty and Vargas grew into are one bit of evidence. Bonemer shooting into the top 100 is another. Leasure, the Smiths, Davis Martin, Vasil, more good development. I get your record-based opinion. I disagree. I'll leave it at that.

62. I'm fine. My older brother died in his sleep at 43 of a heart attack. Be well. I'm not being snarky. You asked me for words of wisdom, and that's the best I got. I have good insurance, and my part time job is going to the doctor. Take care of that s%*#. It's all you got.

Yeah, get a stress test. Heart disease starts way sooner than you think it does.

Oh, I'm up. If you remain in a relationship that brings you so much shame, you should give your safe word a workout.

Fair enough. I think we've gotten out past the period where every Hahn hire was a Royal FO castoff (of which Getz was one). Getz at least seems to be mixing it up to the point where an ex-Royals hire looks like some thought was put into it.