WestEddy

1) The Sox have signed 4 players. Well, that is one descriptor of the off-season. "The White Sox are a baseball team that participated in the off-season" is about as descriptive. Reducing the offseason moves down to robot commands is the actual gas-lighting. 2) A guy who signed for less than Jorge Polanco. That's a meaningless sentence. Yes, when I go to FanGraphs to evaluate baseball players, the main, high-lighted column on their stats page is their salary. Gas-lighting. 3) 2 relievers. This is bad, now? They lost, what, 26 leads after the 7th inning last season? Why is it bad to sign relievers? 4) possible SP. If Sean Newcomb pitches his way into the rotation, that's great news. If he doesn't, that adds to a strong bullpen. Again, not sure why this is bad, or how this gets downplayed. More gas-lighting. This is a team that is coming off of 102 losses. They're rebuilding. You even argue that it would be foolish to trade prospects for established stars. It would be foolish to sign 30-something stars to block the prospects. I don't want Ray Ray to believe in the off-season. I'm not trying to cheer him up and make him positive. I am answering his regular "I don't see it. They acquired players. Why should that get me excited?" gas-lighting.

I find watching a rebuilding team do the things they're supposed to fun. The board becomes one big demand for the team to acquire and play young talent. That's what they did. Now people are yelling for the team to block that talent with dead cats like Harrison Bader. I'm looking forward to the White Sox building an OF out of the handful of post-hype dudes they've gotten into the org. And if they don't progress, churn through.

Or they just paid the price and terms that the market dictated. It's a great contract. They got him in house. If he's good, they extend or trade him. If he isn't, no great impingement on the future.

Seriously, how TF does Polanco, a guy who just put up a 132 wRC+ and hit 26 HR in Seattle become something to be depressed about? We're not talking about baseball teams, here. We're pretending that Colson Montgomery is a huge, gaping hole in the lineup because he's making the league minimum. Murakami is a great signing. Yeah, they have to work with him. That's the case with every single Japanese position player. Until Japanese pitchers start throwing 95+ regularly, that will be the case going forward. Some internet dude proclaiming that he's going to withhold judgement until the guy puts up numbers is meaningless. For a team coming off of 100+ losses, this was a great off-season. They signed 2 starting pitchers, signed/traded for 2/3 of an OF, and built up their bullpen. And the off-season's not even over, yet. Turn that frown upside-down.

You should really assemble and submit these nuggets to become America's Poet Laureat.

They're not defending A.L. Champs, or something. They're a rebuilding team with a clump of prospects primed to graduate to the big team this year. "Massive" holes? They're 9 weeks away from opening day. They need one starting pitcher, and maybe a part-time OF as training wheels for Baldwin, Acuña and Pereira/Kelenic. Austin Hays would be an expensive Mike Tauchman, who is still out there. Sean Burke can be that one starting pitcher.

You said nothing about the actual baseball team in that vomit. You should try getting into baseball instead of spread sheets. The game is much more fun off paper.

No Problem, Pedro.

Of course.

Bonemer OPSed .859 as a 19-year-old in low-A Carolina League. He only had 44 PAs in high-A. Vargas OPSed .864 as a 19-year-old in his 323 PA's in low-A Midwest league. Miguel Vargas Cuban & Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com Caleb Bonemer Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

What's Pritzker getting built by the state?

Interesting - this would seem like an easy pickup. Former top 100 prospect, LHH RF, 23 years old, still has an option left. It's that old "lack of plate discipline" bug. FanGraphs had him as Colorado's #5 prospect last year:

I think this can pump around $20M into the coffers.

Nobody has ever signed a player to a $40B contract. Pretending to make a mistake in numbers only points out how desperate detractors are to play down the White Sox' great off-season. I have Geek Squad over here right now, cleaning up my keyboard and making sure my "A" key is ready for the workout when everybody starts posting their "grade the White Sox' offseason", and I start pounding that button. And nobody said that Getz and Boyer were "begging" Reinsdorf to invest in his team. Every interview I've listened to lays it out as "an opportunity opened up, and we went to JR to explain what was going on. He was sold before we finished."

Nothing new, mostly explaining the thinking behind different processes of making the decision to break out Colson in one-on-one coaching in the spring, how Murakami unfolded, etc.

Nice Getz interview on the REKAP podcast:

Tampa Bay signs Cam Booser to a minor league contract. They seem oddly intrigued by our pitching cast-offs. Rays, Cam Booser Agree To Minor League Deal - MLB Trade Rumors

I see a team with about 6 established, major league average positional starters (Monty, Teel, Vargas, Quero, Meidroth and Baldwin (a stretch, I know)), and interesting prospect experiments at 3 positions (Acuña, Pereira/Kelenic, Murakami). Starting pitching was at least serviceable last season, Shane Smith and Davis Martin may be primed to settle in or even progress a bit. The bullpen is more thought out. If there's any setbacks, you have Antonacci, Hagen Smith, Schultz, McDougal, Davitt, Tristan Peters, Dustin Harris and Braden Montgomery in the pipeline. We would be buried in laughing emojis if we suggested that this team was 3 solid moves away from being competitive. People are still talking like another 100-loss season is practically guaranteed because they don't recognize every name on the roster, yet, everybody in the front office failed for not giving them confidence by hiking the payroll to the top of the league, while also arguing that JR is a horrible businessman that hobbled himself with his short-sighted parsimony. There's an entire range of outcomes for the 2026 season that go from 80+ wins down to 50. Only the numbers above 62 are treated as fanciful.

I don't know. Bing's AI bot tells me this:

Ask it at SoxFest.

Stunned? His career mark is 83. I just think some focus and reps could get him into the 80s.

I'm not even going to link the POS article, but ESPN put out their top 100. They only have 3 Sox prospects 34. Caleb Bonemer 96. Noah Schultz 100. Billy Carlson They even used the wrong picture for Schultz.

He had TJS last spring. Should probably be popping up after June.

I wouldn't think Braden Montgomery is up any time before September, at the earliest. Tauchman would probably be the best option for this team; the devil you know, and all. He's also nice insurance against an extended Jarrod Kelenic run if Kelenic can't turn it around. I would really think the most energy should be put towards getting Baldwin, Acuña, and Pereira as much time in the lineup as possible. If Kelenic hits, he may be gone in July. If Acuña and Pereira hit, you have your outfield. BTW, from 8/2 on, Baldwin OPSed .803.