WestEddy

If Lenyn Sosa hit .100 for 8 weeks, and never caught a baseball with his baseball mitt while playing the field, he can be cut, and gets paid the pro-rated amount of the minimum. Nobody's arguing that it sure sucks having control of a guy for 5 years.

And when Rojas got the same treatment as Romy, picking his spots, and not being "the starter", they're pretty much the same player.

Well, they developed him. Winning! But he's a utility player. My point is directed at those who act like we let a starting 2B option go on the waiver wire.

I don't get the Romy love. A good manager picked his spots and Romy succeeded in them. If Romy stayed with the White Sox, he would have started at 2B, and within 6 weeks have been exposed and OPSing .520.

Great? No. You do have Vargas and Sosa, both of whom are out of options, that you need to figure out if they can be average to above average major league starters. You can't do that by starting them twice a week. You then have two prospects in C. Monty and Ramos who actually do project out as average major league starters, and they should earn a full preview in 2025. EDIT: Oh, I thought you were talking about Kim. I like the signing of Rojas.

Yeah, I've made these arguments in support of signing Rojas, because he will probably be cheap, and will be a steady, above-replacement addition. The Sox used 12 IFs last year, in a complete disaster of injuries and overmatched minor leaguers. They have 10 infielders lined up, 7 weeks before spring training starts. My sunniest take on this rebuild is that 2026 will be a "These Kids Can Play" season where they struggle to hit .500 by the end of the season, and make a spirited run for it in 2027. Kim's best seasons will be in this 50-110 year, and the "coming of age" season where .500 becomes a moral victory (again, in my sunniest of scenarios). He might also put up 2-3 WAR in '27, his age 31, an actual "going for it season", but you're looking at declining performance once you actually enter your window. So, you pay Kim 5/$70M, and the first 3 of his seasons, he's starting in front of C. Monty, Baldwin, and maybe Sosa, Vargas, Meidoth and Ramos. Then, if everything goes right, you're paying a utility infielder $14M per for his declining years. Again, that is if this current group pops, and they get better than average MLB years out of C. Monty, Ramos, Teel, Quero, etc.

They are certainly shopping Robert and Benintendi, and Vaughn has come up in trade talks.

C. Monty may not stick at SS, but he'll probably get a season or two to show he doesn't belong there. In the meanwhile, Kim's taking PAs away from whomever should be getting them at 2B & 3B.

James Fox has a preview of the upcoming international signing period. It's a cheap paywall. Sign up on Patreon and become smarter. You're welcome. https://www.patreon.com/c/FutureSox/posts

I'd say Vargas gets a season before other prospects start pushing him out. If Vargas can't hit, and Ramos can, now Vargas is scrambling for another position to stretch out his audition. They have too many options for Sosa to mess up another clear shot at starting time. I think if Sosa hits .100 for 6 weeks, he goes to the back of the queue.

I think the Sox could be pushing for .500 by the 2026 season. I admit that's overly optimistic by average commenter standards. If the Sox really have 2-3 more seasons in the wilderness, you're pushing well into RIP Jerry territory. Kim plays his age 32 season in 2028. Maybe that's JR's plan. Embark on a long rebuild, save a s%*# ton of money, and maybe he won't live to the day he has to start spending, again.

Maybe Elias is just a point A to point B guy, and they need a B to C replacement.

Why should the Sox guarantee $22M to a utility infielder? If they're going to do that, bring back Leury.

He's at 4.126 service days, so probably about 2 months into the season.

As indicated in the latest SoxMachine article, 5 years of service time seems to dictate that Rojas would have to accept an option. https://soxmachine.com/2025/01/following-up-what-even-is-the-white-sox-infield-right-now/

You still didn't answer my question. Are you saying the White Sox aren't prioritizing developing young pitching? Four of five of the end of year rotation was Sox-drafted and developed. I guess you know you're wrong, and will just babble about Touki Toussaint. I'm not even sure if you wanted to keep or cut him.

You didn't answer my question. Are you saying the White Sox aren't prioritizing developing young pitching? You seem to have this hang-up with age that people working in baseball don't. They have to play the games. Last year, they ran out of arms. As the Brewers' trade shows, all teams do this regardless of whether they're rebuilding or retooling. Please tell me about all these 23-year-old pitchers with 5 solid years of success that are just waiting on the waiver wire for free.

Are you saying the White Sox aren't prioritizing developing young pitching? The White Sox have a top 5 minor league system based pretty much solely on their development of pitching. I think they'll be okay.

The Brewers doing something that all teams do

Then why should Montgomery "get a shot"? If the White Sox can't develop players, then they should go out and sign 12 more Josh Rojases.

Rojas is depth. Injuries happen. Amaya isn't anything beyond a utility player. I agree that Ramos should get a shot, and C. Monty probably will have every opportunity to open the season at SS. But as we've just seen, Sosa/Baldwin/Ramos/Amaya/Vargas are all certainly capable of sh*tting the bed for a month. They're going to go through a bunch of players, again. Rojas is just one more.

The White Sox are now getting feelers on the availability of Davis Martin, a 14th rounder (2018) that the Sox developed into a legitimate option in their rotation this season. Mason Adams is probably the next name who will crash the rotation, after Bush, Nastrini, Eder and Iriarte. He's a 13th rounder (2022) the Sox developed. I'm pretty sure the Sox are comfortable in their ability to develop nobodies as viable major leaguers.

I've seen Ben Zobrist mentioned as Baldwin's ceiling. I think that may be fanciful, but the guy just "picked up" shortstop, and became a shortstop. He hit his way out of Birmingham. If his bat matures, I think he can be a big league regular.

22 games into the 2024 season, Danny Mendick became the starting 3B, after Moncada was injured, and Sosa/Shewmake exposed themselves as "not the answer". They ended up using 9 different players at 3B. They grabbed Jacob Amaya off the waiver wire, and he quickly became their starting shortstop. We're talking about the same group of players this year. I don't think anybody will be taking playing time away from anybody else.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=8b2f2040