WestEddy

I've argued all of the Belle/Wheeler/Machado arguments multiple times. However, the Sox aren't going to spend up to a top 5 payroll in the game coming off of a 41-win season. They've pushed into the top 5 when they were in or at their window. They signed Belle when they were one of the top teams in the league. Maybe Getz has mad sales skills, but I don't think he's talking Soto into taking our money to suck for 4 years.

I think they were outbid because Hahn was too clever by half. I believe 10/300 was thrown out there by the agent, and they played around, getting to 10/290, or something, if all of the incentives were met. San Diego basically just wrote what they said they wanted on a contract and slid it across the table.

You seem to have shifted gears. I am positive about this off-season, next season's team, and our prospects for being competitive. KC is a nice story, but we're not there. The Sox never invested in "development", that's why when a window closed, they found themselves at the rebuild part of the cycle. A team has to be pumping prospects into the parent team.

KC made the playoffs by being gifted a 12-1 record against the White Sox. I don't disagree with your argument as vociferously as the mods, here, but KC shouldn't have made the playoffs this year. If the White Sox were even a AAAA team, Seattle gets KC's slot. Yes, the White Sox have the makings of a hum-drum pitching rotation. Cannon, Martin and Thorpe are easily #4s on any competitive team. Yes, they have Schultz, Smith and Taylor. They're not here, yet. Burke might even be a nice #3 if he's firing on all cylinders. Great, big, positive me expects next year's bullpen to be a slightly better version of last year's. Some home grown guys will make it cheaper. Wilson, Leasure, Ellard and Berroa have a rough season under their belts, and there's a few nice, minor league arms who can step up and be Justin Anderson for a season. Yes, I mean Justin Anderson, and not in a good way. I would also expect some focus on offense to result in some gains. Sosa, Vaughn (if he stays), Benintendi, Fletcher and Ramos can't really get worse. I wouldn't bet on Quero or Monty having anything more than a bumpy year getting their feet wet when they get promoted. A Crochet trade would probably be maxed out by taking prospects that are further away. Nobody's trading their top 10 in the game, AAA CF for Crochet. You might get that guy who smacks the s%*# out of it in A+, though. I always think this team isn't all that far away as the glum, here, think, but they're not getting 50 games better in one off-season.

That entire first round was ass. Will Smith at #32 is the only player to reliably produce.

I doubt Milwaukee is going to hang back, thinking they could "fleece" Getz, and take a chance on the Cubs swooping in, and then signing Crochet to a 6 year deal. All teams are hoarding top hitting prospects, the one thing Getz is looking for.

Just being argumentative, but Thorpe and Berroa could quite possibly be on the next contending team.

And we did get something out of Soroka and Lopez. We got a replacement level veteran 2B/utility infielder for $200k less than the Royals paid for Adam Frazier (same production), and they got to take a flier on Soroka, which would have paid off, if he hadn't gotten injured. Soroka might have been cheaper than if he went through free agency. I'm still waiting for anyone to post a similar trade where somebody traded a seemingly cooked reliever for a knockout package of prospects and/or reclamation projects who were all cheaper than just signing free agents. Or maybe a rumor where Boston was trying to throw 3 prospects at us for the privilege of fixing Bummer.

Soroka was a fix and flip gamble. He actually would have brought back a player like Banks did if he wasn't in the IL. Soroka was a good piece to get. It was a fine trade.

All anybody talked about for Bummer was ... maybe a prospect and a flier. Well, they got Gowens (prospect) and Shuster (flier). Soroka would have cost as much if they grabbed him on waivers. Lopez might have been a little cheaper. Adam Frazier was a free agent utility infielder - signed for $4.5 million. Nicky Lopez was $4.3 million. So, maybe the Sox could have waited out waivers and free agency, and have gotten Nicky Lopez for $100k cheaper? I think people are complaining about the Bummer trade just to complain about it.

I seem to remember reading that as the Phillies fell out of first place in 1964, Dick Allen became a focus of the press, even though the guy hit .419/.471/.710 from 9/18 through the end of the season.

I agree with most of this. Shuster is league minimum for the next 2 seasons. He's a cheap body to eat up innings. Soroka made MLBTR's top 50 free agent list ahead of David Robinson and Tommy Kahnle. Turning Bummer into 3 bullpen arms is a fine trade. I would love to see all of these system-emptying trades everybody knows were on the table for Bummer.

Not a lot of 23-year-old, high-upside arms with 6 years of control and 3 options coming through the waiver wire.

The Sun-Times took down their paywall for election week. These articles should all be accessible.

Just a note that the Sun-Times is opening up their site for election week. Any baseball articles you want to read should be free.

Or there are times that it's easier to slip guys through waivers. Like the deadline for players to be added to the 40-man for the Rule 5 draft.

And after maybe cutting Sheets/Lopez/Anderson/Scholtens/Shewmake and maybe a Crochet trade, they have ample slots on the 40-man to mess around with waiver pick-ups and Rule 5 dudes.

They have 2 slots open on the 40-man after picking up Murfee. They're still good to grab that slightly better 23-year-old if he becomes available.

His 2022 stats look solid. Every player on the field doesn't have to be 21. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/murfepe01.shtml

And there's probably another half dozen Soroka/Flexen types to be had for right near the minimum. Tho Mason Adams and Schultz should be pushing for rotation spots by June.

I'm guessing the White Sox now have the top waiver claim for the entire off-season, and Spring Training. I hope they get some mileage out of that one advantage.

Kind of scary to think that Eloy could also just be done.

* Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, 2 if the 3 Mexican Roosters of Ranchera. Be kind to yourself, and give a listen: * (not "Latin", I know. widen your horizons)

One big bat out there..

....Are these "Getz Fanboys" in the room with us, now?...