WestEddy

Jim Margalus clocks in on Fedde: Erick Fedde returning to White Sox on one-year deal - Sox Machine

Fedde started off okay with the Cards, hit a wall, and didn't get back on track until Milwaukee put him in the bullpen. I suppose a major league deal keeps him out of Asia. I would have rather had him on a minor league deal. Oh well, fix him, then trade for another Vargas.

That's about $7M a win, sounds about right. He'll give them innings, WHIP around 1.200.

Yes. I believe they get to use the 60-day IL to clear space tomorrow, tho.

It seriously wouldn't surprise me to see a K-pop or J-pop halftime show in the next few years. The NFL is about expanding their audience. I'd go for this:

MLBTR takes an in depth look at the Jordan Hicks conundrum. While results were not good in Boston, his "stuff" was still there. Key quote: Examining Jordan Hicks' Future With The White Sox - MLB Trade Rumors Interesting read.

Sure. It's imprecise, just giving examples of where I think we'll see improvement. Acuña's going to struggle to put up offense, so if he plays 140, he's going to bring his substandard offense to 2B, RF, wherever he plays when Baldwin's in CF. I think he'll improve on last year's 64 OPS+, but not better than Robert's 84.

The White Sox got a little over 2 WAR (2.3) from the CF group in 2025. I don't think Acuña does that, which whittles into Murakami's gain (1.5 I see Murakami doing over the -0.4 last year's group did). So, no, I don't think Acuña will be replacement level, but he's got his work cut out for him to give us what Robert did, alone, last year.

It's my own personal O/U, meaning that I think the range of options for this team land around 75 wins. I keep laying out my thinking, in that the team, as assembled, is a 70-win team. However, I do believe... 1) Murakami holds his own at 1B to the tune of about 1.5-2 WAR. 2) Meidroth either improves on his 84 OPS+, or Sosa/Antonacci replace him at some point 3) Colson maintains, and has his 3-3.5 WAR season 4) Vargas does break out and improves upon his .767 OPS after his 4/23 hand job 5) Teel goes nuts and leads the offense in WAR 6) Baldwin becomes the 2nd half player he was, and establishes himself as an OF 7) Acuña puts up the same 1.4 WAR as Robert (or thereabouts) 😎 Hays/Kelenic/Pereira don't embarass themselves (meaning the group puts up 0.8-1.2 WAR) 9) Rotation is fine, settling into the strongest 5 around the ASB - exceeds 10 WAR 10) bullpen is solidified, hold down leads All of this (that is me wishcasting) happens and catapults them to 75 wins. Maybe one or two of these don't happen, and they wind up 71-74. Maybe Colson or Murakami go ape, and they're 76-79. I don't think any of this is insane, magic beans fantasy. Yes. I think they blow away 64.5. Everything going right, I think they scratch and claw to 75.

No surgery is "routine".

I'm assuming everybody commenting washes their hands after a bathroom session. Then there's the concept of using one hand mainly for the cleaning, and the other with some paper to open the door.

Illinois has a flat tax, and a ridiculously low top rate. Allowing the state to raise the top rate would have solved a lot of problems and eased up on property tax hikes. But if we allow the government to raise taxes on the rich, what's next, making us slaves?!?

The bullpen is key. As some point out, it's pretty much the same team as last year. Hays replaces Tauchman, and Acuña may cancel out any gains Murakami brings. Maybe if Getz signs Zach Littell, then you're considering getting out of last place. But they definitely need a few guys to start producing at a 3+ WAR clip (maybe 4?) to start dreaming.

1) I agree that Shane Smith and Burke are the two guys who bear watching, going forward. 2) Kay and Davis Martin are place holders where, if the team is middling in July, you can move them to make room for Sandlin, McDougal, Schultz or Thorpe. 3) McDougal, Schultz and Hagen Smith should all be challenging for a rotation spot some time this season. Thorpe will be back. Mason Adams exists. Getz has hinted that Sandlin is going to get every chance at promotion. 4) The FA market has yet to shake out, and I believe Getz is waiting for Bassitt, Littel or Canning (or reasonable facsimile) to fall to them cheap, and then he's done. 5) Looking at 2027, Schultz, McDougal, Shane Smith, Hagen Smith, Taylor, Burke, Sandlin, Thorpe, Oppor, Mason Adams looks like a good problem to have on your hands.

I don't understand this question. Status quo, I think they're at 70 wins. A better bullpen and some growth in a few key players nudges them towards the middle 70s. A couple of guys play out of their heads, and the rest of the good stuff happens, they're challenging .500. The point of my post was to lay out that a ton of good things have to break right for this team to be .500. Magic fantasy must ensue for the Sox to win the division or pick off a wild card slot.

He's pretty much the same stat line as Gilbert last year. Maybe he's better than Eisert?

I agree and keep saying that my O/U is 75 wins. Baldwin, Colson, Sosa, Quero, Teel, Vargas, Meidroth - half may do better, half may fall back. That may still balance out to the offense that was on a 70-win clip from the ASB on. Your starters gave you 7.2 fWAR in 2025 (less some starts using openers - I don't know how to filter for that on FanGraphs - even still, just looking at total data gets you to 8.4 fWAR for "starters" in 2025.). That's less than 2 WAR apiece across 5 starters for 2026's rotation to match or do better than. The bullpen looks stronger. That's got to pull them up closer to their Pythagorean. Murakami, Acuña - The White Sox clocked in with a -0.4 (minus) fWAR in 2025 at 1B. I think Murakami could top that. The Sox did 2.3 fWAR in CF last year, so maybe they give a little of that back, and cancel out gains at 1B. But for me, the baseline for the 2026 team is 70 wins if they do status quo, and 75+ if some dudes progress. If guys like Colson, Murakami, Shane Smith and Burke show any part of their ceiling, .500 wouldn't surprise me. It takes a lot of wish-casting to get them to "competitive" for the wild card. But hey, I love me some wish-casting.

The Rays just grabbed him, so no.

Nothing reported, yet.

He must have been the DFA for Blaze Alexander. I wonder how Orioles Hideout, or whatever they're called is reacting to that.

Imagine paying cash considerations for Ramos only to walk right over to the roulette wheel with him.

Saucke and McLain were drafted to move quickly, if I remember correctly. With a full minor league season under his belt, McLain might have been in the OF conversation for the 2nd half of 2026. Saucke's blurb feels more like an obituary.

Looking up Robert, he had 2.78 Chances a game (Put-outs + Assists + errors), which doesn't give us a raw look at his fielding stats. I don't know if there's a site that gives total number of balls hit into his area as flyballs, ground balls and line drives, how many he fielded as outs, how many as base hits and how many as errors. Is there even a stat for how many times he threw the ball back in on outs, hits or errors and recorded an out, hold (I just made that up), error, or general advanced runner? I'm sorry, this is starting to feel like a meandery post. TL;DR - Robert registered a "Chance" 2.78 times per game. That doesn't tell us how many times he touched the ball compared to times he was responsible for touching the ball. I know there are zone ratings, but I don't know where to find the raw data.

Something would have to have gone seriously wrong with Sean Newcomb for Hagen Smith to be the 8th inning lefty in September. But hey, as long as we're dreaming, I'll put Acuña down for 4 WAR and a GG in CF, and Pereira hits 25 dongs.