WestEddy

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.

He's been told he'll be given a shot to earn a spot in the rotation. SoxMachine thinks it'll be more about spot-starting.

I apologize. You are correct. A baseball season is about rooting for a winner. If and when they don't reach what I'm rooting for, I think I'm generally one of the last to b**** and complain.

I'd think you'd have to have Colson and Murakami both hitting 30+, Vargas, Meidroth, Quero, Teel and Baldwin all come into their own, Acuña/Pereira contributing, Shane Smith and Davis Martin both become 3+ WAR pitchers, Burke and Kay at least 2 WAR, the bullpen gels and becomes an asset, and then, maybe you're a .500 team? Then maybe you rush one of Noah Schultz or Hagen Smith to be a lefty specialist for a couple of months? But even if everything breaks right and this team is 52-48 towards the end of July and Detroit isn't pulling away, they sure ain't trading for anybody. So yeah, they might convert somebody to keep the balloon in the air.

I'd argue that if Crochet had 4 years left coming into 2025, all else being equal, they still would have traded him. Crochet and Sale didn't excel because they started in the bullpen. They were converted to leverage their advanced abilities to help out in a pennant race. They probably eased Sale into a starting role through the bullpen, delaying TJS until after he left the White Sox. To me, it's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. It could benefit Hagen Smith to ramp his innings up out of the pen if he's not being challenged in AA. The Sox might play service time games with 3 weeks of minor league time. They wouldn't hold Smith back an entire year and three weeks. I see no difference if Smith comes up in June and works from the bullpen, or if he comes up in September and starts.

They're trying to make the playoffs this year and probably will. He's a free agent after this year, and if they keep him past August 3, they won't have the opportunity to trade him.

I didn't mean to imply that Mr. Liptak is anything but a very good reporter who had a legitimate conversation with a person in the organization. My comment was about how everything gets framed as Reinsdorf directing a coordinated effort to trash every person who leaves and actually has nothing to do with Mr. Liptak.

I could live on that.

Or how the "front office" told some nobody to reach out to Liptak and tell him that Katz used to be called a name in SF so they could trash him out the door. But you're gas-lighting if you roll your eyes and push back.

I'm not even sure how Rule 5 works where getting the original team to give up their claim. I would think the player would have to go through waivers, 1st. My suggestion was that the Red Sox send the 2nd PTBNL to the Rays, and they release the White Sox from Rule 5 on Alberto.

Year Age AgeDif Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB 2024 19 -1.9 UCLA P12 NCAA 52 235 198 38 61 12 1 8 33 6 1 24 34 .308 .399 .500 .899 99 6 8 2 3 0 2024 19 -1.1 Orleans CCBL Smr 17 65 55 5 12 3 0 1 5 0 0 9 7 .218 .338 .327 .666 18 0 1 0 0 0 2025 20 -1.1 UCLA BTen NCAA 66 324 252 80 89 19 1 23 74 7 1 45 30 .353 .480 .710 1.190 179 5 21 1 5 10 College (2 seasons) College 118 559 450 118 150 31 2 31 107 13 2 69 64 .333 .446 .618 1.064 278 11 29 3 8 10 Other (1 season) Other 17 65 55 5 12 3 0 1 5 0 0 9 7 .218 .338 .327 .666 18 0 1 0 0 0 All Levels (2 Seasons) 135 624 505 123 162 34 2 32 112 13 2 78 71 .321 .435 .586 1.021 296 11 30 3 8 10

Fair enough. But Shields was horrible enough that he should have been had for Erik Johnson, alone. I'd bet Hahn saw money coming back as such a big victory, he didn't really do his due diligence on the guy San Diego was asking for.

And the thing that makes this whole argument crazy for me is that just look at the difference between Shields and Houser. Both times, the Sox found themselves in need of a starter. Nothing ready in house, so they had to go to the market. Hahn made the trade for Shields (who absolutely sucked then and was probably a month from a DFA) and threw in Tatis (most probably so the Padres would eat more money). Getz found himself a starter short, grabbed up Yoendrys Gomez. Waited for Adrian Houser to ask out of his contract. Snuck Gomez through waivers and fixed him. Picked up Tyler Alexander. Traded Vaughn for Civale. (Vaughn was useless to us, then.) Not saying that Getz should be get executive of the year, but the Sox found 4th and 5th starters without cleaning out the minors. Big difference.

I really think Baldwin needs to play regularly. Somebody mentioned optioning him to get a better look at those out of options, and that makes a little sense, but if he's on this team, he needs to be in the OF.

Doubt it. I'd guess somewhere between AA and AAA. Lots of fodder with the odd rehabbing prospect pitcher. Like, if you look at Acuña's Lara team, there really aren't many MLB "players", just guys who got some run, or are out of the game. 2025-26 Cardenales de Lara Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

65 PAs in 2024 Cape Cod League.

4 of those were in one game, but take that one away, and it's still 4 HR in 38 games, which extrapolates out to 17 HRs/162.

Getz keeps harping on getting the defense better. They think Acuña can slide out there and pick it up pretty easily, it seems. Baldwin needs work.

Just to be clear: Bowden’s 2026 MLB report card: Offseason grades, takeaways, predictions for all 30 teams - The Athletic

5) I don't think they'll "pre-plan" what to do with Antonacci. He's not even on the 40-man. Meidroth would have to stumble for Ant to get a shot. Or maybe, I don't know, Benintendi OPS's about .520 in the first 2 months. Ant will have to really force the issue. 7) I believe Getz is just waiting for somebody to drop mid ST. Martin Perez just signed a minor league deal. These guys are going to see their markets aren't developing. 9) Gilbert and Hudson start out with the inside track, and roster spots are theirs to lose. Getz kept Hudson over many when the 40-man got tight. They want to see what he has in spring. Newcomb could break camp in the rotation for a few cycles, and if Hudson struggles (and Newcomb looks weak 2nd time through the lineup), that's the move to the pen for New. 10) The closer we get to pitchers & catchers, Paez looks like a PTBNL. Maybe the other is Alberto, and the Red Sox send somebody to the Rays to facilitate that.

Nobody's arguing that they shouldn't have done that. Everybody couches their arguments with "I didn't want Getz" or "Getz shouldn't have been hired in the first place". Part of the illogical part for me is that while they should have cleaned house, Getz wasn't glaringly responsible for what he inherited. They developed the top prospects. The Sox didn't have the coaching or trainers in place to keep them on the field in top shape. That Getz didn't get fired along with Hahn and KW isn't an argument that he should have been fired. Some like to frame it as Getz snitching and blaming, but he most probably laid out a plan for what needed to happen going forward, and he seems to be clicking off a list. I don't get this obsession with portraying him as a painfully stupid failure. Nothing worked in 2024. processes started working in 2025.

Looks like Ledbetter and the pick are going to the Cardinals.

Jeez, don't the White Sox have a Ben Williamson they could have traded for Ledbetter and the pick?