WestEddy

I think the guys with pedigree are already going to be priced out of our range. Teams like the Giants are already announcing they're going to be shopping in the lower-mid range, which means 6 other teams will be right with them, and they'll all bid the $5M/1 guys up to $18M/2.

Garfien/Merkin podcast. Not a lot of info, 10 questions that they don't really give any concrete answers to. CHSN Podcasts | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Getz has a ridiculous budget. I'm not sure what you want him to do. You keep bring up this "lighting money on fire" argument - Lopez was replacement level. Without him, Zach Remillard is your opening day starter.

The Rays aren't a rebuilding team digging out from the "worst evah" crater.

Another nonsense ESPN listicle about trade targets and who could be involved. McDaniel/Passan give Robert a 60% chance of being traded: 2025-26 MLB offseason: Ranking players who could be traded - ESPN

FutureSox clocks in on their lists of who might the Sox lose, and who could they pick up in the Rule 5. 2025 Chicago White Sox Rule 5 Draft Preview -

Bravo.

Rockies feel they have another level to unlock...

I guess this is good for the Sox...

Dude played for the White Sox Amateur City Elite program and is a Simeon alum. Brewers picked him at #5 in 2016. It seems like yesterday he was bandied as a possible Sox selection in that 2016 draft. Boy, did the talent suck that year. The Dodgers' 1st round pick at #32, Will Smith (23.0 bWAR) is the only player from the 1st round to clear 10 bWAR. The Sox picked future Realtor Zack Collins at #10. Nationals To Hire Corey Ray As First Base Coach - MLB Trade Rumors 1st Round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft | Baseball-Reference.com

The park itself could be pretty dull, I guess. That backdrop is stunning.

The Giants just announced they'd be looking into the cheaper mid-level pitching market this winter, which is probably what a dozen other teams are doing, and will price Houser, Ponce and guys like that out of their own reach.

MLBTR update on Cody Ponce, who has been linked to the White Sox just because of their experience with Fedde. Report: Cody Ponce Could Command More Than $30 Million - MLB Trade Rumors

Just realized this is an old friend alert. Brandon Hyde, the Oriole manager fired earlier this year, was once a White Sox minor league catcher. He played on the 1999 Burlington Bees team that won the Midwest League Championship, that year. Mark Buehrle also pitched on that team. Due to work and family responsibilities, I found myself single a lot that summer, so I'd jump in the car, and go see the Burlington Bees or the Cubs' Lansing Lugnuts play. I made it a point to visit every stadium in the Midwest League. The most beautiful one was the home of the Quad City River Bandits, which was featured in the film Sugar. Cedar Rapids had a great, old stadium, too. I really didn't like the new ones, like Kane County, or Fort Wayne. Oh, well. Just wanted to share that realization. Rays Hire Brandon Hyde As Senior Advisor To Baseball Operations - MLB Trade Rumors

The FutureSox dudes James and Ian interview Geoff Pontes of Baseball America on their recent podcast that looked at the current White Sox rebuild.

I think it's simplistic to just say the owners are stupid. The owners are multi-billionaires and CEOs. They're going to act in their own interests. The players had gotten their pockets picked for a decade or so, allowing the owners to claw back control in exchange for better post-game food spreads and better hot tubs. I agree with you that the owners might puff out their chests, get all tough to cancel all the winter meetings, and then they'll magically come to agreement in the middle of March for a quick 3-week spring training, then a full season. I believe they'll hold up the salary cap, and trade that away for more rule changes and pilferage around the edges.

In this SoxMachine Spare Parts article are two combined James Fegan radio interviews where he takes question from Bruce Levine and then White Sox Weekly on ESPN 1000. Fegan fields questions about the makeup of the 2026 roster, and when we might see some of the more interesting prospects make their pro debuts. Spare Parts: The pope gets a Nellie Fox bat - Sox Machine

Twitter string list of top Rule 5 possibilities:

Baseball America podcast about how the rebuild is going.

then call the police.

Valiant effort. I don't see any of this as evidence. I think the fact that as soon as he became GM, Getz did a massive upgrade of their minor league system - is evidence that he wasn't granted the budget or ability to stay on par with the rest of the league. Calling that an excuse doesn't invalidate that reality. Hostetler's drafts weren't very good. I seem to remember every one of his 4 first rounders being panned at the time. Most of what I read about Collins when drafted was that he had a serious issue with swing mechanics that was hard to rework. Burger and Vaughn were 1B waiting to happen, and Madrigal was a slappy hitting gamer. Madrigal wasn't a flop, BTW, he produced offensively in his time on the Sox. He was not a good defender. And he couldn't stay healthy. Neither was Steele Walker who graduated up to high-A in his 1st full season with the Sox before he was traded. Burger wasn't "abandoned". The minor leagues were cancelled in 2020, and the Sox approved of him playing in a college summer league. They then invited him to their alternate training site. Yes, the lack of a minor league system contributed to the precipitous drop of the 2020-2021 "dynasty". Their system was poor mostly due to a non-existent international presence. One could blame Hostetler for his drafts, but a good bunch of players made it to the majors from the 2018 class. His 1st rounders were not good. Any 2nd or 3rd rounders who showed promise were quickly traded. They didn't even have a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2015 from signing David Robertson and Melky Cabrera the winter before. So yeah, Getz was there for all of that, but maybe he had a good story for all of that to tell JR. To blame this on Getz, though, is circumstantial.

You can just go back, find the other 2 or 3 times this blew up in a string, and reread those. I've answered all these questions, so now it's incumbent upon you to tell us how Getz didn't do his job as director of development. Don't whine about the "lack of major stars" or whatnot, give us names of players who were can't-miss, and he personally derailed them. Maybe you have inter-office emails where KW and Hahn were begging him to hire a Senior Pitching Advisor, or to buy Trajekt machines, and he defied them. I mean, you must have some tangible, factual evidence that Chris Getz did not deserve to be promoted to GM. You refer to a "decent amount of history". Tell us, then about this history you are privy to.