WestEddy

If the Cubs didn't say it, I've seen it bandied about that Shaw works as a Brooks Baldwin-type utility player for them. Frankly, where the Cubs are right now, I'd see Shaw as more of a sweetener for a pitcher or a bat they're trying to acquire, or whatnot, not somebody to move because they're blocked.

But I'm guessing that every team runs into the same problems. If they're going to pay down a guy like Rodriguez, they still want value for what they're sending away.

Newcomb expects to start 30 games. We'll see, I guess.

Okay, here's a SouthSideShowDown blog post about how the Sox could get a prospect for taking Castellanos off the Phillies' hands. White Sox could help Phillies pursuit of Bo Bichette with this unconventional trade First of all, could somebody tell me about all these trades that happen where teams send top prospects to other teams so they can pay their own players to play for someone else? Is that like Free Money day at the bank? Seriously, the White Sox sent international budget money to the Rangers for them to buy out Dionner Navarro's option within the last decade, and the world went mad with rage over how stupid and cheap that was. When else does this even happen? Looking today, there aren't even that many situations where teams roster players they might like to dump. Here's my list: Toronto - Andres Giminez Boston - Masataka Yoshida Houston - Carlos Correa Oakland - Luis Severino Philadelphia - Castellanos, Taijuan Walker Mets - Kodai Senga(?) St. Louis - Nolan Arenado Rockies - Kris Bryant Some of these, like Bryant - is just too cost-prohibitive to take on. Toronto seems to be happy with Giminez, Houston with Correa. The other teams listed have been shopping these guys for a couple of years, now, and somehow, they haven't been moved with "prospects". We don't need a DH. We already have Benintendi. Nobody's been beating down our door trying to trade for him and Hagen Smith. (Maybe 10-D and Jacob Gonzalez, in reality). I just don't think these deals happen, anymore. But everybody on Twitter and other boards keep throwing this fantasy at the wall, like every other day, teams are throwing prospects at teams with space to take their overpriced contract.

Quite ironic that Shaw's job was taken by an American citizen.

Like going to a Stones' concert after the long-retired Bill Wyman died to "support" Mick Jagger.

I mean nobody cares regarding a player taking time off from the team to attend their mother's funeral. Oh, the bolded part. My point was that they showed up to play those games. They didn't take off to go protest or attend a rally.

Players take bereavement time regularly. Nobody cares. We even know about this because of the context, not politics. I had to have a little cry over agreeing with Ray Ray, but if person at work finds out that a family member died, everyone starts telling them to go home and be with their family. It's like, "why are you still here?" The fact that he had to ask teammates is telling. He wasn't "mourning". NFL players knelt during the National Anthem of games they showed up to play in. NBA players wore "I Can't Breathe" t-shirts during warm-ups of games they showed up to play in. The media portrayed that as "controversial". It's fun to pretend things that didn't happen. If a baseball player skipped a key game in the homestretch of a pennant run to attend a No Kings or George Floyd rally, I can't say how I'd feel about that. I can't remember anything like that happening, so I'll have to wait until it does.

And 10 of the top 11 are WSox draftees. McDougal, Oppor, Antonacci and LaCombe are lower round picks everybody's been clamoring for the Sox to sneak into their top prospect lists.

Twitter:

1) Matt Shaw isn't available. 2) I'm picking Vargas over Shaw 10 times out of 10 due to coachability, track record and makeup. 3) There is no need to obtain another infielder. The Sox have already chosen Vargas, Meidroth, Monty, Mead, maybe Ramos...Murray...Antonacci - to work with and place-hold until Bonemer, Carlson and 2026/1,1 start filtering up. 4) Any trade resources should be used to add an OF, SP or bullpen, in that order. 5) As a thought exercise, yeah, it would be fun to grab Matt Shaw off waivers, or to trade Benintendi for him. Nothing palatable is in the realm of possibilities. 6) I support you in wishing Chris Getz was banging the phones to obtain him. I think that would be a waste of Getz's time and energy. And yours.

Meh-loy.

I get to dictate how I feel about a person's commitment to their job. I'm probably a workaholic, so there's that. I recognize my politics are different from a lot of athletes I root for. You posted a blurb from Keith Law criticizing Shaw's coachability. I would think that being very present in your kids' life regularly trumps going to a neighbor's rock concert/memorial, and practically every ballplayer sacrifices the former on a yearly basis.

This gets sillier because we all know whose funeral it was, and pretending that's not a flash point for some of us here is provocative, itself. I missed my aunt's 70th birthday (huge deal in my family politic) because the cabinet shop I worked for was burglarized the night before, I lived the closest, and I met the police, and boarded up the point of entrance. I missed most of a cousin's wedding for work. I finally threw down and left to make drinks and dancing. My wife and I have juggled countless wakes and funerals around our work schedules. It was controversial at the time. Nobody makes anything about a player taking time off to be with their child for an operation, birth of a child, or family member's death. Tim Anderson played a whole season after his best friend from childhood was killed, and I remember the response in other online communities being mixed.

And it's not like it was his mother's funeral. It was a memorial for a neighbor he only knew about a year. And really, normal, busy people split up, where the wife hits the wake and the husband hits the funeral, and everybody's checking email and texts at the after-luncheon. Shaw was there to "support" a national celebrity he was a neighbor with for a year at a stadium. His absence probably wouldn't have been noticed, you know, with the President and others attending. Normal people would have sent a card, then called, if they were that close. It was a serious character issue with the choice Shaw made.

Whitaker's got 75 career bWAR compared to Kent's 55. Weird that the Tigers' organization isn't screaming for him to get it.

Nobody wanted Mike Clevenger for reasons that have nothing to do with baseball, either. I would definitely do Ben Cowles for Shaw and cash.

I think Shaw's in a similar place as Quero, speaking only in baseball terms. Former top prospect, has shown they can survive the bigs, but still has more growth to be realized. It's a buy-low/sell-low that doesn't necessarily work for the Cubs. Robert's a bit of a mope. Vargas crashed and burned in real time. I act like Robert and Vargas are the great teammates that their teammates keep saying they are. Neither are uncoachable, as Law said of Shaw.

So the White Sox should do whatever it takes to obtain an obstinate rookie who bails on his team when it's go time?

No, I'm not sure, but TJS takes about 15-18 mos recovery. Thorpe: It’s hard for Thorpe to be patient as he anticipates his return to the mound — which could be sometime next June or July — but he has enjoyed watching the rotation that he hopes to join next year. Right-hander Drew Thorpe joins White Sox as he continues recovery from Tommy John surgery - Chicago Sun-Times I believe Ky Bush and Prelander Berroa are on the same timeline.

Yeah, if they're around 84-85 wins, adding that 5 WAR dude probably puts them up the win curve and into the playoffs.

If Ryan Rolison can't get through waivers, I'd imagine there's always going to be a club who takes a flier on the arm of Iriarte. You also have three guys who hit the 60-day IL at some point in spring training. I was wondering if they have a bead on a guy, and they'd hold off announcing the contract until spring training when they can roster him in place of Bush, Thorpe or Berroa.

Fox was a bit vague, but he hypothesized that Kelenic was one of them.