WestEddy

Is this book available to the general public?

No, it actually puts the A's under the microscope. Yes they have to spend. They just kicked themselves out of Oakland. Right before Tampa is telling the Rays to stick it. Big city owners are getting tired of the owners who take the profit sharing and laugh. So, yeah, the A's have to sign a few free agents to keep enough of their fellow owners voting for their decisions that fall under league approval.

Wilbur Wood, Dick Allen and Bill Melton were my childhood idols. Very sad day. RIP.

Weird. I missed all the comments crying that the White Sox weren't coaching Tim Hill up to the great pitcher we all knew he could be. I only remember the ones calling for him to be DFAed, or never even signed in the first place because he had no business in the game of baseball, he sucked so bad.

Crochet isn't walking into 2025 having thrown 180 innings in the last 4 years like Gerrit Cole or Chris Sale at their trade peak. Crochet has tons of potential, and looks like he's going to be a horse. I just don't think teams will be lining up to throw all of their top offensive prospects at us for that. If you get 2 "top 100" dudes, maybe it's a #40 and a #85, or something. (I guess that's 2 top 100s.) Getting "2 top 100" players is also problematic. I'd rather the Sox know the system they're dealing with, and maybe max out their value taking lower level talent. When you're trading for someone's MLB top ten guy, you're buying high.

I'd say only one team would part with 2 T100 offensive prospects, and that's the team that'll get Crochet.

Our own James Fox also did a write up over at FutureSox. https://www.futuresox.net/2024/12/01/2024-chicago-white-sox-rule-5-draft-p/

Then when you do one, we could be the goofball Beatles.

I think the only real catcher "WAR" worth anything is Baseball Prospectus, which one can access for free. There might be somebody else, but Baseball-Pro breaks out framing, the run game and blocking, I think. Yeah, Edman seemed locked in during the 22 season, on all sides of the ball.

Dude, relax. I'm goofin'. There aren't even rumors right now. Just trying to fire up some convo.

Counterpoint: No they don't.

Cal Mitchell, OF out of Pittsburg's minor league system, just spent the previous year treading water in El Paso for the Padres.

I think IllinoisPolicy.org is a conservative front group, so I take what they say with a grain of salt, but they're estimating that the Houston metro area will surpass the Chicago metro area in 2035. And Dallas/Ft. Worth is larger than Houston.

I would take a hard look at the Brewers before defaulting to Cub fandom. Detroit and Cleveland would probably be AL landing spots.

My late uncle had the same loyalties. When the Cardinals moved, he started rooting for the Packers.

What makes you so sure Chicago would get another expansion team? Houston is going to pass Chicago in population in the next decade, or so, and nobody is talking about a 2nd team for Houston.

Perhaps you should be calling Dave Dombrowski and asking him this. I haven't been in favor of acquiring Bohm. Perhaps you should be answer your own question. Why are you floating Bohm as a target?

Of course. As of now, we have at-bats against lefty pitchers for a RF to spare. We really can't sign any more OFs as there really isn't the space to play them, and the rookies we need to have a look at. I mean, okay, if we sign Hays, he plays in LF, DH Benny, then you're cutting into playing time for Sosa/Baldwin/Ramos/Valdas.

Part of the problem I have with the cavalier "the Sox could obtain any player - they just need to offer enough" takes is that Benintendi is a product of that. He was probably worth a 3-year deal, and Hahn went to 5 to get him in uniform. Now we're paying for that mindset. If Benintendi wasn't here, we could sign all the Austin Hays we could conceivably meet, and just rotate them all through LF and RF. Now, we have to rotate about 6 players through RF and DH. I think if the Sox sign an IF and a catcher, they're done on the offensive side. There really isn't the room or time to give a 4 month showcase to another Tommy Pham.

Okay, "headliner" is inaccurate. A significant piece. If Philadelphia is pushing Bohm, then Sox fans are going to take a hard, critical look at Bohm. That's great he put up numbers in the first 4 months. He turned into a pumpkin after the TDL. I'll leave the "we should be honored to even be offered Bohm" takes to Caulfield. This talk has most likely been long rendered moot, at this point. Bohm was probably floated once as a piece, Getz said, "whaddya, nuts?!?", and it was over.

If nobody's elite, then why do we have to hang onto Crochet?

I'm not sure what your point is. Bohm is being floated by some as a possible "headliner" for Crochet. So, yes, he is going to be broken down as a return piece.

Great. So you're saying the Sox being run like Twitter is a step up?