WestEddy

Sorry to usurp. Somebody fell asleep.

Yes. The guys we're talking about were higher bonuses, but if they have a full scouting department working 4+ countries and Puerto Rico, they would be finding multiple guys for tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses that would advance.

Fedde had a longer track record that season and was probably pretty thoroughly scouted in Korea. Houser reworked his delivery in the off-season, and it took a month to start feeling natural. I think that Fedde and Houser are great comps. Neither is a lockdown strikeout thrower. I think that put a damper on their value. Looking at the Fedde trade, it feels like Fedde brought back Vargas, Kopech - Perez, and a combo of the 3 (with Pham) got Albertus thrown in. The trade was probably a prospect short. I don't know what level. Another Perez/Albertus? Adrian Houser has reason to believe his strong White Sox debut was a new beginning - Sox Machine Houser talked with James Fegan about going to a pitching lab in the off-season:

When did Colson Montgomery throw a ball into the dugout? Rojas bounced one into Vargas, who was looking straight into the sun at that point.

No. It's the cheapest talent available. Eduardo Herrerra had a rough 1st year last season, and this season, he's OPSing .975, and will most probably graduate to the ACL next year. Frank Mieses is a 17-year-old CF OPSing .869.

Javier Vazquez.

I think it's the same problem with Fedde. He doesn't have that dominant strikeout stuff. Fedde's affordable contract wasn't ringing the phones off the hook. Houser's expected numbers are higher than his actual. I think he's a solid pitcher right now, on a good and lucky run, and like Fedde, he'll get interest, but not the kind of interest a knockout/strikeout guy would have gotten. My own opinion is that the Sox should be targeting somebody out of the top 100, then develop him into the rankings.

He probably brings back a prospect outside the top 100. The Dodgers 2024 trade for Jack Flaherty is probably the ceiling (Thayron Liranzo, a catcher just outside the top 100, and Trey Sweeny, glove first SS prospect), and the Padres acquiring Martin Perez from the Pirates is probably the floor (1 DSL pitcher who can't find the strike zone consistently).

My mind keeps wanting to read this as "painting Houses to absolutely no avail".

Vargas double. Slump over.

Morris Austin and Phil Fox had been having a nice run for a few games.

I just looked them up, and I swear I have no memory of them moving to Cleveland for a couple years at the end of the 70's.

Charlie Finley owned them for a bit and tried to market them alongside the A's. Oakland was not a good hockey market at the time. Yeah, I'm 61. The Buffalo Sabres, Canucks, NY Islanders and Atlanta Flames were the extent of my expansion interest. Pilots, Padres, Royals and Expos were always interesting, too.

I'm still puzzled why I can't find the California Golden Seals in the NHL standings.

The whole point of Amaya and Capra was to hold down SS or be a late inning specialist until Colson M. came up. If either made their way back onto the roster in the final two months, I doubt they start in front of Vargas, Meidroth, Monty, Sosa or Baldwin.

When Bobby Witt Jr. goes 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, he doesn't look like an above average major leaguer, either. I'm not even sure what you're arguing. Vargas is having a good season for his first full year as a starter, and he's in a slump right now. It's silly to declare him a bust based on a slump. But I don't believe you posting this multiple times across all threads is about you having an opinion on a player, just as you pretending a basic concept about players being devalued due to supply and demand is a ridiculous concept that you have to mock in every post.

And I sometimes wonder if you are. Yes, Vargas is in a slump. Prospects don't come to the majors and hit .400 straight through to their age 38 season. If you're looking for that, you're going to be really disappointed. Everybody's screaming to "play the kids". This is what that looks like. Errors and slumps. Perhaps you should focus your ire on the people who scream for Tim Elko to be given the chance to break the strikeout record instead of those of us who are just trying to watch a team come together.

And there's more to failure than 32 PAs.

Who cares? They need bodies to play the games at Charlotte. I'm not sure why we need to feel deep shame over every aspect of every roster move. Capra's off the 26-man. Hooray!!

I guess we have another 1.000 OPS at Charlotte to look forward to. Fraser Ellard reinstated from the 60-day and optioned, also.

Yeah, looking past the Rockies is how you get swept.

And Vargas.

The fact that Robert has fallen off the table in production now does not mean that he wasn't "developed" at an earlier point. Marco Paddy was a scout; he didn't develop prospects. Apparently, he was also bad at communicating what it was his department saw in many prospects to give development any idea. Tatis is a story of the prospect we traded away. I don't think anybody seriously gives the Sox any credit for his development.