Look at Ray Ray Run

Ive been relegated to the tablet and phone to stream the games. My son says "dad, you watch white sox baseball on your phone. The TV is for me." I do get to watch still at least, but havent watched on the TV yet this year lol. Ill say, if Colson is out and Mune, it really changes my optimism a bit but this team has been catching the breaks this year so hoping Colson back is temporary. Sounds pretty scary though

With framing going away, and baserunning up, controlling the run game more valuable than anything too.

Correct, games played. We're talking times in the lineup in this discussion, at least from my perspective.

The best catchers in baseball play 140-150+ games a year, which is in line with position players these days. This idea that elite catchers play 120 games a year isn't true.

I looked this up in general and the last one was Henry Davis. I think you could have argued Gerritt Cole was the one prior to that and that worked out OK after a while!

Meant the difference between Roch and Lackey.

Roch doesn't have the best numbers over the last three years of the guys projected to go in the top 10, so I'm not really sure how meaningful those numbers are for the point being made. The Lackey narrative being pushed is that this has been somehow one year of production, which I don't think is true. In the last two years, Lackey has slashed 371/472/634 (1106 OPS) 75/76 BB/K, while Roch has slashed 337/503/674 (1177 OPS) 81/66. And while Roch has been better, if you normalize their HBP (Lackey has 18 and Roch 46!) since that's an offensive strategy reserved for Antonacci mania, and apply Roch expected stats to those AB's, then he's slashing 337/467/678 (1145 OPS). I think Lackey showed enough increase in raw and game power in 2026 to believe that the one area he was lagging behind, in slug, is closer than the two year outcome.

Not sure how the two are related, but in my opinion baseball is about demonstrating progress and growth, and any signs of plateu are concerning. Roch isn't a bad prospect obviously. But he's not some guy thet could only not be #1 because of prospect fatigue. If we're going by breakout age, then Burress > Roch.

Sounds like Law has moved Lackey up to his #1 prospect as well based on the chat? Or maybe I'm misreading? If there really is a million+ in savings, youd be nuts to pass on lackey.

This prospect fatigue thing is flat out gas lighting at this point. The guy had a worse year than the year before. He plays in a non-major conference, and his carrying tool is his defense.

Go to the comments, it's in response to Dante C

One interesting quote from the chat from Law was "Lackey is a better prospect than Teel ever was. If Lackey is what everyone expects, they will move Teel."

Blanket statements like this almost never apply in life. Shortstops are considered safer and good picks because of their typical athleticism meaning if they dont stick at short, they can play somewhere else if their bat plays. This means more paths towards success as a pick. With Roch, him moving off the position actually hurts his value since he's not a great athlete but is a ++ SS. Meaning you already lose the positional flexibility and fallback position that many shortstops provide. His bat also appears more limited from the upside perspective, which means it'll play worse at other positions. I dont actually get the Roch momentum anymore. I read in the Law article that one team had Drew Burress at the top of their board. I get that way more than a team hanging on to Cholowsky. Burress didnt out produce his freshman year as a sophomore or junior, but he was arguably as good as roch or better every year. I think I'd take Burress over Roch too. Edit: Not saying I'd take Burress 1, just that I don't get the infatuation with Cholowsky.

Trouble for the White Sox. Although I have always been a Detmers guy, no team will be sweating those probables. Ill also add that Detmers has always had better peripherals than actuals so I wouldnt bank too much on that being luck.

Anthony Kay has a 5.5 FIP. Absolutely not in the circle of trust.

Big belief in the offense, and excited to see how much better it can get with Teel back in seat! Still no real belief in the pitching staff, as they only have 2 starting pitchers that could be relied upon. Count me as a believer, but weary of the staff and a believer that the lack of pitching would really hamper their ability to do anything beyond the regular season. The AL is so weak this year the Sox should do everything they can to give it a ride!

The team needs pitching no matter what, so I think they should be buying pitching. They have a good surplus of position players and prospects that they should be able to trade from. Right now, they really only have two starters (Martin/Burke). They badly need starting pitching. I would buy pitching 100%.

This is the first Mock he had the Sox taking Lackey. He also hasn't updated his top 50 in a bit so possible Lackey has jumped Roch and he says it's what he has been hearing for the past week.

Keith has the White Sox going Lackey in the latest mock.

He's made it sound like the Sox bait and switched him and then spent a bunch of gime complaining. Braden mania.

Id be very surprised if he was league average offensive player this year. I'll go a step further and say I'd be surprised if he was better with the bat than Benetendi has been so far (95 ops+). That said, he's a great athlete and maybe he plays up to the competition and adjusts quickly. Wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen.

I have no qualms about the move. Ive never been much of a believer in a team rushing a guy and ruining him. All big leaguers will struggle at some point in their professional career. How they adjust to that differentiates those who succeed from those who dont. Im skeptical that the timing of that challenge matters much.

If you think he can't be forced to learn more at AAA, fine I guess. I'd be shocked to see him succeed right away with his current profile.

It's amazing how much they've changed his entire delivery: Not a perfect angle, but you can still see the dramatic changes.

Kay stinks.