Look at Ray Ray Run

LOL I forgot they had Taylor too. They have back-ups for their defensive replacements.

The Janikowski add is hilarious. He had a .508 OPS in 200+ PA's for the Rangers last year. Fletcher is probably a better defensive RF'er than Janikowski, and while Janikowski is better in CF he's also getting old and defensive skills fall off quickly. Is he better than Robert if Robert is back? No.

lol

Moniak is awful. Pass.

I think you and Jerry R are the only people alive who thought Chris Getz deserved a GM job.

Dave deserved the jobs he was given. He had earned them, whether I agree with his strategy or not. Chris didn't deserve or earn his job, and therefore does not deserve any benefit of the doubt.

Dave is notorious for getting owners over the finish line. His owners spend as much, in a lot of ways, because of Dave. The optimal organization structure in baseball hasn't been a secret - you could hire a consultant to tell you how to build and hire. A GM job is to come up with their own model, not copy everyone else. At least in my opinion.

I've hated on Dave at points in his career, but imagine comparing Dave D to Chris Getz. By the time Dave took over the Tigers he had already built two franchises.

The hires are just the Sox copying what other teams do. You can catch up that way but will then fall behind again. Getz isn't doing anything new, so I'm not going to get too excited about that piece.

The worst team in MLB history followed by another year where you say they MUST be one of the three worst, nets a C. I hope you're not teaching America's youth with those standards. I love that you call the crochet deal a win/big return. Let's wait and see there, Jimmy.

You ask me a question. I tell you the factual answer. You then disagree. Weird stuff.

Yes, it's totally the players call.

Surgery Is the players call. A lot to blame the Sox for, and thorpe stinks anyway, but this isnt one of them.

Hard to blame the team much for off season injury news. That's usually coming from the players camp given.

This trade looked good at the start?

Yes, some of us have done everything we can to pretend last year didn't happen altogether.

Do you have any statistical reason as to why the projections are wrong? The projections aren't assuming anything, you are. I know how bad the rotation is projected to be, and even though I made a prediction that Burke and Smith will be average MLB starters, it's very unlikely that this rotation outperforms last years. Where the Sox should be better, I'd hope, is on the position player side.

The top four starters for the White Sox this year are projected for 4.6 total fWAR (and that's with all with > 120 IP projected!) Garrett Crochet was worth 4.7 fWAR last year. Fedde and Crochet were worth 8.1 fWAR combined.

That said: Bold prediction: West Eddy will say something critical of Getz and WSox and ss2k will not derail the thread in which west eddy does so.

This message board is so toxic, that I remember someone posting articles from Eaton or some other bum ripping Hermie and saying he was the worst in baseball. The guy had basically 2 decades as, by far, the goat for maintaining health, but his routines were bad or archaic or some nonsense. I'll still stand on the reason Chris Sale is still around today was because of how the Sox and Herm managed his shoulder and arm. I don't care if you thought Schneiders programs were from the stone age, results are undeniable. Since he's left too, we've been a dumpster fire.

Sosa can't play shortstop. That would be unfair to him and the pitching staff.

I already said Drury will net 3 WAR this year in another thread so didn't post it here, but I certainly think it's very possible. I do think Robert is going to have a monster year, even though I was light on his projected WAR, so I think the nod probably goes to Luis.

I like Wolkow quite a bit as well, and considered something similar! Would like to see some progress in the swing and miss category before I'm all-in. 46 digit, a 2 WAR position player would be twice as good as last year! Progress! That said, your bold predictions add up to a new loss-record which I do think is very bold as the likelihood of that is very small.

Let's face it, this team sucks so there's a lot of opportunities to be bold in 2025. The difference between this year and last year for me is that last year, there was only one guy I got bold about and that was Crochet. I thought I was bold, and it turned out he was even better than I thought. This year, there are a few more opportunities. I'll start with a few, and open up the floor for Caufield to copy and paste-spam 97 bold-prediction blog posts. 1. Sean Burke and Shane Smith combined for 5+ fWAR: With Burke, it's going to come down to command. If he can't command his fastball, this is toast, but I think both arms have the upside to surprise. I figure I have a shot of hitting on one and slightly missing on the other and still netting 5+. 2. Lenyn Sosa is a top 12 2B: I really wanted to go with top 7 here, but I was a coward. 2B is a weak position, and this puts him right in the 2.2 fWAR range, but more importantly it puts him in the wRC+ class of 105+. Sosa has shown a propensity to adjust and improve in his professional career. He lacks athleticism, but has a strong hitters acumen. 3. Miguel Vargas will not suck: The title says it all. This place is pretty down on Vargas, but there's a lot of failure left in that body before I'll say he's washed. He'll solidify himself as a MLB regular. 4. Grant Taylor will be a top 25 prospect by season's end. Dare I say, he'll out-pitch Hagen Smith. 5. Drew Thorpe will still suck Sell. Auction. Foreclose. Adding one: Garrett Crochet wins the 2025 Cy Young and leads the AL in IP.

He's got 0% chance of being as good as Crochet, but he could be a young Freddy Garcia with a better k/9. Good 4 pitch mix, plus velo, big body and extension.