Look at Ray Ray Run

Yeah, I have a tendency not to ignore the bad stuff So did his arm just start hurting at the start of the 2nd start? Only went 2/3 an inning. Was it 100% healthy for the start 3 before the IL? Selection bias is always ripe at soxtalk! If we exclude the starts that Soxtalk decided shouldn't count, he had a 4.97 FIP, 5.23 K/9 and 4.13 BB/9. Abysmal.

To be young again! And yes, lower body injuries to catchers need to be 100% healed before pushing anything. Maybe we can trade Roch for Lackey

and now show the two starts after that.

That's the problem with Thorpe though. He was advertised as a 65-70 command guy and came to the big leagues and had 40 grade command. Add in the fact that command is the last thing to come back after surgery, and I think he's better off sitting in the minor leagues all year.

Never seen a guy come back from 2-3 weeks from a high ankle sprain. Certainly not a catcher. That's a 6 week injury.

"Fragile AF" but led baseball in IP last year. Red Sox probably pushed him a little too much last year, but that said all pitchers are fragile. I do find it fascinating how many times this trade has been put on the TV screen as some big win for the Sox when they're clearly still losing this trade as of today. Teel can't stay healthy and Meidroth has a 287 xwOBA. Monty looking more and more like a player everyday though so that's a big plus. If Teel doesn't figure it out and get healthy, it'll be very very difficult for the Sox to win this trade even with the injury concerns. Again, some of this trade comes down to timing and maximizing what you could get. If the Sox trade him half way through last year, he has even more value than when they did move him. As of today, I'm still taking the HOF caliber talent over the outcomes the Sox have gotten. That said, I've always been a Teel believer and still am so I think there's still hope.

Isn't that Nick Gonzalez?

One of these is Sam, and the other is 2025 Jose Ramirez.

Look at Jose Ramirez 2025 statcast card and Sam's. Twins but Sam is actually a little better.

I mean actual prospects. Moving a bum and him still being a bum doesnt mean much.

Besides Mead and Gonzalez, what players has the team traded/moved on from based on some internal assessment? They were wrong about Mead and Gonzalez is still TBD.

Definitely more faith in Burke right now than anyone else! He's been dealing. Love to see it.

Nothing shows up here, and all I've seen with Mead is that he went back to his pre-injury (2023) stance and hand positioning. I've seen a couple things on that, but nothing that it was directed by the White Sox. I don't really trust AI summaries without a designated source.

I'd trade hagen smith 3 times for detmers. Detmers for 2 1/2 years is way better than bullpen Hagen. Detmers today is like the 98 percentile outcome for Hagen. Lane Thomas is awful.

I think it's a bad offer, but people here are really sleeping on detmers. He was rushed as a 21 year old to the league. Didn't get a chance to learn to pitch professionally. He threw 62 minor league innings. Has very fun stuff, and looks like he's found some pitchability over the last season (2nd half last year, 1st half this). My only concern with Detmers is it's a lot of fly balls. I'm definitely a fan though.

Teams should be punished for not planning these things well.

The Sox have gotten .4 WAR out of DH.

Guy has a 137 wRC+. Pretty sure he's a lot more than a super utility guy.

I keep hearing this idea that he was blocked. He'd be leading the White Sox in wRC+. Pretty sure that guy should have a home and not be released for free. He was 3 years removed from his wrist break finally, so the idea his power could return was always possible. He always hit the ball hard before his injury. Edit: he'd be second to Mune. Also, you have a source for the Sox changing Mead?

Who knew former Padres and caufield legend Luis Urias was still in the league!

I am happy to theorize as to why some players are typically resistant to big change though. It's hard to get players off of what got them to MLB. It's been working for them their entire life. Some players will never move off of it. Others will take a wait and see approach, and adjust when they feel they are tapped out and limited. I think the latter was Vargas. He got through two full seasons of games roughly at the end of last year and looked up and saw himself as a below average player but likely felt more of a belief that he, at least, belonged here. So he was confident in his approach and felt better with his swing, but didn't feel like those two things were going to get him where he wanted to be. So he put on weight and busted his ass to get stronger to add power and authority to a good profile. No one ever has to tell you to swing harder. It's like telling a pitcher to throw harder.

The Sox told Vargas to "swing harder" is pretty funny.

I was getting ready to respond to this and disagree, but then reread you said "this spring training." Coming into the year, prior to spring, him being considered a bench bat made a ton of sense. He was worth 1.3 fWAR over a full season as a starter. When I saw his swing speeds were up 3 MPH in spring, I definitely changed my perspective on his possible outcomes though. Don't think some realize how much of an increase that was and how significant it was to expected outcomes. So I agree, if you still thought he had no shot with the spring data coming out, then you were hating on Vargas too much.

I know you and some others are committed to giving the majority of player growth and improvement credit to men in suits, but most players get better on the back of their own efforts, commitments and dedication. Organizations can nurture that to an extent, but unless you think the Dodgers somehow didn't know how to develop Vargas but the Sox had the magic, I think we can move past this silly idea. The one thing the Sox could afford to give Vargas that the Dodgers couldn't was time. Guys who are close to quitting don't dedicate themselves to the degrees Vargas has. Vargas deserves the credit for his transformation and for his commitment to getting stronger.

Well that.... or I'm pretty sure the Pirates would have laughed and hung up the phone if the Sox offered Acuna instead of Gonzalez.