Chimpton

"The entire situation made the organization look inept and dysfunctional." This could be the catchphrase for the last 10 years at the White Sox.

Not just claim back a year of control but actually build him up properly to be a starter like a responsible management would. If he lasts through May before breaking down I will be surprised.

That's the big issue, given how few innings he has pitched over the last 2 seasons it would be crazy to expect him to be a regular starter this season. It would be better long term to have him starting in AAA but we all know that won't happen.

Its not a question of being a 'good teammate', he could be the best guy in the clubhouse, which is unlikely given that no other team will touch him, the whole off field nonsense is not what you want around a supposedly rebuilding team looking for a fresh start. As for being a 'success' he was hardly 'lights out' last season and once again no other team seems interested in his talents, he is at best a 3 or 4 starter these days. In addition it would be far better to give a younger player MLB exposure this seaon considering the WS are going to be losing anyway. Clevinger is hardly going to transform the team into contenders this season so why bring him back?

No matter whether he was innocent or not of the allegations re-signing Clevinger doesn't suggest the 'new start' and 'new attitude' that Getz has been big on over this closed season. Considering the WS will not be winning or contending anyway this season signing a player with this sort of baggage who is not exactly going to transform the team is needless.

Maybe I am biased being a Brit, but relegation isn't stupid. It forces the lower clubs to actually try all season because otherwise they get relegated and lose money by being in a lower league. Yes it doesn't suddenly make the lower teams equal to the big teams, but nothing ever will, salary caps etc won't equalise the teams as the big teams will always find a way round it and the lower teams will still not spend up to the cap. And there are many examples of small teams who get promoted to the top league who go on to become good competitive teams, equally some former big teams who have been living on past achievements have been given a kick up the backside by relegation. Relegation also makes the season more interesting for fans as there is the jeopardy of relegation. In football here in England 3 teams are relegated each season and 2 get automatic promotion from the lower league and the third place goes to the winner of a play of between the teams who finish 3-6 in the 2nd division., this makes the season longer and more interesting as well. I know promotion and relegation is alien to US sports but it does work in other sports around the world. It would be far too radical a change to ever happen in baseball but in my opinion it would spice up the season and prevent clubs perennially tanking.

Definitely you are right about Sheets, and Colas could get a season of experience to show what he can do in the MLB on a team that isnt under pressure. We already know Sheets can't do it at MLB level especially as a RF.

To be fair he has done nothing on the field that makes him a roster certainty. He is only hitting 3/16 in ST and last season after he wnet down to AAA he was hardly stellar.

I know it is a radical solution but could the AL and NL have 2 divisions each? With only the top division in each being eligable for the playoffs. Then you could have promotion and relegation between the divisions, and even a relegation playoff. I know relegation and promotion are not a popular concept in American sports, but as a Brit it keeps things interesting in football (soccer), especially as teams want to avoid relegation.

Does 'slept on' mean something different in America, because here in the UK we would say they are being 'sh*t on'.

If Eloy runs hard to first that's 10 weeks on the IL usually!

Does the Little League 'Mercy Rule' apply in Spring Training?

If you read my original post I clearly said he may or may not have been a problem, but what is clear is that TA went stale at the White Sox for whatever reason and was going through the motions, like some of the other so called big names.

No matter how well TA does in Miami, and I hope he does well, it was the right decision to part company with him. The relationship between TA and the White Sox was clearly not working anymore and he had gone stale. If he had stayed then a marginally better season was probably all we would have got, hopefully a fresh environment will spark an upturn in his form. From a White Sox point of view it was probably best to cut ties and rebuild a new clubhouse atmosphere without his presence even if he wasn't the cause of all the bad clubhouse rumours recently. I know the 2b SS options this season are hardly inspiring but this was going to be a write off season no matter what.

Is that 150 games between the 3 of them? Because I think that might be achievable.

Different but not better!

The Eloy head will probably pick up an injury.

Expectations are so low for 2024 that even a 90 loss season would be better than most so called doubters predict.

I think that is the most depressing thing, even in the weakest division in the AL, the White Sox are at best the 4th team and probably the 5th team.

It would be just so annoying to see Eloy stay fit on another team and start racking up numbers like he is capable of. But the reality is that if he stayed he will probably pick up some freak injury shortly after spring training and miss half the season! And as you say even if Eloy has a return to his rookie season in numbers the White Sox will still suck in 2024.

How would the draft work? The AAA teams would surely want access to the better players. Also the system of putting players with MiLB teams and then just calling them up andsending them down again would need to be looked at.

Speaking as a Brit, relegation isn't stupid. It ensures all teams try all the season and gives teams in the lower leagues the chance to move up if they get an aspiring owner who will invest. However, whether relegation would work in US sport like baseball is problematic. How would the draft system work? Would MiLB teams have access to those players? If not then they would struggle to be competitve. Also as the MiLB teams are basically feeder teams for MLB franchises it would open up conflict of interest issues if they then played against eachother if the MiLB team was promoted. Also with the divisional structure of baseball, if a team was relegated, would it only be replaced by a team in that region? Any introduction of relegation and promotion would require the whole structure of baseball to be rebuilt.

As a fellow Liverpool fan, I can't totally agree with you about disliking FSG and John Henry, after all they did bring us Klopp, and winning the Premier League after 30 years of waiting and the Champions League again. But as a whole I agree with your sentiments about American owners in the Premier League, they certainly don't have a good reputation, Boehly at Chelsea is a classic example of someone who hasn't a clue, spent over 1 billion on players and made them worse! But as a Liverpool fan the longer the Glazers stay at Manchester United the better! And as for the Super League idea, I was really disappointed that FSG and John Henry were involved in that, disappointed but not surprised as most club or franchise owners are now in it for the money, and treat fans as customers.

If the return was big enough then trading Robert would make sense. Robert is a good player when fit and his trade value is high at the moment and the Sox won't be challenging in 2024/5 so losing Robert won't make a massive difference to the win/loss columns if they are already losing Cease. The only worry is that the Sox have a track record of not developing prospects acquired in trades or acquiring prospects who never really achieve their potential, like Moncada and Eloy.

They could always move Vaughan there and get someone else to play 1B, not that I am suggesting that.