nrockway

I agree and I love rooting for a guy who's from Illinois (or might as well be) but I echo the sentiment that the other Jake's potential is tantalizing even if he hasn't looked so amazing, while likeable Jake is who he is, an oft-injured first baseman who can really hit the ball. He'll be way better than 86 WRC+ by the end of the season if he plays enough games; he'll just give up as many runs on defense at third as he scores. The Marlins strategy of getting a bunch of infielders who can't play defense because they expect their pitchers to strike everybody out has been a hilarious failure. Also confused about why Jazz is playing center field instead of SS, like why'd they sign Tim Anderson?

They are in a sorrier state because at least the White Sox admitted they need to rebuild. Karnisovas is in the Hahnish stage of general managing whereby signing old veterans that nobody wants or giving up draft capital for them is the path to "get over the hump". They've had one winning season since 2016. They've whiffed on every draft pick too except, maybe, Ayo Dosunmu, a league average backup that we're overpaying because Karnisovas screwed up his rookie contract. The Bulls will trot out this same monstrosity for the foreseeable future and delay the inevitable. They need to tank and I won't follow the team until they start over. The White Sox are bad, as expected (worse actually but it doesn't really matter), because they committed to a rebuild. A step in the right direction that the Bulls refuse to make. I would trust Karnisovas even less than Getz to manage a rebuild though. Getz may have been the wrong pick because he has no track record, well Karnisovas has a fairly long track record now and it's overwhelmingly bad.

I basically started posting on this forum because I gave up on the Bulls for the reason the other poster mentioned (and basically the reasons why people in this thread are giving up on the Sox). That team is going to treadmill until 2030 because there's no path for improvement and their idiot GM keeps compounding his bad mistakes. Trading lottery picks for bad, overpaid veterans, trading an all-star starter who you have team control of for a guy who sits on the bench for a year then doesn't get re-signed. Drafting a non-NBA player with the 4th overall pick, declaring him the franchise savior, then watching him flounder for years because the GM can't admit he screwed up. They will re-sign Pat this offseason and cement the Bulls as a 39-43 team for the rest of my life. Just good enough to make the BS play-in and not tank ticket sales, not good enough to actually win anything. The Bulls may be "better" than the White Sox in relation to their respective leagues, but I actually think the Bulls are in a sorrier state. I could reasonably expect the White Sox to have a good team in 2026, I see no path for the Bulls unless they get really lucky in the draft (that is, if they haven't already traded all their future draft picks away).

You make a good point so maybe it's more like taking on salary in a trade. I do think Montgomery will end up at 3B but if he does stay at SS, I like Kim more than Adames because he can play 2B as well and I see no reason to assume he wouldn't hold up for a 5 year contract. Who knows what it would take to sign him but I don't think it's close to Bogaertz/Turner money, maybe more like 5 years, $125m. Who the specific player is is not so relevant to the larger point, they just need to bring in players on actual contracts to supplement the roster. I think there's some internal talent on this team but not enough to create a lineup that's any good. maybe a pitching staff. Even adding one guy whose still in his 20s. The overarching point is that I was OK with the team not spending any money this year because it was a wash anyway, but next year may not be a wash.

For now. That thing's gettin built even if it's in Kansas and not Missouri. Voters rejected a stupid idea, they might accept a well-designed plan or the Royals/Chiefs will otherwise find a different source of public money that doesn't require a referendum. I don't know why it even came to a referendum, they were obviously going to lose. The Braves managed to squeeze $300mil out of Cobb County, GA without a vote. I just imagine the Braves are competently run and the Royals are not.

I don't know how it relates to attendance numbers specifically, but there have certainly been periods of contraction and spending in this team's recent history. With Moncada and possibly Eloy off the books, there's literally no excuse to not sign Adames or Kim or whoever. Which is my point, if there isn't any movement next year on that front, then I'll probably be actually disillusioned. I don't actually think attendance is that relevant, if anything the Sox might want to follow in the Royals footsteps and drum up public support for a new ballpark by producing a good team.

the combination of Soroka, Lopez, Shewmake and Shuster, yes absolutely and it's not actually that close. Shewmake might actually be a useful baseball player on a good team, that alone is better than Bummer. and I'm not even a Bummer hater, I'm just like why would the White Sox pay a reliever 6 million dollars to pitch to a 7 ERA, why not see if 3 young players at primo positions with ample team control can do something? it's a no-brainer. what else was Bummer gonna get?

I'm still in the camp that firing Hahn/Williams earned enough good will to give Getz some time. There are young players on this team worth rooting for. The pitching situation seems genuinely good and a handful of position players could be mainstays for a long time. Chances are that I'm watching more minor league ball than the White Sox this year though. The "good will" is lost if they don't spend any money next year to improve the team. I expected a punt season and so it is. Even if the team on the field is worse than I thought it would be, I had no expectations except for individual players' progress. But there's no reason that next year should be and there are real opportunities to add useful non-superstar free agents at positions of need, unlike this past free agency cycle. My hope is that the money not spent this year will be spent next year and if that hope isn't realized, I'm probably in the same position as you "f*** all these guys, burn it down".

heads up play from Lenyn. I'm not sure that saving the run matters, it'll take until next week to make up that run differential.

yeah, that one guy is literally named "bum" and is making $6mil. looks like he's taking a step in the right direction though, his ERA is down to 5!

he dropped it

Banks had Fraley picked off too if Nicky felt like covering the bag.

I think my larger concern now is that we seem to be jettisoning players. I’m not asking you to add anything, getzy, just stop subtracting prospects!

I tend to agree and I thought he was throwing a change up a little bit but he's barely throwing it and it's been crushed when he has.

he throws a cutter to decent effect.

Is Joey Ortiz an old sock? The sock that never was? Well He looks pretty good. Will he sustain .928 OPS? Probably not but I thought he couldn't hit.

Totally agree, well said. Side note, I was trying to avoid the score so I could watch the replay (so why come to a white Sox forum? A mystery) but now I know I don’t have to subject myself to watching this team, you’ve saved my Friday evening!

I think this is the reality though and sort of what I'm judging Pedro on...this is a loser team (through no fault of his own) and we really do need to claw for every win (are we winning right now? I'm waiting to watch the replay). How well can Pedro hold onto leads with his bullpen decisions? Kopech helps because he can (and should) go two innings at a time without sacrificing stuff. Frankly, I don't see why he can't close out leads after the 6th inning two or three times a week, he's a starting pitcher and presumably prepared for the season like a starting pitcher. I guess baseball teams don't do this anymore, but why can't Kopech throw 90 to 100 innings out of the bullpen? I'm skeptical about Pedro's lineup/bullpen decisions because they seem formulaic and like a formula that the MLB moved past a long time ago but I can appreciate where his head is at, that he has the power to decide outcomes of certain games if he makes good managerial decisions.

Sounds like the sort of pointless statement that gets people to click on espn’s worthless articles

More good than bad so far imo. All you can do is grade him on his work and I think the team is better positioned than it was when he took over. What would someone like David Stearns or Alex Anthoupolos have done differently? Pulled Shohei Ohtani out of his hat? there have been a few head scratcher moves like Popeye and Mena but otherwise he seems fine. You can’t really make a proper judgement until we see what Thorpe, Iriarte and Zavala can do. I thought he could’ve gotten a better return similar to what Castillo netted the Reds but time will tell.

It's not conveniently forgotten that Sheets played, it's just not a stroke of managerial insight. He was obviously going to be the guy playing in this same role since well before the season began. This is what he did last year and nobody better came along to replace him. I've given credit where credit is due but this game's management was really bad from beginning to end. Putting Benintendi fifth is dumber than keeping TA first for so long last season. It's dumber because he was smart enough to realize Benintendi probably shouldn't be leading off but seemingly doesn't understand baseball well enough to realize maybe you shouldn't put the guy that can't hit in the slot where you expect the batter to drive in runs. As for the little league play, Sheets is out by a mile if Gimenez makes the right decision and throws home. I don't think major league teams are so bad that you can strategize around opponents' mental mistakes or bobbling bunts. Anyway, the point I'm responding to in the first place is why they don't score when runners are in scoring position and it starts with the manager not putting the team in a position for it to happen with his blunders. You can only do so much with this group of players, you're right, and he's not doing 'so much' or even 'much' with them.

I like how he says this but it's his own fault. Benintendi sucks so he promotes him to fifth in the lineup. Pedro thinks it's a demotion because "higher=better" but now a useless batter is in a position to hit when runners are actually in scoring position. How many did Benintendi strand today, 4 or 5 or more? Other odd lineup decisions that helped create this problem: pinch running for Vaughn then pinch hitting for Lee. not a terrible idea in a vacuum, except Lee is actually hitting and maybe there's someone else you'd pinch hit for (like Benintendi). The result is Pillar and Maldonado coming up to bat in extra innings and getting outs with runners in scoring position. Also odd: batting Sosa second and using him to sacrifice bunt. Many teams put their best hitters second in the lineup. If the manager thinks Sosa can't hit and is helping the team more by getting out on purpose, why is he batting second? I just watched the replay and this feels like a game that Pedro lost on his own.

he's got a beautiful swing. I'm impressed that a guy that big and strong has such an ability to crush high and inside pitches. I hope I was wrong about him and he's finally turned a corner, he has the tools to be a very good hitter. why do you have to build around your first baseman? that's seemingly the White Sox MO, but if you can have a first baseman making no money and hitting for .850-.900 OPS, I'd call that a good thing. first base and dh seem like the last two positions you should build around/devote real money to, but that's just me.

That really sucks. He was playing well, if he kept it up he'd probably get a pretty good contract next year. Time for an extended look at Sosa I guess, that's OK with me.

Crochet's value is probably still not super high considering the risk of injury and lack of track record. Pointless to trade him for now. Fedde probably has some value if he can keep this up for a while, I'd look to trade him and/or Kopech eventually for a middle infielder. I still like, in theory, a trade for Jonathan India. Their pitching is a little suspect and they have Marte, McLain, Arroyo ready to replace him. Kopech for India seems fair, Reds get a good closer who they can take a crack at turning back into a useful starter. Soroka is a guy who has more value to us than other teams I think. He's a free agent after this year and I don't think he's in a position like Lynn/Giolito to be traded for a prospect. I hope we can re-sign him for $10mil-ish AAV if he can prove to be a 4-4.5 ERA starter.