GreenSox

This is really heartening. What a fast-riser. And now that there's tangible outside confirmation, the Sox will for sure know what they have.

The telling thing to me is that .400 avg allowed to lefties. That suggests to me that while he throws hard, he doesn't have much movement on the fastball, and/or that that slider generally breaks off the plate (which won't fool lefties; nor pro hitters either side; a Fulmer issue). And he'd be required to learn, really, 2 more pitches. And, of course, the FO willingness to use first-round choices on relievers.

Sounds more like something dropped by the FO to take the focus away of an offseason of adding utility infielders and relief pitchers.

Horton has great stuff, only 2 pitches, can't get lefties out, was only good for a month. Looks like a rush-to-the-bullpen candidate. I hope the Sox look elsewhere.

Yes, Sox would add 6 or 7 wins per season. And to get him, Sox would give up probably 10-12 wins per season, dispersed over 3-4 players. That could work if they had talent who they could replace those players with; but the #30 farm system does not have that talent. So, in all, trading for Soto would probably make the Sox worse.

I like Leury because he can play OF and IF. Just a nice backup, and, backup, of course, is precisely where he has value. As you said, the manager insisting on starting him will screw things up in the "step back and retool" scenario; and it will ensure failure in the "let's play this out and see what happens" scenario. I think there are a couple of crazy/"out of the box" things they could still do with essentially this roster to give this a fighting chance.

Love Vera's delivery. Sousa has a 10 ERA in Charlotte. Good gracous.

Yea, I know. Just to create some room, which they'll need (could use some now).

And it's particularly galling because they put a lot (too many) resources into the supporting cast. It's probably a result of the #30 farm plus the long-time preference of this FO for utility players and old veterans. But the good news is, that it shouldn't be that hard to fix (although a couple of bad contracts are in the way).

Interesting. I think you nailed the 3. I would move Harrison and Pollock along to create some room. Some team could use a utility infielder, and Pollock has been good enough recently to take a flyer on for a 2nd half rebound. 2nd half used to recapture value of some of the veterans (some of these guys need to be moved in the offseason if for no other reason to freshen up this operation) and to give more time for young players. Whether Tony is down with that, is another question. After all, the Sox closed the 1983 season at 50-16.....

Isn't Hostetler in charge of pro scouting?

Probably shouldn't sell, because there is slim chance that Hahn will get Hostetler to dispatch his scouts to adequately evaluate the minor league systems of teams that would be interested in Sox players. He'd be trading off of prospect ranking lists.

No, no, and no. Sox need to modernize. JR can give Kenny some no-show job.

Leury Garcia: Pinch Hitter!

Narvaez was a major league caliber catcher, on the improve, with multiple years remaining on his contract. He was traded for a 2 year closer. Colome was good, but they didn't need good then. That was another short-sighted move. Hahn's great moves were Eaton #2, Quintana, Eaton #1 (my personal favorite, the nature of which I wish he would repeat). His contract extensions were good and the Sale trade was fine. A couple of the FAs were good. But that's about it. And the list of bad moves is lengthy. He even signed 1 guy and traded for another who just quit baseball before their contracts were up. Friends of Machado. Napping during in July during the rebuilding years. On it goes.

The Sox have 5 viable starters, so starter insurance doesn't seem like the most efficient use of resources. These guys are decent pitchers: high K rates (loved by Hahn analytics) but also high walk rates, which will fit right in. Shouldn't make a move anyway until after the all star break.

sorry - wrong thread.

Tony in the FO would be much worse than low bars of Tony in the dugout or Hahn in the FO.

Rick Hahn hired one of those Stanford guys as his top assistant: Haber. Of course, like Hahn, he doesn't know analytics.

Houston.

Abreu may be able to hit for another 5 years. That said, it's probably time to move on. Corner infield isn't in short supply in this org. Re FAs, the problem is that they sign FAs for ancillary spots, like utility infielder and relief pitching. These are spots that successful org. fill mostly internally; and for sure they WhiteSox could fill their utility positions internally. They would have some trouble filling a pen internally, which is unfortunate considering the draft capital the FO spends on relief pitching. And the other problem with FA, is that the White Sox signed few objectively good players in their prime. Grandal's done okay; Dunn failed. Keuchel was ?able when signed (and clearly past his peak), and he did have 1 good season for the Sox. But there haven't been many. When you sign 2nd and 3rd tier talent, that's what you will get.

McGuire can't hit. Zavala plays the position fine and can hit a bit. Well he has so far, and he was having a monster year in Charlotte. And with 2 utility level hitters inserted into the lineup most nights, they can't giveaway a 3rd spot in the lineup on a regular basis. Either of these catchers will be claimed when cut.

Release McGuire. Easy call. He's terrible. And in retrospect, trading Collins (who may be able to hit) for McGuire was silly.

Someone asked on what whether Montgomery would be in his midseason top 100: "in a word, no." What I glean from the (very positive) write-up is that he just hasn't proven enough yet against quality competition. Said Colas had "trouble with the curve" which is I guess not surprising.

Man double V has got to do better than that. We're going to need him with this 8-game week coming up. Great series. Now come the money series'.