hogan873

Going with 53-56. That's a big improvement from 2024 (with still a miserable record). A lot of things went wrong last year, on top of just being a bad team. New manager, fewer asshats, hopefully more caring and less moping.

Drury's hot spring carries over into the regular season and has a 2023-like season...before being traded at the deadline. Robert stays healthy, hits 20 HRs before the trade deadline, and is traded for a decent package. Penn Murfee is one of the best bullpen arms. Vargas has a nice season, batting .260+ with 25+ HRs and 80+ RBIs. Clevinger is the go-to closer to start the season, pitches very well, and still no team wants to trade for him. Drury, Martin, and Perez are all stars.

I agree he's still not a great hitter. My point was he's better than Nicky. However, I will admit that the last few years of White Sox fandom has made me willing to accept less than I deserve. White Sox are saying, "Here's a somewhat better version of Nicky Lopez for second base," and I'm saying, "Thanks."

And Nicky Lopez has a career OPS of .626.

Eh, he's better with the bat than Nicky. If he bats near his career average, we'll be happy, especially with the plus glove in the field.

Maybe this involves funding for a new stadium.

Yeah...I guess that describes just about every thread.

Greg is actually Greg Ishbia, the little-known sibling of the billionaires.

There are a handful of people that know what's actually going on with Ishbia buying more shares of the Sox, and none of those people are on this board. However, it's probably a safe assumption that he wouldn't drop his bid for the Twins if there wasn't a plan in place. What that plan is, we don't know and most likely won't know until it's executed. There are now 33 pages of speculation, arguing, and insults, and we're no closer to knowing what's going on.

Despite an atrocious year for the Sox, the two Chicago teams had almost 4.3 million people attend games. And before last year, they saw 4.5 million+ annually. I might agree that Chicago wouldn't get two teams if MLB was to start today, but there are more than enough baseball fans in Chicagoland to support two teams. If (hopefully) the Sox get a new owner that actually wants to spend and put a good product on the field, the Sox could get back to having attendance of 2 million or more. Build a new stadium along with a better team, and attendance won't be an issue.

The Sox have enough guys in camp to fill the hole for a few weeks. It will be interesting to see who makes the team who may not have before the injury.

Yeah, I think the biggest increase was 35 wins. Winning 36 more games would put the Sox at 77 wins. Holy hell that's depressing. We'd be ecstatic, and Venable would be in the running for manager of the year...and the team would be 10+ wins away from sniffing the post season.

Schultz and (Hagen) Smith looked great yesterday. I saw some folks on X saying Smith reminds them a lot of Rodon. I can see it, too. His slider is absolute filth. These guys could see time with the big league club this season.

Well, he hasn't been knocked out in a fight yet.

White Sox fans are so miserable that when news leaks that the team may get a new owner, we're arguing on a message board that maybe we don't want a rich owner who has a history of spending because it might get worse. You know the expression "The grass isn't always greener?" Well, in this case, there's actual grass over there vs. a barren desert with nothing but tumbleweeds and dust devils here and now.

I'm looking forward to watching some of the prospects that make the team out of spring training and those that end up not quite making it but are close. If Ishbia does end up taking control of the Sox in the next few years, some of these guys are going to be ready to be paid. We all know on a JR controlled team, none of these guys will be on the Sox if they become studs. And I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing from a manager that is not Grifol.

If Ishbia abandoned plans to buy the Twins to buy more into the Sox, there must be a larger plan in place. Hopefully that means he will take over majority ownership in the future. Whether that's when JR kicks off or not remains to be seen. Maybe, just maybe, there's some light at the end of the tunnel for White Sox fans.

There's just no reason why he should make the team out of spring training. So, why even bring him in?

So he's doing everything except one of the crucial things required to play a position. This is not an encouraging update. Hopefully he can start throwing soon, but I wouldn't expect him to be breaking camp with the club.

The Sox are going with an "offense-heavy" approach and will carry only seven pitchers. All will be both starters and relievers. This will allow the team to carry a back-up player for every offensive position. This will also allow multiple position players to pitch, as the team will be down by 10+ runs often. "We're gonna create the next Ohtani right here on the South Side," said Chris Getz. Ethan Katz added, "I'm excited to teach new guys how to pitch. It's another challenge that we're not going to back down from." Jerry Reinsdorf was seen counting money in the background.

As someone mentioned on X, adding Dalbec and Gallo as NRIs is going to put more pressure on Vaughn. I have a feeling Gallo makes the team and gets some starts at 1B and in the OF against RH pitchers. I'm not going to expect anything from him, especially based on his stats over the last few years. But maybe this will light a fire under Vaughn's ass.

Regardless of what the Sox say publicly, this move screams a Robert trade, especially with it being a guaranteed contract. If Robert does get traded, and Taylor is our starting CF, it will be fine defensively, but offensively...yikes.

Josh Rojas does have an MLB contract, which is why he'll likely make the roster. But as a starter or bench piece? It'll be interesting.

Man, I forgot about him. The Sox have a TON of guys for the infield. Let's just hope they end up with the best possible combination of players (he typed, trying not to laugh).

Spring training will tell us a lot, especially about the infield. Meidroth, with a good spring, could be on the roster, maybe even as the starting 2B. I'd be surprised if anyone other than Vargas is the starting 3B, and not necessarily because he'd be the best. Rojas likely makes the roster, at least as a bench piece. Montgomery may have somewhat of an inside track going in, but a lackluster spring likely starts him at AAA. Ramos may also start in AAA.