CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Dick Allen saved the Sox from being sold to Bud Selig by co-owner Arthur Allyn and moving to Milwaukee along with John Allyn who didn't think Milwaukee was worthy of a charter member of the American League .Arthur also tried to sell the team to Lamar Hunt. John eventually sold the team back to Veeck who in turn sold it to Reinsdorf. Katt said they called Allen Mos which was short for Moses because he led the White Sox out of the wilderness. He called Katt Old Timer. Fun interview although Matt Vasgersian's ignorance that Phillies fans booing Allen was racially motivated when Vasgersian tried to compare them booing him to the same as booing Steve Carlton and Jack Schmidt as an act of respect. Kaat set him straight. Phillies were the last NL team to integrate in 1957 , 10 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Allen's rookie year with the Phil's was 1963 only 6 years after their 1st African America ballplayer.

That Sunday Tribune Parade Magazine was the same Sunday of the infamous Dick Allen Chili Dog HR off Sparky Lyle pinch hitting in the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Yankees. It was Bill Melton Bat day and back then you got full sized bats and there were 52,000 people in old Comiskey Park

Because no one remembers him. I thought of him when writing my post but couldn't remember his name. He's just basically an overseer making sure everyone is communicating. At least that how I envision his function. If I mentioned him people would be asking who the f is Mahler ?

Getz, Bannister, Venable, Fuller , McKinven : A New Hope😋

That's why I said might EASILY get $350M .My conservation guess was at 29 yrs old to start the 2026 season he'd get 10 years $35-40M per season. Easily could be more.

That's why the Cubs won't be able to extend him. Hell get a HUGE contract next year. He might easily clear $350M.

Shane Smith who they just got in the Rule 5 draft from the Brewers has to be on the Sox 26 . He's a starter and reliever so he should get innings as a swingman or longan to see if he was worth picking. Steven Wilson has to bounce back from a subpar injury filled year. Prelander Berroa has closer stuff. Has to throw more strikes which is a theme in the Sox bullpen. It's why they took Smith who had around a 1.00 WHIP in 94 inning between AA and AAA. He's only had 157 total innings in the minors and only 6.2 in AAA but the Brewers left him unprotected because he had no pedigree as an undrafted FA from Wake Forest and wasn't in their top 30 prospects despite being a valuable pitcher in their system who rose fairly quickly and maintained his good stats. He played in the Southern League against the Barons so the Sox were familiar with him. He had over 10 K per 9. Jordan Leasure is another guy who has to show he can stay healthy and throw strikes. Among guys on the 40 you have Fraser Ellard,Justin Anderson, Jared Shuster, Chris Flexen ,Enyel De Los Santos, Jake Eder , Ron Marinaccio , Penn Murfee, Jesse Scholtens. You have some promising relief arms not on the 40 like Trey McGough and Adisyn Coffey and others. Coffey could close as a rookie. Plus some arms can still be picked up. A lot of those 40 man RP are just as likely to be released as they are to make the opening day roster.

There's plenty of tallish outfielders who can hit and run.Robert is 6'3 but BMont who is 6'2" and a solid 220 is ideally suited to RF not CF like someone like Justin Crawford who I've seen listed at 6'3" and 6'2" 188 and is still very much a slap hitter and his batting average driven OBP is driven by a high ground all rate. If the Phillies really did offer Aidan Miller and Crawford at the TDL for Crochet and Getz asked for Painter too it's because Miller was barely 20 and Crawford about 20.5 so they were still A ball guys although highly rated. He wanted to mitigate some of the risk associated with guys that young. I just think Getz preferred AA success over A ball success and the switch hitting and more powerful,great arm ,high walk of the slightly older Montgomery. Teel should slot in behind Schultz as the Sox number 2 prospect and BMont 5th.

Hands, wrists and forearm are a lot more important to hitting . My baseball coach used to tie a weight to a long string connected to a bar and we'd have to hold our arms out holding the bar and roll it up. Old school weight training for hands ,wrists and forearms. He'd have various weights so you could also increase the amount. He's already pretty solid at 6'2" 220.

Definitely. I wonder if the Sox will start him off in Kanny. Hoping he gets off to a great start.

https://www.mlb.com/news/braden-montgomery-on-trade-to-white-sox?partnerID=web_article-share Says the ankle feels great. Was in batting cage when he heard he was traded. Videos plus article summary.

That last paragraph is what I just wrote plus how using Iguchi and getting him back in uniform to convey it all to Sasaki. Bam Iguchi at the new rinkydink Soxfest too . Apparently they don't have many attractions to get people to celebrate the 2005 teams' 20th Anniversary. Just need to insulate Iguchi and Sasaki away from the anger that may turn up at the event. I got it all planned out already .Idle hands apparently are the devil's workshop.

Why wouldn't he be happy with the Chicago media ? Apparently some grown men want to manage and coach White Sox players now and in the future. Not everyone cares about how bad they are right now or judge everything White Sox negatively .There are people that have positive dispositions that they use to approach what most see as a bad situation. That's why there are social workers and volunteers during crisises. Help us out brother Sasaki we're a disaster and join the cult of Getz. "Ask not what the White Sox can do for you but what you can do for the White Sox". Chris Getz Balta Style quotes

All Getz has to do is reach out to Iguchi ( Sasaki's former manager) and ask him for help and promise him he'll hire him as a coach if Sasaki signs with the Sox. Iguchis been quoted a few years back as wanting to be in a Sox uniform again. What better way to celebrate the 2005 team than to have Iguchi back in uniform and bringing along the pitcher to lead the Sox to their next championship . I'm sure Sasaki must remember Iguchi fondly for trying to set up a program along with the pitching coach to both protect and strengthen him.Certainly Getz could point out how much Garrett Crochet benefitted from how the Sox handled and strengthened him as a selling point to Iguchi who would then convey it to Sasaki. Hey it's more of a connection than a lot of teams have.

Oh it's easily better than anything they would have got at the TDL. A lot of people were pissed at Crochet around here for saying he'd need an extension to pitch in the post season and that he wanted to stick to his SP routine. Thought teams would hold a grudge because he was acting like a Prima Donna. He was just being a smart businessman looking out for his health and career. AJ Pierzynski called Crochet the biggest loser of the trade deadline because he had to remain on the Sox and not on a contender. When Crochet struggled in August plenty also wanted him shut down. If that had happened despite not being hurt it's bad optics . Basically it all worked out for the best even if Getz felt blindsided at the TDL. By continuing to pitch and finishing strong he increased his value. Pitching 146 innings after pitching only 12.2 in 2023 and none in 2022 screamed healthy arm .

Just wondering how you came up with the consenus on the Cease trade. Do you have a list of people who graded it ?

Sure it's not perfect .But in the position player prospects hugging environment we've witnessed lately and starting from rock bottom I'll still like a package that is both quality and quantity.

Yep anyone not happy with this trade is picking nits. They needed this kind of return and they got it. Now let's see how these new coaches they brought in can do along with Bannister to develop the players and ge pipeline of talent incoming.

Yeah it sucks but if somehow Getz can turn the Sox into the Tampa Bay of their division they'll be a lot more competitive on a year to year basis. That's a huge ask though. Most teams with no money don't have the type of succcess TB has had and the Sox are the last team I'd expect to actually build high level scouting and development systems both domestically and internationally especially while Reinsdorf is still the owner. Welcome to the new reality.

Great point. I basically got my wish that Boston would view him as the next sale and that Crochet had to be the haul we all wanted. This is a haul. 3 position prospects, one a highly talented switch hitting OF with a great arm high upside .All 3 position players are good OBP guys. The pitcher is high risk high reward arm who seemed to strive in 2023 once he was told to concentrate on his between starts work rather than how he did when pitching. Definitely a guy getting in his own head about his future but also talented. Unfortunately he regressed in 2024 but that's probably why he was available as the 4th piece. He'll need to show something this year under Banister's tutelage.

Why do you have to be so cock sure that your opinion is the end all be all ? It's not all or nothing. Yes the player has the talent. But when a player has a breakout it's the player and when they suck it's the Sox cant develop ? Clearly they've had a lot of success with pitching since they hired Bannister . A lot of the minor league arms show promise. There was a plan created for him , they changed his pitch mix and his grip on certain pitches and at the end of the year he was learning a sinker to limit HRs against him. This plan was the result of many people including Bannister ,Katz and the medical staff to keep him on a strict schedule that he didn't want to deviant from if he was traded at the TDL. Yes the talent was there but talent alone does not get you to the top especially in baseball.

Plus you're going for the best position player package possible because you just need the talent so bad . Teel and Montgomery are both 50 FV and Teel is close to ready.

Ventura was pretty damn good .Had 6 years with the Sox wit an average bWar over 5. But never slugged very high. Good OBP cause he took walks. Nothing wrong with walks especially when you don't slug but I tend to think WAR is inflated for very good fielding and walks . I'd certainly put him in the Hall of very good with Konerko and Abreu but Robin didn't really ever have monster hitting stats. He did have a 6.7 bWAr his 1st year with the Mets. Great career just nto a great hitter which is sort of where I draw the superstar line even if it's just 1 year like Dye had with that 1.000 OPS . I ding Abreu for his 60 game MVP.

That's pretty much it especially if we see Robert moved before he has a chance to show he's not the guy he was at year. Get that $15M off the books Chris .

I tried to get creative with a Crochet trade to maxmize the return .You said nobody does that. I thought creativity is doing things that very few do. I didn't see anyone structuring a contract like what the Dodgers did with Ohtani. Dodgers trade for Glasnow was contigent on extending him. How often is that done in baseball ? I know they didn't buy out arb years but all it takes is finding the right team that values the opportunity to have Crochet longer than 2 years even if it's just one more year if Crochet wants to give a little discount for those 2 years that he's at his greatest risk of losing large amounts of future money. I know it's not likely to happen but I'd certainly float the idea to teams as GM with Crochet's agents involvement of course. Dodgers may not have thought of signing Ohtani the way they did until Ohtani suggested it. I just keep thinking any Crochet trade is going to take a while when position player top prospects hugging is at levels we've never seen before. Many are speculating Robert is getting moved and I'm afraid to even imagine the poor return Getz might broker now. Crochet might be the only shot to get a really good return.