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Is talent accumulation a bad thing ? Rule 5 picks for the majority of times dont bring substantial results. The Sox hit the jackpot last year and it chump change to make picks. Theres nothing about Rule 5 picks that is worth thinking about except how great they are when you can identify some that actually provide production.

Why the fascination with Robert ? Yes speed and great defense is fun to watch but the bat had 60 great plate appearance in July. The other 4 months he was sup . 600 or sub . 700 OPS and another month he didnt play. And it's been that way for a while.

Did you expect to see White Sox interest in Skubal ? 😋

And its not as if his April & May were even much better than Billy Hamilton with juice. Maybe by LOOKING so much worse without Robert he meant they didnt look as tall, dark and handsome.

According to Garfien , Ozzie Guillen thought very highly of Acuna but then again Ozzie is Venezuelan like Acuna.

He not a gazelle with gap to gap range like Robert Jr. He's more like a smallsh medium size dog who scampers very fast twitchy. He can really burst and his sprint speed is right up there with Hill . I know we have seen various comments on worst outfield in baseball history but we saw a lot of comments last off season about 2025 was going to be worse than 2024 too. I don't think the OF defense is going to suffer that much from losing Robert, Jr., Taylor and Tauchman. The hitting might be pretty bad but hoping Baldwin can go from negative WAR to at least 2 WAR if he can ride the hitting improvement he had in the 2nd half and learn how to use his speed to improve his range enough so his defense doesnt drag down his WAR. Acuna could accumulate WAR defensively and on the basepaths like Robert, Jr. did and if he can have a Sosa-like VZL league improvement ignite a hitting upswing we're not so bad out there. Baldwin's April through June was big nothing burger offensively but OPS after that kept going up. July .759 August .784 Sept. .828 covering 42 games and 141 PA Robert Jr.'s year consisted of 2 sub .600 OPS months, 2 sub .700 OPS months and one .990 OPS month consisting of 59 PA , which is less than any of the other 4 months he played in.

I agree but reading the amount of glee here about a perceived White Sox /Fuller failure even though we all know he is capable of excellence will spark the snark. One blowhard here already stated how much hes looking forward to check the odds on Robert, Jr. for MVP and to laugh at those who sing Fullers praises.

Snarkiness is the new kindness. There was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

When he signed with Boras they gave him options of trainers he could work with to improve in all kinds of things. That a part of being a Boras client. Boras wants to make sure his clients understand they are a product that he will present as shiny as possible. That's how the top agencies work. Of course Robert has to buy into it and might have had to sever old ties with previous trainers .

Getz said the magic words that armchair GM's love . Trades !!

Master Bader ?

There was always a decent amount of risk in holding Robert into the season because of his performance and health issues. The unexpected Murakami signing had multiple layers Robert didnt have, opening up the Sox in the Japanese market again, perhaps a better trade return than Robert if he can retain his LH power and OBP from NPB to MLB, more reasons to think the Murakami contract is more likely to cost less with an uptick in season ticket sales and advertising money and the Japanese community attention. They just decided to cut bait on Robert and mitigate that risk he had attached to him. If the Murakami signing is bringing money into the organization it mitigates some of his downsize risk and opens up a chance that a good performance from him could mean a better trade return than they'd get from Robert since OBP and massive LH power is quite valuable. They werent planning on dumping Robert for what they got all along, they just decided to cut their losses , make a little bit on the return because Murakami means more the Sox now than Robert. So yeah it was better for JR regarding money. Robert contract off the books, Murakami Money Maker. JR says MMM delicious !

Clearly you havent paid much attention the arguments as to how the Murakami signing changed the dynamic on how they may have viewed trading Robert.

I'm not following your logic here. Your statement about the chain of events making your head hurt is based on a hypothetical that you clearly stated right from your opening word "If". "IF there was any better offer than this past trade deadline ,then Getz fucked up royally". Your exact quote. So, conversely if there wasn't a better offer then Getz didnt f*** up , right ? This might be the best offer he got in 2 yrs despite his hand being shown to the whole league. We've had a lot of discussion here about choosing to pick up the option. I dont think I agreed with it at the time because I thought it was throwing good money after bad and other GMs thinking it's very likely JR will not increase payroll that Getz wouldn't be able to get a GM to buy into the upside argument . You can't play a hand if everyone knows the cards you're holding .But I understod why with the options in CF so limited this offseason that Robert could look enticing for a year IF demand outweighed supply. Unfortunately once Murakami signed that seemed to force Getz's hand even more. That development changed things. I think Getz got very lucky to get the full salary and buyout paid for and get interesting bodies too. Like Heyman said the decision to pick up the option paid off but not in any way that might help with wins and losses this year unless Baldwin, Acuna , Pereira et al can step up into the large OF voids and produce a couple WAR But it could help future years if you factor in Murakami could be a better future trade piece than Robert. Those 2 deals are definitely tied together.

I know it sucks for fans that this rebuild is just going to be a slow burn with Getz holding onto as much youth as he can because he's in a no win situation. Fans can't really do much except dream that JR might possibly allow a $90M 26 man roster and make up trades for Sosa and Quero while hoping every prospect turns into value. This is what we've been reduced to. I now hope Baldwin magically becomes a mini Mickey Mantle and becomes what we always hoped Robert could be while getting immersed on how to read the ball off the bat in the OF so his defense doesnt drag down what I hope can be 25 HR power this year. I have to hope Sosa keeps getting better and hits 30 HRs. I have to hope For Semien like defensive improvement from multiple questionable fielders. I have to hope Murakami and Colson give us 75 HRs between them. I have to hope all our top prospects live up to expectations sooner rather than later. I need to see at least a 10 win improvement this year with a lot of luck from acquired assets , development that gets a bit more upwardly linear from last years rookies and the coming classes of rookies. Any way you get the picture because I'm hoping so many things go right while knowing a change of ownership is down the road , a road I hope is not as rocky as it can appear in these remaining off seasons of Reinsdorf ownership.

What a strange comment this is. On one hand you say because of JR the whole league knew the poker hand Getz was dealt . On the other hand you call him the worst poker player ever. How good of a poker player would anyone be with every player looking at your cards ? Do you even think about if what you say makes any sense ? He basically traded the Robert contract for the Murakami contract and still ended up not paying for Robert's salary or the buyout plus got a couple of warm bodies. Its a lot more than you somehow trying to create the illusion that Getz should be getting 18 to 24 years of prospects like you mentioned several times so that anything short of that looks terrible even though you just admitted everyone could see his hand. He can't even bluff but even if he could bluff you'd call him a liar for doing so. Your arguments and logic are pitiful.He has never been in a position to be a good poker player and according to your previous posts he's not allowed to bluff even if his hand was not exposed to the whole league .

Just another post that reinforces that fans just dont understand who JR is at this point in his life as lame duck owner unwilling to invest beyond the bare minimum to make the sale of the team as profitable as possible with perhaps a return to .500 if a lot of the youngsters step up. That's a big ask though. The Orioles are still waging a battle for consistency among their youth and with higher regarded position player prospects than the Sox have to work with. Sox high rated pitching prospects need to resurface this year along with some of the injured ones and McDougal/Oppor.

Right and thats been pointed out by many people here but somehow the trade still sucks. Why ? I dont know what they were expecting for a guy who sucked for 2 years, had a boatload of injuries in his career and chances of him creating value with a strong and healthy April and May were considered slim. I had brought it up in late December in the Robert thread that it was possible JR only committed to the Murakami contract if Robert money could be moved. I was fascinated people still got their hopes up for JR actually spending like he's not selling the team and estate planning his eventual earthly departure. Basically it turns out picking up his option saved the Sox the $2M buyout and got them a couple of players . And they got Murakami for what might eventually turn into a Posting fee plus his prorated salary to dump him at the deadline which is basically the same as Robert's salary. So now instead of banking on a Robert return to form to create value theyre banking on Murakami proving the critics wrong and having enough OBP,LHH power and his extra year to get more prospects. Sorry folks it is what it is. Reindorf ,as has been the case since he got Ishbia involved, is still the worst version of himself . Robert was like a piece of property that Reinsdorf held until the market for him improved to the point that he could be flipped He was basically flipped for Acuna , 12th round pitcher, $2M buyout, Murakami and the hope that a Japanese LH power hitter, ala a young Schwarber, ends up more enticing than a 2yr declining, bulked up Billy Hamilton. Of course they could have waited and hoped both Robert and Murakami built value in the 1st half but if both failed JR is stuck with bulldozable worthless property. Not JR's style especially at this point in his life and ownership.

Wilbur Wood was amazing. Will never see the likes of him again RIP Wilbur Wood. 🙏

Even with Boras this seems fair with some kind of mutual option. If other teams are expecting the Sox to pay half then the problem is they dont think the odds of him reaching his upside hitting and health is worth even 1 decent prospects or even 2 mediocre ones. $10M for maybe 100 games of above average fielding and baserunning with low OBP and inconsistent power and incentives basedd on games played and offensive performance might be worth another $3-7M that you doubt you'll end up paying but not multiple prospects. Teams would rather gamble with incentive money if he performs than pay with prospects up front and end up with Anderson/Moncada/Jimenez downside clone performance.

Fully agree. Baldwin and his HR power needs to be a full time OF. Speed and power has always been a great combination . Throw away all your gloves except for 1 and let your speed and some coaching turn you into an above avg. OF. You're drafting enough SS that one of them will fail enough to be a jack of all trades type. Developing a good utility player is not nearly as important as finding a switch hitting power and speed starting OF from the 12th round.

I think that's where this is leading to eventually .Not sure baseball would have a cap without a floor though. Baseball doesnt want teams to fold and the players union doesnt want less jobs .The owners keep making the season longer and longer for extra playoff money . Something has to give. Fans will become more bored and angry with the Dodgers and whoever wins in the AL . Some gambling addicted angry fan who lost everything is going to come out guns blazing one day at some rich player who went 0-5 or dropped a pass . Fan's will find other means of entertainment. Can't keep milking them in this volatile political and economic situation.

And yet they plan on adding 2 more expansion teams and realigning the divisions and letting the abyss between the haves and have nots widen . 162 game schedule with more games likely added to a playoff structure with 8 divisions winners and 4 team divisions once there are 32 teams. Playoff snow games with playoffs expanding into November. The players union will eventually crack with the disparity in wages of top earners and all the other players . 3 players on the Dodgers roster make more in one year than the 26 man rosters of multiple teams. The needs of the many will eventually trump the needs of the few or Baseball will break .There will be more and more gambling scandals in coming years. That can of worms is just going to get messier and messier.

I was hoping this was about Colson being listed in the MLB Network's Top 100.

Vinnie Pasquantino likes playing for Italy. Might be fun for him. People's heritage means a lot to them especially if they're close to a grandparent from the old country.