Jake

I'm not really losing sleep over the Booser deal but there's no way to put lipstick on that pig either. Chances are that it winds up a draw but all the upside lives with the Red Sox now.

I don't think it takes a lot of mental gymnastics to observe an improvement in Vargas's play last season. As a Dodger: .201/.294./364, 81 wRC+, -0.3 WAR As a 2024 White Sox: .104/.217/.170, 17 wRC+, -1.2 WAR As a 2025 White Sox: .234/.316/.401, 101 wRC+, 1.3 WAR From April 23, 2025 until end of season: .252/.331/.438, 114 wRC+, 1.9 WAR And underlying Statcast data has always supported the on-field results (both when it was bad and when it was good). Wouldn't surprise me if numerical projection systems liked Vargas at the time of acquisition because he put up great numbers in AAA and his MLB numbers to that point weren't horrible. The Soxtalk projections were not nearly so optimistic

I don't see the appeal in Hill but they're hardly paying him above the minimum and the guy can really catch the ball. Just gives a guy on the bench that probably won't bother anybody too much.

Unless Tauchman's legs are really messed up and he can't play next year, I don't understand this at all. Best RF play we've had in quite a long time, even despite the time on the IL. And the cost is basically nil in the scheme of things.

I'd be surprised if Getz traded Vargas. Miguel is really a Getz type of player in my view and his big improvement is a feather in the cap for White Sox player development. Mead is an interesting piece but I wouldn't want to just hand him a starting spot at this point.

Hard to really say someone's spending tendencies in the NBA since it's a capped league. There's some stuff on the fringe (how nice is the team plane, etc.) and every now and then a team is good enough that owner has to make tough decisions about staying above the apron. But the aggressive moves after Mat Ishbia took over the Suns just looked like management being aggressive and not ownership shelling out money. Had it worked out better, we might have learned about Ishbia's tolerance for paying cap penalties.

TBH, data on player aging is SO SAD. The data suffers from some selection bias so nothing is truly set in stone, but generally points to players being in their physical prime the moment they reach the majors if that time is from age 19 to 24 (if later, they're already past it). And not many skills tend to improve into the late 20s. Safest argument would be that overall offensive peak is around 26 to 27. That said, for players who have obviously cleared the bar for MLB talent (like Luis Robert), there's a decent argument for expecting the peak to come a bit later, like age 29ish. Lots of interesting statistical arguments about this kind of thing. I've also seen some evidence for contact hitters having the worst aging process (i.e., guys without much power and who do not have a notable amount of walks). OBP-oriented guys age the best. And the early analysts of player aging got massively fooled by steroid abusers, so there was some common wisdom about player aging that was never going to survive the drug testing era.

Well I can't speak on what the White Sox's goals are as they are strange and inscrutable to me. My goal is to see as many wins as I can. If there were any kids to play in the outfield I'd probably look at it a little bit differently. Pre-arb outfielders in the organization playing at AAA or higher are basically: Brooks Baldwin, Derek Hill (~30 years old), Dru Baker, Zach Deloach, Caden Connor. Brooks is really the only one who has arguably earned a look in MLB. I guess Connor would be next up but he's got a lot to prove in AAA. If Braden Montgomery breaks out as we hope, I don't think LouBob will be holding him back. Maybe I'm forgetting somebody important.

So how many Royals connections are there? Getz — I guess, although I thought the complaint about him was that he had the stink of White Sox on him. Assistant GM Josh Barfield — no Kansas City connection that I'm aware of. Assistant GM Jin Wong — long history in KC organization, although it doesn't appear he is all that involved in baseball decisions with the White Sox Senior Advisor to Pitching Brian Bannister — briefly pitched for the Royals, but post-playing career positions were only in Red Sox and Giants organizations I think Director of Hitting Ryan Fuller — only worked in Baltimore organization prior to the White Sox Director of Personnel Gene Watson — about 15 years working with the KC Royals with stints in a number of other organizations. I'm told he's the Rule 5 mastermind so take from that what you will Director of Acquisitions Matt Grabowski — 3 years with DBacks, 8 years with Braves Director of Player Development Paul Janish — hired from Rice University's staff (his MLB career didn't include Kansas City) Director of Amateur Scouting Mike Shirley — White Sox lifer Manager Will Venable — never played for KC, coaching and front office gigs with Cubs, Red Sox, Rangers Bench Coach Walker McKinven — only worked with Brewers before coming here AFAIK Hitting Coach Derek Shomon — past work with Twins and Marlins Pitching Coach Zach Bove — past work with Royals and Twins Assistant Hitting Coach Joel McKeithan — past work with Reds and Phillies Assistant Pitching Coach Matt Wise — past work with Angels Third Base Coach Justin Jirschele — White Sox lifer (but his dad coached with the Royals!!!) Hitting Coordinator Sherman Johnson — prior work with Baltimore I don't see a big infusion of Kansas City here, especially when you consider Bove had no overlap with those front office guys; says he didn't even know them.

Unclear why there's so much negativity on Antonacci. Producing really well at AA and now AFL. Completely unheralded and cost the White Sox no more than a 5th round selection. His ceiling might be solid MLB regular? Oh no!! Good organizations should produce guys like that. He's certainly fitting a "type" from the Getz era in terms of making great swing decisions but lacking power. I see it as a possibly-smart approach by Getz to look for players with great approaches at the plate when you're in a situation with no perfect players available. Frankly, good swing decisions might be even harder to teach than power hitting.

My main takeaway is these guys seem to have been picked solely based on their track record and performance in the interview process. No nepotism/connections/etc. Young guys too, relatively speaking. Hope it works out.

I choose to evaluate this in the narrow setting of wanting to see the White Sox win as many games as possible as soon as possible. Strikes me as unlikely the Sox had any plan B available that would outproduce Robert next year. Having another option year gives some upside if he breaks out again. And Luis is a career White Sox who I just want good things to happen for.

Since I'm living in SC nowadays, I'm rooting for an expansion team in Charlotte or thereabouts. And as someone who once lived in Memphis and got my fill of Nashville supremacists, I'm rooting against Nashville getting a team.

My main reaction to this is it seems to largely be cleaning house of Grifol era guys. Fine, but why did that wait until now? I worry that this is a sign that Venable wasn't given the chance to pick his own staff when he was hired. On the other hand, I thought he was a hot enough commodity that he wouldn't have taken a job with so little autonomy.

Basically an uninterpretable number in terms of what it says about fan interest in the team. But I assume the team is in pretty poor financial condition right now, at least not ready to start cranking up the payroll.

^^^

Huge strikeout

Problem with trying to get the runner at 3B on that bunt is that Colson was barely going to beat him to the base, would have left so little margin for error

Feels like regardless of time to warm up, guys are never sharp coming in for an injured pitcher

Well Wikelman, no pressure buddy

I still don't have a strong belief that Gomez has a good enough way to get lefties out to stick as a starter long-term although I hope he can keep it rolling

Here's my hot take: Kyle Teel will challenge Carlton Fisk for title of GOAT White Sox catcher

Nice to get a win here. That Brooks Baldwin fuckup was pretty bad but it's nice to be overcome things now and then.

Oof. Hope he can hang on.