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Yes, I guess if anything this lets us know that Jerry does believe he will die and this puts his horizon down to his paper bet. But given where I assumed we could be in the transition, this is only nice in that it's official. We didn't make the playoffs in the 2010s. Very likely we will only have 2020, 2021 to show for it by 2029. It's just a stretch that is hard to come out of.

Terrible day. I heard Ishbia runs a private equity firm.

White Sox are confused by this statement

Loved the murderbot books and now enjoying the TV show on apple. Think a few here would like it.

When we were hiring a new GM there were some rumors Presti could be interested (that's when Billy left) as it was the height of 'can't pay or keep talent here'. Such a shame. The 'Paul George Championship' is a good reminder that the same year that the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler on an expiring -yet extremely cheap- deal, the Pacers traded Paul George. The pacers received Victor Oladipo and Damontis Sabonis. Oladipo immediately becomes an all star in Indiana while they develop Sabonis into being an all star in a few years. Two all stars. Oladipo gets injured badly which is bad luck, while they trade Sabonis for Tyrese Halliburton, whom the bulls decided to draft Patrick WIlliams over instead. Not sure we need the Bulls history here, but the Bulls traded one of the Stars of the next 5 years in Butler for Kris Dunn, Zach Lavine, and a pick swap to get Lauri Markannen. Kris Dunn is terrible for the bulls and is let go before eventually becoming a pretty strong bench player. He is not signed by bulls so they just lost there. Zach Lavine eventually becomes an all star for the bulls but their aimlessness leads them to need to keep paying him until it was clear his sugar-high numbers were not at all helpful to winning basketball. They trade him for a salary dump. Lauri Markannen looks promising, but after a weird heart issue they trade him for a first round pick that never materializes. He becomes an all star with the Jazz. The bulls are on rebuild 3. THe pacers are in the championship. The owner is a Reinsdorf in one, has a major market and an amazing brand he has squandered. The other is not a reinsdorf, has a forgettable brand in a small market. Reinsdorfs are such losers, such pathetic pathetic losers.

Keith Law before the season put Vargas as one of the guys he was still in on despite his struggles. Was a good call at a tough time to make that call.

Yeah, sad part is you could kinda look at either and be hard pressed to say which is the charlotte lineup if you knew nothing about the year. Robert is like the one guy who you'd say "he'd never be in charlotte"

gotta say it's wild to look at the charlotte knights line up today and not think " that is basically our lineup from June/July last year in fact probably better?

isn't this the same? They aren't paying him a major league salary so that's probably money saved?

good work everyone. Can't wait til we have the soxtalk ai to summarize the caulfield threads before I respond.

I didn't read it but did everyone laugh at complaining about bullpen spending? It's like the one place we spend.

Yeah but it was also right about now where we were all thinking "ah we stabilized the ship, just gonna be a regular bad season". Anyway I don't think it'll happen again but yeah we basically didn't win in July last year.

Did not realize we have the same record, that's hilarious.

Everyone's priors...will not be confirmed? https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/which-organizations-are-having-the-most-success-hitting-pitching-in-the-minor-leagues/ Based on stats across a number of dimensions, sox average 13.7 in the league in hitting and 23rd in pitching...

I just don't understand why we'd expect a good return for Davis Martin. He's k'ing a bunch but is still young, fast and hits the ball hard. We are the worst organization for him to go with his hit tool, but that's true for all players in the league.

interior of our line is set for 3 years. Finally.

let's remember the market has shifted where position players are worth way, way more than even great pitchers. Alcantara would be a-ok with me for a 28 year old SP with only short-term success and coming off a major injury.

Bullpen is starting to come into shape, hope it’s more than a good run.

I think the bans were good, the shadow ban of bonds I struggle with. That braves exec getting banned for life for the intl thing is still hilariously over the top to me.

I am much happier this year, but yes, it serves to remember that the Sox “stabilized” in May before falling off a cliff again in June and July last year. But we actually have re enforcements coming up this year instead of churning old ass vets.

With the season etc etc.

we definitely need a surprise guy offensively which just...have we had an offensive prospect for 25 years that significantly outperformed their pedigree? Not talking about in the sense of Adam Engel being a major leaguer is a huge accomplishment, but like how a 3rd round pick like Michael Harris can zoom up from the 3rd round, Steven Kwan in the 5th, or a Cody Bellinger in the 4th. 3 different teams. It happens to most teams, it has not happened to the white sox. Maybe someone can come up with someone i missed, but all of our offensive talent for 2 decades have been players that we had to trade for after proving themselves or were very established. no bringing up semien.

I really don't think it's rigged, I do think the lottery's revamped system rewards great teams who suffer injuries (a team with Kyrie and Davis should not be in the lottery) and punishes/crushes fan bases who are patiently waiting to return to relevance. You may be able to spend into relevance in the mlb...you cannot in the NHL/NBA. Players especially have so much power over which franchises they'll even sign to. You are just making it so bad years for a team become bad decades. Meanwhile, has any team been like "eh we are going to be bad but the lottery is difficult to win, let's sign an extra vet because it doesn't matter?" No. They know they are not going to make the playoffs so situations like the bulls (1 win led them to miss out on a decade+ of relevance) do not happen. Players unions are idiots here, just destroying the game.

100%. They send certain franchises into purgatory (Orlando great example who had brutal luck for half a decade) while rewarding some teams who are already talent rich. Players unions need to stop thinking this does ANYTHING to improve jobs for middling vets. It’s such a joke.