chitownsportsfan

I would park him in LF. Beni can ride the pine. If Sox had any type of solid ownership they'd just DFA him and eat the contract.

I got joy as a fan watching Mike perform all year. So that factors into my grade. He made every play he could on his old legs in RF and hit the hell out of the ball for the most part as our leadoff guy. That's the sort of thing that matters to me even in a losing year.

I'm too old for that purple prose crap as well but anybody still reading SSS has come to expect and probably enjoy it.

Alright, some morning thoughts: Why a C? Well mostly because I think he was straighjacketed financially and had orders to add zero payroll. This is just a reality of working for JR and I have to account for it in any grade. Given those constraints he found a decent middle of the rotation starter (Smith) off the rule 5 heap, brought in some useful (for once) vets like Taylor and Tauchman and completed the Crochet trade where it appears he found a couple solid regulars one way or another. I also will give him credit for how they handled Colson. Whatever they did in AZ helped him and then obviously they called him up at the perfect time and played him for the most part at SS. That was well handled and it appears if he stays healthy they have star at SS. The rest of it obviously added up to another 100+ but given the roster constraints I don't see how he was going to avoid it. Maybe he could have spent 40 million AAV and won 66-72 games and set the club up better for 2026 but that's just not possible with JR. In some ways I am grading on a curve because the owner sucks balls. It is what it is. Most GMs are going to have a hard time fielding a competitive team given a JR at owner. I wanted folks to try and remove as much context as possible but it's a fool's errand. I have no problem with the folks giving failing grades because Getz had a large hand in creating the situation both working for Hahn and with his horrible work last year. That said, given where the club was in spring I do think there are enough positives to give a passing C for 2025.

Straight C imo. I'll have more when I'm soberer.

Playing competitive games is all you can ask for as a fan. It's something we've been denied most of the last 20 years. It's hard to care too much about Colson's accomplishments or Garrett's last year in the face of so many losses. In a way it robs both fans and players of the bond that should be created over time.

Anybody remember larry from SSS? Anyways, here's what he'd post:

You gotta love Crochet. What a stone cold killer on the mound.

Should be DFA'd he's not even worth tendering.

GET CANNON OFF THIS FUCKING TEAM!

That sounds delicious. I am BBQ starved in my region.

I'd imagine the floor is almost entirely due to corporate seats and packages that Oakland and Florida teams do not have. With Citadel moving out of Chicago I know there was some concern of an exodus of similar shops. See what happens.

I'm only here because it's finals week in fantasy and I'm fortunate enough to be in them. I need Smith to have a decent start.

We're tapped on trades. We have maybe a couple vets that might bring a C+ level prospect at the deadline next year. Robert if some team is desperate maybe gets us a back end top 100 guy. The only position we could possibly trade from youth wise would be C, but then we'd be right back in the spot of if a catcher goes down you're basically filling in a replacement level guy and there's always a risk you're trading a cost controlled young player already established as a solid MLB player for guys that never pan out. There's no guarantee trading Quero gets us any closer to winning 88 games or whatever. So the easy part of Getz's job is in many ways over. He got two free years to dick around and "rebuild". He'll probably get at least 2 more before Ishbia takes over, but if we lose 100 more next year there's no fucking way there's a case to keep him.

Think it's time to forget about the Sox until mid winter.

You're god damn right I'm the king of excellence extensions in this town! -- Billy "35 wins" Donovan

And I took that personally -- Late Stage Hawk Harrelson

To give an example of a couple TV teams I like I'd throw out the KC crew and the Mets' team. KC crew is a former low level minors guy, position player, dad played MLB ball so familiar with the game, but he also has a great voice and call; he's paired with another former player, forget his name, who was a pitcher so has a pitcher's perspective and those two can bounce things off each other naturally during a game. Mets crew is the best mix of serious baseball and fun. It starts with Hernandez not taking himself so seriously even tho he's more of a legend in his home town than Stone will ever be. The more I consider it the more I think Stone is just as big of a problem in the booth as Schriffen. There's only one way to work with Steve and that's to kiss his ass and just ignore his sour puss inclinations while flattering his tired talking points. Really straight jackets the play by play guy.

Where's Fegan Athletic!? Where's Fegan string!? Huh? Where's Fegan!?

I'm enjoying the Tigers' melt down NGL.

So fucking weird. The Sox are really leaning into the thirst trap game on twitter as well I've seen. Hosting random "white sox girls" pre game. Just another thing that annoys me about this franchise. Keep a little less thirsty on main.

I'm not really sure if he can develop much oppo power but it would be nice to be able to flip one into RF from time to time especially on the road in bigger parks. That said, you're right his break will be buttered as a dead pull hitter if he's a solid big leaguer. Lots of guys make it work, we just never seem to find them lately.

A very nice pull power swing. Solid batting eye. Needs to become a full time 3B and work on his overall contact skills this offseason.

I'm not absolving JR of jack crap but the Sox have been hurt considerably by structural changes in MLB: namely the competitive balance picks and the draft changes. You have every other team in the division getting additional picks and the Sox for all intents and purposes operate as a small market team, MLB just doesn't qualify them as one given the current rules.