Balta1701

I can be. They've tried, they tried putting a bar on that site years ago, I went once, but everything other than the ballpark in that sea of concrete seems to shut down, even many of the local businesses.

Half privately funded, half from the state, $1.2 billion a piece. Still a big ask from the state but maybe? At least it would guarantee one Super Bowl.

So Vargas is the starting 3b, Sosa is the starting 2b, Baldwin/Montgomery are the starting SS, Gallo is the DH, and Rojas is the backup for the full IF? Yikes, I guess that does actually work with roster spots.

Run through the position player backups with me. Backup C Taylor Whoever is in the RF platoon not playing i guess Sosa? Clearly at least 1 backup IF counts. You can’t have 0 backups for those positions. If Gallo is on the roster, where’s Vargas other than cut? Or is Vaughn cut? Or is Vargas the backup SS and Sosa is in the minors? If Robert is traded, you still need someone to backup CF while Taylor moves to start, is that Gallo? I can’t see any version of this that works without cutting Vargas or Vaughn if Gallo makes the team.

With a platoon in RF already and both of those guys, Rojas, and Taylor all on major league deals I cant see where you guys think there’s a roster spot for Gallo to make the team and just get some at bats - unless Vargas is gone and Gallo really is the primary DH.

I’ll still bet that he’s nontendered at the end of 25.

If Drury and Gallo make the team are Sosa and Vargas on waivers?

As long as you’re happy holding him to the deadline.

Yeah no reason why 2 of those guys getting reps should be a thing.

They did this with the former Royals last year and I swear you saw what happens when no one gets enough work in Spring Training when Aprils losing began.

I know it’s down the memory hole but this is literally word for word what was said this time last year about how the 2024 bullpen would improve on 2023.

This is from last year...

Just to say it - it's entirely possible that no team out there would come anywhere close to paying a fair price for a player with his injury history. While I don't think Getz has been good on his trades, without knowing what other teams might have offered, especially if they thought Getz would actually move him - its hard to evaluate whether there was a plausible return worth moving him for.

This is the second time this week where you’ve said they aren’t that stupid and my brain immediately responded “are you sure?”

Looks like March 2019.

Turned down a reported 6/$156 from Houston in November

Even if, like me, you’ve decided that you don’t like playing service games any more, you still can’t make a solid case for calling him up based on his performance.

I can't say you're wrong.... But considering especially how Colas has been lost in a netherworld, why are we keeping him and Fletcher around rather than cutting them loose and filling the roster spot with someone else, if we're already spending roster spots on a platoon to replace them?

Ok wait. 1/2 of February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. Maybe October. Without counting October, that's 7.5-ish months. March and April are thus 25% of the MLB year. So basically, TJS is effectively random for most teams. Out of the last set of TJS operations done for the White Sox on guys whose names I recognize: Guys who got hurt or did the surgery right around ST: Jimmy Cordero Garrett Crochet Matt Foster Davis Martin Jesse Scholtens Ky Bush Guys who had it at some other time in the year: Evan Marshall Liam Hendriks If 25% of the injuries are associated with Spring Training, and out of the last 8 big leaguers - 6 of the 8 White Sox had them in Spring Training or right after, that is a huge overconcentration. Might even count as statistically significant as an outlier. This pattern also does not continue back into the 2010s, because guys like Rodon and Kopech were having it mid-season. Edit: now that I think about it, Hendricks basically counts as a spring training TJS also since they rushed him back from f***ing Chemotherapy to the big leagues with only like 6 innings of work, no time for his body or arm to recover.

I am not used to agreeing with you like this.

He should absolutely not be the opening day SS which is why I'm expecting he will be.

9-23 is a .290 winning percentage. The White Sox were 8-13 in games started by Fedde. That means the White Sox went 17-36 in games started by the two of them. That's a .320 winning rate. At the very least, that's a lot better than the team's record in the games started by others.

I don’t buy that there are when you count Meidroth, who I want up early in the year also - a guy with a .400 OBP at AAA last year won’t learn much by repeating the level. The only way I see it being no problem is if the veteran, Rojas, gets glued to the bench. The next time the White Sox sign a field general veteran and bench him for rookies will probably be the first. I’m guessing he gets his 500 PAs, which maybe leaves the others with 300-400? And that’s before Baty or someone like that and maybe Ramos, if healthy. In terms of Montgomery, I outlined this in another thread - I hate calling Montgomery up even if he has a good spring. His problems last year were possibly a back injury, hitting fastballs, and maybe another personal issue. In spring training he won’t be playing full games everyday, and he will be against pitchers who are ramping up and who aren’t yet using their best fastballs. This is a setup where he could absolutely look good in the spring and have it be a mirage. Send him to AAA, let him show me that last year was a fluke while playing everyday, and he can come up mid May. If, for example, he starts playing everyday and his back flares up again, clearly this will be a longer term problem that needs figured out, and he will be accumulating service time if he comes up and then winds up on the IL. Gimme 6 solid weeks at AAA and no complaints if he’s called up, but coming off last season he needs to prove to me that last season is a mirage.

I don't really agree this, they need "help" but they have a logjam of "maybe tolerable guys who need playing time" at 2b and 3b, along with a randomly thrown in veteran. They are already moving one 3b/2b most likely to DH/1b, and they have a guy at 1b they kept this year for reasons. There's no at bats for Baty on the White Sox right now - if there are, they come at the expense of Vargas, or Sosa, or Meidroth, or later in the season Ramos. I don't know that any of those guys are good, but I know you can't play them all enough to find out. The end result is that someone must get cut. There is also, for reasons I still don't understand, a veteran 3b/2b signed this year in Rojas who will somehow need at bats. It's like acquiring a pitcher who spent last year at AAA. Even with injuries, they don't have room for the guy on the big league roster right now, so making the logjam bigger just denies guys the big league time they might need to develop.

I'm still waiting for this long list of guys who had TJS and came back in 12 months, by the way. That's even with the supposedly new techniques. I even tracked down this compiled Google Doc list of players who had TJS and when they came back, and the number of pitchers who come back and pitch in under 13 months is almost 0. With the newer techniques, you can see that its dropping to 14-16 months more often now, so having it now might mean he's able to start rehab appearances next May-June, although that can still be rushing it for some guys (Crochet for example). If he had the surgery in December, then you could tell me he's possibly ready for Spring Training next year.