southsider2k5

White Sox: Challenge Accepted!

The White Sox are playing. Of course you should have a bad feeling.

Eloy Jimenez is at full pledged free agency, there isn't enough control in signing him for one year at full price in free agency for him to matter, even if he succeeds. Fedde was a freak candidate because he went to SK and completely rebuilt his pitch selection and style, and still had doubt in his existence as an MLB starter. Unless Eloy has somewhere he plans on going to rebuild his groundball swing and his health, there isn't much going to change there.

If some team was willing to give Eloy that kind of contract, they Sox wouldn't have had to give him away and pay his contract. Kopech was an uncoachable trainwreck here, who has one more season until free agency, and hasn't shown he can be trusted. Will teams take a chance on them? Sure. But at a fraction of the cost you are talking about here. If teams really wanted them, they would have done better than a give away and a throw in on the market.

Nah, we shouldn't be wasting time on guys like this who are at, or near, free agency and haven't proven themselves or that they can stay healthy. Eloy WAS trash that no one wanted, hence using having to pick up all but about $2 million of his contract to even get a AAA reliever in exchange for him.

The Sox can literally pay him a fraction of the same contract in free agency if they want him. Baltimore will decline his option and he will be a free agent in 3 months. Of all of the moves to be mad about, this is the absolutely last one to lose sleep over.

Well you hear it here first folks. Pound the A's moneyline.

You need the right players. Long slashers dominate three on three action.

I really wonder if there is something deeper in this team. It is uncanny how many free agents come here and have historically bad years. It feels like there is something basic the rest of MLB is doing, which we are not.

It's too bad our NBA players aren't doing it.

Including Benny, the Sox have $50 million in committed payroll for 2025, with a roster total of somewhere under $70 million for opening day. Robert better be dead if they decline his option, because if they do, the Sox will be dead as well.

We are going to be something like 15 to 20 games behind the next worst team in baseball. The closest team to us just absolutely loaded up at the deadline. I am really not worried about us improving 25-30 games where we aren't one of the absolute worst teams in baseball next year.

I feel like continuing on with Ricky is a better choice than Tony and what happened after. He at least had the team playing hard and interested.

And only if we don't do what we did last year with blocking them to play worthless trade candidates.

I just don't see where the improvement will come from. Moncada is sure to be gone. Robert is probably getting traded, as is Crochet. There is no one at AAA who is an imminent threat of contributing at the major league level of substance. The bullpen isn't going to get any better because we don't have money to spend.

I absolutely believe that bringing in Machado or Harper also changes this a LOT. I think this is a more important breaking point for alternate timelines vs the Tony hiring.

I don't know about a big turn around. We are losing a lot of players, and there really isn't anyone to replace them, and the Sox are apparently now shopping at Goodwill for players because of budget problems.

I guess it comes down to is were the problems something physical and inevitable with the main guys? If so, yeah, this wasn't going to matter. I would also throw Kopech into that bucket. He was just as highly rated as the rest of them, saw just as many injuries, just as much failure, and even flat out said he wasn't listening to coaching right before he left. Were the problems the players tuning out coaching and leadership because of a loss of faith in them? I do wonder this because Ricky sure seemed to have them in check and working just fine. He didn't stop injuries as much as he had players playing at a high level when they were playing, which we don't have now. To me it feels like more of the second column vs the first.

NO one has any idea what this is about, so the thread title is being edited to reflect lack of news or rumor from any other source.

I think earlier lack of failure probably stops the cascading of events that led us to this point. Could someone like that hold up the dam forever? Who knows, but something absolutely changed in 2021. Yes, the won the division, and yes they won 93 games, but the season was in two parts. They were 58-37, and finished 35-32. The cracks had started really showing up mid-season and were never repaired, and the entire building fell in. Were those cracks fixable? Well, that is the question. Maybe Hinch has better ideas on player maintenance and buy in from the players. Ricky sure seemed to have these same guys bought in who are now apparently toxic.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pipeline-inbox-can-coby-mayo-stick-at-3rd-with-o-s-another-holliday-on-deck?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Is this news or a desire/