southsider2k5

The top take away should clearly be that you can never have enough prospect strength. Teams that are almost always near the top of the ranks go aggressively EVERYWHERE. US, Latin America, Asia, etc. Leave no stone unturned. There is no so such thing as "too much" when it comes to the minor leagues.

That would be a helluva get.

This. It wasn't Jang or the players we got in trades, it was players or nothing since the Sox don't work in Asia.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6549951/2025/08/15/savannah-bananas-chicago-white-sox-bananaball-how-to-watch/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=6062851&source=dailyemail I can't wait. Love what the Bananas are doing for baseball.

We'll see what happens, but he wouldn't be the 1st rookie to supernova.

The Sox should be in the business of trading 30something relievers for 18 year olds, and not the flip side.

The Sox not putting in work with their kids in the off season would explain a lot

So we are just turning kids loose in the off season? That doesn't make it better.

If we have reached the point where the debate has become about how to define obvious terms, the debate is effectively over.

So it was probably more floor over ceiling type of work.

I love when people say things like this, not realizing that it would require them to do the same thing. Honestly in a year where there were whispers about both Smith and Schultz hitting the majors this year, I don't see how you can qualify their injury laden, low performance seasons as anything but a failure. It doesn't mean their done forever, but it sure as hell isn't a good thing.

It's always struck me as odd that we talked so much about how much player dev sucked, and how bad the previous regime was at it, but how few people involved in the daily contact with our minor league kids were actually changed. We changed some at the top, but the day to day guys were largely the same. The idea that Ryan Fuller alone was going to fix everything seemed very PR stunt-ish. If things were THAT bad, why wasn't there whole sale changes? My guess is because most of the MiLB hires were Getz guys already (going based on Getz himself talking about how much freedom he had to do things) and he wasn't going to change them out. So far my observation is that "improvements" have mostly come from players from the outside coming into the system new, and not with improvements in existing players. If that is really the case, it really isn't infrastructure and hires, but just acquiring guys with talent. The actual quality of the hires and infrastructure seems to be ending in the same types of results for the same players.

I think this is the important thing. While they have top 100 weight, it doesn't start until #33. When the Sox were previously top rated, they also had the top rated talent in their system weighted up front, and not in the back of the 100. At various points you had Robert and Moncada near the top, along with guys like Eloy and Kopech ahead of where Braden is now.

15 guys having major problems this SHOULD be a red flag, more than any ranking should be.

On Smith, I was definitely one of the vocal ones about the Sox doing what they do best, but I do feel it is telling that Getz was seemingly still afraid to go away from pitching, and allegedly overruled his staff to do so. As to Sirota, would he have hit in under the draft caps? That's always the hard part.

#1 it was a different era. #2, pretty sure neither of these guys is going to hit .328/.415/.443/.858 for a CAREER,

That is a pace for 33 wins!

Look at who the depth is beyond guys like Smith, Martin, Burke, et al.

And some are already struggling with the load. Cannon is already down. Smith had a pretty significant fall off before his injury break. I expect it to only get worse too.

Plenty of pitchers? In what world?

His signing was a decent move. There was always going to be a lot of innings to fill. The idea that the pitching was too full was always absurd. In his case it just sucked that he broke right away.

The break seems to have gotten him back on track, which makes me think fatigue.

Some If's work harder than others. Yours is doing Atlas immitations.

Let me translate. If you leave out the bad parts, they are somewhere between awful and mediocre.