caulfield12

But he might not be 100% ready to go until June or July....

When they might not even be playing? Do you think JR would take responsibility for that last option year under such uncertain conditions? Seems highly unlikely. Remember the Rays dumped a perfectly viable closer in Fairbanks because they didn't want his contract on the books at just $11 million.

Then let’s be the “new and improved” Pirates, assuming Passan’s recent reporting is accurate. They can at least quickly make up ground in the Central.

Then the Brewers or Guardians seem to be the most relevant current examples. Or the Mariners/Cardinals. The White Sox and Rockies honestly don't have ANY kind of discernible identity as an organization despite new tag lines every spring for marketing from Boyer. But you can at least squint two years down the road and envision a path in the AL Central with Skubal gone. The Rays are at least 3-5 years behind Toronto NYY Boston and Baltimore.

Why JR was too proud to reach out to the Pope ... well, do we know Ishbia's religion? Seems like a branding no brainer. Otherwise, the Cubs and their fanbase wouldn't have tried so hard to claim him. Not like Ishbia's alienating 1/4th or 1/3rd of the fans by attempting to get the Obama's more involved, for example. Even on the Southside, where the Obama's have more obvious historical ties. Or Mellody Hobson, for that matter... Lucases clearly lean quite left. Michael Jordan had his famous Nike quote on this about shoe sales.

He has the OPTION. He can hold his shares or move on and sell them as well. Just as many shares sales went to JR's family this past year as the Ishbias Maybe 40-45% 40-45% close to an even split then perhaps 10-15% with that remainder still held onto by individuals/families from all the available reporting.

But why are we comparing ourselves to Tampa? That's the toughest division in baseball many years and the smallest market saddled with that abysmal stadium? The Sox believe it or not are NOT classified as the small or medium market JR created by himself. Or should we be considered as the A's and a special case of franchise self sabotage be made? Once again...from Top Ten in Forbes 2006 to 17th and pretty much dead even with SD in franchise valuation and continuing to fall in revenue production. Which other teams have fallen that far respective to peers in the past two decades???

The other problem is that Getz has more of an agenda to prove that Vargas and/or Mead can stick at third. Which leaves only second 1B DH if they don't feel he could adjust to the outfield. He's not tied into Sosa's future success in the same way. All that said, if Colson gets off to a slow/slumping start and Sosa is traded...who is actually going to hit the ball out of the ballpark for the Sox? Teel? Benintendi? Vargas? Robert might not even be on the OD roster. Pereira if he doesn't strike out 35% of the time?

The fact that the Rule 5 draft is now perceived as something that can be successfully repeated as a viable strategy is almost beyond pitiful for a franchise based in Chicago. Where is the so-called Sox Pride if the owner doesn't even exhibit it?

My "ilk" who apparently should be satisfied with beating the Twins in 2008 thanks to Hahn's son calling the coin toss correctly for home field advantage, and three total playoff wins across almost two decades??? Well whoopdeedoo. Who are you crappin'? You're getting to be more and more like Don Quixote by the day.

Hill is merely insurance for a Robert trade...like Taylor was last season. Playoff caliber player, no way in hell.

What good does that do now? They have a flag flying for 2021? First division champ in 13 years? It would have meant a lot more had they actually won a single playoff series to pay off a decade plus of waiting for things to finally turn around.

While Wilson and Gomez long ago exhausted prospect eligibility, and Pereira graduated as a prospect in 2025, Murray remains prospect eligible. He’s a useful Triple-A pickup for the White Sox as a utilityman who can truly play anywhere. Murray played 25+ games at second base, shortstop and third base in 2025 and he also played all three outfield positions, although he’s really stretched in center. At the plate, Murray has surprising power for a utilityman. But he doesn’t draw many walks and Triple-A pitchers found him too liable to chase pitches out of the zone. Murray has never ranked in the Rays’ Top 30 and he’s been unprotected in the past two Rule 5 drafts. baseballamerica.com

2008 and 2020 never happened for TB?

Sure, but your GM has to be right pretty much a majority of the time then. Not the let's say 25-30% success level Hahn and now Getz seem/ed to be operating at in trades signings drafts.

Who in their right minds would take Mead if he was DFAed/waived/unprotected??? Sox already have Sosa and Vargas that replicate a lot of the same things, but Getz seems determined to prove he was right. Not to mention Colson still might eventually move over to third.

Look at that division now. No choice but to do a rebuild or at least full "retooling."

"It's nice to hear that the Red Sox will get some catching depth in return for Murphy, but the real reward was the 40-man spot opened up by the day's many roster moves. Boston has added pitching prospects David Sandlin, Shane Drohan (that name should sound familiar) and Tyler Uberstine to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive." Basically they were going to lose Murphy anyway...so now received at least something back in return. https://bosoxinjection.com/red-sox-trade-reliever-to-white-sox-to-clear-40-man-roster-space-for-these-prospects

"For Boston, they clear out a roster spot and add some non-roster catching depth. Hernandez, 21, was an international signing out of Venezuela. He hasn’t yet climbed higher than the Single-A level. In his 1,060 minor league plate appearances, he has a 13.9% walk rate, 17.9% strikeout rate, .275/.379/.379 line and 115 wRC+. FanGraphs gave him an honorable mention on their list of top White Sox prospects back in April. He’s a long-term flier for Boston." MLB trade rumors.com

That's fine too. Just no real reason to have anyone over 30 on roster unless it's a filler bullpen pitcher at this point. And it's nice to move a CFer to corner rather than White Sox approach of moving corner guys to the middle of the infield or 1B/DH types to the outfield corners.

See Romy Gonzalez and Fajardo...

JJ Bleday should be at top of wish list if they're still going to keep playing Benintendi and Tauchman with ZERO futures with the next Sox playoff team. Out of position in CF, though. Move one of those two vets to more DH at bats if Tauchman actually returns. At least on the right side of 30... "He's decent as a depth option. 120 OPS+ despite being played essentially out of position in CF in 2024. Seems like an average defender in the corners. Last year fell to an 92 OPS+ with a drop from .279 to .251 in BABIP. Strikeouts up 7% but still a manageable 26.5%, and came with an increase of 3.1% to 4.1% in home run rate. Not a great season overall but there's positives to see. Also weirdly put up reverse splits at .870 OPS vs lefties and .650 vs righties, not sure what to make of that. Statcast doesn't like him much at all. Point is he's a solid Minor League deal, being just one season removed from a 2.1 WAR season playing out of position." A's Reddit

"The Crochet trade turned this organization around..." Ummm...yes, if we're the quasi Titanic, except much more low profile.

Except he never had a position he could cpmpetently play defense. A lot like Lenyn Sosa in that aspect.

How many times did we hear that second name repeated last year around here? At least 100-150....