caulfield12

Royals fans have to be wondering why in God's name anyone would ever want to emulate the 2017 to 2023 Royals in any way shape or form? One or two good Soler seasons and drafting Witt, Jr.??

Merkin even did Romy and Remillard puff / hype pieces...

Way too expensive...and Flaherty would only come to the White Sox due to Katz and/or no better offers out there...certainly he seems like the type of pitcher from his Cardinals' days who thrives on being on a winning team with guys like Wainright and Lynn. If they're going that route, Wacha and Lugo are just as likely, but I'm going to be shocked if they don't more than Lance Lynn if you compare their respective 2023 seasons. Maybe Lynn got an extra $1-2 million just for the ex Cardinal respect factor.

But he's THE quintessential 2014-2015 Royal, last guy off the bench...

Guarantee Kopech would turn things around if he ends up with a competitive team and new teammates/coaching staff surrounding him.

Merrifield will still end up getting something like $7-9 million. It's insane to pick him up 2-3 years too late just for "character" and "fundamentals" while simultaneously blocking younger players who will actually be around the next time the Sox are decent four or five years from now.

Surely the Sox staff would motivate the heck out of him...right? Getting closer and closer to Bauer being a realistic option and him willing to take a small salary for one year in order to be traded to a playoff contender second half.

Shouldn't it be no higher than #11...top ten protected, that's assuming they finish worst, or at least bottom 3 would big in that 11-13 range.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/andrew-vaughn-gives-back-to-community 50+ Sox season ticket agents are standing right by...waiting for your call. If you weren't already overwhelmed with the De Jong move...this should really get you up and out of your seat for those struggling to come up with that perfect X-Mas gift.

Owen Miller come on down...just so we can corner the market on ISU Redbirds and any other local products. Nick Massey probably shouldn't be investing in a house in the KC metro area, either.

Sox philosophy under KW was hit a lot of homers and be entertaining while usually finishing in the upper half of division. Now it's just to simply play fundamentally sound low scoring baseball that's the furthest thing from entertaining possible. Then force us to watch Moncada instead of Burger...one of the few guys who was actually fun to watch hit and was someone you could actively root for because of everything he overcame. Might as well run Aparicio and Fox out there...

And yet Getz had done the most impressive job of running a minor league system of anyone in Jerry's entire lifetime dating back to Branch Rickey and Brooklyn...where's the beef? He was so good at analyzing the youngsters he has now realized none of them were actually qualified to play at the big league level?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/commentary-not-pursuing-shohei-ohtani-054829216.html Author goes after Mariners…

Stone must have also gotten in on that free lunch…

The risk of a catastrophic injury outweighs the value of attempting to increase his value waiting on a trade deadline bump up…remember, despite Quintana being so shaky the year of his trade, his previously established value was enough to get a solid haul and what looked like highway robbery, and the same would likely to be true if Cease was still much closer to 2023 than 2022 form statistically…as long as he got his fastball back up into the high 90s more consistently, there would be the belief out there the right pitching coach could still fix him after they got him away from such a dysfunctional organization. The Sox just seem to have messed up the character assessments on Moncada Jimenez and Kopech…an area where there’s never really been a question about Dylan’s work ethic and commitment to his craft like those other three guys.

Those five losses and crying memes and refusing to do interviews after some tough losses like this latest one against UCLA are causing a good number of doubts to creep in about Williams…at least on the character and attitude side.

Except for joking about the Iowa offense…every single Iowa tight end pretty much going back to Dallas Clark has been undervalued in the draft relative to eventual NFL production with the exceptions of Hockenson and Fant. Sam LaPorta was picked 34th by the Lions last year and has had a very strong rookie campaign. Pretty much every Iowa TE has been a strong blocker with a few notable exceptions. Why would you spend a top ten pick on Bowers if can find a reasonable facsimile from rounds 3-5? TE isn’t a need or a big enough value position with the Bears already possessing a Top 8-12ish one. Let’s not forget Kyle Pitts was supposed to be “generational” and look at how that has worked out for the Falcons. In the process, they missed out on taking Jamarr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Penei Sewell, Pat Surtain, Micah Parsons, etc. Bowers might be able to hold his own, but right now he doesn’t profile as an exceptional blocker at the next level.

That includes the likes of Escobar Semien Tatis Bassitt Sale Madrigal Anderson Rodon etc. You'd have to have one category for original signees and another for those to have previously played for the Sox but didn't start their careers with Chicago.

Top Ten trade candidates including Soto, Cease, Robert, Bieber, Burnes, Trout, etc. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/should-they-stay-or-should-they-go-the-cases-for-and-against-trading-mlbs-top-10-candidates-to-be-moved-233037085.html After two demoralizing, disastrous seasons in a row, the White Sox have undergone a partial regime change, elevating Chris Getz to general manager. This is the portrait of an organization that needs a full rebuild. The major-league team went 61-101 in 2023, and their minor-league affiliates simultaneously racked up the worst combined record in baseball. Cease, two months shy of his 28th birthday and two years from free agency, was the AL Cy Young runner-up in 2022 and possesses the sort of big-time fastball-slider arsenal teams will bet big on. The case to keep him: The only argument for the White Sox keeping an ace to front a losing team would be the idea that right now they’d be selling relatively low. Cease’s 4.58 ERA wasn’t pretty last season, though he made 33 starts, and several metrics that typically have more to do with teammates and luck (a high BABIP, a low percentage of runners left on base) could convince potential suitors to pony up anyway.

“His (Lynn’s) salary now represents a baseline from which the many other pitchers relevant to the Mets -- Luis Severino, Kyle Gibson, Sean Manaea, Michael Wacha /Seth Lugo, take your pick -- can negotiate. Each player carries a different set of variables. Severino has a higher upside than Lynn but is significantly less reliable. Brandon Woodruff would need a two-year deal while rehabbing from shoulder surgery.” yahoo sports The Yankees and San Francisco Giants are among teams showing interest in Korean outfielder Jung-Hoo Lee leading up to his posting later this winter, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. The 25-year-old, who grew up idolizing Ichiro Suzuki, has been a star over the past few seasons in the KBO. Lee's a former Rookie of the Year, MVP, and a five-time Gold Glove award winner. Though he doesn't offer too much in the power department, his bat-to-ball skills are elite. The sweet-swinging lefty is a career .340 hitter and has been able to get on-base at a stellar .407 clip. He also batted .429 with two doubles and five RBI across four games as part of Team Korea during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Lee underwent season-ending ankle surgery in July, but according to Morosi he is expected to be full-go for the beginning of the next season. yahoo sports

Over just one start after an extended layoff....

You're going to draft Bowers after the Kmet extension? Are they planning to run the Iowa offense + DJ Moore/Mooney with a renewed focus on jailbreak screens? It would be a lot less expensive in terms of draft capital to take Luke Lachey or All (both coming off injuries) later in the draft.

Self-banned...hopefully found the job he was looking for.

Which is/was likelier...Benintendi reverting to 2020-2022 form with the Sox or suggesting Outman ending up with a sub 2 fWAR in Chicago? It's relatively easy to predict declines. Much harder to find those players like an Adolis Garcia or Randy Arozarena that have the potential to break out and have monster performances relative to previous expectations. I mean, even Jack Parkman was at least 75-80% right on Giolito. But almost nobody recollects those 85 misses out of 100 on player evaluation.

Questioning Getz, aka the greatest pure developer of talent according to JR since the days of Branch Rickey...the same guy who let Roberto Clemente go?