caulfield12

The rest of the world still doesn't know the White Sox are coming...not until they are at least out of fifth place. That said, purely from a marketing perspective, this was the best possible allocation of $34 million by far. If they were really trying to compete, though...Imai would be getting $130-$200 million. Which is the same amount of $$$ they were willing to spend on Masahiro Tanaka over a decade ago.

A's have a handshake agreement to increase payroll to at least $100 million for revenue sharing exception.

Too early to count on Berroa after TJS. Let's see how his stuff bounces back first. 2-3 years ago, Walker Buehler and Dustin May looked pretty darned great, too.

Try fixing Raiders Dolphins Browns...especially the latter two. $99 million cap hit with Tua. Browns are determined to have D.Watson on roster next year. And only Moore/Mendoza at top of most draft boards.

Mets going all 2023/24 White Sox, excising almost all of their veteran leader core in terms of position players except for Lindor and Soto...who supposedly detest or even hate each other. Maybe it's Magglio CLee and Valentin out in 2004 for the Sox and restructuring around Lindor/Soto with young pitching and all that freed up $$$.

Want to compete? Robert in 2023 form and the Murakami of that first half of his historic NPB career. It's going to take a lot more than a #2/3 veteran added to the rotrotation. Smith and Schultz...at least one of them, has to be pretty darned close to great or at least very good. Same with Braden. 3-5 fWAR level. Let's not forget that Chase Meidroth is projected to lead the team in a decent number of projection models.

Royals a couple of years ago. 106 losses to playoffs...but that required a boatload of FA signings and career years from Witt Jr. and Perez.

JR must have been confused between the Brooklyn Dodgers/Rickey signing Robinson/Clemente and the LAD signing Ohtani/Matsumoto/Sasaki. Well at least he knew who Shohei was because he "joked" derisively about never signing him and got scolded by Manfred.

Star power. Charisma. 25. Confidence. But not quite cockiness. Self assured. Big personality. WBC warrior. Perfect leader to go along with Teel, Colson, Braden and Roch Cholowsky. Finally this team is building an identity in Chicago after three years of dystopian wasteland. Let’s f’n go!!! If that doesn’t fire you up, watch Sisu 1 and Sisu 2: Road to Revenge

The Dodgers already have Golden from KPop Demon Hunters This should be the 2026 White Sox song…no more AC-DC, lol

Would be great if they could bring Tadahito over for part of Spring Training…. Gene Honda…”infamous 2005 World Series team” Oops. Getz could have done a better job articulating the team’s ultimate strategic vision in embracing Japan/Asia, but he has some time to reflect further and get to work on it.

https://youtu.be/NRxPxJV20ZI?si=OMwMS31xVI-xz7K4 Part 2

Nothing on CHSN website. Christmas short staffed?

Interesting no #5 jersey for Christmas sales but the professional tailored suit look. Looks like his weight is down.

I think it was more about the similar salary levels and the brighter spotlight of the NY media on the two teams, in comparison to Chicago, that actually fields a competitive NFL team these days but has largely forgotten the White Sox.

Cutting into that $1 million signing bonus already. He was making $4.5-5 million for Yakult and at least doubling that with endorsements.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/next-wave-of-white-sox-prospects-nearly-ready-for-majors?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage We get a puff piece on Sox prospects (no Braden early in the season confirmed) and nothing on MLB Network but a David Wells no hitter rebroadcast.

Probably a lot more coverage in Japan even at 2 am in the morning... Weird not to have on the Sox website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnDIm8EBNwEM&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiYsZmzwNGRAxVJIkQIHcOqGYUQFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3ye749KOw0AwwDf4I9ENz6

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/penn-state-baseball-signs-one-of-the-top-arms-in-japan-for-2027/ar-AA1SPAWJ?ocid=BingNewsSerp Not even sure where this goes....we don't have a 2027 draft thread (yet) Genai Sado already has first round buzz around him, including headline stories at mob and baseballamerica. Also, the A's gave $1.5 million to a Japanese two way prep prospects who held his own in the Arizona Complex League

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/10/previewing-the-2025-26-free-agent-class-corner-outfield.html Andujar Conforto Grichuk Hays Kepler Marte Refsnyder Winker Bader's going to be over $10 million

Yhoiker Fajardo, RHP Age: 19 The White Sox signed Fajardo for $400,000 out of Venezuela in 2024, then dealt him to the Red Sox for reliever Cam Booser prior to 2025. Fajardo broke out with the Red Sox this past season and ranked ninth in their system entering 2026. Fajardo throws a four-seam fastball, slider and changeup with above-average control. Fajardo’s fastball sits 93-95 mph with below-average ride, but it’s an average pitch because of his velocity and command. His mid-80s gyro slider misses bats with unusually low spin. Fajardo’s upper-80s changeup has good separation from his fastball with good whiff and chase rates in 2025. Fajardo has back-end starter upside. baseballamerica.com

"HallofFrank" Soxmachine.com comments section "Simply put, Murakami is a unicorn due to his elite exit velocities. It won't be so surprising if he succeeds in unexpected ways. (2) He (Mike Baumann) doesn't sufficiently account for Murakami's age and difference in league — in other words, for the likelihood of substantial adjustments. Extremely talented players can often get by with certain approaches or swings at lower levels (or in this case, different levels, see Ohtani NPB numbers) but typically must adjust when they climb the ladder. Murakami is clobbering NPB, so chances are he didn't care about his Z-Contact %. And why would he? But as he works with MLB teams and sees the ways he'll be pitched, he'll have to make adjustments, like many other prospects who advance after dominating a lower level. In general, I'm less concerned about one hole in the player's game if he's dominating the level, because he doesn't yet have the incentive to adjust and it demonstrates spectacular tools elsewhere. I'm not saying he'll come over and it'll be an easy fix and that will be that. But it's rather typical for exceptionally talented prospects to have a statistical hole in their game somewhere because they've never really had to address it." https://soxmachine.com/2025/12/white-sox-signing-munetaka-murakami-to-two-year-34m-deal

"The Swallows will receive a $6.575 million posting fee and could receive more based on performance incentives in Murakami’s deal." https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2025/12/22/baseball/mlb/munetaka-murakami-posting-white-sox/

Sure, switch him with Vargas then. Except he has a tendency to clog up the base paths compared to Teel/Vargas/Meidroth.