caulfield12

Next the arguments will be that no matter where the Sox are in the Central standings, they’re not nearly as good as Detroit or Cleveland. Even if you had a first place Sox team, like 2012 until the final home stretch with the Tigers, you’ll still be reduced to Don Quixote waging war with windmills.

More faith in Sandlin lol. Which isn't much.

90% of small and mid market GMs would have 86'ed Robert. Like congratulating Hahn for letting Rodon go for nothing but QOing Kimbrel, which led to Pollock which led to the crippling Benintendi deal. One mistake was quickly transformed into three...Sox still dealing with the repercussions. (And the talent level on the roster still decreased exchanging Robert for Acuna. Also likely Hicks Newcomb Sandlin Hays and Dominguez might not create much added value in the end, either. But time will tell.)

That's definitely ONE unique way to redefine the industry. I guess the Cardinals can reference the same with Walker, Angels with Adell, Rockies with Moniak, Guardians and Rays with basically all their players.... Demonstrating patience with prospects like Colson and Schultz surely can't be replicated anywhere else. If you look at all the SD numbers outside Machado, there's just no way they should be anywhere close to first place. And just imagine if they had held onto Gore Wood Abrams?...but GMing is hard. Or pulling the trigger on Mason Miller for de Vries. That took some stones. But no World Series appearance even. (But tons of revenue production/entertainment value.)

Bregman was his key mentor. Every scout in baseball would still take him over Mayer or Campbell.

Wrigley or old Tiger?

"Getz got rotten lemons, and he crafted a lemonade-cider invention that is going to redefine the industry." How so? Shouldn't multiple mlb teams now be offering to poach him from the Sox with almost three years of unassailable track record?

Roof means another $500-750 million in costs added. See Minnesota.

If they got swept by let's say the Yankees and were 12-21 or whatever instead of 3 games under .500, the "anti-panickans" would be in full flight mode. Ron would be esconced on PCA-idolizing sites. Even expressing objective/realistic/pragmatic comments simply means "you don't love the Sox unconditionally," whatever that means.

As of right now, Murakami is still not a part of the "championship window." The majority of Sox fans in Japan are already hesitating to book flights for Chicago this summer. And there still hasn't been an appreciable attendance bump. Boyer has been reduced to leveraging the Cubs/Imanaga/Seiya to boost tourism. Still no marketing/sponsorship conversions from Japan.

And the overall quality of the AL Central compared to the rest of MLB? KC and Minnesota? If taking a chance with Murakami is redefining the industry, then ok. If they pony up $300 million combined for Itoh and Sato, I'll certainly start to agree with your cheerleadery hyperbole.

For me, it was StL SDP Rays or the Braves with all their injuries still getting off to such a fast start. Ofc the Mets and Phillies imploding simultaneously have something to do with that as well. Carlos Mendoza likely the next manager to lose his job at 10-21. Stearns and Breslow on hot seats along with Dombrowski.

Couldn't quite fit the Guardians in at .500 despite the lowest payroll in baseball because that hardly constitutes a surprise any more.

6. Cincinnati RedsRecord: 19-11 Previous ranking: 6 The Reds are in first place in the NL Central with the division's fourth-best run differential (minus-5), a 7-0 record in one-run games and two qualified hitters (Sal Stewart, de la Cruz) with above-average production at the plate. Conventional wisdom screams that those facts indicate an unsustainable level of luck over the course of a 162-game season. But wins are wins, and the Reds are banking them early under manager Terry Francona with encouraging developments. Nationals 15-17, Abrams and Wood are stars. Marlins took 2/3 from LAD at Chavez Ravine.

StL Cardinals about to be 18-13 with a bottom 5 payroll. Congrats! Same goes for the Tampa Bay Rays...out to a surprising start behind Caminero, Simpson and lots of contact on offense. And finally, also to Paul DePodesta and the Rockies...for assembling the youngest pitching staff with the most elite velo across the sport...and adding three savvy veteran starters to stabilize it all. "The three worst teams in baseball (Mets, Phillies, Astros) carry top 12 payrolls -- with two of them in the top five. In aggregate, the record of the top 12 is 185-179, which means the average of the dozen biggest payrolls in baseball is ... an 82-win team. As far as labor talking points for the MLB Players Association go, there are far worse than: If money spent matters enough that the league is intent on pursuing a salary cap, why are so many of the most expensive teams so bad?" Jeff Passan, ESPN (And that doesn't account for the Blue Jays and SFG, either.)

Munetaka Murakami, 1B, Chicago White Sox: Speaking of stars, Murakami was an unquestionable one in Japan, where he holds the single-season home run record for a Japan-born player. MLB teams worried about his propensity to swing and miss, and his free agent market over the winter cratered. The two-year, $34 million deal from Chicago was a stroke of brilliance, as Murakami's 12 home runs lead MLB and at some point in the next 15 months he could be the most valuable position-player trade chip in years. Jeff Passan ESPN

I would like to applaud Ron's GM over on the Northside for putting together the best defense in baseball...at least in terms of the outs against average metric. It has been a number of years since the White Sox even were in the Top 50% of teams defensively. Chris Getz repeatedly said in 2023/24 they were going to prioritize having a sound defensive foundation and improved speed and aggressiveness on the base paths. Still waiting. (Note: Acuna still needs to do a lot more to be a credible starter. And yes, Brooks Baldwin is out, for good and bad.)

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=&filter=&players=0&sortcol=21&sortdir=default&age=15%2C25&pagenum=1 10th in fWAR among players 25 and younger that misses Mune and Teel Mune over 1 by himself fourth youngest hitting lineup at average age of 26 https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=&month=0 22nd defense 30th in yahoo power rankings as of WED https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=0&type=6&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=&month=0&sortcol=6&sortdir=default&pagenum=1 17th in pitching fWAR but 28th SIERA & 26th xFIP

Except pushing back the window until 2029 with McDougal's injury and the delayed pick's debut 2028/29 at the earliest (if an NCAA position player and not prep.) Worked for the Astros with Aiken. But no guarantees.

Ron’s not even right after a sweep … payroll/win Cleveland Miami TBR StL Athletics Pitt White Sox Cincy Washington Minnesota Milwaukee Colorado Seattle SDP Cubs Worst Mets Phillies Houston Toronto Boston SFG

Ron walked right into it. Also applicable to SD/Milwaukee/Seattle/TBR.

Have the standards fallen so far that this thread wasn't held for the first WC or AL Central title under Getz? Or sweeping the Yankees? We just swept the 14th or 15th team in the AL...isn't that to be expected after 2 1/2 years when it was posited by JR that even one year was just too much time to waste? And one sure result of being relatively close to first place means that Getz will be pilloried for trading Mune for less than his perceived value....

1. SDP $425 million 2. Seattle $379 3. STL $373 4. Baltimore $369 5. Cleveland $336 6. Milwaukee $335 7. Arizona $328 8. Pittsburgh $326 9. Cincy/Washington $325 KCR/Minnesota $324 13. Detroit $320 (arguably overspending on payroll) 14. Colorado $318 15. TBR $297 16. CHW $277 17. Oak/SAC $257

That’s since 2011…the better metric is which small and mid market teams can generate the most revenue? We all know the white Sox have been 28th through 30th by that metric since Getz took over, agreed???

AVG $1,651,583.73 1001.766667 Chicago White Sox $1,619,008.65 925 San Diego Padres $1,561,777.67 936 Seattle Mariners $1,543,850.90 992 Minnesota Twins $1,530,667.54 945 Atlanta Braves $1,492,557.41 1080 Kansas City Royals $1,482,102.22 912 Houston Astros $1,480,674.50 1033 Cincinnati Reds $1,442,380.72 942 Arizona Diamondbacks $1,388,911.61 963 Baltimore Orioles $1,322,839.83 950 Milwaukee Brewers $1,220,616.01 1049 Miami Marlins $1,136,296.15 878 Cleveland Guardians $1,048,159.71 1069 Pittsburgh Pirates $999,573.57 953 Oakland Athletics $981,098.75 990 Tampa Bay Rays $824,692.81 1089