caulfield12

Who gets the blame for Vaughn, Sheets, Burger (proposed move to 2B) at the corners...for the last twenty years, it's a repeating litany of guys playing out of position due to lack of minor league replacements/budgetary restraints. For example, no viable CFer behind Luis Robert the last two seasons. Think of all the "castaway" outfielders from other organizations thrown haphazardly into the outfield. Now they can't find a legit 1B/DH. Im guessing you will respond with the five bottom players on the Yankees.

More pointing fingers at minor league depth/talent and obviously a litany of injuries. One of those is certainly a more controllable factor. A castaway in the sense that Milwaukee mistakenly left him unprotected. Not too much to apologize for when they advanced to the NLCS.

Only TB and CLE pretty sure have even made the playoffs with Bottom 5 payroll...bottom 2, would have to look it up. Self-fulfilling prophecy to claim woe is me/we can't compete under those hamstringing conditions. Ofc 6 years ago every expert in the game was predicting Sox dominance for a half decade. Virtually nobody is saying that now/yet about 2028-30.

Lincoln Riley now another name with UM search...QB whisperer to Underwood but seems a bit if a strange fit in Ann Arbor.

Fairbanks now the #1 closing option on the market for anywhere from 6-10 teams. Was supposed to be the next to sign after Finnegan, according to Winter Meeting rumors.

Padres were unwilling to give him a QO, for what it's worth. Weird they (ATL) also have Iglesias at $16 million.

That's at least $20-30 million in new spending (just for 2026 alone) coming out of nowhere...and at least two deals overlapping into 2027.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/kalen-deboer-michigan-lane-kiffin-024735066.html The Kalen DeBoer-to-Michigan, Lane Kiffin-to-Alabama scenario that would screw LSU and break college football

The White Sox bullpen had the fifth-worst SIERA and the third-worst xFIP last season. The closer role was a moving target, with nine different relievers recording a save. Jordan Leasure led the way with seven saves and would likely be Chicago’s closer if the season started today, though he would likely be supplanted by Fairbanks or any other notable free agent acquisition. No White Sox reliever has recorded double-digit saves since 2022 (Liam Hendriks with 37). Chicago shelled out $24MM for Kendall Graveman and $17MM for Joe Kellyahead of the 2022 season. Since then, the club has been hesitant to spend on relievers (or any other position). The most expensive bullpen addition over the past three seasons was John Brebbia on a one-year, $5.5MM deal in 2024. The White Sox’s only reliever signing last offseason was Bryse Wilson, who got a one-year, $1.05MM pact. mlbtraderumors.com No mention of Grant Taylor…

Friedman already acknowledged on MLB Network that he was being brought on board to work with their four Top 100 outfield prospects on both defense and baserunning. And for his baseball mind.

Emerson could very easily turn into the better pro…or Justin LeBron. A college pitcher could easily rise to the forefront. Right now the highest is somewhere in the 8-12 range. The current best prospect in the game, Konnor Griffin, didn’t go Top 3, either.

I’m not surprised, personally. That message has been pretty consistent, and quite often reiterated. But a handful of posters are much more optimistic…well, another long offseason just watching other teams like the Tigers improve isn’t easy to take.

https://dodgerblue.com/dodgers-news-dustin-may-receives-votes-for-best-future-closer-in-mlb-pipeline-executive-poll/2020/01/20/ What is the status of Dustin May’s elbow as of today? His Red Sox season was ended by another elbow injury. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/dustin-may-fully-back-to-normal-after-elbow-injury.html Claims to be fully back to normal…but would have to through a rigorous investigation as injury-riddled as his career has been until now. Also had that quite unusual torn esophagus injury. With May, failure as a closer would at least leave the door back open to a starting rotation return.

It’s not Braden. Still too many questions with Baldwin that are unanswered. Need Witt, Jr. or de la Cruz, not Tulo Lite. Just worry they will take Roch and have him up as quickly as Vaughn and Madrigal…instead of having the time and patience to invest 2-3 years of development into Emerson. Even the expedited timeline for a fast rising prep would be a 2029 arrival in Chicago. Roch represents instant gratification for a long-suffering fanbase. Doubtful Ishbia will have much of a say. Roch returns the franchise to .500 much more quickly, increasing the share value, tv ratings, etc.

So far there have been zero indications of that big money injection happening this offseason. The true Tier A impact hitters remaining are Tucker Bellinger and Bregman. Yankees or Mets will likely take the first two. That basically just leaves Bregman, Murakami and Okamoto.

What’s the point of NOT letting him get at least 2-3 innings, ramping up to four innings at a time as an opener then??? Kay and Cannon are definitely not long-term pieces for the competitive window. Doubtful that Davitt and Paez are, either. If it doesn’t take or he gets hurt, then go to Plan B and make him a high leverage, multiple innings guy like Joel Zumaya used to do for the Tigers…or Andrew Miller for StL. Plus they’ve already decided to keep Vasil in the pen, who seems to have as much upside as those four names and at least has borne a starter’s workload in the minors.

What is the most recent system-wide ranking? #17?

Drafting is easy lol 1. Roch/Emerson 2. NCAA CF 3. Landon Thome Ofc a million things might change in the next 7 months...but it's going to be a fun ride at least. Something to dream on, finally. Hope. One has to believe at least 1-2 starting pitchers will leap to the forefront, and there will be inevitable injuries and various setbacks.

SP Current depth chart S.Smith, Martin, Burke, Kay, Cannon/Davitt 7. J.Paez 8. Schultz 9. McDougal 10-12. Schweitzer/McCullough/S.Murphy AA and below 13. H.Smith 14. Oppor 15. A.Batista Returning from injury: Thorpe Adams Carela Berroa KyBush Larson

Because it’s all still quite fragile. Colson was almost a lost cause a year ago. Their top 3 pitching prospects all failed to increase in value. You have only Braden and that 2026 #1 who can make immediate impacts…but then you still have to get through 2026-27 and it’s already Year 4.5 of Getz. That’s almost 9 years of rebuilding and two winning seasons. 2028 there will be no excuses left, except JR once again not spending.

No bueno. 1B will be much better than CF or 3B for protecting his back. Corner OF at least a possibility.

That's pretty much the floor of any 625-650 hitting SS or CF with very good defensive metrics. But that's not even close to even an average CFer on a 2025 playoff team.

Sure, why not? So Fairbanks gets $20 million or higher...and let's split the difference between $15 and $20 million on Getz 2025-26 FA deals, no White Sox individual contracts totaling over $17.5 million in value before Opening Day. 1-1 tie, nothing happens I guess. Feel very confident in winning at least one if not both. O'Hearn had been with Baltimore during their resurgence and then SD. He won't want to go back to KC/CHW AL Central purgatory unless it's with Detroit, which is highly unlikely based on their roster and rising young hitting prospects.

Thats the entire history of the Getz Regime. We have heard for going on two years now they are limiting contracts that go over into the 2027 season. That they are specifically targeting the 2027-28 off season to really start spending. "Competitive window" essentially begins then. Fedde remains the biggest contract signed under Getz, and they didn't hold him for that entire deal. You keep repeating O'Hearn based upon what recent evidence??? The White Sox would have to give him at least $2-3 million if not more than any contender out there. Anthony Kay was $12.5 million...including his buyout. Everything else has been under $15 million (total) the last two seasons. Unless you're counting the Robert option, which hardly qualifies as new spending. So two bets here... Sox don't sign anyone over $20 million over 2-3 years in total contract value. Pete Fairbanks gets AT LEAST $20 million (total new contract $$$). What happens when you are wrong?

"Always interesting to see what adjustments they make with him. The FanGraphs scouting report says he has a ton of spin on his curve but the way it comes out of his hand it doesn't tunnel well. Surprised the white sox didn't keep this guy." Kudos to the Locked On Guardians guys too from their podcast this morning. I believe Pallette was #1 on Justin's list and Jeff thought he'd be long gone by the time Cleveland's turn to pick came up. coveringthecorner.com 16 min mark or so Comped to Trevor Stephan...who also pitched at Arkansas. What, no Danny Wright mentions lol?