caulfield12

Out of the frying pan and directly into the fire…

Look at how Mauer and Posey cratered the second half of their careers. Starting to see it with Will Smith, too. Only Yadier Molina and Sal Perez held up well into 30s. Sox fans also witnessed it firsthand with Grandal’s decline his final two seasons. Added to that recently is the Adley Rutschman Decline Enigma. Of course…Sox would greatly benefit from those 6-7 prime years while Lackey was still in his 20s.

Burger up to ten homers and a 738 ops. What’s the Sox DH numbers this year? Slightly below that?

I thought that was the recent Strait of Hormuz ship toll, lol.

Robert/Acuna a no win for either side. The spin will be Acuna Hays Hicks Sandlin Newcomb and Dominguez with that Robert $$$ improved the team, but not by very much.

Lenyn…unless he turned into a Duke Alaskan Assassin’s brother.

But he likes the Gigantes more!!!

Where is Gonzalez going to play?

More bunts sacrifices execution advancing runners manufacturing runs that don’t come from homers…unselfish anti hero ball. He would have fit better with those Piranhas Twins teams.

Kind of a shot across the bow to Jacob Gonzalez's new fans?

At least part of this is providing Mune a Japanese fluent teammate...bye bye Acuna. Kelenic also out?

Now the Sox have a wearing down Schultz and Fedde that will eventually need to be replaced at some point.

Wrong Florida school...

Isn't Bob supposed to be JR's media spin doctor?

Guardians doing it again. Quite a run they're on.

It's a core part of the franchise fabric, though. Not only in terms of players going back to Minnie Minoso, Larry Doby, Aparicio, Dick Allen, Baines, Frank Thomas, but front office executives as well.

I guess the name itself when they won the lottery was the initial biggest draw because it sounded so Southsidery. That said...if Getz articulated a scenario of spreading an additional $2+ plus to rounds 2/3 and what that money could actually buy in terms of improving depth and quality of the draft. Let's say a prep pitcher on the fence about an SEC school and then Gasparino in the third round, for example. si.com late 2024 “Biggest failure: Baltimore's injury-riddled lackluster second half opens a lot of possibilities for this slot. But we'll zero in on one aspect, which is the puzzling season on offense from Adley Rutschman. His defensive numbers remain strong, but Rutschman's third season has seen an across-the-board decline with the bat. Most puzzling has been a 4% dip in walk rate from a hitter who seemed almost preternaturally selective at the plate." The crazy thing is two years of 5.6/5.7 fWAR halved to 2.7 and then just 2.7 total over the last 1 1/3 seasons. Keeps dividing himself nearly in half statistically.

16.3333 / 6 = 2.72 IP per start Who will cover the other 6 1/3 IP for a Sandlin start? Might as well just call him an opener. They could just do the same with Newcomb or Hicks. Soxmachine.com "In his last rehab start, Sandlin struck out seven in four innings and got up to the 70 pitch mark, putting him only a start or two away from being a full go. Sandlin’s fastball has touched triple digits this season as his stuff continues to impress while he works on establishing a second fastball variation. If a spot in the White Sox rotation opens up, I think David Sandlin may the best equipped to get the first shot at it as of right now. Things can obviously change quickly, but I expect to see Sandlin on the South Side before too long." Except his control is still very spotty, could very easily throw 70 pitches in 2 or 3 IP but Getz will have to show off his shiny new toy sooner or later. And that was a AA, not Charlotte "rehab" start, right?

Why would that be riskier? Because of Teel being moved off that spot versus Montgomery at SS? Are either of those players sure enough bets as of today you'd dare give them extensions? Because easier to imagine Cholowsky at second or third than Lackey in CF? Or because of the possibility he's not a surefire plus CFer like he seemingly is as a catcher? But doesn't a tie go to the entertaining exciting dynamic player with the biggest personality? Like Mune vs. Okamoto, who also easily could have played 1B for the Sox but wouldn't be selling even 15-20% of the jerseys?

I'm going to a college basketball analogy. I think the kids from the South like Beckham, Frank Thomas, AJ and Hawk originally were appreciate the commonalities with the Midwest compared to kids from other areas...especially the coasts, the Northeast, Texas, Cali, etc. Thinking of guys like Giolito Ventura and Garland here. Not that everyone necessarily looks down as the middle of the country as flyover territory lol. Just the friendliness/neighbors helping neighbors and more down to earth character. I say this having lived in Georgia (Statesboro/Augusta), Iowa and Kansas City before leaving the US at around 35. Another example, the 3 kids Iowa women's basketball has brought on from UGA and GaTech really appreciate the Midwest and being the bigger fish in the smaller pond...although Chicago is obviously not Iowa City, except for the friendliness and general kindness of MOST people. But it might as well have been (a small insular club compared to Wrigley) in terms of media coverage...at least until Mune came on board. I'd even argue Iowa sports might even be more of a fish bowl lol...equivalent to Murakami's everyday international media coverage now. Just as a pure cultural fit...someone who really wants to be a Chicago White Sox player, appreciates the organization, am seeing Lackey more as the one, and this is purely gut or intuition. Maybe because Lackey's also a classic underdog (5'6" 156 six years ago) who neatly fits the ethos of the Southside, versus the kind of "prima donna" kid (not really his fault, same happened with Rodon or Gordon Beckham) who everyone praised as the best player and surefire #1 guy in NCAA's on the best team for going on two years now....although the draft list I had to start this thread originally had another GA Tech outfielder who will likely go in the middle of the first round.

Just comes down to personal preference. If Cholowsky is Dansby Swanson, Lackey is a once in 20-25 year unicorn, a black catcher. Except for Charles Johnson, all the best played in the 1920`s - 1960's and early 70s, Manny Sanguillen. If everything else being equal, I'll side with the entertainment angle...as the lowest revenue producing team in mlb. Not unlike Mune over Okamoto or Imai. How many Cubs' fans/youngsters today go actively looking for Dansby Swanson jerseys in the sporting goods stores? It's PCA or Hoerner, right?

Still best case scenario have to double cover a lot of August and September Schultz starts like they did with Crochet 3-4 inning starts a couple of years ago.

Run Forrest Run!!

See Elon Musk. Or this nimrod... https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/japanese-man-wanted-to-father-1000-kids-in-thailand/130859&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjrutHt6NCUAxXlnSYFHX1XEaAQFnoECAYQAg&usg=AOvVaw2s8t07NWbGQWQnZxzpW264 Derrick Thomas, Philander Rodman, etc. Having kids these days doesn't prove much of anything...except one not being sterile, I guess? Even then, there's alternative solutions these days.