caulfield12

Don't forget Giolito if they make it to a 7 game series for Boston...

https://www.lonestarball.com/latest-news/87017/bruce-bochy-will-not-be-back-in-2026 Nobody clamoring for Venable in Texas after on the job training with Sox. Bochy back to SF to replace Melvin? Reunited with Posey? Tony Beasley, a holdover from Jeff Banister's staff, a solid candidate.

Poor Balta...

Seems like nine years to me...but that best farm system was Hahn and Haber/Hostetler, so interesting how he's got someone framing his Wikipedia page to make his minor league development roles look like a complete unparalelled success lol. "2016 when he went to the Chicago White Sox as their director of player development from 2017 to 2020. There, he worked with many talented prospects like Luis Robert Jr., Yoán Moncada, Eloy Jiménez, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, and Dylan Cease. The White Sox farm system was ranked as the best in the MLB in 2017." Wikipedia

Any B's besides the obvious two?

The White Sox spent the last decade under Getz and Hahn doing EXACTLY that. Heck, Mead and Vargas were exactly that...past top prospects with other organizations. The Crochet trade was always about Braden and Teel. How many actual scouts do the White Sox even have left? And the biggest piece all along was Roman Anthony. Hard to fault the Red Sox for holding onto HIM...they made the playoffs, so something obviously went right for them.

All of baseball was wrong on Campbell and Mayer then. Taking 10-15 MiLB talents on a consistent basis in trade usually works. Jury still out on Teel as an everyday catcher...lots of passed balls and he and Quero had more favor able pitching matchups splitting the role. Meidroth might turn out to be more of a replacement level player when all is said and done.

Alcantara and Eury Perez have the stuff/past history to be aces or at least frontline starters. Stowers had a wonderful season...quite unexpected. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/war?teamid=20&lg= X.Edwards and Marsee both spare parts in Padres' systems with better fWAR than anyone but Colson on the Sox. INF Otto Lopez was quite solid, too. Junk the Marlins' equivalent of S.Smith.

So much for the season long stream of positive/feel good stories about Santos and that string of tear-jerking major league promotions filmed from his office. He was expected by many to be the manager in waiting...along with Jirschele.

Watch Venable leave to replace Bochy if he retires from Texas...guess most wouldn't be all that upset one way or the other. Would rather see Schiffren jettisoned.

Probably west coast again... SF? Reunited with Flaherty or Gio? The SEC schools are paying the highest coaching salaries these days by far.

Bourgeois Excuses the next two years from Getz lol? Fire Venable next I guess.

Basically Teel, Colson and Shane Smith are the three biggest building blocks on the major league roster for now and everything is still an unknown...especially H.Smith and Schultz. Sosa and Vargas are only under control through 2029...but the next two years are going to be non competitive barring major FA spending. So a two year window (2028/29)? That's where things get tricky...

https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/dodgers-roki-sasaki-predicted-to-replace-tanner-scott-as-la-s-closer-in-postseason Looks like Roki Sasaki might be replacing Tanner Scott/Treinen as Dodgers' closer Kershaw and Will Smith unavailable for the first round...Ohtani might be a possible G3 starter

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-09-28/dodgers-reds-nl-wild-card-nine-concerns-mlb-postseason Now in his sixth MLB season, Gavin Lux has still not realized the top-prospect potential he came up with in Los Angeles a half-decade ago. While he hit a team-best .269 during his first season in Cincinnati, he had just five home runs, a .725 OPS, and a negative mark in wins-above-replacement according to Baseball Reference. DODGERS Ex-Dodger Gavin Lux embraces new role with Reds: ‘You have that chip on your shoulder’ Feb. 25, 2025 Lux, whom the Dodgers traded away after signing Hyeseong Kim in January, has served in a utility role this year, getting starts at second base, left field and as the designated hitter. He didn’t have a great postseason with the Dodgers last year, when he hit just .176 during the team’s title run. But now, he has a chance to help upset the team that dealt him coming into the season.

No no no no...they were arguably (when healthy) the two best Sox hitters of the last 20-25 years, along with Jose Abreu, but couldn't get out of their own heads despite all their obvious talent. See Yogi Berra quotes about baseball and the mental side of the game. In fact, Colson Montgomery now becomes the prime example of that moving forward.

Yet he will still merit one of the Top Ten biggest free agents contracts this off season due to durability and all those strikeouts. In fact, the late season uncertainty over guys like Michael King and even Kyle Tucker have made him even more attractive despite the lousy ERA and propensity for 5 inning outings much like Blake Snell.

JR loves this article...the demise of the super team and the rise of the Brewers by Jeff Passan https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46389613/mlb-playoffs-2025-preview-no-superteam-postseason-dodgers-brewers-phillies-yankees-mariners https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46070566/mlb-2025-milwaukee-brewers-national-league-best-team-100-wins-low-payroll-powerhouse "THE BEST TEAM in MLB this year plays in the game's smallest market. Its payroll of around $115 million ranks 23rd of 30 teams. A second baseman (B.Turang) with an OPS below .800 has been its best player. Not a single one of its everyday players, who combined to score the third-most runs in MLB, made the All-Star team. "There's nothing super about us," said an executive with the Milwaukee Brewers, and he's right. They're just excellent at recognizing the limitations of their situation -- owner Mark Attanasio has never spent in any sort of significant manner in free agency -- and adapting to overcome it. The Brewers can't drop $765 million on Juan Soto; Milwaukee's combined payrolls for the past seven years total less ($759 million). In the absence of the ability to spend, they've deployed resources to other areas: bulking up a Latin American operation that ranks among the five best in the game; prioritizing player development to continue the pipeline of Brewers farmhands who become excellent big leaguers; and identifying trade targets who are either underperforming or capable of unlocking plenty more with a few treats."

Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin were the two biggest examples of "in your head" highly strung guys...and also 2/5 most talented Sox hitters the last 20-25 years. But there are 100 or 1000 Gordon Beckhams for every player like that. So while Tauchman might have been a solid leader THIS year, along with guys like Houser or Perez, they are also not part of the next Sox playoff team...in fact, Mike is likely to have a huge decline in production if they hold onto him one year longer. Very clearly Colson and Teel are poised to be these next two Young Sox leaders if they can only stay healthy, along with a very likeable/marketable Braden Montgomery.

The Royals famously lost 106 before they jumped to the postseason. That required having a generational superstar in Witt Jr and outspending the AL Central by more money than the other four teams spent combined when they brought in Lugo and Wacha, etc. This year just around .500 because that mid market approach still requires all your top draft picks like Caglianone to hit closer to Nick Kurtz at 1.000 ops than in the .500s or .600s like O's "studs" Basallo and Mayo. And that was with resurgent 2025 seasons from M.Garcia, Perez and Estevez. The biggest dropoff was rotation ace Cole Ragans, who has already gone through two TJ surgeries and could blow up any minute.

Robert is now one of our supposed veteran leaders and has the best bat speed on the team, him or Colson...someone earlier in the thread cited bat speed as a reason for believing in a player, but that's just ONE indicator of possessing physical tools and not strength of approach. If we only went by that indicator, Elly de la Cruz and ONeil Cruz would be the two best players in baseball every single year.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/war?teamid=4&lg=&__cf_chl_tk=owc7ySSgDl0fSeYfUuq2dikVQ9x56G.QlrBCmA9xPUA-1759172019-1.0.1.1-rOsKsHkQWC0lrBjNoS.0y8deJsMtqnE1zZ7JgVIgDbs Sox fWAR standings Baldwin Quero Mead being in negative territory the biggest concerns. About what you'd expect with Montgomery Smith and Teel leading. Sosa Vargas Meidroth all in that 1-1.5 range or zone where the obvious flaws in their games are holding them back. Top Ten guys like Houser Tauchman M.Perez obviously can't be counted on to repeat.

Robert had the best bat speed on the team. Where did that get him? Whereas someone like Luis Arraez is bottom 5-10% in the majors, but makes consistent contact. Colson obviously has the biggest overall swing "impact"...but those strikeout rates were alarming. That said, you can live with it if he can play an adequate SS and stay healthy. Teel looked like their best hitter the last 6-8 weeks...he seems like a real keeper.

Not meaningless…but simply not enough Top 25 teams left. USC losing to Illinois after that 63-10 shellacking doesn’t help much either. Petrino’s on like his seventh or eighth chance now.

C- feels about right. Biggest pluses were Colson, Teel and the Rule 5 guys. Quero, Baldwin, Vargas and Sosa had their moments…along with Meidroth, but none of those guys feel like the heart of a pennant contender at present time due to various flaws. Schultz, Hagen Smith and Braden the three obvious keys to the future, and the 2026 draft pick. Speed defense execution/fundamentals, the bullpen and rotation, all need dramatic improvements, especially with Robert (at some point, hopefully) and Taylor both gone.