caulfield12

The main culprit for Chicago's low overall rating was their quartet of young MLB position players. Catcher Korey Lee, second baseman Lenyn Sosa, third baseman Miguel Vargas and shortstop Colson Montgomery were the four hitters taken into account, and they combined to earn a 1-out-of-10 grade from Mintz and Shusterman. In a way, that may have been a bit generous on Mintz and Shusterman's part. Montgomery is ranked as the No. 39 prospect in baseball, having not yet made his big league debut, so qualifying him as an MLB player could be slightly premature. At the same time, Montgomery hit .214 with a .710 OPS in Triple-A last season, so perhaps his inclusion didn't do much to boost the team's score in that category. https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/chicago_white_soxs_collection_of_young_bats_given_brutal_grade_entering_2025/s1_17016_41772536 Big league hitters 1/10 Big league pitchers 2/10 Hitting/pitching pre-MLB prospects 4/5 + 4/5 Total 11/30 Marlins and Rockies expected to finish bottom 3 in standings as well...

No. Quite the opposite. It's because of the weighting for the talent at the major league level currently...especially 2024 performances. Robert is 27 now. Vaughn will be 27 the first week of the season. Another factor. Phillies last because they're such a veteran heavy team...same for the Yankees except Volpe and Dominguez. Basically it means 3rd worst in the majors. Which is a direct relationship with the lack of development at theater league level the last 2-3 years.

Both Montgomery's, Quero and Grant Taylor with the most volatility across all these recent rankings. Author looks at straight path to starting SS job but questions the wisdom of pushing Colson too quickly up to Chicago.

28. Chicago White Sox (total score: 11/30) | 2024 rank: 26 A series of trades and some strong recent draft picks have the farm system looking stronger, but the complete lack of players whom we know for sure to be good major leaguers keeps Chicago near the bottom of these rankings. While there are some promising pieces in place, we’re still a long way from knowing which players will form the core of the next good White Sox team — let alone how long it will take for such a team to come to fruition. Chicago’s epic collective failure in 2024 was predominantly rooted in its abysmal offense, and it’s not readily apparent which young hitters could emerge as above-average big-league bats in the short term. Lee and Vargas have flopped offensively since being acquired via trade. Sosa had a strong September last year and was tremendous in the Venezuelan Winter League, but his upside is limited. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-26-and-under-power-rankings-taking-stock-of-the-young-talent-in-each-mlb-organization-starting-with-the-phillies-at-no-30-163043087.html

"An economist at Indiana University Columbus interviewed by the Indianapolis Star recently calculated that Clark was responsible for $36 million in economic impact to the city of Indianapolis and almost 27% of the league's economic activity for the 2024 season, including attendance, merchandise sales and television. Clark's salary is expected to be just over $78,000 for the 2025 season." https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/43890753/agent-fever-caitlin-clark-wnba-players-deserve-higher-pay

The Guardians are reportedly in agreement with free agent lefty John Means on a one-year deal with a 2026 club option. The signing, which is pending a physical, guarantees the Wasserman client a $1MM salary for the upcoming season. The option can be worth up to $7.5MM after factoring escalators and does not include a buyout. Means is recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery and expected to be out of action until August. www.mlbtraderumors.com Interesting speculative move for MAYBE just 1-2 months worth of season...insurance policy.

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/is-the-head-coach-position-at-indiana-still-a-top-job-in-college-basketball-in-2025/ Saying Indiana has only made one Elite Eight in more than 30 years stings, and just two NCAA Tournament appearances in what will probably be nine years here in a month is a soul-crushing reality. You know about the success prior to that — five national titles, eight Final Fours, 22 Big Ten titles, 68 NCAA Tournament wins. The list goes on and on. But both as it relates to the historic success or the more recent disappointment, the past is not prologue. There is nothing about Indiana’s long run as one of college basketball’s elite that guarantees the Hoosiers will continue in that realm. We’ve all seen that harsh reality play out before our eyes now for far too long. But there is also nothing about this Indiana program that makes it an irredeemable mediocrity.

https://www.mlb.com/news/hyeseong-kim-to-play-multiple-positions-in-spring-training "He has the ingredients to be great," (hitting coach Aaron) Bates said. "It's just kind of fine-tuning things. Obviously, he was a great player in Korea and has all the components, so it's just making some tweaks here and there. All the while, letting him play and play free, mentally." GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When it comes to first impressions of Hyeseong Kim, the Dodgers have been fairly consistent in their descriptions. "He's a lot stronger than I expected," manager Dave Roberts said. "I think he's one of the [lowest] body fat guys in our camp." "He’s fast, he’s athletic," first baseman Freddie Freeman said a few days later. "I’ve heard he’s got the lowest body-fat percentage on our team." Kim is used to others bringing up his physical fitness; his former teammates in the KBO said the same. But don't let the reports of his skill with the glove be lost in all the chatter. ..... "I think that he can certainly win ballgames with his defense alone," Roberts said. "Then the question is the development part. What's good for him? What's good for the Dodgers? And that, we don't have to answer right now."

Isn't Jeremy Haber's "grand failure" the main culprit here, arguably...it feels like still, after all this time, that Rick Hahn has been somehow shielded from taking on as much blame as he should have. Of course, the plethora of conspiracy theories: "KW never gave him a chance to really run things on his own," or "JR screwed him over on AJ Hinch and some of his prime targeted FA guys like Machado..." Maybe Dan Fabian, ND alum who was around there forever and then supervising analytics has to bear part of the blame? Pretty much everyone but Hostetler's been gutted and hung out to dry from that era of execs.

By the information above and appearance of the tell-tale brace...he already had it two months or so ago.

Doesn't really matter if he's getting traded...but it would behoove Mr. Fuller to figure out a way to showcase Luis' hitting and health improvements as early as this coming Saturday since a ticking clock is starting counting down until the days in all likelihood.

https://sports.yahoo.com/angels-outfielder-mike-trout-making-the-move-to-right-field-just-trying-to-preserve-the-legs-164329934.html Trout switching to RF to end his career... Also, Jo Adell was top 5-6 in the big leagues last year for bat speed and a definite change of scenery possibility for some team willing to work with him and be exceedingly patient.

"Speaking of Tommy John rehab, second-round pick Blake Larson was on the backfields Monday sporting the large black supportive brace that has become a common sight in baseball over the past decade. Newly 19, fresh off a high school workload and already tasked with adding overall strength this year, the White Sox aren’t viewing this as a disastrous setback in Larson’s build up and development. But while TJ might be somewhat inevitable, it’s obviously not ideal." https://soxmachine.com/2025/02/white-sox-hold-first-full-squad-workout-for-a-team-thats-not-close-to-complete/

“This is my team right now, I’m just getting ready to fight for this team,” Robert said via interpreter. “It has been my team throughout my whole professional career in the US, right? I think it would be beautiful to have experienced playing for just one team, the team that gave me the opportunity to make my dream come true and the team that I’m trying to help past this moment and hopefully play for this team when we are ready to compete. I think that would be a really beautiful story. But like I said before, that’s something I can’t control.” https://soxmachine.com/2025/02/white-sox-hold-first-full-squad-workout-for-a-team-thats-not-close-to-complete/

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/cubs-chris-flexen-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html Cubs sign Chris Flexen...terms pending Padres signed Yuli Gurriel...looks like no guaranteed money, but they still need a 1B/DH bat...Gain Sheets in the mix as well. Waiting for JD Martinez to come down in price?

Ball did appeal, and as Daryl Van Schouwen reported on Friday, the Illinois Appellate Court’s First District reversed the ruling, reviving the lawsuit. You can read the opinion here, which sided with Ball on two procedural points. One is that the lower court “prematurely resolved factual issues in favor of the White Sox and improperly shifted the White Sox’s initial burden onto Ball.” The other is that Ball is contesting the validity of the termination agreement, alleging that the White Sox misrepresented the reason for firing him. If that turned out to be true, the agreement wouldn’t be valid regardless of whether Ball signed it, and the motion to dismiss can’t be used to authorize a “fact-based ‘mini-trial’ on whether the plaintiff can support his allegations.” Former White Sox athletic trainer's lawsuit revived on two procedural points...Hahn no longer one of the specified defendants. https://soxmachine.com/2025/02/bobby-jenks-battling-stage-4-stomach-cancer/

I give up too...the White Sox having nothing interesting going on has absolutely destroyed me as a fan. I will come back whenever they have a .500 record at the trade deadline. I will be happier simply playing fantasy baseball and following the rest of the teams in baseball that actually care about their fans. Save your energy. Maybe the Mariners will finally add some pitching. For now, Padres and Dodgers at least have a plan to make the post season before 2027/28. I will just read Fegan...that enough.

"Beyond the Crochet blockbuster, the White Sox acted roughly as you’d expect a team in their position to act. They held on to their higher-profile trade candidate in Luis Robert Jr., hoping he can reestablish his value in 2025 and eventually net a Crochet-esque return in the not-so-distant future. They signed a handful of veterans on one-year deals, players who could be flipped in July to contenders seeking reinforcements. Their payroll has plummeted to one of the lowest marks in the league. Hopefully the White Sox can avoid being historically awful again in 2025, but there is a lot more losing to come for this team. That’s by design, though, and the focus must remain on building an infrastructure at all levels of the organization that can better support a winning team at some point down the line. By those standards, this winter has generally gone according to plan." — Shusterman https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-offseason-grades-grading-every-teams-winter-from-an-a-for-the-dodgers-to-fs-for-the-mariners-and-padres-221333389.html M's and Padres an F but that would change after article written Sox a B ranking Will consider Wikkie Gonzalez the fourth best pitching prospect until proven otherwise. Or fifth...if you include Burke.

"He is fitting in beautifully so far and handling all that comes with being a busy student-athlete. Every couple of weeks, senior catcher Charlie Saum counts on hearing from Sasaki with an invite to In-N-Out Burger, the freshman having learned long ago the hip items to order — a double-double burger and animal-style fries, of course. Now, the 6-foot, 275-pound slugging first baseman is set to make his Stanford debut Friday at Cal State Fullerton and play his first home game one week later against Washington." https://apnews.com/article/stanford-rintaro-sasaki-japanese-prospect-cb8716b5bfa9dfa86c3497d2179aa8a5&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjTspajzMaLAxU7avUHHeATIsYQFnoECAoQAg&usg=AOvVaw0Ee1OP8YEUEFepUEsGcstd

www.prepbaseballreport.com/news/PBR/rintaro-sasaki--the-mlbdl-experience-and-data-dive&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjTspajzMaLAxU7avUHHeATIsYQFnoECAMQAg&usg=AOvVaw1rY2aJD3tkr9JHfk1QGqDt

https://soxmachine.com/2019/12/reports-white-sox-actually-try-publicly-fail-to-land-zack-wheeler/ I guess it's because the original bidding range was supposed to be $70-90 million that I remembered it that way... So we have one example...where a contract for Wheeler instead of Keuchel would/could have changed the course of the franchise, possibly.

Garfien also lists Vargas at 3B/1B and not second. We shall see. https://www.mlb.com/news/gus-varland-fun-social-media-white-sox “Who the hell is this guy? Varland having fun w/ social media…”

Machado we kept sabotaging those deals over extra years and incentives on the final decline years. Harper not really. Wheeler signed for $80-90 million that first Phillies contract. Masahiro Tanaka...??? It was claimed we made second or third highest bid. A-Rod to Rangers deal...distant second or third.

Here it is...

Miami guess is off...color scheme fairly similar