caulfield12

So it was Michael A. Taylor that won the GG. He won a Gold Glove Award and Fielding Bible Award in 2021. Benintendi was actually runner up/honorable mention in 2021. So, to summarize...three GG's in Benintendi, Taylor and Robert (shortened 2020 rookie season), Tauchman at that level in 2019/21. How many times will Jon Schiffren cite that statistic lol? About as relevant as Nicky Lopez from 2019-21, right?

A commenter to Fegan's article wrote that...actually. "On a per-inning basis, Mike Tauchman was arguably the best defensive outfielder in 2019: in just 694.1 innings across all three outfield positions (two-thirds of which came in left field), he accrued 19 DRS and 9 Outs Above Average (OAA). The former was tied with Lorenzo Cain and Hunter Renfroe for fourth among outfielders, the latter with Mallex Smith and Keon Broxton for eighth. The difference between Tauchman and the defenders ahead of him, however, was that he did that in more than two hundred fewer innings than those ahead of him — and remember, these are counting stats! Tauchman, in fact, had played so little relative to his competition that he wasn’t even eligible for the Gold Glove Award, as the award requires you to play 713 innings in the field before the team’s 141st game — more than Tauchman played the entire season." https://www.pinstripealley.com/2021/11/10/22771009/yankees-mlb-defense-gold-glove-aaron-judge-brett-gardner-masahiro-tanaka-mike-tauchman-ichiro-suzuki Also, seems most SFG fans were arguing he was a GG deserving candidate as recently as 2021. OFC...like with AJ Pollock, playing him in RF might not be as ideal.

"The fact that Taylor hit like Danny Mendick last year but still would have easily been the 2nd most valuable position player on the White Sox says something about the guy’s defense. (It, uh, also says something about the 2024 Sox…) Don’t look now, but the boys in black are rostering THREE Gold Glove outfielders! And like the Mavericks' GM says, “Elite defenders in their 30’s win championships!” Now there’s an executive to emulate!" Benintendi GG 2019 Luis Robert GG 2020 Mike Tauchman GG 2019

“A great example is just going through the hiring process and going after the best talent that we can,” Getz said. “Will is a prime example of this, where, OK, we need to show individuals what our organization actually looks like and where it’s going. In professional sports, there are so many individuals who want to take on a challenge because if you get it right, it’s [probably] going to be the most rewarding experience of your career. All of us view that. To be able to overcome what we did last year in these coming years is a great opportunity for so many different people and myself included.” https://soxmachine.com/2025/02/white-sox-seek-to-begin-their-slow-crawl-back-from-the-bottom/ Fegan VERY skeptical we'll see Colson Montgomery breaking camp with the team... ”The mobile van in the Camelback Ranch where players were lined up to complete body composition scans seems new..."

https://www.tankathon.com/ 12 1/2 back with 30 games left. Probably end up with Ron Harper's kid since it's the Bulls...

Every year ... at least the past couple, there have been rumors about "cash crunches" with the team...you really start to wonder if after paying out $29 million to Moncada, if they simply are more interested in saving money from the 2025 payroll compared to the seemingly more important overall goal of improving the team's supply of young positional talent. Obviously the majority of the board is at the point where taking the risk of rolling him out there for the first 2-3 months and things breaking the Sox way on his level of play is the better "opportunity cost" decision than taking prospects that are of the Colas/Ramos fringe Top 100 level and SAVING the remaining money on his contract. Like that Arroyo kid on the Reds that more likely than not will never be a solid or even average major league hitter while playing a "plus" SS defensively...who is coming off an injury-filled/disappointing year like N.Marte for CINCY. The typical "buy low" guy like Vargas, prospect but no longer shining so brightly.

Has to be Rojas Baldwin Amaya at that spot...

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/white-sox-outright-steven-wilson.html "Despite the rough season, the White Sox tendered Wilson a contract for 2025 and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $950K salary. They then bumped him off the roster when they claimed lefty Brandon Eisert last week. It seems none of the 29 other clubs were willing to grab Wilson at that price point, so he went unclaimed. Wilson has three years of service time, which gave him the right to elect free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would have meant forfeiting that $950K. He’ll stick with the Sox and try to earn his way back onto the roster."

"Winning that day's game is more important than development at the major league level..." Or avoiding more embarrassing historic loss totals that draw too much national media attention.

They already have the Woo contract on the books for 4-5 years...

Well, up until last year, he averaged a 2.0 fWAR for 2021-22-23, so there's that. His 0.4 is beaten by only Robert's on last year's team, pretty sure Luis was just 0.5. Lenyn Sosa at 0.1 was the only "positive" fWAR guy on the roster, after Luis. DeJong and Lopez led the team. Vaughn Benintendi Lee combined for -0.9. Sheets himself alone "contributed" -0.9.

Shohei Ohtani is easily the most marketable player in baseball, a global superstar with appeal not only in the United States but in Japan as well. He’s no stranger to commercials, some of which you might see during games, like for New Balance, for instance, and many others. The latest ad for Ohtani is from Beats by Dre, and he’s not alone. Also in the commercial for the Powerbeats Pro 2 are LeBron James and Lionel Messi. https://www.truebluela.com/2025/2/11/24363508/shohei-ohtani-beats-by-dre-lebron-james-lionel-messi Dodgers finalize Kiké Hernández contract, place Gavin Stone on 60-day injured list Hernández gets $6.5 million on 1-year deal with LA. Stone is expected to miss the 2025 season after October shoulder surgery. https://www.truebluela.com/2025/1/13/24337436/dodgers-payroll-2025-teoscar-hernandez-hyeseong-kim

Vargas is "versatile," the problem is that he's not really good at 3B, 2B, LF or theoretically SS...although I wouldn't even want to see that play out, it would be like Madrigal there.

https://www.quora.com/What-if-an-NBA-team-is-up-50-points-at-halftime-and-all-the-players-get-ejected-in-the-beginning-of-the-3rd-quarter-for-whatever-reason-Do-they-still-lose-despite-the-big-lead Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets The Jazz overcame a 36-point deficit to defeat the Nuggets on November 27, 1996 Los Angeles Clippers vs. Washington Wizards The Clippers overcame a 35-point deficit to defeat the Wizards on January 25, 2022 Sacramento Kings vs. Chicago Bulls The Kings overcame a 35-point deficit to defeat the Bulls on December 21, 2009

Amaya Rojas and Baldwin are the most well-suited, but not sure why you'd do that with Baldwin (when he basically skipped over AAA) unless he was going to get regular at-bats somehow.

https://global.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43797792/source-clayton-kershaw-dodgers-agree-new-contract Kershaw back to Dodgers...somewhere between $5-10 million based on meeting incentives. 14-15 starting pitchers deep now, lol

Basically he takes the place of DeLoach Fletcher Sheets Julks...

Grandal Keuchel Lynn Liam Kimbrel Graveman Kelly Encarnacion Alonso...or expensive washed up vets. (Well maybe Liam doesn't quite belong after everything he endured.)

In fact, the 22-year-old shortstop and No. 39 prospect overall, per MLB Pipeline, might benefit from the 2024 campaign, when he started to figure things out physically and mentally, posting a slash line of .263/.357/.465 over his final 99 at-bats -- beginning with a 3-for-4 showing on Aug. 24. He will get plenty of opportunities to earn that Opening Day nod at shortstop, although it isn’t to the point of being his spot to lose, nor does he believe such a thing. There was one specific comment from Montgomery at SoxFest Live, which focused on this young team but represents his situation very well. “We all see what everybody says about us online (at least he wasn't reading SoxTalk apparently), the hype and everything like that,” Montgomery said. “We all know we have to go out there and execute. “A lot of it is we are not going to try to be somebody we are not. We are here for a reason and it’s just about being ourselves. That’s really exciting.” from Merkin's Mailbag. chisox.com

Soon to be 1/5th of payroll for a future HoF? Priceless...

Now pushing the $70 million payroll mark...until you subtract $20 million with Robert's salary and pass the Marlins on the way to the very bottom of the majors by $15 million. Or is it $20 million next year? Can't bother to look it up again.

And slightly more marketable...

More feathers in Getz's cap to come...

Glad Greg has joined the Dodgers' front office too. Or Baltimore w/ Elias...