caulfield12

Sure, but 1B and limited tools 2B probably don't historically warrant early extensions...and they certainly didn't earn it with their performances (when they were actually available). Granted, Vaughn got totally screwed up and over with the ridiculous outfield conversion and Covid/skipping over basically AA/AAA, but Madrigal from the get-go seemed a poor fit with that clubhouse. Maybe it was Nick's arrogance coming from the OSU program, his Christianity/proselytizing, his sense of entitlement, it always was just a poor fit...no matter how much Benetti tried to make Nicky Two Strikes a thing. The real irony is Kwan had none of the attention that guys like Madrigal and Rutschman and even Larnach received...and he has become one of the five most important players in the entire AL Central over the last three seasons. Scouting.

Well, the Rays have the farm system but no budget and no stadium (good luck with FA's), Toronto has ONE last go at it with Guerrero and Bichette this year...I still think it's way too early to write off the Orioles being a perennial contender simply because they have Sugano and Charlie Morton now instead of spending over $200 million on Corbin Burnes. O'Neill and Sanchez are winning/playoff-experienced players as well. It was never going to make sense to give Santander a MASSIVE contract based on one Brady Anderson-like season when they have so many cheaper/younger players to replace him.

This was the problem last time....we had our first wave of talent mixed in with the likes of Rodon, Abreu and Anderson...Robert/Moncada/Jimenez stalled out/got injured, there was never a second wave (Vaughn/Burger/Madrigal/Crochet) for various reasons, and the veterans we signed all started going backwards from 2021-22 onward (Keuchel/Grandal/Steak & Potatoes/Hendriks-Graveman-Kelly). They really need to get the timing right with this thing or it's going to be that 3-4 year abbreviated window like the 2014-2015 ROYALS. Of course, every SOX fan would give up anything in the world (well almost) for two consecutive WS appearances after the last 15 years or so being a White Sox fan.

Other than Mayo, Basallo, Bradfield...who do they have left?

What did Ozzie call that one young Brewers/Indians' 1B/DH, LaFatta?

That Jon Lester move never came for the Sox....they just pretended it was Grandal, Keuchel and 'ol Meat and Potatoes instead of Machado/Harper/Wheeler.

Hahn will go to his grave repeating the mantra "an unprecedented, franchise-altering two consecutive playoff appearances..."

https://www.mlb.com/news/front-office-executives-poll-for-farm-systems-2025 Those who voted for the Sox on the underrated and best at acquiring prospects must not be frequenting SoxTalk. Loved Orioles for prospect hugging...Dodgers Guardians and Padres with accolades, most wanted to keep Red Sox as best system overall even after Keel/Montgomery trade.

If not for Torkelson...he would have faced even more criticism, seemingly. Seems one of the most popular criticisms has been the lack of competition in the Pac-12 compared to say the SEC...and feasting on the subpar/non weekend pitchers for the most part. And then he went from a disciplined NCAA walk machine to a chaser/guess hitter with a lot of the same characteristics as Luis Robert.

Ageless Carlos Santana, $12 million for the cash-strapped Guardians...

Feels like they've saved about a million between Wilson and Vaughn today...

Sale...Gio...Crochet. All the Sox.

Ramos? Meidroth?

Well, in the pretty unlikely event they were to fall all the way below 800,000 in attendance…there are state subsidies that would kick in. Another record setting (losses) season though, all bets are off for 2026.

$32 million less. With Robert/Benentendi, $40.5 million as of today...as we currently stand at $72.5 after the Rojas and Perez additions.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-inaugural-2025-edition White Sox picked 30th Tigers Guardians Royals Twins in that order, bunched from 11 to 18th Short Venable video 30. White Sox (previously: 30) They just lost the most games in modern Major League history, and then they traded away their ace, in Crochet. Yet it’s still probably going to get better under new manager Will Venable.

Three years ago, he was worth a startlingly high 3.9 fWAR, a HUGE bargain. Of course, his last two seasons, it's 0.5 and 0.4, and four seasons ago, at 0.7, so the average would be around 0.5-0.6 fWAR per season, meaning he's pretty much fairly valued at $3.5 million and entering his age 34 season. Of course, if you incorporate his 3.9 with the other other three years, you get 5.5/4, or 1.4, which means his fair value would be closer to $10-11 million.

DeJong was average to below average. 3B and first were terrible. Lopez was fine. The outfield was terrible to average except Fletcher in RF. Robert down year all around. Catching was pretty bad too...although throwing out runners better than past seasons. It can get worse...unfortunately.

Because what will destroy young pitchers' confidence more quickly than porous infield defense? Wasn't that the whole point of DeJong and Lopez last year...and the main reason for the Josh Rojas move this past week?

What does Sosa do well or even better than average at SS? I'm more in the Baldwin SS camp, with Sosa at second until doesn't hit again for a month and Meidroth's AAA numbers dictate a recall.

He was incredibly important to the Padres getting 4-5 inning starts down the stretch as a fifth or swing man...after they'd traded away almost all their prospect depth for relievers. I'm just dubious on how much of that success can again be replicated at GR Field with our projected defense minus Luis Robert. He is LH at least...compared to the RH Flexen, and seems equally comfortable out of the pen or starting. This year's Jesse Chavez.

Rodon was coming off such a bad stretch of injuries/ineffectiveness that pretty much nobody else was willing to guarantee him a starting rotation spot in all likelihood. Of course, at that point, and coming off the 2020 postseason, some were potentially looking at him as a "high leverage" reliever as well.

That's very generous of them...but not in the best interests of the franchise. Of course the Kimbrel QO led to the Pollock disaster, which led to the Benintendi disaster. One mistake on top of another...compounded.

Remember that season when they had Fulmer, Collins, Madrigal, Vaughn, Burger, Rodon, Anderson...all together on a roster together and were crowing about how many of their first round draft picks had made it "successfully" to the major leagues? Well, as the recent abysmal ranking of fWAR generated over picks in the last decade indicates (which excludes Anderson/Rodon, as well as Semien), it was all much ado about nothing, for the most part.

And then they still ended up mishandling the QO situation with him and Kimbrel...and there was this weird "we let Rodon go without the QO as a favor to Carlos/Scott Boras" thing going on. Actually Boras Corp. should be cutting a check to the White Sox for giving Carlos that $3 million deal in 2021, because it was the launching pad for two HUGE/GENERATIONAL wealth deals that got Boras the services of another private jet.