Y2Jimmy0

I honestly don't think either of those guys are part of the mix in Chicago.

I think you want Cleveland to win 2/3. The White Sox are up two games in the loss column on both. If the Sox can sweep this weekend, then they'd be 4 up in the loss column on Minnesota and 3 up on Cleveland

I'm sorry but it should be expected that the White Sox spend significantly this off-season. I'm not expecting a $150 million payroll or anything but they have close to $45 million coming off the books. They should replace that at a minimum and they'd still be a medium sized payroll. They need at least 1 starting pitcher, right field and bullpen help. It should be doable even with the "catastrophic losses".

I spoke to Gavin Sheets last week for this story: https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/08/gavin-sheets-making-light-of-a-difficult-situation/ He's the highest ranked prospect that isn't in Schaumburg but he's doing lots of work on his own. He's well aware that power needs to be his game and he's transitioning to play some in the outfield. Sheets was pretty candid in here.

Dallas Keuchel praised his game calling yesterday.

Last week was Rankings Week at FutureSox and we closed that out with twitter questions from the audience. I tried to answer everything here: https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/07/2020-midseason-rankings-twitterbag-questions/

That Cleveland series puts Giolito on extra rest and he's not a fan of that. That's one of the factors I was weighing. This could work there

That could work but I'd think they'd want Giolito and Keuchel vs Twins next week if they can

The White Sox biggest priority now should be lining up the rotation so that Giolito and Keuchel and scheduled to go on Tuesday and Wednesday September 29-30

I'm not saying he'll be back. The 45 day DL is meaningless though because it's retroactive.

Bleacher Report isn't correct.

FWIW: Alex Mcrae is with the team on the traveling taxi squad. That's why he's the addition. They weren't going to fly a different guy to KC for 2 games when MCrae was already there.

Stiever is fine. Putting him on the 40-man and burning an option is an issue though. He's not Rule 5 eligible until December of 2021 and he'll be starting in the minors next year. If they brought up Stiever to pitch out of the bullpen, he'd be in AA next year but on the 40-man prematurely. This stuff matters. Mcrae was with the team on the taxi squad which is why he is the choice.

Yeah. Maybe 2022 at the earliest for a guy like Jared Kelley

Crochet could possibly pitch out of bullpen late in 2021 and be in the 2022 rotation. High school guys will take awhile longer

There are absolutely depth problems. We need to hope that guys like Bryce Bush, Benyamin Bailey, James Beard, etc turn into legit prospects. They'll likely be adding Vera and possibly Colas to next year's list and then you have 20 draft picks. They need to keep drafting well and keep their system in the 10-20 range.

He's healthy. He's hitting and running. He looks fine at 3B. He's got a long way to go because of the missed time but I still think he's a top 15 prospect in the system because health was the main issue.

They're working out on their own in home countries. Benyamin Bailey told me meets with White Sox staff on Zoom every week. They have Motus sleeves that you use when working out so team can track their progress. The DR facility is open and some players live there

Here is the full list for our midseason top 30: https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/03/top-30-white-sox-prospect-rankings-midseason-2020/

I don't expect them to go nuts but they have like $40-$50 million coming off the books. They can't run like a $75 million payroll. if they at least replace what is going out, they could be the AL favorites in 2021.

Yeah so in hindsight, I'm not a fan of how 2016 and 2017 went but there was kind of an org philosophy to insulate the system with safer talent. It's hard to call the 2016 draft bad because you could have 5-6 big leaguers from that class. 2017 was a problem though. It's just too many college players and low upside college players. The worst thing that they did was overslot college players in round two of drafts. It just never made any sense. Instead of giving Gavin Sheets or Steele Walker $2 million, give that to a high school guy. Nick Hostetler would tell you though that he's more proud of the processes he put in place and the changes made to the department than he is any of the players he took. They're in a solid spot going forward in amateur scouting and more importantly in development.

It's complicated. I generally prefer upside. Others aren't like that though. Looking at the glut of outfielders that the Sox had for example, I always preferred Luis Gonzalez to Blake Rutherford and Steele Walker because I was confident that Gonzalez could stay in CF and that makes him more valuable than a corner only guy. I usually only rank relievers that can be high leverage guys. The Sox system is weird though. We have some writers who think it makes more sense to put Ian Hamilton or even like Will Kincanon at the back end of the list but I'd much prefer an 18 year old catcher that mashed in the DSL. Proximity to majors matters for me too though. I would probably trade Jonathan Stiever before I'd trade Matthew Thompson but I rank Stiever higher because he's closer to the majors. It honestly just depends. My personal list went out for Patreon subscribers today. I put Jake Burger at #14. I had him at #30 in the preseason. Him being healthy and me seeing him personally in Schaumburg a few weeks back was a game changer for me.

Not publicly.

We always use 130 at bats, 50 IP or 45 non September days on the active roster. That's what the industry generally uses. Mendick graduated due to at-bats. Collins due to 45 man days. Robert will cross 130 at-bats in a couple days so the "system" is about to get a lot worse haha.

Some interesting names on the back end of this list. What does everyone think? Should someone be higher/lower? https://www.futuresox.com/2020/09/02/top-white-sox-prospect-rankings-midseason-2020-16-30/