Chicago White Sox

Getz seemed to imply they would be aggressive in free agency for SP and right out of the gate. I think people here are over-estimating how much a potential lockout will impact our spending. I still don’t see why it even matters as you don’t pay players during a lockout anyways.

What in the world are you talking about in regard to Sean Burke?

Ok, thought he was younger than that. 5 years is still possible, but definitely less confident.

This to me seems like the best plan. I wish Taylor and/or Hagen could start, but the playoffs didn’t provide me with the confidence to think they can handle a starters workload.

Jerry isn’t most owners though. He doesn’t like paying players for not playing for his team.

Skubal is not happening, but most older pitchers aren’t getting huge long term deals. To me, the biggest thing Jerry will say no to is the years. A three or four year deal at a high AAV is something I think Jerry would supports and that might be what King is looking at (more likely four years).

I don’t think they plan to. I think Taylor remains their closer for the foreseeable future. I also think Hagen gets at least one more year in the bullpen before they decide his fate.

When did we ever operate with a well below median payroll when competing under Jerry?

You keep saying this, but they took on considerable money at the deadline. Jerry has always refused eating contracts before the final year and they didn’t want Dominguez on the roster any longer. Stupid way to approach things, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t money to spend. I don’t think people are realizing how ridiculously low our payroll was last year or how much a $120M would be relative to the rest of the league or what we have historically spent.

Why not? Agai, you assume they are going to rock a $120M payroll next year.

Not worth paying top dollar for a luxury bat when we need two quality SPs. Bonemer will be our Suzuki eventually.

Give me Kaima Taira and Michael King.

I think the bulk of their moves will be on the pitching side. With Bonemer coming soon and Roch likely just over a year out, they probably stick mostly with what they have. Benintendi could be released, but I think they likely use him as a placeholder until Caleb is ready. If they lose Grichuk, then I could see them signing a similar RH bat. And as previously mentioned, I think Baldwin takes Acuna’s spot on the roster.

He should not be in the OD rotation IMO. Either he goes to the pen or should be traded. At a $5M salary, he’s still potentially rostering as a swingman.

Are you disputing we offered Wheeler a 5 year deal? How many years do you think our offer to Tanaka was?

He’s given out four year deals and has offered five year deals to pitchers. Again, he’s not going to give Skubal a 10 year deal, but there will be good SPs in our price range for sure.

Yes, I do think that. Won’t be Skubal, but I think most other guys will be on the table. Not sure why we are using moves made during clear rebuilding years as a proxy for how we will act during our competitive window.

There is plenty to rip Venable for, but dude was given zero SP and had to be creative down the stretch and in the playoffs. Free agent SPs should be eager for the opportunity to join a playoff team in one of the worst divisions in baseball who are desperate for SP.

What in the world are you talking about?

I’m super high on Baldwin and think having a LH utility guy on the bench will be a huge plus for us. He is a major upgrade over Acuna for sure. This is what I’d like to see Lineup: 1B: M. Murakami* 2B: C. Meidroth SS: C. Montgomery* 3B: M. Vargas LF: S. Antonacci* CF: T. Peters* RF: B. Montgomery# DH: A. Benintendi* CA: K. Teel* Bench: IF: B. Baldwin# OF: B. Doyle OF: R. Grichuk BC: J. Bart Bonemer comes up in May or June and replaces Benintendi on the roster.

Bart > Romo.

You’re panicking on Braden way too soon IMO. I also think Bonemer will be up by May or June and filling in at multiple spots, which will provide a good hedge for both the IF & OF. I’d definitely bring Grichuk on a one year deal though. I’d also go with Bart as the backup catcher over Romo depending on cost. Quero should also be in the mix if he can undo what changes he made last offseason.

These last three games were an absolute train wreck for the offense. Terrible approaches, lots of guessing, and swinging way too hard. The Sox do need to do some self reflection and figure why it fell apart to this degree. No doubt a lot of it was nerves and/or pressing from a group of young players, but it definitely went well beyond that and the coaching staff should not be free of blame. However, our offense was fantastic this year and I think Fuller, Shoman, etc. deserve a ton of credit. They turned Vargas into a legitimate star. Antonacci & Peters immediately contributed as rookies. Meidroth improved tremendously in year 2. Teel was really good in September after getting the rust off. They got a good amount of production out of a DH combo of Grichuk & Benintendi. This all represents a lot more wins & surprises than we normally see. The biggest concerns I have right now are Colson, Murakami, & Braden, who all struggled over the last two months of the season. Colson was literally amongst the worst hitters in baseball with his K rate ballooning into the 40% range. His ability to make enough contact to take advantage of his truly elite raw power is a huge question mark. The good news for him is that he can still play a plus (not elite) SS, but you obviously can’t survive with a wRC+ in the 50’s. They need a clear offseason plan for him because he was completely broken. I’m less concerned about the other two, but have certainly lost confidence in both of them. Murakami put up a 90 wRC+ over the final two months of the season and it appeared that he was playing around with his mechanics down the stretch to combat his offensive woes. I saw enough from him in the first half of the season to believe he will mostly right the ship. Now, I don’t think he will be the guy who was on pace for like 50 HRs at one point, but I think he can still be a very good offensive 1B. But again, they need an offseason plan for him and they should not consider extending him until anytime soon. Braden is a bit different because he was bad down the stretch (82 wRC+) but not because of a rash of K’s. In fact, his plate discipline was quite good with an 11.6% BB rate and 19.5% K rate over August & September. His problem was the same one I screamed about when they first called him up: not being able to elevate the ball. He literally led the majors with a 61.5% ground ball rate and this led to a very poor ISO (~.100). Again, they need to figure out a plan for him to elevate the ball so he can take advantage of his plus raw power. Can they correct that during the offseason? If not, does he need more minor league seasoning? He made zero progress at the major league level this year, so am skeptical this is an easy to do thing in the majors. That being said, he is only 23 years old and has tremendous work ethic. I believe he will end up making the necessary changes over time, the question is just how quickly can he do that.

Didn’t Shane Smith go rogue and work with a Driveline group last offseason and change up his mechanics?

There will be a fuckton of SP available this offseason, which made the Castillo trade even dumber than it was on paper. Regardless, you have to add two guys who can give you quality innings. This is what I’d like to see happen with the pitching staff to start the season: Rotation: Burke <Free Agent> <Free Agent> D. Martin L. Castillo Bullpen: CL: G. Taylor SU: H. Smith* SU: J. Hicks MR: <S. Newcomb*> MR: H. Brazoban MR: B. Hudson* LR: D. Sandlin LR: A. Kay* AAA Rotation: N. Schultz* D. Thorpe T. McDougal S. Smith K. Bush* M. Vasil Castillo gets an incredibly short leash and is replaced by Schultz, Sandlin, or Thorpe if he’s still the 2026 guy. Martin gets a longer leash, but has to show signs that is was the calf injury impacting his performance down the stretch or he eventually gets moved to the bullpen. Hagen & Taylor remain key bullpen pieces alongside Hicks and a resigned Newcomb. Kay moves to a swingman role. AAA rotation serves as depth to both major league rotation & bullpen. Give me this and we are cooking. Also, cue the CBA fear mongers who assume we will spend zero money this coming offseason and will rock a $100M payroll.