Chicago White Sox

Are you actually arguing that leadership isn’t a thing? I guess I don’t get what your crusade is even about. This is like a $2.5M signing for a guy who put up about 1 fWAR in a part-time role. The leadership he provides is a bonus. Having a couple veterans around a young team is a normally a good thing. Blaming the past players for not being able to overcome the incompetency of a sleepy Tony La Russa and a weak Pedro Grifol is absolutely ridiculous. If you prefer a different OF option I am 100% open to that conversation, but that’s a completely different debate.

I think DeLoach is more of a LF. Fletcher should probably be put out in CF as it’s the best (perhaps only) chance of his bat actually playing up. Personally, if we’re able to move Benintendi, I’d rather find a way to trade for Ben Rice for DH and stick with Tauchman / Slater in RF.

It probably will be, but that’s what will happen if you trade Robert and give playing time to all the AAAA OFs.

Mark Feinsand update:

Mark Feinsand update.

Watching Getz flounder in these interviews almost makes me miss Hahn’s confident lawyer speak…almost

Honestly, I think we could end up with Benintendi in LF, Fletcher in CF, Tauchman in RF, & DeLoach at DH (but ultimately a rotation) with Slater filling in against LHP. Colas theoretically competes against Fletcher & DeLoach for their spots during camp. The only issue I see there is I’m not a believer in Fletcher being able to handle CF on an everyday basis and not sure there is a good backup CF option there.

I like him a lot better than Nicky in that role.

Slater isn’t blocking anyone though, he’s a platoon bat and all our AAAA OFs are lefties. Tauchman could be blocking someone, but the offseason isn’t over yet. Also, it’s not like these would be untradable. We literally were able to turn Robbie Grossman into a useful relief prospect. FWIW, Tauchman put up the most fWAR last year of any positional guy currently on the roster. He’s a very solid role player and will be dirt cheap, so he won’t be hard to move if need be.

But right now we have the DH slot open, so one of the young OFs should be able to get playing time on the regular. And it seems very apparent to me that Getz is trying to move Robert & Benintendi. I’m going to wait and see what happens before overreact to this. If they move even one of them, then adding Tauchman makes all the sense in the world.

Not one of those guys played on the 2023 White Sox. I think your programming may be off this morning.

Rank these potential Crochet returns from best to worst: BOS: SS Marcelo Mayer, OF Braden Montgomery, & lottery ticket PHI: SS Aiden Miller, OF Justin Crawford, & RHP Wen-Hui Pan NYM: SS Jett Williams, OF Ryan Clifford, SS Luisangel Acuna, & 3B Brett Baty CHC: OF Owen Caissie, 2B James Triantos, & SS Christian Hernandez

Quote from Ken Rosenthal

Balta’s made up quote to facilitate any argument no one is making is truly something special.

Who said the 2023 White Sox were well lead? I guarantee no one.

JFC dude, do you make everything about race? Like, where did I ever mention anything about Tauchman being white? He’s a veteran…full stop. He appears to be a fairly professional dude with no major red flags. He’s a disciplined hitter who makes good swing decisions. He doesn’t have to be Barrack Obama to lead by example and provide a positive influence on the younger players. Also, you keep bringing up the 2023 White Sox, a team that literally imploded because of poor chemistry and underperformance under an incredibly weak first year manager. Guess who they lost the offseason before? Jose Abreu, a great clubhouse presence and role model to the younger guys. You may think these guys are all robots, but having good veteran leadership does matter. It’s absolutely wild to me that you think otherwise and are race baiting on top of it.

Yeah, I don’t think last year went off the rails because we brought in too much veteran leadership. But if your theoretical plan for 2025 is to have a roster with basically no veterans, then I find that to be quite the take.

I’m not following. Are you suggesting the veterans we brought in last offseason like DeJong, Lopez, & Maldonado were bad clubhouse guys?

Tauchman is a perfectly fine role player at what should be $2M to $3M. I don’t think adding him is about getting a potential trade deadline asset, but more so a veteran stopgap and clubhouse presence. I will wait to see what other moves happen being drawing conclusions here. I don’t love the idea of an all veteran OF next year, but I kind of think Robert or Benintendi is getting moved.

But again, why rush our top prospects if they aren’t ready and burn valuable service time? Does having Montgomery & Quero up a few months really change anything in terms of long-term attendance?

This team will not be entertaining next year. Not trying to be a dick, but I’d recommend finding something else to keep yourself busy if you’re looking for an enjoyable product. Hopefully we won’t be historically bad though.

Making the team watchable should be the least of our concerns when it comes to a Crochet trade. Getting the best, highest ceiling talent should be the main priority, although I would prefer some near-term proximity all else being equal.