Chicago White Sox

He was terrible where? In his 21 starts for Norfolk or the two starts for BAL?

Seems like there are quite a few interesting arms in this draft. Right now, I’d say Bryan Magdaleno and Eiberson Castellano are both guys I’d consider at 1.1. And honestly, I wouldn’t be against us taking two players in this draft if things go the right way. For example, if Christian Franklin (OF, Cubs) went unselected in the first round I’d definitely add him to the OF mix with the AAAA guys and see if Fuller can tweak his swing to get more loft.

The Sox have the 1st pick in the draft and will almost certainly select someone. Who do you want the Sox to take? Below is an article that outlines some of the top players available for selection. https://www.justbaseball.com/prospects/rule-5-draft-preview-which-prospects-will-be-selected/

Based on scouting reports, videos I’ve seen of him, his athleticism for his size, and the fact he can play a bad, but passable 3B. Why do you think his defense at 1B would be bad? You are the first person I have ever seen make that claim.

His defense at 1B should be fine. You seem to be undervaluing his bat because of strikeouts.

I think this will end up being a very wrong statement.

Will they be willing to give up Mayer or Campbell as the headliner?

So you will ignore the fact there are really valuable RH 1B in baseball because the one we drafted failed?

There are things you can rip Katz about certainly, but pretending it’s his fault the roster has gradually lost talent over time and/or guys have lost stuff due to age or injury is a bit much.

I think he realizes he needs to capitalize off his Y24 season and push for an extension now or risking losing out on a ton of money. I’m expecting this to be similar to what happened with Glasnow to the Dodgers, but not with it being a requirement to the trade since he stills comes with two cheap years of control.

They have new ownership…they can afford guys like Montas. The question is can they afford guys like Burnes on a long-term deal.

Exactly, WAR isn’t linear and a 5 win pitcher is worth considerably more than two 2.5 win players at the same cost. And that’s before you factor in the value of having an elite SP in the post-season who can greatly reduce some of the luck factor in October. Balta is greatly underestimating Crochet’s value.

Are they actually trying to win a World Series with the core they already have in place or simply extent their playoff contention window as long as possible?

And all indications are that Crochet wants to sign an extension. So a team trading for him potentially gets legit ace production on the cheap for two years and then another three or four (most likely) at what should be something below market cost. The fact he’s likely a long-term addition is a huge plus for any team trading him as ace level talents are near impossible to come by in the first place and almost always inflated due to the free agency bidding process.

And what do other organizations typically do when a new coach comes in and his former staff is still tied to another club? Francona is keeping a ton of the Reds coaches that were already under contract and he’s probably got a much larger network than Venable. Again, not trying to justify past mistakes and get the Sox don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but just not sure the Sox are forcing anything on Will at the moment. It’s much harder to poach assistant coaches under contract in other orgs in the MLB than say the NFL. As such, the candidate pool is mostly guys just fired or have been out of work for a while. I just don’t see a reason to rush for replacements if you don’t love the options.

Did you like or dislike the Venable hire out of curiosity?

I don’t disagree with your general premise, especially if they did in fact say “we picked your staff”. But in this particular case, I’m less concerned given that the bulk of Venable’s coaching experience has come from two orgs with very stable leadership (Bochy & Cora). And perhaps he plans to pillage a few people from Bochy’s staff after the 2025 season once Schumaker takes over. And while not deserved, I’d probably give them the benefit of the doubt for now that this was combined decision and not something Chris just forced on Will. It’s not we’re talking a subpar candidate in Pedro here. Venable had other options and likely would have passed on this job if Getz was going to completely control his staff. It’s also less of an issue for me because there are no obvious red flags on the coaching staff. First and foremost, there is no clear front office snitch like Daryl Boston. Second, all of Grifol’s lackeys have been fired. Finally, the two older coaches brought in mid-season as placeholders (Sisson & Gellinger) are being reallocated elsewhere in the org. I’m sure they are both good people, but they would have certainly have felt forced upon Venable if kept around. Ultimately, we brought in a young, but super interesting manager (42) and have surrounded him with a young and interesting coaching staff. McKinven (35) is a fascinating hire for bench coach on paper. Keeping Sizemore (42) around is a huge win given the respect he commands from the players. I’ve always been a big fan of Jirschele (34) and was excited when he was added to the coaching staff last year amidst the purge. Bourgeois (42) spent five years in the Dodgers’ player development system prior to this, which makes him a perfect fit for a rebuilding club. And Butera (41) is a long-time catcher who was still pushing for major league playing time into his late 30’s. To me, those are the core guys on Venable’s staff that he should have full say on and they all seem warranted. The hitting and pitching coaches are a little different, because I believe those naturally require more buy-in from the front office and their respective directors. I can’t really offer much justification for Thames, other than Getz just hired him last year and perhaps he still fits their broader vision. And they will be bringing a new assistant hitting coach and not forcing some org guy into that role at least. And candidly, I do like Katz as an extension of Bannister and am glad that he was brought back. Wise is a whatever for me as long as Katz & Bannister feel he can get the job done. Changing out the pitching coaches that already get along with Bannister would have a high risk, low reward move IMO.

If you could theoretically get Dominguez for Robert & Eder (which I don’t think is remotely realistic) and then add a couple of positional guys in a Crochet trade (say Mayer & Montgomery from the Red Sox) then is a chance of putting together a competent lineup much sooner. 1B: <Free Agent> 2B: Baldwin# / Ramos SS: Mayer* 3B: Montgomery* LF: Dominguez# CF: <Free Agent> RF: Montgomery# DH: <Free Agent> CA: Quero# There’s a potential core there with only one premium spot that would liekly require an outside addition, but the margin for error would be thin. Still I’d take my shot on Dominguez then I hope I can do better in a Robert trade eight months from now.

They fired three assistant coaches during the middle of last season. Venable is replacing two of those spots with McKinven as bench coach and a TBD as the new assistant hitting coach. Jirschele is sticking around as the 3B coach, which makes sense given his youth & stature. Beyond that, it’s mostly guys that were brought in last year under Getz with the exception of Katz. Thames as hitting coach, Bourgeois as 1B coach, Wise as assistant pitching coach, Butera as catching coach, and Sizemore as a “major league coach”. Ultimately, I don’t see this as being a big deal. Venable has only been coaching for seven years and probably doesn’t have a massive network. Hard to come in and replace the entire coaching staff if you don’t have obvious candidates that are currently seeking employment or that were part of your previous staff (and those guys are all tied to Bochy). We’ll certainly see turnover over the next few seasons as Venable learns who he likes and other options become available. Additionally, I think the pitching and hitting directors will (and should) have a lot of say on who are in those roles. It’s very clear that Bannister and Katz have a good working relationship and it was likely he and Wise were going to stay. I’m a little surprised about Thames just because of the addition of Fuller, but Getz did just bring him in as I mentioned above so perhaps their philosophies are more aligned than we realize. And they are replacing Tosar / Gellinger as the assistant, so it’s not like they are 100% sticking with the status quo there.

Both and Sisson will remain in the org apparently.

Sounds like Venable is keeping everyone around except Gellinger & Sisson. It appears the only person we don’t know yet is the assistant hitting coach.

I would say the only exception would be if you want a HC that will sit an equal or higher in the pecking order as the GM (say Shanahan). Otherwise, you’re undermining your GM for no real reason.

I’m not 100% against a Defensive-oriented HC if it’s a proven guy like Vrabel, but I strongly prefer going with someone Offensive-minded. With the former, even if they are able to identify a quality O-coordinator, the risk is they will quickly be poached if successful and create more reoccurring turnover in that role. I also think it’s simply much easier to find a quality D-coordinator. Regardless, the most important thing is not to go cheap with a low ceiling, first time HC like Eberflus again. Either swing for the fences with Johnson or go with someone with an actual track record of success like Vrabel. Fair or not, I’d be hard pressed to elevate Brown to the role full-time no matter his success.

Likely true, but my key point is we have a legit franchise QB and many good supporting pieces. We should have the financial and draft capital needs to supplement that QB and I believe Poles will mostly get the job on that front. It’s the coach hire that concerns me and the whispers of not caring what side of the ball their next coach comes from is problematic IMO.

Yes please