Chicago White Sox

He had a 16.4% K rate across July & August. That K rate was fairly consistent in both months and radically different from the rest of 2025. Obviously there is other noise in those numbers which you are seeing. The point is him being more patient & selective was finally paying off in terms of his K rate. I’m not guaranteeing he is fixed, but it’s a noticeable change in trend that followed a significant improvement in his chase rate that followed a well documented offseason in which he used a Trajekt machine to improve his pitch recognition and ultimately swing decisions.

People are taking way too simplistic of a view on this. They are certainly right in saying we have failed to cash in on Robert for two straight years. And I fully get the skepticism that the third will be the charm. However, Robert went through some drastic changes last year and may have turned a corner with the bat. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s injury prone, but with half a season’s time it could address the other element that has impacted his value which is being a bad hitter. Not saying the juice will be worth the squeeze ultimately, but the calculus is arguably different now than it was a year ago if you believe in his improvements. All this being said, I’m not sure I see a better use of his $20M next year that doesn’t involve a significant long-term contract that Jerry won’t permit. I’d rather roll the dice on Robert one last time, try to build some momentum with the positional group, and see where things stand in July. If someone is willing give up real value for him right now, I’d certainly accept that offer. But based on what have seen and heard so far this offseason, teams don’t appear to be willing to pay up for 2nd half Robert (or 75% of that guy) even if we include cash. As such, we likely need to hold and hope he can be both healthy and productive.

I’m all for the signing too, but let’s not treat it more than it is. Minor league lottery ticket at a position of weakness. He’s got to show he is not 30% worse of a hitter than Dominic Fletcher before I start considering him for the majors.

Yes, I’d like to bring back a player who just put up a 115 wRC+ and 1.4 fWAR despite some physical deterioration from age & injury. He’d obviously have to pass a physical and would have to come cheap, but at say $2M I’d bring him on and run him out there until he breaks down. When that inevitably happens, the hope is either Braden is ready or someone like Pereira is ready for a bigger role. Meanwhile, you want to hand a starting role to a post hype prospect that has lost some athleticism, comes with significant makeup concerns, has a career 84 wRC+ and 0.9 fWAR over essentially 2.5 seasons, and is coming off a 64 wRC+ in AAA. If you hand him the LF job, you are very likely looking at a negative win player. The only reason people are excited about him is because it’s a name they remember from top prospects lists a few years back. Unfortunately, the reality is a 35 year old and injured Tauchman would almost certainly blow Kelenic out of the water next year in terms of production. If Kelenic can show some signs of improvement at AAA, then he’ll find a way to get an opportunity. Until then, he should be below even Tristan Peters on the depth chart.

Put me officially down for believing that Pereira is far more likely to be a positive contributor next year than Kelenic. Beyond being a bit of a head case, it just feels like Kelenic’s physical tools have deteriorated some since his prospect glory days and he hasn’t really shown any signs of improvement with his swing & miss issues. I think people are excited because of the name and former prospect status, but I don’t really see much of a reason to believe. With Pereira, he’s made some small gains with his plate discipline in the upper minors and I feel like his combo of power and ability to walk could result in him being a productive three outcome type of hitter eventually. No guarantee there, but I do feel like his chances of being a solid 4th OF / short side platoon bat is fairly high and that’s far more optimistic than I feel about Kelenic right now.

I don’t think Bailey Horn was really a punt either

I mean a veteran who has shown some success in the majors.

Kelenic is on a minor league deal…give him playing time in Charlotte first and see if you can fix him there. If he performs well, then find him a spot on the major league roster. I don’t understand the desire to hand a guy who has been bad in the majors across multiple seasons and who was terrible in AAA a starting spot. Pereira is a different story because he actually was good in AAA and hasn’t had a lot of major league opportunities. With the lack of options, he should land a major league role to start the season, although I’d probably build the roster around him being a short side partner for Baldwin. As such, we should probably go sign a LH hitting corner OF to serve as competition and/or a placeholder until someone is deserving of this spot. If healthy, Tauchman is a perfect fit of what we need. It’s ok to have veteran stopgaps at a couple of spots.

Hey, before you go attacking posters who actually wanted Imai, just remember we had this in the bag before you decided to body shame the little guy!

lol…NBB is such a clout chasing loser. Hopefully that’s our own @Baron holding him accountable for his miss.

What a fucking clown to do this after incorrectly saying we got him last night

Still need another SP…who is next on the list?

Yeah, definitely wouldn’t want that Yamamoto kid either

Yankees are out! Dodgers not an option. We’re running out of non Chicago, Sox based teams fellas! https://empiresportsmedia.com/new-york-yankees/yankees-tatsuya-imai-pursuit-mightve-just-hit-a-dead-end/

This guy gets it!

So 90 year old Uncle Jerry is awake at 1am in the morning and giving real time updates to NBB who is also sharing that insider info in real time on Twitter? Make it make sense guys. It’s so clear this guy is full of s%*# or at minimum overplaying his hand. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW?

Can someone post all the NBB Twitter receipts? Based on what I saw, there are only two options here: Dude is legit | got word we are signing Imai | panics that this will conflict with prior hard stance that we wouldn’t | went to the Twitters to share the news | gets yelled at by his source for posting too early | pretends that we aren’t signing Imai | will come clean that “he always knew” afterwards. Dude is a fraud | came across some fake insider suggesting the White Sox will land Imai | panics that this will conflict with prior hard stance that we wouldn’t | went to the Twitters to say despite his prior stance we may just end up landing Imai | realizes he has no idea | immediately does a 180 and says Imai ain’t happening | delete the tweets that expose him as a fraud to protect his “insider” reputation | continues to deny Yahoo Japan’s reporting that we are favorite Either way it’s clear that the Sox are landing Imai. I trust the Yahoo Japan reporting and we now have confirmation that only guy going against it (NBB) is a fraud. It’s officially time to start believing fellas!

Holy s%*#…did he delete some of his Tweets?

I can’t help but laugh at Northbrook Bob pretending he’s involved in the real-time negotiations with Imai. Dude is straight guessing and his last one will prove wrong come morning.

The fact he was nervous enough to say it was a possibility it all I needed to know.

👀 even NBB knows this s%*# is happening

I’ll be taking the over if it’s at 70 wins. That’s as close to free money as Vegas will give you. Also, I find most of Steamer’s projections to be very conservative for us outside of Meidroth and maybe Kay.

Fully agree

Oh s%*#…I’m starting to smell some smoke!

That’s right. What’s fascinating is they have the pitching staff going backwards from 11.5 fWAR last year to 9.2 next year. That’s primarily due from losing Houser and projected regression for Taylor (which doesn’t make sense to me). Personally, I think they beat that 9.2 figure with ease with normal health. Add Imai and another reliever and they should blow it out of the water. On the positional side, people are forgetting we got terrible contributions from several players who dragged our total fWAR down including Vaughn (-1.3), Rojas (-1.3), Amaya (-0.8), Robertson (-0.8), Palacios (-0.5), & Noda (-0.3). Those five guys were worth a combined -5 wins over 685 plate appearances. I know people don’t love the guys on the back end of the 40 man roster like Tanner Murray and Tristan Peters, but they are intended to provide some floor to avoid sub replacement production in the event of multiple injuries.