Chicago White Sox

Looking at our lineup for next year, I agree with Getz on the need for more LH hitting. Over the second half of the past season when guys were finally hitting their strides, we had five hitters that were well above average against RHP in Colson (140 wRC+), Teel (135 wRC+), Baldwin (129 wRC+), Robert (129 wRC+), & Tauchman (119 wRC+). Robert has had a few seasons like that against RHP in the past but I’d wager for some regression in 2026 and Tauchman is obviously gone. From a 1B/DH perspective, there isn’t a great option against RHP at the moment. The bulk of our internal options did most of their damage against lefties during the second half of last year as shown by Benintendi (148 wRC+), Vargas (130 wRC+), Quero (129 wRC+), & Sosa (121 wRC+). For Benintendi, his splits are inconsistent each year and he’s mostly league average against both righties & lefties (which sucks for a DH). The other three aren’t terrible against RHP (95 to 100 wRC+) but leave obvious room for upgrades. Given the lack of options in the minors, this is a clear spot to add a LH bat and possibly one on a multi-year agreement. From an OF perspective, assuming we keep Robert for now, Baldwin should be regularly starting against RHP and on the bench against LHP. Pereira serves as a perfect platoon partner for him in one of the corner spots. To me, it’s very obvious another corner OF is needed that can hit RHP, especially if you want to get Andrew out of LF where is a massively negative value player. However, it can’t be ignored that Braden Montgomery should / could be up at some point this year. We should still add here, but I wouldn’t go multi year on a B / C tier free agent. As such, I’d like to see us go out and sign two free agents. The first one would be Ryan O’Hearn to a 2/$27M deal. He’s not a stud by any means, but has averaged a 122 wRC+ against RHP over the past three seasons and will provide some stability to the middle of the order. The second one would be JJ Bleday to a cheap pillow contract. While his defense has fallen off some, he should be able to provide plus defense in a corner OF spot. Obviously the bat is the other big concern, but from 2023 to 2024 he put up a 119 wRC+ against RHP. At only 28 years of age and with multiple years of control left, he is 100% worth the gamble as placeholder until Braden is ready.

Not sure what you are arguing here, but let me clear on my point. There is zero fucking chance that Fairbanks gets a 3/$34M contract. Yes, a zero surplus value option presents no trade value for the acquiring team theoretically, but it also implies that no one believes he’s worth more than that or the option would provide value. And if any team would try to cash in on that it would be the Rays. He may get a two year deal…have literally never said otherwise. In fact, I assume he will get a two year deal. I just very much doubt it will be worth more than $11M AAV and it won’t be three at the exact AAV every team in baseball declined.

?

These are arguments have been made time & time again. The parity of the MLB fucking sucks and is not remotely comparable to the NFL or even NBA from a market size perspective. People are so bitter about Jerry being cheap that they refuse to accept that the sport is rigged to benefit large market teams. Yeah, the sport deserves better owners than Bob Nutting, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Dodgers have a regional TV that allows them to spend endlessly more than half the league and it shows in their sustained success. You trying to use the Dodgers winning the World Series last year against another major market team (#5 in payroll) as proof parity exists because it went to game 7 is candidly absurd.

Caulfield - I have always been a supporter of you, but like what in the f*** man. Now you are throwing out made up deal terms from Jim fucking Bowden as if they are the real thing unless you read the linked article. You aren’t going to make it in the future world of endless AI slop articles because you have no filter and never edit your posts to clearly articulate what is fact, what is the opinion of the author, and what are your own thoughts.

JFC…as has been said multiple times, the Rays declined a 1/$11M option and could find no one to take on that salary. But yup, he’s now going to get 3/$43M because fucking Spotrac says so.

I fucking hate the Dodgers if this real. Put a god damn cap in place and add some god damn parity to the league.

The Sox want a legit closer and Fairbanks can easily fit into their budget. Again, the Rays couldn’t find a buyer for him at 1/$11M. Proven closer with enough warts to help keep his price down makes a ton of sense for us IMO.

Why?

I just mean everywhere across the infield. Lots of high upside dudes for a handful of spots.

2B for sure too

Roch, Colson, Carlson, & Bonemer is going to be a fun problem to have.

Let’s fucking go!!!

Buster Posey may be a more boring interview than Harold Baines

Lots of former White Sox in the building

Anyone else just hate hearing Rick Hahn talk?

Ugh Rick Hahn

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-lottery-results-2026

Is there a way to watch this for YouTube TV users?

Can he be coached up? On the offensive side, he has decent raw power and hits the ball hard. Are there adjustments that can be made to get more loft? As for his defense, the speed is double plus and even some basic improvements to his reads / route running could result in an average CF. Personally, I’d rather roll the dice on the major league ready 21 year old with multiple plus tools and strong bloodlines who potentially addresses a major position of need than have Quero as a backup catcher and part time 1B/DH. I greatly respect your opinion on prospects through, so I should probably bring down my optimism on Crawford some.

Not to that degree…no way.

That’s possible. The Phillies could use both right now. Not sure how much the Schwarber deal impacts their financial situation but a cheap Quero and a discounted Robert (if we include cash) could help.

They wouldn’t have picked up Robert’s option if they’d have to turn around and need to use a young player to dump it.

Who are all the veteran free agents who can just be acquired for money?

I still can’t believe we took tweener McLain over Sirota…FML