Chicago White Sox

Three preps in our top 4 picks would be a welcome change of pace.

If I’m being honest, the fastest path to a turnaround is getting our young pitching going and then trading from it to add offensive help. Davis Martin should have been a decent trade chip to move at this deadline or the offseason, but right now I question how much value he’d even have despite the 3.79 ERA and considerable amount of control. A 5.91 K/9 and 5.46 xERA screams impending regression and I think teams are going to be hesitant to pay for control of a guy who is likely just a back-of-the-rotation starter. He remains a hold until he can show more strikeout stuff. Burke & Smith have both flashed at times, but will likely need strong 2026 seasons to return any meaningful pieces that can help the offense. As such, I don’t see any of our SPs generating much of a return this deadline outside of Houser, which will likely be limited when it’s all said and done. Along these same lines, we need to get Schultz & Smith back on track. If those guys can’t give us a pair of TOR starters, then the entire timeline gets pushed even further. Them going backwards this year is highly concerning. Obviously I think people should take minor league pitching numbers with some grain of salt as we don’t always know what guys are working on, but the level of control decline this season is hard to completely ignore. Way too early to fully panic, but not what you want to see from these guys to feel warm & fuzzy. Additionally, Taylor shifting away from starting can be viewed pessimistically. Doesn’t mean he’s a reliever forever, but I’m not sure we should be pointing to Crochett as proof that the reliever to SP transition will be easy. Candidly, I think they keep him as their closer and that takes away one of few guys with TOR upside in our system. Beyond that, we really got to hope Thorpe, Adams, & Bush can come back strong next year and produce out of the gate. They may lack ceiling, but they all flashed enough to warrant major league opportunities and Thorpe in particular is a guy that I still believe can be a really good mid-rotation SP, especially if the fastball adds a tick or two post TJS. That being said, the competition for rotation spots could be fierce next year and it’s very likely a few of these guys will ultimately languish in AAA for a stretch. I get the “cream rises to the top” thinking when it comes to having a surplus of SP options, but if the goal is to flip the lower ceiling guys before more impactful guys demand spots, then time becomes a potential challenge as windows to prove themselves will be limited. Just something Getz and Bannister will need to work through.

I’d be pretty pumped if they took Neville to kick off the 4th. I get there are serious contact issues, but the rest of the package is exiting and you won’t want a lot of college guys who offer the ceiling he does at this point in the draft. Feels like a swing that Shirley really good take if they have any faith in Fuller and our minor league development program for hitters.

Is this a serious post? Jerry is one of the worst owners in all of sports even if he lucked into Michael Jordan. Meanwhile, you refuse to give Ishbia a shot at being a successful owner before even gained control because he’s a private equity guy…

BA has Lodise #57 overall, so I doubt he’s a big under slot guy if at all.

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No one has done more over slot college deals in the 2nd round than the Sox…🤔 In all seriousness there is no way to make that math work, but always fun to poke jabs at the Gavin Sheets and Steele Walker selections.

Yes, first three rounds tonight.

Oh f***

Jerry goes bye bye?

I know you should always follow the adage of BPA, but we desperately need to come out of this draft with power, athleticism, and positional upside. How we address those needs can be different on a player by player basis, but I’d like to see us take three pretty swings on the positional side with our limited bonus pool and for us to prioritize ceiling over floor where possible.

Final Baseball America in case it hasn’t been posted already: WAS - Kade Anderson, LHP (LSU) LAA - Liam Doyle, LHP (Tennessee) SEA - Seth Hernandez, RHP (Corona HS) COL - Ethan Holiday, SS (Stillwater HS) STL - Eli Willits, SS (Ford Cobb-Brockton HS) PIT - Aiva Arquette, SS (Oregon St) MIA - Ike Irish, C / OF (Auburn) TOR - JoJo Parker, SS (Purvis HS) CIN - Jamie Arnold, LHP (Florida St) CHW - Billy Carlson, SS (Corona HS)

I did not realize McDougal went to an outside pitching lab. That does not seem great.

Sure, but doing multi year deals on C tier free agents in general is bad process. I am not concerned about “blocking” the kids if we go out and add meaningful SP to anchor the rotation. But I don’t want to commit dollars to guys that we are hoping will be replaced in the near future. On a one year deal? No concerns there. But under no circumstance am extending a guy like Houser multiple years. I 100% believe that we need to give guys like Thorpe & Adams extended runways next year (if healthy) to show what they are capable of, just like we are doing with Burke, Smith, Cannon, & Martin right now. Those guys may not work out, but it’s the right thing to do given where we are at in the rebuild. If Ishbia wants to go out and spend a fuckton of money, I’d probably feel very different. But honestly, I think best case scenario we are two years away from a massive payroll injection and therefore continue to give playing time to young guys where you have them and SP is one spot we have a lot of semi-interesting arms on the cusp.

My list was more intended to reflect OD options, but perhaps he’s going to keep moving much faster than anticipated.

Where did I say not to sign MLB starters? I mean, the post literally says go ahead and add some cheap veterans to the mix. But if you are going to sign a SP to a multi-year deal and block some of the kids, it should be for someone far more impactful than Houser. Do you feel otherwise? @WhiteSox2023 - Oh look, another post where I said we should 100% trade Houser…🤔

lol…you actually think I’m lying when I say an obviously dumb post was intentional trolling. f*** man, you got me. I guess I never posted the comment below in the 4th of July gamethread and unfortunately you weren’t there that day to agree with me. Oh wait…🤔 As for Robert, I have never argued he is a star player or even good in his current form and it’s fucking wild you are arguing otherwise. But I get it, you are butt hurt that I call you out for your consistently poor analysis & blindly pessimistic takes and are hoping to gotcha me. Unfortunately, tonight won’t be your night buddy.

We have a winner. I thought more people would have caught onto my blatant trolling, but my post was apparently just insane enough to seem dumb also sincere. Regardless, I 100% believe trading him is the right thing to do. If you want a vet SP to add to the mix, add one in the offseason.

I’d probably be willing to go 3/$60M on an extension with Houser, but not sure he’d take that at the moment as he could be leaving some serious money on the table by not reaching free agency.

I don’t hate it. There should be plenty of playing time after the trade deadline an I’d much rather give this dude those ABs than Fletcher or DeLoach.

This sucks…Baldwin was looking pretty as of late

It won’t improve the trade return…Robert has tanked his value unfortunately. I fully agree with you there. But this season is very odd for him and I actually believe he will join another org and they will find a way to right the ship. The physical talent is all still there and it really sucks we’re going to have little show for him when this trade deadline is all said and done.

Can’t lose a trade if you get rid of a player you didn’t plan on using again and didn’t take on any money. Civale isn’t good but Vaughn was valueless to us.

Lol…let’s just completely ignore position, defense, and handedness. If you think a 108 wRC+ against same side pitching is somehow mediocre for a gold glove caliber CF then you’re either being purposely ignorant or complaining just to complain. As for the “why exclude his current season”, his current season against RHP is a massive outlier and he’s been productive against them historically. If you are an opposing GM looking at acquiring him, you have to decide if this is a start of a new trend or a one-time blurb that can be fixed. Packaging it all together and saying “see he’s always been bat against RHP” is both untrue and lazy analysis.

108 wRC+ against RHP in 1,512 PA’s prior to this season isn’t what I’d call mediocre, just not nearly as good as his production against LHP.