Chicago White Sox

Invite as many NRIs as you can fit into camp. I’m certainly not against another OF addition depending on what the plan is for Benintendi.

I’m not following. Are you suggesting we are going to restrict these guys to like 330 PA’s each? Getz should be fired immediately if that’s his plan. I don’t think you are actually suggest that though.

I don’t disagree, but Pereira doesn’t have options, so he’s getting a spot or you risk losing him. I wouldn’t bring in Castellanos as competition for him though.

I’d rather give those at-bats to Periera. Former top 100 prospect with multiple plus tools coming of a 128 wRC+ season in AAA and who has only had 176 major league plate appearances to date. Much better use of playing time IMO and right now I’d much rather him get the at-bats than Kelenic.

I see no way that Teel & Quero get significantly less playing time than they did last year. Combined they had 973 PA’s across AAA and the minors. The White Sox only had 654 PA’s from their catchers combined like year. If you’re keeping both, you have to find a way to get them another 300+ PA’s and that means both playing at the same time about half the time. My guess is Benintendi splits time between DH and LF in hopes of less outfield usage keeping him healthier and making him less bad out there. That would probably open up enough at-bats for Teel & Quero at DH. But again, they both have to be in the lineup or else we are just wasting them.

Just to be clear, you think the Sox are going with a straight catcher platoon and won’t regularly have Teel & Quero in the lineup at the same time?

For what purpose?

I’m not sure what stats you are looking at, but Mead has been a +.200 ISO guy for almost the entirety of his minor league career despite being well below league average in terms of age. He is a two time Baseball America top 100 prospect who has always been considered to have above average raw power. As a 21 year old in AA & AAA he was on pace for ~20 HRs if he would have had 500 PA’s. These takes on Mead are just flat out wrong. Yes, he has sucked in ~500 major league PA’s across parts of three seasons with a 77 wRC+ to date, but guess what? Young players can get better with reps & time. Imagine having this same conversation a year ago about Sosa when he had a 66 wRC+ in 578 PA’s across three seasons. And Sosa was never half the prospect that Mead was. I’m not guaranteeing a turnaround here by any means, but these are the types of guys you buy low and sell high on and if you like Mead (whom the Sox went out and acquired) there is some logic to the set of moves in question.

It’s wild you can’t admit you were wrong on this one point and continue to deflect and move the goalposts.

100% it only makes sense if there is both a return you like for Sosa and you think there are some ways to fix Mead. But right now, Sosa is not going to get a ton of playing time (baring injury) and unlikely to maintain his value unless you find a way to get him more at-bats (and all for the OF idea, but not convinced yet the Sox are considering it).

There is no hangup. You suggested that Sosa showed vastly better power in the minors, which is simply not true. You also suggested that Mead (who is a former top 35 BA prospect) is dead in the water because of 500 bad plate appearances in the majors despite the guy you’re comparing him to also sucking in his first 500 PA’s and then somehow getting better.

So the guy who has been healthier and has hit more HR’s due to more PA’s has somehow demonstrated more power than the guy with higher ISO. Got it.

Sosa showed a lot more power in the minors? Based on what metric? Age 20 season: Mead = .212 ISO | N/A - Covid Age 21 season: Mead = .208 ISO | Sosa = .131 ISO Age 22 season: Mead = .215 ISO | Sosa = .197 ISO Age 23 season: Mead = .192 ISO | Sosa = .236 ISO And thanks for ignoring the “cashing in on Sosa” and “limited role for 2026” points that are pretty important to the hypothetical.

We traded for Periera and gave him a 40 man roster spot. Baldwin hit too good down the stretch to not get consistent at-bats somewhere and the lack of reps in the OF last year shouldn’t be used against him IMO. And then you have Hill who was also tendered and given a 40 man spot. If we assume Benintendi is the LF, it’s actually kind of a filled OF but with room for someone to overtake Periera or Hill. If they plan to make Benintendi mostly DH, then Kelenic’s chance to make the OD roster vastly improve. This is all assuming no other additions either. Don’t get me wrong, I could see Kelenic making the OD roster, but I don’t think it should be expected. And I don’t think that conflicts with Kelenic looking at the guys in front of him and saying “Chicago is my best spot for a major league job” with no guarantees he will got one. The reality is everyone ahead of him was some combo of good in the majors or AAA last year and he wasn’t. To me, it should be a cut and dry uphill battle for him to make the team, but one not impossible to imagine.

Because right now this is a very limited role and theoretically you’re cashing in on Sosa and replacing him with a guy who might offer similar production (eventually) who you will otherwise lose for nothing. Also, you’re ignoring the fact that Sosa has an additional season of development and was just as bad as Mead was before this past season. If 500 PA’s is some sort of death sentence for a young player, it should have been for Sosa as well.

That‘s in game power. Lenyn maximizes his slightly above average raw power about as good as anyone. Mead has similar or maybe better raw power, but hasn’t been able to translate to in game. Whether he can with more reps is a TBD.

He’s a much easier hold in my mind if you’re willing to do that.

That I’m not sure of, but will admit it seems a little odd a face value. That being said, how often are guys signed to minor league deals assured major league spots?

Similar raw power / bat speed. You’d be gambling on Mead improving his ability to square up more consistently with support from Fuller. Based on his minor league profile, that seems theoretically feasible to me. Obviously I have no idea what the Sox think, but my guess is they have some plan to right the ship with Mead. But if I can’t get anything for Sosa, I’d certainly keep him over Curtis.

Why do you think that?

I think people are sleeping a bit on Lee. His arm is legit special. I don’t think he returns a ton, but I think he has more value than Romo and is tradable.

Romo definitely feels like the replacement for Lee. Will be interesting to see what he returns if traded.

There must be accountability or else the integrity of ban bets will be in question.

Looking at this roster, I still think the Sox end up trading both Sosa & Lee before Opening Day. Mead certainly sucked last year, but offers a similar hitting profile to Sosa, is a better defender, and has more years of control. Given that Mead is out of options and Sosa should theoretically have some trade value after last season, I could Getz cashing in and giving the limited bench role to Mead instead. The Lee situation is pretty obvious. If you keep both Teel & Quero, there is simply not enough playing time for him and he becomes nothing but an insurance policy against in-game injury (which is a poor use of a bench spot). He won’t return a ton, but there is zero chance he slips through waivers and must be traded if you don’t plan on putting him on the OD roster. I fully expect a trade to happen at some point, although it’s possible the Sox hold into spring to hedge against injury.

It’s much less two way conversation over there.