Chicago White Sox

Based on his time with the Dodgers or simply due to a lack of tools or skill? Regarding 3B, my thinking is Ramos should start the season in AAA. He did not have a great 2024 at any level and he’s still very young. Let him get a bit more seasoning and arrive sometime in May or June if all goes well. I know most of the big publications have knocked him down into the teens, but he’s still my 5th highest rated positional prospect in the system (above Wolkow, Bonemer, etc) and I truly believe he has a great shot to become our everyday 3B. As for Sosa, I want him to compete against Baldwin & Meidroth for the middle infield jobs. I have no problem with him rotating in at 3B too, but I think he should get the bulk of playing at 2B. I get he was bad there last year for us, but I don’t recall him being a bad defender in the minors when I’ve watched him play (even at SS) and scouting reports have always highlighted him as a solid defender. I do think he profiles best at 2B from a tools standpoint though.

Couple of things worth highlighting here. Fletcher will turn 28 before the end of next season. He’s a really short dude who is more or less physically maxed out. Despite not being fast, he does get good reads and he has a plus arm as well. He is a legit quality defensive RF, but the lack of speed hurts in CF and he simply isn’t as good making plays out there. Not sure if that would change with more reps in CF, but the lack of speed will certainly cap his abilities there. My big beef with Fletcher is a lack of bat speed and power. This dude actually had a really high LA sweet spot rate and squared up on balls fairly well, but did little damage because he’s so small and his bat was so slow. If he had more speed and high end contact skills, maybe there could be swing changes to make him more useful, but that’s not really who he is. I think with more experience the chase rate might improve, but an improved walk rate can’t overcome his other limitations. IMO, he has a 4th OF ceiling and that requires him to be able to play a decent CF and make significant strides with the bat. Vargas is far more interesting to me and more worthy of playing time. His best single trait is his elite plate discipline. As bad as he was last year, his chase rate was in the top 10% of major leaguers and had a double digit BB rate. He’s also been regarded a being plus plus hitter in the minors, although that didn’t really show up last year when I watched him or based on his Statcast metrics which reflect a slow bat and poor quality of contact. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at how bad Vargas looked given his minor league reputation as a hitter. I believe Getz mentioned that Miguel lost some strength during the 2H of last year, so hopefully there is some explanation here for why a 65 grade looked so bad beyond just swing & approach related things. And while he doesn’t have great power, he’s got a bigger frame and doesn’t seem completely maxed out yet. No doubt Vargas is a wild card, but I can squint and see the outline of a useful major league hitter. Where he plays I have no idea though. What’s fascinating is he’s actually really fast and has plus arm strength. Unfortunately, he seems to lack in all key skill areas and simply isn’t a good defensive player anywhere at the moment. Could he possibly get to average at a non 1B position? Maybe, but that’s harder to imagine than the bat turning around IMO. However, I’m willing to wait and see how the bat comes along and endure the defense for the time being. To me, the plan should be to stick him at 3B for three months and focus on that spot. If the bat comes alive but he’s struggling at 3B, then try him in LF. I would avoid moving him to 1B or DH unless all other options fail.

Which is why you add some NRI’s to spring training. Again, at some point the 40 man roster is filled up. Shewmake is the only guy who is a clear cut to me, but he’s just holding that spot for Meidroth or Montgomery. The handful of fringe relievers on the 40 man at least have options and are likely placeholders for other pitchers in the system who will eventually need to be added. As bad as this team will be next year, the 40 man should be mostly filled by the halfway point of the season. The obvious fat is finally starting to dwindle.

Who are people bouncing from the major league bullpen to sign another long-man to a major league deal? This is simply a math problem at this point. IMO, we have seven dudes who should have OD bullpen roles in Anderson, Ellard, Berroa, Wilson, Varland, Booser, & Smith. Shane is the defacto long-man to start because he’s the only one who has to be the major league roster. That leaves one spot open and if you want a second long-man go with Schuster. And beyond that, you still have veteran arms like Scholtens & Dunn at AAA. By all means some another AAAA type to a minor league deal, but I don’t think we should give a long reliever a guaranteed deel. I’d rather commit a 26 man roster spot to a guy who can slot into the closer role that might be able to extract some value at the deadline.

For reference, here are some facts & figures related to Vargas & Fletcher: Vargas: Bio: Age = 25 | B/T = R/R | Height = 6’2” | Weight = 205 | Options = 0 Acquired: LatAm FA (Y17-300k) | Peak Prospect Ranking = 29th MLB (Y23) BA Grades: Hit = 65 | Power = 50 | Run = 60 | Field = 40 | Arm = 55 Y24 Statcast: Bat Speed = 19th | Chase = 90th | Arm = 88th | Sprint = 84th Y24 AAA: 19.9% BB % | 17.3% K % | .276 ISO | .290/.440/1.005 | 151 wRC+ Fletcher: Bio: Age = 27 | B/T = L/L | Height = 5’6” | Weight = 185 | Options = 1 | Acquired: 75th pick (Y19-$700k) | Peak Prospect Ranking = 17th org (Y23) BA Grades: Hit = 50 | Power = 45 | Run = 45 | Field = 60 | Arm = 55 Y24 Statcast: Bat Speed = 4th | Chase = 27th | Arm = 80th | Sprint = 25th Y24 AAA: 9.4 BB % | 14.2 K % | .126 ISO | .263/.333/.723 | 91 wRC+

Beavers for Davis Martin would be interesting to me

Who has suggested that Fletcher would share RF with Slater? I’m not even sure he makes the OD roster. At least with Vargas, he put really good numbers in AAA. Fletcher was legit terrible everyone and physically doesn’t look someone capable of impacting a baseball.

They probably won’t get much for either of them. Got to wait and see why Hayes gets and what the word is on his medicals. A bit surprised he can’t do better in this market if fully healthy.

Can’t wait to visit the Hangout and see what Sportsguy has to say. Last I saw he felt that giving up Mountcastle for Luis Castillo was too much, so my guess is they aren’t going to be happy now that all the free agents are off the market.

I don’t see any sort of financial rationalization for moving them to a smaller market when the league is already thinking about expansion. The potential of Chicago is far greater than other market without a team currently.

He played a lot of CF in 2022. He’s been a positive defender in the corners based on DRS, UZR/150, & OAA.

🤣🤣🤣…imagine someone who literally makes 20 posts a day crying about the White Sox trying to be a keyboard warrior and calling someone out for making one post about not liking the lack of a salary cap in the MLB

What are willing to give up? Let me guess, Bradfield and filler?

100% agree…it’s absolutely absurd. And that’s why the Sox will be attractive to future buyers. The potential is there to be a strong franchise given the lack of a salary cap and the size of our market vs. the rest of the AL Central, but need an owner who will take some losses early on, will actually sign stars in free agency, and doesn’t live in fear of a bad long-term deal.

They are but LA is still way bigger than Chicago and the reality is the days of mega TV deals are over with. The Dodgers have a major locked in advantage for the remainder of their TV deal. Again, I’m not suggesting Jerry deserves a free pass either, but imagine being a Reds fan right now and watching the Dodgers sign a ton of mega free agents and still add $22M AAV role players. Every other league has moved to a salary cap / floor structure for a reason and they are all the better for it.

They have plenty of prospects to improve their rotation with Mayo & Basallo being the big ones. They may not cash them in, but they certainly have the ability to add some impactful pitching. I agree they are mostly out of options in free agency though.

I agree #2 isn’t an option. But if Warren wants to take the reins and thinks he can land Johnson, I could live with #1. But no doubt, a clean start at GM would make the most sense. I just feel that coming out of this coming offseason with Johnson as HC is the single most important thing for this franchise. If Warren hasn’t been preparing on the sidelines for a GM replacement, I’m worried the timing isn’t going to work well in terms of landing Johnson. Perhaps that’s an unwarranted fear, but Johnson needs to be the priority above all else.

lol…the offseason isn’t over yet. I don’t disagree their rotation isn’t good right now, but they could still improve it substantially if they want to. If they go with what they have, then Elias should be on the hot seat though.

This simply isn’t true though. Metro market size matters. Regional market size matters. The Yankees & Dodgers are 100% provided an advantage over almost every other team. There is literally nothing the Sox could do to get an $8 billion TV deal like the Dodgers have. The Cardinals, one of the best examples of a well run small market franchise, have a TV deal that’s estimated to be about 1/5 of the Dodgers on annual basis. These clubs will never be printing money like the Dodgers…that’s just not how the economics of the sport work. Having said that, there is no doubt the Sox would be a stronger franchise if they invested in their product up-front and actually drove fan interest. A lot of our challenges are self inflicted under Jerry’s ownership. Hopefully that will all change with a new owner and we can begin to bridge the gap between us and the large market clubs. There is literally no hope for the true small market franchises under this current rule set. Yes, a handful will make the playoffs each year and every once in a while one will win the World Series. But making the playoffs will continue to be skewed towards large market clubs unfortunately until a salary cap (and ideally a salary floor) is put in place.

I moved to Nashville for a promotion, higher paying job, no state income taxes, and significantly cheaper property taxes…I simply didn’t want those things at the expense of Chicago prior to the Machado fiasco. And guess what, after getting all those things, I realized that Chicago (not just the White Sox) was more important to me and I moved back. And I couldn’t be happier right now despite the suckiness of this franchise and the other Chicago sports teams. And I’m not looking to partake in a “business acumen” dick off here. I have no fucking clue what you do for a living and likewise you with me. That being said, you were whining about revenue sharing income a few weeks ago and had no idea how it actually worked but had drawn significant conclusions. And in this moment, you can’t separate the unfairness of high revenue teams more or less being uncapped with the fact certain (but not all) owners are cheap. So call it whatever you like, but you clearly aren’t getting how the financial side of this game works. Baseball on a parity level completely fucking sucks. And no, the Rangers winning a World Series doesn’t change that fact. But keep cheering on the team with the $8 billion TV deal outspending all the competition.

Sure, but not the point I’m making.

🤣🤣🤣…the dude who does nothing but post 50 times a day whining about the White Sox is calling me out for ripping the Dodgers one time for being able to outspend the competition. This s%*# is fucking incredible. I’m glad you think the volatility of the playoffs means it’s ok for teams like the Dodgers, Mets, & Yankees to spend whatever they like. Let’s see here, seven of the top 10 payroll teams made the playoffs (70%) last year, while only seven of the other 20 made the playoffs (35%). No correlation there whatsoever. Not sure what the Nashville dig is intended to mean, but please keep em coming!

You have turned a dig against a sports league being uncapped and allowing the couple uber rich teams to spend whatever they see fit into a hissy fit about Jerry being cheap. The former has nothing to do with the latter. So yeah, you are arguing against things I have never said. I would love to see a salary floor in addition to a salary cap. The NFL is a best in class product because all 30 teams have a shot. The same can’t be said about baseball…full stop.

Who is making this argument? Literally no one

Sure…but they can’t afford 10 of these contracts like the Dodgers can.