Chicago White Sox

I hate the Reds as a fit for Crochet.

I don’t think we ever made a real offer. And the rumor is he really wanted to sign with us. We 100% blew a gifted opportunity and it forever changed my life.

Last part of my offeason plan is the bullpen. I strongly believe the Sox should sign a potential flip candidate to serve as their closer. Jordan Romano is the guy I’d target, probably around a 1/$5M deal. Beyond that, I’d take Magdaleno with the 1.01 pick in the Rule 5 draft. And finally, I’d sign Griffin Canning to a cheap one year deal ($3M or $4M) and let him compete against Nastrini, Bush, & Adams for the #5 spot (with him being the swingman if he loses). That results in the following bullpen for Opening Day: 9th: Romano 8th: Berrora 8th: Ellard* 7th: Varland 7th: Wilson 6th: Leasure 6th: Magdaleno* LR: Canning Obviously still a huge work in progress, but at least most guys have something to offer in the short term and long term. And ultimately, a lot of these guys will be replaced with minor league SPs who run out of other opportunities.

Who came up with an attitude problem?

Can’t blame Getz for guys like Moncada & Eloy being lazy after Hahn gave them massive extensions. And the more cancerous players in the clubhouse (Lynn, Kelly, & Grandal apparently) were external additions. Tim Anderson? Dude simply went crazy, which again, not a Getz problem. I’m not sure how you came to this conclusion.

I’d still take Seymour at 2.01 if he makes it there, unless Getz has a better for DH like Ben Rice.

Fully agree. Magdaleno is the guy I would target. I’m not a big Shuster fan, but replacing him with another low stuff lefty who is probably a small upgrade over him doesn’t really do it for me. Magdaleno can be an important part of this bullpen for a long time if he works out and not just a placeholder type that you always are looking to upgrade from.

I 100% think La Russa brought out the worst tendencies of certain players and we never recovered from it. I also think we’ve had a clubhouse lacking of the right leaders to help police things to help offset a weak manager. I am not a Getz fan by any means, but this is area where he can help I think due to his past experience as a player unlike Hahn or event KW to a certain extent.

I think the problem with Liam is he is very vocal politically and that’s going to rub those with opposing views the wrong way (which baseball is full of). Other than that though, he seems like a great clubhouse guy. I could be wrong, but I think Madrigal is very religious and he may have inserted a lot of that stuff into the clubhouse. I do know the Mr. 3000 shirt also rubbed some of the veterans the wrong way. Regardless, Nick is simply not worth bringing back for any reason.

I am a big Mayo fan, but I’m not a big Bradfield. Right or wrong, a positional player who provides no impact with the bat doesn’t work for me regardless of their speed and defense. Honestly, I just don’t love the Orioles as a trade partner anymore.

Great post. Regarding the bolded, I think they will get at least one near ready prospect to headline any trade. They may not be ready by OD, but someone with a 2025 ETA of some sorts. I could see the rest of a trade be lower level, but higher ceiling guys, but I can’t imagine they don’t get at least one more advanced prospect in return.

What I heard is that Madrigal was more annoying than being a bad dude, lazy, or unwilling to work with the coaching staff. Like the other players just didn’t like him and not because he was a dick. Why were there clubhouse issues with Liam?

Soto to Mets, Fried to Yankees, Burnes somewhere other than Boston hopefully.

Bartolo’s Colonoscopy (aka Orlando) claiming the Sox are asking for Mayo & Bradfield from the Orioles.

Per Bob:

Home for nuggets and rumors that don’t warrant a full thread. Per Nightengale, Burnes & Fried both expected to get $200M+ and should sign this week. And he believes Fried will sign with the Yankees or Red Sox.

We aren’t winning anytime soon. Baldwin can play SS until Montgomery or whomever we get in a Crochet trade is ready. If Brooks performs well with the bat, then he slides over to 2B. If Sosa is also performing, then we have a really good problem. I’ll worry about that issue when both of those things happen. The Vargas issue is different because he doesn’t really fit anywhere. He has the tools to play at multiple spots (3B, 2B, LF, RF) but he lacks the skill to be good at any of them, at least the moment. And for 1B / DH, he doesn’t have the power you’d want to see out of that spot even if his hit tool returns to form. I am not giving up on him yet, but he’s a really frustrating player to plan around.

I don’t disagree and positional prospects are valued like they are for a reason. That being said, windows also fade fast and I think it’s crazy to not take a shot when you 95% of the pieces in place. If the Orioles never make a World Series while having Rutschman that’s a major black mark for Elias.

Sox need an actual LatAm program for that to ever be an option. And unfortunately for us, there’s nothing Jerry hates more than spending big money on 27 year olds even it’s proven to offer the highest ROI of any form of talent acquisition.

What’s weird is Sosa never had that reputation in the minors. Physically limited perhaps when playing SS, but I always interpreted scouting reports on him to suggest he’d be a very solid defensive 2B. I’m willing to give him more time and see what happens. It’s not like he’s blocking anyone at the moment.

Starting to scout other teams’ message boards to get a sense of how their fanbases value Crochet. The Orioles fans at the Hangout are a hard pass on Crochet if it costs even one of Basallo or Mayo. They want and are expecting a SP via free agency due to their new owner. It’s interesting to see how quickly fan expectations change as there is almost a sense of entitlement over there. Regardless, like their fans, Elias cares more about prospect clutching than winning championships and I think we can take them off the list. Over at Sons of Sam Horn, there is certainly a desire amongst some Red Sox fans to add Crochet. At first, there was a large contingent of posters who felt Abreu plus filler could get the job done, but it appears there has been some acceptance that it will cost substantially more. Anthony & Campbell definitely seem like untouchables to me, but there have been a few proposals centered around Mayer and lots of mock trades with Montgomery. Regardless, I think there is a real desire within the org itself to start pushing some chips in. Meanwhile, the general consensus at PhilliesPhans is that Crochet is really good and so is the Phillies rotation, so why pay a steep price for Garrett when there are other areas of need. To their credit, they realize Bohm doesn’t make any sense for us and for the most feel it’s going to take legit high end prospects to get him. Of particular note, they feel that Dombrowski is definitely interested in adding him despite that full rotation. Also, someone proposed a trade lead by Abel and said he couldn’t understand why the Sox wouldn’t take that 🤣🤣

Which is why you use this season on guys like Lenyn Sosa. He put up a 116 wRC+ against LHP last year…can he repeat that? Who fucking knows, but if he can, he’s suddenly a very valuable bench piece if this s%*# is the going rate.

The Orioles just spent $25M/year on O’Neil & Sanchez. They got a weak-side corner OF platoon guy and a backup catcher. And this is despite a massive need in the rotation. No idea what the f*** Elias is doing, but I do hope a few of those Orioles fans at The Hangout are fuming (just the couple douchy ones). Also, just because I find it amusing, Austin Slater got 10% of the AAV that O’Neil just got and yet from 2020 to 2023 he had a higher wRC+ against LHP (140 vs. 130). Don’t get me wrong, O’Neil is the better player and is coming off an elite season against LHP, but it does highlight why Slater at $1.75M was a very smart scrap heap signing for us.

That Harper deal will forever be the steal of the century. And no star better fit a franchise than Harper to the White Sox. Everything would have probably still flamed out because of KW & Hahn, but at least it would have given us one of the most marketable stars in baseball to help convince little kids to become White Sox fans. Now those same kids on the bubble get Miguel Vargas. No wonder my kid wants nothing to do with baseball and only loves the NBA and really just its stars.

Fully agree. Montgomery is obviously a nice prospect and you never want to give those up if you can avoid it, but he doesn’t really impact their near-term roadmap. I fully expect him included in any major trade, whether Crochet or for someone else. Anthony & Campbell seem like their two untouchables IMO and I think they’d be hard pressed to give up Teal just due long-term need. That makes Mayer the most expendable of their big 4 and with Merkin saying that we are targeting a SS in a Crochet trade it just makes too much for him to be the centerpiece.