Chicago White Sox

Why would it matter? If there is a lockout or strike, it’s not like they have to pay him during a stoppage.

I did google Times of India and Imai in hopes there would be a Sox rumor there, but alas they are sleeping at the wheel right now!

Kelenic put a 62 wRC+ in AAA last year. You do not hand him a major league job under any circumstance. He’s got to go to Charlotte, produce, and then hope an opportunity presents itself. Until then, he’s nothing but minor league fodder.

Dead silent today on the Imai front, but I still expect a deal to be agreed to and leaked before the end of the day. When I first saw the rumor yesterday, I sort of brushed it off almost immediately as being unrealistic given Jerry’s hatred of giving out long -term contracts to pitchers. However, the more I think about our current situation and the player himself, the more I feel this might actually be doable for us. I strongly believe our competitive window will officially open by 2027 with an outside chance of getting lucky this year with the right mix of roster additions. As such, proactively going out and signing a soon to be 28 year old RH pitcher to anchor a young rotation that should eventually feature lefties in Schultz, Smith, & possibly Oppor makes all the sense in the world. Financially, we know they are shopping in the mid tier SP range and Imai would probably be at the very top of that market. If the price is a little lower than expected, and perhaps teams aren’t ready to commit to him when bigger fish are available in free agency, I could see our ownership group stretching a bit for the upgrade. Add in the marketing value of having a second big Japanese player and all of sudden it may be hard for us to pass on this opportunity. I guess we’ll find out soon enough though.

lol…it certainly was fascinating. Downtown Brown was making the weird Jeep comments for months, but I don’t think anyone here really understood the point of them until the other dude came in and tried to out (or pretend out) Harold in a very direct manner. The fact we may have had one former Sox employee engaging in cyber warfare on Soxtalk against a current Sox employee is incredible.

Peters has options and Hill is a Robert insurance policy IMO, so not too worried if we lose him when we option him to Charlotte. There is certainly room for one more OF, especially if Benintendi is going to be used in the DH spot a lot.

I don’t see how a minor league deal prevents us form adding to the outfield. The odds of Kelenic being a useful major leaguer are incredibly low.

Some weirdo was harassing Harold on here, constantly making comments about Jeep Wranglers. Then some other psycho poster (probably an alt account for the other guy) basically confronted Harold and accused him of being the White Sox’s assistant scouting director who also happens to own a Jeep dealership. Unclear the truth of that, but doesn’t seem crazy given the inside info Harold had shared on this site. Also, based on what the psycho guy was saying in his accusations, he was either Haber himself or had a close relationship with Haber and held some sort of grudge against Harold, although I can’t recall if it was simply because he didn’t like him leaking White Sox business or something deeper & more personal. And shortly after the more direct accusations, Harold was gone forever and now we rely on the Times for India for our scoops.

Positive 2.7 for Big Dick Nick

Not after Haber was stalking him on here

I feel like the bullpen only has room for one more guaranteed contract. Taylor, Leasure, Vasil, & Newcomb (assuming we add a SP) are all locks. We are going to keep at least one Rule 5 guy to start the season, if not both. Gilbert is out of options and pitched good enough for a mid relief role. And Gonzalez probably deserves a shot after flashing pretty well in his first set of appearances. That’s seven or eight guys right there. Add one high leverage reliever, ideally from the left side, and I think we’d be in good shape.

He was legit terrible in AAA last year. That being said, there is risk here so why the f*** not.

Email Brooks about this: bboyer@chisox.com

The sad part is that Tray’s extremely dumb, long-winded rant should never of happened in the first place if he put any rationale into this and realized the Ishbia’s are purchasing the Sox with their own personal wealth and not buying it through Justin’s private equity firm. As such, the “leveraged buyout playbook” theory holds no meaning whatsoever and the accusation makes Tray look like an ever bigger clown.

Where did he report this?

They wouldn’t conspire with him.

Ramos is almost certainly getting DFAed or traded before OD. He may be able to sneak through waivers though. Mead I think would get claimed because he is major ready. I view Murray morning as more of a “next man up” type who starts the year in AAA and gets a call up in the event of injury.

Was he? He was pretending to be Al’s Cheesy Beef and seemed unwell.

I don’t think you can roster both him and Sosa. And if you did, I struggle to see a path to playing time for Mead. IMO, if you believe in Mead, you should seriously look into trading Sosa for some other need.

The Japanese media doesn’t get utilized by agents the same way that US-based insiders do. And candidly speaking, the Sox wouldn’t be the team they’d want to use for such a threat. At minimum, the Sox are legit exploring the Imai market. If for some reason it’s weaker than expected or teams don’t want to commit massive dollars ahead of the Jan 2nd deadline, then perhaps there is a path where the Sox actually land him. Let’s not understate the Ishbia aspect here. If you’re Boras, you want to form a strong relationship with Ishbia from the get go. He and his brother will be the second wealthiest owners in the MLB when their deal completes and have a shown a willingness to take big swings in the NBA. That is exactly the type of owner Boras wants to be close with and doing a deal on Imai if the market isn’t great is a good to start fostering that relationship.

Yes, he went by the name Orlando and is still pretending to be an insider

We should hear something today or tomorrow at the latest. With New Years being a holiday, they will want a deal framework in place by tomorrow.

On the pitching side, I have three major takeaways: We could certainly use one more starter that has at least mid rotation upside more than just an innings eater. Last year we were dead last in innings from our SP group and it’s easy to over index on that, but Smith, Martin, & Burke all pitched around 146 innings last year (including AAA) and should be able to push towards 180 in 2026. Kay is coming off 155 in the NPB and should be able to do the same. Behind them you’ll have Cannon & Devitt as true inning eater types with options. We will also have several bulk-inning relievers in Vasil (101 IP last year), Newcomb (92.2 IP), & Paez (assuming he makes it) on top of Taylor and even Gonzalez depending on usage. Point is that Getz has done a decent job building a group that can absorb innings. For that last rotation spot, we should pursue some ceiling even if it comes with risk. I still think we’re short one high leverage arm. Right now, the only guys I have confidence in are Taylor and Leasure. Berroa might help at some point and maybe Gonzalez with time, but one arm that could knock everyone down a spot would be fantastic. Not sure what free agents are left, but I feel like this is a need that can’t be ignored and one that Getz will ultimately address. The LH reliever group is highly questionable outside of Newcomb and I don’t think he would profile well for high leverage use. One of Gilbert or Eisert is probably fine for a middle relief role, but I think having a high leverage arm from the left side would help the broader bullpen massively. Ky Bush never had big strikeout numbers, but I do wonder if his stuff would play up some in shorter stints. With a ton of other SP options, his quickest path the majors is likely a bullpen role and I could see him helping us at some point this year.

To be fair, if you or me said any material free agent signing wasn’t happening we’d be just as accurate as NBB has been. This one here is a good test because signing a high end Japanese pitcher to a multi year contract is probably the most anti Jerry thing possible. The only reason such a move is even theoretically possible is the Ishbia effect. The good news is we should have an answer on Imai soon enough. And FWIW, I’ve always been skeptical of NBB. His source would have to be Jerry based on the type of stuff he posts and I can’t believe that level of blatant leaking would be tolerated by Jerry or even the front office. Just don’t see what they have to gain by letting him share this stuff with the general public.

What has he predicted again? Not trying to dismiss him, but I can’t recall a single major prediction from him.